Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Crossover Youth: The Relationship Between Juvenile Dependency And Delinquency, Victoria Davenport

University Honors Theses

This literature review looks at the relationship between juvenile delinquency and juvenile dependency. Specifically, it evaluates the existence of "crossover youth", minors who have been involved with both systems in their lifetime. The review considers thirteen different studies, literature reviews, and databases to determine risk factors in maltreated youth that cause them to offend. The review also looks at the impact that second-generation parents have on likelihood of offending as juveniles, as well as the importance of welfare worker perception on parental involvement with dependency agencies. Finally, the review considers potential interventions to crossover youth, determining how to assist maltreated …

Mitigating Sex Trafficking: Preventative Methods For Reducing Sexual Exploitation, Autumn Rain Monroe

University Honors Theses

In recent years, sex trafficking has become more well-known in the public sphere, generating activism and legislation in an effort to combat this human rights issue. With this increased awareness comes challenges in appropriately understanding sex trafficking. The general public and even lawmakers often do not understand the complete dynamic or complexities of sex trafficking. Definitional inconsistencies make it difficult to provide a universal definition of sex trafficking, contributing to misconceptions involving the methods of entry and the barriers to exiting. Ultimately, this prevents proper identification of victims, hinders the protection of victims, and the implementation of survivor-oriented legislation, meaning …

Decriminalizing Drugs: A Comparative Study Of Oregon In An International Context, Fox Millsaps

University Honors Theses

Oregon made history in 2020 when voters joined together to approve ballot measure 110, the Drug Addiction Treatment and Recovery Act, which decriminalized personal amounts of all illicit substances. This was done in a bid to begin treating the ongoing drug crisis as a public health issue as opposed to a criminal justice issue. While Oregon may be the first in the nation to make such a move, they are not the first government to experiment with decriminalizing 'hard drugs.' Some argue that Oregon’s model was based on Portugal's decriminalization effort and point to Portugal's success as a potential outcome …

People And Power: Person-First Language Usage And The Criminal Justice System, Casey E. Orr

Amplify: A Journal of Writing-as-Activism

Language is power. Word choice and terminology, especially those referring to people, are expressions of societal norms and institutional power. Dehumanizing crime-first terms and labels are abundant and common in criminal justice contexts despite being protested by system-involved individuals and activists. Instead, many advocate for person-first terms wherein identifying language emphasizes an individual’s humanity. With a peace-focused anthropological framework, this paper presents the case for person-first language in criminal justice contexts. It is evident that adopting first-person language usage regarding the criminal justice system is necessary after analyzing and considering the multiple sources, such as the voices of those who …

Community Supervision: Perspectives Of Probation And Parole Officers And Supervisors On Key Supervision Approaches And Policy Changes, Asianna Nelson

Dissertations and Theses

This study explores the differences across community supervision approaches in Oregon and how the implementation of state policies has influenced this field. Therefore, this study seeks to answer the following research questions: 1) How do POs and supervisors define their approach to community supervision? 2) How have POs and supervisors experienced shifts in state policy? Fourteen line staff and supervisors from seven Oregon probation and parole agencies were interviewed to answer these research questions. The findings suggest that most agencies are using evidence-based practices and implementing state policies. However, variation exists across the represented agencies in the experiences and perceptions …

A Historic Review Of Community Policing & The Implementation Issues We Have Faced, Emily Bell

University Honors Theses

Community Policing has existed around the world for decades, despite becoming increasingly popular in the later 1990s and early 2000s in the United States. There have been multiple ways that the United States has tried to implement community policing, which this paper will review. Starting in the 1960s when the 12th street race riots caused Lyndon B. Johnson to publish government reports calling for an overhaul of policing and an increased focus on community relations, and looking all the way to 2014, when President Barack Obama created the Task Force on 21st Century Policing, which also put out a report …

Do Frameworks Matter? Testing The Framing Effect On Public Support For Prison Pell Grants, Natalie Miles Burke

Dissertations and Theses

Postsecondary college education (PSCE) services are a rehabilitative program that offers adults in custody (AICs) the opportunity to earn a college degree while incarcerated. Research has shown that AICs participating in PSCE services reduce the likelihood of future incarceration as well as higher self-esteem and confidence levels. In 2015, President Obama’s Second Chance Pell Pilot program reinstated federal financial aid for AICs to access PSCE services. Although the Second Chance Pell Pilot program has continued to grow since then, little research has been done on public perceptions toward prison Pell Grants.

This thesis studies how offender crime type and sentence …

Motor Vehicle Theft In Portland Oregon, Io Nicholls

University Honors Theses

Residents and stakeholders are increasingly concerned about trends related to motor vehicle theft (MVT) in Portland, Oregon. Currently there are no in-depth studies regarding this crime. This analysis identifies trends in vehicle theft over time, compares Portland to other similar cities, and assesses demographics of neighborhoods with high counts and rates of MVT. First, a broad overview of MVT over a 21-year period spanning from 2000 to 2021 provides context. Then, a more focused analysis of this crime in Portland during more recent years provides information about offenders, types of vehicles stolen, and hot spots where vehicles are most likely …

The Grass Is Always Greener: Analyzing Crime Concentration And Specialization In Urban Greenspace Environs, Cheyenne Pamela Hodgen, Kathryn Wuschke

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications and Presentations

Greenspaces play an important role in the urban landscape, with prior research suggesting that they are associated with numerous health and social benefits for residents. Despite this, research conflicts regarding the relationship between greenspaces and crime, with some studies finding these locations to be criminogenic and others finding them to be protective against local crime. This study examines this relationship in Portland, Oregon, considering different greenspace types as well as different crime types. Further, this study presents a novel methodological adaption to measure crime concentration and specialization around discrete location types by integrating a street network buffer into the standard …

Racial Politics In The Contemporary Prison Society: The Importance Of Race And Ethnicity To Prison Social Organization, Arynn A. Infante, Stephanie J. Morse, Chantal Fahmy, Kevin A. Wright

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications and Presentations

Prior research documents race and ethnicity as central to how individuals navigate the social and physical space of prisons. Racial segregation persists as a feature of prison life, and in navigating this racialized structure, racial groups construct and enforce a set of racialized norms to govern behavior (i.e., the “racial code”) that reinforce and reify prison racial politics. These processes, however, have remained largely descriptive in nature. Using data from a sample of incarcerated men in Arizona prisons (N = 251), this article extends prior work by operationalizing the concept of the racial code, assessing its dimensionality, distinguishing it from …