Marguerite Bryan, associate professor at the Criminal Justice Institute, received her Ph.D. in sociology from John Hopkins University. She chose sociology because she liked the approach that the specialty offered — and she still does.
Bryan said sociology’s practical approach addresses answers and gives explanations about how group membership influences individual attitudes and behavior, not just individual personality traits, like psychology focuses on. She also enjoys sociology because many areas overlap. Her interests in criminology, diversity, race and ethnicity issues, and research all intersect with each other.
“I started out looking at urban situations. When you study that, one of the areas you come across is crime in the urban communities. That’s how I developed my interest in criminology. These areas are interrelated. They’re not compartmentalized,” she said.
In her doctoral program, Bryan focused on the urban riots of the 1960s and how they were a part of social movement that came about after Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated. She said crime evolved in the late ‘70s and early ‘80s because it seemed to involve more violence and was related to increased illicit drug dealing.
Bryan said, “The violence that took place then was more criminal and drug related, which led to a knee jerk reaction to violence. The Reagan administration felt it needed to get really tough, so they created a three-strikes-you’re-out punishment policy, among other harsh penalties for offenders.”
If an offender had two prior serious felony convictions, on their third offense, he or she would be given a severe sentence, such as life with a minimum of 20 or 25 years mandatory. Bryan said because of this rule, the jail and prison population expanded tremendously and brought about a lot of collateral effects in the social system.
“More people were arrested and they had to expand the facilities, which means more money was allotted to prisons that came from education and health — just to hold more people. They’re not doing better rehabilitation. They’re just locking people up,” she said.
Bryan said she is seeing more of a concern about these harsh penalties because you can’t lock people up forever. Criminal Justice researchers are researching various methods of rehabilitation and prevention to see what works best in hopes of disseminating these findings to practitioners to educate them and implement these methods.
Technology has also changed the criminal justice field because it has improved communication. There are now federal government websites that list model programs for juveniles delinquency prevention and treatment for adults certifying that these programs are effective.
“People don’t have to guess now as to which ones work. The government encourages practitioners in the community by providing funding if they use a model program,” she said.
The change in technology also brought about challenges for Bryan because she had to adjust to teaching only online classes.
“Before coming here, I only taught face to face. I am trying to find out certain techniques to make up for that lack of connection you have face to face,” she said.
Though it may have been a challenge, she thinks distance education is an advantage for young people. Bryan has read studies that conclude that young people learn more, not just from the Internet, but social media in particular.
“Students are bored with the traditional way of teaching so schools are trying to incorporate more of that. They respond more to the media and students like it. Learning is so much broader than we thought. It’s not just in a textbook anymore,” she said.
Bryan also enjoys her online classes because she interacts with students who are in the field, like child protection services employees. Their online discussions are stimulating because her students can tell stories that happened on their job and look for ways to enhance prevention.
“My students are very interested in sharing their experiences and learning about the programs that work. They’re always surprised to learn which ones work and which ones don’t. The popular programs are typically the ones that don’t work,” she said.
Currently, Bryan and the Criminal Justice Institute are in a partnership with the Broward Sheriff’s Office providing training and research evaluation for the agency to held the agency improve upon carrying out its public safety services.
