KINGSTON, R.I. – March 2 – In June of 2025, Brittany Martin, professor of criminology and criminal justice, received a Russell Sage Foundation grant to pursue her research on the causes and consequences of social, political and economic inequalities in the US, specifically the US legal system. Through this research, she has selected five CCJ students to work as research assistants, giving them real-world experience and an opportunity to network..

“When most people think of criminology and criminal justice (CCJ), you think of ‘I want to be a lawyer’ or ‘I want to be a police officer,’” said John-nae Sylvia ‘26, psychology and CCJ. “It allowed me to see again how many different positions can go into working with the courts.”

As research assistants, students attend and observe district court hearings weekly, either remaining in one courtroom for the full session or moving between multiple courtrooms throughout the day. They document everything from the courthouse entry process and physical layout of the courtroom to the identities, appearances, and interactions between judges, attorneys, defendants, plaintiffs, and audience members.

“I really enjoy going into court and observing,” said Maddy Hinrichs ‘27, psychology, political science, and criminal justice. “I’ll note if there is a defense attorney present, if they’re a public defender or a private attorney, what the defendant looks like…I try to pick up on smaller things because, at the end of the day, they do matter.”

Beyond surface-level details, students are trained to record proceedings in heavy detail. Making note of dialogue, describing tone and demeanor and tracking discussions related to indigency, court costs, ability to pay and other financial penalties.

“I was observing the district court and I was able to go out into their jury box so that I could hear and get more information,” Sylvia said. “I see the differences between each courtroom and how the defendants are being treated.”

Martin’s research takes a qualitative approach as well as quantitative. In addition to conducting court observations, research assistants  have been working to analyze administrative data from the Rhode Island Judiciary, spanning from 2015-2024.

“I am more on the coding side and the virtual side of it,” said Drew Larivee ‘26,, criminology and criminal justice. “Dr. Martin and I meet in her office and write a script in R-studio, which will take all of the data they collect and put it into this giant Excel chart that we have. [It’s] separated out by what’s the restitution, what’s it owed, how much each person is going and charged with that.”

Each student’s unique area of interest allowed for a deeper engagement with specific aspects of the court system, whether that be focusing on courtroom dynamics, legal representation or patterns in sentencing. With the flexibility of scheduling observations and research focus areas , students have been able to shape their research experience.

“Dr. Martin emphasizes letting the data speak for itself,” Hinrichs said. “You don’t ever want to necessarily go into court or and have that expectation of what you’re going to find, because that biases what you’re looking for and what you do find. So we try to go into it knowing that the experience might differ each time, and we don’t necessarily have one goal of what we’re looking for when we go in.”

Dr. Martin also teaches “CCJ 285: Criminal Courts and Procedure”, a course that introduces students to courtroom protocol and the structure of the judicial process. This foundation helps ease students into the observational research aspect of her work.

“It was really interesting because she would teach us how to go to court in [CCJ] 285, [how to] sit in and be respectful and go through all the notes,” Larivee said. “And then we go into transition to the research part of it, and we’re doing the exact same thing.”

As each student nears graduation with their respective careers in mind, their experience with Dr. Martin’s qualitative and quantitative research is shaping what is to come next for the group. What started as routine data coding for Larivee quickly evolved into an unexpected opportunity. 

“The other day… when we were all coding, [Dr. Martin]  kind of cornered me in there,” he said. “[She was] like, ‘there’s a data analyst position… I mean, you’re here every couple of days, [you] do this in your free time. We think you should apply.’ That kind of shifted my whole perception of what I want to do after school. Just from one day of coding.” 

For Sylvia, this experience strengthened her passion for advocacy. 

“I want to be of help to people of underrepresented and underserved communities that go through the system, like the juveniles,” she said. “It just made me realize even more that this is like something I want to do and help people be relieved of their stress.”

Hinrichs, who plans to go to law school after graduating in hopes of becoming an attorney, said the experience has been eye-opening and humbling. 

“If I hadn’t had this experience, I would just go into it as an attorney with a completely different perspective, rather than as a student and prospective law student,” she said. “It made me realize that I should definitely find ways to give back to these people, because I’ve seen I become severely less desensitized to these types of situations that these people are going through.”

Through careful observation, open-minded research and real-world exposure, each student has walked away with something different. But their shared time observing and analyzing the court systems has left a shared impact.

This story was written by Erin Malinn ’28, journalism, intern for the College of Arts and Science