Introduction
The criminal justice field often involves not only the court system but the aspect of policing as well. The study by Martinez-Prather and colleagues, written in 2016, focuses on the school-to-prison pipeline (STPP). In the past ten years, teachers, parents, scientists, and legislators have become overwhelmingly concerned about enhancing law enforcement personnel’s presence in classrooms to manage school security. Although the prevalence of this tactic in institutions has grown frequently as a result of highly reported gun violence, it has additionally been linked to the so-called school-to-prison pipeline (Martinez-Prather et al., 2016). According to the theory, even the presence of law enforcement officers in institutions explicitly prohibits little student misbehavior and calls for harsh penalties, usually involving court proceedings. When law enforcement personnel respond to relatively minor violations in schools by issuing tickets, making arrests, or referring cases to the court, it can have major repercussions for the students who are affected. Thus, the qualitative study reviews the presence of law enforcement officers on the premises of schools.
Discussion
The goals of the study are based on filling the gap in the literature regarding police officers and their role in educational institutions. This research looks at the functions that law enforcement personnel appointed to schools have in connection to the school-to-prison pipeline. Researchers contend that an officer’s position affects their decision regarding how to handle student wrongdoing, which eventually may have an effect on this network (Martinez-Prather et al., 2016). Therefore, the hypothesis is that officers negatively affect the behavior and perceptions of the children and lead them toward the criminal justice system.
Researchers in their work believed that it was best to use a qualitative research design because it would probably result in a more thorough analysis of this prospective event. The sampling method that was chosen was based on convenience. An email was sent to the Texas Commission on Law Enforcement-provided official acting as the main point of contact for all 180 divisions (Martinez-Prather et al., 2016). Texas school-based law enforcement personnel were interviewed, and each one was examined to look for similar trends.
Toward the end, the authors accentuate the negative effects that can result from law enforcement presence. The research raises the possibility that the school-to-prison pipeline might not be as directly related to the usage of law enforcement personnel in the school setting as earlier studies had suggested (Martinez-Prather et al., 2016). The results of the current research particularly imply that the police’s position in the school setting can affect that officer’s disciplinary measures, which have previously been used to measure SBLEs detrimental effect on the pipeline, such as fines and arrests (Martinez-Prather et al., 2016). Thus, instead of simply focusing on the officers’ position in the school setting, researchers recommend paying more attention to how they are deployed there.
Finally, as for the advantages of the study’s research design, despite its evident generalizability limitations, the application of this design is a crucial first step in comprehending how an officer’s position may affect the pipeline. As a result, this will probably guide future quantitative investigations. Since qualitative approaches are intended to gather a higher level of information, this method is both suitable and justified. Regarding the disadvantage of this design, the results might not apply to different school settings, school districts, or states due to the objective information without strong numerical data. In this case, to obtain more credible and applicable information, quantitative research might be required.
The field of terrorism studies has witnessed a variety of attempts to depict the nuanced concepts surrounding militancy and political aggression. Scientists have employed a variety of methods to define a particular subject of research (Marsden, 2016). The statement that there are numerous types of terrorism similar to the number of scientists is supported by the fact that numerous categorizations of terrorism have been produced as a result of this endeavor (Marsden, 2016). However, the potential of merging data study with typological progress has not yet been fully realized. The goal of research by Marsden is to fill this gap by presenting a quantitatively generated typology based on Social Movement Theory (SMT), which outlines the critical organizational and situational characteristics of militant groups.
In order to create the typology, an innovative statistical research design that integrates quantitative and qualitative methodologies is used. A coding framework outlining the fundamental aspects of SMT was initially built. This served as the basis for the material analysis of secondary data on 28 inert groupings, which transformed qualitative information into quantitative measurements that indicated the existence, lack, or severity of the variables generated from the SMT (Marsden, 2016). Although the sample size is limited, the methodology used to produce it shows that it is typical of those organizations that ceased activities throughout the relevant time period and showed a propensity for ongoing violence (Marsden, 2016). To answer the main question of the research, the MPOSAC process was used to analyze these data and create the typology (Marsden, 2016). The MPOSAC approach generates graphical representations showing the groups’ positions with respect to one another based on their characteristics on a variety of resource mobilization characteristics.
Toward the end, several clusters have been identified and interpreted. To be precise, eight forms of militant organization are revealed by applying metrics of the larger political framework in addition to these organizational characteristics. Axis 1: Governmental assistance, Territory, and Membership; Axis 2: Network Development; Axis 3: Popular Encouragement and Training (Marsden, 2016). It has been shown that the three axes, each of which represents one of three clusters of resource mobilization strategies, are helpful in defining the placement of the groups within the array (Marsden, 2016). In addition to presenting this data in a more understandable way than, perhaps, a table, the typology additionally shows how these factors connect to one another (Marsden, 2016). The findings stress the significance of placing militant groups within their sociopolitical context and the advantages of using both theory and empirical investigation to create reliable characterizations of violent organizations.
Conclusion
Finally, when it comes to the advantages and disadvantages of the study, the advantage of such a research design is that it thoroughly analyzes the intricate matter of terrorism and militant groups’ core characteristics. The work provides not simply an evaluation of the matter but a quantitative material to create a typology for the chosen groups. However, on the contrary, the disadvantage of such a design is that it is time-consuming to perform such an analysis even with a smaller sample size. The given research was based not only on the study of information but the formation of a graphic representation of the groups of different axes and the interpretation of their positions within the clusters.
References
Marsden, S. V. (2016). A social movement theory typology of militant organisations: Contextualising terrorism. Terrorism and Political Violence, 28(4), 750-773. Web.
Martinez-Prather, K., McKenna, J. M., & Bowman, S. W. (2016). The school-to-prison pipeline: How roles of school-based law enforcement officers may impact disciplinary actions. Journal of Qualitative Criminal Justice & Criminology, 4(2), 244-272. Web.