Digital Commons Network^™

The Crime And The Criminal: Perceptions Of Crime Seriousness, Amanda Stephens

Honors College

Crime in the United States has been and will continue to be a public problem (Saad, 2007). Thus, it is important to know how the public perceives different types of crime. For the focus of this study, perceptions of crime seriousness will be analyzed based on the race of the criminal and the type of crime committed (white-collar vs. non-violent property crime) as the variables of interest. This exploratory research will be used to discover the relationship between the factors of a specific crime and the public’s perception of the seriousness of that crime in terms of seriousness and punishment. …

Attribution Of Blame In Rape: The Role Of Race, Alice Genna

Student Theses

Reports have shown that about 18 percent of women and 1 percent of men in the United States reported experiencing rape in the past (Center for Disease and Control Prevention, 2011). In addition, a previous study has shown that victims of rape are often reluctant to report the incidents, because they fear society’s perceptions of rape (Deming, Covan, Swan & Billings, 2013). Given this, it is important to study factors influencing individuals’ attribution of blame in rape. While many studies have focused on the role of gender, sexual orientation, and alcohol influence in perceptions of rape, research on the role …

How I Made Peace: Dismantling Racism In The United States, Jennifer Serrato

Celebrating Scholarship & Creativity Day (2011-2017)

No abstract provided.

Racial Tensions In Society: A Study Of Arrest Related Shootings In Arkansas 2006 - 2011, James Aaron Luht

Student Theses and Dissertations

In the context of the recent tensions regarding police use of force in America, the surrounding media attention, and the formation of social movement organizations such as Black Lives Matter, this article will examine police shootings in Arkansas from 2011 to 2016. Using Conflict Theory as a basis for this study the following questions provide the foundation for research: (1) Are police shootings a factor of individual variables, community demographics, location? (2) What are the circumstances that make police use of deadly force more common? Using data from the Uniform Crime Report, a study conducted by the Arkansas Democratic Gazette …

Study: Students Often Perceived Differently By Race., Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

In past columns, I have reported on more than one study that shows that expectations for “brilliance” for women in higher education were much higher than that for males. For example, when a research paper is co-authored by a male and a female the assumption by many is that the male did “the real work.”

Now comes a study showing that there is a similar bias when it comes to students – only this time the differences are based on race.

African And Non-African Refugees’ Perceptions Of Police: A Study Of, Joselyne L. Chenane, Jawjeong Wu, John Huey-Long Song

African Journal of Criminology and Justice Studies

Although there is an enormous amount of scholarship on public perceptions of the police, few studies have had an interest in refugees’ opinions. Using a survey instrument, the current study aims to understand the adaptation of refugees to the American criminal justice system by focusing on how they perceive police officers in two mid-sized cities in the northeastern region. We explore whether there are differences in perceived police prejudice, police effectiveness, and respect for the police between African and non-African refugees. In addition, we identify factors that affect refugees’ perceptions. Findings from ordinary least squares and multinomial regression analyses indicate …

Documenting ---- In Bloomington-Normal: A Community Report On Intolerance, Segregation, Accessibility, Inclusion, And Progress, And Improvement, Brittany Ashmore, Molly Cook, Alyssa Cooper, Teddy Dondanville, Ryan Duncan, Lindsey Earl, Justin Estima, Jake Fredericks, Mary Frey, Diamond Frison, Doug Gass, Myer Hursey, Kathryn Jones, Alesha Klein, Megan Koch, Kathryn Mcgee, Taylor Messamore, Jonathan Mansma, Jaresa Morrison, Jake Murray, Renee Palecek, Rainee Sibley, Chaney Skadsen, Vanessa Soto, Emily Spencer, Danielle Stevens, Corinna Strawn, Patricia Longwood, Frank D. Beck

Student Research – Stevenson Center

For the local chapter of Not In Our Town, we document intolerance, discrimination, segregation, disparities of access, and disparities in the criminal justice system in Bloomington-Normal, IL. Using archival material, secondary data, and primary data, we examine these issues from the mid-1990s to the present. We also assess the position of the organization in the community and provide strategies for future success. In sum, Bloomington-Normal was and is intolerant; discrimination did and does take place in this community; there are disparities of access and in the criminal justice system; we are segregated. The community is also less of these things …

Do School Discipline Policies Treat Students Fairly? A Second Look At School Discipline Rate Disparities, Kaitlin Anderson, Gary W. Ritter

Education Reform Faculty and Graduate Students Publications

Much work has documented that African-American students are more likely to receive expulsions and suspensions than their white peers. These disparities are troubling, but researchers and policymakers need more information to fully understand this issue. We use three years of student level discipline data for an entire state to assess whether non-white students are receiving different disciplinary consequences from their white peers in the same schools, for similar infractions and with similar behavioral history. We find that Black students received more severe (longer) punishments than their White peers in the state for the same types of infractions. These differences are …

From The Panels To The Margins: Identity, Marginalization, And Subversion In Cosplay, Manuel Andres Ramirez

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In investigating the ways social actors experience and interact with mass media texts, I examine how cosplay, as a performative practice of identity in relation to popular culture, enables social actors to subvert and reproduce marginalization towards minority status groups. Theoretical arguments apply a constructionist framework in order to examine the participants’ meaning making processes. The study addresses the following research questions: (1) what social function does cosplay serve for participants; (2) how do cosplayers perform race and gender; (3) how do cosplayers resist, negotiate, or reinforce race and gender-based marginalization? Drawing upon qualitative data gathered from observing two large …

Do Race And Ethnicity Matter? An Examination Of Racial/Ethnic Differences In Perceptions Of Procedural Justice And Recidivism Among Problem-Solving Court Clients, Cassandra A. Atkin-Plunk, Jennifer H. Peck, Gaylene Armstrong

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Over the years, a distinct body of research has emerged that examines procedural justice in problem-solving courts. However, there is virtually no research to date on racial and ethnic differences in perceptions of procedural justice among problem-solving court clients. The present study seeks to understand the complexities of judicial procedural justice and race/ethnicity within problem-solving courts. Using a convenience sample of 132 clients from two problem-solving courts in a southern state, this study addresses a void in the literature by examining the influence of race/ethnicity on perceptions of procedural justice as well as the impact of race/ethnicity and procedural justice …

Race, Education, And Reintegrating Formerly Incarcerated Citizens [Introduction, Chapter 6], Joni Schwartz, John R. Chaney

Publications and Research

Building on the framework of critical race theory (CRT), this book through academic research and analysis engages the voices of formerly incarcerated college students' lived experiences as well as college faculty and administrators' understanding of academia as created spaces for reentry.

From Porto Alegre To New York City: Participatory Budgeting And Democracy, Celina Su

Publications and Research

Because of its popularity, there is now a large literature examining how participatory budgeting (PB) deepens participation by the poor and redistributes resources. Closer examinations of recent cases of PB can help us to better understand the political configurations in which these new participatory democratic spaces are embedded, and articulate the conditions that might lead to more meaningful outcomes. Who participates? For whose benefit? The articles in this symposium, on participatory budgeting in New York City (PBNYC), highlight both strengths and challenges of the largest American PB process. They focus less on redistribution, more on the dimensions of the process …

Ideology, Race, And The Death Penalty: "Lies, Damn Lies, And Statistics" In Advocacy Research, Anthony Walsh, Virginia Hatch

Journal of Ideology

We use the literature on race in death penalty to illustrate the hold that ideology has on researchers and journalists alike when a social issue is charged with emotional content. We note particularly how statistical evidence become misinterpreted in ways that support a particular ideology, either because of innumeracy or because—subconsciously or otherwise—one’s ideology precludes a critical analysis. We note that because white defendants are now proportionately more likely to receive the death penalty and to be executed than black defendants that the argument has shifted from a defendant-based to a victim-based one. We examine studies based on identical data …

Learning Race And Racism While Learning: Experiences Of International Students Pursuing Higher Education In The Midwestern United States, Donald Mitchell Jr., Ph.D., Tiffany Steele, Jakia Marie, Kathryn Timm

Executives, Administrators, & Staff Publications

Researchers have documented how race and racism influence the college experiences of U.S. citizens. However, research on the ways that race and racism affect international students warrants similar attention. This qualitative study explored how international students learned about U.S. concepts of race and racism and how such concepts shaped their college experiences. The participating international college students learned about U.S. concepts of race and racism through media, relationships, formal education, and lived experiences. They defined these concepts in varying ways and had varying racial ideologies.

Crimmigration: The Missing Piece Of Criminal Justice Reform, Yolanda Vazquez

Faculty Articles and Other Publications

Over the last decade, a new push for criminal justice reform has taken hold. While the moral and fiscal costs have been exorbitant over the last forty years, failing state budgets and bipartisan recognition of the “broken” system have finally caused legislatures, politicians, and advocates to reassess the costs and benefits of the criminal justice system. Breaking the “tough on crime/soft on crime” binary, the “smart on crime” motto has become a helpful tool in reform efforts aimed at reducing the number of individuals incarcerated and ensuring its fairness, regardless of race and socioeconomic status. Little attention, however, has been …

Race, Age, Gender, Income, And The Experience Of Adult Intimate Partner Violence, Jacquelynn Melnita Hairston

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a significant public health problem that affects approximately 2.4 million individuals in the United States each year. Race, age, gender, and household income are established correlates of criminal victimization and diverge across various victimization experiences for these individuals. The purpose of this study was to investigate relationships between IPV victimization and the demographic variables of race, age, gender, and household income using race, class, and gender theory as a framework. Logistic regression analyses on data from 3,492 adult male and 3,637 adult female IPV victims obtained from the 2013 National Crime Victimization Survey showed that …

Toward The Anthropology Of White Nationalist Postracialism: Comments Inspired By Hall, Goldstein, And Ingram’S “The Hands Of Donald Trump”, Jeff Maskovsky

Publications and Research

This article explains Donald Trump’s brutal political effectiveness in terms of his white nationalist appeal. It locates the intellectual, popular, and policy imperatives of Trumpism in a new form of racial politics that I am calling white nationalist postracialism. This is a paradoxical politics of twenty-first-century white racial resentment whose proponents seek to do two contradictory things: to reclaim the nation for white Americans while also denying an ideological investment in white supremacy. The article shows how Trump’s excoriation of political correctness, his nostalgia for the post–WWII industrial economy, his use of hand gestures, and his public speaking about race …

Race, Rhetoric, And Judicial Opinions: Missouri As A Case Study, Brad Desnoyer, Anne Alexander

Faculty Publications

This Essay studies the relationship between race, rhetoric, and history in three twentieth century segregation cases: State ex rel. Gaines v. Canada, Kraemer v. Shelley, and Liddell v. Board of Education. Part I gives a brief overview of the scholarship of Critical Race Theory, majoritarian narratives and minority counter-narratives, and the judiciary’s rhetoric in race-based cases. Part II analyzes the narratives and language of Gaines, Kraemer, and Liddell, provides the social context of these cases, and traces their historical outcomes.

The Essay contends that majoritarian narratives with problematic themes continue to perpetuate even though court opinions have evolved to use …

Straight Out Of Compton: Developmental Equality And A Critique Of The Compton School Litigation, Nancy E. Dowd

UF Law Faculty Publications

In Part I, I set out my developmental equality model in three sections. First, I briefly explore the ecological perspective on child development, a broadly accepted developmental model, and its relation to best interests. Second, I consider the limitations of a ‘neutral’ ecological perspective, using as my example data about the life course of African American boys from birth to age 18. Finally, I suggest how to shift the lens to one of developmental equality, using the theoretical models of Cynthia Garcia Coll and Margaret Beale Spencer. While linked to the experience of children of color in the United States, …

A Mixed-Method Study Examining The Intersection Of Race And Sexual Violence Among Lgbtq Prisoners, Sarah J. Aftab

Theses, Dissertations, and Projects

The current mixed-method study examined the intersection of race and sexual violence among LGBTQ prisoners while incarcerated. The study used secondary data from a survey of LGBTQ prisoners collected by an organization in 2014 (N=1093). Historically, the criminal justice system has criminalized and discriminated against LGBTQ persons, and reports show a prevalence of abuse occurs during incarceration. Quantitatively, the study aimed to determine a relationship between race and sexual violence; qualitatively, it aimed to understand how prisoners in this study experienced sexual violence. Findings suggested: Black, Latinx/Hispanic, and Mixed race prisoners had significantly lower likelihood of unwanted touching …

Race And The New Policing, Jeffrey Fagan

Faculty Scholarship

Several observers credit nearly 25 years of declining crime rates to the “New Policing” and its emphasis on advanced statistical metrics, new forms of organizational accountability, and aggressive tactical enforcement of minor crimes. This model has been adopted in large and small cities, and has been institutionalized in everyday police-citizen interactions, especially among residents of poorer, often minority, and higher crime areas. Citizens exposed to these regimes have frequent contact with police through investigative stops, arrests for minor misdemeanors, and non-custody citations or summons for code violations or vehicle infractions. Two case studies show surprising and troubling similarities in the …

Tolling For The Aching Ones Whose Wounds Cannot Be Nursed’: The Marginalization Of Racial Minorities And Women In Institutional Mental Disability Law, Michael L. Perlin, Heather Ellis Cucolo

Articles & Chapters

Individuals with mental disabilities have traditionally been and continue to be subjected to rights violations and pervasive discrimination because of their mental disabilities. Seen as “the other,” individuals who are racial minorities and/or are women are marginalized to an even greater extent than other persons with mental disabilities in matters related to civil commitment and institutional treatment (especially involving theright to refuse medication).

It is impossible to examine these questions critically without coming to grips with the ways that expert testimony — testimony that is essential and necessary in all these cases — is infected with bias that leads to …

The Color Factor: How Paulo Freire’S Philosophy Of Education Highlights That Race Affects Human Growth And Development Of United States Citizens, Alyse Krevh

Masters Essays

No abstract provided.

A Culture Of Silence: Exploring The Impact Of The Historically Contentious Relationship Between African-Americans And The Police, Mikah K. Thompson

Faculty Works

The relationship between African-Americans and the police has traditionally been focused on authority, control, and the enforcement of laws we now acknowledge were racially discriminatory. This historical relationship, when combined with a modern-day narrative that the police disproportionately stop, arrest, and utilize deadly force against African-Americans, has resulted in pervasive, inter-generational fear and distrust of the police. Most African-Americans view police officers not as the heroic protectors they can call upon when in need of help or the hard-hitting investigators they would trust to look into a family member’s murder. Instead, many African-Americans believe police officers have bought into the …

Student Surveillance, Racial Inequalities, And Implicit Racial Bias, Jason P. Nance

UF Law Faculty Publications

In the wake of high-profile incidents of school violence, school officials have increased their reliance on a host of surveillance measures to maintain order and control in their schools. Paradoxically, such practices can foster hostile environments that may lead to even more disorder and dysfunction. These practices may also contribute to the so-called “school-to-prison pipeline” by pushing more students out of school and into the juvenile justice system. However, not all students experience the same level of surveillance. This Article presents data on school surveillance practices, including an original empirical analysis of restricted data recently released by the U.S. Department …

"To Help, Not To Hurt": Justice Thomas's Equality Canon, Nicole Stelle Garnett, William S. Consovoy

Journal Articles

To comprehend Justice Thomas’s views on racial equality requires an understanding of how his life experiences influence his approach to questions of race and the law. Recurring themes in his opinions about racial equality include his belief that racial preferences stigmatize their beneficiaries, his concern that the prevailing notion that racial integration is necessary to black achievement is rooted in a presumption of racial inferiority, his worry that affirmative action efforts provide cover for the failure to address the urgent needs of disadvantaged Americans, and his knowledge that seemingly benign policies can mask illicit motives. Finally, Justice Thomas contends that …

Learning Race And Racism While Learning: Experiences Of International Students Pursuing Higher Education In The Midwestern United States, Donald Mitchell Jr. Et Al.

Education Faculty Publications and Presentations

Researchers have documented how race and racism influence the college experiences of U.S. citizens. However, research on the ways that race and racism affect international students warrants similar attention. This qualitative study explored how international students learned about U.S. concepts of race and racism and how such concepts shaped their college experiences. The participating international college students learned about U.S. concepts of race and racism through media, relationships, formal education, and lived experiences. They defined these concepts in varying ways and had varying racial ideologies.

Pressing Charges, Zohra Ahmed

Scholarly Works

There is a prosecutor in Manhattan Criminal Court who wears a Black Lives Matter button on the job. One day, a group of public defenders, myself included, found him alone in a courtroom where only quality of life offenses are heard, authorizing plea bargains more lenient than the standard recommendations of the New York County District Attorney’s office: reducing fines, reducing community service, even avoiding convictions. The button seemed a puzzling appropriation for a prosecutor. At the height of the Black Lives Matter movement in 2015, after all, public defenders had worn the same pins in court only to face …

Criminal Law As Family Law, Andrea L. Dennis

Scholarly Works

The criminal justice system has expanded dramatically over the last several decades, extending its reach into family life. This expansion has disproportionately and negatively impacted Black communities and social networks, including Black families. Despite these pervasive shifts, legal scholars have virtually ignored the intersection of criminal, family, and racial justice. This Article explores the gap in literature in two respects. First, the Article weaves together criminal law, family law, and racial justice by cataloging ways in which the modern criminal justice state regulates family life, particularly for Black families. Second, the Article examines the depth of criminal justice interference in …

Decriminalizing Childhood, Andrea L. Dennis

Scholarly Works

Even though the number of juveniles arrested, tried and detained has recently declined, there are still a large number of delinquency cases, children under supervision by state officials, and children living in state facilities for youth and adults. Additionally, any positive developments in juvenile justice have not been evenly experienced by all youth. Juveniles living in urban areas are more likely to have their cases formally processed in the juvenile justice system rather than informally resolved. Further, the reach of the justice system has a particularly disparate effect on minority youth who tend to live in heavily-policed urban areas.

The …