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Articles 1 - 17 of 17
Full-Text Articles in Criminology and Criminal Justice
Youth Offending In Denver: The Increasing Trend And Essential Elements To Successful Intervention, Olivia Crimaldi
Youth Offending In Denver: The Increasing Trend And Essential Elements To Successful Intervention, Olivia Crimaldi
Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals
Recent years have witnessed an alarming increase in youth offending across Denver, necessitating a thorough analysis of factors influencing the surge, as well as areas of improvement for current intervention methods. Juvenile delinquency is largely affected by complications associated with the transition to adulthood, such as the development of personal identity or a decrease in parental supervision. A full understanding of at-risk individuals must consider risk, promotive and protective factors, as well as the interaction between these three components. Past successful prevention and intervention methods have included relationship-building implementation, therapeutic strategies, and consistent measures of quality and accountability. Despite many …
With Liberty And Justice For The Wealthy: The Criminalization Of The American Poor, Ashlyn Dickmeyer
With Liberty And Justice For The Wealthy: The Criminalization Of The American Poor, Ashlyn Dickmeyer
Honors Theses
The last phrase of the Pledge of Allegiance states “with liberty and justice for all”. However, not everyone has access to this liberty and justice. Liberty and justice can be bought in this country for a price, and those who can’t afford to pay it are often left in the hands of those who can. One of the most prominent ways to see this is by analyzing the criminal justice system. Despite clauses in the Fourteenth Amendment and court cases like Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) establishing and upholding that the poor are entitled to equal treatment within the criminal justice …
After The Crime: Rewarding Offenders’ Positive Post-Offense Conduct, Paul H. Robinson, Muhammad Sarahne
After The Crime: Rewarding Offenders’ Positive Post-Offense Conduct, Paul H. Robinson, Muhammad Sarahne
All Faculty Scholarship
While an offender’s conduct before and during the crime is the traditional focus of criminal law and sentencing rules, an examination of post-offense conduct can also be important in promoting criminal justice goals. After the crime, different offenders make different choices and have different experiences, and those differences can suggest appropriately different treatment by judges, correctional officials, probation and parole supervisors, and other decision-makers in the criminal justice system.
Positive post-offense conduct ought to be acknowledged and rewarded, not only to encourage it but also as a matter of fair and just treatment. This essay describes four kinds of positive …
Rape Culture, Victim Blaming, And The Role Of Media In The Criminal Justice System, Lily K. Thacker
Rape Culture, Victim Blaming, And The Role Of Media In The Criminal Justice System, Lily K. Thacker
Kentucky Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship
Rape culture and the practice of victim blaming are inherently linked phenomena, and both are prevalent in American society. The existence of a rape culture which normalizes sexual violence and blames rape victims for the attacks against them strongly affects the American criminal justice system, influencing both the outcomes of rape trials and the treatment of rape victims. In particular, the media’s methods of discussing and portraying rape are examined as primary sources for the perpetuation of rape culture, and the effects of these media representations of rape on the outcomes of real rape trials are also examined. The problematic …
Lived Experiences Of Secondary Victims During The Parole Process: A Phenomenological Approach, Jessica Millimen
Lived Experiences Of Secondary Victims During The Parole Process: A Phenomenological Approach, Jessica Millimen
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
Secondary victims of traumatic violent crimes are subject to continuing the process of fighting for the loved ones they have lost. Once the offender is incarcerated, such victims may still have to face the process of parole if the offender has been granted a possibility of parole after years served. There is a gap in the literature and a need for research in the area of lived experiences for secondary victims as they progress through the parole process. For this study, a phenomenological study was utilized with 10 secondary victim participants. Participants were interviewed questions via telephone and the data …
Recidivism Rates Among Juveniles With Mental Illness, Kia Chevon Russell
Recidivism Rates Among Juveniles With Mental Illness, Kia Chevon Russell
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
Treating mental illness is imperative to help reduce criminal justice involvement within the juvenile population. Receiving mental health care will help decrease the likelihood for youth to reoffend, ultimately reducing recidivism rates. Past studies showed there are risk factors associated with juveniles and recidivism; however, very few studies have examined what factors are prevalent after services have been received. The purpose of this study was to identify factors that increase the risk of recidivism among juveniles who have received psychiatric stabilization in Harris County, Texas. Risk factors that were assessed included age, gender, ethnicity, and criminal offense. The psychodynamic perspective …
"Get Tough On Juvenile Criminals": An Assessment Of Punitiveness And Punitive Attitudes, Richard Charles Gehrke
"Get Tough On Juvenile Criminals": An Assessment Of Punitiveness And Punitive Attitudes, Richard Charles Gehrke
All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects
This quantitative study surveyed college students (n=111), currently attending a community college in northeastern Minnesota, regarding whether juveniles should receive the same due process rights as adults, what the primary goal of the juvenile justice system should be, whether juveniles charged with serious offenses should be tried as adults, and whether juveniles convicted of committing a serious offense should be sentenced as adults. Utilizing two competing theoretical frameworks, the researcher hypothesized that students who self-identify with a conservative political ideology would be more punitive than students who self-identify with a liberal political ideology. The researcher's second hypothesis was that students …
Criminal Justice And (A) Catholic Conscience, Leo E. Strine Jr.
Criminal Justice And (A) Catholic Conscience, Leo E. Strine Jr.
All Faculty Scholarship
This article is one person's reflections on how an important influence on his own sense of moral values -- Jesus Christ -- affects his thinking about his own approach to his role as a public official in a secular society, using the vital topic of criminal justice as a focal point. This article draws several important lessons from Christ's teachings about the concept of the other that are relevant to issues of criminal justice. Using Catholicism as a framework, this article addresses, among other things, capital punishment and denying the opportunity for redemption; the problem of racial disparities in the …
Abstract Uneducated Injustice: A Social Cognitive Approach To Understanding Juror Misconduct And Verdict Errors, Melinee Melissa Marie Calhoun
Abstract Uneducated Injustice: A Social Cognitive Approach To Understanding Juror Misconduct And Verdict Errors, Melinee Melissa Marie Calhoun
Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies
A continual problem in the adjudication of crime in the United States is the continued occurrence of erroneous convictions and acquittals. This problem impacts the victims of crimes as they endure emotional and mental distress of additional investigations and new trials. Defendants are impacted by errors in verdicts because of the loss of freedom while being factually innocent. These errors may occur because jurors may not be knowledgeable of their role, right and responsibilities. Without regard to the judge's minimum instruction, the jury is not provided direction on the purpose and limitations of their roles. Guided by the social cognitive …
Powerlessness Within A Budget-Driven Paradigm: A Grounded Theory Leadership Study From The Perspective Of Michigan Corrections Officers, Timothy Michael Eklin
Powerlessness Within A Budget-Driven Paradigm: A Grounded Theory Leadership Study From The Perspective Of Michigan Corrections Officers, Timothy Michael Eklin
Antioch University Full-Text Dissertations & Theses
This study explored the lived-experiences of 15 correctional officers and 5 sergeants working in adult state-operated prison facilities in Michigan. In particular, this qualitative grounded theory study revealed the impact that budget driven decision-making had on the lives of correctional officers: its effect on institutional custody, security, and safety. The study finds that many recent policy changes resulted in a sense of powerlessness expressed by the participants of the study. Participants found themselves in a precarious position, situated in between the prison population and the administration. Having an understanding of how correctional officers make meaning of their work in relation …
The Corrections System Must Make More Accommodations For The Needs Of Motherhood During Incarceration And The Parole Period, Susan Bloom
Theses & Dissertations
While the overall prison population has experienced an unprecedented growth period over the past thirty years, no segment has grown at a faster rate than the female population. Since the majority of female inmates in this country are mothers, it is imperative that the corrections system addresses the unique needs of this subset. This thesis investigates problems women face during the pregnancy period, while in labor and delivery, while their progenies are infants, children and adolescents and reunification issues during the parole period.
A Systems Approach To Error Reduction In Criminal Justice, John Hollway
A Systems Approach To Error Reduction In Criminal Justice, John Hollway
All Faculty Scholarship
The “systems approach” has been used, improved, and refined over time to improve safety and reduce errors in a variety of complex, high-risk industries, including health care, aviation, and manufacturing, among others. Such an approach targets the system for improvement rather than specific individuals within the system, and seeks to provide an environment that maximizes each participant’s ability to act safely and in a way that achieves the goals of the system. It prizes a non-punitive culture of disclosure to identify errors, gathers and applies data to understand the causes of the error, and tests systems changes to prevent future …
Perceived Job Readiness Among The Previously Incarcerated, Amy Audet
Perceived Job Readiness Among The Previously Incarcerated, Amy Audet
Honors Projects
This study aims to determine the primary factor in employment readiness for previously incarcerated individuals. Ex offenders were were surveyed for job readiness using a scale developed in the studies' literature review. This scale emcompasses factors such as skills, knowledge, confidence and goals. Surveys were also done according to age, age of first incarceration, incarceration history and job training history. Because this population is marginalized, this study may bring new awareness about the effects of employer discrimination and the need for future programs to increase job readiness among the previously incarcerated individuals.
Reducing Courts’ Failure-To-Appear Rate By Written Reminders, Brian H. Bornstein, Alan J. Tomkins, Elizabeth M. Neeley, Mitchel N. Herian, Joseph A. Hamm
Reducing Courts’ Failure-To-Appear Rate By Written Reminders, Brian H. Bornstein, Alan J. Tomkins, Elizabeth M. Neeley, Mitchel N. Herian, Joseph A. Hamm
Alan Tomkins Publications
This article examines the effectiveness of using different kinds of written reminders to reduce misdemeanor defendants’ failure-to-appear (FTA) rates. A subset of defendants was surveyed after their scheduled court date to assess their perceptions of procedural justice and trust and confidence in the courts. Reminders reduced FTA overall, and more substantive reminders (e.g., with information on the negative consequences of FTA) were more effective than a simple reminder. FTA varied depending on several offense and offender characteristics, such as geographic location (urban vs. rural), type of offense, and number of offenses. The reminders were somewhat more effective for Whites and …
Examining The Impact Of Drug Court Participation For Moderate And High Risk Offenders, Kara Kobus
Examining The Impact Of Drug Court Participation For Moderate And High Risk Offenders, Kara Kobus
UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones
The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of drug court participation among moderate and high risk offenders. While studies have found that intensive programs, such as drug courts, are more effective when focusing their services on high risk offenders, few studies have examined the relationship between offender risk and drug court effectiveness. Using the Level of Service Inventory-Revised (LSI-R) as a measure of offender risk, the study employed a quasi-experimental design to compare outcomes of drug court participants (n=228) and a matched sample of probationers (n=252). The analyses showed that drug court participants had lower rates of …
A Broken System, Part Ii: Why There Is So Much Error In Capital Cases And What Can Be Done About It, James S. Liebman, Jeffrey A. Fagan, Andrew Gelman, Valerie West, Garth Davies, Alexander Kiss
A Broken System, Part Ii: Why There Is So Much Error In Capital Cases And What Can Be Done About It, James S. Liebman, Jeffrey A. Fagan, Andrew Gelman, Valerie West, Garth Davies, Alexander Kiss
Faculty Scholarship
There is growing awareness that serious, reversible error permeates America’s death penalty system, putting innocent lives at risk, heightening the suffering of victims, leaving killers at large, wasting tax dollars, and failing citizens, the courts and the justice system.
Our June 2000 Report shows how often mistakes occur and how serious it is: 68% of all death verdicts imposed and fully reviewed during the 1973-1995 study period were reversed by courts due to serious errors.
Analyses presented for the first time here reveal that 76% of the reversals at the two appeal stages where data are available for study were …
A Broken System: Error Rates In Capital Cases, 1973-1995, James S. Liebman, Jeffrey Fagan, Valerie West
A Broken System: Error Rates In Capital Cases, 1973-1995, James S. Liebman, Jeffrey Fagan, Valerie West
Faculty Scholarship
There is a growing bipartisan consensus that flaws in America's death-penalty system have reached crisis proportions. Many fear that capital trials put people on death row who don't belong there. Others say capital appeals take too long. This report – the first statistical study ever undertaken of modern American capital appeals (4,578 of them in state capital cases between 1973 and 1995) – suggests that both claims are correct.
Capital sentences do spend a long time under judicial review. As this study documents, however, judicial review takes so long precisely because American capital sentences are so persistently and systematically fraught …