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Examining Remorse In Attributions Of Focal Concerns During Sentencing: A Study Of Probation Officers, Colleen M. Berryessa

International Journal on Responsibility

This research, using interviews with probation officers in the United States (n = 151) and a constant comparative method for analysis, draws from the focal concerns framework to qualitatively model a process by which probation officers use a defendant’s remorse to attribute focal concerns in order to guide their sentencing recommendations in pre-sentencing reports. The model suggests that officers use expressions of remorse to make attributions about mitigated criminal intention (blameworthiness and notions of responsibility), reduced dangerousness and a high potential for reform (community protection), and organization-level effects for increasing caseload efficiency and using correctional resources (practical effects of …

Committee Prosecution: Using Expert Opinion To Make Criminal Justice Descisions More Impactful, Ellison Berryhill

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform Caveat

Those uninitiated to the reality of the United States’ criminal justice framework may believe that judges are the most powerful actors in the system. These casual observers watch crime shows filled with trials where judges make rulings and yell at people who are out of line. Viewers may believe in the adversarial system as a war between zealous prosecutors seeking justice and defense attorneys fighting for their client’s innocence. They may think of judges as neutral arbiter who makes the ultimate decisions. Unfortunately, that is not the case.

Alternatively, casual observers may think that the jury is the most powerful …

Offender Reintegration In Nevada: A Longitudinal Study Focusing On Transitional Challenges, Reentry Capital, And Recidivism, Carolyn S. Willis

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Offender reintegration (reentry) depends on offender motivation, public policies, community efforts, and resources provided through government and nonprofit sectors. As individuals are released from incarceration and reintegrate into the community, they are often dependent on resources provided by different service providers and the community. The role of the community is crucial as resources are oftentimes not accessible. Lack of employment and housing, mental health issues, substance abuse, and the inability to reestablish personal relationships diminish the prospects of successful reintegration and increase the chances of reincarceration. Reentry capital delivered through community-based programs addresses the transitional issues justice-impacted individuals encounter post-incarceration. …

Blowing In The Wind: Cannabis Legalization, Insiders, And Methodological Insights From British Columbia, Jon Heidt, Johannes Wheeldon

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

Legalizing cannabis in Canada has proven momentous in some ways and insufficient in others. This paper presents findings from a re-analysis of two studies on cannabis legalization conducted in British Columbia (B.C.) before and after legalization. Prioritizing public health over access appears to prolong stigmatization, complicate policing, and undermine efforts to disrupt illicit cannabis markets. We outline three contributions to the nascent post- prohibition cannabis research agenda. First, we demonstrate the potential for secondary data analysis (SDA) and model an approach to address recent concerns about this practice. Second, we show the value of insiders when assessing cannabis policy by …

“I’M Not Unemployed, I’M Unemployable”: Challenges Finding And Sustaining Work For People Requires To Register As Sex Offenders, Jennifer L. Wooldridge, Danielle J. S. Bailey

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

Many individuals convicted of a sexual offense (ICSOs) experience various collateral consequences due to registration requirements, including income loss, unemployment, harassment, social isolation, homelessness, and more. Finding employment post-conviction is a difficult endeavor for many reentering citizens with criminal records, but for ICSOs, the difficulty increases due to their label as sex offenders. When these individuals are unsuccessful in obtaining steady, living-wage employment, it can result in mental health impacts such as depression, hopelessness, and other reactions. This paper seeks to analyze participants’ emotional and mental health reactions to their direct experiences with employment struggles due to registration. What feelings …

Dying In Prison: End-Of-Life Care Services In A State Correctional Facility, Brook Cooley Webb, Mollee K. Steely Smith, Tusty Ten Bensel

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

The aging inmate population in American prisons has noticeably increased, contributing to a more significant number of offenders who will die in prison, thus forcing correctional facilities to aid in caring for prisoners at the end of life. Two common responses have emerged to deliver adequate healthcare to inmates, including hospice programs and End-of-Life (EOL) care services. This study aimed to explore the nature of EOL care in a state prison by interviewing correctional administrators, correctional officers, and relevant medical personnel (N=17). The current study provided insight into the inclusion criteria for inmates who utilized EOL care in the prison …

The Sanctity Of Human Life: An Examination Of The Effects Of Education And Training Of Less-Lethal Force Option Devices In The Royal Thai Police, Trak Silapaduriyang

College of Education Theses and Dissertations

Under Article III of the United Nations Declaration of Human Rights, everyone has the right to life, liberty, and security. It is the duty of law enforcement to protect and respect these rights. The Royal Thai Police (RTP) patrol officers carry firearms as lethal weapons on their duty belts, similar to police officers in the United States (US). However, firearms are the only force option available to the RTP in stark contrast to the options police officers in the US have when they encounter resistance from suspects. For the RTP, conducted energy devices (CED) and oleoresin capsicum (OC) sprays are …

The Punitive Laboratory Of Neoliberalism: A Cross-National Examination, Beth A. Fera

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

A large body of research has been produced to explain global punitive trends in recent decades. Neoliberalism, an economic philosophy expressed by market deregulation, privatization, and the retrenchment of social supports, has been offered as an explanation for increases in cross-national punitiveness. According to neoliberal penality theory, neoliberalism has shifted principles guiding punishment practices and the treatment of offenders, which has resulted in harsher national responses to crime. However, many tenets of this theory have not yet been tested empirically. Drawing heavily on propositions from neoliberal penality, group-threat, and penal populism literature, this dissertation examines the relationship between economic shifts, …

Experiences Of Youth In Confinement: Pathways Of Racial-Ethnic Disparities In Juvenile Corrections, Kimbla Newsom

Theses and Dissertations

Of the vast body of research focusing on the racial and ethnic disparities (RED) phenomenon in the juvenile justice system, much of the attention has been at critical points of system contact such as arrest and disposition, while overlooking what happens within critical stages such as confinement facilities. This dissertation investigates the ways in which youth experiences in juvenile confinement facilities differ across racial and ethnic groups. Findings reveal that race and ethnicity is a significant predictor of a youth experiencing more control-oriented interventions, longer lengths of stay in confinement, and fewer connections to reentry services. The dissertation concludes with …

A Mixed Methods Approach To Police Decertification, Lacey Roughton

Theses and Dissertations

The decertification of police officers is an important mechanism for law enforcement accountability for those who engage in misconduct, however, we have limited knowledge on the processes and outcomes of this form of police accountability. By using a convergent mixed methods design, the purpose of this study was to understand the process in which police decertification occurs and factors that influence decertification decisions in a Southern state. The data for this study included decertification case evidence packets, observational data from decertification hearings, and in-depth qualitative interviews with commissioners involved in police officer decertification case decisions. The findings from this study …

Public Opinion On Compensating Different Types Of Wrongful Convictions, Sishi Wu

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

People who are wrongfully convicted are a unique vulnerable group. However, not all exonerees get compensated for their time in prison. This research explores public opinion on compensating wrongful convictions from erroneously rejected affirmative defenses and from false guilty pleas. Using a randomized survey experiment of 1,000 US adults, this research found that (1) most respondents supported wrongful conviction compensation, regardless of wrongful conviction types and plea status. (2) Wrongful conviction types matter. People supported compensating exonerees in the self-defense case as much as in the wrong person case. The amount of compensation people gave in the mistaken self-defense case …

The In/Visible Stockade: Sex Offender Management, Governmentality, And The Search For Normal Life, Christopher Wakefield

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Over the past thirty-five years, the United States has seen a dramatic expansion of regulatory policy around individuals convicted of sexual offenses. Sex offender management policies include national and state registries, notification laws, treatment mandates, residency restrictions, and numerous exclusions from institutions. A growing body of research from sociologists and criminologists has tracked the effects of this sex offender regime by measuring recidivism and collateral consequences among released offenders. Less attention has been paid to how sex offenders adapt to their regulator context—especially the selective public visibility that the registry generates. Furthermore, sociological scholarship has not yet developed strong theoretical …

Police And Their Relationship With The Public, Kevin Hebri

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

This research essay aims to understand some of the social themes relevant to issues present between the public and the police institutions of the United States. Existing literature about this topic has noted the decentralized nature of law enforcement in the United States and the differences in policies and procedures used by different police departments and agencies. The existing literature has also cited the importance of police officer discretion and the situational factors that contribute to their decision-making. Occupational stress, and characteristics of a civilian involved in a police interaction, influence the decision-making process for police officers. This research is …

Dynamic Risk Trajectories, Community Context, And Juvenile Recidivism, Kevin T. Wolff, Michael T. Baglivio, Jonathan Intravia

Publications and Research

Purpose

While the implementation of risk assessment has expanded, the extent to which there are different trajectories of risk/protective factors among adjudicated youth during supervision in the community remains unanswered. The goal of the current study is to identify the distinct trajectories in dynamic risk and protective factors among youth on probation and assess whether different patterns in risk over time are associated with continued offending.

Method

Group-based trajectory modeling is used to identify distinct trajectories across multiple domains of risk/need. The individual- and neighborhood-level factors associated with these trajectories are then explored, prior to examining their relationship to continued …

Generative Stresnet For Crime Prediction, Ba Phong Tran, Hoong Chuin Lau

Research Collection School Of Computing and Information Systems

In this work, we combine STResnet (Zhang et al., 2017) with VAE Kingma & Welling (2013) to generate crime distribution. The outputs can be used for downstream tasks such as patrol deployment planning Chase et al. (2021).

An Experimental Look At Reasonable Suspicion And Police Discretion, Kyle Mclean, Justin Nix, Seth W. Stoughton, Ian T. Adams, Geoffrey P. Alpert

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Purpose

This study aims to demonstrate the need for further examination of legal judgments and the exercise of discretion in policing.

Design/methodology/approach

A factorial vignette survey with traffic stop scenarios based on US Court of Appeals decisions was administered to 396 police officers across six states. Officers were asked to indicate their assessment of the presence of reasonable suspicion and the likelihood that they would extend the stop for investigatory purposes.

Findings

Officers' reasonable suspicion judgments are significantly influenced by the vignette facts and align with court ruling expectations. However, even in the presence of reasonable suspicion, responses indicate a …

Shoplifting And Other Types Of Petit Larceny In New York City, Jeffrey A. Butts, Richard A. Espinobarros

Publications and Research

This data brief from the Research and Evaluation Center at John Jay College of Criminal Justice highlights recent trends in petit larceny in New York City, based on the latest police crime data. Thefts involving items valued under $1,000 have increased by 50% since 2006 and 29% since 2019. Between 2019 and 2022, incidents at major commercial retailers rose sharply by 53%, with drug stores and chain stores experiencing some of the most dramatic increases. While some types of petit larceny had been in decline prior to 2019, many surged again in the years following. These patterns suggest shifting dynamics …

The Quest To End Human Trafficking: An Educational And Practical Guide For Everyone Who Wants To Help Break The Bonds And Assist Survivors, Dennis W. Mccarty

Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security, and Cybersecurity Faculty Scholarship

People often assume that only legislators and law enforcement personnel can take meaningful steps to fight human trafficking, one of the most lucrative transnational crimes in the world. This inquiry sought to assess the validity of that belief. The study was informed by the author’s experience as a college instructor of human trafficking and the inspiration he drew from the range and quality of his students’ projects.

The methodology included examining the strategies that governmental and non-governmental organizations are using to fight trafficking and assist survivors. It also considered the work of individual activists and service providers such as social …

Addressing The Recidivism Challenge In San Diego County: Learning From Lived Experience Approaches, Andrew Blum, Alfredo Malaret Baldo

Kroc IPJ Research and Resources

The problem is as old as the justice system itself—how to reduce the chance that an individual reoffends after they commit an offense and become involved with the justice system. This challenge of reducing recidivism remains critical. According to the Prison Policy Initiative, there are over 120,000 individuals in state prisons in California. Another 380,000 cycle through jails in California every year. In 2021, roughly 25,000 individuals were released from prison in California each year. This is the scope of the challenge.

In San Diego County, a wide variety of agencies and organizations are working to address the recidivism challenge. …

Threat Construction And Framing Of Cyberterrorism In The U.S. News Media, Mehmet F. Bastug, Ismail Onat, Ahmet Guler

International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence & Cybercrime

This research aims to explore the influence of news media on the fear of cyberterrorism and how cyberterrorism is framed in the media. Using a mixed-method approach as a research strategy, this paper reports on two studies that explore the influence of news reading on the fear of cyberterrorism. The first study analyzed survey responses from 1,190 participants and found that increased exposure to reading news media was associated with increased fear of cyberterrorism. The second study, built on the first, sought to investigate how cyberterrorism is framed and constructed as a threat by the US local and national newspapers. …

An Exploratory Study Of Police Officers Arrested For Sex-Related Crimes, 2005-2017, Leah M. Jolliffe, Chloe A. Wentzlof, Philip M. Stinson

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences in National Harbor, MD, on March 17, 2023.

Perceptions Of Law Enforcement Officers Regarding Eyewitness Identification Policies: A Survey Of Chief Executive Officers (Ceos) Of Arkansas Police Agencies., Chadwick Shane Henson

Student Theses and Dissertations

Eyewitness identification evidence is extremely dependent on the processes utilized by law enforcement to acquire and uphold the evidence. Unquestionably, research has led to a variety of significant findings regarding the ways in which law enforcement obtains identification evidence from eyewitnesses. Despite these findings and academics' best efforts to disseminate their results to public agencies, policymakers, and important law enforcement personnel using a variety of evidence, changes to policy and practice have been slow to come about, if they have come at all. Using a sample of Chief Executive Officers (CEO) of police agencies in Arkansas (N = 69), we …

Safety Behind The Computer Screen: Gauging Public Perceptions About Teacher Student Sexual Abuse, Kilby E. Raptopoulos

Theses and Dissertations

Female sex offenders are often portrayed in the media more leniently than male sex offenders, which could influence the way the public perceives these offenders. Further, the media is not always accurate in how they portray sex crimes either which can translate to misconceptions among the public specifically regarding sex offenders. The purpose of this research was to explore media coverage of teacher student sexual abuse in relation to the public’s reaction to these news stories. The current study utilized news stories to analyze reader comments on a news website to understand 1) how teacher sex offenders are portrayed, 2) …

Investigating Key Risk Factors Across Violent And Non-Violent Extremists In The United States, Leevia Dillon

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Problem Statement: This study investigated risk factors commonly highlighted by prior studies and risk assessment tools (e.g., Violent Extremism Risk Assessment Version 2 (VERA-2) and Extremism Risk Guidance 22+ (ERG22+)). It compared the risk factors across and within two groups – violent extremists (i.e., jihadists and far-right extremists) and non-violent extremists (i.e., jihadists and far-right financial/material support crime extremists) in the U.S. Jihadists and far-rightists are the two greatest security threats facing the U.S., and the findings can aid counterterrorism efforts on assessment development, identifying effective risk factors across varying groups, and assessing violence risk. Research Questions/Objectives: This study aimed …

A Structural Examination Of Organizational Justice, Self-Legitimacy, Employee Engagement, And Civic Engagement In Police, Mary Isis Wuestewald

Theses and Dissertations

Recently, the concept of police self-legitimacy has spurred research interest. Several studies have demonstrated beneficial outcomes associated with officers who are confident in their own authority. The current dissertation builds on this emerging area of study by examining the influence of organizational justice on police self-legitimacy, as well as self-legitimacy’s impact on employee engagement and civic engagement in police officers. Survey data were gathered from a sample of 1,391 officers from variously sized agencies across seven regions of the United States. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypotheses. The results indicate that organizational justice is a key component …

Raising The Cyber Guard: Analyzing The Cost And Use Of The National Guard In Local Municipal And State Cyber Defense, Hunter Lacroix

Theses and Dissertations

Cybersecurity is a national priority for the Homeland Security enterprise. Yet, despite a prioritization at the federal level, municipal and state governments have struggled to incorporate the National Guard in cyber incident response. Cyber incidents strain municipalities and states, which have spent significant resources to mitigate cyber threats. The glaring gap in the National Guard’s role in municipal and state cyber incident response warrants two key questions as to why the National Guard isn’t more readily used. “Is it cost prohibitive to use National Guard assets when compared to private entities?” Or “is there an underlying sociological disconnect regarding the …

The Relationship Between Trust In Local Police And Perceived Police Legitimacy Among Koreans In The United States, Zermeen Siddigi

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

The following study will determine whether Korean Americans’ trust in police positively correlates with perceptions of police legitimacy. This project uses the data collected from surveys given to Korean Americans in the Atlanta, Georgia area. It takes into consideration 128 complete responses collected in September 2022 from Korean Americans, regardless of their immigration status. A regression analysis will be conducted to analyze the relationship between trust in police and perceived police legitimacy among Korean residents while controlling for the demographic factors such as age and gender of the participants. It also controls for other relevant factors including English proficiency, annual …

Strength In Numbers: An Exploratory Case Study On The Impact Of Conflict In Multi-Institutional Higher Education Collaborations, Michele Robyn Dinicola

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

The higher education landscape is changing. Students seeking access to college are increasinglydiverse, geographically dispersed, socioeconomically challenged, and will require higher education administrators to closely examine their models to ensure they are well-suited to serve the needs of these students. Responding to these shifts will require higher education administrators to shed traditional approaches in favor of innovative, cost-effective, flexible models of education delivery. Many institutions address this challenge through a reliance on higher education consortia and collaborations. In Maryland, one approach to collaboration takes the form of multi-institutional Regional Higher Education Centers (RHEC) like the largest of them, the Universities …

การจัดการความขัดแย้งเชิงสมานฉันท์กับบริการทางการแพทย์ในเขตกรุงเทพมหานครและปริมณฑลช่วงแพร่ระบาดของโรคโควิด-19 (พ.ศ. 2563 - 2564), ปิยะวัฒน์ เด่นดำรงกุล

Chulalongkorn University Theses and Dissertations (Chula ETD)

การศึกษาเชิงพรรณนานี้มุ่งศึกษาลักษณะ ปัจจัยที่สัมพันธ์ต่อความขัดแย้ง รูปแบบการจัดการที่มิได้เข้ากระบวนการศาลจากโรงพยาบาลตติยภูมิในกรุงเทพมหานครและปริมณฑลในช่วงแพร่ระบาดของโรคโควิด-19 รวมถึงผลกระทบจากสถานการณ์ ตลอดจนโอกาสพัฒนาแนวคิดยุติธรรมเชิงสมานฉันท์ โดยศึกษาข้อมูลเบื้องต้นจากหน่วยงานบริหารความขัดแย้งผ่านแบบสอบถาม และสัมภาษณ์เชิงลึกในผู้ที่เคยได้รับความเสียหายในบริการทางการแพทย์ ผู้บริหารระบบและไกล่เกลี่ยความขัดแย้ง ผลการศึกษาจากการสำรวจจากโรงพยาบาล 19 แห่ง พบว่าการให้ข้อมูลที่ไม่เหมาะสม และปัญหาการสื่อสาร เป็นเหตุสำคัญสูงสุด (ร้อยละ 71.5) ผู้ไกล่เกลี่ยที่เคยอบรมหลักสูตรการเจรจาไกล่เกลี่ย หรือการบริหารความขัดแย้งมีเพียงส่วนน้อย (ร้อยละ 12.2) และไม่มีผู้รู้จักแนวคิดยุติธรรมสมานฉันท์ ผลสัมภาษณ์เชิงลึกพบว่าความขัดแย้งนั้นเกี่ยวเนื่องกับผู้ป่วยเชื่อว่าความเสียหายนั้นเกิดจากการบริการ ความบกพร่องของสื่อสารหรือท่าทีของผู้ให้บริการ ส่วนอุปสรรคต่อความสำเร็จการยุติความขัดแย้งที่สำคัญ คือ ผู้บริหารความขัดแย้งขาดอำนาจตัดสินใจ แสดงออกไม่จริงใจและไม่เป็นกลาง ผู้ให้บริการทางการแพทย์ที่ไม่แสดงความเห็นใจ และรูปแบบการเยียวยาที่ไม่ตรงความต้องการกับผู้เสียหาย สอดคล้องกับกรณียุติความขัดแย้งสำเร็จพบว่าคณะผู้เสียหายได้รับเยียวยาเพียงพอ ได้รับการสื่อสารที่เข้าใจและเข้าหาสม่ำเสมอ ดังนั้นผู้บริหารควรร่วมบริหารความขัดแย้ง ให้ความสำคัญกับภาระงานและส่งเสริมพัฒนาทักษะผู้ปฏิบัติ รวมทั้งนำหลักยุติธรรมสมานฉันท์มาประยุกต์ใช้ ที่มุ่งเน้นเยียวยาให้อภัยและนำไปสู่ยุติความขัดแย้งได้

Community Policing: The Challenges Of Implementation In The United States, Paris Frank

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Community-oriented policing (COP) is a policing philosophy that emphasizes the partnership and positive relationship between the police and the community. This paper discusses the importance of COP and its implementation in police departments. Decentralization and community engagement are key components of COP, which can be challenging to implement due to various barriers. Some of the challenges include resistance to change from law enforcement agencies, lack of resources, and a lack of community trust in the police. Additionally, there can be a disconnect between the goals of COP and the traditional law enforcement model, which can make it difficult for some …