Criminal justice student works on youth risk behavior study
While trying to decide on a major during her sophomore year at Richmond, Kate Merrill faced a problem that many college students grapple with: Her classes weren't matching up with her interests. She was taking political science and psychology classes and had almost decided on a psychology major, but her academic program seemed to be missing something.
“I was trying to decide whether to go into law, education or social work,” said Merrill, now a senior. “But I really wanted a major that would let me study what was going on in high poverty areas and what causes people to turn to crime.”
When Merrill took an introductory sociology class with the criminal justice department’s chair, Joan Neff, she stumbled upon a subject she’d never considered. By pairing a criminal justice major with her psychology major, Merrill designed an academic program that allowed her to explore her interests.
Her coursework and goals didn’t really come together, however, until she took a giant leap off campus to put poverty and crime in real-life perspective. During her junior year, Merrill volunteered with a probation and parole educational tutoring program that helped former offenders earn their GED. In some respects, she found the work discouraging, as she sat by and watched many of the program’s participants drop out because of family issues, transportation problems or because they’d violated the terms of their parole and gone back to jail.
Looking for a more research-intensive learning experience, Merrill embarked on a serious internship search during the spring of her junior year. The result was a unique opportunity to study adolescent risk behaviors in low-income neighborhoods in Mobile, Alabama. Run by Dr. John Bolland of the University of Alabama at Birmingham, the research study collected longitudinal data on children aged 9 to 18 years old, living in poverty. Each summer, the same kids were surveyed on subjects like how they were doing in school, what their family relationships were like and what kinds of risk behaviors they had participated in. Merrill spent the summer finding these children, no easy task since many moved on a regular basis, and administering the survey questions.
“It was really difficult and eye-opening,” said Merrill of the summer internship, which included a class every Wednesday morning to discuss issues that came up on the surveys. “What some of these kids are growing up with is unbelievable. In the United States, you don’t see poverty like that unless you go looking for it. It was really rewarding because I think the first step to making a difference is becoming informed.”
The study employed 25 other researchers including doctoral students, public health professionals and some undergraduates. Spending time with people from all different backgrounds introduced Merrill to career paths, like public health, that she knew little about. The experience also provided her with inspiration for an independent research project back at Richmond, examining how changes in the parental figure role affects drug use and behavioral problems.
This year, Merrill is staying busy volunteering at the Hotchkiss Field Community Center in Richmond’s East End, finishing up her research and making plans for next year. She’d love to do something service-oriented after graduation before she decides on graduate school. Her experience in Alabama is pulling her toward the Mississippi Teacher Corps, a program that sends recent college graduates to teach in critical needs areas in the state. Comparable programs across the country would let her accomplish the same basic goal—working with youth in poverty and discovering more about herself along the way.