Digital Commons Network^™

Examining The Association Between Massage Parlors And Neighborhood Crime, Jessica Huff, Danielle Wallace, Courtney Riggs, Charles M. Katz, David Choate

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Although massage parlors have been associated with illicit activities including prostitution, less is known about their association with neighborhood crime. Employing the Computer Automated Dispatch/Record Management System (CAD/RMS), online user review, licensing, Census, and zoning data, we examine the impact of massage parlors on crime in their surrounding neighborhoods. Using spatial autoregressive models, our results indicate the total number of massage parlors was associated with increased social disorder. The presence of illicit massage parlors in adjacent neighborhoods was associated with crime and physical disorder in the focal neighborhoods. This study has consequences for how police address crime associated with massage …

Understanding Police Officer Resistance To Body-Worn Cameras, Jessica Huff, Charles M. Katz, Vincent J. Webb

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Purpose

Body-worn cameras (BWCs) have been adopted in police agencies across the USA in efforts to increase police transparency and accountability. This widespread implementation has occurred despite some notable resistance to BWCs from police officers in some jurisdictions. This resistance poses a threat to the appropriate implementation of this technology and adherence to BWC policies. The purpose of this paper is to examine factors that could explain variation in officer receptivity to BWCs.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors assess differences between officers who volunteered to wear a BWC and officers who resisted wearing a BWC as part of a larger randomized controlled …

Vocational And Life Skills Monthly Data Update: July 2018, Uno Nebraska Center For Justice Research, Katelynn Towne, Michael Campagna

Reports

Grantees use an online data management system to submit data on participants served under their Vocational and Life Skills programming. This data is due monthly and reflects all services provided during the previous month to participants. Evaluators at the Nebraska Center for Justice Research work with grantees directly to manage data entry errors on an ongoing basis during monthly update calls and regular site visits.

This data comes from an active database with live data being entered and updated daily. Data, including previously submitted information, may fluctuate depending on changes made from data entry oversight. One common example of this …

Risk Factor Profile Of Youth Incarcerated For Child To Parent Violence: A Nationally Representative Sample, Gaylene Armstrong, Calli Cain, Lindsey Wylie, Lisa Muftic, Leana A. Bouffard

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Purpose

Intra-familial violence occurs in many forms yet few researchers examine child to parent violence (CPV), which occurs in almost 20% of single parent homes. Studies have neither developed a risk factor profile for youth involved in the most severe cases of CPV resulting in incarceration, nor included a comparison of gender-specific correlates.

Methods

Data from the Survey of Youth in Residential Placement (SYRP) 2003, a large-scale, nationally representative sample of justice-involved youth between the ages of 10 and 20 who were survey using a multi-stage cluster sampling procedure is utilized.

Results

Youth incarcerated for CPV are typically white and …

Organizational Correlates Of Police Deviance: A Statewide Analysis Of Misconduct In Arizona, 2000-2011, Jessica Huff, Michael D. White, Scott H. Decker

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Purpose

Many examinations of police misconduct involve case study methodologies applied to a single agency, or a handful of agencies. Consequently, there is little evidence regarding the types of misconduct across agencies, or the impact of department-level characteristics on the nature and prevalence of officer deviance. The purpose of this paper is to address this research gap using statewide data of over 1,500 charges of police misconduct filed with the Arizona Peace Officer Standards and Training Board (AZPOST) from 2000 to 2011.

Design/methodology/approach

This study examines variation in the prevalence and forms of misconduct across 100+ agencies based on agency …

Programming In Restrictive Housing: Considerations For Improving Outcome Evaluations, H. Daniel Butler, Starr Solomon, Ryan E. Spohn

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

A number of studies have identified “what works” in regard to the successful implementation of correctional programming over the past several decades. Few studies, however, have examined the complexities associated with programming in restrictive housing. Using data from a Midwestern department of corrections, we examined whether the provision of programming in restrictive housing achieved desired outcomes (e.g., reductions in inmate misconduct). The findings revealed the amount of time served in restrictive housing and confinement in different types of restrictive housing may influence estimations of a treatment effect. As a growing number of states seek to reform the use of restrictive …

Vocational And Life Skills Quarterly Report: Quarter 8 (April-June 2018), Uno Nebraska Center For Justice Research, Michael Campagna, Katelynn Towne

Reports

The Vocational and Life Skills Program (VLS) was created by Nebraska Legislative Bill 907 in 2014 with the goals of reducing recidivism and increasing employment for individuals who are incarcerated, have been incarcerated within the prior 18 months, or are under Parole or Probation supervision. Eight programs were funded in Grant Cycle 2, which ran from July 2016-June 2018. The Nebraska Center for Justice Research (NCJR) evaluation was initiated in May 2016 with the primary goal of identifying types of programming and services that best serve the population by reducing recidivism and increasing employment. NCJR provided support to grantees through …

Vocational And Life Skills Monthly Data Update: June 2018, Uno Nebraska Center For Justice Research, Johanna Peterson

Reports

Grantees use an online data management system to submit data on participants served under their Vocational and Life Skills programming. This data is due monthly and reflects all services provided during the previous month to participants. Evaluators at the Nebraska Center for Justice Research work with grantees directly to manage data entry errors on an ongoing basis during monthly update calls and regular site visits. This data comes from an active database with live data being entered and updated daily.

Data, including previously submitted information, may fluctuate depending on changes made from data entry oversight. One common example of this …

The Role Of Police Officer Race/Ethnicity On Crime Rates In Immigrant Communities, Joselyne Chenane, Emily M. Wright

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Few studies have examined the role of city police officer racial/ethnic representation on violent crime in immigrant neighborhoods. Yet police officer race/ethnicity might play a significant role in bolstering or weakening the relationship between immigration and violent crime rates. Researchers have posited that increasing the representation of minority officer would be an important avenue for making police departments more accountable to the communities they serve. The current study contributes to existing research by using national (i.e., 89 cities and 8,980 neighborhoods) data on violent crime from large U.S. cities. We examine the relationship between immigration, violent crime rates, and minority …

Disentangling The Relationship Between Social Ties, Prison Visitation, And Recidivism, Cassandra A. Atkin-Plunk, Gaylene Armstrong

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Studies find inmates who receive visits while incarcerated are less likely to recidivate upon release, especially when visits are from spouses and occur frequently throughout incarceration. Absent from these studies is measurement of the quality of an inmate’s relationships prior to incarceration, which may play a more significant role in criminal desistance than visitation itself. Longitudinal data from 205 incarcerated male and female adult offenders were used to test the mediating effects of visitation for offenders with varying levels of preincarceration relationships on recidivism. Findings indicate that quality of an inmate’s preincarceration relationships is more important in reducing the odds …

Teenage Dating Violence: Perceptions Of Need, Priority, And Prevention Responsibility Among Schools In Predominantly Mexican Heritage Communities, Lela Rankin Williams, Heidi Adams Rueda

Social Work Faculty Publications

Teen dating violence (TDV) affects adolescents’ overall wellness, subsequent social–emotional and academic development, and future success. The extent to which high schools recognize the importance of TDV prevention, and their accountability to prevent or reduce its occurrence, is largely unknown. Recently, there has been increased legislative debate urging or requiring school boards to include TDV prevention strategies in their curriculum. The purpose of this study was to understand how high school personnel from three large schools, of predominantly Mexican heritage urban communities, perceive their role to intervene and prevent TDV. The authors conducted five focus groups (N = 26). …

The Other Side Of The Coin: Exploring The Effects Of Adolescent Delinquency On Young Adult Self-Control, Samantha S. Clinkinbeard, Tim Barnum, Trisha Rhodes

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Purpose

Although there is robust support for low self-control as a predictor of delinquent behavior, the question of whether delinquent behavior impacts self-control has been largely ignored. We ask, after accounting for baseline group differences in impulsivity and self-control, can delinquency be associated with later group differences in self-control?

Methods

Utilizing data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health we employed propensity score matching to create comparable groups (i.e., on self-control and other delinquency correlates) of youth who did and did not participate in delinquent behavior in adolescence and compared them on self-control and impulsivity in …

Testing A Social Schematic Model Of Police Procedural Justice, Justin T. Pickett, Justin Nix

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Procedural justice theory increasingly guides policing reforms in the United States and abroad. Yet the primary sources of perceived police procedural justice are still unclear. Building on social schema research, we posit civilians’ perceptions of police procedural justice only partly reflect their personal and vicarious experiences with officers. We theorize perceptions of the police are anchored in a broader “relational justice schema,” composed of views about how respectful, fair, and unbiased most people are in their dealings with others. Individuals’ experiences with certain nonlegal actors and neighborhood environments should directly affect their relational justice schema and indirectly affect their evaluation …

Examining The Gendered Effects Of Prior Victimization On Delinquency Type Among Justice-Involved Youth, Calli M. Cain

Criminology and Criminal Justice Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the manner in which different types of prior victimization affect juveniles’ offense type. There is a strong relationship between victimization and offending, meaning that victims are more likely to be offenders and offenders are more likely to be victims, but the exact nature of this relationship remains imprecise. Youth with a history of victimization have an increased risk of delinquency and justice system involvement during adolescence and adulthood. Additionally, a majority of incarcerated youth report having experienced at least one type of victimization before their system involvement and youths’ victimization experiences tend …

Vocational And Life Skills Monthly Data Update: May 2018, Uno Nebraska Center For Justice Research, Johanna Peterson

Reports

Grantees use an online data management system to submit data on participants served under their Vocational and Life Skills programming. This data is due monthly and reflects all services provided during the previous month to participants. Evaluators at the Nebraska Center for Justice Research work with grantees directly to manage data entry errors on an ongoing basis during monthly update calls and regular site visits. This data comes from an active database with live data being entered and updated daily.

Data, including previously submitted information, may fluctuate depending on changes made from data entry oversight. One common example of this …

Nebraska Vocational And Life Skills Initiative Client Perceptions Of Program Services And Ability To Reintegrate: A Qualitative Analysis Of Grant Cycle 1 Participant Interviews, Nebraska Center For Justice Research, University Of Nebraska At Omaha, Don L. Kurtz, Ryan E. Spohn, Johanna C. Peterson

Reports

This report provides a detailed analysis of client perceptions of services they received as part of the Vocational and Life Skills (VLS) first grant cycle. Approximately 2500 participants received services as part of the first grant cycle of the Life Skills Program created in 2014 by Nebraska Legislative Bill 907. VLS programming focused on reentry of individuals currently incarcerated, recently released from one of the ten Nebraska correctional facilities, or clients supervised in the community via probation or parole. VLS services included a range of job readiness, educational, and career trainings as well as and a number of mental health, …

A Multiple Case Study Of Long-Term Success For At-Risk High School Students, Emily Dupree Christensen

Student Work

As a qualitative, multiple case study this research reports on the factors that young adults, in their early to mid-twenties, reflect upon as contributing factors they encountered during their high school and late adolescent years that lead them to or away from success. Individual stories and experiences defined factors that lead to success while aided to gain an understanding of individual perceptions of attaining success. The researcher used emerging themes from each story to find the commonalities that lead to long-term success of at-risk youth and then made recommendations to the field of education by redrawing the notion of supporting …

The Representation Of Female Victims In Front-Page News Stories: The Effect Of Race/Ethnicity, Danielle C. Slakoff

Student Work

My dissertation examines how white, black, and Latina female victims are differentially portrayed in front-page newspaper stories. I hypothesized there would be differences across the three groups in 1) the total number of front-page stories, 2) coverage intensity and use of photographs, 3) presence of unsympathetic and sympathetic themes in newspaper stories, and 4) overall story narratives. To test my expectations, I examined front-page newspaper stories about female victims from seven widely-circulated U.S. newspapers from the calendar year 2006 with a mixed-methods approach. I found more front-page stories about white female victims than black and Latina female victims. In addition, …

Patriarchy And The Structure Of Employment In Criminal Justice: Differences In The Experiences Of Men And Women Working In The Legal Profession, Corrections, And Law Enforcement, Candice Batton, Emily M. Wright

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Feminist scholars have long argued that patriarchy affects the structure and organization of society as well as the lived experiences of men and women. Although often referenced in discussions of gender differences in crime and justice, few have articulated more specifically the link between patriarchy and gender differences in the experiences of men and women as victims, offenders, or workers. We take up the challenge to theorize patriarchy and examine the extent to which it operates as an organizing principle with regard to employment in the criminal justice system. We consider differences in the representation of men and women working …

Management-Level Officers’ Experiences With The Ferguson Effect, Justin Nix, Scott E. Wolfe

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine the factors associated with management-level officers’ sensitivity to various manifestations of the “Ferguson effect.”

Design/methodology/approach

A survey was administered to police officers attending an advanced training institute in the Southeastern USA in the fall of 2015. Specifically, a series of items first inquired about negative attitudes attributable to deadly force incidents throughout the country, followed by items tapping into theoretically relevant concepts including self-legitimacy, audience legitimacy, and peer attachment.

Findings

Findings suggest that like line-level officers, police managers may also harbor various attitudes attributable to a Ferguson effect – including less …

External Funding Bulletin, January - June 2018, Uno Office Of Research And Creative Activity

Sponsored Programs Bulletins

This bulletin features recent award recipients.

Vocational And Life Skills Monthly Data Update: April 2018, Uno Nebraska Center For Justice Research, Johanna Peterson

Reports

Grantees use an online data management system to submit data on participants served under their Vocational and Life Skills programming. This data is due monthly and reflects all services provided during the previous month to participants. Evaluators at the Nebraska Center for Justice Research work with grantees directly to correct any data errors on an ongoing basis during monthly update calls and regular site visits. Data presented below is from the most recent monthly data extract. Because this data comes for an active database with live data being entered and updated daily, data, including previously submitted information, may fluctuate depending …

Fear Of Victimization Among Incarcerated Youths: Examining The Effects Of Institutional “Neighborhood” Characteristics And Gang Membership, Jodi Lane, Gaylene Armstrong, Kathleen A. Fox

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

This study examines whether neighborhood factors found to predict fear of crime among the general population can be adapted to explain inmate fear of victimization inside juvenile correctional institutions. We test (a) whether institutional physical disorder, resident trust, and formal social control can predict fear of victimization, and (b) whether the importance of these factors for fear of victimization varies based on preincarceration street gang status. Using data from a large national sample of incarcerated youths, findings indicate non-gang members are more afraid of institutional victimization than gang members, confirming findings about levels of fear between these groups on the …

Vocational And Life Skills Quarterly Report - Grant Cycle 2, Quarter 6, Uno Nebraska Center For Justice Research, Grace Sankey-Berman

Reports

The vocational and life skills grants were awarded in June and programs could begin program design and hiring, effective July 1, 2016.

During the 6th Quarter of grant cycle 2 the Vocational and Life Skills program attracted some attention from the media about the great work being done by some of our grantees.

In December Channel 8 News in Lincoln ran a story on Mental Health Association titled: Prisoners Get A Second Chance At Life http://www.klkntv.com/story/37010828/prisoners-get-second-chance-at-life

Creativity In Two Types Of Violent Groups, Laramie Sproles

UNO Student Research and Creative Activity Fair

Terrorism can be defined as a type of ideologically motivated violence that arises during asymmetrical conflict and has far-reaching psychological effects beyond the immediate target. This project seeks to isolate and examine one element of terrorism: ideologically-motivated violence. While malevolent innovation has been written about extensively over the past five years, little is known about correlates of creativity in actual violent individuals. At the broadest level, the current project focuses on personality profiles and creative problem solving of two different types of violent individuals. The goal of this study is to examine individual differences that characterize two types of violent …

Vocational And Life Skills Quarterly Report: Quarter 7 (January-March 2018), Uno Nebraska Center For Justice Research, Johanna Peterson

Reports

The Vocational and Life Skills Program was created by Nebraska Legislative Bill 907 in 2014 with the goals of reducing recidivism and increasing employment for individuals who are incarcerated, who have been incarcerated within the prior 18 months or who are under parole or probation supervision. Participants must begin programming under these conditions, but they may continue programming as the program sees fit for his or her individual needs. Eight programs were funded in Grant Cycle 2, which runs from July 2016-June 2018. The Nebraska Center for Justice Research (NCJR) evaluation was initiated in May 2016 with the primary goal …

Vocational And Life Skills Monthly Data Update: March 2018, Uno Nebraska Center For Justice Research, Johanna Peterson

Reports

Grantees use an online data management system to submit data on participants served under their Vocational and Life Skills programming. This data is due monthly and reflects all services provided during the previous month to participants. Evaluators at the Nebraska Center for Justice Research work with grantees directly to correct any data errors on an ongoing basis during monthly update calls and regular site visits.

Data presented below is from the most recent monthly data extract. Because this data comes for an active database with live data being entered and updated daily, data, including previously submitted information, may fluctuate depending …

Vocational And Life Skills Program Area Descriptions And Program Success Overview, Uno Nebraska Center For Justice Research, Johanna Peterson

Reports

The following program area descriptions provide information on different services offered in each program. Each area details the services provided, the benefit or result a participant can hope to get from completing the area, the duration of programming, and the locations the program area is offered. Not all program areas or services are offered at all times and participants may not participate in all program areas during their programming. As each participant goes through programming differently based on their individual needs, these descriptions provide more insight into the program area participations reported. Program areas are updated quarterly to reflect what …

Adt Final Report: Alternatives To Detention, Douglas County, Center For Applied Psychological Services, University Of Nebraska At Omaha, Madison Schoenbeck, Joseph Mroz, Joseph Allen, Roni Reiter-Palmon, Ryan E. Spohn

Reports

About the Report The authors of this report are Madison Schoenbeck, Joseph Mroz, Dr. Joseph Allen, Dr. Roni Reiter-Palmon, and Dr. Ryan Spohn. This report includes a variety of new data sources, including interviews with service providers, a focus group with Douglas County intake officers, and a stakeholder survey distributed across Douglas County. Data for this report was collected between May 9, 2016 and November 15, 2017 unless otherwise specified. Funding for this evaluation was generously provided by Douglas County, NE and The Sherwood Foundation, in contract with UNO’s Nebraska Center for Justice Research.

Exploring Officer Views Of Community Policing In Counterterrorism, Erin M. Kearns

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Recently there has been increased emphasis on actionable intelligence in counterterrorism. Building from the process-based model of regulation, police chiefs and scholars generally agree that community policing has promise in this regard. Yet, it is not clear the extent to which police officers concur. Since officers are in a position to implement community policing practices, it is important to understand variants in officer-level support. Using data collected from 741 officers in three departments, this project explores officer-level views of community policing’s utility to address terrorism and more common crimes. Overall, officers view community policing as appropriate to address both common …