Criminal Law Commons^™

Jennifer E. Cobbina, Hands Up, Don't Shoot, Joshua R. Ruffin

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Issues surrounding police use of excessive force continue to be a longstanding debate in the field of Criminal Justice. In the timely boots-on-the-ground work, Hands Up, Don't Shoot, Jennifer Cobbina amplifies the voices of Ferguson and Baltimore protestors by conducting indepth interviews with residents as it relates to their everyday experience with the police. In Hands Up, Don’t Shoot, Cobbina takes an “and” instead of an “or” approach in understanding the experiences often faced by residents of different intersecting identities in these communities. Further, Cobbina provides readers the opportunity to learn of the racialized experiences of these groups …

Out-Of-School Suspensions: Counter-Narratives From The Student Perspective, Karen Mcelrath, Lori Guevara, Zahra Shekarkhar, Joe M. Brown

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Out-of-school suspension (OSS) is a major disciplinary tool that has impacted large numbers of students in the United States. Most research into OSS has drawn exclusively on data collected from school records and other “official” sources, and this body of work has contributed to our understanding of suspension decisions by school officials. Considerably less is known about how students experience out-of-school suspensions. This line of inquiry is important because it captures the student voice and reveals a series of counter-narratives that offer alternative interpretations of students’ behaviors that lead to OSS. The aims of this study were twofold: 1) to …

“Everybody Loses:” Understanding Police Roles And Perceptions Of Domestic Violence Calls, Anjali Fulambarker

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"To better understand police response to domestic violence, it is useful to consider the perspectives of officers themselves. Through exploratory, in-depth interviews and applying the lens of role theory, this study focuses on police officers’ perceptions of their role in responding to domestic violence, their perceptions of the effectiveness of their response, and challenges they face. Findings suggest that, for these participants, there is an overlap in the different roles they inhabit, as well as limitations and barriers to their response. These limitations and obstacles are a signal that officers may be experiencing role overload, which leads to their frustration …

Incapacitated Fatherhood: The Impact Of Mass Incarceration On Black Father Identity, Dara Lewis, Philip Young P. Hong

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Despite the growing body of literature detailing the disproportionate social consequences of mass incarceration to black men, many of whom are fathers, insufficient attention has been given to the extent of damage on fatherhood and father identity in particular. This article examines the consequences of mass incarceration on father identity and the performance of fatherhood among a group of black men. Drawing from rich qualitative data, the study uses the lived experiences and perceptions of a group of formerly incarcerated black fathers. This research found that the incarceration experience significantly disrupted the performance of fatherhood among this group of men …

Tasseli Mckay, Megan Comfort, Christine Lindquist, & Anupa Bir, Holding On: Family And Fatherhood During Incarceration And Reentry, Danielle L. Haverkate

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"The impact of incarceration on families has received increased focus over the past 20 years. The bulk of examinations have narrowed in on the impact of parental incarceration on children (see Wakefield & Wildeman, 2013), the impact of incarceration on parenting (see Hairston, 2002), and the impacts of incarceration on the partners of those incarcerated (see Roy & Dyson, 2005; Turney, 2015). All of this suggests that family functioning is disrupted during periods of incarceration. Despite this, a large proportion of the literature on family relationships during and after prison focuses on incarcerated mothers (see Ferraro & Moe, 2003; Enos, …

What’S After Good?: The Burden Of Post-Incarceration Life, Quintin Williams, Cesraéa Rumpf

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"In the current era of mass incarceration, an increasing number of people face the challenge of transitioning from prison to society. Researchers of post-incarceration life have produced a detailed account of the collateral consequences of incarceration, noting the numerous barriers people must overcome as they try to return to society. In this paper, we show how stigma continues to be a structuring force in the lives of the formerly incarcerated. We develop the concept of the burden of post-incarceration life, meaning the structural constraints formerly incarcerated people face and the constant work they undertake to demonstrate and attempt to …

Letter From The Outgoing Editor, Lynne Vieraitis

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Welcome to the first issue of Volume 9 of the Journal of Qualitative Criminal Justice & Criminology, and my last issue as editor. I am happy to hand over the position to Scott Jacques from Georgia State University, who has a solid record as a qualitative researcher. The journal is in excellent hands, and I wish Scott and his editorial team the best as they continue to advance the journal and qualitative research."

Explaining The Body-Worn Camera Perspective Bias, Rémi Boivin, Camille Faubert, Annie Gendron, Bruno Poulin

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Body-worn cameras (BWCs) can be used to provide video evidence that is expected to help settle cases quickly. The present study explores the assumption that everyone who watches a recorded intervention will have the same understanding of the images. Focus groups were conducted with different people: citizens from the general population, in-training police candidates and cadets, as well as experienced police officers. The aim was to provide insights into how a potential BWC perspective bias affects attitudes towards use of force incidents. Results suggest that the bias has more effect on those without actual experience of police work. In particular, …

“A Victim Is A Victim:” Lgbt Blindness Among Victim Assistance Workers, Michael C. Lasala, James P. Fedor

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"LGBT crime victims underutilize victim assistance services because they fear secondary victimization by homophobic and insensitive workers and organizations. However, assessment of the perceptions and competence of those working with these populations is largely absent from the literature. To address this gap, we qualitatively investigated 83 victim assistance workers and administrators regarding their practices with LGBT victims. Overall, respondents believed that a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity was irrelevant, which was well-meaning but potentially perpetuated a type of LGBT cultural blindness to the needs of these populations, not dissimilar to color blindness among some white service providers toward African …

“Driver’S License, Military Id, And Proof Of Registration And Insurance, Please”: Officer Discretion Surrounding Traffic Stops On An Air Force Installation, Steven L. Holman, Don Hummer

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Officer discretion is an oft-debated topic in American culture today. A plethora of research has been conducted on how local, county, and state law enforcement officers use their discretionary authority specific to enforcement of moving violations and the initiation of traffic stops, however to date, no such work has been conducted on a policing entity within the United States military. Through observational ride alongs and unstructured discussion with participants, this study breaks that barrier and assesses how one particular Air Force installation’s law enforcement officers exercise their authority."

“Sometimes I’M Just Wearing The Prosecutor Down”: An Exploratory Analysis Of Criminal Defense Attorneys In Plea Negotiations And Client Counseling, Jacqueline G. Lee, John W. Ropp

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"As plea bargains have proliferated in the criminal justice system, scholars have been working to better understand their mechanics. There have been a few recent examinations of plea bargaining, but the literature lacks qualitative research that gives the defense sufficient attention. Using a sample of courtroom practitioners in one large, urban county, we examine defense attorney bargaining and client counseling tactics. Results demonstrate that defense attorneys use a variety of strategies for negotiation, including sharing humanizing information about their clients with the prosecutor and utilizing delay tactics. Results also suggest that attorneys counsel their clients about plea offers in varying …

Understanding The Motivations Of Citizens To Join A Community Posse Initiative: A Qualitative Analysis, Michael Mcskimming

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"This qualitative study examines a community posse initiative initiated by the Clearfield County Sheriff’s Office in Pennsylvania in 2015. In this research, we aimed to understand the motivations of volunteers who joined the posse initiative and identify the factors that affect citizens’ decisions to contribute to a volunteer policing effort. To do this, we collected data through semi-structured interviews with posse members and also obtained official data from the Sheriff’s Office. The major findings suggest that participants were motivated to join the posse out of feelings of duty/attachment to the community, a desire to help law enforcement, and a heightened …

Person-Based Proactivity And Community Relations: Examining Police Perspectives In Troubled Times, Vaughn J. Crichlow, Ross Deuchar, Seth Wyatt Fallik

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Deadly encounters between police and Black men have led to public outrage and increasing scrutiny of law enforcement. In response, some law enforcement leaders have called for more proactive strategies in high-crime areas. While many have criticized oppressive examples of proactivity, such as stopquestion- and-frisk, others have suggested that proactive approaches could be more effective if tailored to the needs of racial and ethnic minority residents. In this qualitative study, we explore these issues using data collected from interviews and participant observation with police officers at a Southern Police Department located near several low-income ethnic minority neighborhoods. The aim of …

Policing Internet Sex Trafficking, Johnny Nhan, Kendra N. Bowen

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Few studies have examined Internet sex trafficking through the lens of law enforcement working these cases. The purpose of this research is to explore the dynamic nature of policing sex trafficking in the online environment. The qualitative data was drawn from interviews with police investigators and detectives who work sex trafficking cases in two urban cities in Texas. The results suggest that the nature of sex trafficking has significantly evolved since the advent of social media, including the strategies for recruitment of workers and clients, making enforcement easier with some aspects and much more difficult with others. Additionally, law enforcement …

The Inluence Of Traditional Police Culture On The Activities Of School Resource O��Cers, Benjamin W. Fisher, F. Chris Curran, Samantha Viano, John Skinner

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"School resource officers (SROs) have become increasingly prevalent in U.S. public schools, yet critics suggest that there is an inherent incompatibility between the cultures of police and education. However, research has not examined the extent to which some of the potentially incompatible elements of police culture exist among SROs. This study examines three elements of traditional police culture that are likely to be particularly incompatible with school settings— suspicion, danger anticipation, and unpredictability. Given SROs’ involvement in roles such as teaching and informal counseling that extend beyond the typical duties of police officers, it is unclear whether these elements of …

“I’Ve Never Been Straight Up Robbed Like That”: Resident Perceptions And Experiences Of Inner-City Police Raids, Marta-Marika Urbanik, Carolyn Greene

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Empirical research has consistently demonstrated that residents of disadvantaged and racialized inner-city neighborhoods across North America are subjected to disproportionate and omnipresent policing. Consequently, relationships between law enforcement officials and marginalized community members are often strained. Whilst a robust body of literature has examined how citizens perceive “every day” policing practices such as “carding,” stop and search, etc., it remains unclear how citizens perceive more invasive policing encounters—such as police raids. Drawing upon 35 interviews with residents of Toronto’s inner-city, this paper explores how community members experience, make sense of, and talk about police raids. Our data uncover widespread perceptions …

Comparing The Violent Crime Trends In Select States To The National Trends To Determine Differences Between Crimes, States, And Regions, Alexandra N. Kremer

The Downtown Review: An Interdisciplinary Journal Written and Peer-Reviewed by Mandel Honors College Students at Cleveland State University

Violent crimes include crimes such as murder, rape, robbery, and assault. The FBI in the UCR breaks these down into Type I, crimes against the person, and Type II, property crimes, offenses. The FBI also divides the country into four regions: West, South, Northeast, and Midwest. Each of these regions are examined, through the use of two states from each, here. Their overall violent crime rates and trends, and their specific Type I offensive rates and trends, are examined against the national data and against each other. Several theories are used to explain the potential causes of the differences in …

Aggrieved Entitlement In The Ivory Tower: Exploratory Qualitative Results From A Large-Scale Campus Climate Survey, Walter S. Dekeseredy, Kathryn Burnham, Robert Nicewarner, James Nolan, Amanda K. Hall-Sanchez

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"A number of key risk factors are associated with racist, sexist, and homophobic practices on North American college campuses. However, one additional determinant that has thus far been overlooked is male aggrieved entitlement. Using exploratory qualitative data gleaned by the Campus Quality of Life Survey administered at a large college in the South Atlantic region of the United States, the main objective of this article is to help fill a major research gap by showing that aggrieved entitlement is a correlate that warrants more attention in future empirical and theoretical work on campus climates."

It’S Dirty Work But Someone Has To Do It: An Examination Of Correctional Officer Taint Management Techniques, Scott Chenault, Brooke Collins

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Since the 1950s scholars have applied the term dirty work to occupations that society views as demoralizing or disgusting. Occupations are labeled as dirty when they require work which is physically, socially and/or morally tainted. Correctional officers experience pervasive levels of all three types of taint while working in a low prestige occupation. This article relies on ethnographic data to examine how occupational stigma management techniques are taught to new officers and what techniques are most prominent. The findings indicate that new officers are taught occupational ideologies regarding stigma management primarily through sense-making and storytelling. We find that officers manage …

Ethically Representing Drug Use: Photographs And Ethnographic Research With People Who Use Methamphetamine, Heith Copes, Whitney Tchoula, Jared Ragland

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"The use of photographs in criminological research can be an important tool for both collecting data and illustrating findings. When used in published research, photographs can aid in viewers connecting with the subject matter and the participants. However, photographs can also reify and reinforce cultural stereotypes. We believe that the potential damage done by including photographs can be mitigated when the photographs are properly contextualized. Our aim here is to argue for the value of contextualized photographs in research with those who engage in crime or deviance. We illustrate how by including the stories of participants and ourselves we can …

An Analytical History Of Black Female Lynchings In The United States, 1838-1969, David V. Baker, Gilbert Garcia

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Narratives on the lynching of black females in the United States have rarely commanded much more than minor postscripts in the lynching scholarship, thus leaving the historical picture of lynching violence incomplete and distorted. To correct for this unfinished portrait of American lynchings, the present work provides a contextual history on black females victimized largely by white male terrorists. To distinguish black female lynchings and bring into sharper focus the wretched horror suffered by black women and young black girls, this work constructs an inventory of 188 confirmed cases of black females lynched mostly by white mobsters from 1838 to …

“I Did What I Believe Is Right”: A Study Of Neutralizations Among Anonymous Operation Participants, Kimberly A. Detardo-Bora, Erica N. Clark, Bill Gardner

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Our knowledge of online activists or hacktivists is growing, but it is still far from complete. The reasons why some of these individuals violate computer laws or how they justify their behavior remains elusive, yet one particular framework that lends itself to understanding a hacker or hacktivist’s belief system is Sykes and Matza’s (1957) neutralization theory. The present study involved a content analysis of publicly available commentary found online and made by participants in Anonymous operations against United States targets from 2008-2013. Over 13,000 words were analyzed, and of the 384 passages of text and phrases, roughly 62% of passages …

#Jesuisparis?: An Appeal To Hypocrisy And Justifications For Mass Casualty Violence, Karyn Sporer, Michael K. Logan, Gina S. Ligon, Doug C. Derrick

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

We draw from Sykes and Matza’s techniques of neutralization theory to interpret how Islamic State and the Levant (ISIL) soft-sympathizers justify violence perpetrated by ISIL. Data come from Tweets associated with ISIL-affiliated accounts that occurred within 24 hours of three high-profile ISIL-attributed attacks: Paris, Nice, and Orlando. Our findings suggest that condemnation of the condemners was a particularly salient neutralization technique used to point out the perverse motives and inconsistent behaviors of Western armed forces, media, and the public. More specifically, we found that the condemnation of the condemners was underlined by three specific claims: (1) comparable violence, (2) …

Anger From Within: The Role Of Emotions In Disengagement From Violent Extremism, Pete Simi, Steven Windisch, Daniel Harris, Gina Ligon

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"There is growing recognition about the similarities between generic criminality and violent extremism. Using data derived from a unique set of in-depth life history interviews with 40 former U.S. white supremacists, as well as previous studies of criminal desistance, we examine the emotional valence that characterizes actors' descriptions of the disengagement process. More specifically, results suggest that negative emotions (i.e., anger and frustration) directed toward the extremist group and oneself function as a catalyst for disengagement. Negative emotions become a source of motivation in re-evaluating the relative importance of the group as it relates to the individual. Ultimately, the reevaluation …

Definitions Favorable To Terrorism? Sssl And Radicalization: A Case Study Approach, Jennifer Varriale Carson, Patrick Andres James

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Although social structure and social learning (SSSL) theory has oft been proposed as a general theory of crime, it has rarely been applied to that which qualifies as ideologically-motivated. We seek to rectify this notable gap in the research by examining the suitability of an SSSL framework to radicalization; an understudied, yet vital process to enacting evidence-based counterterrorism efforts. Utilizing a “most likely” case study approach, we find several themes consistent with SSSL principles, primarily within its social learning constructs. We conclude that SSSL does indeed offer promise for explaining all forms of crime including acts of terrorism."

Introduction To The Special Issue On Terrorism, Thomas J. Holt

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"As noted by several scholars, there has been a massive growth in research related to terror and extremism in the wake of the 9/11 attacks in the United States. Federal agencies have invested millions of dollars in funding to understand violent extremism, particularly through the use of quantitative assessments of behavior. As a result, there are several widely recognized databases of terror and extremist violence against targets in the US and abroad."

The Emergence Of Violent Narratives In The Life-Course Trajectories Of Online Forum Participants, Philippa Levey, Martin Bouchard

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Online discussion forums have been identified as an online social milieu that may facilitate the radicalization process, or the development of violent narratives for a minority of participants, notably youth. Yet, very little is known on the nature of the conversations youth have online, the emotions they convey, and whether or how the sentiments expressed in online narratives may change over time. Using Life Course Theory (LCT) and General Strain Theory (GST) as theoretical guidance, this article seeks to address the development of negative emotions in an online context, specifically whether certain turning points (such as entry into adulthood) are …

A Mixed Method Examination Of Law Enforcement Investigatory Strategies Used In Jihadi And Far-Right Foiled Terrorist Plots Before And After 9/11, Brent R. Klein, Jeff Gruenewald, Steven M. Chermak, Joshua D. Freilich

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Empirical research on the law enforcement strategies used to prevent terrorism has increased since the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks. Yet, few studies have examined how these preventative approaches vary based on terrorists’ ideological affiliations and across time. This study thus explores the similarities and differences in law enforcement investigatory strategies used to thwart global jihadi and farright terrorist violence prior to and since the 9/11 terrorism events. Employing a convergent parallel mixed method research design, our study analyzes both quantitative and qualitative data on 86 terrorism enterprise investigations from the U.S. Extremist Crime Database (ECDB). The quantitative data analyses …

Skinning The Cat: How Mandatory Psychiatric Evaluations For Animal Cruelty Offenders Can Prevent Future Violence, Ashley Kunz

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

In 2017, the Texas legislature amended Texas Penal Code § 42.092, which governs acts of cruelty against non-livestock animals. The statute in its current form makes torturing, killing, or seriously injuring a non-livestock animal a third degree felony, while less serious offenses carry either a state jail felony or a Class A misdemeanor charge.

While a step in the right direction, Texas law is not comprehensive in that it fails to address a significant aspect of animal cruelty offenses: mental illness. For over fifteen years, Texas Family Code § 54.0407 has required psychiatric counseling for juveniles convicted of cruelty to …

Meaning-Making Through Narrative: Extending Narrative Analysis For Criminological Examination Of Documentary Film, Charissa Crépault Weir

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"In this paper, I demonstrate how an understanding of narrative and the tools of narrative analysis can help criminologists unpack the techniques of meaning-making employed in media representations, including documentary films about imprisonment. Since media help to shape, though do not determine, public perceptions of crime and criminal justice, it is useful for criminologists to examine not just media content (i.e. what is said), but also how media constructions advance arguments that are presented as self-evidently true. Narrative structure offers one way for journalists to organize content in a persuasive and emotionally appealing manner and to embed arguments and interpretations …