Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Perception Of Police In Public Housing Communities, Taylor Brickley

Theses and Dissertations

Research on the relationship between police and citizens consistently finds that attitudes toward police (ATP) are least positive among black citizens in areas of concentrated disadvantage. While much of the research in this area focuses specifically on ATP among young black males in low-income communities because they have the most contact with police, there has been relatively little research that has included older and/or female residents. Additionally, research has yet to examine ATP in racial and economic enclaves that may have different social and environmental characteristics than the surrounding community. This study utilizes in-depth interviews with 60 residents of two …

Getting Away With Murder: Hazing, Hegemonic Masculinity, And Victimization, Toniqua Charee Mikell

Theses and Dissertations

Robert Champion, a drum major in the Florida A&M University marching band was beaten to death on, November 19, 2011. He was 26 years old. Champion is the latest victim of a FAMU band hazing incident known infamously as “Crossing Bus C.” The incident at FAMU represents one of the countless hazing rituals that occur each year. On college campuses, it is believed that as many as 55% of students on various teams or members of student organizations experience some form of hazing. This study highlights the complexity of hazing as it relates to its operationalization, its history, and its …

Adultification In Juvenile Corrections: A Comparison Of Juvenile And Adult Officers, Riane Miller Bolin

Theses and Dissertations

The growing recognition throughout the nineteenth century that juveniles were different than adults culminated in the establishment of the first juvenile court in Cook County, Illinois in 1899. By 1945, every state had developed its own juvenile justice system separate and distinct from the criminal justice system. Since its inception, the juvenile justice system has experienced two waves of adultification in which the lines between the juvenile and criminal justice systems were blurred. While a number of studies have focused on the adultification of juvenile courts, no study has examined the adultification of juvenile corrections. Thus, the present study aims …

Neighborhood Disorganization And Police Decision-Making In The New York City Police Department, Allison Carter

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the applicability of criminological theory to police decision-making during police-initiated encounters with suspects. Specifically, how indicators of social disorganization can be used to predict officers' use of coercive action (i.e., frisk, search, use of force, and arrest) during the street stop of suspects. I also investigate whether neighborhood disadvantage, as a moderator, impacts suspects' likelihood of receiving greater levels of coercive action when stopped for reasons listed in the New York City Police Departments' Unified Form 250 (UF-250) reports.

Three theoretical arguments connecting an officer's decision-making in a socially disorganized area are outlined. First, an area with …

Lead Exposure And Crime, Tara Elaine Martin

Theses and Dissertations

While lead exposure during childhood has been linked to criminal activity later in life, prior research has failed to develop a theoretical foundation explaining why lead and crime rates are positively related at the aggregate level. Utilizing tract-level data, I examine the relationship among elevated blood lead level rates, levels of concentrated disadvantage, and crime rates. Through a biosocial approach, I explore the lead-crime relationship using a measure of concentrated disadvantage to account for the variations across tracts. Finally, I discuss the results of this study as well as implications for public policy and future research.

Informal–Formal Sector Interactions In Automotive Engineering, Kampala, Dick Kawooya

Faculty Publications

This chapter provides findings from a Ugandan case study that examined innovation transfers between informal-sector automotive artisans and formally employed researchers at Makerere University’s College of Engineering, Design, Art and Technology (CEDAT). Th e primary site studied was CEDAT’s Gatsby Garage, an automotive workshop where it was found that the informal-sector artisans were central to innovative processes but were at the same time driven more by sharing impulses than by concern for the intellectual property (IP) implications of their work. Based on these findings, it is argued that Ugandan policy-makers need to seek policy tools to support innovation transfers between …