This year’s recipient of the Manheim-Sterling Undergraduate Research Prize tackles important social issues.
Molly Hogan, an SMPA senior majoring in Political Communication, is exploring the effects of framing on public opinion on an increasingly important political issue: mandatory minimum sentencing. She is particularly interested in the unjust disparity in jail time caused by a controversial law for crack and powder cocaine use.
“I thought it would be fascinating to see what kind of information you can present to people to not just teach them about those differences but also get them to change their minds about it,” said Hogan. “To me, there is a normative issue with having that kind of discrepancy for substances that are basically chemically identical.”
Currently, the law dictates that people found with crack cocaine spend more time in jail than individuals caught with powder cocaine. Crack cocaine is more often used among minority communities and the poor, so they are disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system. Hogan will use an experiment to determine if after being exposed to this information, respondents will become more or less supportive of policy changes to make the law more equitable.
“The money from the Manheim Sterling grant is going to allow me expand my survey to a wider range of ages, races, and socioeconomic status and geographic locations around the country so I’ll hopefully be able to get more interesting data,” said Hogan.
Hogan hopes that her research can help put organizations and non-profits who work on the issue of prison and criminal justice reform in a better position to change policies. She was also accepted to present a poster at the Midwestern Political Science Academy Conference in April in Chicago.
Following graduation this spring, Hogan is considering a path to continue working in criminal justice reform.
Named in honor of two legendary SMPA faculty members, the Manheim-Sterling Undergraduate Research Prizes are designed to support and encourage outstanding mentored undergraduate research and creative activity in the School of Media and Public Affairs. The School awards two prizes each academic year, one for a political communication major and one for a journalism/mass communication major. Students must have a faculty mentor for their project or be engaged in collaborative research with a faculty mentor to qualify for these awards. The awards are designed to afford students an opportunity to partake of the many benefits that result from undertaking a serious research project or creative work and from establishing a close mentoring relationship with a faculty member.