crime

Scholars have hypothesized that state capitals such as Trenton, N.J., Albany, N.Y., or Springfield, Ill., may be more susceptible to political corruption because they are geographically remote from their state’s major metropolitan centers — and therefore remain out of the full glare of the public spotlight. But prior research has not definitively established a precise connection or pinpointed the mechanisms that might explain such a pattern.

California established the first sex-offender registry in 1947, and since then such lists have expanded to all 50 states. In 1994 the federal “Megan’s Law” was enacted, requiring public notification of convicted sex offenders’ presence in communities. The stated intent of such registries is to both reduce the number of sexual assaults and increase the ability of law-enforcement officials to find and prosecute offenders when crimes do occur.

Racial profiling and discrimination against African-American youth by police are problems that periodically grab national attention. Yet there is seldom subtle discussion of whether such discrimination is more prevalent in predominantly black or white neighborhoods, or in mixed racial settings. Moreover, data from black adolescents themselves who may face these realities are infrequently collected, analyzed and cited.