Seek Justice

Links

• Ep. 5 – How do we know what works?, in which we discussed Jennifer Doleac’s work previously.
• Jennifer Doleac’s thread on Twitter

Working on criminal justice topics gives me a very different perspective on the Kochs than my equally-liberal friends & family have. Charles Koch Foundation & Charles Kock Institute are perhaps the most important funders of research related to criminal justice policy & reform.

They also frequently host conferences that bring top-notch researchers and practitioners together in one room — a chance to meet everyone else who’s working in this space. In other words, they throw great parties — sounds trivial but this is super important & helpful!

Charles Koch Foundation has funded my own work related to prisoner reentry and I am deeply grateful for that as well as their broader support of my research. My contacts there & Charles Kock Institute are the first I call if I’m looking for practioner contacts. They know everyone!

As funders they are extremely hands-off — to a degree that is almost funny. I think they know people are watching them closely for missteps so are super careful. But most funders in this space have strong opinions abt what you should study & what you should find. They don’t.

Koch Industries for a long time was a major proponent of Ban the Box policies. When my research on BTB (which they did not fund) came out, showing detrimental effects, they were eager to hear about it & engage w the results. I really appreciated that.

To my fellow liberals that love to hate the Koch brothers, I simply say: the story is more complicated (as always, right?). Charles Koch in particular is enabling & supporting evidence-based CJ reform in red & blue states alike, and that is something we should all appreciate.

• “Ban the Box” does more harm than good, by Jennifer Doleac, May 31, 2016 (Brookings)
• Arnold Foundation
• Laura Arnold’s Podcast (Apple Podcasts)
• The Replication Crisis (Wikipedia)
• The File Drawer Problem (Wikipedia)
• Academic Tenure (Wikipedia)

Example of Correlation-Causation Escalation

• Periodontal Disease Bacteria Linked To Alzheimer’s Disease (American Academy of Periodontology)

The study, published in the journal Science Advances, uncovered a potential link between P. gingivalis, the bacteria associated with periodontal disease (commonly known as gum disease) and Alzheimer’s.

• Porphyromonas gingivalis in Alzheimer’s disease brains: Evidence for disease causation and treatment with small-molecule inhibitors (Science Advances)

Infectious agents have been found in the brain and postulated to be involved with AD, but robust evidence of causation has not been established.