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Enhancing The Assessment Of Coercive Control In Spanish Femicide Cases: A Nationally Representative Qualitative Analysis, Rosa Viñas‑Racionero, Chitra Raghavan, Miguel Ángel Soria‑Verde, Mario J. Scalora, Jorge Santos‑Hermoso, José Luís González‑Álvarez, María José Garrido‑Antón

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Purpose Coercive control is a power dynamic central to intimate partner violence (IPV) and consists of tactics to limit one’s partner’s autonomy through constraint, regulation of everyday life, isolation, pursuit, and intimidation and physical force. Such tactics may potentially signal a risk for future lethal or near lethal violence; hence, proper evaluation may enhance the utility of clinical femicide risk assessments. The goal of this study is to explore coercive control behaviors preceding partner femicides in Spain with the intention to provide guidance for its assessment by first responders and law enforcement.

Methods Researchers from the Department of State for …

A Laboratory Test Of Alcohol-Related Intimate Partner Aggression: Expectancies Are Not To Blame, Laura E. Watkins, Samantha C. Patton, David Dilillo

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Background: The role of alcohol expectancies and evaluations (i.e., perceived outcomes of drinking and whether these outcomes are desirable) in alcohol-related intimate partner aggression (IPA) has been debated, with some researchers arguing that expectancies fully account for the alcohol-IPA relationship and others suggesting they play a minimal if any role in alcohol-related IPA. In the current study, we examine the impact of expectancies and evaluations on alcohol-related IPA observed in the lab, in order to clarify what impact, if any, alcohol expectancies have on alcohol-related IPA. Consistent with findings from laboratory studies examining general aggression, we expected that individuals …

Friends-Based Protective Strategies And Unwanted Sexual Experiences: A Daily Diary Examination Of First Year College Women, Jessica A. Blayney, Tiffany Jenzer, Anna E. Jaffe, Quinn Carroll, Jennifer P. Read

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Risk for unwanted sexual experiences can emerge in social contexts—the same contexts that early college women navigate with their friends. Though friends naturally engage in prevention strategies, less is known about how capable guardianship influences risk. Using multilevel structural equation modeling, the present study examined guardianship at the person- and situation-level. First year college women (N = 132) completed eight weekends of daily surveys. We examined whether guardianship (e.g., more friends present, greater proportion of female friends, no intoxicated friends) would reduce unwanted sexual experience risk and if this relation was mediated by friends-based strategy use. An alternative model …

Pathways To Preferences For Collaborative Conflict Resolution: Disputants’ Process Goals Drive Preferences, Ashley Votruba, Jared Noetzel, Abigail L. Herzfeld

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Understanding individuals’ preferences for how to resolve conflict—specifically legal disputes—has long interested researchers, particularly those considering procedural justice. This study considers the impact of relational factors that influence individuals’ preferences for dispute resolution processes for civil legal issues. Specifically, it examines the impact of self-construal and the relationship between the parties in conflict on preferences for specific features of dispute resolution processes and considers the role of underlying resolution goals as potential mediators in a parallel mediation model. Using a novel paradigm in which the outcome variables of interest focused on specific dispute resolution process features allowed the researchers to …

Friends-Based Protective Strategies And Unwanted Sexual Experiences: A Daily Diary Examination Of First Year College Women, Jessica A. Blayney, Tiffany Jenzer, Anna E. Jaffe, Quinn Carroll, Jennifer P. Read

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Risk for unwanted sexual experiences can emerge in social contexts—the same contexts that early college women navigate with their friends. Though friends naturally engage in prevention strategies, less is known about how capable guardianship influences risk. Using multilevel structural equation modeling, the present study examined guardianship at the person and situation levels. First-year college women (N = 132) completed eight weekends of daily surveys. We examined whether guardianship (e.g., more friends present, greater proportion of female friends, no intoxicated friends) would reduce unwanted sexual experience risk and if this relation was mediated by friends-based strategy use. An alternative model …

The Truth About Snitches: An Archival Analysis Of Informant Testimony, Jeffrey S. Neuschatz, Danielle K. Deloach, Megan A. Hillgartner, Melanie Fessinger, Stacy A. Wetmore, Amy B. Douglass, Brian H. Bornstein, Alexis M. Le Grand

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Informants are witnesses who often testify in exchange for an incentive (i.e. jailhouse informant, cooperating witness). Despite the widespread use of informants, little is known about the circumstances surrounding their use at trial. This study content-analyzed trials from 22 DNA exoneration cases involving 53 informants. Because these defendants were exonerated, the prosecution informant testimony is demonstrably false. Informant characteristics including motivation for testifying, criminal history, relationship with the defendant and testimony were coded. Most informants were prosecution jailhouse informants; however, there were also defence jailhouse informants and prosecution cooperating witnesses. Regardless of informant type, most denied receiving an incentive, had …

The Truth About Snitches: An Archival Analysis Of Informant Testimony, Jeffrey S. Neuschatz, Danielle K. Deloach, Megan A. Hilgartner, Melanie Fessinger, Stacy A. Wetmore, Amy B. Douglass, Brian H. Bornstein, Alexis M. Le Grand

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Informants are witnesses who often testify in exchange for an incentive (i.e. jailhouse informant, cooperating witness). Despite the widespread use of informants, little is known about the circumstances surrounding their use at trial. This study content-analyzed trials from 22 DNA exoneration cases involving 53 informants. Because these defendants were exonerated, the prosecution informant testimony is demonstrably false. Informant characteristics including motivation for testifying, criminal history, relationship with the defendant and testimony were coded. Most informants were prosecution jailhouse informants; however, there were also defence jailhouse informants and prosecution cooperating witnesses. Regardless of informant type, most denied receiving an incentive, had …

Trust In The Jury System: A Comparison Of Australian And U.S. Samples, Monica K. Miller, Jeffrey Pfeifer, Brian H. Bornstein, Tatyana Kaplan

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Public trust in the criminal justice system, including the jury system, is important for maintaining a democracy that is fair for all citizens. However, there is little research on trust in the jury system generally and even less cross-country comparison research specifically. Trust in the jury system might relate to other legal attitude measures (e.g., authoritarianism). This study identified the degree to which trust in the jury system relates to legal attitudes and compared perceptions of trust between the U.S. and Australia. Community members completed a survey that included measures of trust in the jury system and legal attitudes. The …

Capital And Punishment: Resource Scarcity Increases Endorsement Of The Death Penalty, Keelah E. G. Williams, Ashley M. Votruba, Steven L. Neuberg, Michael J. Saks

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Faced with punishing severe offenders, why do some prefer imprisonment whereas others impose death? Previous research exploring death penalty attitudes has primarily focused on individual and cultural factors. Adopting a functional perspective, we propose that environmental features may also shape our punishment strategies. Individuals are attuned to the availability of resources within their environments. Due to heightened concerns with the costliness of repeated offending, we hypothesize that individuals tend toward elimination-focused punishments during times of perceived scarcity. Using global and United States data sets (studies 1 and 2), we find that indicators of resource scarcity predict the presence of capital …

The Effect Of Maoa And Stress Sensitivity On Crime And Delinquency: A Replication Study, Christa C. Christ, Joseph A. Schwartz, Scott F. Stoltenberg, Jonathan R. Brauer, Jukka Savolainen

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Across several meta-analyses, MAOA-uVNTR genotype has been associated with an increased risk for antisocial behavior among males who experienced early life adversity. Subsequently, early life stress and genetic susceptibility may have long-term effects on stress sensitivity later in life. In support of this assumption, a recent study found evidence, in two independent samples, for a three-way interaction effect (cG × E × E) such that proximate stress was found to moderate the interactive effect of MAOA-uVNTR and distal stress on crime and delinquency among males. In light of recent developments in cG × E research, we attempted to …

Four Decades Of The Journal Law And Human Behavior: A Content Analysis, Lindsey E. Wylie, Katherine P. Hazen, Lori A. Hoetger, Joshua A. Haby, Eve M. Brank

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Although still relatively young, the journal Law and Human Behavior (LHB) has amassed a publication history of more than 1300 full-length articles over four decades. Yet, no systematic analysis of the journal has been done until now. The current research coded all full-length articles to examine trends over time, predictors of the number of Google Scholar citations, and predictors of whether an article was cited by a court case. The predictors of interest included article organization, research topics, areas of law, areas of psychology, first-author gender, first-author country of institutional affiliation, and samples employed. Results revealed a vast …

When In Rome Think Like A Roman: Empirical Evidence And Implications Of Temporarily Adopting Dialectical Thinking, Ashley M. Votruba, Virginia S. Y. Kwan

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

As a result of increasing globalization, people are exposed to an even greater extent to other cultures, making it possible for individuals to assimilate mindsets that are typical of another culture. Recent work on extracultural cognition has shown that immediate cultural contexts exert powerful influences on cognition and behavioral patterns. This chapter reviews empirical support for extracultural cognition. Specifically, the chapter focuses on dialectical thinking and the well-established finding in the cultural literature that Westerners tend to anticipate linear continuity in the environment and East Asians anticipate change in existing patterns. Research shows, though, that cultural cues may shift these …

The Role Of Sex-Related Alcohol Expectancies In Alcohol-Involved Consensual And Nonconsensual Sex Among Women Of Asian/ Pacific Islander And Women Of European Race/Ethnicity, Allyson L. Dir, Arthur R. Andrews, Sarah M. Wilson, Tatiana M. Davidson, Amanda K. Gilmore

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Alcohol-involved sexual experiences, including incapacitated sexual assault and alcoholinvolved sex, are major public health concerns among college women. Further, racial/ethnic diversity among college students is increasing, particularly with regard to increases in college students of Asian/Pacific Islander (API) race/ethnicity. Of relevance, evidence suggests differences in sexual assault rates across ethnicities and cultures; however, no known study to date has examined differences by ethnicity and first language in expectancies and experiences specifically surrounding alcohol and sex. The current study sought to examine differences in incapacitated sexual assault, alcohol-involved sex, and heavy episodic drinking, as well as differences in sex-related alcohol expectancies …

Differentiating Sexual Offender Type On Measures Of Impulsivity And Compulsivity, Tara J. Ryan, Matthew T. Huss, Mario Scalora

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

It is suspected that rapists, child molesters, and offenders with both child and adult victims (mixed offenders) may have different motivations and offending patterns—that they are heterogeneous. A central difference between these groups of offenders may be their propensity toward sexually impulsive behaviors and compulsive behavior. Analyses were conducted to assess the mean differences between the various offender types across four measures related to sensation seeking and compulsivity as well as several other proxy behavioral measures. Results suggest that there are differences in sexual impulsive and compulsive behavior among the different types of offenders. Treatment implications are discussed.

Changes In J-Soap-Ii And Savry Scores Over The Course Of Residential, Cognitive-Behavioral Treatment For Adolescent Sexual Offending, Jodi L. Viljoen, Andrew L. Gray, Catherine Shaffer, Natasha E. Latzman, Mario Scalora, Daniel Ullman

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Although the Juvenile Sex Offender Assessment Protocol–II (J-SOAP-II) and the Structured Assessment of Violence Risk in Youth (SAVRY) include an emphasis on dynamic, or modifiable factors, there has been little research on dynamic changes on these tools. To help address this gap, we compared admission and discharge scores of 163 adolescents who attended a residential, cognitive-behavioral treatment program for sexual offending. Based on reliable change indices, one half of youth showed a reliable decrease on the J-SOAP-II Dynamic Risk Total Score and one third of youth showed a reliable decrease on the SAVRY Dynamic Risk Total Score. Contrary to expectations, …

Youthful Familicidal Offenders: Targeted Victims, Planned Attacks, Rosa Viñas-Racionero, Louis B. Schlesinger, Mario Scalora, John P. Jarvis

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

A nonrandom national sample of 16 familicides, which involved 19 offenders (ages 14 to 21 years) who either killed or made a serious attempt to kill their families, was studied. The majority of offenders were Caucasian (78.91 %) males (84.21 %) with interpersonal family conflicts due to parental control, substance use, or physical violence. Prior to the murders, 50 % of the offenders reported to others their intent to kill their families. All of the 42 reported victims were specifically targeted and most of the homicides were planned shooting attacks (75 %) rather than spontaneous eruptions. Immediately following the homicides, …

Exploring Lawyer Misconduct: An Examination Of The Self-Regulation Process, Nicole Leeper Piquero, Michele Bisaccia Meitl, Eve M. Brank, Jennifer L. Woolard, Lonn Lanza-Kaduce, Alex R. Piquero

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Although white-collar professionals are often held in high esteem, sometimes persons in privileged positions engage in misconduct. Unfortunately, very little is known about the correlates associated with professional misconduct and even less is known about the sanctioning process among lawyers who are licensed by state bar associations and therefore subject to the bar rules regulating their professional conduct. We examine 213 complaints filed in one fiscal year with the Florida Bar alleging attorney misconduct and evaluate the factors that influence whether the complaint continued through or was discarded at each stage of the self-regulated grievance process. Using selection models that …

Measuring Older Adult Confidence In The Courts And Law Enforcement, Joseph A. Hamm, Lindsey E. Wylie, Eve M. Brank

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Older adults are an increasingly relevant subpopulation for criminal justice policy but, as yet, are largely neglected in the relevant research. The current research addresses this by reporting on a psychometric evaluation of a measure of older adults’ Confidence in Legal Institutions (CLI). Confirmatory factor analysis (CFA) provided support for the unidimensionality and reliability of the measures. In addition, participants’ CLI was related to cynicism, trust in government, dispositional trust, age, and education, but not income or gender. The results provide support for the measures of confidence in the courts and law enforcement, so we present the scale as a …

Examining The Reasons For Student Responses To Threatening Behaviors On A College Campus, Heath J. Hodges, Elizabeth C. Low, M. Rosa Viñas-Racionero, Brandon A. Hollister, Mario Scalora

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Underreporting criminal activity to authorities can pose significant challenges, particularly within college campuses. Crime prevention teams have recognized the importance of reporting potentially concerning behaviors that may precede violent acts. However, reasons for reporting preincident behaviors have been understudied among college samples and failed to account for informal responses, such as talking to third parties or changing personal security features. The present study surveyed 1,075 students from a midwestern state university and evaluated their awareness of threatening or concerning behaviors on campus, response behaviors, and reasons for either acting on or failing to report preincident behaviors. Findings reflected reporting rates …

The Association Between Stalking And Violence In A Sample Of Spanish Partner Violence Cases, Rosa Viñas-Racionero, Chitra Raghavan, Miguel Ángel Soria-Verde, Remei Prat-Santaolaria

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The present descriptive study analyzes stalking in a sample of 278 Spanish court cases involving partner violence and contrasts the benefits of the new bill article 172ter, which criminalizes stalking, compared with the Organic Law 1/2004 on partner violence. Thirty-seven percent (37%) of the total sample included stalking behaviors, which manifested in intimidatory (60%) and controlling (45%) unwanted verbal communications (62%) and physical approaches (42%) that ended violently in a third of the cases (35%). Cases involving violent stalking, non-violent stalking, and physical violence without stalking were compared. A closer look at violent stalking cases uncovered that intimacy-seeking stalking behavior …

Challenging The Political Assumption That “Guns Don’T Kill People, Crazy People Kill People!”, Heath J. Hodges, Mario Scalora

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Every time an infamous mass shooting takes place, a storm of rhetoric sweeps across this country with the fury of a wild fire. “Why are we letting these people carry guns?” “Why were they not hospitalized?” “The government needs to crack down on this issue!” What is the government’s response to these cries of concern? Politicians and the media attempt to ease public fears by drawing tenuous connections among a handful of poorly understood tragedies. The salient commonality is that these high-profile shooters had some history of mental illness. A cursory review of the Internet will paint a troubling picture …

The Impact Of Ethnicity, Immigration Status, And Socioeconomic Status On Juror Decision Making, Russ K.E. Espinoza, Cynthia Willis-Esqueda, Suzette Toascano, Jennifer Coons

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The purpose of this research was to examine how ethnicity, immigration status, and socioeconomic status (SES) may contribute to juror bias. A total of 320 Euro-American venire persons were as- signed to 1 of 8 criminal court trial transcript conditions that varied defendant ethnicity (Mexican or Canadian), immigrant status (undocumented or documented), and SES (low or high). Dependent measures were verdict, sentencing, culpability, and trait attributions. Results indicated that the low-SES undocumented Mexican defendant was found guilty more often, given a more severe sentence, thought to be more culpable, and rated lower on a number of trait measures compared with …

The Influence Of A Juvenile’S Abuse History On Support For Sex Offender Registration, Margaret C. Stevenson, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Jessica M. Salerno, Tisha R.A. Wiley, Bette L. Bottoms, Katlyn S. Farnum

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

We investigated whether and how a juvenile’s history of experiencing sexual abuse affects public perceptions of juvenile sex offenders in a series of 5 studies. When asked about juvenile sex offenders in an abstract manner (Studies 1 and 2), the more participants (community members and undergraduates) believed that a history of being sexually abused as a child causes later sexually abusive behavior, the less likely they were to support sex offender registration for juveniles. Yet when participants considered specific sexual offenses, a juvenile’s history of sexual abuse was not considered to be a mitigating factor. This was true when participants …

Songs You Know By Heart: Alcohol, Promiscuous Sex, Drugs, And Escape In Jimmy Buffett’S Music, Eve M. Brank, Kathleen A. Fox, Victoria Kaspar

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Some researchers argue singer-songwriter Jimmy Buffett’s lyrics focus on alcohol, promiscuous sex, and drugs, while others say Buffett’s music has changed since he sold out to corporate sponsorship. Results from a systematic coding of all 386 of his songs released since 1969 indicate Buffett’s music is more about escape and irony than deviant behaviors. Furthermore, lyric themes remain largely unaltered even through an increase in his popularity and corporate sponsorship.

Understanding The Link Between Men’S Alcohol Use And Sexual Violence Perpetration: The Mediating Role Of Sexual Objectification, Sarah Gervais, David Dilillo, Dennis E. Mcchargue

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Objective: This study provided a novel consideration of the relations between alcohol consumption, sexual objectification, and sexual violence, because evidence for the links between sexual objectification and alcohol consumption as well as objectification and sexual violence are almost nonexistent in the published literature. We also developed a measure of interpersonal sexual objectification perpetration (ISOS-P) because there are no existing self-report measures of this construct. We hypothesized that these variables would be associated positively and that sexual objectification (including evaluating women’s bodies and making sexual advances toward women) would mediate the relation between alcohol use and sexual violence.

Method: …

Can College Students Use Emotion Regulation Strategies To Alter Intimate Partner Aggression-Risk Behaviors? An Examination Using I3 Theory, Rosalita C. Maldonado, David Dilillo, Lesa Hoffman

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Objective: Drawing on Finkel and Eckhardt’s I³ theory (Finkel & Eckhardt, 2013), this experimental study examined the effects of emotion regulatory efforts on aggressive verbalizations during anger arousal.

Methods: Participants were 236 male and female college students with and without a history of intimate partner aggression (IPA) perpetration. Participants were randomized to 1 of 3 emotion regulation strategy conditions: cognitive reappraisal, expressive suppression, or no instruction. They were trained to use these strategies in response to emotionally evocative dating scenarios presented via the Articulated Thoughts in Simulated Situations (ATSS) paradigm. Participants’ aggressive verbalizations in response to these scenarios were …

Child Maltreatment And Adult Criminal Behavior: Does Criminal Thinking Explain The Association?, Lorraine E. Cuadra, Anna E. Jaffe, Renu Thomas, David Dilillo

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Criminal thinking styles were examined as mediational links between different forms of child maltreatment (i.e., sexual abuse, physical abuse, and physical neglect) and adult criminal behaviors in 338 recently adjudicated men. Analyses revealed positive associations between child sexual abuse and sexual offenses as an adult, and between child physical abuse/neglect and endorsing proactive and reactive criminal thinking styles. Mediation analyses showed that associations between overall maltreatment history and adult criminal behaviors were accounted for by general criminal thinking styles and both proactive and reactive criminal thinking. These findings suggest a potential psychological pathway to criminal behavior associated with child maltreatment. …

The Mediating Effect Of Hostility Toward Women On The Relationship Between Childhood Emotional Abuse And Sexual Violence Perpetration, Alania M. Vivolo-Kantor, Sarah Degue, David Dilillo, Lorraine E. Cuadra

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Some evidence suggests that childhood emotional abuse (CEA) may serve as a risk factor for sexual violence (SV) perpetration; however, little is known about the mechanisms by which CEA may influence SV. This study examined the relationship between CEA and SV by assessing the mediating role of hostility toward women (HTW) in a sample of adjudicated adult males (N = 360). Approximately 1 in 5 participants was classified as sexually violent based on self-reported behavior and/or criminal records. Results indicated that CEA significantly predicted HTW and SV, and HTW significantly predicted SV. As hypothesized, the relationship between CEA and SV …

Reducing Courts’ Failure-To-Appear Rate By Written Reminders, Brian H. Bornstein, Alan Tomkins, Elizabeth Neeley, Mitchel Herian, Joseph A. Hamm

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

This article examines the effectiveness of using different kinds of written reminders to reduce misdemeanor defendants’ failure- to-appear (FTA) rates. A subset of defendants was surveyed after their scheduled court date to assess their perceptions of procedural justice and trust and confidence in the courts. Reminders reduced FTA overall, and more substantive reminders (e.g., with information on the negative consequences of FTA) were more effective than a simple reminder. FTA varied depending on several offense and offender characteristics, such as geographic location (urban vs. rural), type of offense, and number of offenses. The reminders were somewhat more effective for Whites …

Staff Perceptions Of Risk For Prison Rape Perpetration And Victimization, Valerie M. Gonsalves, Kate Walsh, Mario J. Scalora

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

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