Legal Studies Commons^™

Racial-Ethnic Differences In Rape And Sexual Assault Victimization: A Pooled Analysis Of Ncvs Data, 1994-2010, Ekaterina Archakova Gorislavsky

Dissertations

There are only a handful of studies of racial and ethnic differences in rape victimization at the national level, and many important questions remain unanswered. The current study responds to existing gaps in knowledge and uses pooled data from the National Crime Victimization Survey for 1994-2010 to answer the following five research questions for the three mutually exclusive racial-ethnic subcategories of women in the United States, including Non-Hispanic White, Non-Hispanic Black and Hispanic/Latina females: 1) What is the general productivity of NCVS screener questions relevant with respect to rape and sexual assault? 2) Do females from some racial-ethnic categories need …

The Amplification Of Deviance Following Police Contact: An Examination Of Individual And Neighborhood Factors Among A Sample Of Youth, Stephanie Ann Wiley

Dissertations

Research indicates that police contact has many negative ramifications. Individuals who are stopped or arrested have fewer educational and employment opportunities, more deviant identities and attitudes, increased involvement with delinquent peers, and higher levels of delinquency. Less is known about whether these adverse consequences are universal or if they are more prevalent among some segments of the population. In this dissertation I draw on labeling theory to explore the effects of police contact for a sample of juveniles. According to labeling theory and its extensions, official labels such as those associated with police contact should lead to delinquency through three …

Redemption Or Condemnation? A Long-Term Follow-Up Of The Desistance Patterns Of Sex Offenders, Kimberly Raye Kras

Dissertations

Desistance is one of most important topics in criminology. Why some offenders stop offending and why others continue has been long been a question with far-reaching theoretical and empirical implications. Despite the extensive literature on desistance, most of the research examines offenders as a single group, an approach which might overlook differences between individuals by offense type. One offender group that has not been investigated in depth is sex offenders. Sex offenders are an important group to study because they present concerns to public safety and are the subject of much legislation and criminal justice policy. A substantial amount of …

Exploring Job Stress Among Drug Court Personnel, Ragan Andrew Downey

Dissertations

In the field of criminal justice, much research has been devoted to exploring job stress among corrections staff, police officers, and individuals working in legal professions. Additionally, there is an abundance of research regarding drug courts and their impact on the justice system. There is, however, a stark absence of research concerning job stress among drug court personnel. This study was designed to fill that gap in the existing literature by examining the perceptions of drug court personnel regarding job stress, job satisfaction, and other relevant factors identified in the literature. Results of bivariate and multivariate analyses indicated that drug …

Running The Boys' Club: An Examination Of The Experiences Of Female Law Enforcement Leaders, Jennifer Lynn Taylor

Dissertations

After struggling for decades for an equal status, it appears that female law enforcement officers in general have overcome the obstacles that initially kept them away from the job. Now, it is not uncommon to see a woman working as a patrol officer or criminal investigator. It took a shift in attitude over time and government intervention for this evolution to occur. Male officers were resistant, because the presence of women was considered a threat to their boys’ club that they so cherished. But, eventually, they have come to accept the role of women in policing.

Unfortunately, another dilemma surfaced …

How Do Specialized Units Affect The Outputs Of Police Organizations?: Investigating The Effect Of Community Policing Units On Community Policing Activities In Local Police Departments, Hyon Namgung

Dissertations

A review of modern police history shows the trend of increased division of labor within police agencies. However, police organizations are often criticized for creating specialized police units when they are faced with specific problems or are not effectively tackling local problems. Other challenges from within the profession include potential inter-unit conflicts or indifference of officers from other units that may hinder program implementation by specialized units. The present study looked into the changing characteristics of specialized units within police departments between 2000 and 2007. This research also examined whether creation of specialized community policing units (CP Units) influences the …

Lightning Strikes Twice: An Examination Of The Political Factors Associated With State-Level Death Sentences And Executions In The United States, 1930-2012, Ethan Christopher Amidon

Dissertations

Over the course of the last 50 years, scholars have emphasized the role that political processes play in shaping the nature of capital punishment practices. Empirical studies that have examined the relationship between political factors and capital punishment have attributed variation in the imposition of death sentences and the execution of offenders across jurisdictions in the United States to the politicization of criminal justice policies and practices and the shift in public sentiment towards more punitive ideologies that began in the 1970s. Even though historians have argued that capital punishment practices have always been shaped by political considerations, empirical research …

Judicial Behavior And Litigant Success In Environmental Cases At The United States Court Of Appeals, Elizabeth Wheat

Dissertations

This dissertation tests the legal model of judicial behavior and uses party capability, or litigant resource, theory to explain litigant success in the Court of Appeals for environmental cases and help understand the role litigant type and resources play. Environmental law has received little attention in judicial politics, and I examine which judicial behavior model explains case outcomes. The legal model argues case characteristics best explain judicial outcomes, whereas litigant resource theory posits judicial a litigant’s resources, or lack thereof, explain outcomes.

Galanter’s (1974) party capability theory focuses on advantages repeat players, the “haves,” possess and how these advantages enable …

An Examination Of Cities' Resilence To Violent Crime: A Contextual Analysis Of Victim-Offender Convergence, Vanessa Hatch Woodward

Dissertations

In his 2012 Presidential Address to the American Society of Criminology, Robert Sampson purported that causality can only be reached when social science researchers accept that individual actions are dependent on social context. He referred to this as contextual causality and argued that future research needed to focus on how to measure and/or reoperationalize community measures of crime.

There were three primary goals of this study. First was to provide a better understanding of victim-offender convergence in time and space (Cohen & Felson, 1979) within incidents of violent crime. In order to meet this goal, 90 city agencies’ incident and …

The Politics And Practicalities Of Reentry: A Case Study Of The Reentry Environment In A Suburban Community, Carlene Sipma-Dysico

Dissertations

Although inquiry into reentry has grown significantly in the past decade, studies concerning formerly incarcerated persons entrance back into society tend to look at the outcomes and consequences of reentry, not the process. This "what works and what doesn't work" research approach (Seiter and Kadela 2003) leaves some very important aspects of reentry unexamined. While determining the efficacy of programs designed to reduce recidivism is important for public safety, social policy creation, and budgetary considerations, the role of the community in reentry remains largely unexplored.

This dissertation examines how reentry is done at the community level; by practitioners of reentry, …

Bias Crime And Minority Threat, Michele Stacey

Dissertations

Beginning in the 1980s, the term hate crime became part of the research canon of criminologists across the United States. Researchers have examined the characteristics of hate crime victims, offenders, and offenses. However, little is known about the context of hate crime, and more specifically about the ways that the changing demographics of the United States have contributed to hate crime. The dissertation examines the relationship between these demographic shifts and the trend in hate crime from 2000 to 2007 through the use of population averaged panel models. These models assess changes over time and across place in the number …

Chasing Until The Wheels Fall Off: Developing A Typology Of High-Risk Police Pursuits In Georgia, Lee Miller Wade

Dissertations

The goal of this research project was to examine the potential variables associated with high-risk police pursuits in the state of Georgia. The objectives of the research project were to develop a typology of high-risk pursuits, ascertain the usage of pursuit termination techniques, and inform on the current status of pursuits amongst accredited agencies in the state of Georgia. The Georgia Association of Chiefs of Police (GACP) initiated data collection of pursuits among accredited agencies as a result of the decision in Scott v. Harris 2007. A sample of 2,155 pursuit reports from 2007 to 2009 was analyzed using descriptive …

The Cultural Complex Of Innocence: An Examination Of Media And Social Construction Of Missing White Woman Syndrome, Sarah Land Stein

Dissertations

This study examined the etiology and promulgation of the sociological phenomenon known as missing white woman syndrome. It was hypothesized that missing white woman syndrome may not be entirely attributable to racial disparity as has been claimed in the past. Rather, citing the work of Dr. Carl Jung, the researcher believed that missing white woman syndrome may be partially explained by a concept known as a cultural complex. The cultural complex that was hypothesized for purposes of this study is one related to innocence: That is, as a western society, we have been culturally overexposed to the blonde, Caucasian female …

Deepwater, Deep Ties, Deep Trouble: A State-Corporate Environmental Crime Analysis Of The 2010 Gulf Of Mexico Oil Spill, Elizabeth A. Bradshaw

Dissertations

The 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil spill was one of the worst environmental disasters of all time. Using the concept of state-corporate environmental crime, this project applies a case study analysis of secondary data sources including publicly available government reports, corporate documents, academic sources and journalistic accounts to examine the causes of the blowout and the response to the spill. Building on Michalowski and Kramer’s Integrated Theoretical Model of State-Corporate Crime, this study introduces an additional level of analysis- that of the industry- between the organizational and institutional levels.

The causes of the Deepwater Horizon explosion are rooted both in …

The Effect Of Legal Financial Obligations On Reentry Experiences, Breanne Rae Pleggenkuhle

Dissertations

In 2010, over 700,000 offenders were released from prison (Guerino, Harrison, and Sabol, 2012), and on any given day over seven million individual are under some form of correctional supervision (Glaze, 2011). Research has documented the collateral consequences of transition such as diminished employment prospects and limited housing availability. Fiscal concerns have shifted some of the costs of prosecution and correctional supervision to the offender, resulting in accumulation of legal financial obligations. However, little research has examined of the effect of legal financial obligations on reentry outcomes. This study has two broad goals. The first objective was to document the …

Winds Of Change: The Historical Contingency Of State Crime, Kelly L. Faust

Dissertations

Destruction of the built environment during a natural disaster is by no means a new phenomenon. What has changed over time is how we as a society react to such destruction, as well as what we expect from the state in terms of protection from, and responses to, said destruction. This dissertation explores these changes through a political economic lens with the goal of gaining increased knowledge of the phenomena that constitute state crime. Social structure of accumulation (SSA) theory provides the basis for a view of the state as a social institution which acts according to the goals of …

A Multilevel Analysis Of County And State Variation In The Severity Of Sentences Imposed In Large Urban Courts, Kimberly Helen Martin

Dissertations

This study explored the structural sources behind variability in the sentences applied to felons convicted in state courts located across the U.S. Multilevel regression models were used to explore whether various state and county-level attributes help to account for why defendants experience a significantly higher probability of incarceration versus probation in certain jurisdictions. Drawing upon a broad theoretical landscape, the analyses test several hypotheses derived from macro level theories of social control which predict that that the legal and organizational culture of courts, and the socioeconomic and political attributes of the communities they serve, influence sentencing outcomes. This study sought …

An Examination Of Perceived Stress Levels And Coping Styles Among Rural Law Enforcement Officers, Marcos Luis Misis

Dissertations

Policing is a very stressful job. Despite the extensive body of research on police stress, the majority of studies have focused solely on officers within urban police departments. Research on stress within rural law enforcement departments is virtually non-existent even though the majority of police agencies in America serve towns and areas under 50,000 residents.

This study had four main goals: (1) to examine how work-related stress affects the levels of perceived stress, anxiety, and depression for rural law enforcement officers; (2) to explore the specific stressors affecting rural law enforcement officers; (3) to investigate how rural law enforcement officers …

An Examination Of Factors Affecting Information Sharing Among Law Enforcement Agencies, Scott Driskill Bransford

Dissertations

The purpose of the present study was to investigate using survey data to find factors or barriers which contributed to local law enforcement participation and support of intelligence information sharing. Following the September 11, 2001, attacks in New York City and Arlington, Virginia, new homeland security initiatives and directives were created from the legislative and executive branches of the federal government. Several new initiatives and directives provided new communication opportunities for partnerships between all levels of law enforcement to combat the future threat of domestic terrorism.

The evaluation literature indicated that a majority of post-9/11, initiatives, including the creation of …

From Juvenile Court To The Adult Criminal Justice System: An Examination Of Judicial Waiver, Sheri Lu Jenkins Cruz

Dissertations

This project was concerned with how extra legal factors impact juvenile court judge‟s decisions to waive juveniles to the adult criminal court. This study had both a general and a specific purpose. Generally, it sought to identify and examine the perceptions of juvenile court judges regarding judicial waiver based on previous positions held and on the state in which the juvenile judge resides. Specifically, this study sought to examine the relationship between individual characteristics of juvenile court judges and their perceptions regarding judicial waiver. Based on the research questions, ten hypotheses were developed and tested. The population for this study …

Feminist Advocacy In Community Based Responses To Domestic Violence: Gendered Identity, Ideology And Practices, Andrea J. Nichols

Dissertations

The anti-domestic violence movement began as a feminist grassroots effort. Early feminist advocates relied on survivor-defined and social change practices rooted in feminist identity and ideology. Advocacy has evolved over time, moving from grassroots efforts into professionalized organizations, and now includes collaboration with the justice system in community based responses to domestic violence (CBR). Through inductive analysis of interviews with 26 domestic violence victim advocates and drawing from a gendered organizations framework, I examine how advocates’ feminist identity and ideology shape their practices in CBR. Findings indicate that advocates both resist and reproduce various gendered practices within traditionally feminist anti-domestic …

Examining The Effect Of Changes In The Peer Group On Attitudes: A Longitudinal Study, Dena C. Carson

Dissertations

Peer interactions are an important part of adolescence and have been the focus of much research in both psychology and criminology. The relationship between peer behavior and a youth’s own behavior has been demonstrated multiple times in prior research. Little is known, however, about how peer behavior may affect individual attitudes. This is surprising given that many prevention programs, particularly skills building programs, focus on changing and shaping individual attitudes to change/prevent behavior. This dissertation partially addressed this gap by focusing on the relationship between peer behavior and individual attitudes. This dissertation accomplishes three main goals through the use of …

The Economy-Crime Relationship Revisited: The Significance Of Recent Macroeconomic Conditions And Social Policy Changes For Child Poverty And Youth Violence Trends, White Nicole

Dissertations

The relationship between economic deprivation and violent crime has been one of the most widely studied in the field of criminology, yet little is known about the impact of recent macroeconomic conditions and welfare reform policies on the poverty-youth violence relationship. Therefore, the current study utilizes data from the 1993-2004 National Crime Victimization Survey to assess the association between poverty and youth violent victimization trends variously disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and family structure, and the impact of welfare reform and macroeconomic conditions on this relationship. In addition, the potential impact of welfare reform on the individual-level relationship between poverty and …

Recidivism: A Multi-Level Explanation, Brian Eric Oliver

Dissertations

Numerous studies have shown that several characteristics of offenders are related to their likelihood of recidivism after release from prison. Nearly all of these studies, however, have focused on offenders from just one state. Few studies have examined recidivism rates controlling for the characteristics of offenders from multiple states, and virtually none have examined recidivism rates controlling for characteristics of offenders from multiple states during different periods of time. Additionally, few studies have explored different types of recidivism across multiple jurisdictions. To address these shortcomings, this dissertation applied logistic regression models to data from the publicly available Prisoners Released in …

Whither Criminology?: On The State Of Criminology's Paradigm, Brendan David Dooley

Dissertations

What is the condition of criminology’s paradigm? The reply to this question has implications bearing on the profession’s bona fides as a science as well as its sustainability as an independent academic enterprise. The work attempts to capture the elusive term through the use of five themes: theoretical consensus, methodological consensus, boundaries, the departure from sociology, and the current and future status of the field. In approaching this question the work presents an analysis of both qualitative and quantitative data. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seventeen renowned criminologists. The centerpiece of the latter data set was assembled and analyzed in …

Minority Group Threat And Racial Profiling: An Analysis Of Pretextual Traffic Stops And Outcomes In Missouri Municipalities, Pernell Witherspoon

Dissertations

Racial profiling remains a controversial societal issue due in part to difficulties in determining its prevalence. Some analysts have proposed that criminological theories should be used to explain racial profiling. Using the minority group threat hypothesis, this dissertation analyzes the effects of Black population increases on race-based pretextual stops in 113 Missouri municipalities with sizable Black populations. The research also analyzes the effects of the growth and size of the Black population on traffic stop outcomes, including searches, contraband found, arrests, and citations. Other variables that might explain pretextual stops and traffic stop outcomes, including violent crime rates and socioeconomic …

A Guide To Drug Dealing, Scott Thomas Jacques

Dissertations

The goal of this dissertation – A Guide to Drug Dealing – is to move scientists toward a deeper conceptual and theoretical understanding of illicit drug markets. What behaviors are experienced in the course of drug dealing? Why do some customers get a better price than others? What are the circumstances that result in retaliation? Why do some victimized drug dealers respond with peaceful social control rather than violence? What leads to the termination of drug dealing? When does the law handle drug market conflict? In short, this is a guide to drug dealing that – chapter by chapter – …

Libel In Mississippi, 1798-1832, Muriel Ann Everton

Dissertations

The Mississippi Territory officially became part of the United States in 1798. The territory was to be governed under the rules of the Northwest Ordinance, but those who went to govern the area found a culture that required the use of common law to settle the disputes arising from prior governments under other nations. With no precedents on which to rely, disputes led, at first, to dueling and then to libel cases. Both common law and common sense prevailed while many of the disagreements were aired publicly in newspapers. Mississippi’s first printer, Andrew Marschalk, using his First Amendment rights, wrote …

Does Gender Impact On Career Progression In The Garda Síochána?, Goretti Sheridan

Dissertations

Little is generally known about the factors affecting the managerial advancement of women in police forces internationally. There is a dearth of research on women and policing in the Garda Síochána. Women are 50 years in policing in Ireland and would appear to have been totally restricted in their progression up until the last decade. The principle aim of this study is concerned with exploring the research question ‘Does Gender Impact on Career Progression in the Garda Síochána?’ It concentrates solely on policewomen. A comprehensive analysis of national and international literature is summarised in a literature review. An extensive examination …

What Do Young People Think Of The Gardaí?:An Examination Of Young Peoples Attitudes Toward And Experiences Of The Gardaí, Niamh Feeney

Dissertations

National strategies point toward the importance of young people being consulted in relation to services and policies that affect them. Interest in the attitudes of young people to police has increased in recent decades yet this has not yet been explored in Ireland. This thesis examines the attitudes of a sample of young people in the Garda Dublin Metropolitan Region North to the Gardaí as well as their experiences of contacts with members of An Garda Síochána. This is done mainly through the quantitative research method of a survey. One hundred and three young people aged 15-19 in four different …