WE ARE
RESEARCHERS
OS students and faculty teamed up to investigate important
topics and examine processes for improvement.
Check out the highlights of their research!
JEREMY LEVINE led a team of research assistants that explored
how state and federal lawmakers introduced a new public benefit
in the 1960s and 1970s—financial compensation for victims of
violent crime—financed by what was at the time an innovative
budgetary tool—statutory increases to criminal fees and fines.
These incredibly important laws pay for medical expenses and
lost wages incurred by innocent victims of violent crime. The team
collected and reviewed historical newspaper articles from the era
to see how lawmakers pitched the new benefit to the public. They
also started the process of creating 50 state legislative histories—
essentially, a full reporting of every bill proposed and passed with
respect to crime victim compensation.
STEVE SAMFORD worked with a student research team on a project
focused on the consequences of small farmers’ integration into global
markets. OS students on the research team have worked to understand
the nature of global markets for agriculture as well as conditions in
Mexico. They have been gathering quantitative data from a variety of
Mexican census programs reflecting rates of industrialized agriculture
and wellbeing. This data will make it possible to assess the consequences
of shifting forms of agriculture – and the organizations and enterprises
making that shift possible – by comparing across hundreds of Mexican
counties. Working on this research project helps OS students acquire and
practice qualitative and quantitative skills and learn about organizational
and economic dynamics in an industry that they have not considered
before.
6