Digital Commons Network^™

Leadership Competency Needs Of U.S. Campus Law Enforcement Administrators, John Nathaniel Vinson

Dissertations

College campus police administrators operate in a complex administrative environment that produces difficult leadership challenges. In order to manage these challenges, police administrators need to possess certain leadership competencies. This study fills a gap in the academic literature by examining the perceptions of campus law enforcement administrators in the United States as to the kinds of leadership challenges they face, and the nature of the leadership competencies needed to manage these challenges. A nationwide survey of college campus police administrators at four-year colleges and universities was conducted to (1) explore their perceptions regarding the major leadership challenges they currently face, …

Negative Stereotypes And Childhood Paternal Relationships As Predictors Of Paternal Identity In African American Fathers, Danielle K. Wright

Dissertations

African American men have been widely ignored in the social science literature. When African American men have been studied, it has primarily been from a deficit model. The purpose of this study was to give voice to the African American father, whether he is working-poor, middle-class, or upper-class, biological or non-biological, residential or non-residential. The intent of the study was to explore how African American men view themselves as fathers and their own experiences of being a parent.

One hundred and one men who identified as African American, were at least 18 years old, and who had at least one …

The Social Construction Of Rape Research: Exploring Epistemologies And Evaluating Methods, Edith M. Fisher

Dissertations

The most widely known national study of rape found that one in four college-age women has been the victim of rape or attempted rape. Conservative writers have criticized that study for overestimating the possible prevalence of rape in the U.S. My research uses more sensitive instruments and administration techniques, seeking to estimate the prevalence of rape in the lives of women at a large midwestern public university. I address questions about the validity of previous rape research and compare methods of collecting sexual violence information by questionnaire (322 mailed surveys and 300 interviewer-administered surveys). Additional interviews with 62 of the …

Controversial Maternal Roles Of Intrafamilial Child Sexual Abuse Cases, Rhonda Elliott Mcgee

Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to examine Child Sexual Abuse case files, to determine which "maternal role": (a) protector, (b) co-victim, (c) co-perpetrator/conspirator, or (d) perpetrator was the most common in court cases studied in this research. The researcher also sought to find: (1) The most dominant maternal role in reference to percentage; (2) The effect, if any, of certain "role types"; (3) And the consequences and/or effects of selected variables (e.g. age, race, and gender) had in family court decisions and adjudications.

The target population consisted of forty-one cases of Child Sexual Abuse cases, adjudicated by the Family …

A Comparative Study Of Factors Related To Adoption, Management, And Impact Of Police Consolidation And Amalgamation In Norfolk, County, England, And Kent And Ottawa Counties, Michigan, United States, Terry Lee Fisk

Dissertations

The evolution of law enforcement in the United States has created a circumstance where thousands of smaller communities are served by a police agency, some of which may not have the capability or resources to provide adequate police service. Many of these are agencies operate within a geographical area where they are joined by common boundaries, yet each operates as an autonomous police force. One possible solution to this quandary is to consolidate those existing agencies experiencing difficulties in the provision of police services into single, larger departments with combined resources.

The purpose of this research was to determine what …

Personality Measurement In The Prediction Of Positive And Negative Police Officer Performance, Brian P. Enright

Dissertations

Police officer selection research has revealed a number of relationships between scores on psychological tests and performance on the job. Although a few of these predictor scales have been consistently linked with job performance, many still require further investigation. It was proposed that the personality scales most consistently linked to job performance concern two broad constructs including: (1) prosocial personality characteristics, and (2) level of psychological distress. Guided by findings from the police outcomes literature and research regarding the factor structure and intercorrelation of MMPI and CPI scales, it was proposed that Scales 4 and 9 from the MMPI and …

Validating The Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory For Identifying Substance Abuse Among Adolescents In A Residential Treatment Center, Ann Carol Singler

Dissertations

Purpose. This study examines the construct validity of the Substance Abuse Subtle Screening Inventory for Adolescents (SASSI-A) as a substance-abuse screening instrument for dual-diagnosed adolescents in a residential treatment center.

Method. Using archival records of 336 subjects from a long-term residential treatment center, this study applied a two-group comparison method to examine the construct validity of the SASSI-A for screening substance abuse among adolescents in a residential treatment center. Residents were initially clinically assessed by a state certified counselor as either substance abuser/chemically dependent or non-substance abuser/chemically dependent. At this residential treatment center, the clinical assessment included a full review …

The Creation And Development Of An Afrocentric Christian College: Imani Kuumba College And Graduate School, Juanita M. Browne Edd

Dissertations

The study examines Imani Kuumba College, (IKC), an Afrocentric Christian College. Since previous research does not examine any higher institution that provides a type of learning that focuses totally on the study of the Afrocentric world, this historical case study describes a unique educational institution that proposes to teach from a focus designed to raise self-esteem for African-Americans and racial understanding for other groups by studying the African-American experience, historically, spiritually and culturally. The study begins with an introduction that outlines the environmental and societal issues that motivated the creation of this innovative institution and its unique program. After discussion …

Interspecies Encounters: An Ethnography Of A Veterinary Hospital, Dana Atwood-Harvey

Dissertations

There were three broad reasons for this research. The larger goal was to continue to advance the incorporation of 'other' animals and the rest of nature in general in sociological theory and research. The second was to suggest to those who have incorporated 'other' animals into their research, to include them as participants. The third was to redirect the focus of those who have incorporated 'other' animals as participants, to the impact that ideological structures and other social factors have on human-'other' animal encounters. Toward this end, I directed the focus of my study to examine human-'other' animal encounters ina …

Drug Courts: A Study Of Retention And Suspension In The Kalamazoo County Drug Court Program, James H. Houston

Dissertations

This is a study of the Kalamazoo County Drug Treatment Court Programs. Participants in the court programs are men and women who reside in the county and are charged with drug-related non-violent felonies. These participants, along with judges and administrators of the program, were interviewed for the study. The interviews were held in face-to-face meetings: participants on neutral ground and court functionaries in their offices.

The study sought to determine what factors contributed to the success or failure of drug court participants. It asked to what extent program requirements are perceived by the participants to be coercive, and how this …

The Phenomenon Of Woman-On-Woman Abuse And Its Relationship To Gender Profile And Personal Experiences Of Women, Deborah Johnson Spence

Dissertations

Purpose of the Study. Female-on-female aggression is often inferred, or drawn from studies conducted with children or males. Little or no information is available that reports behaviors perceived as mistreatment or abuse among women. The purposes of this study were to investigate (a) behaviors demonstrated by women that women consider abuse or mistreatment; (b) the extent to which these perceptions of abuse/mistreatment were related to gender profiles; and (c) the extent to which personal experiences as victims or perpetrators of abuse were related to age, race, and education.

Method. This study used the survey research method in which questionnaires …

Teachers' Perceptions Of School Safety, Safety-Based Changes, And Their Resultant Impact On School Climate: A Case Study, Laura L. Finley

Dissertations

In the last decade, several high-profile shootings in suburban school districts have drawn attention to the issue of school-based violence. Consequently, schools all over have responded in many ways. The literature reveals that many suburban and rural schools have adopted the same measures as have urban districts, despite the fact that their discipline and violence problems are qualitatively different. These responses have generally been punitive and technological in nature, rather than curricular or structural reforms. This has included institution of metal detectors, more restrictive student dress codes, zero tolerance laws and others. Some, though, have suggested that these responses may …

Ideology Or Insanity? Media Presentation Of Ted Kaczynski And Tim Mcveigh, Matthew P. Sheptoski

Dissertations

This dissertation explores mainstream media presentation of two convicted murderers: Theodore J. Kaczynski, otherwise known as "The Unabomber," and Timothy J. McVeigh, found guilty of the 1995 destruction of the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. More specifically, I analyze The New York Times's and Time's presentation of these two actors in order to assess whether their acts were attributed to political and ideological motivation or psychological abnormality and mental illness. Quantitative and qualitative findings indicate that Kaczynski's crimes were more likely to be attributed to psychological abnormality and mental illness, while McVeigh's crimes were more likely to be …

The Impact Of Systematically Varying The Duration Of Breath Samples During Infrared-Based Alcohol Breath Testing, Chris C. Clatterbuck

Dissertations

The present study set out to investigate the reliability and performance of the BAC DataMaster®, an infrared-based alcohol breath testing instrument. The focus of this study was to determine: (a) the impact of varying breath sample duration during testing, (b) if Blood Alcohol Concentration (BAC) levels produced by the DataMaster® (BAC_DM) are significantly different from BAC levels produced by analysis of whole blood (BAC_WB), and (c) if the relationship between BAC_DM estimates and BAC_WB is influenced by the amount of alcohol an examinee has ingested. Each of 27 participants was randomly assigned to one …

What Have They Told Us About Gangs? A Content Analysis Of Twentieth Century Texts On U.S. Gangs, Douglas Lee Gilbertson

Dissertations

Inspired by a scholarly desire to understand and explain things, formal theoretical explanations for the social problem of gangs have been around just about as long as gangs themselves. This is an inductive content analysis of the texts within twentieth century works explaining gangs. This study explores those explanations as social artifacts and analyzes the text within them in order to identify textual similarities. This is accomplished by consolidating codified text or words until typologies of abstract theoretical concepts are revealed. The purpose of this study is to identify probable causal factors for gang formation and gang joining behavior that …

New Teachers’ Perceptions Of Discipline-Related School Problems And Teacher Satisfaction, Amy L. Kavanaugh

Dissertations

Satisfaction The public is concerned with school safety because of recent school shootings resulting in multiple deaths. Educators are concerned that perceptions of school safety may affect new teacher attrition.

Three questions were examined in this study: (1) What is the trend of new teachers’ perceptions of discipline-related school problems? (2) Do new teachers’ perceptions of school problems vary by teacher gender, school level, size, location, and percentage of minority students?, and (3) Are new teachers’ perceptions of school problems related to their professional satisfaction?

National data gathered by the National Center for Education Statistics through the Schools and Staffing …

A Systems Approach To Designing An Internship Model That Benefits The Sponsoring Organization, Peter-Cornelius Dams

Dissertations

No abstract provided.

The Social Construction Of The Sex Offender, Lisa L. Sample

Dissertations

Over the last two decades, Americans have come to perceive sex offending as a serious and widespread problem. As a response to the public's concern, new sex offender legislation has been enacted. This dissertation examines the contemporary sex offender problem and the legislative responses, within a social constructionist framework. I performed a content analysis of newspaper accounts, conducted interviews with public officials, and analyzed arrest data to determine the current definitions of sex offenders, the process by which those definitions found their way into law, and how they were applied to offenders.

I found that the media depict and policy …

The Effect Of A Jail-Based Substance-Abuse Program On Anxiety, Depression, And Locus Of Control, Peggy Leigh Frick

Dissertations

Problem. More and more alcohol and drug users are coming into contact with the criminal justice system. Some of these individuals may have comorbid mental health issues. This present study sought to determine whether the New Avenues Substance Abuse Treatment Program, housed at the Correctional Work Center, Davidson County, Tennessee, did, in the course of treatment, have an impact on the anxiety, depression, and locus of control of those individuals completing the program.

Method. The Beck Depression Inventory-II, the Beck Anxiety Inventory, and the Rotter Internal versus External Control of Reinforcement Scale were utilized to measure depression, anxiety, and locus …

A Study Of The Relationship Between Police Stress And Moral Reasoning, Coping Mechanisms, And Selected Demographic Variables, Harvey J. Burnett

Dissertations

Problem. Past research provides information on stress and its relationship to the law enforcement officer's coping mechanisms. However, there is no research on how the element of moral reasoning relates within the conceptual framework of Police stress and coping. This present study investigated the relationship between police stress and moral reasoning, coping mechanisms, and selected demographic variables among police officers.

Method. The subjects for this study were 71 full-time certified law enforcement officers in Berrien, Cass, and Van Buren counties of Michigan. A brief demographic questionnaire was utilized, followed by the Police Stress Survey (PSS), the Defining Issues Test …

A Historical Perspective Of The Freedom Schools: Implications For Social Change, O. Yvonette Murrell Powell Edd

Dissertations

Since the first African slave ship arrived on the American shores, the nature of life for these new inhabitants has differed greatly from that of any other immigrant group. The usual patterns of assimilation were not present. While most other immigrant groups were able to assimilate within three generations by making name changes, taking on characteristics of the majority population, finding employment and acculturating via education, the same avenues were not available to Blacks. After approximately 400 years of differential treatment, negative stereotyping, social stigmatization, and inordinate poverty, many Blacks are still struggling to assimilate. One of the greatest points …

The Victim Rights Movement: A Social Constructionist Examination, Angela Renee Evans

Dissertations

What has been termed the victim rights movement has made great progress in promoting legislative changes regarding victim rights in the United States. This research examines the victim rights movement from a social constructionist perspective by focusing on two pieces of federal legislation passed in the 1980s: the Victim and Witness Protection Act of 1982 and the Victims of Crime Act of 1984. Using the social constructionist perspective, the research examines who was involved in the claims-making activities and which claims were most likely to be heard and acted upon. Rather than seeing social movements as the result of some …

An Examination Of Voir Dire From An Interactionist Perspective, Peter R. Stevenson

Dissertations

Trial attorneys, historically, have used both scientific and unscientific selection techniques to empanel a jury, and these methods continue to be used in contemporary courtrooms. The ability of these techniques to pick a 'good” jury has been shown to have limited utility. This ineffectiveness may be due, in part, to a false assumption about the passivity of prospective jurors during questioning. An interactionist perspective sees individuals as much more active in that they control the information given out. Most potential jurors offer genuine presentations of self during jury selection in that they truthfully respond to the questions posed by courtroom …

Capital Punishment: A New Perspective On Race And Ethnic Differences In Punishment And Death Sentence Outcomes, Martin G. Urbina

Dissertations

A review of the existing literature on death sentence outcomes (i.e., executions, commutations) shows evidence of discrimination against minority defendants (e.g., African Americans). Prior studies, however, have followed a Caucasian/African American and/or execution/commutation approach. Latino defendants have either been excluded or treated as a monolithic group. Thus, little is known about death sentence outcomes for Latinos, whose experiences differ from those of African Americans and Caucasians. Additionally, little is known about the treatment of the various ethnic groups (e.g., Cubans, Mexicans) that constitute the Latino community. And, since the focus has been on executions and/or commutations, little is known about …

A Comparison Of Cognitive Restructuring And Systematic Desensitization Techniques For Anger Reduction With An Inmate Population, Lori Ann Diaz

Dissertations

This was a dismantling study comparing the effectiveness of the Cognitive Restructuring (CR) and the Systematic Desensitization (SD) components of Deffenbacher et al.’s (1987, 1988, 1990, 1992, 1994) treatment of anger. This study utilized an inmate population in a rural county jail. Each group completed a battery of measures (State-Trait Anger Expression Inventory [Spielberger, 1996]; Anger Symptom, and Anger Situation [Hazaleus & Deffenbacher, 1986]) at baseline (5 weeks prior to treatment), pretreatment, and posttreatment. Subjects completed an Anger Log weekly and a Satisfaction measure following treatment. The Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV: Patient Questionnaire was completed during the baseline period …

African-American And White Female Homicide Offenders: Women Who Kill Intimate Partners Versus Non-Intimate Partners In Chicago Between 1980-1995, Shauntey James

Dissertations

The research that examines female homicide offenders goes little further than investigating whether or not offenders were previously victimized by those whom they kill. This research project is designed to contribute to this extant body of literature and theory in two ways. The first is to add and provide a comprehensive picture of African-American and white female homicide offenders in intimate versus non-intimate relationships in homicidal events. The second manner of contribution lies in the testing of a creative and integrative theoretical model. This model addresses race, underclass context, alcohol use, social disorganization and prior arrest record of female homicide …

Symbolic Politics: Government's War Against The Working Class, Warren Charles Gregory

Dissertations

Symbolism and substance are essential parts of any political system. In our system of government, we typically think of symbolism as serving substantive ends. Using a triangulation of _methods (Participant Observation, Archival Data, and Documentary Evidence), the paper examines two cases (Social Security and criminal justice) and concludes that the mix between substance and symbolism has changed dramatically in recent years with symbolism now assuming the central role.

The current debates over Social Security funding and criminal justice sanctions, for example, are less about the concerns of old-age security or making the public safer as much as they reflect a …

Crossing The Line: Experiences Of The Formerly Homeless Living Past Homelessness, Susan Marie Bennett Dnsc, Msn, Fnp, Rn, Cs

Dissertations

This grounded theory study explored the experiences of formerly homeless individuals and families who have moved from homelessness into stable housing. This was an ethnographic study and involved the researcher staying in an east coast shelter where some of the formerly homeless participants had become staff members and reside. Data analysis was informed by dimensional analysis. Moving out of homelessness was the studies perspective. Findings of the study revealed the following dimensions that related the formerly homeless's experiences: (a)reacting to circumstances, or how they became homeless; (b)surviving as homeless, or how they lived while homeless; (c)crossing the fine, or what …

Determining Cutoff Scores For The Mmpi-2 Substance Abuse Scales For An Inmate Population, Barbara A. Johnston

Dissertations

The current research project examined the psychometric properties of the substance abuse scales of the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, Second Edition (MMPI-2) with an inmate population. The scales of interest included the MacAndrews Alcoholism Scale Revised (MAC-R), the Addiction Potential Scale (APS) and the Addiction Acknowledgement Scale (AAS).

A total of 80 subjects were administered the MMPI-2 which resulted in 73 valid profiles. Of the valid profiles, 54 were chemically dependent and 19 were nonchemically dependent inmates. There were no differences between groups in regard to sociodemographic variables.

The data analyses indicated that the AAS and APS are efficient and …

Judicial Decision Making Under Michigan Sentencing Guidelines, Abel E. Ekpunobi

Dissertations

Many states and the federal judiciary have adopted sentencing guidelines as a mechanism of sentencing reform. This study used the bounded rationality model to investigate judicial decision-making under Michigan Sentencing Guidelines, and the effectiveness o f the guidelines in reducing or eliminating sentencing disparities — situations in which legally similar defendants receive dissimilar sentences.

A statistical and comparative analysis of a database sample of felony cases (n = 20,834), sentenced in four different-sized Michigan counties from 1992 through 1997, was examined with logistic and linear regression models. Logistic regression results indicate a significant association (p < .05) between incarceration and some legal and extralegal variables. Legal variables, such as prior felony convictions, sentencing guideline scores, offense type/severity, the defendant’s relationship with the criminal justice system, and extralegal variables, such as the defendant’s race and gender, year and county of sentencing, are important predictors of sentencing outcomes. Linear regression results indicate a significant association (p < .05) between the minimum term of imprisonment and prior felony convictions, sentencing guidelines and offense type/ severity, but not with extralegal variables. These results suggest that judicial decision-making remains a human/“bounded rationality” process.

The findings of this study …