The Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice congratulates Ph.D. candidate Frank Donohue and Ph.D. alumna Dr. Torri Sperry, Research Director at MCRIC, for winning second place in the 2025 Gene Carte Student Paper Competition, organized by the American Society of Criminology. Their paper, titled "Black Empowerment, Policy Comprehensiveness, and Civilians Killed by Police" was recognized for its outstanding scholarly contribution to the criminology field.

The ASC Gene Carte Student Paper Award, established in 1971, is presented annually to recognize outstanding scholarly work by students. Recipients receive a monetary prize and the opportunity to present their research at the upcoming Annual Meeting.

Frank Donohue is a current Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Maryland.  His research interests center various realms of policing, as well as collateral consequences of incarceration and policy evaluation. His research employs the use of both quantitative and qualitative research methods.

Dr. Torri Sperry serves as the Research Director with the Maryland Crime Research and Innovation Center (MCRIC). A former Ph.D. graduate of the department, she brings extensive research expertise and a strong academic foundation to her role, supporting the advancement of the center’s research initiatives and strategic goals.

Reflecting on their work, Donohue and Dr. Sperry stated, "Our collaboration began when we discovered we were both passionate about confronting racial disparities in policing. Our aim was to add to the literature on the disparate use of fatal police force, by comprehensively analyzing the impact of official departmental use of force policies and the cumulative effects of Black empowerment, both within city leadership and police departments. We examined whether greater Black representation and empowerment, coupled with formal policy commitments, were associated with reductions in racial disparities in police killings of civilians.”

They continued, “Our findings suggest that departmental and political empowerment are linked to fewer fatal police encounters involving Black civilians, particularly when agencies are led by Black chiefs and have officer demographics that reflect the city's Black population. Additionally, we find that agencies with a greater number of use of force policies tend to have fewer fatalities of Black civilians. We are honored to receive this award and are currently working to further strengthen the paper as we prepare it for publication."