Shytierra Gaston
Biographic Data
| ID | 122203 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Shytierra Gaston |
| GIVEN NAMES | Shytierra |
| FAMILY NAME | Gaston |
| SIGNATURE | GASTON S |
| AFFILIATIONS | Georgia State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0001-5226-9907 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 12 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 79 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 12 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2018 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2024 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Assessing the Impact of Cannabis Decriminalization on Racial Disparities in Chicago's Cannabis Possession Arrests
Black and Hispanic neighborhoods have suffered the most severe consequences of the "war on drugs." As the war on drugs waned, cannabis legalization/decriminalization efforts increased across America. A prime example of decriminalization occurred in August of 2012 as the City of Chicago introduced a new law providing officers with option to ticket, rather than arrest, individuals caught in possession of 15 grams of cannabis or less. As cannabis po…
How families respond to the collateral consequences of incarceration and prisoner reentry
“Every Thought and Dream a Nightmare”: Violence and Trauma Among Formerly Imprisoned Gang Members
Persons involved in gangs disproportionately participate in violence, as both victims and perpetrators. However, much remains unknown about the prevalence and consequences of violence exposure among adult gang members, particularly among those who have been incarcerated. We draw on semi-structured interviews with formerly imprisoned gang members to provide a contextualized account of the continuum of violence before, during, and after prison and …
Suspicious places make people suspicious: Officers’ perceptions of place‐based conditions in racialized drug enforcement
Research Summary Place‐based conditions are well‐established predictors of police behavior, but the literature lacks nuanced examinations of how place‐based factors influence officer decision making, especially by citizen race/ethnicity and from officers’ perspectives. We investigate officers’ accounts regarding how they weigh place‐based factors into their arrest decisions of Black, Hispanic, and White drug suspects in Newark, New Jersey from 20…
A Macrolevel Study of Police Killings at the Intersection of Race, Ethnicity, and Gender
We investigate macrolevel sources of police use of fatal force at the intersection of race, ethnicity, and gender. Focusing on 580 U.S. counties from 2013 to 2018, we build a unique dataset and analyze whether violent crime, social disorganization, and racial conflict indicators predict police killings among six victim subgroups of Black, Hispanic, and White men and women. Regression results show that violent crime—and social disorganization, alb…
Out with “Fine Time,” in with Financial Waivers: Recent Developments in Massachusetts Probation Fines and Fees Policies
The criminal justice system routinely imposes financial sanctions on probation clients. These fines, fees, and restitution debts often amount to more than what many clients can reasonably afford to pay. Until recently, Massachusetts courts have incarcerated clients solely for their inability to pay these debts in a practice known as “fine time”. In 2018, the state passed a landmark criminal justice reform bill that restricted the types of cases i…
Does racial congruence between police agencies and communities reduce racialized police killings of civilians
Research Summary In response to highly publicized, controversial police killings of Black Americans, policymakers and advocates have proposed several police reforms, including a recurrent, decades‐long demand for police departments to diversify their forces to better match the racial composition of the communities they serve. We draw on a unique police agency‐level dataset comprising 1,988 local police agencies and regress measures of police kill…
Historical Racist Violence and Intergenerational Harms: Accounts from Descendants of Lynching Victims
African Americans are disproportionately victimized by various forms of racialized violence. This long-standing reality is rooted in America's history of racist violence, one manifestation being racial lynchings. This article investigates the long-term, intergenerational consequences of racial lynchings by centering the voices and experiences of victims' families. The data comprise in-depth interviews with twenty-two descendants of twenty-two vic…
Are Minorities Subjected to, or Insulated from, Racialized Policing in Majority–Minority Community Contexts
Racial conflict theories suggest that racialized policing should wane in areas where people of colour are the majority and Whites, the minority. This article examines community-level predictors of racial/ethnic differences in drug arrests from 2011 to 2016 across 86 census tracts in Newark, NJ, a city where most officers and residents are persons of colour. We examine whether racial conflict indicators predict Black, White and Hispanic drug arres…
Reasonable Suspicion in the Eye of the Beholder: Routine Policing in Racially Different Disadvantaged Neighborhoods
This study extends Brunson and Weitzer’s 2009 endeavor to elucidate the influence of race and place in policing by reexamining enforcement practices across disadvantaged urban neighborhoods but from the purview of police. We investigate the impact of race and neighborhood context on officer decision making and routine enforcement practices by analyzing 144 official reports of drug arrests made between 2009 and 2013 in a similarly disadvantaged ma…
Producing race disparities: A study of drug arrests across place and race
In studies of race disparities in policing, scholars generally employ quantitative methodologies with the goal of determining whether race disparities exist or, in fewer instances, of ruling out correlates. Yet, lacking from theoretical and empirical efforts is an elucidation of how and why on‐the‐ground policing produces race disparities that are justified in legal, race‐neutral terms. To address this knowledge gap, I analyze officers’ self‐repo…
Why Don't More Black Americans Offend? Testing a Theory of African American Offending's Ethnic-Racial Socialization Hypothesis
Criminology is replete with research on the correlates of African American offending, yet theorizing efforts have lagged. Unnever and Gabbidon recently proposed a Theory of African American Offending, an integrated explanation of African Americans' risks for and resilience to offending. Many of the theory's hypotheses remain untested, especially its major claim that positive ethnic-racial socialization is the main reason more Black Americans do n…
Producing race disparities: A study of drug arrests across place and race
In studies of race disparities in policing, scholars generally employ quantitative methodologies with the goal of determining whether race disparities exist or, in fewer instances, of ruling out correlates. Yet, lacking from theoretical and empirical efforts is an elucidation of how and why on‐the‐ground policing produces race disparities that are justified in legal, race‐neutral terms. To address this knowledge gap, I analyze officers’ self‐repo…
Reasonable Suspicion in the Eye of the Beholder: Routine Policing in Racially Different Disadvantaged Neighborhoods
This study extends Brunson and Weitzer’s 2009 endeavor to elucidate the influence of race and place in policing by reexamining enforcement practices across disadvantaged urban neighborhoods but from the purview of police. We investigate the impact of race and neighborhood context on officer decision making and routine enforcement practices by analyzing 144 official reports of drug arrests made between 2009 and 2013 in a similarly disadvantaged ma…
Why Don't More Black Americans Offend? Testing a Theory of African American Offending's Ethnic-Racial Socialization Hypothesis
Criminology is replete with research on the correlates of African American offending, yet theorizing efforts have lagged. Unnever and Gabbidon recently proposed a Theory of African American Offending, an integrated explanation of African Americans' risks for and resilience to offending. Many of the theory's hypotheses remain untested, especially its major claim that positive ethnic-racial socialization is the main reason more Black Americans do n…
Suspicious places make people suspicious: Officers’ perceptions of place‐based conditions in racialized drug enforcement
Research Summary Place‐based conditions are well‐established predictors of police behavior, but the literature lacks nuanced examinations of how place‐based factors influence officer decision making, especially by citizen race/ethnicity and from officers’ perspectives. We investigate officers’ accounts regarding how they weigh place‐based factors into their arrest decisions of Black, Hispanic, and White drug suspects in Newark, New Jersey from 20…
Does racial congruence between police agencies and communities reduce racialized police killings of civilians
Research Summary In response to highly publicized, controversial police killings of Black Americans, policymakers and advocates have proposed several police reforms, including a recurrent, decades‐long demand for police departments to diversify their forces to better match the racial composition of the communities they serve. We draw on a unique police agency‐level dataset comprising 1,988 local police agencies and regress measures of police kill…
Historical Racist Violence and Intergenerational Harms: Accounts from Descendants of Lynching Victims
African Americans are disproportionately victimized by various forms of racialized violence. This long-standing reality is rooted in America's history of racist violence, one manifestation being racial lynchings. This article investigates the long-term, intergenerational consequences of racial lynchings by centering the voices and experiences of victims' families. The data comprise in-depth interviews with twenty-two descendants of twenty-two vic…
Are Minorities Subjected to, or Insulated from, Racialized Policing in Majority–Minority Community Contexts
Racial conflict theories suggest that racialized policing should wane in areas where people of colour are the majority and Whites, the minority. This article examines community-level predictors of racial/ethnic differences in drug arrests from 2011 to 2016 across 86 census tracts in Newark, NJ, a city where most officers and residents are persons of colour. We examine whether racial conflict indicators predict Black, White and Hispanic drug arres…
Why Don't More Black Americans Offend? Testing a Theory of African American Offending's Ethnic-Racial Socialization Hypothesis
Criminology is replete with research on the correlates of African American offending, yet theorizing efforts have lagged. Unnever and Gabbidon recently proposed a Theory of African American Offending, an integrated explanation of African Americans' risks for and resilience to offending. Many of the theory's hypotheses remain untested, especially its major claim that positive ethnic-racial socialization is the main reason more Black Americans do n…
Producing race disparities: A study of drug arrests across place and race
In studies of race disparities in policing, scholars generally employ quantitative methodologies with the goal of determining whether race disparities exist or, in fewer instances, of ruling out correlates. Yet, lacking from theoretical and empirical efforts is an elucidation of how and why on‐the‐ground policing produces race disparities that are justified in legal, race‐neutral terms. To address this knowledge gap, I analyze officers’ self‐repo…
Are Minorities Subjected to, or Insulated from, Racialized Policing in Majority–Minority Community Contexts
Racial conflict theories suggest that racialized policing should wane in areas where people of colour are the majority and Whites, the minority. This article examines community-level predictors of racial/ethnic differences in drug arrests from 2011 to 2016 across 86 census tracts in Newark, NJ, a city where most officers and residents are persons of colour. We examine whether racial conflict indicators predict Black, White and Hispanic drug arres…
Reasonable Suspicion in the Eye of the Beholder: Routine Policing in Racially Different Disadvantaged Neighborhoods
This study extends Brunson and Weitzer’s 2009 endeavor to elucidate the influence of race and place in policing by reexamining enforcement practices across disadvantaged urban neighborhoods but from the purview of police. We investigate the impact of race and neighborhood context on officer decision making and routine enforcement practices by analyzing 144 official reports of drug arrests made between 2009 and 2013 in a similarly disadvantaged ma…
A Macrolevel Study of Police Killings at the Intersection of Race, Ethnicity, and Gender
We investigate macrolevel sources of police use of fatal force at the intersection of race, ethnicity, and gender. Focusing on 580 U.S. counties from 2013 to 2018, we build a unique dataset and analyze whether violent crime, social disorganization, and racial conflict indicators predict police killings among six victim subgroups of Black, Hispanic, and White men and women. Regression results show that violent crime—and social disorganization, alb…
Out with “Fine Time,” in with Financial Waivers: Recent Developments in Massachusetts Probation Fines and Fees Policies
The criminal justice system routinely imposes financial sanctions on probation clients. These fines, fees, and restitution debts often amount to more than what many clients can reasonably afford to pay. Until recently, Massachusetts courts have incarcerated clients solely for their inability to pay these debts in a practice known as “fine time”. In 2018, the state passed a landmark criminal justice reform bill that restricted the types of cases i…
Does racial congruence between police agencies and communities reduce racialized police killings of civilians
Research Summary In response to highly publicized, controversial police killings of Black Americans, policymakers and advocates have proposed several police reforms, including a recurrent, decades‐long demand for police departments to diversify their forces to better match the racial composition of the communities they serve. We draw on a unique police agency‐level dataset comprising 1,988 local police agencies and regress measures of police kill…
Historical Racist Violence and Intergenerational Harms: Accounts from Descendants of Lynching Victims
African Americans are disproportionately victimized by various forms of racialized violence. This long-standing reality is rooted in America's history of racist violence, one manifestation being racial lynchings. This article investigates the long-term, intergenerational consequences of racial lynchings by centering the voices and experiences of victims' families. The data comprise in-depth interviews with twenty-two descendants of twenty-two vic…
How families respond to the collateral consequences of incarceration and prisoner reentry
“Every Thought and Dream a Nightmare”: Violence and Trauma Among Formerly Imprisoned Gang Members
Persons involved in gangs disproportionately participate in violence, as both victims and perpetrators. However, much remains unknown about the prevalence and consequences of violence exposure among adult gang members, particularly among those who have been incarcerated. We draw on semi-structured interviews with formerly imprisoned gang members to provide a contextualized account of the continuum of violence before, during, and after prison and …
Suspicious places make people suspicious: Officers’ perceptions of place‐based conditions in racialized drug enforcement
Research Summary Place‐based conditions are well‐established predictors of police behavior, but the literature lacks nuanced examinations of how place‐based factors influence officer decision making, especially by citizen race/ethnicity and from officers’ perspectives. We investigate officers’ accounts regarding how they weigh place‐based factors into their arrest decisions of Black, Hispanic, and White drug suspects in Newark, New Jersey from 20…
Assessing the Impact of Cannabis Decriminalization on Racial Disparities in Chicago's Cannabis Possession Arrests
Black and Hispanic neighborhoods have suffered the most severe consequences of the "war on drugs." As the war on drugs waned, cannabis legalization/decriminalization efforts increased across America. A prime example of decriminalization occurred in August of 2012 as the City of Chicago introduced a new law providing officers with option to ticket, rather than arrest, individuals caught in possession of 15 grams of cannabis or less. As cannabis po…
Criminology (11 works) · Crime Patterns and Interventions (9 works) · Psychology (9 works) · Sociology (9 works) · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis (8 works) · Political science (8 works) · Gender Studies (7 works) · Ethnic group (6 works) · Law (6 works) · Policing Practices and Perceptions (6 works)