Devah Pager

Devah Iwalani Pager (March 1, 1972 – November 2, 2018) was an American sociologist best known for her research on racial discrimination in employment and the American criminal justice system.[2] At the time of her death, she was Professor of Sociology and Public Policy at Harvard University.[3][4][5] She was a class of 2011 William T. Grant Scholar.[6]

Devah Pager
Born(1972-03-01)March 1, 1972
Honolulu, Hawaii, US[1]
DiedNovember 2, 2018(2018-11-02) (aged 46)
Cambridge, Massachusetts, US[2]
NationalityAmerican
Alma materUniversity of Wisconsin–Madison
Stanford University
University of Cape Town
University of California, Los Angeles
Scientific career
FieldsSociology, Criminology
InstitutionsHarvard University, Princeton University
ThesisThe mark of a criminal record (2002)
Doctoral advisorRobert M. Hauser
Other academic advisorsErik Olin Wright

Biography

Devah grew up in Hawaii. She attended Punahou.

Pager earned her doctorate at the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 2002. Prior to that she received master's degrees from Stanford University and the University of Cape Town in South Africa, and a B.A. in psychology from University of California, Los Angeles in 1993.[7] She was a 1989 graduate of Punahou School.

As part of her doctoral dissertation research Pager conducted an experiment in which she enlisted young men to pose as job applicants with similar characteristics. She found that a black applicant received a callback or job offer half as often as an equally qualified white applicant. A black applicant with a clean record got a callback or job offer about as often as a white applicant with a felony conviction. She later replicated the experiment in 2009 with Bruce Western and Naomi Sugle and found that black applicants without criminal records received fewer callbacks than white applicants with criminal records.[8] The dissertation was awarded the "Best Dissertation Prize" by the American Sociological Association[9] and was later published as a series of articles[10] and a book, Marked: Race, Crime, and Finding Work in an Era of Mass Incarceration (University of Chicago Press, 2007).

Pager's work has been widely featured in the media, including The New York Times,[11][12][13] The Wall Street Journal,[14][15] the Chicago Tribune,[16] and in CNN's documentary Black in America.[17] Pager's work was frequently cited by supporters of Ban The Box, a movement which aims to ban employers from asking potential employees if they have a criminal record on their application.[18][19]

Pager died of pancreatic cancer on November 2, 2018 at the age of 46.[20]

Selected bibliography

References
  1. Cataluna, Lee (2004-04-18). "Racial bias in hiring made clear". The Honolulu Advertiser. Retrieved 2017-10-13.
  2. Seelye, Katharine Q (November 8, 2018). "Devah Pager, Who Documented Race Bias in Job Market, Dies at 46". The New York Times. Retrieved November 8, 2018.
  3. "Devah Pager". Harvard. Retrieved 2019-04-13.
  4. @Kennedy_School (3 November 2018). "Harvard Kennedy School community mourns the tragic passing of our colleague and friend Devah Pager" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  5. "Harvard Kenedy School Mourns the Loss of Devah Pager". Harvard. 2018-11-05. Retrieved 2019-04-13.
  6. "Current and Former Scholars". W.T Grant Foundation. 2011. Retrieved 2019-04-13. Devah Pager, Ph.D.: Barriers in the Pathway to Adulthood: The Role of Discrimination in the Lives of Young Disadvantaged Men
  7. "c.v.: Devah Pager" (PDF). Harvard. Retrieved 2019-04-13.
  8. Ajunwa, Ifeoma; Onwuachi-Willig, Angela (2018). "Combating Discrimination Against the Formerly Incarcerated in the Labor Market". Northwestern University Law Review. 112: 1390. Retrieved 13 February 2020.
  9. American Sociological Association Dissertation Award Recipient
  10. Devah Pager (March 2003). "The Mark of a Criminal Record". American Journal of Sociology. 108 (5): 937–975. doi:10.1086/374403. JSTOR 374403. S2CID 11568703.
  11. Kroeger, Brooke (March 20, 2004). "When a Dissertation Makes a Difference". The New York Times.
  12. von Zielbauer, Paul (June 17, 2005). "Study Shows More Job Offers for Ex-Convincts Who Are White". The New York Times.
  13. Brent Staples (2009-06-14). "Even Now, There's Risk in 'Driving While Black'". The New York Times. p. A20. Retrieved 2019-04-13. After sending carefully selected test applicants to apply for low-level jobs with hundreds of employers, Ms. Pager found that criminal convictions for black men seeking employment were, in many contexts, "virtually impossible to overcome," partly because those convictions reinforced powerful, longstanding stereotypes.
  14. David Wessel (2003-09-04). "Racial Discrimination Is Still at Work". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2019-04-13.
  15. Greg Ip (2005-06-22). "For Many, a Prison Record Poses Major Obstacle to Advancement". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved 2019-04-13.
  16. "Black Men's Pay in Top Jobs Lags," 8/15/2001, Quynh-Giang Tran, Chicago Tribune
  17. CNN's Black in America
  18. "Ban the Box". Brennan Center for Justice. Retrieved 2020-06-09.
  19. Mock, Brentin. "'Ban the Box' Helps, But Released Inmates Still Face 3 Major Hurdles When Rejoining Society". CityLab. Retrieved 2020-06-09.
  20. Seelye, Katharine Q. (2018-11-08). "Devah Pager, Who Documented Race Bias in Job Market, Dies at 46". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2020-06-09.
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