B-CU Liberal Arts Faculty Tackle Big Data to Improve Juvenile Risk of Recidivism

Faculty members Dr. Randy Nelson, Dr. Kideste Yusuf and former Associate Provost Dr. Adrienne Cooper have authored an article that was selected for publication in Scholarship and Practice of Undergraduate Research (SPUR) for its Summer 2019 issue (Summer 2019 l Volume 2 l Number 4). The title is "Expanding Minds Through Research: Juvenile Justice and Big Data."

Bethune-Cookman University’s Center for Undergraduate Research Excellence (CURE) has operated a summer research program since 2014. An interdisciplinary team of faculty mentors and student research fellows examined variables impacting juvenile

delinquency and risk of recidivism within Florida, using a database of more than 64,000 youth who aged out of the Florida Department of Juvenile Justice from 2008 to 2013.

In the first year, the students learned visual analytics and chi-square analysis as methods for studying big data. In 2017, the team employed an applied research approach based on the success of the Communities That Care delinquency prevention model to examine predictive and protective factors that affect juvenile risk of recidivism. The project provided undergraduates with an introductory framework for assessing, analyzing, and presenting big data.