Seeking Sanctuary: An Analysis Of U Visa Policies In Omaha, Nebraska And Their Impact On Immigrant Communities, Emma Ehmke

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Since 2000, immigrants have been eligible for U visa status if they are a victim of a particular crime and assist law enforcement in criminal investigations. However, challenges arise for numerous reasons with the I-918 Supplement B form, which must be signed by an agency certifier within law enforcement or an attorney’s office. This study examines the policies of six law enforcement agencies and attorney’s offices in the Omaha Metro Area through semi-structured interviews to understand their approach to U visas and the characteristics of successful applications. The study aims to uncover variations in agency procedures and understandings and the …

Book Review: Tracers In The Dark: The Global Hunt For The Crime Lords Of Cryptocurrency, Marion Jones

International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence & Cybercrime

Doubleday released Andy Greenberg’s Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency in November 2022. Through vivid case studies of global criminal investigations, the book dispels myths about the anonymizing power of cryptocurrency. The book details how the ability to identify cryptocurrency users and payment methods successfully brought down several large criminal empires, while also highlighting the continuous cat-and-mouse game between law enforcement officials and criminal actors using cryptocurrency. The book is an excellent resource for law enforcement officials, academics, and general cybersecurity practitioners interested in cryptocurrency-related criminal activities and law enforcement techniques.

Juvenile Hate Crimes And Identity-Based Bullying: A Comprehensive Analysis, Peter Efon Elad

Master of Arts in Criminal Justice Leadership

Abstract

This paper examines juvenile hate crimes and identity-based bullying within the criminal justice system (CJS), proposing leadership strategies and an administrative action plan to address these issues. The analysis includes the impact on peers, community, and justice entities, focusing on accountability, diversity, and inclusivity to foster a positive organizational culture and ensure effective implementation. This paper examines the ethical considerations necessary to address juvenile hate crimes and identity-based bullying within the juvenile justice system and related workplaces. It explores the impact of these crimes on victims and communities, the balance between accountability and rehabilitation for offenders, and the role …

Transforming Law Enforcement To Attract Candidates From The Millennial Generation, Jason Muelken

Master of Arts in Criminal Justice Leadership

There is a widespread shortage of law enforcement candidates throughout the nation, resulting in agencies needing to increase their efforts to maintain staffing. The largest group in the workforce, the millennial generation, holds unique set of traits that make recruiting, retention, and leadership challenging for law enforcement administration. With the decrease in law enforcement applicant pools, recruitment and retention success is paramount to maintaining a successful organization in the future. An action plan is needed to practically, and ethically apply the change of approach to a workplace. This paper discusses how these changes may impact peers, the community, and additional …

Improving Police Officer Recruiting, Retention, And Job Satisfaction, Mitch Christensen

Master of Arts in Criminal Justice Leadership

This Capstone paper covered the topics of police officer recruiting, retention, and job satisfaction. It detailed current issues surrounding these topics, and promoted actionable and evidence-based changes to improve those issues. Topics were analyzed through administrative, ethical, and legal and legislative lens views. These proposed measures served as confirmation that current concerning trends can be mitigated, if not reversed, with thoughtful and thorough actions by police administrators and frontline employees alike.

How Can Law Enforcement Use Technology To Protect Citizens Justly?, Zach Kantenwein

Emerging Writers

This paper explores the danger of emerging artificial intelligence technology perpetuating racial injustice in law enforcement and how police can ensure the protection of citizens amid this information age. We dissect a real-world case in which AI predictive policing technology resulted in alarming racial discrimination against American minority citizens. We discuss the possible explanations for this result and explore the limitations of artificial intelligence technology. Furthermore, we brainstorm methods for ensuring American citizens' just and constitutional protection as new technology is developed and tested. We propose implementing transparency laws that make the details about any policing technology and surveillance available …

Reports On The Cost Of Administration Of Criminal Justice In Omaha And Lincoln, Nebraska, 1933: A Facsimile Edition & Contextual Casebook., Hattie Plum Williams, Michael R. Hill, Mary Jo Deegan

Zea E-Books Collection

The professional life of Hattie Plum Williams (1878–1963) epitomized the first generation of professional women sociologists on the Great Plains. At the University of Nebraska, she became the first woman in the world known to hold a regular appointment as chair of a coeducational, doctoral department of sociology (1923–1928). Often characterized as a social worker, her professional allegiance remained to sociology. Williams’ unsung labors in the early 1930s on behalf of the National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement (NCLOE) resulted in two detailed, typewritten accounts of crime and criminal justice in Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska. Her data collection, along …

Injustice In The Field? A Look At Field Booking Arrests In A Southeastern City, Deena A. Isom, Kaitlen E. Hubbard, Hiuxuan Li

International Journal on Responsibility

Issuing citations in lieu of arrests, or field booking arrests, is touted as beneficial by reducing the costs for the criminal legal system; reducing the burdens placed on individuals by avoiding arrest records, possible pretrial detention, and financial obligations; bettering community relationships with officers; increasing officer safety and efficiency; and reducing jail overcrowding. Yet, there are still substantial concerns that the practice may be disproportionately utilized and lead to net-widening. Using data obtained from a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request, we assess a snapshot of field booking arrests in a Southeastern city. Specifically, we assess if there are racial …

Law Enforcement Recruitment, Why It Matters, And Key Management Decisions, Part Two, Patrick Oliver

History and Government Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Ambiguity Of Probable Cause And Its Contentious Application By Police, Dave Sainte-Luce

College Honors Program

It is well documented how our country’s Criminal Justice System has a history of targeting people of color. A lot of this contention is derived from police officers’ behavior when interacting with individuals, yet officers only act upon the laws and legal policies that grant them authority, including probable cause. My thesis addresses the question, how does the fluid and ambiguous nature of probable cause leave the door open for officers to disproportionately target people of color in the United States? While focusing on vehicle, person, and property searches, I first define probable cause, building an understanding of exactly what …

Culture Of Wellness Toward Resiliency, Shelby Stemig

Master of Arts in Criminal Justice Leadership

Stress and burnout are increasingly prevalent amongst law enforcement officers and civilian staff due to job demands and job-related traumas. A culture of wellness planning is how administrations can build resiliency against stress and burnout. A wellness plan should emphasize organizational responsibility, officer responsibility, formal and informal leadership, and external collaborations. Agencies can also utilize the same cognitive behavioral therapies that supervised release agents find beneficial for clients. There are great similarities between the utilization of cognitive behavioral interventions, evidence-based models, and thought behavioral links between supervised release clients and law enforcement staff members. Often, cognitive behavioral therapies are used …

Law Enforcement’S Use Of Social Media: It Is More Then Just A Post, Brad Litke

Master of Arts in Criminal Justice Leadership

Social media has become a preferred way to communicate for many and can be a look into the user’s personal life. However, law enforcement also knows this. Law enforcement’s use of social media for investigations has been proven to be effective in monitoring gatherings and helping to solve crimes. While legal, law enforcement also has an ethical responsibility to the community and have strong policies in place to prevent misuse of this tool. This is not the only use of social media by law enforcement. Social media is also used to interact with the community. Reviewing the good and bad …

Persons In Crisis: Law Enforcement's Response To Mental Health Calls, Sean Farnham

Master of Arts in Criminal Justice Leadership

This research paper provided insight and the history surrounding the mental health epidemic in the United States, the burden that is placed upon the law enforcement profession and offered strategies to address to the problem. The paper offered suggestions on how the various strategies can be implemented within a law enforcement organization, considering funding, personnel, and policy and procedure. The paper offered research surrounding several response methods for law enforcement to utilize when responding to calls involving mental health factors, the ethics concerns surrounding the response methods, and offered suggestions on how organizations can begin to implement new response methods …

Variation In Ohio Police Response To Mental Health Crises, Brett Dietrich

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The following paper aims to identify and explain variation in Ohio police department methods of response to calls for service (CFS) involving mental health crises. Police response to mentally ill or disturbed individuals has become a topic of increased discussion in recent decades. Communities have attempted to bring reform to this area with alternative solutions, including specially trained police officers, co-response with social workers, or community-based response teams. Geographic and demographic factors such as police department size, population served, and availability of mental health resources impact how communities and police departments approach this issue. This paper consists of a literature …

Police Frisks, David S. Abrams, Hanming Fang, Priyanka Goonetilleke

All Faculty Scholarship

The standard economic model of police stops implies that the contraband hit rate should rise when the number of stops falls, ceteris paribus. We provide empirical corroboration of such optimizing models of police behavior by examining changes in stops and frisks around two extraordinary events of 2020 - the pandemic onset and the nationwide protests following the killing of George Floyd. We find that hit rates from pedestrian and vehicle stops generally rose as stops and frisks fell dramatically. Using detailed data, we are able to rule out a number of alternative explanations, including changes in street population, crime, police …

Does Diversity Matter? Police Violence, Minority Representation, And Urban Policing, Maddy Mcvaugh

PPPA Paper Prize

This paper argues that, while increasing officer diversity may prove beneficial to some urban departments, for the majority, increased diversity within law enforcement does not substantially decrease the amount of violence towards racial minorities due to police culture and institutional practices. Specifically, I examine how structural policing methods target and excessively monitor Black and Hispanic communities, which leads to increased police encounters. Through police culture, these increased encounters then create further opportunities for acts of violence to be used against these minority communities. I begin by discussing several claims regarding the value of increased officer diversity. I then discuss why …

Law Enforcement Recruitment, Why It Matters, And Key Management Decisions, Part One, Patrick Oliver

History and Government Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Critical Thinking In Law Enforcement Training Academies: A Phenomenological Study Of Officer Experiences, Billy J. Spruill

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recently, law enforcement officer use of force incidents resulting in death has seemingly become more prevalent. Generally, the educational requirement for a law enforcement officer is a high school diploma or general education development degree. One must question if this requirement is sufficient for a law enforcement officer to be successful in a modern world as the law enforcement training academy may be the law enforcement officer’s only postsecondary education. Critical thinking is a needed skill identified by high-stress professions such as the military, nursing, and disaster management, yet there is limited study regarding critical thinking in law enforcement. The …

Improving Policing: Criticisms And Supports, Hannah M. Stephens

The Mid-Southern Journal of Criminal Justice

In today's society, there are many critical factors surrounding the profession of law enforcement. In the midst of allegations such as corruption, racism, and use of force, policing has lost its favor in the eyes of the public. By taking a closer look at these issues and the various ways of correcting their problems, perhaps true policing can once again be a source of effectiveness and pride in our criminal justice system. Traditional policing holds many values that have been lost. If our justice system and the public's trust in it is to be restored, education, various approaches to crime, …

A Policy Analysis Of The Effectiveness Of Crisis Intervention Training, Hannah Elmore

Spring Showcase for Research and Creative Inquiry

The objective of this research is to investigate the effectiveness of Crisis Intervention Teams in diverting the mentally ill from the criminal justice system and reducing the rates of problematic interactions. A systematic review of studies conducted to assess the impact of this policy on stated outcomes indicates that the policy is an effective means of educating law enforcement on mentally ill individuals, diverting mentally ill individuals from the criminal justice system, and reducing problematic encounters. Keywords: crisis intervention training, mental illness, law enforcement

The Ineffectiveness Of The Reid Technique In Law Enforcement Interrogations And How A Non-Accusatory Model Of Interview Can Be Applied In Law Enforcement Interviews In The United States, Angie Chen

Honors College Theses

The research questions that this thesis explored were “Why the Reid Technique is Ineffective for Law Enforcement Interrogations?” and “How a Non-Accusatory Model of Interview Can Be Applied in Law Enforcement Interviews in the United States.” In recent years, the harmful effects of using a confrontational, adversarial interrogation method, such as the Reid technique, have emerged. These interrogation methods are based on pseudoscience. The effects of these types of interrogation methods can include psychological harm and false confessions. Professionals and officials in the law enforcement field are exploring new options for interviewing including non-accusatory methods such as the PEACE model. …

The Applicability Of Understanding Hypervigilance In Law Enforcement, Garrett Ingram

Senior Honors Theses

Hypervigilance is a condition characterized by a state of heightened awareness in the absence of a threat. Hypervigilance can occur for many reasons, ranging from stressful events or scenarios, to training, to personality. Because of the nature of law enforcement, hypervigilance is an issue that affects law enforcement officers as well as the people with whom they interact on a regular basis. It is important to gain a full understanding of hypervigilance and how it affects decision making, interactions, and quality of life, which has its own effects. By understanding these issues, law enforcement officers can overcome the issues associated …

Implementing A Personal Wellness Program For Law Enforcement, Lee Schroeder

Master of Arts in Criminal Justice Leadership

Law enforcement is trained to handle any and every situation they may encounter when patrolling the streets. From civil cases, domestic, de-escalation, going hands-on with subjects, to having individuals at gunpoint. Law enforcement is in an occupation that can go from 0-100mph in a matter of seconds. With all the training that can make the outcomes more desirable, one aspect has been on the afterburner that is almost as important as other training. With the staggering statistic regarding law enforcement officers committing suicide, it would make sense that law enforcement should be given more training on coping abilities and even …

De-Escalation: A Necessity For The Survival Of Law Enforcement, James Ross

Master of Arts in Criminal Justice Leadership

The topic of de-escalation has gained a great deal of attention in recent years due to a high number of high-profile tragic events that involved great bodily harm or the use of deadly force. De-escalation tactics are nonphysical skills used to prevent a potentially dangerous situation from escalating into a physical confrontation. There is no shortage of news stories highlighting the conflict between law enforcement officers, law enforcement agencies, and the general public. Many times, conflict can be eliminated or reduced by breaking down barriers that may exist between law enforcement agencies and the communities they serve. Many agencies have …

The Development And Validation Of The General Attitudes Toward Police (Gap) Questionnaire, Rachel Greis

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Previous studies have examined the relationships between various demographic characteristics (e.g., race/ethnicity, prior arrest experience, residential living area, political affiliation) and various measures of attitudes toward police (e.g., trustworthiness, legitimacy; Brown & Benedict, 2002; Hindelang, 1974; Rizer & Trautman, 2018; Schuck et al., 2008). However, a measure of overall general attitudes toward police has not been established. The main goal of the present research was to fill this gap in the literature by creating and validating a brief questionnaire that effectively captures respondents’ general attitudes toward police. In Study 1, a brief 14-item questionnaire that captured general attitudes toward police …

Police Quotas, Shaun Ossei-Owusu

All Faculty Scholarship

The American public is slowly recognizing the criminal justice system’s deep defects. Mounting visual evidence of police brutality and social protests are generating an appetite for something different. How to change this system is still an open question. People across the political spectrum vary in their conceptions of the pressing problems and how to solve them. Interestingly, there is one consequential and overlooked area of the criminal justice system where there is broad consensus: police quotas.

Police quotas are formal and informal measures that require police officers to issue a particular number of citations or make a certain number of …

Prosecuting Civil Asset Forfeiture On Contingency Fees: Looking For Profit In All The Wrong Places, Louis S. Rulli

All Faculty Scholarship

Civil asset forfeiture has strayed far from its intended purpose. Designed to give law enforcement powerful tools to combat maritime offenses and criminal enterprises, forfeiture laws are now used to prey upon innocent motorists and lawful homeowners who are never charged with crimes. Their only sins are that they are carrying legal tender while driving on busy highways or providing shelter in their homes to adult children and grandchildren who allegedly sold small amounts of low-level drugs. Civil forfeiture abuses are commonplace throughout the country with some police even armed with legal waivers for property owners to sign on the …

Judicial Voting In U.S. District Courts Located In The Second And Fifth Circuits In First Amendment Retaliation Cases Involving Law Enforcement Officers, Selena Renee Aguirre

Criminology & Criminal Justice Theses

This study examined the influence of party affiliation, as measured by the party of the appointing president; legal precedent; judicial circuit (Second or Fifth); race; gender; and prior prosecutorial experience on voting by U.S. District Court judges in First Amendment retaliation cases brought law enforcement officials against their employers. Applying binary logistic regression analyses to a data set comprised of 163 judicial votes with pro-plaintiff and pro-defendant voting serving as the dependent measure, the results indicated that only judges’ party affiliation had a significant effect on voting (Wald= 4.469, 1 df., p= .035) president. There was a .437 decrease in …

Dirty Johns: Prosecuting Prostituted Women In Pennsylvania And The Need For Reform, Mckay Lewis

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Prostitution is as old as human civilization itself. Throughout history, public attitudes toward prostituted women have varied greatly. But adverse consequences of the practice—usually imposed by men purchasing sexual services—have continuously been present. Prostituted women have regularly been subject to violence, discrimination, and indifference from their clients, the general public, and even law enforcement and judicial officers.

Jurisdictions can choose to adopt one of three general approaches to prostitution regulation: (1) criminalization; (2) legalization/ decriminalization; or (3) a hybrid approach known as the Nordic Model. Criminalization regimes are regularly associated with disparate treatment between prostituted women and their clients, high …

Public’S Perception Of Law Enforcement In Schools, Amarielis Morales

Criminology Student Work

Law Enforcement is inserted into schools all over the United States to ensure the school’s safety. Law Enforcement and community relationships are most important in developing trust between law enforcement and schools, including staff, students, and families. Once trust is established, law enforcement in schools is utilized by providing their services to better the school’s community. This research aims to get an insight into how people currently feel about law enforcement and what people would want from law enforcement in schools. Which raises the question, what does the public think about law enforcement in schools? The sample includes people above …