Psychology Commons^™

Sexual Abuse: A Multi-Faceted Problem, Marcus Venable

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

On average, US citizens have experienced approximately 400,000 sexual assaults per year, which results in enormous immediate and long-term consequences for individuals, as well as society in general.

In the U.S., the principal method of combatting this crime has been the creation of Sex Offender Registries used to notify the public of the identity and location of convicted sex offenders who may be living in proximity to their residence. In addition to the Registry, laws have been passed forbidding convicted sex offenders from residing within buffer zones around areas of high child concentration [schools/parks/etc.].

The efficacy and consequences of these …

Consent Searches And Underestimation Of Compliance: Robustness To Type Of Search, Consequences Of Search, And Demographic Sample, Roseanna Sommers, Vanessa K. Bohns

Law & Economics Working Papers

Most police searches today are authorized by citizens’ consent, rather than probable cause or reasonable suspicion. The main constitutional limitation on so-called “consent searches” is the voluntariness test: whether a reasonable person would have felt free to refuse the officer’s request to conduct the search. We investigate whether this legal inquiry is subject to a systematic bias whereby uninvolved decision-makers overstate the voluntariness of consent and underestimate the psychological pressure individuals feel to comply. We find evidence for a robust bias extending to requests, tasks, and populations that have not been examined previously. Across three pre-registered experiments, we approached participants …

Exploring The Factors That Influence Female Offending In The U.S. And Mexico, Dana Villasenor

CMC Senior Theses

Hollywood has painted a picture of the criminal woman as a sexy, sneaky, and often psychotic female fatale. This is because men run Hollywood. Much like movies, research on why women offend had historically focused on men as their stellar. However, towards the turn of the century and with the disproportionate rise in female incarceration, literature caught up to the fact that women and men do not experience the same socialization, standards, or reality and, therefore, have different reasons for and ways of offending. This research explores those reasons for women in the U.S. and Mexico and paints the picture …

The Lived Experiences Of 911 Dispatchers With Compassion Fatigue: An Interpretive Phenomenology, Angela Johnson

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

911 dispatchers are the “first” first responders in an emergency and play an intrinsic role in the public safety continuum. 911 dispatchers are exposed to daily and cumulative stress from the repeated empathic engagement of those they serve, and from shift work, staffing shortages, and inability to make mistakes. However, there is a dearth of peer reviewed literature on 911 dispatchers and compassion fatigue (CF). CF is described as the emotional and physical exhaustion experienced due to the constant exposure to the trauma of others. CF symptomology in 911 dispatchers has far reaching implications for not only the citizens …

The Lived Experiences Of 911 Telecommunicators: Life Outside Of The Call Center, Mary's Dariela Martinez

Theses and Dissertations

911 operators are tasked with solving the caller's problem by promptly and efficiently decoding a cry for help, collecting pertinent information, quickly deciding its priority level, and dispatching the appropriate assistance. These employees are responsible for what happens on that line, internalizing their problems to solve those of the callers, which often result in stress disorders, trauma, and personal, professional, and social issues. Their job duties are extensive, the responsibility is vast, and the overall environment can be overwhelming. Aside from the environmental stressors, the details of each critical incident leave the employee susceptible to various risk factors and other …

Exploring Perceptions Of Control Within Offender Cognition And Recidivism Paradigms, Anistasha H. Lightning, Danielle Polage

Student Published Works

Elements of perceived control are associated with recidivism in offender populations. We investigated the application of locus of control to the frequency of personal involvement with the law and to beliefs surrounding the likelihood of future contact with the legal system. We hypothesized that, as the number of sentencings or legal experiences increased, locus of control would externalize. We also predicted that increased legal involvement would lead to greater belief in the likelihood of future involvement. A statistically significant path model suggests that locus of control appears to be a predictor of increased criminality, as opposed to the other way …

Enhancing The Representation Of Women: How Gender Diversity Signals And Acknowledgement Affect Attraction To Men-Dominated Professions, Thomas P. Depatie, Anmol Sachdeva, Comila Shahani-Denning, Rebecca Grossman, Kevin P. Nolan

Personnel Assessment and Decisions

While organizations around the world recognize the importance of gender diversity and inclusion, many struggle to reach gender parity (Sneader & Yee, 2020). Particularly, women account for less than 15% of all sworn police officers (Donohue Jr, 2020). Considering signaling theory and novel research in organizational impression management, we examined the utility of various recruitment messaging techniques for attracting women job seekers to professions dominated by men, at both a consulting firm and law enforcement agency. Women evaluating consulting firm materials perceived greater behavioral integrity and were subsequently more attracted to the organization if recruitment messages included both high gender …

Using Workplace Personality To Guide Improvement Of Law Enforcement Selection, Chase A. Winterberg, Michael A. Tapia, Bradley J. Brummel

Personnel Assessment and Decisions

Recurrent police-public conflict suggests misalignment in desired police behavior between police and the public. We explored differences in desired police characteristics between police and members of the American public. Although racial minorities endorsed more negative attitudes of police overall, we found no meaningful differences in desired police characteristics between police and the public or between racial minority and majority participants. Second, we combined multiple criterion-related validation studies in similar jobs via meta-analyses and synthetic validity analyses to identify personality predictors of police performance dimensions. Third, we assessed base rates and adverse impact of these personality characteristics in police. Incumbent officers …

The Paradox Of Salvation: Police-Perpetrated Sexual Violence Against Sex Workers In The United States, Aydan Murphy-Stanley

Student Theses

This study explores how sex workers in the United States are sexually victimized and potentially traumatized by sexual violence perpetrated by police officers, as well as the paradoxical implications of this violence. A qualitative meta-synthesis was conducted to examine and integrate qualitative literature pertaining to this phenomenon. 10 databases were used to execute the systematic literature search. Only studies that utilized qualitative methodologies, are published in peer-reviewed academic journals, and examined police-sex worker interactions were included. Data from relevant studies was analyzed according to the meta-synthesis method. Police-perpetrated sexual violence against sex workers was identified as a form of sexual …

Combating Recidivism, Shaylin Daley

Senior Honors Projects

SHAYLIN DALEY (Psychology) Combating Recidivism Sponsor: Lisa Holley (Political Science) Many people believe that criminals cannot be helped. It is evident that at least some of society shuns people who break laws and have negative views about the amount of money spent on detaining inmates. Thousands of individuals are released from United States prisons a day. Many of these individuals have no plan in place for their return home and are sent into the streets with nothing except for a jail ID. Most of these people will end up returning to prison. A good sum of these people face problems …

Reformation Within The Nation: Adapting The Nordic Rehabilitation And Reintegration Model To Positively Recondition The United States Criminal Justice System, Jessica Cornell

Helm's School of Government Conference - American Revival: Citizenship & Virtue

An analytical and statistical based comparison of criminal sentencing, incarceration, rehabilitation and reintegration in the United States of America to those of the five countries which follows those of the Nordic Criminal Justice System.

Modern Law Enforcement Training Based On Four Classic Psychological Experiments, Mkay Bonner, Mark S. Johnson

Contemporary Southern Psychology

Psychology as a discipline is alive and well. Psychology is so much more than just therapy or research with rats. Psychological science is applied to real life in a myriad of ways every day. One excellent example is the use of four classic psychological experiments as a foundation for the Active Bystandership for Law Enforcement (ABLE) training curriculum. This contemporary police training program seeks to reduce harm and improve the national law enforcement culture. The four classic psychological science experiments that are used in this evidence-informed curriculum include Diffusion of Responsibility from Darley and Latane’, the Seminary Experiment from Darley …

Crisis Deescalation: A Brief Review And Variations On A Model, Mkay Bonner, Mark S. Johnson

Contemporary Southern Psychology

The demand for changes in police responses to crises are loud and compelling. One such recommended change is from a Warrior mindset to a Guardian mindset. The emphasis in the Guardian philosophy is on law enforcement officers (LEOs) as protectors instead of fighters. This mindset emphasizes deescalation instead of the use of force whenever possible. Several deescalation courses existed but more have been created recently. This recent increase has been due, in part, to profiteers wanting to benefit from the change in philosophy and training. A brief history starting with the legend in deescalation, Crisis Intervention Team (CIT) Training, is …

Melissa Jankowski: Aspiring Forensic Psychologist Evaluates Inmates, Patients At N.C. Prison Complex, Division Of Marketing And Communications, Marcus Wolf

General University of Maine Publications

To become a forensic psychologist, Melissa Jankowski decided to participate in a competitive internship at a prison complex famous for housing several high-profile inmates—the Federal Correctional Complex in Butner, North Carolina.

A Call To Dismantle Systemic Racism In Criminal Legal Systems, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Margaret C. Stevenson

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Objectives: In October 2021, APA passed a resolution addressing ways psychologists could work to dismantle systemic racism in criminal legal systems. The present report, developed to inform APA’s policy resolution, details the scope of the problem and offers recommendations for policy and psychologists to address the issue by advancing related science and practice. Specifically, it acknowledges the roots of modern-day racial and ethnic disparities in rates of criminalization and punishment for people of color as compared to White people. Next, the report reviews existing theory and research that helps explain the underlying psychological mechanisms driving racial and ethnic disparities …

Memory Distortion For Footage Of An Emotionally Disturbing Police/Civilian Encounter: Investigating The Influence Of Bias And Trauma, Eric A. Korzun

Student Theses

Although body-worn cameras (BWCs) are expected to be objective tools for increasing police transparency and accountability, research refutes the idea that people can objectively view footage. Instead, research shows that people’s personal biases—for example, the extent to which people view the police like themselves, measured by the Identification with Police Scale (IPS; Tyler & Fagan, 2008) —shape how they view and interpret BWC footage (Jones, Crozier, & Strange, 2017). Additionally, studies of memory distortion reveal that people can come to remember traumatic events as worse than they originally experienced (Strange & Takarangi, 2012). Taken together, then, when viewing traumatic BWC …

The Unintentional Cost Of A Free Public Sex Offender Registry, Rebekah E. Leavitt

Intuition: The BYU Undergraduate Journal of Psychology

This literature review analyzes the efficacy of modern legislation guiding public access to sex offender registries and draws on research utilizing surveys, interviews, and statistical observations of convicted sex offenders to determine sources of ineffective practices at the legislative level. By utilizing Braithwaite’s reintegrative shaming theory (1989), in which stigmatizing shame is significantly less efficient in criminal contexts, current legislation and its impact on common issues experienced by sex offenders (including sexually addictive behaviors and childhood sexual abuse) are examined. The discerned prevalence of stigmatizing shame in modern legislation, which focuses on the individual rather than the undesirable behavior, indicates …

Victim Impact: The Manson Murders And The Rise Of The Victims’ Rights Movement, Merrill W. Steeg

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Out Of Sight, Out Of Mind: Analyzing Inhumane Practices In Mississippi’S Correctional Institutions Due To Overcrowding, Understaffing, And Diminished Funding, Ariel A. Williams

Honors Theses

The purpose of this research is to examine the political, social, and economic factors which have led to inhumane conditions in Mississippi’s correctional facilities. Several methods were employed, including a comparison of the historical and current methods of funding, staffing, and rehabilitating prisoners based on literature reviews. State-sponsored reports from various departments and the legislature were analyzed to provide insight into budgetary restrictions and political will to allocate funds. Statistical surveys and data were reviewed to determine how overcrowding and understaffing negatively affect administrative capacity and prisoners’ mental and physical well-being. Ultimately, it may be concluded that Mississippi has high …

A Qualitative Investigation Into The Trauma Exhibited By First Responders Tackling The Opioid Epidemic In Tennessee, Thalia Sullivan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Recent increases in opioid overdose rates have changed the role of first responders on the front lines of this national crisis. The present study used a semi-structured qualitative interview to investigate how the increase in opioids, opioid-related harm, and opioid-related death within Tennessee has affected the first responder population. Law enforcement officers, firefighters, and paramedics (N = 30) from rural-serving counties in Tennessee completed a semi-structured interview. Eight themes emerged from the interviews: (1) mental health symptoms, including posttraumatic stress disorder and secondary traumatic stress symptoms; (2) coping behaviors; (3) available resources; (4) barriers to accessing resources; (5) recommendations …

Correctional Officer Opinions About Offenders With Mental Illness: The Relationships Among Opinions, Burnout, Emotional Intelligence, And Mental Health Training, Courtney Hull

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports

Rates of mental illness among incarcerated individuals in the United States are high and have been well documented. Correctional officers are on the front line of identifying symptoms and alerting mental health professionals to problems as they arise. Correctional officers often lack an understating of mental illness, feel ill-equipped to manage mental health crises, and experience high levels of job-related stress. The objective of this study was to better understand the relationship between correctional officers’ emotional intelligence and opinions about mental illness, and to identify if burnout moderated the relationship between the variables. Additionally, the study sought to understand the …

No Path To Redemption: Evaluating Texas’S Practice Of Sentencing Kids To De Facto Life Without Parole In Adult Prison, Lindsey Linder, Justin Martinez

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming.

Caregivers’ Expectations, Reflected Appraisals, And Arrests Among Adolescents Who Experienced Parental Incarceration, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Melissa Noel

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

This research sought to identify a potential process by which intergenerational crime occurs, focusing on the effect of parental incarceration on adolescents’ subsequent arrests. We drew from Matsueda’s work on reflected appraisals as an explanatory mechanism for this effect. Thus, the present research examined whether caregivers’ and adolescents’ expectations for adolescents’ future incarceration sequentially mediated the effect of parental incarceration on adolescents’ actual arrest outcomes. Propensity score matching was used to examine this effect in a sample of 1,735 15- to 16-year-olds using NLSY97 data. Parental incarceration was positively related to caregivers’ expectations of adolescents’ future arrest. Moreover, caregivers’ expectations …

Psychopathy And Police Officers: A Cross-Sectional Analysis Of The Relationship Between Psychopathic Traits And Police Work Across Temporal Factors, Hunter N. Moore

Student Theses

It’s estimated that psychopathic personalities constitute about 1% of the general population but is seen at elevated rates in particularly stressful and harsh environments (Babiak & Hare, 2006; Hare, 1996). A career in law enforcement is one known to be uniquely stressful (Lucas et al., 2012), and the trauma from their career seems to be having an impact on their personality (Wills & Schuldberg, 2016). While psychopathy traits have been reported in police officers (Próchniak, 2012), these traits have yet to be assessed as a function of time. The current study explores these relationships by assessing psychopathy traits, as measured …

Pre-Report Review Of Body-Worn Camera Footage: An Examination Of Stakeholder Beliefs, Laypeople’S Judgments Of Officer Credibility, And The Consequences For Memory, Kristyn A. Jones

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Aim: This dissertation examines people’s beliefs about police officer access to body-worn camera footage, people’s judgments of officer credibility as it relates to video footage, and the consequences that review of footage has on reporting accuracy.

Rationale: With escalating police-civilian tensions in 2014, American police departments adopted body-worn camera programs. A majority of departments have policies allowing officers unrestricted access to camera footage. Because officers fear that inconsistencies between reports and videos could result in suspicion of officer deceit, they argue that officers should have access to footage before writing their reports to ensure reports match the footage. Yet, because …

Recognizing The Need For Mental Health Reform In The Texas Department Of Criminal Justice, Kara Mchorse

St. Mary's Law Journal

The ways in which mental health care and the criminal justice system interact are in desperate need of reform in Texas. The rate of mental illness in Texas is higher than the current state of mental health care can provide for. While state hospitals were once the primary care facilities of those with mental illness, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) has taken on that role in the last few decades; and when the criminal justice system becomes entangled with mental health care, it often leads to “unmitigated disaster.” If Texas continues to allow the TDCJ to act as …

Replacing Death With Life? The Rise Of Lwop In The Context Of Abolitionist Campaigns In The United States, Michelle Miao

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

On the basis of fifty-four elite interviews[1] with legislators, judges, attorneys, and civil society advocates as well as a state-by-state data survey, this Article examines the complex linkage between the two major penal trends in American society during the past decades: a declining use of capital punishment across the United States and a growing population of prisoners serving “life without the possibility of parole” or “LWOP” sentences. The main contribution of the research is threefold. First, the research proposes to redefine the boundary between life and death in relation to penal discourses regarding the death penalty and LWOP. LWOP …

Unh Students’ Attitudes Toward University Of New Hampshire Police, Angela R. Hurley

Honors Theses and Capstones

This study examines undergraduate students from the University of New Hampshire attitudes towards campus police, specifically how student experience with campus police affects their attitudes toward them. There were a total of 113 respondents from the University of New Hampshire that answered an online survey. The survey looked specifically at the relationship between students' experience and attitudes towards UNH police, hypothesizing that students who had perceived fair encounters with campus police would be more likely to contact them in an emergency and have more positive attitudes toward them . Multivariate analysis shows perceptions of witnessing an interaction and being approached …

Texas, The Death Penalty, And Intellectual Disability, Megan Green

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming

Police Prevention Of Domestic Homicide: Missed Opportunities And Barriers To Change, Michael D. Saxton

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This integrated-article dissertation focused on the critical role of police in responding to domestic violence (DV) and recognizing the potential risk of adult and child homicides. The first study examined the police role in domestic homicide through an analysis of cases reviewed by the Domestic Violence Death Review Committee in Ontario, Canada. Homicide cases with police contact were found to have 1.6 times more risk factors compared to those without police contact. Cases also show an overall scarcity of formal risk assessments, even when there was prior police contact. The second study was a national survey on the types of …