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Full-Text Articles in Legal Studies

Multiple Perpetrator Sexual Assault: The Relationship Between The Number Of Perpetrators, Blame Attribution, And Victim Resistance, Yi Jin Genevieve Lim Dec 2017

Multiple Perpetrator Sexual Assault: The Relationship Between The Number Of Perpetrators, Blame Attribution, And Victim Resistance, Yi Jin Genevieve Lim

Student Theses

Sexual assault has been and continues to be a prevalent public health and social problem that can lead to severe ramifications for the victim. There has been growing research on multiple perpetrator sexual assault (MPSA) and how it qualitatively differs from single assailant offenses. However, there is a paucity of studies investigating the differences between sexual assault perpetrated by duos versus three or more individuals and how it affects victim behavioral responses and blame attribution. This study aimed to examine the relationship between the perceived level of victim blame and the number of perpetrators in MPSA cases contingent on the …


911 Dispatchers: Their Role As Evidence Collectors, Brittany P. Kassis Dec 2017

911 Dispatchers: Their Role As Evidence Collectors, Brittany P. Kassis

Student Theses

911 dispatchers are often the first point of contact after an individual is in an accident, needs emergency assistance, or witnesses a crime. In an emergency involving a crime, a dispatcher can play an important role in assisting the investigative process and collecting evidence, such as an eyewitness’ description of the suspect. While trained in how to gather situational and locational information from a caller so that relevant first responders can be notified, dispatchers may not be trained on how the specific language they use with a caller can impact the caller’s memory for the event. Thus, if dispatchers are …


The Divinity Of Crime: How Spirituality Can Strengthen The Resilience Of Criminal Organizations, David R. Vegvari Aug 2017

The Divinity Of Crime: How Spirituality Can Strengthen The Resilience Of Criminal Organizations, David R. Vegvari

Student Theses

This thesis conducts a systematic analysis of open source data that discusses ideational factors of resilience in criminal organizations. It does this by looking at the role of spirituality – referred to as an individual’s moral or ethical codes influenced by cultural, ethnic, and religious values – and its effects on an organization’s durability, impenetrability, and adaptability. To understand spirituality as a factor of resilience in criminal organizations, it is delineated into four Dimensions of Spiritual Influence (DoSI). They are (1) trust, (2) spiritual neutralization, (3) strategic arenas, and (4) the logistical use of spiritual institutions. In order to analyze …


Are Dhs Technology Grants For Local Police Departments An Effective Tool Against Terrorism?, Erika Mcginty Aug 2017

Are Dhs Technology Grants For Local Police Departments An Effective Tool Against Terrorism?, Erika Mcginty

Student Theses

This paper examines the effectiveness of allocating funds to the nation’s police departments for the prevention of domestic terrorism, as is done annually through the Department of Homeland Security’s Homeland Security Grants Program. The program, administered by the Federal Emergency Management Administration, has distributed billions of dollars since its 2003 inception in equipment, software, and technology services based on the recipient police agencies’ own risk assessments of local terrorism. Much of the technology desired by police consists of systems of mass surveillance; this thesis focuses on implementations of surveillance video cameras or CCTV, license plate readers, and unmanned aerial vehicles. …


Comparative Study Of Uniformed/Undercover Loss Prevention Agents In Reducing Shrinkage In Retail Businesses, Rustam Zakirov Jun 2017

Comparative Study Of Uniformed/Undercover Loss Prevention Agents In Reducing Shrinkage In Retail Businesses, Rustam Zakirov

Student Theses

This research examines the effectiveness of loss prevention strategies, specifically, uniformed and undercover Loss Prevention Agents (LPA), to determine the proper implementation of these strategies and provide necessary recommendations for the retail stores to lower the rate of shrinkage. It has been found that to date $13 billion worth of merchandise is stolen per year nationwide. Therefore, in order to reduce shoplifting, retail stores implement various loss prevention strategies among them: LPAs and others. Much research has been conducted in order to find an effective strategy for reducing shoplifting which among others impacts the rate of shrinkage. However, to date, …


Risk And Prevalence Of Personality Disorders In Sexual Offenders, Allison Sigler Jun 2017

Risk And Prevalence Of Personality Disorders In Sexual Offenders, Allison Sigler

Student Theses

Studies suggest that about seventy percent of incarcerated sexual offenders have been diagnosed with a mental disorder, with about fifty percent meeting diagnostic criteria for a personality disorder. Personality disorders have been shown to increase the risk of recidivism in offenders overall. However, little is known about how a personality disorder diagnosis increases this risk for sex offenders. The current study aims to evaluate the prevalence of personality disorders in sexual offenders, whether this varies by offender type, and how these relate to recidivism risk. Archival records from a large sample of convicted sex offenders who were incarcerated in a …


Procedural Justice And Citizen Compliance: Police Officer Demeanor And Crime Severity, Shiny Sharma Jun 2017

Procedural Justice And Citizen Compliance: Police Officer Demeanor And Crime Severity, Shiny Sharma

Student Theses

Little is known about how police officer demeanor impacts citizen compliance under specific conditions such as the severity of a crime. Using a sample of 141 college students, we randomly assigned vignettes that manipulated crime severity type (e.g., petty theft or armed robbery) and police officer demeanor (e.g., procedurally just or not procedurally just) to gain a better understanding of this nuanced relationship. Participants were more likely to report suspicious behavior, regardless of crime severity, if the officer demeanor was procedurally just. Additionally, participants were more likely to consent to a search and report a suspicious person in the procedurally …


Inmate Death In Private And Public Prisons, Alexis Acevedo May 2017

Inmate Death In Private And Public Prisons, Alexis Acevedo

Student Theses

Despite the vast body of research on privatization of prisons in the United States, little is known about the relationship between these types of facilities and death in custody. The literature on privatization compares private prisons to public prisons on many factors such as recidivism and cost-benefit analyses. However, there is a gap in the literature regarding death in custody in public and private facilities. This study focuses on both individual and facility level differences in Florida and Texas to explore potential difference in death in custody between public and private prisons. The research focuses on differences in the number …


Victim-Offender Relationships In Sexual Assault And Subsequent Disclosure And Reporting Styles, Amy R. Ramapuram May 2017

Victim-Offender Relationships In Sexual Assault And Subsequent Disclosure And Reporting Styles, Amy R. Ramapuram

Student Theses

There is a discrepancy between the number of perpetrated sexual assaults and the number of reported sexual assaults. Past research has shown that one factor that could contribute to this discrepancy in reporting and disclosure of sexual assaults is the victim-offender relationship. Furthermore, there is evidence that victims of sexual assault minimize when describing their offense and their offender, which could further impact reporting and disclosure. The current study seeks to look into whether the victim-offender relationship influences the disclosure, reporting, and use of minimization, in reference to sexual assault. The victim-offender relationships that were analyzed were “stranger”, “friend/acquaintance”, “partner”, …


Effects Of Defendant Group Status And Inclusion Of A Lesser Charge On Participant-Juror Verdict Preferences, Brittany Decesare May 2017

Effects Of Defendant Group Status And Inclusion Of A Lesser Charge On Participant-Juror Verdict Preferences, Brittany Decesare

Student Theses

Black, Hispanic and White participant-jurors read a murder trial transcript in which the defendant belonged to either one of the other racial/ethnic groups (outgroup) or their own racial/ethnic group (ingroup). In the two-verdict condition, participants were provided with two verdict options: guilty or not guilty. In the three-verdict condition, participant-jurors were provided with three verdict options: guilty of second-degree murder (primary charge), guilty of voluntary manslaughter (lesser charge) or not guilty. In all conditions, participants provided their verdict preference, verdict certainty, the defendant’s likelihood of guilt and the strength of evidence. Participants in the two-verdict condition indicated higher proportions of …


An Exploration Of Youth Experiences In Chatrooms, Emily A. Greene-Colozzi May 2017

An Exploration Of Youth Experiences In Chatrooms, Emily A. Greene-Colozzi

Student Theses

Internet predation of minors has increasingly become a focus of child abuse research and legislation. Concerns have arisen regarding “online grooming,” the ongoing process during which an adult offender prepares a child for sexual abuse by gaining emotional access to the child through an intimate online relationship. The present study provided one of the first comprehensive examinations of a victim's perspective of online grooming. Participants were 374 male and female college students at a public undergraduate institution who completed an online survey covering demographics, lifestyle factors, and experiences online of sexual solicitation or online grooming. Results showed that approximately 30% …


Does Distance Equal Length? : The Effect Of Relational Closeness On Length Of Sentencing In Child Sexual Abuse, Brittney Peiffer Mar 2017

Does Distance Equal Length? : The Effect Of Relational Closeness On Length Of Sentencing In Child Sexual Abuse, Brittney Peiffer

Student Theses

Expectations of how family and friends are supposed to treat children may influence decision- making in child sexual abuse cases. These expectations can be understood from a moral code and moral violation perspective, such that broken moral codes formed by society can elicit negative emotions resulting in moral hypervigilance. Moral hypervigilance is the need to mediate the negative emotions elicited by the moral code violations with action, such as deciding the length of sentencing for a person who the moral code. This study examined the impact of relational closeness and victim gender on the length of sentencing for child sexual …