Digital Commons Network^™

Exploring The Social Integration Of Sexual Minority Youth Across High School Contexts, Alexa Martin-Storey, Jacob E. Cheadle, Julie Skalamera, Robert Crosnoe

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Mental health disparities between sexual minority and other youth have been theorized to result in part from the effects of the stigmatization on social integration. Stochastic actor-based modeling was applied to complete network data from two high schools in the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (mean age =15 years, n=2,533). Same-sex attracted youth were socially marginalized in a smaller predominantly White school but not in a larger, more racially diverse school. For both schools, homophily was a critical network feature, and could represent social support for and social segregation of such youth. These findings emphasize school context in studying …

Understanding The Psychology Of Bullying: Moving Toward A Social-Ecological Diathesis–Stress Model, Susan M. Swearer, Shelley Hymel

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

With growing recognition that bullying is a complex phenomenon, influenced by multiple factors, research findings to date have been understood within a social-ecological framework. Consistent with this model, we review research on the known correlates and contributing factors in bullying/victimization within the individual, family, peer group, school and community. Recognizing the fluid and dynamic nature of involvement in bullying, we then expand on this model and consider research on the consequences of bullying involvement, as either victim or bully or both, and propose a social-ecological, diathesis– stress model for understanding the bullying dynamic and its impact. Specifically, we frame involvement …

A Legal And Policy Argument For Bail Denial And Preventative Treatment For Batterers In The United States, Dawn Beichner, Robbin Ogle, Anne Garner, Daniel Anderson

Women's and Gender Studies Program: Faculty Publications

Historically, battering has been a culturally and legally acceptable form of social control within the United States. This article provides an examination of how this legacy of social acceptance has influenced the development of laws and social policies related to battering. We provide a critique of our current approach to battering and our historical reliance on private or social helping agencies intended to hide and protect victims. We call for a transformation of our current policies that provides for the removal of the batterer—not the victim and her children—from the family home through a process of bail denial and preventative …

Can You Help Me? What A Midwest Land Grant University Is Doing To Help Formerly Incarcerated Students In Higher Education, Terrence S. Mctier Jr.

Department of Educational Administration: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Formerly Incarcerated Students (FIS) can be found enrolling in colleges and universities across the United States. When looking at the lack of support and resources available for FIS (who are currently enrolled at a collegiate institution) in higher education, a growing number of researchers identify the transitional experience as problematic for individuals with a criminal background. Although there is recognition of problematic issues for enrolling ex-offenders at any given institution because of safety concerns, lack of knowledge, and concerns of recidivism, one major problem still persists, and that is the lack of resources that are available in higher education. This …

Oprm1 Rs1799971 Genotype Predicts Drinking Behavior In Males, But Not Females, Sarah Hughes Berheim, Carmen Ochoa, Grace Sullivan, Scott F. Stoltenberg

UCARE: Research Products

• The prevalence of alcohol disorders costs Americans $223.5 billion yearly due mostly from losses in workplace productivity, as well as health care and criminal justice expenses (CDC, 2016).

• Maximum number of drinks consumed in a 24 hour period is a valid indicator of dangerous drinking behavior and may reflect an increased tolerance for high levels of alcohol (Edenberg, 2016).

• Awareness of factors related to such heavy drinking is important for targeting interventions for dangerous alcohol use.

• Men drink significantly more than women, with about 4.5% of men and 2.5% of women meeting the diagnostic criteria for …

From Burlesque To Grand Theft Auto: An Historical Analysis Of The Treatment Of The Media-Crime Relationship In Criminology Texts, Lisa Kort-Butler, Michael Killingsworth

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

The degree to which criminological scholarship on the mediacrime relationship has been subject to the tides of moral panics is not well-understood, although there are theoretical reasons to hypothesize about the role of scientists in moral panics. Textbooks are one location in which a discipline chronicles its scholarly history and speaks to the public, making texts an important site for understanding how scholars interpret the media-crime relationship. A content analysis of over 200 criminology texts, ranging in publication dates from 1880 to 2012, was conducted. Almost half the texts covered the media-crime relationship. These texts often appeared to be responding …

2015 Annual Campus Security And Fire Safety Report, University Of Nebraska-Lincoln, University Police, University Of Nebraska-Lincoln

University of Nebraska-Lincoln, University Police

2015 Annual Campus Security and Fire Safety Report, University of Nebraska-Lincoln

Safety and security information for the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, including crime and fire statistics for the 2014 calendar year, and the information required by the Drug-Free Schools and Communities Act of 1989. All data are submitted to the United States Department of Education according to law.

Challenging The Political Assumption That “Guns Don’T Kill People, Crazy People Kill People!”, Heath J. Hodges, Mario Scalora

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Every time an infamous mass shooting takes place, a storm of rhetoric sweeps across this country with the fury of a wild fire. “Why are we letting these people carry guns?” “Why were they not hospitalized?” “The government needs to crack down on this issue!” What is the government’s response to these cries of concern? Politicians and the media attempt to ease public fears by drawing tenuous connections among a handful of poorly understood tragedies. The salient commonality is that these high-profile shooters had some history of mental illness. A cursory review of the Internet will paint a troubling picture …

Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey (Nasis) 2014-2015 Methodology Report,, Bureau Of Sociological Research

Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey (NASIS)

Bureau of Sociological Research 2014-2015 NASIS Methodology Report 2

Contents

Introduction 3

Mode Selection 3

Design and Item Selection 3

Sampling Design 4

Experimental Design Treatment 4

Data Collection Process 4

Response Rate 5

Data-Entry Training, Supervision, and Quality Control 5

Processing of Completed Surveys 5

Data Cleaning 5

NASIS Sample Weights 6

Design Effects 6

Questions 6

Estimate of Sampling Error 9

Appendices 10

Appendix A: Cover Letters 10

First Mailing Cover Letter 10

Second Mailing Cover Letter 11

Appendix B: Survey Instrument (printed in black & white only) 12

Appendix C: Future Interest Research Form 24

Appendix D: …

Nasis 2015: Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey Questionnaire, Bureau Of Sociological Research

Nebraska Annual Social Indicators Survey (NASIS)

We need your help to learn about how Nebraskans think, feel, and live. Researchers from the University of Nebraska and across the state are counting on your help to learn about a variety of issues. Your responses will help shape program and policy development in Nebraska now and into the future.

108 questions; 12 pages

Citations And Convictions: One Community’S Coordinated Response To Intimate Partner Violence & Efforts Toward Offender Accountability, Kerry Beldin, Allison Lauritsen, Henry J. Dsouza, Bob Moyer

United States Public Health Resources

In 1996, a coordinated community response (CCR) was formally established in a mid-sized Midwestern city to improve the criminal justice response to intimate partner violence (IPV). Data for this study included all IPV-related incidents to which the local police department responded since the establishment of the CCR for a fourteen year period. Effective CCRs provide for IPV offender accountability through citation and prosecution of IPV-related crimes. Concerns about demographic variables affecting citation and prosecution rates have been identified in the literature. Compared to national statistics, gender differences were consistent but higher citation and conviction rates were identified in this community. …

Occupying The Constitutional Right To Housing, Lisa T. Alexander

Nebraska Law Review

The United States does not recognize a formal legal right to housing. Yet the right to housing is alive in America. Using qualitative interviews and case studies, this Article is the first to argue that recent American housing rights movements, such as the Occupy Movements, Take Back the Land movements, and Home Defenders’ League, give legal meaning to an American constitutional right to housing. These social movements represent the right to housing in American law when they occupy and retain vacant and real estate–owned homes, defend home owners and renters from illegal evictions and foreclosures, encourage municipalities to use eminent …

Implicit Bias And The American Juror, Jennifer K. Elek, Paula Hannaford-Agor

Court Review: Journal of the American Judges Association

On August 9, 2014, white police officer Darren Wilson shot an unarmed black civilian named Michael Brown. In the wake of the extensive media coverage and public scrutiny that followed, the tragic incident triggered a federal civil-rights investigation and renewed a broader national dialogue about the perception of black males as inherently dangerous, threatening, or criminal—and the role of those perceptions in perpetuating racial inequality in the United States.1 A grand jury decision not to indict Wilson on murder charges elicited highly polarized reactions from the general public, which ranged from wholehearted support for Officer Wilson to further accusations of …

Miranda Rights And Wrongs: Matters Of Justice, Richard Rogers, Eric Y. Drogin

Court Review: Journal of the American Judges Association

Judges are likely to respond with outright skepticism when the validity of a Miranda waiver is questioned because the defendant claimed to be merely “depressed” or “anxious” at the time of arrest. They may be reassured that extensive research on Miranda abilities has largely borne out this perspective.

Symptoms of depression and anxiety, by themselves, do not increase the chances of impaired Miranda comprehension or reasoning. For instance, defendants with even moderate to severe depression have roughly the same odds of impaired functioning as those with negligible depression. Only at the extreme levels of depression does a pattern of deficits …

What’S (Who You) Love Got To Do With It?* Should Sexual Orientation Be A Permissible Basis For Peremptory Challenges?, Colin P. Saltry

Court Review: Journal of the American Judges Association

Friday mornings in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas are unofficially designated as civil-jury days. The vast majority of jury panels leaving the Juanita Kidd Stout Center for Criminal Justice and heading over to City Hall on Friday mornings are listed for civil cases—anything from motor-vehicle accidents and contract disputes to complex medical-malpractice and products-liability cases. These panelists—not always bright-eyed and bushy-tailed, though more often than not awake and attentive—are Philadelphians of all stripes. They come from all corners of the city and are, for the most part, pleasant folks. My job as judge’s tipstaff1 is to work with these …

The Resource Page (2015) 51 Page 128

Court Review: Journal of the American Judges Association

Since January 2014, the website ProceduralFairness.org has been posting quarterly summaries of new research. The website was created in 2012 to provide background information about how to improve procedural fairness in courts and policing. The quarterly research reports make it easy for those who want to follow developments in this area to find descriptions of all the latest research in one place. In many cases, the report even links to the full-text articles.

These quarterly summaries are prepared by Justine Greve, M.A., a staff member with the Kansas Court of Appeals, and Shelley Spacek Miller, J.D., a staff member with …

The Impact Of Forensic Vs. Social-Science Evidence On Judicial Decisions To Grant A Writ Of Habeas Corpus, Hayley J. Wechsler, Robert J. Cramer, Andre Kehn, Robin E. Wosje, Marcus T. Boccaccini, Jorge G. Varela

Court Review: Journal of the American Judges Association

Wrongful conviction is a serious dilemma for the criminal-justice system. A joint investigation by the Better Government Association and the Center on Wrongful Convictions tracked exonerations from 1989 through 2010 and identified 85 people who were wrongfully incarcerated.1 Not only were those 85 lives unfairly affected in serious ways due to the incarceration, but the actual perpetrators continued on crime sprees that went on to include 14 murders, 11 sexual assaults, 10 kidnappings, and at least 62 other felonies.2

The reversal of false convictions is becoming more frequent.3 However, scholars have asserted that the exonerations that do occur are probably …

The Historical Case For Abandoning Strickland, Brian R. Gallini

Nebraska Law Review

I. Introduction

II. The Strange Right-to-Counsel Journey ... A. The Journey to Strickland ... B. Defining Who Is “Effective” Counsel

III. Strickland’s Untold Story ... A. Part V’s Analytical Fallacies ... 1. Tunkey’s Suppression Motions, Sentencing Memorandum, and Performance at Sentencing ... 2. Character Evidence, Psychological Evidence, and Giving Up on David Washington ... 3. Washington’s “Rap Sheet” ... B. The Disutility of Part V ... C. Justice O’Connor’s Private and Unspoken War

IV. Conclusion

The Influence Of A Juvenile’S Abuse History On Support For Sex Offender Registration, Margaret C. Stevenson, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Jessica M. Salerno, Tisha R.A. Wiley, Bette L. Bottoms, Katlyn S. Farnum

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

We investigated whether and how a juvenile’s history of experiencing sexual abuse affects public perceptions of juvenile sex offenders in a series of 5 studies. When asked about juvenile sex offenders in an abstract manner (Studies 1 and 2), the more participants (community members and undergraduates) believed that a history of being sexually abused as a child causes later sexually abusive behavior, the less likely they were to support sex offender registration for juveniles. Yet when participants considered specific sexual offenses, a juvenile’s history of sexual abuse was not considered to be a mitigating factor. This was true when participants …

J.P. Ex Rel. A.P. V. Millard Public Schools: A Limit On School Authority And What It Means For Students’ Fourth Amendment Rights In Nebraska, Brian J. Fahey

Nebraska Law Review

I. Introduction

II. Background ... A. Fourth Amendment Jurisprudence ... B. New Jersey v. T.L.O. and the Fourth Amendment in Public Schools ... C. J.P. ex rel. A.P. v. Millard Public Schools

III. Analysis ... A. Students’ Fourth Amendment Rights after T.L.O. … B. J. P. ex rel. A.P. v. Millard Public Schools ... 1. Section 79-267 of the Nebraska Revised Statutes and the Rejection of the “Nexus to the School” Analysis ... 2. Undesirable Outcomes ... C. Impact of the Court’s Decision ... 1. School-Sponsored Activities ... 2. The Court’s Interpretation of Reasonable Suspicion ... 3. Halting the “Parade …

A Fair Competition Theory Of The Civil False Claims Act, David Kwok

Nebraska Law Review

Whistleblowers are helping to recover more than $5 billion a year for fraud against the federal government, but reliance on whistleblowers and prosecutorial discretion raises problems when fraud allegations stem from undisclosed regulatory violations. Courts have created a series of opaque, formalistic “false certification” doctrines that provide little principled guidance as to why, for example, knowingly naming the wrong physician supervisor does not constitute Medicare fraud under the False Claims Act, but naming the wrong physician provider does constitute fraud. I suggest that the principle of fair competition can distinguish between regulatory violations that should result in civil liability and …

Tiers 1, 2 & 3 Intervention: Punishment, Ana Cathcart, Reece L. Peterson, Shir Palmon

Department of Special Education and Communication Disorders: Faculty Publications

Conclusion

Punishment in school settings has several possible meanings. It can be viewed as retribution for misbehavior, as a behavioral intervention strategy, or as a part of a restorative plan. Punishment can be used effectively, particularly for behaviors that are dangerous or need speedy remediation. However, punishment can have several negative side effects associated with its use including ethical issues, emotional responses by the student, escape and avoidance, misuse and over use by the adult, and undesirable modeling by the adult. There are better options for changing behaviors that are more effective and less harmful to the child. Using punishment …

Predictors Of Police Reporting Among Hispanic Immigrant Victims Of Violence, Dane Hautala, Kirk Dombrowski, Anthony Marcus

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study was to examine predictors of police reporting among Hispanic immigrant victims of violence. A sample of 127 Hispanic immigrants was generated through a chain-referral procedure in the city of Hempstead, New York. Participants were asked about their most recent victimization experiences, and detailed information was collected on up to three incidents. The analyses were based on a total of 214 separate victimization incidents, one third of which were reported to the police. Logistic regression analyses indicated that serious injury, multiple-victim incidents, and perceptions of discrimination increase the odds of a police report. Moreover, incidents involving …

The Influence Of High School Activity Portfolios On Risky Behaviors In Emerging Adulthood, Lisa A. Kort-Butler, David D. Martin

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Extracurricular participation in adolescence is often linked to the development of a prosocial identity and social relationships. Through these social psychological mechanisms, participation is thought to prevent risky behavior in adolescence and into emerging adulthood. This study examined the relationship between high school activity portfolios and risky behaviors (i.e. binge drinking, drug use, and law violation) among a college sample. Five activity portfolios were identified, including sports-focused, low involvement, highly engaged, and two combination portfolios. There were significant differences between portfolios on social psychological measures (e.g. prosocial beliefs and social responsibility), current extracurricular involvement, and risky behaviors. Regression models indicated …

The Impact Of Ethnicity, Immigration Status, And Socioeconomic Status On Juror Decision Making, Russ K.E. Espinoza, Cynthia Willis-Esqueda, Suzette Toascano, Jennifer Coons

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The purpose of this research was to examine how ethnicity, immigration status, and socioeconomic status (SES) may contribute to juror bias. A total of 320 Euro-American venire persons were as- signed to 1 of 8 criminal court trial transcript conditions that varied defendant ethnicity (Mexican or Canadian), immigrant status (undocumented or documented), and SES (low or high). Dependent measures were verdict, sentencing, culpability, and trait attributions. Results indicated that the low-SES undocumented Mexican defendant was found guilty more often, given a more severe sentence, thought to be more culpable, and rated lower on a number of trait measures compared with …

Teachers Matter: An Examination Of Student-Teacher Relationships, Attitudes Toward Bullying, And Bullying Behavior, Cixin Wang, Susan M. Swearer, Paige T. Lembeck, Adam Collins, Brandi Berry

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

This study investigated the influence of student-teacher relationships and attitudes toward bullying on middle school students’ bullying behaviors. Gender and grade differences were also examined. Data were collected from 435 middle school students. Results indicated that students’ attitudes toward bullying mediated the relationship between student-teacher relationships and physical and verbal/relational bullying. There was a significant group difference on student-teacher relationships and attitudes toward bullying between bully, bully-victim, victim, and bystander groups and students not involved in bullying. In addition, sixth graders reported significantly more positive student-teacher relationships than seventh and eighth graders. Implications for the role of both cognitive and …

The Impact Of Criminalization Of Stalking On Italian Students: Adherence To Stalking Myths, Laura De Fazio, Chiara Sgarbi, Julia Moore, Brian H. Spitzberg

Department of Communication Studies: Faculty Publications

Although behaviors that we today identify as stalking have occurred throughout history, the recognition and systematic investigation of stalking are quite recent. Italy’s antistalking law is fairly new, and factors such as cultural myths, stereotypical beliefs, and definitional ambiguities continue to cause problems in the interpretation and recognition of stalking among the general public. This study examined perceptions and attitudes of 2 groups of Italian criminology students at 2 different times, before and after the implementation of Italy’s 2009 antistalking law. The Stalking Attitudes Questionnaire (McKeon, Ogloff, & Mullen, 2009) was administered to samples in 2007 and 2010. Results revealed …

Violence Against Women Through The Lens Of Objectification Theory, M. Meghan Davidson, Sarah Gervais

Department of Educational Psychology: Faculty Publications

The purpose of this research was to examine the effects of violence on body image variables for college women. Undergraduate women participated in an online study assessing sexual violence (SV), intimate partner violence (IPV), self-objectification, body surveillance, and body shame experiences. Findings suggest that both SV and IPV contribute to women’s body shame. In addition, the associations between IPV and body shame appear to be explained through self-objectification processes, but not the associations between SV and body shame. Thus, important differences between IPV and SV regarding self-objectification processes emerged. Theoretical and practical implications, as well as directions for future research, …

Determinants Of Rural Latino Trust In The Federal Government, Nathan Munier, Julia Albarracin, Keith Boeckelman

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

Trust in government is essential to democratic practice. This article analyzed the factors shaping trust in the federal government using a survey of 260 Mexican immigrants living in rural Illinois and in-depth interviews with 32 participants. To analyze these data, we drew a distinction between support for the regime (system of government that is relatively stable in a political system) and support for authorities (those who temporarily occupy positions of power) to test whether regime or authorities’ considerations shaped respondents’ political trust. The results showed that both considerations influenced trust in the federal government. We also found that a perception …

Hiv/Aids In Puerto Rican People Who Inject Drugs: Policy Considerations, Luz M. López, Lisa De Saxe Zerden, Philippe Bourgois, Helena Hansen, Roberto Abadie, Kirk Dombrowski, Ric Curtis

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

We commend the important work of Deren et al. that underscores the high rates of HIV among Puerto Rican people who inject drugs (PRPWID) and highlights the health, social, and service disparities between Puerto Rico and the Northeast US region. As articulated in their article, HIV/AIDS risk and substance use are not individual problems with individual consequences—the epidemic impacts community and culture, across borders and boundaries. In addition to service disparities, various socioeconomic contextual factors are associated with and may exacerbate the spread of HIV/AIDS in PRPWID, including limited educational and employment opportunities, poverty, and political disenfranchisement. Efforts to reduce …