Nathan LaMothe Legal Sociologist · University of Central Florida

Curriculum vitae

An abbreviated record of my academic background, research, teaching, and prior professional experience.

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Education

  • PhD, Sociology University of Central Florida
  • MA, Applied Sociology University of Central Florida

    Master’s product: Routine or Responsive? Domestic Violence Release Conditions at First Appearance

  • BS, Sociology University of Central Florida

    Capstone research: The Polarizing Effects of Social Media on Attitudes Toward Police Legitimacy

    Certificate in Behavioral Forensics

  • AA, General Studies Valencia College

Academic experience

  • Graduate Teaching Assistant Department of Sociology, University of Central Florida

    Graduate teaching assistant experience includes Sociology of Law, Minority Aging and Health, Men and Masculinities, Social Power and Inequalities, and Social Theory.

  • Undergraduate Research Mentor Knight Research Scholars Program, University of Central Florida

    Lead undergraduate researchers working on Hope Card laws and domestic violence court research through UCF’s Knight Research Scholars Program.

Research & scholarly activity

  • Domestic Violence Decision-Making at First Appearance Graduate Researcher, University of Central Florida

    Designed and implemented a quantitative study of bond and non-contact decisions in misdemeanor domestic violence cases in Orange County, Florida.

  • Hope Card Laws and Regulations Across the United States Knight Research Scholars Program, University of Central Florida

    Lead a fifty-state study of statutes, regulations, and implementation materials governing Hope Card programs.

  • Judicial Discretion and No-Contact Orders Graduate Researcher, University of Central Florida

    Conducting a qualitative interview study of how Florida judges understand and exercise discretion when imposing pretrial no-contact orders in intimate partner violence cases.

  • Statewide Homeless Camping Ban Research Research Assistant, UCF Institute for Social and Behavioral Science

    Contributed to collaborative legal and policy research on statewide restrictions on public sleeping and camping.

  • Life Happens Graduate Research Assistant, Cares Research Collective

    Contributed to data coding for the Life Happens project during Spring and Summer 2026.

  • Perinatal Intimate Partner Violence and Cannabis-Use Research Research Assistant, UCF Institute for Social and Behavioral Science

    Contributed to literature review, data collection, and qualitative coding for collaborative studies of online pregnancy-forum discussions.

  • Florida Domestic Violence Data Research Undergraduate Research Assistant, UCF Institute for Social and Behavioral Science

    Coded Uniform Crime Reporting data to document domestic violence reports across Florida counties.

  • Social Media and Attitudes Toward Police Legitimacy Undergraduate Capstone Researcher, University of Central Florida

    Designed and administered a survey examining social-media use, political polarization, and attitudes toward police legitimacy, then analyzed the resulting data.

Publications & manuscripts

  • Routine or Responsive? Domestic Violence Release Conditions at First Appearance LaMothe, Nathan
  • An Analysis of State Laws Restricting Public Sleeping: Sociological Implications for Social Work Practice Donley, Amy, Julio Montanez, and Nathan LaMothe

    Under review at Publius: The Journal of Federalism.

  • Experiences with Intimate Partner Violence During the Perinatal Period: An Analysis of Online Posts Reiss, Jacquelyn, Julio Montanez, Colby Kopf, Nathan LaMothe, and Skyler Rodenhuis
  • Garden Moms: Understanding Women’s Experiences with Cannabis Use During the Perinatal Period Reiss, Jacquelyn, Amy Donley, Nathan LaMothe, Alexandra McCreary, and Callynn Johnson

Presentations

  • Routine or Responsive? Domestic Violence Release Conditions at First Appearance American Society of Criminology Annual Meeting

    Scheduled conference presentation of my first-appearance decision-making research.

Prior professional experience

  • Trial Clerk, Criminal Division Orange County Clerk of Courts

    Worked with criminal case creation, jail intake, bond processing, initial appearances, and court records.

  • Emergency Communications Specialist II Orange County Sheriff’s Office

    Coordinated emergency information among members of the public, deputies, and other public-safety personnel. Trained twelve teletype and 911 operators, developed an agency-wide processing guide, and periodically served in an acting assistant squad leader capacity.

Training and certification

  • Human Subjects Research and Ethics CITI Program

    CITI research ethics training for human-subjects research.

Honors

  • President’s Honor Roll and Dean’s List University of Central Florida

    President’s Honor Roll, Spring and Summer 2024; Dean’s List, Fall 2023 and Fall 2024.

Methods and tools

Quantitative research design, regression modeling, survey design, semi-structured interviewing, qualitative coding, human-subjects research, data management, court-record research, legal and policy analysis, and literature review. Tools include SPSS, Python, Qualtrics, ArcGIS, Microsoft Office, and Adobe Creative Suite.

Download a public CV in PDF format. A more detailed CV is available by request.