Jennifer Haegele-Ryterski is a Doctor of Public Administration (DPA) student in the 2019 cohort. Throughout her time in the DPA, Jennifer has been working with DPA Associate Director Dr. Sean McCandless on better understanding the experiences of people identifying as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, and queer (LGBTIQ+) in the criminal-legal system, particularly in probation. Throughout this process, they have been working with Dr. Angela Dwyer (University of Tasmania), an internationally recognized expert in queer criminology, a field that "strives to put lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) people at the center of criminological inquiry" (see here: https://www.oxfordbibliographies.com/view/document/obo-9780195396607/obo-9780195396607-0256.xml).
Below, Jennifer discusses more about her dissertation, tentatively titled "Queering probation in four frames: How LGBTIQ+ probationers and their probation officers perceive factors within the Bolman and Deal framework that impacts their successful completion of probation."
Throughout history, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Intersex and Questioning (LGBTIQ+) people have fought so many significant battles to gain their rights of equality, equity, and legal protections throughout the United States. To date, there continues to be consequential gaps in legal protections which disproportionately impact LGBTIQ+ people through the fostering of implicit biases and systemic discrimination, particularly in the criminal justice system. Between harsher sentencing laws by policymakers and increased enforcement by the police across the board, LGBTIQ+ people often become targets for law enforcement and face discriminatory practices throughout every step of the criminal justice process. With increased arrests rates, the nation’s prison system has become significantly overpopulated, and once incarcerated, LGBTIQ+ people experience discriminatory treatment during their incarceration as well as disproportionately subjected to discrimination, physical and mental violence, sexual assault, and rape by both other inmates and officers.
LGBTIQ+ people have, and continue to be, overrepresented throughout all areas of the criminal justice system. While there is currently a wealth of literature on how and why LGBTIQ+ are overrepresented in the criminal justice system as well as the treatment of LGBTIQ+ people regarding arrest and incarceration, LGBTIQ+ people’s interactions in probation have not been thoroughly documented, or at the very least, researched. As such, Jennifer’s dissertation utilizes three areas of relevant literature:
- Rise in discrimination,
- Probation officer training, and
- Bolman and Deal’s Four Frame Model (i.e., structural, human resources, political, and symbolic frames) to develop the conceptual framework for a mixed-methods analysis.
Utilizing Bolman and Deal’s (2017) Four Frame Model, this dissertation will explore how LGBTIQ+ probationers and their probation officers perceive factors within each framework that impacts their successful completion of probation. This research is vital because analyzing the success and challenges of LGBTIQ+ clients and their probation officers within one or all of Bolman and Deal’s (2017) Four Frames allows departments to gain a better perspective for institutional change where they need it most.
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Sean McCandless, Ph.D., received his PhD in Public Affairs from the School of Public Affairs of the University of Colorado Denver. In addition to working as an assistant professor at UIS, he serves as associate director of the Doctorate in Public Administration (DPA) program. His research concerns accountability for social equity, or how public service institutions become fairer in terms of access, processes, quality, and outcomes of public services. With Dr. Mary E. Guy, he is co-editor of the book Achieving Social Equity: From Problems to Solutions. He is currently editing other scholarly book volumes and journal symposia focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion in public administration. Dr. McCandless was named the 2021 UIS University Scholar.
