Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Perceived Credibility Of Allegations Of Sexual Assault Across Victim Race And Mental Health History, Liyah C. Morgan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Previous research examined the effect of victim gender and rape myth acceptance (RMA) on perceptions of victim credibility; however, little attention has been given to the impact of victim race and mental health history, and even fewer studies have explored the intersection of these two identities. The primary purpose of the current study was to identify factors affecting understanding of perceived credibility of victims of sexual assault, specifically in terms of victim race and mental health history. The study also examined the role of RMA on perceptions of credibility and explored participant attitudes related to color-blind racial attitudes and mental …

Pornography: Social, Emotional And Mental Implications Among Adolescents, William K. Canady

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

This presentation will explain the historical development of pornography. It will highlight three segments: 1- Porn’s impact on brain development of reward pathways, ultimately increasing the appetite for more porn. 2- Porn can be a false substitute for real intimacy, resulting in decreased sexual satisfaction with a real person and increased verbal and physical aggression. 3- Porn promotes sex trafficking, promotes multiple sex partners and reduced STD prevention.

"Shut Down And Closed Off": A Routine Activity Approach To Investigating The Relationship Between Covid-19 School Closures And Child Sexual Abuse Report Characteristics In Georgia, Spencer E. Riner

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 created a public health crisis that led to an unprecedented number of school closures. A major concern raised by child advocates, law enforcement, and social service providers was the possible increase in undetected child abuse and maltreatment. Undergirding this concern was the belief that this mitigation effort might place child abuse victims and offenders within proximity for extended periods of time. While this was a significant concern, it has rarely been analyzed empirically. To address this gap in the literature, this thesis investigates how school closures impacted the characteristics of child sexual abuse (CSA) reports …

Disparities In Extreme Contexts: The Impact Of Gender And Mental Health Status On The Criminal Justice Outcomes Of Extremists, Andrea Corradi

Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology Faculty Publications

Purpose: While disparities in the treatment of individuals in the criminal justice system have been well-documented, due to varying political and legal contexts it is likely that disparities may differ for perpetrators of extremism. This research examines the effects of gender and mental health status on criminal justice outcomes of individuals who have been accused of committing ideologically motivated crimes in the United States. Methods: Using the Extremist Crime Database (ECDB) and logistic and ordinary least-squares (OLS) regression models, this study estimates the effects of these individual characteristics on adjudication method and sentence length, and isolates pre/post-2001 time-periods. Results: The …

Sustainable, Accessible, Feasible, Effective (Safe) School Safety Planning: Educator Preparedness In Crisis Detection And Response, Katherine Fallon, Juliann Sergi Mcbrayer, Dawn Tysinger, Chad Posick, Mary Jo Carney

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

As incidents of school violence have hit the news media, school safety is of increasing interest to scholars and practitioners. Unfortunately, schools are ill-equipped to prevent violence and intervene when it occurs. This presentation will discuss how research can inform school readiness and public policy to prevent and intervene in violence.

Myths, Misconceptions, And Misrepresentations: An Examination Of Erroneous Human Trafficking Beliefs, Sarah M. Vanorder

Honors College Theses

Human trafficking is a crime that effects people all over the globe and an estimated 24.9 million people are currently being exploited through some form of human trafficking. Despite its prevalence, there are a variety of myths regarding human trafficking that are commonly believed by the public. The proliferation of these myths can have damaging effects and ultimately prevent survivors from receiving the help they need. The aim of this study is to discover factors that lead to the belief of these myths about human trafficking. To uncover these factors, a survey was administered in October 2020 and completed by …

Marsy’S Law In Georgia: Are Domestic Violence Victims Actually Being Protected By The Law?, Victoria Hannes

Honors College Theses

Marsy's Law, or the Victims Bill of Rights legislation, was first passed in California in 2008 and has been adopted by 13 states. In 2019, Georgia was added to the list of states that adopted the policy. While an important step for the victims' rights movement, little is known about how Marsy's Law impacts the landscape of victims’ rights at the local level. Therefore, the current study endeavored to explore how Marsy's Law is shaping the landscape of victims’ rights for domestic violence victims in Coastal Georgia. Guided by the zero-sum conceptualization of victims' rights, the study investigated the law's …

Defund The Police: Snappy Slogan Or A Viable Solution? A Case Study Of Savannah, Georgia, Michayla F. Knox

Honors College Theses

The notion of defunding the police remains a hot-button political topic since the protests of Summer 2020. The forefront of the debate concerns how defunding the police will impact crime rates. Still, the topic has scarcely been investigated empirically. This thesis provides an early examination into the relationship between "defunding the police", reallocating funding, and crime rates in Savannah, Ga. Several experiments are performed to answer three research questions that involve comparing and manipulating the budget provided for policing and the budgets for neighborhood vitality and poverty reduction. The findings show that Savannah allocates significantly more money to the policing …

The American Racial Divide In Fear Of The Police, Justin T. Pickett, Amanda Graham, Francis T. Cullen

Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology Faculty Publications

The mission of policing is “to protect and serve,” but recent events suggest that many Americans, and especially Black Americans, do not feel protected from the police. Understanding police-related fear is important because it may impact civilians’ health, daily lives, and policy attitudes. To examine the prevalence, sources, and consequences of both personal and altruistic fear of the police, we surveyed a nationwide sample (N = 1,150), which included comparable numbers of Black (N = 517) and White (N = 492) respondents. Most White respondents felt safe, but most Black respondents lived in fear of the police killing them and …

Wrongful Conviction Compensation In The United States, Brenda I. Morel

Honors College Theses

Although the United States has signed a United Nations agreement that stipulates that all wrongfully convicted individuals have a right to compensation, not all states have compensation laws. In addition, it is not guaranteed that exonerees living in states with compensation statutes will be compensated. This thesis examines the scope of wrongful conviction compensation statutes across states. Furthermore, it examines whether exoneree characteristics, as identified by the National Exoneree Registry, map onto state-level differences in laws and effectiveness in compensating exonerees. I compile two sources of data to link individual exonerees with their state of conviction.

Public Health Interventions For Children Of Incarcerated Parents, Daniel Bullman

GS4 Georgia Southern Student Scholars Symposium

The impact of social and structural determinants of health have lifelong consequences on an individual’s quality of life. Literature focusing on child health and wellbeing of incarcerated parents indicate significant negative health outcomes and adopted detrimental health behaviors. Using a systematic realist review, recent publications were reviewed for their potential discussion or recommendation for interventions in changing health outcomes. This review found that additional research is needed in identifying and testing potential interventions or determining if parallel public health initiatives have had positive impacts in promoting the health behavior change process for children and adolescents of incarcerated parents.

An Examination Of The Relationship Between Childhood Punishment And Adult Ipv, Anna G. Griffith

Honors College Theses

The goal of this project is to examine the relationship between childhood punishment and experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) as an adult. Using an anonymous, self-report survey, students from Georgia Southern University were asked about their experiences with IPV, as well as their experiences of childhood punishment administered by both mother and father. The results show that children who receive corporal, verbal, and emotional punishment from their mother are more likely to experience all forms of IPV later in life. When analyzing the same relationships with fathers, corporal punishment is not associated with IPV while verbal and emotional punishment is.

The 1994 Federal Crime Bill: An Evaluation Of The Past, Present, And Future Of Its Impact On The Criminal Justice System, Jade R. Philpot

Honors College Theses

The 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act was signed into law in response to the crack cocaine and crime epidemic of the 1980s. In this thesis I address the major elements of this bill, the racial, financial, and ethical conflicts that arose thereafter, and the reforms that should be implemented today to correct said conflicts.

The Influence Of Misinformation From The American Perspective, Tyler W. Nelson

Honors College Theses

Over the last decade, conspiracy theorists and larger groups have become much more prominent across the United States, despite conspiracies being present for decades. Previously, they have been dismissed by most, however over the last decade due to an explosive political climate and growing numbers, these groups have begun to act on their beliefs. Events such as the January 6th Insurrection on the United States Capitol building is an unfortunate example as to how far these groups are willing to go. This study’s purpose is to use a nationwide survey to help determine who exactly are these types of individuals …

Pornography: Social, Emotional And Mental Implications Among Adolescents, William K. Canady

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

This presentation will explain the historical development of pornography. It will highlight four segments: 1- Porn’s impact on brain development of reward pathways, ultimately increasing the appetite for more porn. 2- Porn can be a false substitute for real intimacy, resulting in decreased sexual satisfaction with a real person and increased verbal and physical aggression. 3- Porn promotes sex trafficking, promotes multiple sex partners and reduced STD prevention. 4- A review of interventions available to assist clients in navigating a lifestyle away from pornography.

Sticky Situations: Understanding The Law And Life, Krystal Banks

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

Law and life go hand in hand. Understanding the law and how it connects to life can be an effective tool in teaching youth and adults the value of making good decisions when it comes to life and the law. Sticky Situations places real-world situations in the context of learning how to apply the law and effectively respond to life's sticky situations.

Pandemic Emotions: The Extent, Correlates And Mental Health Consequences Of Personal And Altruistic Fear Of Covid-19, Melissa M. Sloan, Murat Haner, Amanda K. Graham, Francis T. Cullen, Justine T. Pickett, Cheryl L. Jonson

Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology Faculty Publications

COVID-19 has had unprecedented effects on populations around the world. Given the political context of the pandemic and the nation’s response to it, this study sought to assess the extent of Americans’ personal fear about the virus as well as their fear for others (altruistic fear), identify potential predictors of these fears, and examine the mental health impact of heightened COVID-19 fears. Overall, a majority of respondents worried about various aspects of the virus, from being exposed to dying, and reported often worrying about others, including family, the elderly, and healthcare professionals. Building on the fear of crime literature, we …

Restoration Of A Nation, Deshauna Williams

Honors College Theses

Restorative justice is a growing school of penal thought which places emphasis on restoration and healing rather than punitive solutions. The purpose of this study is to assess whether prior experience with the criminal justice system, either as a victim, as an offender, or as an employee, affects perceptions of the foundations of restorative justice. These foundations include ideas such as punishment, retribution, and victim involvement. Additionally, this study examines how these perspectives influence the respondents’ perception of effectiveness or “justness” of the criminal justice system. Findings reveal that offenders have more negative views of punishment as a method of …

Racial Sympathy And Support For Capital Punishment: A Case Study In Concept Transfer, Kellie R. Hannan, Francis T. Cullen, Leah C. Butler, Amanda K. Graham, Alexander L. Burton, Velmer S. Burton Jr.

Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology Faculty Publications

Beliefs about race, especially racial resentment, are key predictors of public support for capital punishment and punitiveness generally. Drawing on a conceptual innovation by political scientist Jennifer Chudy, we explore the utility of transferring into criminology her construct of racial sympathy – or Whites’ concern about Blacks’ suffering. First, across three data sets, we replicate Chudy’s finding that racial sympathy and resentment are empirically distinct constructs. Second, based on a national-level 2019 YouGov survey (n = 760 White respondents) and consistent with Chudy’s thesis, racial sympathy is then shown to be significantly related to the race-specific view that capital punishment …

Who Wears The Maga Hat? Racial Beliefs And Faith In Trump, Amanda K. Graham, Francis T. Cullen, Leah C. Butler, Alexander L. Burton, Velmer S. Burton Jr.

Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology Faculty Publications

On the basis of a 2019 YouGov survey of white respondents (n = 734), the impact of racial beliefs on support for Donald Trump was explored. The analysis revealed that in addition to racial resentment, white nationalism—a desire to keep the United States white demographically and culturally—was strongly related to faith in Trump. Analyses based on a 2019 Amazon Mechanical Turk survey yielded similar results and also showed that white nationalism increased willingness to wear a MAGA hat. Future research on the political consequences of racial beliefs should focus on what whites think not only of blacks but also …

The Prevalence Of Intimate Partner Violence And Victim Resources At Georgia Southern University, Elizabeth Lacey

Honors College Theses

The goal of this project is to measure the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) among young adults in a college setting. Using an anonymous, self-report survey, college students at a large university in the south were asked about their experiences with IPV, as well as their knowledge and perceptions of victim’s services available on campus and in the community. Results reveal that IPV Is more prevalent among females and technology-related IPV is more prevalent among males at Georgia Southern University. In addition, the study found that compared to women, men are more informed about existing victim services.

Faith In Trump, Moral Foundations, And Social Distancing Defiance During The Coronavirus Pandemic, Amanda K. Graham, Francis T. Cullen, Justin T. Pickett, Cheryl Lero Jonson, Murat Haner, Melissa M. Sloan

Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology Faculty Publications

Purpose:

Over the past several months, the coronavirus has infected more than six million Americans and killed nearly 200,000. Governors have issued stay-at-home orders, and prosecutors have filed criminal charges against individuals for defying those orders. And yet many Americans have still refused to keep their distance from their fellow citizens, even if they had symptoms of infection. The authors explore the underlying causes for those who intend to defy these norms.

Methods:

Using national-level data from a March 2020 survey of 989 Americans, the authors explore intentions to defy social distancing norms by testing an interactionist theory of foundation-based …

Effects Of Mental Health Programs On School Violence, Lillian R. Gray

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Bullying, defined as any unwanted aggressive behavior(s) by another youth or group of youths who are not siblings or current dating partners that involves an observed or perceived power imbalance and is repeated multiple times or is highly likely to be repeated, is becoming an epidemic in our schools, with rates of victimization rising (Donegan, 2012). This thesis examines mental health programs already established within schools, as well as schools where students do not have access to mental health resources and compares the amount of violence that is perpetrated within these schools. Next, this study explores the relationship between bullying …

Reducing Recidivism In At-Risk Urban Youth Through Lyrical Expression Therapy: A Qualitative Program Evaluation, Margaret Goldman

National Youth Advocacy and Resilience Conference

This presentation examines a hip-hop-based lyrical expression intervention program as a mechanism of recidivism reduction, particularly for minority youth offenders. Analyses of qualitative data indicate that the program empowers at-risk minority youth to make positive life changes while using the familiarity of hip-hop subculture to establish a comfortable learning environment. Attendees interested in juvenile justice will benefit from this presentation.

The Role Of Shame: A Creative Look At Justice, Gabrielle Lory

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current criminal justice system is often brought under scrutiny for its perceived lack of procedural justice, low rates of victim satisfaction and a pattern of sentencing disparities among populations of racial minorities and people of low socioeconomic status (Palmer, 2015; Hamilton, 2017; Cornwell & Waite, 2009). Alternative justice programs have been growing in number for decades, as well as continually developing their processes to improve outcomes for victims and ameliorate sentencing disparities. This study examines the extant literature on alternative sentencing programs, specifically restorative justice programs, to provide empirical evidence contributing to the development of a creative justice framework …

Examining What Factors Affect High School Students’ Educational Aspirations, Kalle T. Pray

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study sought to examine the factors that influenced a high school student’s educational aspirations. This study used data collected by the High School Longitudinal Study (HSLS) 2009-2013 to examine how a student’s engagement, interest, attitudes toward math teacher, counselors helping with college materials, and meeting with a counselor influence a student’s educational aspirations. The findings suggest that student engagement, student interest and meeting with a counselor were significant predictors of higher educational aspirations even after controlling for being white, female, academic track, and family income. Counselors helping with college material was also a predictor of higher educational aspirations, however …

The Perspectives Of School Resource Officers On Job Responsibilities And Training, Sarah Parker

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As school security measures are increasing, including the use of school resource officers (SRO) throughout the United States, there is a concern that these officers are being used as disciplinarians rather than being in the schools to ensure student safety. There is very little research that looks at the job expectations for SROs and if the training they receive reflects what is required of them. To address this issue, this study will provide the perspectives that SROs have on their job responsibilities, what they believe their responsibilities should be, and if the training they received reflects those responsibilities. This study …

Analyzing Predictors Of Drinking And Driving Among Gender Cohorts Within A College Sample, Justin Hoyle

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The current study focuses on predominant predictors associated with each gender cohort’s engagement in driving under the influence (DUI). Aker’s social learning theory, Gottfredson and Hirshi’s low self-control theory, and Agnew’s strain theory are utilized to explore differences within two separate step-wise logistic regressions; one set of regressions contain a male only sample (n = 855), while the other model contains a female only sample (n = 968). This study uses self-report measures of DUI from a survey administered at a large Southeastern university focusing on risk-taking behaviors. Results indicate that social learning variables differential association and imitation are significant …

Deconstructing The Lgbt-Victimization Association: The Case Of Sexual Assault And Alcohol-Related Problems, Shanna N. Felix, Justin Hoyle, Chad Posick, Bryan Lee Miller, John Stogner

Department of Criminal Justice and Criminology Faculty Publications

Research on lesbian, gay, bisexual and/or transgender (LGBT) students has been gaining traction in the fields of criminology, victimology, and education, but available data lag behind the demand for studies on this underserved population. While LGBT students are often perceived to face greater risk of victimization and subsequent health problems than their counterparts, little research has investigated the mechanisms behind problematic outcomes for LGBT students. This research uses data from a Southeastern University to examine sexual assault among LGBT students and their experiences with alcohol-related problems. The results show that LGBT youth are at an increased risk for sexual victimization …