Criminology Commons^™

Juvenile Court Officers’ Perceptions Of Innovation Adoption; What Personal And Contextual Factors Make A Difference In Levels Of Adoption? An Exploratory Mixed-Method Study., Brenda Jean Moran

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

This exploratory research examined levels of innovation adoption among Juvenile Court Officers (JCOs) in a Midwestern state. The researcher applied Dr. Everett M. Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation model as the study’s framework. According to Rogers (2003), innovation is “an idea, practice or object that is perceived as new by an individual or other unit of adoption” (p. 475). The study sought to determine the extent that demographic and work-life variables such as gender, office location, caseload, years of service, personality/temperament and employee engagement contributed to levels of innovation adoption by JCOs. This study examined the characteristics of individuals and contexts …

Constitutionally Tailoring Punishment, Richard A. Bierschbach, Stephanos Bibas

All Faculty Scholarship

Since the turn of the century, the Supreme Court has begun to regulate non-capital sentencing under the Sixth Amendment in the Apprendi line of cases (requiring jury findings of fact to justify sentence enhancements) as well as under the Eighth Amendment in the Miller and Graham line of cases (forbidding mandatory life imprisonment for juvenile defendants). Though both lines of authority sound in individual rights, in fact they are fundamentally about the structures of criminal justice. These two seemingly disparate lines of doctrine respond to structural imbalances in non-capital sentencing by promoting morally appropriate punishment judgments that are based on …

Slavery In Europe: Part 1, Estimating The Dark Figure, Monti Narayan Datta, Kevin Bales

Political Science Faculty Publications

The estimation of the “dark figure” for any crime (the number of actual instances of a specific crime committed minus the reported cases of that crime within a population) has primarily rested on the ability to conduct random sample crime surveys. Such surveys are based on the assumption that victims experience crimes that are discrete, time-bound, and of relatively short duration. The crime of enslavement, however, presents a special challenge to estimation because it is of indeterminate duration. This challenge is compounded by the fact that victims of slavery are also often isolated by the stigma linked to sexual assault, …

Victimization Experiences And Adolescent Substance Use: Does The Type And Degree Of Victimization Matter?, Gillian M. Pichevsky, Abigail A. Fagan, Emily M. Wright

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Evidence indicates an association between victimization and adolescent substance use, but the exact nature of this relationship remains unclear. Some research focuses solely on the consequences of experiencing indirect victimization (e.g., witnessing violence), others examine direct victimization (e.g., being personally victimized), and still others combine both forms of victimization without assessing the relative impact of each on substance use. Furthermore, many of these studies only assess these relationships in the short-term using cross-sectional data. This study uses data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) to explore the impact of experiencing only indirect victimization, only direct victimization, …

An Exploration Of Crime By Policewomen, Philip M. Stinson, Natalie E. Todak, Mary Dodge

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

The current study explores criminal conduct by policewomen. This information is increasingly relevant as police departments hire more women, especially if the crimes committed by policewomen differ from those of policemen. News searches identified 105 cases depicting arrests of policewomen. A content analysis was performed. Findings indicate differences exist between crimes committed by policemen and policewomen, as well as by policewomen and women in general. Crime by policewomen is most often profit-motivated. Policewomen had fewer years of service and lower ranks, committed less violent crimes, and were more likely to receive suspensions for off-duty crimes compared to their male peers.

Street, James William, 1858-1944 (Mss 478), Manuscripts & Folklife Archives

MSS Finding Aids

Finding aid only for Manuscripts Collection 478. Account books and journals of James William Street, recording his activities and local events, primarily in Henderson and Lyon counties in Kentucky. He also records the 1908-1909 activities of the Night Riders in the region.

When Poverty Is The Worst Crime Of All: A Film Review Of Gideon’S Army (2013), Jessica S Henry

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This review of the Sundance Award-winning documentary film, Gideon’s Army, examines the disparate impact of the criminal justice system on the poor and, particularly, poor people of color.

Assessing Youth Early In The Juvenile Justice System, Anne M. Hobbs, Timbre Wulf-Ludden, Jenna Strawhun

Academic Publications

Unnecessary involvement in the juvenile justice system generally results in negative long-term outcomes (Annie E. Casey Foundation Website, 2008). The problem lies in determining when involvement is unnecessary and when it is necessary. A juvenile’s path to detention often begins years prior. Research indicates that unnecessary court involvement may contribute to worse outcomes, which can ultimately culminate in detention (Holman & Ziedenberg, 2006). Youth who are formally processed through court are more likely to be under closer supervision, which, in turn, increases their chances of being caught violating curfew, missing school, or committing another technical violation. To test the effect …

“We Incarcerate To Set Free:” Negotiating Punishment And Rehabilitation In Jail, Brittnie L. Aiello

Criminology Faculty Publications

Criminology has documented the decline of rehabilitation in the age of get-tough approaches to crime and punishment. Therapy and punishment, however, are not mutually exclusive. Rehabilitation and traditional punishment have long co-existed in penal facilities. In this article, I examine the role of rehabilitation at Northeast Jail, a county jail in the U.S. that adhered to an ideology of rehabilitation. But Northeast Jail was, first and foremost, a penal facility where offenders were confined and punished. While staff and administrators at Northeast Jail routinely invoked a rhetoric of rehabilitation, they adhered to rules and engaged in punitive practices that interfered …

The New Normal, Hannah M. Frantz

SURGE

On September 19, 2013 an individual wielding a military-grade assault rifle fired sixteen bullets into a Chicago park harming thirteen individuals, among them a 3-year old named Deonta Howard who was shot in the cheek.

On September 16, 2013 a man by the name of Aaron Alexis opened fire on the cafeteria at the Navy Yard in Washington D.C. Thirteen people died, and eight others were injured.

On December 14, 2012 Adam Lanza shot twenty-six people—twenty of whom were children between the ages of 6 and 7—in Newtown, Connecticut. Barack Obama called it the “worst day of [his] presidency.”

On …

On Learning And Unlearning, Katherine M. Patterson

SURGE

I remember passing our lunch lady–the nice one with a big bleach-blond afro. She was perched on an elementary-school-sized desk, eyes fixated to the television. I glanced at the screen on the way into my classroom while my teacher hesitated in the hallway, whispering to the other adults. She reentered the room a few minutes later to explain.

In the following months, my television provided me with one of the most formative, practical and comprehensive educational experiences of my life. First it was vocabulary building, with the words like “hi-jacker,” and “terrorist.” Then it was physics, learning that inertia is …

What Lies Ahead: An Exploration Of Future Orientation, Self-Control, And Delinquency, Samantha S. Clinkinbeard

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Self-control has been consistently linked to antisocial behavior and though low self-control makes delinquency more likely, neither the findings nor the theory suggests that low self-control necessitates participation in such behavior. There remains a shortage of research on those situational factors or individual characteristics that might lessen the effects of low self-control on antisocial behavior. Future orientation is one such characteristic that can have implications for the control of behavior. The purpose of the current study was to explore the independent and interactive effects of future orientation and low self-control on delinquency using data from Wave 1 of the National …

Is Being "Spiritual" Enough Without Being Religious? A Study Of Violent And Property Crimes Among Emerging Adults, Sung Joon Jang, Aaron B. Franzen

Faculty Publications

While prior research tends to confirm a negative association between religiousness and crime, criminologists have been slow to incorporate new concepts and emergent issues from the scientific study of religion into their own research. The self-identity phrase “spiritual but not religious” is one of them, which has been increasingly used by individuals who claim to be “spiritual” but disassociate themselves from organized religion. This study first examines differences in crime between “spiritual but not religious” individuals and their “religious and spiritual,” “religious but not spiritual,” and “neither religious nor spiritual” peers in emerging adulthood. Specifically, we hypothesize that the spiritual-but-not-religious …

Nebraska Sex Offender Registry Study, Ryan E. Spohn

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

The Consortium for Crime and Justice Research at the University of Nebraska Omaha was charged by the Nebraska Legislature’s Judiciary Committee to undertake a study of the Nebraska Sex Offender Registry. The primary goal of the study was to compare sex offender recidivism under the pre-LB 285 classification system that utilized risk levels derived from a psychological risk assessment instrument to sex offender recidivism under the post-LB 285 classification system utilizing Adam Walsh Act Tier Levels derived from offense severity. Additional goals include an overall examination of offender characteristics, victim characteristics, and offense characteristics among all individuals on the registry, …

Police Integrity Lost: Preliminary Findings Of A National Study Of Law Enforcement Officers Arrested, Philip M. Stinson

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

This presentation presents preliminary research findings of a study on the nature and extent of police crime in the United States. It provides information on the factors that influence how a law enforcement agency responds to arrests of its officers. The data indicate that civil rights litigation is a correlate of police misconduct.

Until The Cops Come Knocking, Mauricio E. Novoa

SURGE

“Fuck the police coming straight from the underground/ A young nigga got it bad ‘cause I’m brown/ And not the other color so police think/ They have the authority to kill a minority” – Ice Cube, “Fuck Tha Police”

At some point in our lives, we have all walked down a street for some minute errand, and a few of those times we may have crossed paths with men in uniform patrolling the streets. Some who cross them may not think anything of it, but for others, they feel their eyes follow every step they take and distaste is exchanged …

Review - The Terrorist-Criminal Nexus, Robert J. Bunker

CGU Faculty Publications and Research

Robert J. Bunker's review of Jennifer L. Hesterman's book, The Terrorist-Criminal Nexus: An Alliance of International Drug Cartels, Organized Crime and Terror Groups, CRC Press 2013.

The Legal Limits Of Racism, Chelsea E. Broe

SURGE

When I heard the news that the Food Network decided not to renew Paula Deen’s contract after she admitted to making racist comments, I was happy. Not because she used racial slurs, of course, but because she was punished for it. Maybe I’m a cynic, but I like the idea of public attention being placed on wrongdoings. That’s the whole point of having free speech, after all: to have an open dialogue wherein all possible viewpoints can be voiced, considered, challenged, and criticized until they are ultimately decided to be acceptable or unacceptable. [excerpt]

Assessing The Efficacy Of A Modified Therapeutic Community On The Reduction Of Institutional Write-Ups In A Medium Security Prison, Lee Wayne Maglinger, Aaron W. Hughey, Monica Galloway Burke

Counseling & Student Affairs Faculty Publications

This study explored the impact a modified TC (Therapeutic Community) had on reducing institutional disorder as documented by institutional write-ups. The number of institutional write-ups exhibited by clients participating in a modified TC was compared with the number of write-ups exhibited by inmates in five non-treatment units over a four-year period. ANOVA (analysis of variance) revealed that the number of write-ups exhibited by clients in the TC was significantly lower than the number exhibited by inmates in the other five dorms (F_{(4, 24)} = 5.61, p < 0.002).Further, when examined by category of offense (major/minor), it was found that the write-ups of clients in the TC generally were not as severe as those exhibited by inmates in the general prison population. The implications of these findings for corrections administrators are discussed and specific recommendations are provided.

Putting The Trial Penalty On Trial, David S. Abrams

All Faculty Scholarship

The "trial penalty" is a concept widely accepted by all the major actors in the criminal justice system: defendants, prosecutors, defense attorneys, court employees, and judges. The notion is that defendants receive longer sentences at trial than they would have through plea bargain, often substantially longer. The concept is intuitive: longer sentences are necessary in order to induce settlements and without a high settlement rate it would be impossible for courts as currently structured to sustain their immense caseload. While intuitively appealing, this view of the trial penalty is completely at odds with economic prediction. Since both prosecutors and defendants …

Testing The Influence Of Community Characteristics On School Misconduct, Todd A. Armstrong, Gaylene Armstrong, Charles M. Katz

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

This study examines the effect of dynamic and structural community characteristics on school misconduct. Data include over 45,000 students in the eighth, tenth, or twelfth grade in 237 schools. Hierarchical linear models tested the direct and interactive effects of community measures, while accounting for student and school characteristics. Community substance abuse norms as well as perceptions of community crime and disorder mediated the influence of concentrated disadvantage on school misconduct. Interaction effects demonstrated that community substance abuse norms were more influential for students enrolled in schools that had a less positive school climate although individual and school characteristics remained robust …

Work, Performance, And The Social Ethic Of Global Capitalism: Understanding Religious Practice In Contemporary India, Vikash Singh

Department of Sociology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This ethnographic essay focuses on the relationship between religious performances and the “strong discourse” of contemporary global capitalism. It explores the subjective meaning and social significance of religious practice in the context of a rapidly expanding mass religious phenomenon in India. The narrative draws on Weber's insights on the intersections between religion and economy, phenomenological theory, performance studies, and Indian philosophy and popular culture. It shows that religion here is primarily a means of performing to and preparing for an informal economy. It gives the chance to live meaningful social lives while challenging the inequities and symbolic violence of an …

Drink, Drive, Go To Jail? A Study Of Police Officers Arrested For Drunk Driving, Philip M. Stinson, John Liederbach, Steven L. Brewer, Natalie E. Todak

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

The purpose of the current study is to provide empirical data on cases of police driving under the influence (DUI) of alcohol and/or drugs. It identifies events that may have influenced the decision to arrest, including associated traffic accidents, fatalities, officer resistance, the refusal of field sobriety tests, and the refusal of blood alcohol content (BAC) tests. The study is a quantitative content analysis of news articles identified through the Google News search engine using 48 automated Google Alerts queries. Data are analyzed on 782 DUI arrest cases of officers employed by 511 nonfederal law enforcement agencies throughout the United …

The Effects Of Exposure To Violence And Victimization Across Life Domains On Adolescent Substance Us, Emily M. Wright, Abigail A. Fagan, Gillian M. Pinchevsky

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

This study uses longitudinal data from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods (PHDCN) to examine the effects of exposure to school violence, community violence, child abuse, and parental intimate partner violence (IPV) on youths’ subsequent alcohol and marijuana use. We also examine the cumulative effects of being exposed to violence across these domains. Longitudinal data were obtained from 1,655 adolescents and their primary caregivers participating in the PHDCN. The effects of adolescents’ exposure to various forms of violence across different life domains were examined relative to adolescents’ frequency of alcohol and marijuana use three years later. Multivariate …

The Supervision To Aid Reentry (Star) Program: Enhancing The Social Capital Of Ex-Offenders, Caitlin J. Taylor

Sociology and Criminal Justice Faculty work

This article explores a central finding from a process evaluation of a federal reentry court programme entitled the Supervision to Aid Reentry (STAR) programme in Philadelphia, PA, USA. Using inductive and deductive analyses, results revealed that the STAR programme helps participants build social capital by encouraging family involvement as well as the development of relationships among programme participants. Family involvement and relationships among participants were found to offer participants social and emotional support as well as access to felon-friendly employment opportunities.

The Disparate Neighborhood Impacts Of The Great Recession: Evidence From Chicago, Sonya Williams, George C. Galster, Nandita Verma

Urban Studies and Planning Faculty Research Publications

We advance scholarship about how macroeconomic forces differentially manifest themselves across local spaces by developing a holistic conceptual framework and empirical analyses involving multilevel change modeling. Unlike prior work, we examine differential rates of change in neighborhood indicators. We illustrate our approach with Chicago data measuring the crime, housing, and economic domains of neighborhood quality- of-life over the 2000-2009 period. We find that the local dynamic manifestations of macroeconomic cycles were far more nuanced than have been previously observed. Neighborhood indicators moved along distinct trajectories, sometimes but not necessarily tracking each other or the overall business cycle, and they changed …

College Students And Binge Drinking: Exploring The Relationship Between Control And Intention On Behavior, Trisha Rhodes, Samantha S. Clinkinbeard

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

The present study draws on Ajzen's (1985, 1991) theory of planned behavior (TPB) to explore the relationships between students' intentions to drink responsibly, students' perceptions of control over their behavior, and their reported levels of drinking. We relied on a randomly selected and surveyed sample of 149 students at a Midwestern university. We hypothesized students who reported stronger intentions and greater perceived control would report reduced levels of drinking. Our findings indicated that respondents who intended to drink responsibly and scored higher on two measures of perceptions of control consumed less alcohol 10 days prior to the survey and binged …

Humane Punishment For Seriously Disordered Offenders: Sentencing Departures And Judicial Control Over Conditions Of Confinement, E. Lea Johnston

UF Law Faculty Publications

At sentencing, a judge may foresee that an individual with a major mental disorder will experience serious psychological or physical harm in prison. In light of this reality and offenders’ other potential vulnerabilities, a number of jurisdictions currently allow judges to treat undue offender hardship as a mitigating factor at sentencing. In these jurisdictions, vulnerability to harm may militate toward an order of probation or a reduced term of confinement. Since these measures do not affect offenders’ day-to-day experience in confinement, these expressions of mitigation fail to protect adequately those vulnerable offenders who must serve time in prison. This Article …

Intimate Partner Violence And The Victim-Offender Overlap, Marie Skubak Tillyer, Emily M. Wright

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Objectives:

Method:

Results:

S.H.O.T. Db (Statistics Help Officer Tactics) – Officer-Involved Shootings Database, Hasan Arslan

Cornerstone 3 Reports : Interdisciplinary Informatics

No abstract provided.