Digital Commons Network^™

Perceptions Of Police: Justice-Impacted And Non-Impacted Opinions, Taylor Williamson

The Mid-Southern Journal of Criminal Justice

The purpose of this paper is to examine what affects individual’s perceptions of the police through a review of the literature. Because the police work directly with their community, opinions that their communities hold of the police can affect their ability to perform their job effectively. Particular focus is given to justice-impacted persons. A justice-impacted person is an individual who is at risk for incarceration, has been incarcerated, or has had family members incarcerated. It is advantageous to survey justice-impacted persons regarding their perceptions of the police because they have had direct contact with the police. This contrasts with general …

Digital Accessibility And Missing Information: An Examination Of Intimate Partner Violence Shelter Websites, Leslie-Dawn Quick, Ph.D., Radscheda R. Nobles, Ph.D.

The Mid-Southern Journal of Criminal Justice

This paper is an examination of intimate partner violence shelter websites identified by the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence (NCADV) across six states to include North Carolina, Virginia, Tennessee, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Ohio. A sample of 217 websites were identified through the NCADV and analyzed with focus on what information they contained. There is significant variability between website content. Most shelter websites provide crisis hotline information, operating information or that they operate 24/7, but basic information like the cost of the shelter or if transportation is provided is not always available. This paper makes recommendations to shelters to provide …

Risk-Contamination And Dilution: Advancing The Rnr Model In Prison Settings, Baylee Allen-Flores, Zachary Hamilton, John Ursino, Alex Kigerl

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

The Risk-Needs-Responsivity (RNR) model posits separating lower from higher-risk individuals to avoid “risk contamination.” In a prison setting, policies and restrictions lead to mixing different populations within a housing unit. While this may pose a threat, it may allow higher-risk individuals to gradually promote through security levels, reducing risk. We term this “risk dilution.” The current study compares the infraction behavior of individuals that are over-classified (housed higher than their risk) and those under-classified (housed lower than their risk). Using mixed-effect models with a large (N = 52,000) sample of incarcerated men, findings demonstrate support for both contamination and …

Gender Ideology And Gender Equality Policy Adoption, Wendell Christopher Lewis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Gender-based violence threatens the social and economic security of countries. Gender equality policies, which address the ideological and material relations of gender equality that support gender-based violence, are being stymied by antigender coalitions. Little is known of the concept called gender ideology used by this coalition to facilitate policy intractability of gender equality policies. This mixed-method study was intended to fill the theoretical and methodological gaps in the literature using the narrative policy framework to explore the concept of gender ideology and policy intractability during the National Gender Policy debate in Trinidad and Tobago between 2010-2018. The research questions focused …

The Rise And Fall Of Caribbean Piracy: A Socio-Technical Analysis Of The War Of Spanish Succession, Maritime Innovation, And Edward Randolf’S Policy, Dominique M. Salinski

Armstrong Undergraduate Journal of History

This paper argues that the mode and historical context in which piracy ascended in the Caribbean after the War of the Spanish Succession, as well as the historical interrelation between maritime technology and pirate tactics, coalesced into a diachronic Damocles Sword that resulted in the downfall of piracy in the Golden Age. Sanctioning piratical enterprises as a subconventional maritime strategy displayed a geopolitical reliance on piracy by great powers. However, the depraved treatment conventional sailors received across all major European navies generated a social stratum that eventually bore the Golden Age of Piracy, while simultaneously contributing significantly to British naval …

Seeing The Whole Together Through Relational Mapping: A Method For Engaging In Complex Systems Change, John Paul Stephens

Faculty Scholarship

Complex global challenges cut across organizational and sectoral boundaries, increasing calls for holistic responses. Seeing the whole across diverse stakeholders is challenging for participants in complex systems, yet doing so is essential for engaging effectively in systems change. A promising new method known as relational mapping, based on relational coordination theory, has been used to facilitate complex systems change. Here, we propose that relational mapping can be applied to help participants (1) see the whole in relation to the parts, (2) share their explicit and tacit knowledge, (3) engage in dialogue across distinct perspectives supported by the map as a …

Mental Illness Amongst Incarcerated Individuals And Its Effect On Gaining Employment, Tionna S. Miller

Theses and Dissertations

More than half the correctional population has a mental health disorder (NIH, 2022). Having a mental health disorder can severely interfere in one’s transition back into the community, specifically surrounding their access to employment. This dissertation analyzes the extent to which the mental health of previously incarcerated individuals affects their employment upon release. Results from this study concluded that having a mental health diagnosis did interfere with previously incarcerated individuals’ access to employment, especially if those individuals were black. This dissertation concludes with a discussion of the findings, limitations, contributions, as well as implications for practitioners, policy makers and researchers.

American Capitalism And The Decline Of Debtors’ Prison In The 19th Century, James Parisot

Sociology Faculty Publications

This paper examines the dynamics of capitalism and the penitentiary system through an analysis of the decline of debt imprisonment in 19th-century United States. It argues that class transformations in the early to mid-1800s created a context for social experiments with new forms of punishment. The penitentiary systems that formed developed logics that contingently fit with the rising mode of production. The decline of debt imprisonment, in this context, was much in part the result of transformations in class power and class structure.

Mass Exodus? Police Officer Turnover Intention And Organizational Commitment In New York City, Kenneth M. Quick, Kevin T. Wolff

Publications and Research

Purpose – This study assesses the relationship between job satisfaction, perceived organizational support, and workplace factors on officer turnover intention within an urban, municipal police organization.

Design/methodology/approach – Using data from an online survey of New York City Police Officers (n=1,823), both bivariate analysis and logistic regression models were utilized to assess the salience of police officer job satisfaction, perceived organizational support, and perception of six workplace domains, including financial compensation, environmental factors, professional fulfillment, work/quality of life balance, treatment from management, and occupational risk on predicting turnover intention.

Findings – The cross-sectional study finds that job satisfaction, financial factors …

The Need For U.S. Stability Policing, John F. Hussey

Joint Force Quarterly

This article argues that the U.S. military needs a dedicated stability policing capability to establish public order, protect civilians, uphold the rule of law, and consolidate gains during the transition from combat operations to postconflict stability. Drawing on U.S. experiences in Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan, the author contends that military forces have often been ill prepared to perform civilian policing or train indigenous police forces, leading to overly militarized approaches that can undermine legitimacy and public trust. The article emphasizes that stability policing requires personnel with civilian law enforcement expertise, particularly during the critical period immediately following major combat operations. …

Failure To Implement Decentralization In Haiti As A Constitution Mandate, Alann Fils-Aime

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

As of 2023, after 36 years, Haiti has yet to implement decentralization successfully per its 1987 Constitution mandate. The situation that prompted this research literature is to fill the literature gap to investigate the elites' responsibilities and their neglectfulness to implement decentralization as mandated by the Constitution. The generic qualitative methodology was the selected design to better understand the reasons for Haiti, as of 2023, and after 36 years, to remain unable to implement decentralization per its 1987 Constitution mandate successfully. Policy feedback theory served as the theoretical foundation for this study. Data were collected from semistructured Zoom or telephone …

Minor Role Ii: Youth Under Age 18 And New York City Violence, Jeffrey A. Butts, Gina Moreno

Publications and Research

Researchers from John Jay College of Criminal Justice's Research and Evaluation Center analyzed NYPD arrest data from 2006 to 2024 (with 2024 figures estimated) to assess trends in felony assault, felony robbery, and felony weapon offenses across three age groups: under 18, 18–24, and 25 and older. The study examined concerns about youth crime following New York State’s “Raise the Age” law, which shifted most cases involving individuals under 18 to family court by 2019. While arrests rose across all age groups during the COVID-19 pandemic, trends among youth generally paralleled those of adults. Robbery arrests among youth increased more …

Strategies To Empower At-Risk Males In Orange County Florida: A Community-Based Resource, Thressa Marie Fizer

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In Orange County, Florida, community-based programs provide resources for at-risk males who are impacted by social determinant challenges. This study focused on the client intake assessment process of Agency OCF to identify gaps that would benefit from enhanced assessment processes and early intervention efforts creating greater opportunity for program placement of at-risk males in this distressed community. Community-based participatory research served as the interpretive lens and generic qualitative inquiry provided the methodological approach to assess the client intake processes. Yielding no participant responses during recruitment efforts, the study pivoted to focus on an in-depth review of publicly released assessments and …

Interventions Human Service Professionals Provide To Prevent Human Trafficking, Danielle James

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Human trafficking is a global crisis that impacts individuals across all cultures and communities. The purpose of this single intrinsic case study was to explore the interventions that human service professional directors use to prevent human trafficking in Missouri. Trauma-informed approach was used as the conceptual framework. Participants included seven human service managers and program directors who have successfully implemented interventions to prevent human trafficking. Data were collected from one-on-one, semi-structured interviews with six participants. The data were analyzed using Yin’s five components of data analysis. Seven key themes emerged: the need for multiagency human service collaboration to prevent human …

Absent Fathers And The Propensity Of Criminal Behaviors Among Children Later In Life, India Kewanna Holmes

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of the qualitative phenomenological research was to investigate the experiences of young adults raised by one caregiver and how the lack of fathers in the household impacted their decision-making processes concerning engaging in criminal behaviors. The following inquiry guided the research: What are the effects of fatherlessness on decision-making in young adults, and how is it related to criminal behavior? Semi-structured interviews of 15 participants, aged 18 to 26, were used as the primary data collection method. The interview instrument consisted of ten items, and responses were analyzed using coding and thematic analysis. The study's findings revealed several …

Moral Injury In Military Corrections, Jeremy Ryder Meyers

Masters Theses

Over the past thirty years moral injury has been a topic of concern regarding the behavioral and spiritual health of military members. Part of that work has given a voice to Vietnam veterans and the events they faced while in combat. Some of these events were acts of betrayal at the hands of another military member or their own. This act led to an injury to their moral code. Military chaplains may have morally injured soldiers in need of pastoral care as they serve. This includes soldiers working the military prisons like the United States Disciplinary Barracks in Fort Leavenworth. …

Can Officers Confidently Query State Vanity Plates & Account For License Plate Reader Inaccuracies?, Matthew Adam Simon

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This research explored whether Massachusetts police officers in Hampden County struggle to query state vanity plates through their mobile data terminals. When officers fail to attain a valid query response from their electronic inquiries, they cannot positively identify any pertinent data relating to a target vehicle. Consequently, the obstacles tied to this potential problem could provide criminals with an insulative layer of anonymity that shelters them from detection. This study employed a cross-sectional quantitative approach that sampled 164 police officers with traffic enforcement duties across Hampden County, MA. The study asked officers to answer a scalable questionnaire concerning their confidence …

Developing Resiliency Body Armor Through Psychological And Spiritual Means: How U.S. States' Icac Personnel Cope With Secondary Traumatic Stress, Jameson Lee Denagel

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Global online child sex abuse and exploitation is rising due to the immense accessibility of the internet, and it takes specially trained and devoted investigators to combat the problem. However, combating these heinous crimes can create traumatic events for investigators, resulting in secondary traumatic stress. This quantitative correlative study examined the psychological and spiritual coping strategies to develop a resiliency body armor concerning Internet Crimes Against Children Task Force personnel (ICAC-TF) working on child sexual exploitation investigations. The theoretical framework combined the concepts of Resiliency Theory, psychology body armor, and spiritual body armor to create resiliency body armor. The study …

Exploring Attitudes Within Legal Precedents Related To Police Use Of Force, Jazmine L. Garcia

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Policing is a dangerous profession: Data from the National Institute for Occupational Safety revealed that policing is the second highest in occupational homicides (White et al., 2019). Fifty-nine police officers were killed in the line of duty from January 1, 2021, to September 30, 2021, which is a 51% increase compared to results found in 2020 (FBI, 2021). Therefore, officers must-read situational cues, communicate effectively, and make decisions to choose the best actions for a situation whether that be de-escalation or escalation, all within fractions of seconds. These decisions are rarely black and white with each situation being different and …

An Ethnically Balanced Male Perspective Towards Police Officers Seeking Mental Health Counseling: A Hermeneutic Phenomenological Study, Arturo Parra

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This phenomenological study will aim to understand an ethnically balanced male perspective toward police officers seeking mental health counseling. Police Officers are routinely exposed to stressful and traumatic events, leading to acute and chronic disorders, mental illnesses, suicide ideation, and suicide, as research has indicated. Mental health counseling can play an essential role in intervention into mental health illness, providing critical tools to police officers to handle stress and potential mental illness. However, reluctance among the police community to seek mental health counseling continues to be prevalent. Possible cause for this reluctance are suggested through research as a direct result …

Crime Against The Homeless Population: Barriers And Strategies From Washington, Dc Housing Services Case Managers, Stephanie Strianse

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Homelessness is a widespread concern across the United States, especially in Washington, DC. The homeless population experiences victimization at alarming rates compared to their housed counterparts; however, these instances of crime against this population are often unreported. The purpose of this generic qualitative study was to explore the barriers to reporting crime against the homeless population and the strategies to reduce those barriers from the perspective of housing services case managers in Washington, DC. Lenoir’s social exclusion theory was the theoretical framework for this study. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews with 11 housing services case managers who work with …

A Global Comparison Of Communication Intervention Strategies For Justice-Involved Youth, Sophia Janeiro Martinez

OUR Journal: ODU Undergraduate Research Journal

Purpose: This paper explores the intricate relationship between communication disorders and delinquent youth behavior. It will explore the detrimental impact of zero-tolerance policies and their contribution to the school-to-prison pipeline. It will introduce issues, such as complex Miranda warning diction, and the benefits of including speech-language pathologists (SLPs) to aid in youth comprehension. Additionally, it will propose the integration of SLPs within the juvenile justice system to assist in communication between justice-involved youth (JIY) and justice professionals during conversations, questioning, and trials or hearings. Furthermore, this paper examines the roles of SLPs within juvenile justice systems abroad, including Canada, …

Local Crime And Substance Use Disorders: A Comparison Of Midlife Adults In The 1990s And 2000s, Jennifer W. Robinette, Jason D. Boardman, Kathleen Mullan Harris

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

This study investigated how sociopolitical changes in the United States between the 1990s and 2000s may explain the increase in substance use disorders and reduced longevity in more recent cohorts of US midlife adults. The 2008 recession which drastically increased unemployment rates across the country may have had negative implications for downstream contextual and individual processes, including both local crime rates and substance use disorders. The Midlife in the United States Survey cohort (1995; n = 6148; 20–75 years) and the MIDUS Refresher cohort (2011; n = 3543; 23–76 years) reported on substance use disorders. These data were linked to …

An Exploration Of Rural Incarcerated Parents’ Needs And Existing Jail-Based Parenting Programs, Sarah Downard

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The purpose of this qualitative case study was to better understand the holistic and cultural needs in jails to better support incarcerated parents in a rural Western region and to compare the needs to existing programs. The theoretical framework for this study was a program model called the Family Strengthening Project. Data were collected in individual telephone interviews with five professionals with experience working with incarcerated parents and their families in a rural jail and community, including human services practitioners and law enforcement officials. The findings of the study indicated that although the jail is currently offering parenting classes, staffing …

Public-Private Partnerships In Fema: Strengthening Communities Nationwide, Rachael A. Zerr

Publications and Research

This paper explores the role of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in strengthening communities through collaboration with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). It defines FEMA’s mission and outlines the concept of PPPs, emphasizing their importance in enhancing disaster response and recovery efforts. The paper provides framework for establishing a PPP with FEMA, including key steps and practices for successful collaboration. Additionally, it highlights several examples of effective PPPs, including a longstanding partnership with Verizon Wireless. Drawing from FEMA reports and private sector publications, the paper demonstrates how these partnerships contribute to resilience and preparedness, illustrating their potential to improve the efficiency …

The Race To Invest: What Is The Driving Cause Of The European Union's Increased Involvement In Latin America?, Bryson C. Frank, Soo Bin Im, Alyssa Powell

Claremont-UC Undergraduate Research Conference on the European Union

This article analyzes the rhetoric of members of the European Parliament (MEPs) and high-level EU leaders who speak about the EU’s role in Latin America and the role of China in the region. To what extent are MEPs and other EU officials concerned about Chinese expansion and is China the reason why the EU seeks increased collaboration with Latin American partners? Our paper documents who in the EU is advocating for increased ties with Latin American countries, why they are doing so, and whether the influence of China is inducing rhetorical changes in EU foreign policy. Findings suggest that while …

Spatial Patterns Of Methamphetamine In North Dakota, Alex Feidler, Roni Mayzer, Kevin Romig, Douglas Munski

The Geographical Bulletin

In the last decade, the methamphetamine situation has become critical in North Dakota, which has the third-highest rate of clandestine meth lab seizures in the country. This study addresses two questions: 1) What is the spatial pattern of meth–related arrests in North Dakota? and 2) What geographic factors account for the increased prevalence of meth use and production in the state? This study employs GIS overlay and multiple regression analysis to determine the spatiality of the phenomenon. The findings reveal that meth-related arrests tend to take place in the more urban southeast and central counties while meth lab seizures tend …

Navigating Entry: The Role Of Exposure And Career Fit Negotiation In Women’S Pathways To Policing In The United States, Samantha S. Clinkinbeard, Rachael Rief, Trisha Rhodes, Lexi Goodijohn

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Women’s engagement in policing in the United States and other countries has not reached its potential. We interviewed 47 women in law enforcement to learn about their pathways into policing. Two primary themes emerged: career discovery through exposure and negotiating career fit. Exposure through interactions with role models, hands-on experiences, and media portrayals, provided a peek into policing. The assessment and negotiation of career “fit” in our study was an ongoing, dynamic process. As participants faced questions about their own characteristics, values, and belonging, exposure in the form of role models and experiences helped them navigate career fit concerns. Implications …

Participatory Community Action Research In Homeless Shelters: Withstanding The Pandemic And Flourishing Beyond It With New Interventions, Kathryn E. Hurley, Roger N. Reeb, Sarah M. Clark, Tia N. Turner, Greg Elvers

Research and Reflection on Learning and Teaching in Higher Education

This article tells the story of a long-term (12-year-old) and ongoing participatory community action research in homeless shelters – the Behavioral Activation Research Project in Homeless Shelters (the project), which represents a long-term collaboration between Roger N. Reeb, PhD (Professor of Psychology) and St. Vincent de Paul (Dayton, Ohio). The first section of this article provides a grand overall description of the project, summarizes past research, and explains how we sustained the project during the COVID-19 pandemic. To demonstrate the project’s ongoing nature, the second section reports an honors thesis completed within the context of the project, accompanied by a …

Lanthorn, Vol. 59, No. 05, October 7, 2024, Grand Valley State University

Volume 59, August 5, 2024 – April 14, 2025

Lanthorn is Grand Valley State's student newspaper, published from 1968 to the present.