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Criminal Specialization In The Criminal Justice Context, Shi Yan Jan 2016

Criminal Specialization In The Criminal Justice Context, Shi Yan

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The dissertation consists of two studies. Study 1 examines how criminal specialization predicts the sentencing outcomes. Theories of sentencing have pointed out the association between the sentence and the assessment of the defendant’s risk and culpability, and one of the most important indicators of an individual’s risk is his or her criminal records. Most quantitative studies of sentencing today take criminal records into consideration by controlling for the number of prior criminal justice contacts, and overlook the nature of the prior crimes. The concept criminal specialization refers to the tendency for an individual to repeat the same or a set …


Is Burglary A Violent Crime? An Empirical Investigation Of Classifying Burglary As A Violent Felony And Its Statutory Implications, Phillip Kopp Oct 2014

Is Burglary A Violent Crime? An Empirical Investigation Of Classifying Burglary As A Violent Felony And Its Statutory Implications, Phillip Kopp

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Under the common law, burglary is defined as a crime committed against the property of another, and is listed as a property offense for purposes of statistical description by the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) and the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). However, burglary is prosecuted and sentenced as a violent crime under habitual offender laws at the federal level, and can be regarded as violent in state law, depending on varied circumstances. Using a mixed methods approach, the current study compared state and federal burglary and habitual offender statutes to an empirical description of the offense. First, a comprehensive content …


Gender, Race, And Court Location Effects On Exceptional Sentencing In The State Of Washington, Catherine L. Drezak Jul 1997

Gender, Race, And Court Location Effects On Exceptional Sentencing In The State Of Washington, Catherine L. Drezak

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Policy statements by the Sentencing Commission for the State of Washington emphasize that gender, race, and community ties are irrelevant to sentencing decisions. Based on prior sentencing practices, these policies carry the potential to incorporate unrecognized sentencing disparity practices into the proposed sentencing equality solution. Using Washington's sentencing data under current sentencing guideline structures, this research examined the sentencing outcomes with respect to sentences given outside the guidelines. This study was designed to address the research questions: What effect, if any, does gender have on exceptional sentence outcome? To what extent, if any, is race a factor in determining gender …