Devah Pager
In a new study titled “The Mark of a Criminal Record,” sociologist Devah Pager investigates the link between possessing a criminal record and obtaining employment. Building on research conducted by Schwartz and Skolnick (1962), Pager specifically attempts to isolate the effect of the social stigma on criminality, which she terms the ‘credentialing’ aspect of the criminal justice system, using a comprehensive experiment that takes into account numerous entry-level job types and racial disparities. The ‘audit methodology’ used to conduct the study involved the use of four participants – a team of two similar black males and a team of two similar white men – who applied to a total of 350 employees. By alternating which member of each team presented