Donald T Hutcherson II

Full-time Lecturer

Contact

Donald.Hutcherson2@case.edu
216.313.2246
Mather Memorial 228

Other Information

Education: Ph.D. The Ohio State University, 2008

 

Professor Hutcherson is a full-time lecturer at Case Western Reserve University. He earned his doctorate in sociology at The Ohio State University. He has teaching interests in the following areas: sociological research methods, social statistics, sociology over the life course, collective behavior, criminal & social justice, social class & social stratification, global stratification and race & ethnicity. 

Research Interests

Recently, Donald’s research has been on strategies to reduce the prison population produced by decades of mass incarceration. Donald’s work on the collateral consequences of incarceration has been featured on National Public Radio (NPR) and CNBC.  This research indicates that spending significant time in jail or prison produces a stigma that may force the ex-incarcerated into illegal opportunity structures to obtain income.

Academic Publications

Tapia, Michael, Alarid, Leanne F. & Donald T. Hutcherson II. 2015. “Youthful Arrest and Parental Support: Gendered Effects in Straining the Parent-Child Relationship.”  Deviant Behavior 36(8):  674-690.

Much research confirms the importance of the quality of the parent-child relationship on youth involvement in delinquency.  Yet few studies have examined this relationship in reverse order, that is, how an arrest for a delinquent offense impacts the parent-child relationship.  This paper explores the effects of arrests on the child’s perceived level of parental support using National Longitudinal Survey of Youth data. It is found that while parental support is prone to gradual, yet significant, decline during the adolescent years, the arrest-parental support relationship appears to be non-linear. In other words, multiple juvenile arrests matter. This study also reveals interesting findings regarding parental support based on gender.

Hutcherson II, Donald T.  2012.  “Crime Pays:  The Connection between Time in Prison and Future Criminal Earnings.”  Prison Journal, 92(3):  315-335.

Tobit regression models are estimated for young adult ex-offenders and non-offenders using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth for 1997 to 2005. The findings reveal that individuals with an incarceration history earn significantly higher annual illegal earnings than those who do not have such a history. This is true net a variety of predictors of illegal income, including race and ethnicity. The current research indicates that spending significant time in jail or prison may force the ex-incarcerated into illegal opportunity structures to obtain income.

Sutton, James E., Paul E. Bellair, Brian R. Kowalski, Ryan Light & Donald T. Hutcherson II.  2011.  “Reliability and Validity of Prisoner Self-Reports Gathered Using the Life Event Calendar Method.”  Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 27(2):  151-171.

We examine test–retest reliability of monthly self-reports of criminal behavior collected using a life event calendar from a random sample of minimum and medium security prisoners. Hierarchical analysis reveals that criminal activity reported during the initial test is strongly associated with responses given in the retest, and that the relationship varies only by the lag in days between the initial interview and the retest. Analysis of validity reveals that self-reported incarceration history is strongly predictive of official incarceration history although we were unable to address whether subjects could correctly identify the months they were incarcerated.

Books

Hutcherson II, Donald T.  2011.  “Street Dreams:  The Effect of Incarceration on Illegal Earnings.”  Saarbrucken, Germany:  Lambert Academic Publishing.

To assess the role of prior incarceration on illegal earnings, this study estimates random-effects models for adolescents and young adult male ex-offenders and non-offenders using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth (NLSY97) for 1997-2005.  Consistent with the theoretical arguments, the findings reveal that individuals with an incarceration history earn significantly higher annual illegal earnings than those who do not have such a history.

Book Chapter

Tapia, Michael, Donald T. Hutcherson II and Ana Campos-Holland.  2011.  “Latino Ethnicity as a Risk Factor for Arrest: U.S. Minority and Regional Effects.”  In Ruben Martinez (Ed.), Latinos in the Midwest. Michigan: Michigan State University Press. 

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