Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Redefining Rehabilitation: Evaluating The Washtenaw County Pre-Plea Diversion Program, William Ellsworth

CMC Senior Theses

The Washtenaw County (MI) Prosecutor’s Office’s Pre-Plea Diversion Program (PPDP) aims to divert eligible misdemeanor defendants from the criminal justice system, offering rehabilitative programming to reduce reoffending and minimize the collateral consequences of a criminal conviction with case dismissal. This research assessed whether PPDP participants were less likely to be re-arrested in the six months following program completion compared to a sample of defendants facing similar charges within the same court. It was hypothesized that the PPDP would effectively reduce re-arrest, with community service and mental health counseling proving particularly impactful. Employing a quasi-experimental design, data from 90 successfully diverted …

Offender Reintegration In Nevada: A Longitudinal Study Focusing On Transitional Challenges, Reentry Capital, And Recidivism, Carolyn S. Willis

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Offender reintegration (reentry) depends on offender motivation, public policies, community efforts, and resources provided through government and nonprofit sectors. As individuals are released from incarceration and reintegrate into the community, they are often dependent on resources provided by different service providers and the community. The role of the community is crucial as resources are oftentimes not accessible. Lack of employment and housing, mental health issues, substance abuse, and the inability to reestablish personal relationships diminish the prospects of successful reintegration and increase the chances of reincarceration. Reentry capital delivered through community-based programs addresses the transitional issues justice-impacted individuals encounter post-incarceration. …

What The Hell Is Wrong With America? The Truth About Racism And Justice For All, James E. Wright Ii, Stephanie Dolamore, Rajade M. Berry-James

Journal of Public Management & Social Policy

No abstract provided.

My Three Criminal Justice Careers, Brisa Sanchez

Undergraduate Scholarly Works

This undergrad research paper is about the basics of the three components of criminal justice careers and the careers and salaries they do for a living.

Biblical Principles Of Government & Criminal Justice, Kahlib Fischer

Faculty Publications and Presentations

The following is an overview of Biblical precepts related to government and criminal justice. Before moving onto specific points of application, it is necessary to establish a paradigm for what it means to have a Biblical worldview in general, and for what it means to know and understand the nature of truth. This paper is as much about pedagogy and hermeneutics as it is about content. But more than that, this paper is about living out the Gospel in all areas of life, of which matters of Church, State, Society, and Soul are all parts.

The Policies Of The Catholic Church Sex Abuse Scandal Analyzed Through Punctuated Equilibrium Theory, Multiple Streams Theory, And Diffusion Theory, Camille T. Traczek

Student Publications

The discovery of sexual abuse of children at the hands of Catholic Church priests resulted in extensive state policy suggestions, such as statute of limitations reform. To best understand the processes and factors that influenced the creation of such policies, Punctuated Equilibrium Theory, Multiple Streams Theory, and Diffusion Theory are applied in this paper. Punctuated Equilibrium Theory demonstrates how several large-scale public exposés of abuse generated enough attention to result in policy change. Multiple Streams Theory shows how awareness of sexual abuse within the Catholic church, continuous debate over proposed policies, and the opportunity for change can result in the …

Judicial Elections, Public Opinion, And Their Impact On State Criminal Justice Policy, Travis N. Taylor

Theses and Dissertations--Political Science

This dissertation explores whether and how the re-election prospects faced by trial court judges in many American states influence criminal justice policy, specifically, state levels of incarceration, as well as the disparity in rates of incarceration for Whites and Blacks. Do states where trial court judges must worry about facing reelection tend to encourage judicial behavior that results in higher incarceration rates? And are levels of incarceration and racial disparities in the states influenced by the proportion of the state publics who want more punitive policies? These are clearly important questions because they speak directly to several normative and empirical …

Exploring The Impacts Of Workplace Loneliness On Criminal Justice Senior Leaders, Johanna Papa

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This phenomenological qualitative study aimed to explore the impacts of workplace loneliness on senior leaders of various criminal justice organizations. The theoretical framework used was Descartes' views of the self-concept theory, which explained how individuals defined and described themselves within a social context. Using purposive sampling and semistructured telephone, and email interviews of 16 criminal justice senior leaders from the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area, this research was conducted to answer the overarching question of this study. Workplace loneliness was a professional hazard. The key findings revealed that at least 87% of the criminal justice senior leaders reported feeling or have …

A Case Study Of Overcrowding In A County Jail In The Southeast United States, Marquice Robinson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

For the past several decades, the county jail in a large metropolitan city in the southeast United States has been overcrowded, which has resulted in violence within the jail, excessive costs to the Sheriff's Office, and a requirement of Federal oversight of the jail from 2005 to 2015. In spite of these events, little is understood about why jail overcrowding is prevalent in the county and what impacts overcrowding may have on the communities around the jail. Using Shaw and McKay's social disorganization theory as the foundation, the purpose of this case study was to understand the unique circumstances around …

Effectiveness Of Social Work Reentry Programs At Preventing Recidivism, Daniel C. Grijalva

Publications and Research

Each year in the United States, thousands of individuals are released from prisons and must reintegrate into society. Ensuring these individuals obtain adequate employment upon release is key to keeping them from returning to the penal system. This paper examines different social work programs that attempt to secure employment for ex-offenders. This paper reviews the obstacles these programs face and considers how social workers can improve the effectiveness of these programs at preventing recidivism. This paper acknowledges that some of these programs have achieved moderate success in preventing recidivism but recognizes the need to research current programs’ methodologies so that …

Race And Justice Outcomes: Contextualizing Racial Discrimination And Ferguson, Jason M. Williams

Ralph Bunche Journal of Public Affairs

While scores of literature may hint at the tumultuous relationship between the criminal justice system and Blacks, such literature, however, fail to assess, comprehensively, the intersectional purpose of present criminal justice processes and race. This paper will examine contemporary applications of justice along racial lines. It is argued that current justice outcomes are advantageous to the status quo. It is no secret that the American system of justice has a race problem; however, if the goal is to administer justice then, as this paper argues, the current system needs to be seriously examined and rebuilt. The paper also argues that …

Effect Of The Criminal Justice Curriculum On The Attitudes Of 12th-Grade Students Toward The Police, Willie Howard Bradley

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

While the use of criminal justice courses and law-related education programs have been shown to serve as a crime prevention and deterrence mechanism against school crime and violence, and help students to gain positive experiences and attitudes toward law enforcement, many high schools still do not offer criminal justice courses. The purpose of this quasiexperimental study was to compare the attitudes of 12th-grade students from a school district in Massachusetts who took a criminal justice course to 12th-grade students from another school district in Massachusetts who did not to determine if there is a statistically significant difference between the groups. …

Electronic Warrant Systems: The Effect Of Advanced Technologies On Arrest Performance, Gerald Lee Ward

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Public safety is negatively affected when arrest warrant information is not available to law enforcement officers, judges, prosecutors, and other criminal justice practitioners. The U.S. Government and the criminal justice community have advocated for electronic warrant systems (e-warrants). Peace officers know that when e-warrant systems deliver warrant information to them immediately from multiple jurisdictions, their safety is increased. However, the factors that cause these e-warrants systems to improve safety are not known. The purpose of this historical data analysis study was to determine if the use of e-warrant systems resulted in shorter clearance times than the use of legacy paper-based …

Prison 2 Society, Heidi S. Collins

MSW Capstones

Abstract

Returning to the community from jail is a complex transition for most offenders, as well as for their families and communities. Upon reentering society, former offenders are likely to struggle with substance abuse, lack of adequate education and job skills, limited housing options, and mental health issues. This project illuminates the difficulties that adults face as they transition out of jails back to the community and presents a model of a one-stop-shop that is designed to include all the transition resources an adult may need to successfully re-integrate back to the community after incarceration, all housed at one, easily …

From Community Policing And Crime Control To Security Policing And Citizen Control: Rural And Small-Town Policing In Post 9/11 America, Josh Yeager

Online Theses and Dissertations

Research is lacking on rural and small-town policing in the post 9/11 era. This is unfortunate in view of changing perceptions of threat and insecurity, the financial crisis of 2008 and curtailments placed on funding for rural and small-town police agencies. This thesis argues that the proliferation of homeland security resources and priorities has significantly shaped rural and small-town policing in recent years. Rural and small-town law enforcement agencies, often lagging behind in resources and funding as compared to their urban counterparts, have embraced homeland security agendas, priorities and technologies as a means of securing their financial goals and abilities. …

Rejecting The Rejecters: The Latent Effect Of Policy On Subculture, Ethan Maxwell Higgins

Online Theses and Dissertations

Specifically, this thesis is a look into rap lyrics, subculture, policy, reflexivity and the formation of the social self. In a broader vision, this thesis attempts to mold a theoretical pathway that illuminates where our cultural products "come from," not historically, but socially. Through the vehicle of rap lyrics I attempt to show that there is a historical and social structure that molds, limits and contains the very possibility of what music and lyrics can come to be. I try to show that the decisions we make on a national scale effects groups which have little political power, effectively recreating …

Is An International Treaty Needed To Fight Corruption And The Narco-Insurgency In Mexico?, Stuart S. Yeh

Stuart S Yeh

Mexican government corruption prevents effective law enforcement against drug traffickers and the violence associated with drug trafficking. This article reviews the nature and scope of government corruption, including a first-hand account by a Mexican state police commander, then suggests how and why an international treaty establishing United Nation (UN) inspectors who are empowered to investigate corruption at all levels of government could be effective in deterring corruption and restoring the rule of law in the U.S.–Mexico border region. The article suggests that the Rome Statute provides a model for establishing this type of treaty and a precedent for all of …

The Business Of Punishing: Impediments To Accountability In The Private Corrections Industry, Stephen Raher

Stephen Raher

No abstract provided.

Trends. Anti-Drug Public Policies: The Consequentialist-Deontological Distinction, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The author discusses anti-drug public policies--and related substantive and procedural legalisms proscribing various psychoactive drug usages.

Trends. Rape As Terrorism: Difficulties In Criminal Justice Adjudication, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The article focuses on psychological complexities in successfully adjudicating allegations of terrorist rape--i.e., rape committed intentionally to achieve formal political objectives.