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Exploring The Relationship Between Anger, Aggression, And Perpetrator Substance Use In The Commission Of Sexual Offenses, Dominique Rivera

Student Theses

This study examined the potential association between perpetrator substance use, anger, and aggressive behavior in the commission of sexual crimes. The sample included 246 adult males convicted of rape (n = 54) or child molestation (n = 192). Descriptive statistics revealed that 64.6% of the individuals in this sample (n = 159) were intoxicated at the time of the offense. Results showed that perpetrators who used substances at the time of the offense were more likely to exhibit aggressive behavior toward the victim (e.g., weapon use, verbal abuse) than those who did not. Offenders with higher pervasive anger scores were …

Seeking Clemency: A Profile On Jacob Rouse, Jocelyn A. Contreras, Sarah Gabrielli

Capstones

Jacob Rouse was 18 years old when he drove the getaway car that would define the rest of his life. He sat in his blue Ford Taurus, waiting to drive his three friends away from the scene of a robbery in Rochester, New York. Jacob was parked about a block away when one of his accomplices shot and killed 22-year-old Herschel Scriven, a local youth pastor and church organist.

He is now seeking clemency.

Who Upholds Your Human Rights When You Are “Stateless?” Why Couldn’T The Un Protect The Rohingya’S Human Rights?, Hyochan Lee

Student Theses and Dissertations

In 2017, genocide in Myanmar took place against the stateless minority Rohingya Muslims. Why couldn’t the UN protect the Rohingya’s human rights? The international community's efforts to oppose these violations against the stateless people have been only passive. Then, who upholds your human rights when you are stateless? Using chronology, historical institutionalism, and process tracing analyses, this thesis (1) evaluates the UN’s legal regime’s systemic design and capabilities in protecting human rights; then (2) identifies the design flaws of our international human rights regime; and lastly, (3) develops a recommendation to protect all people, stateless or not. Based on both …

Amplification Of Legal Advocacy: Public Health Approaches To Releasing Immigrant Detainees At The Otay Mesa Detention Center, San Diego, California, United States, Kaylin Rosal

Master's Projects and Capstones

This paper reviews the current health practices of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) detention centers, focusing on asylum seekers housed at Otay Mesa Detention Center (OMDC) located in San Diego, California, United States. Many asylum seekers, or foreign nationals who have been confirmed to have a credible fear of persecution in their home countries, regardless of how they enter the United States, are placed into Federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centers. Two avenues for the release of detainees while they wait for their asylum cases to be heard by an immigration judge are bond and parole applications, the basis …

Effects Of Eye Imagery On Criminal Justice And Forensic Students Cheating In Online Testing, Kortni Larue

Theses

Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) is a well-established subsection of environmental criminology in which aspects of the environment are altered in order to prevent crimes before they happen. This is primarily accomplished in two ways: physical and psychological. CPTED strategies often utilize both in order to prevent crime, but there is a lack of primarily psychologically based research in circulation. This includes the manipulation of the biopsychological response to gaze detection in order to increase prosocial behavior. Additionally, there is a lack of studies indicating if CPTED strategies are effective in a classroom setting and even less concerning online …

An Understanding Of Prisons, Race, And Class In The United States, Seth Ketchum

Honors Projects

After a summer of protests sparked by police brutality, the United States remains divided on this most important issue. This paper will seek to contextualize this country’s situation to explain that these protests stem from a history of inequality, in order to argue against claims that the protests are unjustified. With a multidisciplinary approach, we can begin to observe just how unequal this country is and understand what drives so many people to protest during the middle of a global pandemic.

Impact Of Endangered Animal Protection Rights, Policies, And Practices On Zoonotic Disease Spread, Daniella Fedak-Lengel

Honors Projects

Building on field research in Costa Rica and Belize, this honors project analyzes environmental and endangered animal protection policies, rights, and practices in Central America and the Caribbean, and assesses the impact of veterinary science and biological research and practice, particularly conservation biology, on animal welfare concerns. Informed by the recent surge in awareness regarding zoonoses and zoonotic disease transmission, prevention and control, resulting from the current global pandemic of SARS-CoV-2, the project assesses the need for new and innovative types of collaboration, particularly involving conservation biologists, environmental scientists, public health experts, law and policy makers, and global trade and …

The Determination Of G1 And G7 Ballistic Coefficients Of .22lr Caliber Ammunition In Gypsum Board Through Doppler Radar Acquisition, Jose A. Colon Jr.

Student Theses

In this experiment, a method of calculating ballistic coefficients of .22LR (long rifle) caliber ammunition was developed using Doppler radar to track the pre-impact and post-impact velocities of projectiles passing through gypsum board. The method demonstrated has distinct advantages in accuracy and flexibility over conventional chronograph projectile tracking that forensic firearm experts should consider when determining the optimal method to obtain a ballistic coefficient (BC). G1 and G7 ballistic coefficients were determined for three .22LR ammunition brands with respective muzzle velocities of approximately 1050ft/s (320m/s), 1230ft/s (375m/s), and 1640ft/s (500m/s) fired from a Ruger 10/22 semi-automatic carbine using an Infinition …

Backlogged Or Logjammed? An Analysis Of The Patterns That Surround The Rape Kit Backlog Across Jurisdictions, Elizabeth Dowd

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Untested rape kits sit in crime labs, hospitals, evidence lockers, or storage facilities untouched. In the worst-case scenarios, rape kits have been thrown out of police storage before the statute of limitations had expired. A major public policy problem is developing as these kits stack up and create a backlog. The primary problem with the rape kit backlog is that all victims are not receiving justice. To solve the problem, the backlog of rape kits needs further exploration and analysis. If a pattern can be established about why the problem is occurring, then policies can be constructed and implemented to …

Estimating Muzzle To Target Distance From The Physical Characteristics Of A Bullet Hole In Different Wood Substrates, Alan Lee

Student Theses

Determining the muzzle to target distance of a firearm discharge is an integral part in crime scene reconstruction. Shooter distance is most often estimated using the Modified Griess test, which can be used to visualize gunshot residue (GSR) patterns around bullet holes. However, this test has a 3- to 5-feet range limit as the plume of GSR particles can only travel a certain distance past the muzzle. The purpose in this study was to develop a new method that overcomes this range limitation by analyzing the physical damage characteristics of a bullet hole. Test fires were conducted with a .22 …

Policing Farm Crime: An Exploratory Study Of Agricultural Crime Units, Brianna Lynn

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to explore the practices, perceptions, and operations of agricultural crime units. To date, there has been little research conducted on policing agricultural crimes and no known research on units specializing in investigating them. The study utilizes data gathered from qualitative interviews with agricultural crime investigators across several states to fill this gap in the literature. The results allow for an examination of the fundamental practices of agricultural units, their perceptions and their experiences. In addition, they point to several implications for both policy and practice that may serve to guide our efforts to combat …

Current Sex Offender Laws: Are They Doing More Harm Than Good?, Gail Onderak

Counselor Education Capstones

Public sentiment toward sex offenders is that of hatred, contempt, and fear. These attitudes have led to the creation of sex offender legislation that is exceptionally restrictive and punitive. While best practices and current treatment models call for minimization of risk and maximization of personal fulfillment in order to reduce recidivism, sex offender laws pose as obstacles to these goals. A review of the risk-need-responsivity (RNR) principles and the Good Lives Model (GLM) treatment approach highlights the contrast between intended outcomes of these methods and the challenges that sex offender notification and registration (SORN) and residency restrictions present when trying …

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 …

An Examination Of School Characteristics, Shooter Characteristics, And Incidental Characteristics Of School Mass Shootings, Amber Elizabeth O'Dell

Criminology & Criminal Justice Theses

School Mass Shootings (SMS) continue to be an ongoing issue for k-12 schools, technical/vocational schools, and on college campuses in the United States. Recent studies have shown that these crimes are increasing in both frequency and lethality. However, SMS are still considered to be statistically rare events making them difficult to study quantitatively. Many extant studies use an exclusive definition of SMS where an incident must have four or more deaths to be categorized as this type of crime. The present study utilizes an inclusive definition of 2 or more deaths, where every four injuries count as a death in …

Dual Disadvantage: An Examination Of Racial Disparities In Victim And Suspect Criminal Justice Treatment, Paige Vaughn

Dissertations

During the past several decades, American criminal justice legal systems appear to have been over-punishing Black individuals as perpetrators of crime, and neglecting them as violent crime victims, perpetuating disparities that simultaneously repress and alienate Black citizens. Such complex processes of racial inequality are difficult to capture in studies that focus on single criminal justice stages and limited sets of variables. After presenting a working conceptualization of case processing that can be used across criminal justice systems, the current study uses data from the St. Louis Metropolitan Police Department, St. Louis Circuit Attorney’s Office, and U.S. Census to assess racial …

The Prevalence Of Intimate Partner Violence And Victim Resources At Georgia Southern University, Elizabeth Lacey

Honors College Theses

The goal of this project is to measure the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) among young adults in a college setting. Using an anonymous, self-report survey, college students at a large university in the south were asked about their experiences with IPV, as well as their knowledge and perceptions of victim’s services available on campus and in the community. Results reveal that IPV Is more prevalent among females and technology-related IPV is more prevalent among males at Georgia Southern University. In addition, the study found that compared to women, men are more informed about existing victim services.

Substance Use And Life-Course Narratives For Criminally Involved Veterans, Tyler J. Marcheschi

Theses and Dissertations

Criminal justice involvement stemming from substance use is a common issue with whichmilitary veterans struggle. Research on substance use has indicated that a multitude of negative life-course outcomes can result for individuals who abuse substances. While prior research has studied the relationships between substance use and military veterans, there is little empirical analysis that focuses on the narrative accounts of veterans and their experiences with substance use. The goal of the current thesis is to expand on this topic by exploring how criminally involved veterans experience substance use and the perceived impact substance use has on the life-course according to …

Fostering Resilience In Correctional Officers, Jon Thomas Arthur Gist

Theses and Dissertations

A significant portion of the literature regarding corrections emphasizes the negative factors and outcomes related to the job. The career of a correctional officer includes a stressful, demanding, and unpredictable work environment. Correctional institutions are struggling to keep a correctional staff that can adapt to internal and external forces. Several studies have shown that correctional officers frequently encounter severe inmate misconduct, resulting in high levels of stress, low job satisfaction, and intentions of leaving the job. However, research begs the question of what makes a correctional officer resilient and functional at work?

No prior study has applied a mixed-methods study …

Effects Of Microwave Radiation On The Digestion Of Proteins Involved In Body Fluid Identification, Aaron J. Fox

Student Theses

Body fluid identification plays an important role in understanding how the events during a crime may have taken place. The presence of a body fluid may help identify an individual who committed a crime, while the type of body fluid present may help investigators determine how a crime occurred. Current body fluid identification techniques are not always conclusive and may only suggest the presence of a body fluid type. A protocol developed by the New York City Office of the Chief Medical Examiner (OCME) established a method that confirms body fluid type through mass spectrometry. To identify marker proteins in …

Statutory Immunity For Educators: An Analysis Of Decisions By The Texas Commissioner Of Education And Texas Appellate Courts After House Bill 4, Melissa Ballou Kates

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative legal study explored statutory immunity protection provided to Texas educators under the Texas Education Code §22.0511 and §22.0512. The Texas legislature enacted the statutory immunity provisions as part of House Bill 4 and tort reform in 2003. Researchers have called for more balance when providing immunity protections for educators. The researcher limited the study to Texas Commissioner of Education decisions and Texas appellate court cases. The study utilized a legal framework to determine under what circumstances the rulings of statutory immunity shields educators from liability. The findings in this study provide evidence that Texas educators have more immunity …

Development And Validation Of A Multidimensional Scale For Measuring Public Confidence In The Criminal Justice System, Jimin Pyo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Two studies were conducted with an aim of developing multidimensional measures of public confidence that are conceptually integrated, psychometrically sound, and useful in predicting individuals’ law related behaviors. Study 1 involves two-phased construction of scale in which a preliminary inventory was generated (Phase 1) and then finalized after evaluating psychometric properties based on 304 US adults recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) (Phase 2). As a result, six multidimensional scales were constructed respectively for measuring efficiency-, finality-, fairness-, strictness-, accuracy-, and transparency-oriented confidence. Despite more complexity of factor structures than originally expected, results of psychometric evaluation six scales of confidence …

Wrongful Conviction Documentaries: Influences Of Crime Media Exposure On Mock Juror Decision-Making, Patricia Y. Sanchez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Psychology and law researchers have urged colleagues to collaborate with the makers of popular media, such as documentary filmmakers, in efforts to educate the general public about wrongful convictions (Kassin, 2017; Wells et al., 2000). Recently, programs depicting wrongful convictions, such as Making a Murderer (Demos & Ricciardi, 2015) and When They See Us (DuVernay, 2019) have garnered substantial viewership. Research on general and case-specific pretrial publicity (Daftary-Kapur et al., 2014; Kovera, 2002) and the effects of crime media (Baskin & Sommers, 2010; Schweitzer & Saks, 2007) demonstrate that although consuming crime-related media and being exposed to information about a …

Many Forms Of Black Death: Coal Extraction, Transnational Activism And The Value Of Life In Colombia, Oscar H. Pedraza Vargas

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

After the murder of the president and vice president of the coal union by paramilitaries in the department of Cesár, Colombia, the union is left adrift. Its fragility is only heightened when the person who decides to take over, is killed six months later. The union has been vocal on their critique of environmental destruction produced by coal and argues that their criticism is part of the reasons why they were targeted. Not far from there, in the department of Guajira, the conglomerate in charge of Cerrejón, the largest open-pit coal mine of South America, wants to divert a creek …

Examining Racial And Ethnic Disparity In Prosecutor’S Bail Requests And Downstream Decision Making, Connor Concannon

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Rigorous academic research into prosecutorial and judicial decision making has been taking place for over three decades, but a great deal remains unknown about the mechanics of prosecution. A majority of the work done by prosecutors occurs outside of public view, and most research focuses on the ‘back end’ of the adjudication process, leaving unanalyzed numerous decision points made upstream of the final plea and sentencing outcomes. Using unique data from the New York County District Attorney’s Office that tracks 43,971 felony complaints, this research examines racial and ethnic disparity at multiple decision points during case processing, with a focus …

Faithfully Negligent: Religious Implications For Criminal Negligence Cases, Supreet Kaur Bath

Master of Laws Research Papers Repository

Do the actions of parents in withholding medical treatment from their children due to religious influence show wanton or reckless disregard for the safety and lives of their children? This project investigates the morally and legally complicated issue of the influence of religious beliefs in criminal negligence cases. My MRP is animated by the idea that similar cases in the past have been treated with leniency and ought to be given stricter punishments.

I focus in particular on cases in which parents opt for alternative remedies or faith healing for ill children in ignorance or defiance of available medical treatments. …

Performance Of A Dna And Protein Co-Extraction With Trypsin In Comparison To Two Proteinase K Based Dna Extraction Methods, Dinura A. Gunatilake

Student Theses

Effective DNA extraction methods are important for forensic applications. The main goal of this experiment was to determine if a newly developed trypsin based protein/DNA co-extraction method applied to contact traces would yield comparable results to a commercial Proteinase K method (QIAamp DNA Investigator Kit) and a Chelex extraction method with Tween 20 used in forensic laboratories. This was tested on 20 sets of sebaceous fingerprints on glass slides.

The results of this study demonstrate the trypsin co-extraction method yielded the highest amount of DNA. In the first comparison, the mean total DNA yields for the trypsin-co extraction method and …

The Relationship Between Impact Energy And Glass Fracture Via .177 Caliber Steel Bbs, Jocenel Beach

Student Theses

Fractured glass is often found at shooting scenes and can provide useful information for crime scene reconstruction. Mechanical glass fracture from a projectile impact can result in different types of fracture patterns. The degree of fracture depends on several factors including: type of glass, the thickness of the glass, curvature (if any), distance from the muzzle, contact angle, and type of projectile. Correlating impact energy to the degree of glass fracture can provide useful information regarding the muzzle-to-target distance for a particular firearm/ammunition combination. This research focuses on the projectile impact velocity of .177 steel BBs shot from a pneumatic …

Beyond Social Disorganization Theory: The Influence Of Multiple Structural Determinants Of Crime On An Urban Community, Rodney C. Boyd

Seton Hall University Dissertations and Theses (ETDs)

This correlational, explanatory, cross-sectional study explains the influence of neighborhoods’ structural determinants on the rate of violent crimes in New York City’s communities. Guided by the theoretical foundation of social disorganization theory, the variables in this study included the economically disadvantaged, racial/ethnic heterogeneity, residential instability/mobility, and the level of educational attainment. The statistical analysis in this study included correlational matrix and simultaneous multiple regression model (ordinary least squares). The study consisted of 59 New York City community districts (encompassing the City’s population of 8,622,698 residents) and included the violent crime rates for 2017. The findings in this study indicated that …

Further Evaluation Of A Dry Vacuuming Technique For Recovery Of Dna From Handwritten Documents, Christian Hopkins

Student Theses

A previously developed, non-destructive, homemade vacuum method for collecting biological material from handwritten documents had promising DNA results for white copy paper, preserved indented writing, and latent prints. Prior to casework implementation, additional validation experiments are warranted and here the method was tested for different paper substrates. This work describes testing of notebook paper, bank deposit slips, magazine pages, and manila envelopes. The quantity of recovered DNA varied from donor to donor, but the mean quantities showed a trend that can be explained by the different sizes and surface properties of the tested paper types. The rougher paper type, like …

Computed Tomography In Medicolegal Death Investigation: A Critical Review, Trenton Eames

University Honors Theses

The use of computed tomography (CT) scanning in medicolegal death investigations has increased in frequency in recent years. It can be used by investigators to help identify a victim, find a cause of death, or otherwise reveal legally relevant case details. This meta-analysis aimed to examine the research surrounding the use of CT scanning in medicolegal death investigation, focusing in particular on researchers’ scrutiny of the accuracy and precision of this technique within forensic contexts. Thirty-nine research papers were reviewed, with specific attributes and findings examined together in an effort to contextualize CT scanning in medicolegal death investigations. CT scanning …