Now entering its 5th semester, the Prosecution Project (tPP) is currently recruiting a limited number of student researchers and analysts for the Spring semester.
tPP is a large data collection and analysis project that seeks to understand trends in how political violence, terrorism, and extremism are prosecuted in the US court system. The project involves a combination of locating cases, coding them together with team members and helping to generate and interpret quantitative and qualitative forms of analysis. Interested students can enroll as coders (via an independent study) or as analysts/writers (via SOC462).
There are two ways for Miami students to join tPP:
1.) We are interested in recruiting approximately 10 new student coders to help locate and code cases for the data set. This involves pairing up with another student coder, locating records and court documents, discussing the case, and finally entering information into an already established database. Student coders must register for 1-3 credits of independent study with Professor Loadenthal (credits will be in Sociology/SOC or Social Justice Studies/SJS). If you would like to join as a team coder, please complete the application here and our team will be in touch. Space is limited so please apply as soon as you’re able.
2.) We are also seeking up to 15 new students to join as analysts focused of the current data set to generate research suitable for publication. Students may enroll in SOC462 which will be an applied sociological research class, focused on terrorism studies, and based entirely around the tPP data set. To join this class, complete the application and email Professor Loadenthal to be added. Our goal is to publish a collection of scholarly research dealing with the tPP dataset in 2019, and the project director has already spoken with several journals about this.
No previous experience is required for coders or analysts, and the opportunity is open to students of all majors. Students student coders will be required to check in with the team twice a month and student analysts–those enrolled in SOC462–must attend that class and complete writing assignments. We are specially seeking Freshman, Sophomore and Junior students who can engage with the project for multiple terms and most team members have enjoyed their work and have sustained it throughout their their at Miami.
We are also interested in finding a few students with specialized skill sets including machine learning/artificial intelligence, grant writing, Digital content management systems and marketing/outreach. Students interested in working in these areas should complete the online application. To see our growing team of student researchers, visit us here!
Why join tPP?
- Get real world experience dealing with court records, criminal indictments and data processing relevant for careers in law, public policy, intelligence analysis, security/law enforcement and government.
- Learn and practice research skills including project design, data coding, qualitative analysis, quantitative analysis, data verification, sampling and using software suites such as SPSS, R, Tableau and a variety of cloud computing platforms.
- Have the opportunity to publish in high ranking academic journals, present at conferences, and generate connections which are helpful for graduate school and other post-college challenges.
- Meet with professionals working on issues of security, crime, terrorism and extremism including local leaders in the FBI, US Attorneys Office and Cincinnati Fusion Center, and leading academics at Georgetown University, George Mason University, University of Cincinnati, University of Maryland and elsewhere.
- Help to create the largest, ideologically-mixed data set for public use by researchers, academics and other practitioners.