Shi Yan
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411 N Central Ave Ste 600 ASU School of Criminology Phoenix, AZ 85004
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Mail code: 4420Campus: Dtphx
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Shi Yan is an assistant professor at the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, and an affiliated faculty of the Law and Behavioral Science group, Arizona State University (ASU). He received a PhD in criminal justice from the University at Albany, SUNY.
Professor Yan’s research pursues an evidence-based understanding of today’s court system, with a focus on sentencing and plea bargaining. His work seeks to address the disparities in case outcomes, as well as when and why defendants accept or reject guilty pleas. He is also interested in the broad idea of assessing risk in the criminal justice context, with a focus on the pattern and implication of criminal records. Professor Yan’s research is highly interdisciplinary, and has been published in several elite journals across disciplines, such as Journal of Quantitative Criminology, Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, Justice Quarterly, Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, and Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied. He is part of an inter-college team at ASU to investigate the impact of Arizona's abolition of peremptory challenges, supported by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Justice.
Professor Yan is teaching courses on courts and sentencing, research methods, statistics, and introduction to criminal justice, utilizing team-based learning in all in-person courses. He is also actively mentoring and collaborating with PhD and master’s students.
Professor Yan is actively providing academic service at ASU and in professional organizations. He has served as an ad hoc reviewer for a variety of academic journals both inside and outside of criminology, and has provided comments on research findings to both agencies and media.
- Ph.D. (2016) and M.A. (2013), Criminal Justice, University at Albany, SUNY.
- Sentencing and plea bargaining
- Criminal careers from a criminal justice perspective
- Measurement issues related to crime and criminal justice data
Full-text, preprint-style versions for most publications are available for download at https://iamshiyan.com/papers
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Mitchell, O., Yan, S., & Oramas Mora, D. (2023). Trends in prison sentences and racial disparities: 20-years of sentencing under Florida’s criminal punishment code. Journal of Research in Crime and Delinquency, 60(2), 300-338. https://doi.org/10.1177/00224278221120677
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Yan, S., Wilford, M. M., & Ferreira, P. A. (2022). Terms and conditions apply: The effect of probation length and obligation disclosure on true and false guilty pleas. Journal of Experimental Criminology. Advance online publication. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11292-022-09543-9
- Yan, S., & Walker, J. W. (2022). Does the premium fit the risk? The role of criminal escalation in case processing. Crime & Delinquency, 68(9), 1462-1491. https://doi.org/10.1177/00111287211061719
- Yan, S., & Lao, J. (2022). Sex disparities in sentencing and judges’ beliefs: A vignette approach. Victims & Offenders, 17(4), 597-619. https://doi.org/10.1080/15564886.2021.1947427
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Yan, S. (2022). What exactly is the bargain? The sensitivity of plea discount estimates. Justice Quarterly, 39(1), 152-173. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2019.1707856
- Wu, S., Yoder, G., Lee, N., Yan, S., & Wolfersteig, W. (2021). Racial disparities in school lunch program participation and cigarette use: Evidence from Arizona Youth Survey data. Substance Use and Misuse, 56(10), 1516-1526. https://doi.org/10.1080/10826084.2021.1942051
- Wilford, M. M., Zimmerman, D. M., Yan, S., & Sutherland, K. T. (2021). Innocence in the shadow of COVID-19: Plea decision making during a pandemic. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Applied, 27(4), 739-750. . https://doi.org/10.1037/xap0000367
- Tahamont, S., Jelveh, Z., Chalfin, A., Yan, S., & Hansen, B. (2021). Dude, where's my treatment effect? Errors in administrative data linking and the destruction of statistical power in randomized experiments. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 37(3), 715-749. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10940-020-09461-x
- An earlier version is available as National Bureau of Economic Research Working Paper 25657. https://doi.org/10.3386/w25657
- Wu, S., Yan, S., Marsiglia, F. F. & Perron, B. (2020). Patterns and social determinants of substance use among Arizona youth: A latent class analysis approach. Children and Youth Services Review, 110, 104769. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.104769
- Yan, S. (2020). Estimating the size of plea discounts: Why does it matter? In C. Spohn & P. K. Brennan (Eds.), Handbook on sentencing policies and practices in the 21st century, The ASC Division on Corrections & Sentencing’s Handbook Series (Vol. 4, pp. 188-207). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780429027765-10
- Yan, S. (2019). Does criminal specialization predict case processing? Crime & Delinquency, 65(12), 1648-1688. https://doi.org/10.1177/0011128718765123
- Yan, S., & Bushway, S. D. (2018). Plea discounts or trial penalties? Making sense of the trial-plea sentence disparities. Justice Quarterly, 35(7), 1226-1249. https://doi.org/10.1080/07418825.2018.1552715
- Redlich, A. D., Yan, S., Norris, R. J., & Bushway, S. D. (2018). The influence of confessions in guilty plea decisions and sentences. Psychology, Public Policy, and Law, 24(2), 147-157. https://doi.org/10.1037/law0000144
- Yan, S., Bushway, S. D., & Redlich, A. D. (2018). Discretion in the absence of guidelines: Charge bargaining and sentencing for felony defendants in New York. In J. T. Ulmer & M. S. Bradley (Eds.), Handbook on punishment decisions: Locations of disparity, The ASC Division on Corrections & Sentencing’s Handbook Series (Vol.2, pp. 133-151). Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315410371-7
- Yan, S. (2017). Search for the hidden punishments: An alternative approach to studying alternative sanctions. Journal of Quantitative Criminology, 33(1), 21-44. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10940-015-9275-4
- Tahamont, S., Yan, S., Bushway, S. D., & Liu, J. (2015). Pathways to prison in New York State. Criminology & Public Policy, 14(3), 431-453. https://doi.org/10.1111/1745-9133.12136
Courses
2023 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| CRJ 513 | Seminar in Courts & Sentencing |
| CRJ 504 | Statistical Tools/Criminal Jus |
2022 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| CRJ 513 | Seminar in Courts & Sentencing |
2022 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| CRJ 513 | Seminar in Courts & Sentencing |
| CRJ 302 | Research Methods |
2021 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| CRJ 513 | Seminar in Courts & Sentencing |
| CRJ 203 | Courts and Sentencing |
2021 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| CRJ 100 | Intro to Criminal Justice |
| CRJ 504 | Statistical Tools/Criminal Jus |
2020 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| CRJ 513 | Seminar in Courts & Sentencing |
| CRJ 302 | Research Methods |
2020 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| CRJ 513 | Seminar in Courts & Sentencing |
| CRJ 504 | Statistical Tools/Criminal Jus |
2019 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| CRJ 100 | Intro to Criminal Justice |
| CRJ 513 | Seminar in Courts & Sentencing |
2019 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| CRJ 513 | Seminar in Courts & Sentencing |
| CRJ 504 | Statistical Tools/Criminal Jus |
2018 Fall
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| CRJ 513 | Seminar in Courts & Sentencing |
| CRJ 302 | Research Methods |
2018 Spring
| Course Number | Course Title |
|---|---|
| CRJ 203 | Courts and Sentencing |
| CRJ 302 | Research Methods |
- Gene Carte Student Paper Award, American Society of Criminology, 2015
- Recipient, Bureau of Justice Statistics/Inter-University Consortium for Political and Social Research Summer Fellowship, Quantitative Analysis of Crime and Criminal Justice Data, University of Michigan, 2012
- Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences (ACJS)
- American Psychology-Law Society (APLS)
- American Society of Criminology (ASC)
- Arizona Association of Crime Analysts (AACA)
- Western Society of Criminology (WSC)
- PhD Students: Karissa Pelletier (dissertation committee member, Spring 2021); Qingting Hu (dissertation committee member, Summer 2021); Jason Walker (dissertation committee member, in progress)
- MS Students: Jacob Forston (thesis chair, Spring 2022); Shayla Fordyce (thesis committee member, Spring 2018); Jeri Morgan Isabella (thesis committee member, Spring 2022)
- Assistant Professor, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Arizona State University (2016-present)
- School of Criminology and Criminal Justice
- Executive Committee, Member (elected, 2021-2022, 2022-2023)
- Special Search Committee, Member (Spring 2022)
- Comprehensive Exam Committee, Member (2018-2020)
- The American Society of Criminology
- 2022 Annual Meeting Program Committee, Sub-area Chair on Prosecutorial Discretion and Plea Bargaining
- 2020 Annual Meeting Program Committee, Sub-area Chair on Courts and Sentencing
- Division on Corrections and Sentencing, Newsletter Committee, Member (2020)
- The Association of Chinese Criminology and Criminal Justice in the US, Non-officer Director (2016-2018, 2018-2020)
- Ad Hoc Reviewer/Referee for Academic Journals (Most Recent Service in 2015 or Later):
- The American Statistician; Archives of Public Health; Asian Journal of Criminology; Criminal Justice Review; Criminal Justice Studies; Criminology; Criminology & Public Policy; Digital Threats: Research and Practice; Journal of Criminal Justice; Journal of Empirical Legal Studies; Journal of Quantitative Criminology; Justice Quarterly; Law & Society Review; Punishment & Society
- United Way School of Criminology and Criminal Justice Unit Representative (2016, 2017, 2018)