Criminology Commons^™

The 1985 Move Bombing: A Study In Perspectives, Kaci Delisle

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

On May 13, 1985, Philadelphia police dropped a military grade bomb on 6221 Osage Avenue, a row house in a Black neighborhood in West Philadelphia. This home was occupied by a revolutionary group called MOVE. The bomb started a fire that the police and firefighters decided to “contain” rather than put out, resulting in the deaths of eleven people and the destruction of sixty-one homes. Only two MOVE members survived the fire. Using court records, documents from the investigation conducted by the Philadelphia Special Investigation Commission (PSIC), and other interviews regarding MOVE and the bombing, this paper reconstructs different perspectives …

Knowledge Is Power: A Study Of Juvenile Justice Facilities And Educational Programs, Molly Anne Latham

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The Juvenile Justice System is established to maintain public safety, as well as rehabilitate youth that have involved themselves in criminal activity. The overall goal is to create a better future for these individuals and transform them into law-abiding citizens for the good of society. In order to understand where the system has failed in doing this, we must first examine what opportunities and programs these individuals have to help them succeed. The current study will employ a secondary analysis of a cross-sectional survey through which the United States Bureau of the Census (1995) collected data on the characteristic of …

The Law Of Crime Concentration In Midsized Cities: A Spatial Analysis, Hannah Ridner

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The geographic concentration of crime led to the proposal of the law of crime concentration in 2015 by David Weisburd. This contribution to crime and place literature needs further research to properly define, measure, and confirm this law. This study builds upon measurement techniques used in previous studies to measure crime concentration across a random sample of mid-sized cities, estimate the expected Gini coefficient in mid-sized cities, and analyze the variation in crime concentration across mid-sized cities. Determining the expected level of crime concentration and whether it varies across cities will advance the literature by providing both a benchmark for …

From Education To Incarceration: A Study Of School Process Affecting Disproportionate Minority Contact Within Hardin County’S Juvenile Justice System, Krystal Carver-Dickens

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study seeks to understand how school processes affect disproportionate minority contact within the Hardin County Juvenile Justice System. A study completed by Lovell and Drummond (2016) in conjunction with the Hardin County BRIDGES Council, is used as the foundation for the current research. The original research, along with several others, examined disproportionate minority contact (DMC) after the student had been referred from their respective schools to the juvenile court system. The current study investigates 858 juvenile court records, with permission of the Hardin County Juvenile Judges, and examines school information included in the court records related to the student …

Examining The Influence Of Negative Labeling On Educational Aspirations, Jessie Schartung

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Teenagers are not yet fully developed, creating their self-identity, full of aspiration, and exploring their world through sometimes harmless acts. While it has long been acknowledged that delinquency can lead to a life of crime, criminologists vary on whether a criminal disposition is caused by internal and/or external forces. Labeling theory suggests it could be the negative labels placed upon youth that could inhibit future aspirations more so than the delinquent acts themselves. Using data from the National Youth Survey, this study examines the influence of negative labeling by significant others on educational aspirations among youth with varying levels of …

From Within The Abyss: Drug Users In Areas Of Rural Poverty, G. Eric Latham, Jr.

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This research was completed to deal with many unanswered questions regarding drug use, specifically drug use in areas of rural poverty. Look at any "Faces of Meth" billboard or listen to any corporate-news program and one might assume there is a drug epidemic in rural areas. Without research, this allows the viewer to assume that poverty is the fault of the drug user who happens to live in rural places. This study sought to take a qualitative and ethnographic methodology to "embed" the researcher in this setting to see for himself whether these views were valid or invalid. The questions …

Community-Oriented Policing Strategies When Handling Nonviolent Drug Offenders, Michael J. Layle

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

In this study, I analyze the responses of police officers to questions regarding their involvement in the use of Community-Oriented Policing strategies. When the officer encounters a drug offender they must decide how to deal with the situation. There are a variety of trained responses and policies available. The data is grouped into nine variables; time in law enforcement, time in department, perceived support, perceived barriers, COP strategy, COP action, prevention, help, and citation. The data is then analyzed using structural equation modeling.

The Protective Factors And Life Outcomes Of Youth Exposed To Community Violence, Patricia Bamwine

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

There is an increasing interest in the life outcomes of youth that are exposed to community violence. Previous research has found that community violence has a direct effect on youth development. It has also shown that there are economic costs for communities that have high levels of community violence. Thus far, the literature on youth in these areas has focused on protective factors such as school connectedness, family connectedness, religion and positive life outcomes. There is little research on the affects of mentoring on life outcomes for individuals that were exposed to community violence during adolescence. This study explores mentoring …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of An Internship Program, Daniel Jackel

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The traditional way to learn about social sciences in a university setting includes taking courses that teach theoretical frameworks and scientific methodologies that are required for one’s major area of study. The courses that are taught to students are determined by what major they sign up for. After a student has taken all required courses,what skills does the student have to take with him after graduation?

Whether participation is pursued solely for academic credit, for career development, or for civic engagement, an experiential experience typically enhances a student’s connection between academic content and “real world” applications. Bridging the gap between …

Geographic Factors Of Residential Burglaries - A Case Study In Nashville, Tennessee, Jonathan A. Hall

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study examines geographic patterns and geographic factors of residential burglary at the Nashville, TN area for a twenty year period at five year interval starting in 1988. The purpose of this study is to identify what geographic factors have impacted on residential burglary rates, and if there were changes in the geographic patterns of residential burglary over the study period. Several criminological theories guide this study, with the most prominent being Social Disorganization Theory and Routine Activities Theory. Both of these theories focus on the relationships of place and crime. A number of spatial analysis methods are hence adopted …

The Conceptualization Of Genocide In The International Media: A Case Study Of Darfur, Kayla Costello

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Cross-national crime studies are often plagued with conceptualization issues. In specific, some countries may define certain acts of violence as crimes, whereas others may perceive these acts as justifiable or culturally prescribed. This difference in conceptualization is especially the case with the crime of genocide, which the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide of 1948 defines “as any of a number of acts committed with the intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.” Despite this legal definition, countries, organizations, institutions or individuals may label a crisis as …

Influences On Juvenile-Justice Court Dispositions: Sentencing Disparities, Race, Legal Representation, Degree Of Offending, And Conflict In The Juvenile Justice System, Sharon Walker

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

No abstract provided.

Attitudes & Opinions Of Circuit Court Judges On The Issue Of Substance Abuse During Pregnancy, Michelle Degeorge

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this study was to determine the attitudes and opinions of circuit court judges in Kentucky concerning the issue of pregnancy and substance abuse. A questionnaire was mailed to all 90 circuit court judges in Kentucky. The questionnaire, consisting of both a Likert scale and open-ended questions, dealt with concerns relating to the criminalization of pregnant substance abusers, fetal rights, state intervention in the case of pregnant substance abusers, and mothers rights. The ages of the judges, as well as their years of experience on the bench, were used to determine their attitudes on these issues. Results showed …

The Impact Of Boys’ Club Membership And Participation Upon Self-Reported Delinquent Behavior, Charles Vaught

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study empirically tested the responses of sixty-one Boys’ Club members to a questionnaire which contained the Nye-Short delinquency scale. Frequency of self-reported delinquent behavior was compared for the youngsters both before and after having joined the Boys’ Club. It was found that the various aspects of Club membership and participation had minimal effect upon the members’ delinquent behavior.

Kentucky Parole Officers: An Inquiry Into The Effect Of Residential Background On Their Works Styles, Virginia Cleveland

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

Using the population of Kentucky state parole officers as the focus of this thesis, work styles were studied. The work styles of twenty-eight rural parole officers were compared with the work styles of twenty-two urban officers. The Fisher Exact Statistical Test was used to test differences between these groups. Rural officers were significantly more likely than urban officers to go out of their offices to meet with their parolees. Urban officers had had a significantly greater number of parolees waiting in their offices at one time, than the rural officers had. The length of the average meeting did not differ …

A Study Of The Public Image Of Criminals In Three Occupational Groups, Janice Nance

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study examines social reaction to crime from the standpoint of the social context of the respondent. More specifically, it examines public images of criminals in terms of selected social characteristics of the respondents.

Attitudes & Orientation Of Criminals Toward Crime & Law Enforcement, Ralph Tish

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The purpose of this study was twofold, first to focus on and to measure quantitatively three groups of adult prisoners' attitudes and orientations toward crime and law enforcement. Secondly, the study was to determine the relationship between background characteristics of prisoners and the attitudinal variables. The analysis included data concerning the relationship of eight separate background factors - (age, marital status, church membership, education, school drop-out reason, occupation, place of residence, and criminal record) - to the crime and law enforcement variables.