Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Nebraska Sex Offender Registry Study: Interim Report, Ryan E. Spohn

Reports

Sexual victimization is of great concern to the public, as evidenced by the legislative attention it has received over the last twenty years (Adkins, Huff, and Stageberg 2000; Levenson 2006; Sample and Kadleck 2008; Schram and Milloy 1995; Walker et al. 2005; Zevit 2006). To help increase public safety and address public concern, corrections departments nationwide have adopted some form of risk classification and assessment instrument for offenders who have been convicted of sex crimes (Richardson and Huebner 2006). Some of the most popular risk assessment instruments include the STATIC 99, RRASOR, MnSOST, SORAG, and ASRS (Richardson and Huebner 2006; …

Restorative Justice And Recidivism: A Meta-Analysis, Kristin Bain

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Restorative Justice is an approach to resolving conflict that has become increasingly relevant as both financial and social costs associated with crime have continued to rise. As alternative methods of managing crime are being considered and implemented there is a call from policy makers for evidence that those programs are indeed the best practice. Although there is a significant amount of research on restorative justice, synthesis of that information is lacking which impedes full understanding of the potential of the impact and role of this approach. A central argument is that restorative based programs produce benefits because they reduce recidivism …

What Incarcerated Women At The Women’S Center Say They Need From The Criminal Justice System, Jillian Foley

Muskie School Capstones and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to give a voice to Maine’s incarcerated women and potentially influence the ongoing policy revision process in Maine. The researcher conducted 3 focus groups with 18 residents of the Women’s Center- a gender-responsive facility that houses about 70 to 80 incarcerated women at the Maine Correctional Facility in Windham, ME. The perspectives of the participants varied, however, the findings of the study were largely in line with the literature guidelines for gender-responsive policies and practices.

Effective Parole Supervisor Traits Observed By Texas Parole Officers, David H. Bolding Ii

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

This research study uses a quantitative method to identify the traits that Texas parole officers observe make an effective leader. This study adds to what seems to be a void in research on parole supervisors. Prior literature has identified that numerous individual traits and observable traits play an active role in effective leaders. This study uses "Survey Monkey" to employ the use of surveys across Texas, and to ensure confidentiality. By utilizing the method in this study, effective traits can be identified and used as a tool to increase present supervisory capabilities and allow others to have a guide on …

Measuring The Success Of Counter Trafficking Interventions In The Criminal Justice Sector: Who Decides - And How?, Anne T. Gallagher Ao, Rebecca Surtees

Anne T Gallagher

Global concern about human trafficking has prompted substantial investment in counter-trafficking interventions. That investment, and the human rights imperatives that underpin counter-trafficking work, demand that interventions demonstrate accountability, results and beneficial impact. How this can happen in practice is complicated and contested. This article, which considers success measurements with respect to criminal justice interventions, seeks to cut through the complexities presented by multiple theories and elaborate methodologies by focusing on one key issue: who decides success, and how? A review of evaluation reports and interviews with practitioners confirm that determinations of success (or failure) will vary according to: (i) who …

What's Best For Women: Examining The Impact Of Legal Approaches To Prostitution In Cross-National Perspective And Rhode Island, Malinda Bridges

Honors Projects

This research analyzes legal approaches to prostitution on a cross-national level in order to determine if legal methods that regulate prostitution have an effect on prostitution. In order to examine these concepts, legel approaches were first identifed in the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden. Following this analysis, the effects of these legal approaches are reported. Instead of working from a strictly sociological standpoint, this project focused greatly on the legal aspects that affect prostitution.

Perceived Job Readiness Among The Previously Incarcerated, Amy Audet

Honors Projects

This study aims to determine the primary factor in employment readiness for previously incarcerated individuals. Ex offenders were were surveyed for job readiness using a scale developed in the studies' literature review. This scale emcompasses factors such as skills, knowledge, confidence and goals. Surveys were also done according to age, age of first incarceration, incarceration history and job training history. Because this population is marginalized, this study may bring new awareness about the effects of employer discrimination and the need for future programs to increase job readiness among the previously incarcerated individuals.

Reducing Recidivism In Returning Offenders With Alcohol And Drug Related Offenses: Contracts For The Delivery Of Authentic Peer Based Recovery Support Services, Sarah Scarbrough

Theses and Dissertations

In collaboration with Sheriff C. T. Woody, the Deputies and other jail personnel, Kingdom Life Ministries (KLM) operates in the City of Richmond Jail. Aimed at serving individuals who suffer from alcoholism and other drug addictions, KLM’s programs offer peer-to-peer recovery support services; meaning people who are successful in their recovery deliver the recovery message. On any given day, rehabilitation and recovery services are provided to 120 men in what used to be the worst tier of the Richmond City Jail. A large portion of these men battle substance abuse disorders and have exhibited habitual criminal behavior over an extended …

January Roundtable: Crime And Human Rights In Brazil: The Police Pacification Units, Introduction, Claudia Fuentes Julio

Human Rights & Human Welfare

An annotation of:

“Brazil slum raids impress, but what's the impact?” By Bradley Brooks. Huffington Post, November 14, 2011.

23,639 Milwaukee County Residents With Driver's License Suspensions Solely For Failure To Pay Fines And Civil Forfeitures, John Pawasarat

ETI Publications

Thousands of adults in Milwaukee County have suspensions placed on their driver’s licenses solely for not paying fines and civil forfeitures. Younger teens may be issued license suspensions for failure to pay fines and civil forfeitures even though they have never had a driver’s license. Many teens and adults with suspensions continue to drive with or without a valid license. For this report the driver license status of all Milwaukee County residents was reviewed using state Department of Transportation records on driver’s license status, licenses suspension and revocation records for 2008-2011 in order to assess the driver status facing workers …

Suspension And Revocation Status Report For Milwaukee County, John Pawasarat

ETI Publications

Driver’s license suspension and revocation records were analyzed for Milwaukee County residents using a series of data files from the Wisconsin Department of Transportation. Notable changes were observed in number and patterns of charges. The elimination of mandatory revocations for OAR (operating after revocation) charges, a policy reform initiated by the Center for Driver’s License Recovery & Employability, reduced the number of OAR revocations from 10,124 in 2009 to 64 in 2011. The legislative reforms also led to a very large reduction in revocations for OWS (operating while suspended), which dropped from 5,815 revocations issued in 2009 down to 130 …

Drivers License Status Report For Milwaukee County Presentation, Lois M. Quinn, John Pawasarat

ETI Publications

Presentation for the Center on Driver's License Recovery & Employability biennial meeting tracks changes in state suspension and revocation policies.

First Year Evaluation Of The Legal Action Of Wisconsin Disabled Offenders Economic Security (Does) Project Conducted For The Wisconsin Department Of Corrections, John Pawasarat, Lois M. Quinn

ETI Publications

Among the most challenging populations released from Wisconsin Department of Corrections institutions are offenders with serious mental and physical disabilities that impede their ability to hold gainful employment and present serious mental and physical health conditions often requiring medications and continuing medical care. The Disabled Offenders Economic Security (DOES) Project offered assistance to prison inmates who have serious mental health and disability conditions prior to their release from DoC institutions. Legal Action of Wisconsin attorneys served as benefit specialists helping soon-to-be-released disabled offenders acquire Supplemental Security Income, Social Security Disability Income, medical assistance, and other public benefits for which they …

Drivers License Status Report For Milwaukee County, John Pawasarat, Lois M. Quinn

ETI Publications

The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Employment and Training Institute reviewed the driving records of 629,222 Milwaukee County residents in the Department of Transportation files, including drivers with current licenses as of January 1, 2012 plus unlicensed residents who received suspensions and revocations from 2009 through 2011. This report details the driving status of county residents in order to identify problems in licensing, suspensions and revocations. Prior ETI reports have shown the driver license to be essential for getting and keeping employment and exceeding high school completion as a predictor of sustained employment.

Hip-Hop And Procedural Justice: Hip-Hop Artists' Perceptions Of Criminal Justice, Howard M. Henderson

Howard M Henderson

Despite its popularity, hip-hop has remained one of the most woefully underexamined topics within criminal justice and criminology. Given the reality that hip-hop music represents lyrical expressions from criminal justice’s most overrepresented population; the aforementioned paucity is all the more perplexing. Utilizing a latent and manifest content analysis of a random sample of 200 hip-hop songs, drawn from platinum-selling albums between the years 2000 and 2010, the current study examined the manner and extent to which hip-hop artist’s portrayed the criminal justice system. The results demonstrated that law enforcement was the branch of the criminal justice system most likely to …

Play Fair With Recidivists, Richard Dagger

Political Science Faculty Publications

Retributivists thus face a difficult challenge. Either we must go against the social grain, and perhaps our own intuitions, by insisting that a criminal offense carry the same penalty or punishment no matter how many previous convictions an offender has accrued; or we must find a way to justify the recidivist premium. I shall take the second route here by arguing that recidivism itself is a kind of criminal offense. In developing this argument, I shall rely on Youngjae Lee's insightful analysis of "recidivism as omission." I shall complement his analysis, however, by grounding it in a conception of criminal …

The Border Of Juveniles And Criminal Justice, Vicki Ann Mellenberger

Contemporary Issues in Juvenile Justice

No abstract provided.

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

Alan Tomkins 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 and …

Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Grant, Nebraska Strategic Plan, 2012-2015, Ryan E. Spohn, Melissa Gray, Mike Behm, Lisa Stamm

Reports

The Consortium for Crime and Justice Research (CCJR) at the University of Nebraska at Omaha was tasked by the Nebraska Commission on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice to facilitate the development of a three-year strategic plan for the use of Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistant Grant (JAG) funds. The Crime Commission serves as the State Administering Agency that is responsible for funding projects that fit into one or more of the seven JAG purpose areas: law enforcement programs; planning, evaluation, and technology improvement programs; prevention and education programs; drug treatment and enforcement programs; corrections and community corrections programs; prosecution and …

Juvenile Life Without Parole, Kallee Spooner

Undergraduate Review

The purpose of this paper is to analyze data, policy trends, and legal concerns on the issue of sentencing juvenile offenders to life without the possibility of parole (LWOP). Policy changes in the 1980s and 90s dramatically changed the sentencing outcomes for juvenile offenders. Significantly departing from the rehabilitative goals established by the juvenile court, states adopted harsher punishments, including LWOP. During this shift, the diminished culpability of youth became insignificant when compared to the nature of their crimes. The recent cases of Roper v. Simmons (2005) and Graham v. Florida (2010) reinstated the importance of recognizing that juveniles are …

Public Attitudes Toward Crime Control In Contemporary China : A Multilevel Analysis, Yue Zhuo

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This study applies the Western sociological theories in the Chinese context and systematically explores crime control attitudes in contemporary China. This research links individual-level data from the 2005 China General Social Survey with contextual-level data from China Procuratorial Yearbooks, Chinese Population Census 2000, and China Statistical Yearbooks. A multilevel framework informed by the instrumental perspective, the constructionist/conflict perspective, and the symbolic perspective is adopted to examine the individual-level and contextual-level social factors that affect the three dimensions of public attitudes toward crime control - satisfaction, spending, and due process.

Capital Punishment And Race: Racial Culture Of The South, Jerry Joubert

Undergraduate Review

There are currently 34 states with the death penalty and 16 states without the death penalty in the United States. According to the most recent report from the Death Penalty Information Center, there have been 1276 executions in the United States since 1976. In the year 2011 alone, there were 42 executions. This was 4 executions less than the previous year. Among the 1276 total executions in the United States since 1976, 1048 have taken place in the South. There are approximately 3,251 inmates on death row. African-Americans represent 42% of these inmates (Death Penalty Information Center, 2011). This statistic …

Overcriminalization For Lack Of Better Options: A Celebration Of Bill Stuntz, Daniel C. Richman

Faculty Scholarship

The unity of Bill Stuntz's character – his profound integrity – makes it easy to move from a celebration of his friendship (which I’ve treasured since we first met back in 1985) to one of his scholarship, for creativity, wisdom, and humility are strengths not just of Bill himself but of his work. Even as his broad brush strokes have fundamentally advanced our understanding of the interplay between substantive criminal law, criminal procedure, and criminal justice institutions over time, Bill's work – like Bill himself – welcomes and endures sustained engagement. Humility is appropriate for me, too, as I offer …