We invite anyone interested in political communication, criminal justice, race, gender and inequality to explore some newly-published student research supported by the Cline Center. This past semester, we provided software and technical support to Prof. Scott Althaus' Junior Honors Seminar. Student researchers compared the text and imagery of crime coverage appearing in the Champaign News-Gazette to arrest and jail bookings data provided by local law enforcement. They found that relative to arrest and booking records, Champaign County crime coverage over-represented the proportion of Black and male suspects and under-represented Whites and women as crime suspects between June 1 and September 1, 2015.
You can find a link to the study report, replication data and PowerPoint slides used in a recent presentation to the community on our website. As with all scientific research on complex social issues, this initial analysis is by no means the ‘last word.’ We hope others will further elaborate on the work done by these highly-motivated and capable students.