CISSR Bi-Weekly Digest
December 5 - December 31, 2023
Spotlight
Ángela Zorro Medina Assesses the Outcomes of the Colombian Judicial Reform in Co-Authored Report
Ángela Zorro Medina, a doctoral candidate in Sociology and a 20-21 Rudolph Field Research Fellow, co-authored a CEDE-CESED report which reviews the comprehensive penal law reforms which took place in Colombian from 2005-2008. The paper Outcomes of the Colombian Judicial Reform in Co-Authored Report: The Case of an Extensive Procedural Reform in Colombia was written by Zorro-Medina, Camilo Acosta of Universidad EAFIT, Daniel Mejia of Universidad de los Andes, and Zorro-Medina and published from the Universidad de los Andes’ Department of Economics Research Series surveys the successes and failures of these reforms.

The authors explain that the enacted reforms aimed to 1) ensure fair treatment for the accused, 2) reduce pretrial detention, 3) improve efficiency in handling criminal cases, 4) decrease procedural times, and 5) enhance mechanisms for early termination of processes. Zorro Medina and her co-authors indicate that the reform achieved most of its objectives: pretrial detention which decreased 17%-34%, procedural times were reduced by 18%, the use of settlement mechanisms for early termination increased by 43%-66%, and more cases reached adjudication. However, the reform also had unintended negative consequences. Arrest rates dropped by around 33%, clearance rates decreased by 16%-27%, and there was an increase in property crimes (19%) and violent crimes (17%). These unintended effects suggest that well-intentioned reforms to protect due process may inadvertently lead to higher crime rates, but the authors analyze this more closely and suggest more research is needed.

However, the report raises critical questions about how to strike a balance between constitutional protections and public safety by implementing measures to mitigate potential adverse effects on crime rates. The authors also consider the effect and outcome of reform policies in unstable democracies. Please read the full article here.
Upcoming Events
December 5
Divinity School


12:30pm, Common Room & Livestreamed
December 6

CSRPC


12pm, Virtual (registration required)
Ongoing through Dec 8
Community Room 5733 S University Ave
December 8
Social Science Research Center


10am, 1155 E 60th St (registration required)
December 11
Around Town and Down the Road
December 7

Northwestern University


12pm, Remote (registration required)
December 15

Newberry Library


3pm, Rettinger Hall, 60 West Walton St. (registration required)
Research Updates
Anna Berg Uses Qualitative Data to Analyze the impact of Media and Countermedia in COVID anti-lockdown protestors
Anna Berg, a doctoral candidate in Sociology and a 21-22 Rudolph Field Research Fellow, published an article in New Media & Society. In this article, Berg researches the motives behind recent trends of anti-intellectualism by examining how protesters against COVID-19 measures have appropriated science to navigate the information environment. Berg addresses that many opponents of these measures invoke science in curious ways, such as collecting data, citing scientific studies or even conducting their own experiments. While previous research has explained these scientific appropriations as the product of motivated reasoning, the result of widespread disinformation, or a populist strategy, Berg uses qualitative data gathered from interviews with 36 anti-lockdown protesters in Germany to discover that such protesters draw on scientific repertoires in order to overcome information insecurities triggered by their discovery of online countermedia. Although Berg reiterates the results of the protesters’ scientific efforts often remain inconclusive, the process of doing research enables these groups to achieve a reorientation in the information environment and begin to rely on countermedia as a source of information and political opinion. Based on her findings, Berg argues that protesters use the sciences as a conversion technique. Please read the full article here.
Kristin Hickman of University of Mississippi "Foreign Bodies, Local Voices: A Reading of National Selfhood through Foreign Dramas in Morocco"
Croft Assistant Professor of Anthropology and International Studies at the University of Mississippi and a CISSR 18-19 Rudolph Field Research Fellow, Kristin Hickman published an article examining the linguistic negotiations and perception of identity in post-colonial Morocco through imported TV dramas. The article, published in the Journal of African Cultural Studies, analyzes how selfhood and national identity is represented through television dubbing and visual representations in Morocco. The article compares the local Moroccan dialect of Arabic; Darija, to the source languages such as English, Spanish, and Turkish; plus other languages used in Morocco such as French, a remnant of the colonial times, Fussha, and MSA. Prof. Hickman considers how representation and language affects the development of national idenitty and belonging in Morocco. Additionally, Prof. Hickman examines the effects of Morocco’s colonial past on the linguistic stratification that positions Darija as a rough or provincial dialect seen as not compatible with upper-class representations. This is why, Hickman notes, voice actors and directors are discussing whether the more French-influenced Arabic exclamation “Mama!” or the Darija “Al-walida!”, both of which mean mother, connote a cultural reconsideration of dialect under the surface. Read the full article here.
Prof. Benjamin Lessing’s Research on Criminal Conflicts The Guardian
The article "How a Brazilian Prison Gang Became an International Criminal Leviathan," written by Tom Phillips and published in November in The Guardian features the research of Benjamin Lessing, Associate Professor of Political Science and CISSR 19-20 Faculty Fellow. Initially confined to the São Paulo prison system, the First Capital Command (A.K.A. PCC) expanded its reach dramatically in 2001 by capturing thousands of guards and visitors during an uprising. A wave of additional attacks on police occurred in 2006, solidifying the gang's influence. The PCC's power has continued to burgeon as it established lucrative alliances with partners ranging from Bolivian cocaine producers to Italian mafiosi. In the article, Lessing delves into the evolution of the PCC, tracing its origins from a prison "fraternity" in 1993 to its current status as a formidable billion-dollar cartel. Lessing's insights illuminate the Hobbesian dynamics of the prison environment in São Paulo and explain how the PCC emerged as a regional prison gang, initially formed to safeguard the rights of inmates, eventually evolving to protect their own criminal interests. Prof. Lessing is an expert in the field of "criminal conflict," focusing on organized violence perpetrated by armed groups that lack aspirations for formal state power. This expertise extends to various entities, including drug cartels, prison gangs, and paramilitaries. His upcoming book, Criminal Leviathans, is about the PCC and how mass incarceration can develop from organizing prison populations to projecting power on the streets.
ICYMI
China and U.S. Intergenerational Economic Mobility with UPenn Prof. Xi Song
University of Pennsylvania Professor of Sociology, Xi Song, was the guest of the new podcast released by the Stone Center for Research on Wealth Inequality and Mobility at the University of Chicago called The Inequality Podcast. Dr. Song’s research interests span across the United States and China and condense around the dynamics of occupational mobility. During the talk, Dr. Song draws the listeners’ attention to structural, group-based, and generational trends of upward or downward mobility. Noting that the trend of upward mobility in the post-WWII United States and post-transition to market economy in China were, both largely structural, Dr. Song suggests that the intergenerational upward mobility trajectory gets more or less static beyond the transformation post-WWII. Dr. Song’s multi-dimensional and comparative analysis offers analyses which highlight how family systems and intergenerational changes affect their economic outcomes. Listen to the podcast here.