UROP Research Mentor Project Submission Portal: Submission #1050

Submission information
Submission Number: 1050
Submission ID: 19846
Submission UUID: c0e2b767-2a86-495a-82e4-74776185414b

Created: Sat, 07/19/2025 - 10:03 AM
Completed: Sat, 07/19/2025 - 10:12 AM
Changed: Sun, 10/05/2025 - 02:39 PM

Remote IP address: 149.22.245.206
Submitted by: Anonymous
Language: English

Is draft: No
Primary Research Mentor Name Dr. Alexandra Cockerham
Research Mentor Preferred Pronouns
When potential research assistants are reaching out via email, what is your preferred honorific? Dr.
Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated) amg08k@fsu.edu
Position Title Faculty
FSU College (if applicable) Social Sciences and Public Policy
FSU Department or Non-FSU Organization Affiliation Interdisciplinary Social Science
Headshot (optional) Cockerham COSSPP head shot.jpg
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from above) Dr. James Cockerham and Dr. Radha Modi
Research Assistant Supervisor Preferred Pronouns
Research Assistant Supervisor Preferred Honorific?
Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated) jmc09m@fsu.edu
Name of Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) (if applicable)
Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) Preferred Pronouns
Other Faculty/Collaborator(s) Preferred Honorific?
Contact Email (FSU Email if affiliated) rmodi@fsu.edu
Title of the Project Assessing the Impact of Florida Teen Courts
Project Keywords juvenile justice; teen court; recidivism
Are you currently looking for research assistants? No
Number of Research Assistants Needed 6
Relevant Research Assistant Major(s) Open to all majors
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
If the project location is off campus, does the research assistant(s) need to provide their own transportation?
Please select the choice that most accurately describes your expectations for the research assistant(s): Partially Remote
Approximately how many hours a week would the research assistant(s) need to work? 5
Roughly what time frame do you expect research assistant(s) to work? Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Overall Research Project Description This project aims to examine the effects of teen courts on recidivism in Florida by learning how restorative practices and procedures are implemented across teen courts in our state. Teen courts are a diversion program serving as an alternative to processing juveniles through the traditional justice system. The goal of Teen Court is to address the youth’s behavior through peer-driven consequences and support, without involving the juvenile justice system typically assigning rehabilitative measures such as counseling, restitution, curfews, and community service. By focusing on restorative justice and peer accountability, Teen Court helps youth understand the impact of their actions and encourages positive behavioral changes.

However despite their common mandate, there is variance in the way the process is implemented across counties. This variance offers the opportunity to learn from restorative practices and procedures and the way that they are implemented. Across Florida, teen court programs vary in the way that they structure their sessions, the involvement of parents in the process, the methods through which volunteers are recruited and trained, the extent of cross-sector collaboration between teen courts and other juvenile justice stakeholders, the types of sanctions typically handed out, the number of times a youth can be admitted for services, and the struggles that they face.

In this project we want to learn more about the best practices across Florida teen court by conducting site visits across several teen courts in Florida and through reviewing survey responses from prior research we have conducted on this topic.
Research Tasks We envision that our research assistant would help work on more of the qualitative components of this project. In addition to conducting a handful of site visits and observations, we also sent a survey to teen courts which allowed us to gather information on the type of teen court model that is used and types of sentencing that are typically handed out.

We hope that our UROP research assistant would conduct site visits, synthesize site visit observations to help us recognize patterns and generate theory, and help us review survey results from county teen courts. Research tasks may involve reviewing relevant literature, compiling descriptive information regarding county level teen courts, visiting teen court, and detailing patterns observed.

Specific ideas below:
1. Literature review on therapeutic justice
2. Survey Results Analysis-- Students may review the survey results from the teen court project. They will summarize general impressions of the teen court landscape and/or any patterns observed across counties in the way that teen court operates.
3. Conducting site visits to teen court sessions
4. Site Visit Analysis- students will review site visit notes to better understand teen court operations in specific teen courts.
Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Required- Enthusiasm for the project and a willingness to participate
Mentoring Philosophy My goal as a faculty at FSU is to help students find their passions and realize their potential. Mentors have the power to expose students to new interests and opportunities. In my PhD program, I had the immense privilege to work with mentors that have changed the trajectory of my life just because they believed in me, encouraged me to challenge myself and guided me along the way. I hope to pay this forward to undergraduate students.
Please provide a link to your publications, a video clip, or a website for your research project (if applicable): http://doi.org/10.1111/jfcj.70011
Please add any additional information here (if applicable):
Are you interested in participating in the UROP Research Mentor Roundtable? No
Roundtable times and Zoom links
Mentor Handbook, FAQs, and Communication Yes
UROP Performance Evaluation Yes
Materials Grant Yes
UROP Poster Presentation Yes
Year 2025
update url https://cre.fsu.edu/urop-research-mentor-project-submission-portal?element_parents=elements/research_mentor_information/headshot_optional_&ajax_form=1&_wrapper_format=drupal_ajax&token=MTlTdGf9t-WfxgEHeDe84S3ol54ocfJxMjQOk_vStT0