Jennifer E Cobbina-Dungy
Biographic Data
| ID | 794869 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Jennifer E Cobbina-Dungy |
| GIVEN NAMES | Jennifer E |
| FAMILY NAME | Cobbina-Dungy |
| SIGNATURE | COBBINA-DUNGY J E |
| AFFILIATIONS | Michigan State University |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-3720-2672 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 36 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 191 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 36 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2008 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 8 |
Choice and Constraint Behind Bars
Most research on prison programming focuses on quantitative outcomes, often overlooking incarcerated women’s lived experiences. This qualitative study examines how 26 incarcerated women perceive the effectiveness of voluntary and mandatory programs. Three key themes emerged: emotional growth and self-reflection, spirituality, and gaining new insights. Women defined effectiveness in terms of personal transformation, emotional healing, and preparat…
You Won’t Break My Soul
Historically and presently, police and vigilante violence have been used as a racial control mechanism against Black people. As a result, Black people have more concerns about being mistreated because of their racial identity and being “Black in White space.” However, Black people’s traumas and anxieties are simultaneously experienced with positive emotions like joy, which can be used as a tool for resistance and healing from racial trauma. Notab…
The ABCs of African American Women
The rise of the Black Lives Matter movement has led to a hyperfocus on perceptions and attitudes of Black individuals toward law enforcement. That focus, however, fails to acknowledge the strained relationship between police and Black individuals and how it impacts their experiences of safety and security. This study examines how 28 protesters perceive safety and security for Black people. Results indicated that many were concerned about Black pe…
All [the] Violence that Happened Was Dudes
Perceptions of neighborhood safety vary by demographic and neighborhood characteristics. While males and females have similar feelings about neighborhood safety, women are generally fearful of becoming a victim of sexual assault. Using in-depth interviews, we build on previous research by examining how boys and girls residing in frontline communities understand and navigate neighborhood risks. Drawing on the Socio-Ecological Model as an organizin…
Decision Making in the Real World
Criminologists typically test rational choice theory by examining the relationship between one aspect of decision making—the perceived costs and benefits of crime—and the likelihood of crime, primarily using (experimental) surveys that lack consideration of the neighborhood context. Building on decades of research in the risk and decision sciences, the current study utilizes broader models of decision making to qualitatively examine how youth liv…
Do police make you feel safe? A qualitative comparison of youth and youth service provider perspectives
Scholars have shown that age, race, and community context are consistent predictors of civilians’ perceptions of police and feelings of safety. Less is known about how young people residing in high-crime disadvantaged neighborhoods perceive police. Using in-depth interviews with 37 youth and adult service providers in Lansing, Michigan, this study examines whether and why young people feel the police increase or decrease their safety within their…
Tony Cheng, The Policing Machine
Strategic Responses to Navigating Police Encounters among Black Baltimore Residents
Research on police-citizen interactions has largely explored the treatment of citizens by the police with less attention paid to citizens’ behavior toward the police. Studies that have examined the behavior citizens’ exhibit during police encounters have found that citizen behavior affects how they are treated by the police; yet, little scholarly attention has been given to the strategic responses’ citizens use during their encounters with office…
Black Women Perceptions Matter
Decades of research on race and policing have offered much insight into the demographic and ecological patterns of these phenomena. African Americans experience significantly more contact with police than do whites. However, few researchers have examined in detail how gender intersects with race and place in determining whether and why Black women are suspicious of the police. Using in-depth interviews, this study compares Black women's and men's…
Digital reentry
High incarceration rates and a focus on incapacitation during incarceration lead to a ‘revolving door effect’ in the United States, with more than two thirds of parolees rearrested within three years of release. One aspect that is missing from efforts to resolve the revolving door effect is how access to and use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) might improve the reentry process. Focus groups with 73 male and female returning c…
Defund the police
Research summary : Using qualitative interviews, this study examines how protesters with varying levels of commitment to the Black Lives Matter movement perceive the slogan defund the police. Findings indicate while a small number had reservations regarding the term, the vast majority of protesters associate defunding as a two‐step process that starts with reduction of police budgets, followed by reallocation of these resources toward much needed…
Bringing the “Invisible Population” to Light
Women who are involved in the correctional system are often neglected and overlooked. Although justice-involved women enter the carceral system with high levels of abuse and trauma, many are exposed to State violence from staff or incarcerated individuals. Criminal victimization in prison presents a significant threat to one's well-being. According to international human rights law, preventing and combatting violence against women is the responsi…
Protesting During a Pandemic
The study elucidates the interplay of COVID-19 and the wave of Black Lives Matter protests to assess motivation and risk taking for protest participation. We draw on protesters’ accounts to examine how police violence influenced the participants decision making to participate in the 2020 March on Washington during a pandemic that exacerbated the risks already in place from protesting the police. We found that protesters’ social position and commi…
“I’m afraid of cops
Proactive policing strategies produce a wide range of harms to African Americans. Research on attitudes towards police show that citizen distrust is more widespread among Blacks than Whites.However, we know less about how gender intersects with race and neighborhood context in determining whether and why Black people fear the police. Here, I build from the insights of previous research by providing a contextual examination of the gendered nature …
Too much policing
The repeat use of fatal force against unarmed people of color has driven global protests against police violence and fueled criticism of policing as a mechanism for public safety. In the US, calls to abolish, transform, or reform policing have reemerged with a primary focus on the elimination of structural racism. In this essay, we contend that a two-tier policing problem exists. The first is the continued use of policing to enforce racial domina…
Hands Up, Don’t Shoot
Understanding the explosive protests over police killings and the legacy of racism Following the high-profile deaths of eighteen-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and twenty-five-year-old Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Maryland, both cities erupted in protest over the unjustified homicides of unarmed black males at the hands of police officers. These local tragedies—and the protests surrounding them—assumed national significance, igniting…
Race and Policing
“It’s a Blue Thing”
“I Will Be Out Here Every Day Strong!”
It Depends on the Situation
Scholars have examined women’s identity development in prisons. Less is known if and how identity development affects women in different stages of the correctional system. This study applies narrative identity theory, cognitive transformation theory, and literature on pains of imprisonment to 118 women’s life-story narratives to explore identity change in prisons, jails, and substance abuse treatment. Qualitative analysis revealed noteworthy situ…
I Will Be Out There Every Day Strong!” Protest Policing and Future Activism Among Ferguson and Baltimore Protesters
An established body of literature shows that people engage in protest events for a number of reasons, including grievances, collective identity, increased efficacy, and emotions. However, it is unclear what happens to individuals’ motivation toward protest participation as they experience the reality of repressive policing. This study contributes to the theoretical body of knowledge of protest policing and social movements by investigating the mi…
Narrative Identity Development and Desistance from Illegal Behavior among Substance-Using Female Offenders
Race, Gender, and Responses to the Police Among Ferguson Residents and Protesters
A large body of research has examined police behavior toward citizens and shown that police practices are geographically patterned. Disadvantaged neighborhoods are more likely to receive punitive policing than more affluent communities. However, little is known about how citizens manage encounters with police when they occur and few studies have examined how gender intersects with race and neighborhood context in determining reactions to and outc…
Stop-gaps, lip service, and the perceived futility of body-worn police officer cameras in Baltimore City
Body-worn cameras (BWCs) are touted as a much-needed remedy to address police misconduct. Proponents argue that BWCs can serve not only as an accountability instrument, but that their use will lower costs attributed to investigation and evidence collection in the event of a civilian or internal complaint. However, the push for furnishing patrol officers with BWCs in order to bolster accountability, professionalism, and faith in institutional legi…
Women at the Nexus of Correctional and Social Policies
This article addresses criticism by critical and feminist criminologists who fault the Risk/Needs/Responsivity corrections model for ignoring state-created recidivism risks. It examines the connection between women offenders’ changes in access to economic safety net benefits and changes in individual recidivism risk. Longitudinal quantitative data were from 345 women interviewed six months apart in a state with extreme benefits cuts. Loss of mone…
Gender, Neighborhood Danger, and Risk‐avoidance Strategies Among Urban African‐american Youths
Research consistently reveals that fear of crime and perceived risk are demographically and ecologically patterned. Women and individuals in disadvantaged community settings report increased fear and perceptions of risk. For women, these fears and perceptions are tied to concerns about sexual violence specifically, whereas for individuals in distressed neighborhoods, crime rates, “incivilities,” and poor police‐community relations are often ident…
Too much policing
The repeat use of fatal force against unarmed people of color has driven global protests against police violence and fueled criticism of policing as a mechanism for public safety. In the US, calls to abolish, transform, or reform policing have reemerged with a primary focus on the elimination of structural racism. In this essay, we contend that a two-tier policing problem exists. The first is the continued use of policing to enforce racial domina…
Gang Fights versus Cat Fights
Scholarly accounts of young men's violence have remained remarkably consistent over time: the use of violence emerges in response to focal concerns that strongly emphasize autonomy, respect, and the defense of reputation, and is indicative of the import of hegemonic masculinities on the streets. Yet, despite persistent gender gaps in the use of violence, recent research suggests that young women use violence more often than commonly believed, and…
Defund the police
Research summary : Using qualitative interviews, this study examines how protesters with varying levels of commitment to the Black Lives Matter movement perceive the slogan defund the police. Findings indicate while a small number had reservations regarding the term, the vast majority of protesters associate defunding as a two‐step process that starts with reduction of police budgets, followed by reallocation of these resources toward much needed…
I Will Be Out There Every Day Strong!” Protest Policing and Future Activism Among Ferguson and Baltimore Protesters
An established body of literature shows that people engage in protest events for a number of reasons, including grievances, collective identity, increased efficacy, and emotions. However, it is unclear what happens to individuals’ motivation toward protest participation as they experience the reality of repressive policing. This study contributes to the theoretical body of knowledge of protest policing and social movements by investigating the mi…
It's Not Only for the Money
Numerous studies examine the causal factors of entrance into prostitution and find economic marginalization, substance addiction, and interpersonal networks are common reasons women enter the trade. However, we know less about the role that age of onset plays in shaping female pathways into prostitution. Here, we build from insights into previous research by analyzing not only entry pathways but also how age categories are linked to time spent in…
Race, Gender, and Responses to the Police Among Ferguson Residents and Protesters
A large body of research has examined police behavior toward citizens and shown that police practices are geographically patterned. Disadvantaged neighborhoods are more likely to receive punitive policing than more affluent communities. However, little is known about how citizens manage encounters with police when they occur and few studies have examined how gender intersects with race and neighborhood context in determining reactions to and outc…
Women on Parole, Identity Processes, and Primary Desistance
The current study employs a prospective mixed-methods design to examine women parolees’ identities early in their supervision and the association of their identity development at that point to their record of subsequent arrests. Guided by narrative identity theory, we first conduct quantitative analysis of the relationship between redemption and contamination narratives and subsequent arrests. We then return to the qualitative interview data to s…
Narrative Identity Development and Desistance from Illegal Behavior among Substance-Using Female Offenders
Stop-gaps, lip service, and the perceived futility of body-worn police officer cameras in Baltimore City
Body-worn cameras (BWCs) are touted as a much-needed remedy to address police misconduct. Proponents argue that BWCs can serve not only as an accountability instrument, but that their use will lower costs attributed to investigation and evidence collection in the event of a civilian or internal complaint. However, the push for furnishing patrol officers with BWCs in order to bolster accountability, professionalism, and faith in institutional legi…
Gender-Specific Conflicts among Urban African-American Youth
The literatures on violence among young men and young women have highlighted the importance of situational context. However, few studies have compared disputes that do not result in violence with those that do, and even fewer have been positioned to investigate the role situational context may play across gender in accounting for these outcomes. Drawing on recent scholarship on gender and violence, this research explores the situational contexts …
Victimization and Resistance Strategies Among Female Offenders
Research reveals that most women resist violence against them. We know less, however, about the situational processes and context that shape the nature and outcome of attacks. In addition, limited research has examined the use of resistance strategies among female offenders. This article draws from a qualitative study of violence in the lives of female offenders to examine the situational context of assault outcomes and its relationship to their …
Strategic Responses to Navigating Police Encounters among Black Baltimore Residents
Research on police-citizen interactions has largely explored the treatment of citizens by the police with less attention paid to citizens’ behavior toward the police. Studies that have examined the behavior citizens’ exhibit during police encounters have found that citizen behavior affects how they are treated by the police; yet, little scholarly attention has been given to the strategic responses’ citizens use during their encounters with office…
Women at the Nexus of Correctional and Social Policies
This article addresses criticism by critical and feminist criminologists who fault the Risk/Needs/Responsivity corrections model for ignoring state-created recidivism risks. It examines the connection between women offenders’ changes in access to economic safety net benefits and changes in individual recidivism risk. Longitudinal quantitative data were from 345 women interviewed six months apart in a state with extreme benefits cuts. Loss of mone…
Attempting to reduce firearms violence through a Comprehensive Anti-Gang Initiative (Cagi)
Black Women Perceptions Matter
Decades of research on race and policing have offered much insight into the demographic and ecological patterns of these phenomena. African Americans experience significantly more contact with police than do whites. However, few researchers have examined in detail how gender intersects with race and place in determining whether and why Black women are suspicious of the police. Using in-depth interviews, this study compares Black women's and men's…
Bringing the “Invisible Population” to Light
Women who are involved in the correctional system are often neglected and overlooked. Although justice-involved women enter the carceral system with high levels of abuse and trauma, many are exposed to State violence from staff or incarcerated individuals. Criminal victimization in prison presents a significant threat to one's well-being. According to international human rights law, preventing and combatting violence against women is the responsi…
It Depends on the Situation
Scholars have examined women’s identity development in prisons. Less is known if and how identity development affects women in different stages of the correctional system. This study applies narrative identity theory, cognitive transformation theory, and literature on pains of imprisonment to 118 women’s life-story narratives to explore identity change in prisons, jails, and substance abuse treatment. Qualitative analysis revealed noteworthy situ…
Gender, Neighborhood Danger, and Risk‐avoidance Strategies Among Urban African‐american Youths
Research consistently reveals that fear of crime and perceived risk are demographically and ecologically patterned. Women and individuals in disadvantaged community settings report increased fear and perceptions of risk. For women, these fears and perceptions are tied to concerns about sexual violence specifically, whereas for individuals in distressed neighborhoods, crime rates, “incivilities,” and poor police‐community relations are often ident…
Reintegration Success and Failure
Criminologists have explored the reentry experience of formerly incarcerated adults, documented the pressing challenges of reentry, the correlates of recidivism, and the causes of desistance. Given scholars' focus on reentry to explain what factors impact criminal outcome, this raises the interesting question of whether and how such factors shape the process and outcome of reintegration. The current study uses official records and survey and in-d…
Women Coming Home
Drawing on recent scholarship on prisoner reentry and gendered pathways to crime, this research explores how social relationships, incarceration experiences, and community context, and the intersection of these factors with race, influence the occurrence and timing of recidivism. Using a large, modern sample of women released from prison, we find that women who are drug dependent, have less education, or have more extensive criminal histories are…
Gang Fights versus Cat Fights
Scholarly accounts of young men's violence have remained remarkably consistent over time: the use of violence emerges in response to focal concerns that strongly emphasize autonomy, respect, and the defense of reputation, and is indicative of the import of hegemonic masculinities on the streets. Yet, despite persistent gender gaps in the use of violence, recent research suggests that young women use violence more often than commonly believed, and…
It's Not Only for the Money
Numerous studies examine the causal factors of entrance into prostitution and find economic marginalization, substance addiction, and interpersonal networks are common reasons women enter the trade. However, we know less about the role that age of onset plays in shaping female pathways into prostitution. Here, we build from insights into previous research by analyzing not only entry pathways but also how age categories are linked to time spent in…
Men, Women, and Postrelease Offending
Numerous studies have examined the postrelease behaviors of men and women, highlighting the importance of social bonds in understanding positive reentry. However, there is evidence that the effect of social bonds on recidivism may vary by gender. Furthermore, research suggests that an individual’s propensity for criminality, including prior criminal history, may hinder the development and maintenance of positive social bonds and subsequently affe…
Attempting to reduce firearms violence through a Comprehensive Anti-Gang Initiative (Cagi)
Victimization and Resistance Strategies Among Female Offenders
Research reveals that most women resist violence against them. We know less, however, about the situational processes and context that shape the nature and outcome of attacks. In addition, limited research has examined the use of resistance strategies among female offenders. This article draws from a qualitative study of violence in the lives of female offenders to examine the situational context of assault outcomes and its relationship to their …
Women on Parole, Identity Processes, and Primary Desistance
The current study employs a prospective mixed-methods design to examine women parolees’ identities early in their supervision and the association of their identity development at that point to their record of subsequent arrests. Guided by narrative identity theory, we first conduct quantitative analysis of the relationship between redemption and contamination narratives and subsequent arrests. We then return to the qualitative interview data to s…
Women’s Experience of Motherhood, Violations of Supervision Requirements and Arrests
Though parenting is commonly viewed as an important factor influencing women’s desistance from offending, little is known about how specific aspects of parenting relate to recidivism. The present study investigated the connections of parenting stress, parenting involvement, routine parenting activities and maternal motivations to violations of supervision conditions, including arrests, for a sample of 190 women. The findings support desistance th…
Gender-Specific Conflicts among Urban African-American Youth
The literatures on violence among young men and young women have highlighted the importance of situational context. However, few studies have compared disputes that do not result in violence with those that do, and even fewer have been positioned to investigate the role situational context may play across gender in accounting for these outcomes. Drawing on recent scholarship on gender and violence, this research explores the situational contexts …
Women at the Nexus of Correctional and Social Policies
This article addresses criticism by critical and feminist criminologists who fault the Risk/Needs/Responsivity corrections model for ignoring state-created recidivism risks. It examines the connection between women offenders’ changes in access to economic safety net benefits and changes in individual recidivism risk. Longitudinal quantitative data were from 345 women interviewed six months apart in a state with extreme benefits cuts. Loss of mone…
Stop-gaps, lip service, and the perceived futility of body-worn police officer cameras in Baltimore City
Body-worn cameras (BWCs) are touted as a much-needed remedy to address police misconduct. Proponents argue that BWCs can serve not only as an accountability instrument, but that their use will lower costs attributed to investigation and evidence collection in the event of a civilian or internal complaint. However, the push for furnishing patrol officers with BWCs in order to bolster accountability, professionalism, and faith in institutional legi…
It Depends on the Situation
Scholars have examined women’s identity development in prisons. Less is known if and how identity development affects women in different stages of the correctional system. This study applies narrative identity theory, cognitive transformation theory, and literature on pains of imprisonment to 118 women’s life-story narratives to explore identity change in prisons, jails, and substance abuse treatment. Qualitative analysis revealed noteworthy situ…
I Will Be Out There Every Day Strong!” Protest Policing and Future Activism Among Ferguson and Baltimore Protesters
An established body of literature shows that people engage in protest events for a number of reasons, including grievances, collective identity, increased efficacy, and emotions. However, it is unclear what happens to individuals’ motivation toward protest participation as they experience the reality of repressive policing. This study contributes to the theoretical body of knowledge of protest policing and social movements by investigating the mi…
Narrative Identity Development and Desistance from Illegal Behavior among Substance-Using Female Offenders
Race, Gender, and Responses to the Police Among Ferguson Residents and Protesters
A large body of research has examined police behavior toward citizens and shown that police practices are geographically patterned. Disadvantaged neighborhoods are more likely to receive punitive policing than more affluent communities. However, little is known about how citizens manage encounters with police when they occur and few studies have examined how gender intersects with race and neighborhood context in determining reactions to and outc…
Hands Up, Don’t Shoot
Understanding the explosive protests over police killings and the legacy of racism Following the high-profile deaths of eighteen-year-old Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri, and twenty-five-year-old Freddie Gray in Baltimore, Maryland, both cities erupted in protest over the unjustified homicides of unarmed black males at the hands of police officers. These local tragedies—and the protests surrounding them—assumed national significance, igniting…
Race and Policing
“It’s a Blue Thing”
“I Will Be Out Here Every Day Strong!”
Protesting During a Pandemic
The study elucidates the interplay of COVID-19 and the wave of Black Lives Matter protests to assess motivation and risk taking for protest participation. We draw on protesters’ accounts to examine how police violence influenced the participants decision making to participate in the 2020 March on Washington during a pandemic that exacerbated the risks already in place from protesting the police. We found that protesters’ social position and commi…
“I’m afraid of cops
Proactive policing strategies produce a wide range of harms to African Americans. Research on attitudes towards police show that citizen distrust is more widespread among Blacks than Whites.However, we know less about how gender intersects with race and neighborhood context in determining whether and why Black people fear the police. Here, I build from the insights of previous research by providing a contextual examination of the gendered nature …
Too much policing
The repeat use of fatal force against unarmed people of color has driven global protests against police violence and fueled criticism of policing as a mechanism for public safety. In the US, calls to abolish, transform, or reform policing have reemerged with a primary focus on the elimination of structural racism. In this essay, we contend that a two-tier policing problem exists. The first is the continued use of policing to enforce racial domina…
Digital reentry
High incarceration rates and a focus on incapacitation during incarceration lead to a ‘revolving door effect’ in the United States, with more than two thirds of parolees rearrested within three years of release. One aspect that is missing from efforts to resolve the revolving door effect is how access to and use of information and communication technologies (ICTs) might improve the reentry process. Focus groups with 73 male and female returning c…
Psychology (31 works) · Criminology (28 works) · Political science (22 works) · Crime Patterns and Interventions (21 works) · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis (21 works) · Sociology (21 works) · Policing Practices and Perceptions (15 works) · Social Psychology (15 works) · Law (13 works) · Social Psychology (13 works)