Maria Arndt
Maria
Arndt
Assistant Professor
Room number
422.36
Education

Ph.D., Florida International University (2022, International Crime and Justice)

B.A., University of Florida (2016, Criminology & Law/International Studies)

Bio

Maria Arndt is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Law, Police Science, and Criminal Justice Administration at John Jay College of Criminal Justice. She received her doctorate in International Crime and Justice from Florida International University, where she was a research assistant on a MacArthur Foundation project assessing prosecutors’ offices data collection capacity by providing technical assistance. Her research interests include prosecutorial decision making, the organizational features of prosecutors’ offices that influence discretion, and the relationships between police and prosecutors. Her work has been published in Race and Justice, Criminal Justice Review, Criminology and Public Policy, and Qualitative Criminology.  

Courses Taught

CJBS250 Research Methods and Statistics for Criminal Justice Majors

CJBS300 Criminal Justice Theory in Practice

COR201 Law and Institutional Treatment

Professional Memberships

American Society of Criminology

Scholarly Work

Arndt, M. & Silverthorn, R. (2023). " Data can Be manipulated": How prosecutors' attitudes toward racial disparities and data-informed decision-making diverge. Qualitative Criminology. https://doi.org/10.21428/88de04a1.0f888723  

Kutateladze, B. L., Dunlea, R. R., Liu, L., & Arndt, M. (2022). A test of the bifurcation hypothesis in prosecutorial diversion. Criminology & Public Policy21(2), 359-378.

Arndt, M. (2022). Examining the gap between prosecutor attitudes and decisions: Case prioritization through case elimination mechanisms in driving with a suspended license cases. Criminal justice review47(2), 243-268.

Arndt, M., Stolzenberg, L., & D’Alessio, S. J. (2022). The effects of race and physical evidence on the likelihood of arrest for homicide. Race and justice12(4), 623-643.

Research Summary

Maria Arndt is a courts researcher who studies prosecutorial decision making, organizational features of prosecutors' offices, and data-informed prosecution. She has conducted both quantitative and qualitative research to understand the importance of prosecutorial discretion and the way prosecutors view their role in addressing issues in the criminal justice system. Her most recent publication in Qualitative Criminology is focused on how prosecutors' view data, the utility of data reports in their day-to-day work, and how it can be a tool to assess racial disparities in criminal case outcomes. She is also working on a project focusing on the importance of local prosecutor elections. Specifically, Dr. Arndt's work will examine the factors associated with turnover in these critical elections.