Conducting and Presenting Clergy Abuse Research with Student Researchers

Each year, the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs at University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire sponsors a university-wide week-long event dubbed: Celebration of Excellence in Research and Creative Activity (CERCA). As a condition of the Summer Research Experiences for Undergraduates grant that we received last summer, my student researchers had to present at CERCA this spring. Preston graduated in December, so the responsibility fell to Byron. With a little help, he created the poster below. The poster details the work that Preston and Byron did examining the use of techniques of neutralization in priest files from archdioceses in Los Angeles and Chicago.

The pair also traveled with me to the annual Midwestern Criminal Justice Association (MCJA) conference in Chicago last fall to present a poster detailing the preliminary findings of our work.

Our abstract from CERCA 2015 can be found in the abstract book. Our abstract from MCJA 2014 can be viewed in the meeting program.

Eventually, Kendra and I will conduct a full analysis of this data, much like we have done with data from the Archdiocese of Milwaukee and St. John’s Abbey.