Mug Shots: Transgender “Johns”

This is the second in a series of articles regarding a policy of the Chicago Police Department (CPD), in conjunction with the Mayor’s office, to make publicly available (online for 30 days) mug shots of all individuals who have been arrested (not convicted) for patronizing or soliciting for prostitution. Part One: The Public Shaming of “Johns”

When we first began examining Chicago “mug shot” data, something caught our attention: a disproportionate number of transgender individuals are apparently being arrested for patronizing or soliciting for prostitution. These individuals are designated as male (actually, only men are on the website) but appear fairly definitively dressed as women in their mug shots.

This sparked our interest and provoked some questions. What proportion of those arrested are transgender and why do so many transgender individuals appear on the website?

To answer these questions (and many others), we began a systematic categorization of the mug shot subjects by race and gender. A team of trained graduate students coded the data. To infer race, they examined surnames and mug shot photos. To infer transgender status, they used visual cues based on the mug shots, such as hairstyles, make-up, and clothes. All three team members had to agree before a final code was assigned. When they disagreed, the subject’s gender was coded “unknown.” We were conservative in categorizing variables.

The results of our analysis follows, starting with where in Chicago transgender arrests are occurring. (Note: For the maps, the arrests cover the period 3/8/2010 to 3/9/2012.  For the table, the arrest dates are from 3/8/2010 to 3/30/2012.)

Certificate in Qualitative Research Methods: Summer Session

After a successful first run, the SSRC will again offer a certificate course in qualitative research methods. The course will run on Saturdays from June 2 – July 7 (with no class on June 30).

This course will teach students the fundamentals of scientific qualitative research design and how to conduct the most common types of qualitative field research, including in-depth interviews, ethnography, life narratives, focus groups, and participant observation. Students will get hands-on, practical experience designing and conducting qualitative research, including data collection techniques. By its conclusion, they’ll be able to:

• Develop and elucidate testable hypotheses
• Understand how social theory and specific research methods work together
• Recognize an appropriate methodology based on research questions and develop a corresponding research design
• Craft quality control mechanisms for data collection activities
• Design data collection instruments
• Enumerate various ethical and political dilemmas in qualitative research
• Conduct qualitative field research
• Identify the most common qualitative field research pitfalls and strategies to avoid them

Chicago-area professionals working within behavioral and/or social science research and those just wanting to bolster their marketable research skills will benefit from the certificate program.

Recent graduates, both graduate and undergraduate, current graduate students, and advanced upperclassmen considering a career in social or behavioral science fields or graduate programs in sociology, psychology, anthropology, public service, policy studies, social work, and public health would also benefit.

Registration is now open! Contact Jessica Speer (jspeer3 at depaul.edu) to learn more.

Mug Shots: The Public Shaming of “Johns”

This is the first installment in a series regarding a policy of the Chicago Police Department (CPD), in conjunction with the Mayor’s office, to make publicly available (online for 30 days) mug shots of all individuals who have been arrested (not convicted) for patronizing or soliciting for prostitution.  On the website, anyone with internet access can see an arrestee’s:

• Mug shot
• Name
• Age
• Sex (although all are biological men)
• Home address (the city block)
• Arrest location
• Arrest date
• Arrest statute
• Whether their car was impounded

Since 2010, the SSRC has been monitoring the website and collecting screen shots every 30 days to create a database with all the available information.  We have begun some preliminary mapping of this data.

This first map shows where the prostitution arrests are taking place. For the maps, the arrest dates are from 3/8/2010 to 3/9/2012. Not surprisingly, most arrests occur on the West and South Sides. While the vast majority of these arrests are for street-based prostitution, one of the more interesting (surprising?) findings is the extreme street-nature of the arrests. Instead of being clustered in neighborhoods, they appear to follow major streets in Chicago, often crossing several neighborhoods.  (The exception to this is the cluster around the Englewood and Auburn Gresham neighborhoods.)

Brother Time Screening

The SSRC invites you to a screening of Brother Time, a documentary about the violence that erupted in the wake of Kenya’s 2007 presidential election. The screening will be held at 7:30 pm Monday, April 9, on the Lincoln Park Campus at the Schmitt Academic Center, 2320 N. Kenmore Ave., Room 254.

Filmmaker Wesley Shrum, chair of the Sociology Department at Louisiana State University, will be on hand for the screening and a Q&A session following the film. Shrum is a video ethnographer who regularly does research in Kenya, where he was caught up in the post-election chaos.

This event is free and open to the public. Please spread the word to friends and colleagues who may be interested in this event.

The How & The Why: The Certificate in Qualitative Research Methods