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Ben Feldmeyer

Current Research

Ben Feldmeyer has been at the University of Tennessee since 2007.  He received his Ph.D. in Sociology from Penn State University in 2007.  His research focuses on criminal behavior and criminal sentencing and their intersection with race/ethnicity, social class, social context, and other demographic groups (i.e. age and gender).  His work pays particular attention to the effects of structural conditions on violent offending across race/ethnicity (particularly among Latinos) and addresses such questions as: (1) Do structural conditions like poverty and disadvantage have similar effects on violence across race/ethnicity, (2) How does segregation influence violence in black and Latino communities, and (3) What effect (if any) does immigration have on violence?  Dr. Feldmeyer’s current work includes an analysis comparing the effects of racial/ethnic residential isolation on violence among black and Latino populations.  His second current project examines the immigration-violence relationship among Latinos.  This project pays particular attention to the indirect effects of immigration violence in order to identify potential stabilizing/destabilizing effects of immigration on Latino communities.  Recent work also includes an analysis of racial threat effects in federal sentencing outcomes – i.e., addressing whether black-white and Hispanic-white disparities in sentence length decisions are shaped by the racial/ethnic population contexts of federal districts.

Recent and Forthcoming Publications

Feldmeyer, Ben. 2009. “Steffensmeier, Darrell J. and Jeffery Ulmer: The Professional Fence.” In The Encyclopedia of Criminological Theory, F. Cullen and P. Wilcox (eds.). Sage. (Forthcoming) 

Schwartz, Jennifer, Darrell Steffensmeier, and Ben Feldmeyer. 2009. “Gender and Violence: Trends in Adult Male and Female Violence, 1980-2004.” Social Problems 56:494-525.

Feldmeyer, Ben. 2009. “Does Immigration Increase Violence?  The Offsetting Effects of Immigration on Hispanic Violence.” Journal of Social Science Research 38:717-731.

Feldmeyer, Ben and Darrell Steffensmeier. 2009. “Immigration and Homicide:  A Comparison Across Race/Ethnicity.” Homicide Studies 13:211-226.

Feldmeyer, Ben and Darrell Steffensmeier. 2007. “Elder Crime: Patterns and Trends, 1980-2004.” Research
on Aging 29:297-322.

Steffensmeier, Darrell and Ben Feldmeyer. 2006. "Are Girls More Violent Today than a Generation Ago? Probably Not." Sociological Viewpoints 22:71-100.

Ruback, R. Barry, Stacy N. Hoskins, Alison C. Cares, and Ben Feldmeyer. 2006. “Perception and Payment of Economic Sanctions: A Survey of Offenders.” Federal Probation 70:26-31.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Ben Feldmeyer

Contact Information

Ben Feldmeyer
Assistant Professor
Ph.D. 2007, Pennsylvania State University

The University of Tennessee
916 McClung Tower
Knoxville, TN 37996-0490

Phone: 865-974-2078
E-Mail: bfeldmey@utk.edu