Dr. Kokkalera, and Assistant Professor in the
Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology, received her Ph.D. from
Northeastern University in criminology and justice policy in 2020. She became
interested in researching parole practices as a teaching assistant for her
dissertation chair, who had access to parole board hearings. After watching
just one hearing, Kokkalera began to question due process rights, fairness, and
equity when it comes to reentry. She noticed a lack of attention to this topic
due to this population already being convicted and often dealing with long
sentences. As many states shift from the mass incarceration model to focus more
on parole, Dr. Kokkalera wants to analyze how each state handles its parole
practices.
This funded research began when Dr. Kokkalera applied
for the new faculty program grant from the
Office of Research and Sponsored Programs at Sam Houston
State University. This program’s goal is to support faculty for a project that
would help them expand their research. For this project, Dr. Kokkalera will
look at the different parole practices for individuals who have received life
sentences and present the variations to the Association of Paroling Authorities
International (APAI). After attending APAI’s last conference,
she noticed that state parole boards are siloed and seldom communicate outside
of their annual meeting. Kokkalera’s research will promote communication
between the parole boards, which will lead to more states applying relevant
practices when it comes to these hearings.
Dr. Kokkalera looks to affect parole board practices
from state to state saying, “There might be best practices that are relevant to
state parole boards, but there might also be really bad practices that states
don’t realize just yet. My goal is to make parole more meaningful for the
board, the candidate and the community.”
Funded for $4,500, Dr. Kokkalera will conduct her
research and present her findings to APAI. These funds will support a graduate
student who will be assisting with data collection and analysis. With states
relying more on parole in the future, Dr. Kokkalera’s research will impact how
states handle the parole process.
###