Kevin Drakulich

About

Kevin Drakulich is an Associate Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice at Northeastern University, where he also serves as the Undergraduate Program Director. His recent research addresses social processes related to crime and its consequences across neighborhoods and communities, with a focus on how perceptions of crime, disorder, and social control influence political behavior. His work emphasizes themes of race and racism, as well as interpersonal interactions and relationships. Drakulich earned his Ph.D. in sociology from the University of Washington, studying deviance and social control, and has been recognized with awards such as the National Institute of Justice’s W.E.B. Du Bois Fellowship and the American Society of Criminology’s New Scholar Award. He is dedicated to understanding the social dynamics of crime and contributing to policy and community-based solutions.

Research topics

• Sociology
• Political Science
• Gender studies
• Law
• Political economy
• Criminology
• Social psychology
• Psychology
• History

Selected publications

• Race and policing in the 2016 presidential election: Black lives matter, the police, and dog whistle politics

  Criminology · 2020 · 147 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract A series of deaths of Black Americans at the hands of the police sparked mass protests, received extensive media coverage, and fueled a new civil rights movement in the years leading up to the 2016 presidential election. Both major party nominees campaigned on issues of race and policing in different ways. Drawing on colorblind racism theories and the history of law‐and‐order politics, we explore how views of race relations and the police were associated with voting behavior. We ask, on…

  DOI

• Whose lives mattered? How White and Black Americans felt about Black Lives Matter in 2016

  Law & Society Review · 2021 · 47 citations

  1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract White Americans, on average, do not support Black Lives Matter, while Black Americans generally express strong support. The lack of support among white Americans is striking, and we argue that it matters why this racial gap exists. Using a nationally representative survey collected during the crest of the first wave of widespread attention to the movement, we explore four potential explanations for interracial differences in feelings toward Black Lives Matter. These explanations reflect…

  DOI

• Who Believes that the Police Use Excessive Force? Centering Racism in Research on Perceptions of the Police

  Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency · 2022-09-07 · 19 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding

  Objectives Police use of excessive—even fatal—force is a significant social issue, one at the symbolic heart of the Black Lives Matter civil rights movement. However, a substantial number of Americans—disproportionately White—tend to minimize the prevalence of this issue. We seek to explain differences in these views. Methods We look at whether experiences with the police, politics, and three measures of racial attitudes explain differences in views of the prevalence of police use of excessive f…

  PublisherDOI

• Why White Americans More Frequently Fail to View the Police Critically

  Du Bois Review Social Science Research on Race · 2022-04-19 · 16 citations

  articleOpen access1st authorCorresponding

  Abstract It matters how people view the police—and that there is a substantial racial gap in these views. Research has primarily focused on police experiences to explain generally less-positive views among Black Americans. We recommend a subtle but vital shift in focus, seeking instead to explain the remarkably more favorable average views about the police among White Americans. Utilizing comparable data from two 2016 American National Election Studies surveys, we explore the role of contact wit…

  PublisherOA PDFDOI

• Public Opinion and Criminal Justice Reform

  American Journal of Criminal Justice · 2022-12-01 · 14 citations

  article1st authorCorresponding
  PublisherDOI

Frequent coauthors

• Kevin H. Wozniak

  National University of Ireland, Maynooth

  15 shared

• Ross L. Matsueda

  11 shared

• John Hagan

  Colorado State University

  10 shared

• Devon Johnson

  George Mason University

  8 shared

• Brian Calfano

  University of Cincinnati

  7 shared

• Robert D. Crutchfield

  7 shared

• Michael L. Radelet

  University of Colorado Boulder

  7 shared

• Steven F. Shatz

  University of San Francisco

  7 shared

Labs

• Northeastern University School of Criminology and Criminal JusticePI

Education

• Ph.D., sociology

  North Carolina State University

Awards & honors

• 2014 recipient of the National Institute of Justice’s W.E.B.…
• 2014 New Scholar Award from the American Society of Criminol…

Similar researchers at Northeastern University

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• Carlos Cuevash-24
• Ekaterina Botchkovarh-18