The following reflection essay is about my experiences as a Latino Associate Professor who focuses on criminology, youth violence, juvenile justice, and the associated disparities with race, ethnicity, and immigration. I reflect about the "race and justice" job market, pursuing and establishing a Latina/o Criminology working group, often…

In recent years, there has been a growing social, educational, and public policy focus on investigating the correlates associated with youth carrying weapons in their communities and schools. Victimization and other correlates such as drug use and violent risk behaviors among youth have been linked to deviant behavior including weapon carrying.…

Violence and disorder occurring within schools have received increased attention and scrutiny over the years; however, few have explored how violence and school disorder are influencing the children of immigrants' likelihood of dropping out. The current study draws from a segmented assimilation framework to explore if and how the associations…

School-based discipline can negatively shape the educational outcomes of students, particularly for racial and ethnic minorities. Because racial and ethnic minority youth are at risk for educational failure and marginalized within schools, academic and sport extracurricular activities are often presented as a means to ameliorate educational risk…

There are racial/ethnic disparities associated with school punishment practices and academic progress. In addition, research suggests that urban schools have stricter school punishment practices and higher grade retention rates. What remains unknown, however, is the relationship between race/ethnicity, school punishment practices, and retention…

A growing body of research is exploring the affects school disorder has on educational progress. It is also known that educational success and failure are linked to gender, racial, and ethnic disparities. Other issues, however, remain less explored. For example, how do perceptions of individual adolescents about disorder affect behavior? Or…

The children of immigrants' educational progress and success have been the focus of social research for decades. Although it is known that extracurricular activities contribute to adolescent development and overall well-being, it is also clear that participation varies across immigrant generations. Yet, empirical study explaining generational…

The focus of this study is to investigate school bonding among adolescents in immigrant families using a segmented assimilation theoretical framework. Data are drawn from the Educational Longitudinal Study of 2002, a nationally representative sample of 10th graders. We focus on a subsample consisting of 9,870 first- (N = 1,170, 12 %), second- (N =…

Academic self-efficacy reflects an adolescent's level of confidence or belief that she or he can successfully accomplish educational assignments and tasks, which are also argued to be a fundamental factor in educational progress and success. Little is known, however, about the academic self-efficacy that the children of immigrants have, which is…