Digital Commons Network^™

Reducing Economic Disparities For Female Offenders: The Oxford House Model, Sarah L. Callahan

College of Science and Health Theses and Dissertations

Background: In the past 30 years the rate of increase in incarceration for females who abuse substances has outpaced that of men. Women have increased health and economic disparities, and face barriers to economic mobility, increasing their risk of returning to the criminal justice system. Past research suggests that there is a positive relationship between living in Oxford House and employment wages, yet the impact of having a criminal history on this relationship was unknown. Method: This study used a nationwide sample of 136 women living in Oxford Houses in a regression analysis with length of stay in Oxford House …

A Descriptive Analysis Of The Appropriate Use Of Cognitive Bias Terminology In Forensic Science Literature, Courtney A. Winters, Evelyn M. Buday, Trevor I. Stamper

The Summer Undergraduate Research Fellowship (SURF) Symposium

Cognitive bias occurs without a person’s awareness and can affect decision-making abilities. In forensic science, bias can be especially detrimental to making accurate decisions about the evidence in a criminal investigation. There are many academic studies in identifying, describing, and suggesting ways to mitigate cognitive biases in forensic science. Many authors will give a known cognitive science concept a new name or create their own bias. This is a problem in the literature because nobody knows for sure how many published studies are referring to or testing the same phenomena since authors are using different definitions or terminology to describe …

Psychopathy In The Criminal Justice System, Jillian K. Peterson, Jerrod Brown

College of Liberal Arts All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Association Between Stalking And Violence In A Sample Of Spanish Partner Violence Cases, Rosa Viñas-Racionero, Chitra Raghavan, Miguel Ángel Soria-Verde, Remei Prat-Santaolaria

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The present descriptive study analyzes stalking in a sample of 278 Spanish court cases involving partner violence and contrasts the benefits of the new bill article 172ter, which criminalizes stalking, compared with the Organic Law 1/2004 on partner violence. Thirty-seven percent (37%) of the total sample included stalking behaviors, which manifested in intimidatory (60%) and controlling (45%) unwanted verbal communications (62%) and physical approaches (42%) that ended violently in a third of the cases (35%). Cases involving violent stalking, non-violent stalking, and physical violence without stalking were compared. A closer look at violent stalking cases uncovered that intimacy-seeking stalking behavior …

Unique And Combined Contributions Of Callous-Unemotional Traits And Parental Incarceration On Juvenile Delinquency In An At-Risk Sample, Lacey Loy Herrington

Dissertations

The current study examined the interrelations among callous-unemotional (CU) traits, a history of parental incarceration, and juvenile delinquency. More specifically, although research suggests that both CU traits and parental incarceration are predictors of juvenile delinquent behaviors, their interaction in influencing such behaviors had yet to be investigated. Two-hundred thirteen (213) adolescents (201 males, 12 females) who were enlisted in a residential program designed for adolescents that dropped out of school participated in this study. Participants ranged in age from 16 to 19 (M = 16.92; SD = .77). Higher levels of overall CU traits reported by the adolescent significantly …

The Association Of Different Types Of Bullying With The Mental Health Of Children And Teens From The United States, France, And Canada, Christina Fisher

Media and Communication Studies Summer Fellows

Bullying continues to trouble youths around the world, sometimes with devastating effects for victims’ mental health. This suggests an ongoing need for awareness, intervention and tolerance for everyone involved. This study, a literature review, explored the extent of these mental health effects found in 50 studies of victims, bullies, and bully-victims, those who are victims of bullying and who also bully others, in the United States, France, and Canada (Willard, 2007). Particular attention was paid to the impact that gender, age, ethnicity, and the LGBTQ community had on researchers’ findings. Findings show that 25.9% to 33% of students in these …

Decriminalizing Mental Illness: The Need For Treatment Over Incarceration Before Prisons Become The New Asylums For The Mentally Ill, Rebecca L. Brown

Psychology Summer Fellows

Currently, US prisons are home to 10 times more mentally ill individuals than state psychiatric hospitals. Instead of treating those with mental illness, an extremely vulnerable population is being thrown behind bars. Mental illness is often exacerbated during incarceration, leaving inmates much sicker than when they entered. Moreover, upon discharge mentally ill inmates have virtually no support, making recidivism almost inevitable. This lack of treatment has devastating consequences for the mentally ill as well as the community at large. Removing the mentally ill from jails and prisons would reduce recidivism, increase public safety and save money.

The current research explores …

Can Genetics Predict Response To Complex Behavioral Interventions? Evidence From A Genetic Analysis Of The Fast Track Randomized Control Trial, Dustin Albert, Daniel W. Belsky, D. Max Crowley, Shawn J. Latendresse, Fazil Aliev, Brien Riley, Cuie Sun, Danielle M. Dick, Kenneth A. Dodge

Psychology Faculty Research and Scholarship

Early interventions are a preferred method for addressing behavioral problems in high-risk children, but often have only modest effects. Identifying sources of variation in intervention effects can suggest means to improve efficiency. One potential source of such variation is the genome. We conducted a genetic analysis of the Fast Track randomized control trial, a 10-year-long intervention to prevent high-risk kindergarteners from developing adult externalizing problems including substance abuse and antisocial behavior. We tested whether variants of the glucocorticoid receptor gene NR3C1 were associated with differences in response to the Fast Track intervention. We found that in European-American children, a variant …

A Comparison Between Telehealth And Face-To-Face Brief Alcohol Interventions For College Students, Sarah Christine King

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Problematic alcohol use is a common occurrence among college students. While empirically supported interventions exist, their access is typically limited to those who attend large universities. In the health care field there has been an expansion of services provided via telehealth to increase client access to treatment. However, the evidence is mixed regarding the effectiveness of face-to-face versus telehealth interventions and there is a gap in the literature regarding the use of telehealth interventions for brief alcohol interventions in college students. As such, the purpose of this study was to test the effectiveness of a well-validated brief alcohol screening and …

An Examination Of The Relationship Between Childhood Abuse, Anger And Violent Behavior Among A Sample Of Sex Offenders, Stephanie R. Ramirez, Elizabeth L. Jeglic, Cynthia Calkins

Publications and Research

Background: Increasing attention has focused on the emotional dysregulation that can result from adverse childhood experiences among those who commit sexually violent crimes. While studies confirm a relationship between child maltreatment and anger the research is limited and it is unclear how anger and child maltreatment effect the use of violence during the commission of the sex crime.

Methods: This study examined the relationship between childhood maltreatment, anger and violent behavior by reviewing the records of 571 adult male offenders convicted of sexual assault or child molestation. The aims of the present study were to 1) examine differences in anger …

Social Work Students' Perceptions Of Sex Offenders, Mayra Bernal, Henry Christopher Meza

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Social workers who choose to work in the field of child welfare will almost unavoidably be exposed to sexual trauma. This requires that social workers are prepared to understand and work with those who have been sexually abused, as well as the perpetrators of sex crimes. The purpose of this study was to explore social work students’ perceptions of sex offenders since it is anticipated that they will work with the sex offender population at some point in their careers. Exploring this topic could help future social workers gain valuable knowledge related to recognizing barriers that may exist when working …

Four Lessons Learned From Treatingcatholic Priest Sex Offenders, Thomas G. Plante

Psychology

Perhaps there is no one in our society more despised and vilified than sex offenders, especially those who sexually violate young children. And during the past decade perhaps no particular subgroup of sex offender has been more despised than those who are Roman Catholic priests. We need to be attentive to the state-of-the-art facts, best practices, and create policies and procedures to keep those who might harm children away from children. To do otherwise is foolish and harmful. Yet strong opinions, advocacy, and hysteria sometimes gets more attention than actual evidence-based quality research and practice which is not ultimately in …

Psychological And Social Variables Impacting Young Adults Caring For Severely Mentally Ill Mothers, Courtney Gale Deloney

Dissertations

This dissertation study examined the psychological and social functioning of young adults who care for their severely mentally ill mothers; in doing so this study examined the independent variables coping style, perceived stress, quality of life, and resilience. The dependent variables considered were race, socioeconomic status, support group participation, and living in the same household as one’s mother. Young adulthood was examined as a distinct period of human development. The policy of deinstitutionalization led many families to become caregivers for their severely mentally ill relatives. While some knowledge on this exists, little is known about the experiences of young adult …

Predictive Validity Of The Look, Joy Wiechmann Cox

Theses and Dissertations

The LOOK, an iOS app, is a viewing time measure used to assess sexual interest. The measure is based on the assumption that sexual interest can be assessed by the amount of time a participant spends looking at an image. The purpose of this study was to examine the ability of the LOOK, a newly developed viewing time instrument, to accurately screen and diagnose individuals with deviant sexual interest. The profiles of known sexual offenders were compared to norm-referenced profiles of an exclusively heterosexual, non-pedophilic, male, college student population. Researchers were not able to find a fair constant multiplier that …

Expected Profiles And Temporal Stability Of The Look, Sierra Marie Baird

Theses and Dissertations

The LOOK is an iOS based iPad app designed to measure viewing time as an estimate of sexual interest. Participants used a 7-point Likert scale to rate 154 images based on sexual attractiveness. The images belonged to 14 differentiated gender and age categories from infants to elderly adults. Before rating each image participants were asked to complete an additional task of locating and touching a small dot found in one of the four corners of the screen. This was included to make sure that participants we attending to each image, and to add another level of information to the results.The …

The Unspoken Truth: A Practical Guide For Pastors, Helping Abusers Break The Cycle Of Sexual Abuse, Teresa Johnson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

For years, men, women and children have suffered silently as a result of sexual abuse. The abuser suffers and the cycle continues. Destroying the silence of sexual abuse is the beginning of breaking the cycle. Research has shown that the abuse goes far beyond the actual act and causes physical, emotional, and psychological damage. This project will investigate and encourage open discussion, address the abuse, and give valuable insight to the causes and consequences of sexual abuse. This project will offer prescriptive and preventative measures to all parties involved, in an effort to heal and stop sexual abuse. Through research …

Predictors Of Money Spent On Drugs In Substance Users, Simona Ciobotaru

DePaul Discoveries

Financial need is a major stressor for individuals who are reentering the community after substance abuse and/or incarceration. Family members and friends make up a great majority the support networks from which reentering people can receive financial support. However, that financial support could possibly contribute to drug use when the individual is actively using. The goal of this study was to further understand the implications of material and financial support specifically being transmitted from family members. This study looks at psychosocial predictors in relation to money spent on drugs in the last 30 days of 270 individuals entering substance abuse …

Factors That Affect Treatment Compliance Among Individuals With Mental Illness, Marsha Brown

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Approximately 6% of the American population suffers from a severe mental illness such as Schizophrenia, Bipolar Disorder, Major Depressive Disorder, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, and Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder. Treatment compliance in individuals with severe mental illness is imperative as without treatment these individuals may experience homelessness, unemployment, and a decreased life expectancy of up to 34 years. Consequently, researchers have increasingly examined factors that may affect overall compliance among these individuals, such as insight, social support, symptom severity, and substance abuse. However, many of these studies focus on compliance with prescribed medications and few examine compliance with recommended psychological treatment. The current …

Sensitizing Jurors To Factors Influencing The Accuracy Of Eyewitness Identification: Assessing The Effectiveness Of The Henderson Instructions, Angela M. Jones

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Recently, the New Jersey Supreme Court determined that jurors may not be able to effectively evaluate eyewitness evidence (New Jersey v. Henderson, 2011). Research generally supports this contention, finding that jurors do not take into account factors surrounding the commission of the crime and identification when determining the reliability of an identification (Devenport et al., 1997). Courts have implemented various safeguards to assist jurors in evaluating eyewitness evidence, including judicial instructions and expert testimony. The New Jersey Supreme Court proposed the use of judicial instructions and suggested their use would reduce the need for expert testimony. The current …

Psychosocial Sequelae Of Homicide Among Murder Victims' Family Members: An Appraisal Of Depression, Grief, And Posttraumatic Stress, Sarah Kopelovich

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The current investigation explored what is known regarding the psychological sequelae of the post-homicide experience for murder victims' family members and friends (MVFM). Participants were also asked about whether they felt they had attained closure, a term which populates anecdotal and theoretical accounts of MVFM's experience. Previous literature guided a theoretical definition of closure as a dimensional construct that represents adaptive functioning following a murder, and includes (1) absence of disabling symptomatology, (2) absence of ruminations about the event or murder victim, and (3) subjective return to baseline functioning. This quasi-experiment consisted of a between-subjects cross-sectional design. The dependent variable …

Effectiveness Of Psychological Techniques In Increasing Deviant Sexual Fantasy Self-Disclosures, Christian Maile

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The assessment of deviant sexual fantasy and interests is an important component in sex offender risk assessment and subsequent treatment planning. However, clinicians and researchers have long acknowledged that sex offenders often distort or underreport details related to their sex offenses, particularly details relating to offense-related deviant sexual fantasy and interests. Some of the common methods used to minimize underreporting of deviant sexual fantasy and interests include the use of phallometry (or plethysmography) and polygraphy; however, not all assessment/treatment facilities or private practitioners providing services to sex offenders have access to such resources. Thus, the development of more efficient, cost-effective …

Assumptions Underlying Behavioral Linkage Revisited: A Multidimensional Approach To Ascertaining Individual Differentiation And Consistency In Serial Rape, Marina Sorochinski

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

While investigative use of behavioral evidence to help link and solve serial offenses has been in use for centuries, the empirical and theoretical grounds for whether and how to use this evidence effectively has begun to emerge only in recent years. In order for behavioral crime linking to be validated, two base assumptions must be met: individual differentiation (i.e., that offenses committed by one offender will be distinctly different from those committed by another offender) and consistency (i.e., that a degree of similarity will be apparent across crimes committed by the same offender). The present study empirically tested (a) the …

An Analysis Of The Impact Of Emotional Literacy Instruction On At-Risk Students, Shannon H. Garcia

Dissertations

This study examined the impact of social-emotional literacy instruction for at-risk adolescents ages 13 to 18 at the high school level. Of particular interest is the impact of social-emotional literacy instruction on at-risk youth Grades 9-12 in secondary high schools’ 8-week-long social-emotional literacy class through Project AWARE, particularly in the areas of suspension, expulsion, attendance, connectivity, attitude toward school, resiliency, and relational aggression rates; the data were analyzed using archival data and teacher interview. Project AWARE, the social-emotional literacy intervention examined in this study, educates and provides mentorship for at-risk students, while also providing a group educational component on relationships …

Deception Detection In Clinical Interview, Olivia Preston, Melissa Lewis

Student Research Symposium

The objective of Forensic Assessment of Client Truthfulness (FACT) measure is to detect deception in forensic psychology consultations. A statistically significant tool using verbal content analysis was created, based a synthesis of previous research in the field. This presentation reviews the research project and highlights one phase of the study where ratings true and deceptive statements in cases of accused sex offenders or insanity defense claimants were compared. Multiple ANOVAs, t-tests, and factor analyses were conducted. When FACT scores were dichotomized, 86% of the ratings characterized the true statements as true, and 81% of the ratings categorized the false statements …

Attributes Of True And False Statements Of Criminal Defendants, Camilla Cummings, Olivia Preston, Nicolette Wise, Shawn A. Johnston

Student Research Symposium

The research study uses a verbal content analysis measure, the Forensic Assessment of Client Truthfulness, derived from the most empirically-supported measures in deception detection (i.e. Criterion-Based Content Analysis and Reality Monitoring). This measure is employed in the study to distinguish between true and false statements in forensic psychological evaluations. The study contains four research conditions including the true and false statements of men accused of sex offenses and of men claiming an insanity defense. Using a repeated measures design, the four statements were rated by 127 university students. Using factor analyses, ANOVA analyses, and t-tests, the results showed that the …

The Ontario Domestic Assault Risk Assessment (Odara): A Validation And Comparison Study For An Oregonian Law Enforcement Agency, Jennifer C. Ulmer

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

The predictive validity of intimate partner violence (IPV) risk measures continues to be a newer, but significant, area of research within the domain of violence risk assessment. This study describes local (Oregon) normative data for the ODARA (IPV risk measure) as well as investigate, for a specific law enforcement agency, which tool is a superior predictor for the agency, a general violence risk assessment tool, i.e., the LS-CMI (part one), or an IPV-specific risk tool, i.e., the ODARA. Archival data was obtained through a law enforcement agency’s research department. Descriptive and comparative analysis was done for the ODARA and LS/CMI …

Predicting Bystander Attitudes Using Rape Myth Acceptance And Adherence To The Commodity Model Of Sex, Kimberly J. Johnson

Masters Theses, 2010-2019

The high rate of sexual assault on college campuses has become a growing concern among college administrators. To combat the prevalence of sexual assault, colleges and universities have begun implementing mandatory bystander intervention training programs, which teach students to look for warning signs indicative of sexual assault and intervene before an assault occurs. Previous research has indicated that an individual’s endorsement of rape myths may play a role in whether or not that individual will intervene in a situation that may lead to sexual assault; however, little research has investigated from where beliefs in rape myths might stem. Sex educators …

Mental Illness Stigma In The Media, Brian Smith

The Review: A Journal of Undergraduate Student Research

The aim of this paper is to explore mental illness stigma and one of its primary causes, the media. Essentially the paper looks at various forms of media (e.g., prime time television, children’s programming, news media) and how they create negative perceptions of both mentally ill individuals, and those who help treat them. Previous research has shown that those with a mental illness are often depicted as violent and socially undesirable by the media. Other previous research has shown that those who treat mental illness are often depicted as unprofessional and untrustworthy by the media, creating a strong negative stigma …

They Tried To Make Me Go To Rehab: A Study Of Rehabilitation In United States Corrections, Kayla J. Toole

Senior Honors Projects

Rehabilitation has been a staple of the prison system in the United States since the 1700s. The idea that a criminal could be resocialized into a functioning individual in society has been the basis of the prison systems since they first began. Rehabilitation is always evolving in the criminal justice system and being improved to have more impact on recidivism rates. In this project, I examine the cultural and structural explanations for different forms of rehabilitation over time. I found that rehabilitation at various points has been influenced by religious, medical, psychiatric, and sociological understandings of crime.

Currently, rehabilitation combines …

Effects Of Adverse Childhood Experiences On High Risk Inpatients Criminal Behavior, Alexis L. Booth, Jill D. Stinson Phd

Undergraduate Honors Theses

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) play a role in the development of chronic mental and physical diseases in adulthood. These experiences include adversities such as: emotional/verbal abuse, sexual abuse, physical abuse, and household dysfunction. In this study, we hypothesize that forensic mental health offenders will have higher ACE scores than community participants. Secondly, we hypothesize that these participants will show higher rates of and earlier incidences of offending, arrest, incarceration, and hospitalization as a result of their ACE scores. Further, we hypothesize that males and females will be affected by ACEs differently. Using archival data from a secure forensic psychiatric facility …