Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons^™

Animal Assisted Therapy On Law Enforcement Mental Health: A Therapy Dog Implementation Guide, Melena Purvis

Honors Projects

The mental health of law enforcement officers is an ever increasing problem, with our nation’s police officers seeing a constant increase in things like PTSD, depression, and other mental illnesses. However, mental health is already a highly stigmatized topic that is not commonly addressed, and a police subculture of strength and toughness just reinforces that stigma and makes it that much harder for police officers struggling with these issues to get help. This project combines innovation with research to come up with a way to try and improve the mental health of those officers struggling. It provides a manual for …

Keep Kids Out Of Prison: Community-Based Alternatives For Nonviolent Juvenile Offenders, Anessa L. Pennington

Intuition: The BYU Undergraduate Journal of Psychology

Abstract

While juvenile crime has dropped over the past 20 years, tens of thousands of juvenile offenders are still incarcerated around the country, many of whom are nonviolent offenders. Researchers have found that detention centers, sometimes indistinguishable from adult prisons, do little to reduce recidivism and rehabilitate the offender. Rather, detention brings about more adverse effects than it does benefits. If incarceration isn’t working, how are the United States and other countries to deal with and deter juvenile crime? Community-based programs are a promising alternative to incarceration; instead of jumpsuits and cramped cells, community-based programs rely on community resources and …

Extreme Ideologies, Situational Factors, And Terrorists’ Target Selection, Evan Mudgett

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the current study is to examine how ideology and situational factors shape terrorist target selection in the United States. While a growing number of studies have examined target selection by terrorists, the current study is the first to consider how combinations of factors present situated opportunities for terrorists to select particular types of targets as opposed to others. Guided by the situational crime prevention approach, this study relies on data from the American Terrorism Study (ATS) to measure attributes of incidents perpetrated by far-right and Islamic extremists and target selection. The outcomes of interest include government versus …

Volume 12, Haleigh James, Hannah Meyls, Hope Irvin, Megan E. Hlavaty, Samara L. Gall, Austin J. Funk, Karyn Keane, Sarah Ghali, Antonio Harvey, Andrew Jones, Rachel Hazelwood, Madison Schmitz, Marija Venta, Haley Tebo, Jeremiah Gilmer, Bridget Dunn, Benjamin Sullivan, Mckenzie Johnson

Incite: The Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship

Introduction, Dr. Roger A. Byrne, Dean

From the Editor, Dr. Larissa "Kat" Tracy

From the Designers, Rachel English, Rachel Hanson

Immortality in the Mortal World: Otherworldly Intervention in "Lanval" and "The Wife of Bath's Tale" by Haleigh James

Analysis of Phenolic Compounds in Moroccan Olive Oils by HPLC by Hannah Meyls

Art by Hope Irvin

The Effects of Cell Phone Use on Gameplay Enjoyment and Frustration by Megan E. Hlavaty, Samara L. Gall, and Austin J. Funk

Care, No Matter What: Planned Parenthood's Use of Organizational Rhetoric to Expand its Reputation by Karyn Keane

Analysis of Petroleum Products for …

Predicting Academic Dishonesty Using Personality, Impulsiveness, Morality, And Somatic Faking, Lauren Barbee

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

Violations of academic honor are relative to many of the same factors that lead to dishonesty by individuals subject to the criminal justice system. Malingering is defined as the feigning of psychological or physical ailment for gain, which is a technique regularly used to exploit both academic institutions and the U.S. court system. While malingering in legal environments is generally to receive less harsh sentencing, access to drugs, or other benefits, the aim of faking illness in students is to avoid consequences for missing required classes or examinations. The purpose of this research is to identify the relationship between “faking-bad” …

Non-Traditional Church Involvement As A Life-Course Turning Point: Qualitative Interviews With Religious Offenders, William Hunter Holt

Dissertations

This research project conducted and then analyzed qualitative interviews from former and current addicts and criminal offenders who are voluntarily participating in the Christian faith at the same non-traditional, Protestant church. An abridged case study of this church is also provided for background and context. Life-course theory and grounded theory are utilized.

Both the offenders and this church were chosen in an attempt to better understand how the offenders’ involvement at this house of worship, along with their faith in general, have impacted them. Obtaining the perspectives of the offender is essential for three reasons. First, qualitative research conducted in …

Racism In America: A Psychological Approach, Brett S. Burton

Student Publications

America is a country that has racism interwoven into its history and ingrained within its society. Blacks have been subjected to this racism and oppression for generations, and at a higher level than other minority groups. More recently in American society, we can see a transition from overt discrimination to covert discrimination through policies and legislation that affect racial groups differently. Foucault and Bentham’s Panopticon can be used to discuss the true systematic violence imposed on blacks and we can further that discussion by investigating the War on Drugs and Mass Incarceration and how they represent reincarnations of previous Babylonian …

Personality Differences In Predicting Assault And Binge Drinking: Variation Across Explanatory Factors And Gender, Allison De Franco

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

General theories of offending seem to be favored in recent criminological literature, with the assumption being that the same factor(s) cause all forms of deviance and criminality. However, there is a case to be made for crime-specific models that predict different types of individuals will commit varying forms of deviant behavior. Using survey data collected from 108 female and 116 male college students, we measured their levels of various personality traits–empathy, guilt, detachment, and externalization–as well as their incidence of assault and binge drinking over the previous year. It was predicted that detachment and/or externalization would have significant positive associations …

Gender Differences In Confidence In Jury Decision Making, Rachel Silverthorn

2020 Symposium Posters

Men tend to be more overconfident than women in settings typically perceived as masculine (Lichtenstein et al, 1982; as cited in Baldiga, 2014). Women are also more likely to defer to men in mixed-sex group situations than men are to women (Hopcroft, 2009) Deference is correlated with women having lower self-esteem and lower confidence than men, both beginning to show around puberty. In same sex situations, deference is related to social ranking and physical features, but in mixed-sex situations it tends to be sex-based. Propp (1995) found that in mixed-sex groups men tend to verbally contribute more than women, whereas …

Impact Of The Csi Effect And Authority Bias On Juror Decisions, Meredith Scruggs

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The recent increase in number of crime drama television shows raises the issue that these fictional portrayals may impact real proceedings in the justice system. This phenomenon has become known as the CSI effect. This includes the concept of authority bias, by which laypeople place higher value on information provided by those that they perceive to be in positions of authority. 289 college students completed a survey comparing their likelihood to match an unknown fingerprint to a suspect’s, after actors portraying evidence technicians either confirm the match or provide no conclusion. Results showed no significant interaction between the confirmation condition …

Do Racial Stereotypes Contribute To Medical Misdiagnosis Of Child Abuse? Investigating Tunnel Vision In The Emergency Room, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Kimberly M. Bernstein, Katherine S. Wahrer

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Despite growing recognition that misdiagnoses of child abuse can lead to wrongful convictions, little empirical work has examined how the medical community may contribute to these errors. Previous research has documented the existence and content of stereotypes that associate race with child abuse. The current study examines whether emergency medical professionals rely on this stereotype to fill in gaps in ambiguous cases involving Black children, thereby increasing the potential for misdiagnoses of child abuse. Specifically, we tested whether the race-abuse stereotype led participants to attend to more abuse-related details than infection-related details when an infant patient was Black versus White. …

Perceptions Of Barriers In Prosecuting Human Trafficking Cases, Jennifer Nelms

Theses and Dissertations

Human trafficking is a world-wide problem with many barriers. Human trafficking cases are criminal but are also a violation of human rights. Human trafficking victims are lured from their homes based on the allusion from the trafficker of a better life. The victims are then beaten, forces to use drugs, and essentially broken. Once the victim is broken they are forced to perform sexual acts. Due to the initial promises and threats the victims endure, they also suffered from fear of trusting others especially law enforcement as well as other psychological issues similar to that of a domestic violence victim. …

Toxic Gymnastics Culture’S Impact On The #Metoo Movement: Sexual Abuse Survivor Aly Raisman’S Trauma Fosters Fight For Change, Jessica Malinsky

Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works

This paper explores how female gymnasts, particularly Aly Raisman, have sparked the gymnastics world’s involvement in the #MeToo movement. It briefly touches on Raisman’s beginnings with gymnastics and how she became an elite U.S. gymnast but promptly dives into her #MeToo story, focusing on her traumatic experiences with Olympic doctor Larry Nassar. Furthermore, her story brings to light how she and other survivors of sexual assault have faced credibility discounting, also known as gaslighting, for sharing their truth. By sharing parts of Aly Raisman and other survivors’ testimonies, this paper highlights not only the trauma and pain they endured while …

Awareness Of Sex Offender Registration Policies And Self-Reported Sexual Offending In A Community Sample Of Adolescents, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Hayley M. D. Cleary

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Sex offender registration laws are widely implemented, increasingly restrictive, and intended to serve both specific and general deterrent functions. Most states have some form of policy mechanism to place adolescents on sex offender registries, yet it remains unclear whether adolescents possess the requisite policy awareness to be deterred from sexual offending. This study examined awareness of sex offender registration as a potential sanction and its cross-sectional association with engagement in several registrable sexual behaviors (sexting, indecent exposure, sexual solicitation, and forcible touching) in a community sample of 144 adolescents. Results revealed that many adolescents were unaware that these behaviors could …

The Feedback Effect: Does Exposure To Interviewer Feedback Affect An Observer's Perception Of Veracity And Guilt?, Kayla A. Harrod

Student Theses

Historically, assessing deception has been rooted in the belief that a guilty suspect displays signs of anxiety. Based on a suspect’s physical demeanor and other behavioral cues presented during an interrogative session, law enforcement personnel (LEP) will utilize a set of techniques to elicit information about a crime. One such technique is the administration of feedback, which is the verbal assessment of a suspect’s guilt. The issue that stems from administering feedback lies not only in how it is given but also how it is received and interpreted by others. In a two-part study, the possibility of a “Feedback Effect” …

Examining The Use Of Hebephilia And Paraphilia Non-Consent In Sexually Violent Predator (Svp) Evaluations, Nicole Graham

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Sexually violent predator (SVP) legislation requires, in part, that an individual has a mental abnormality which causes difficulty in controlling sexual behavior. Previous research has found paraphilia not otherwise specified (NOS) to be one of the most prevalent diagnoses proffered in SVP evaluations. Since these studies, however, the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) has updated the paraphilia NOS diagnosis in two ways. First, this diagnosis has been divided into two new diagnoses—other specified paraphilic disorder (OSPD) and unspecified paraphilic disorder. Second, OSPD requires an added specifier to indicate the individual’s source of sexual arousal. To date, no study has systematically …

The Role Of Eyewitness Confidence And Prosecution/Defense Presentation In How Facial Composites Shape Juror Decision-Making, Rebecca E. Singh

Student Theses

Eyewitness testimony has been found to be an unreliable form of evidence (Loftus, Miller & Burns, 1978; Oswald & Coleman, 2007; Wells & Hasel, 2007; Loftus & Greenspan, 2017; Jaross, 2018; Wade, Nash, & Lindsay, 2018; Wixted, Mickes, & Fisher, 2018). Yet, this evidence is still used in the courts today, and, in fact, is perceived by jurors as important and compelling in comparison to other case factors (e.g., character evidence, physical evidence; Topp-Manriquez, McQuiston, & Malpass, 2014; Kabzińska, 2015). Additionally, eyewitnesses are sometimes requested to help create a facial composite of the suspect and, critically, these composites are then …

The Impact Of Client's Gender And Culture On Service Providers Strategies In Diversion Programs, Stephany Betances

Student Theses

Despite the growing rate of adolescent girls in the criminal justice system, there has been little institutional support for empirically supported programs tailored for girls (Matthews & Hubbard, 2008). There is a similar substantial lack of culturally specific programming. Problematically, both constructs have been found to impact treatment (Bright & Jonson-Reid, 2010; Matthews & Hubbard, 2008). This qualitative study utilized grounded theory principals to investigate the impact of gender and culture on the therapeutic relationship for justice-involved youth in seven alternative-to-incarceration agencies in New York City. Elicited themes focused on both recommended strategies and continued challenges. Results indicated that while …

Recent Trends, Current Research In Cyberpsychology: A Literature Review, Amarjit Kumar Singh, Pawan Kumar Singh

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Cyberpsychology refers to the study of the mind and behavior in the context of interactions with technology. It is an emerging branch, which has focused on the psychological aspects connected to the increasing presence and usages of technology in modern lives. This paper traces recent advancement and trends of Cyberpsychology is an emerging domain of knowledge and goes on the give a literature review of the same. An analysis of the recent research and literature covering 300 most relevant research papers from the period of 2012 to 15, August 2019 was conducted to determine and shape the research pattern based …

Community College Students’ Perceptions Of Law Enforcement, Jason L. Sharp

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to extend our understanding of public perception towards law enforcement. Students from three different Kansas community colleges were surveyed about their perceptions of law enforcement effectiveness and professionalism, and what might impact those perceptions.

A total of 159 community college students responded to the survey. The majority of the respondents were female (78%), and Caucasian (77.4%). Respondent’s age represented the following percentage breakdowns: 29.6% being 18-19 years old, 27.7% being 20-24 years old, and 30.8% being 25-34. Resulting in 88% of respondents being between the ages of 18-34 years old.

Mean and standard deviation …

Bound By Silence: Psychological Effects Of The Traditional Oath Ceremony Used In The Sex Trafficking Of Nigerian Women And Girls, Jennifer Millett-Barrett

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Nigerian women and children have been trafficked to Italy over the last 30 years for commercial sexual exploitation with an alarming increase in the past three years. The Central Mediterranean Route that runs from West African countries to Italy is rife with organized crime gangs that have created a highly successful trafficking operation. As part of the recruitment process, the Nigerian mafia and its operatives exploit victims by subjecting them to a traditional religious juju oath ceremony, which is an extremely effective control mechanism to silence victims and trap them in debt bondage. This study explores the psychological effects of …

Skinning The Cat: How Mandatory Psychiatric Evaluations For Animal Cruelty Offenders Can Prevent Future Violence, Ashley Kunz

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

In 2017, the Texas legislature amended Texas Penal Code § 42.092, which governs acts of cruelty against non-livestock animals. The statute in its current form makes torturing, killing, or seriously injuring a non-livestock animal a third degree felony, while less serious offenses carry either a state jail felony or a Class A misdemeanor charge.

While a step in the right direction, Texas law is not comprehensive in that it fails to address a significant aspect of animal cruelty offenses: mental illness. For over fifteen years, Texas Family Code § 54.0407 has required psychiatric counseling for juveniles convicted of cruelty to …

Understanding Trauma And Victimization In Women's Incarceration: California's Treatment Response, Marissa Tuttle-Roache

Social Sciences

The purpose of this review is to provide an exploration of past research on women's pathways to incarceration, specifically discussing how this problem affects California women. Using research from various case studies, both quantitative and qualitative, this review examines the correlation between life experiences and incarceration for women. California laws and policies that mitigate the impact incarceration has historically had on women will be discussed. This research provides a better understanding of the treatment needs of incarcerated women and the programs that could provide them with some positive resources to succeed post incarceration and avoid recidivism.

Linguistic Features Of False Confessions And Confessions Not In Dispute: A Corpus Analysis, Lucrezia Rizzelli

Student Theses

Confessions are considered the gold standard of evidence, and yet many cases of false confessions causing wrongful convictions have come to the surface in the past decades. Currently, a method to identify false confessions does not exist and studies focusing on the content of the confessions have found similarities rather than points of distinction. In this study, we approached confessions from a stylistic rather than qualitative point of view, utilizing corpus analysis to outline the linguistic features of two samples of confessions: false confessions (n=37) and confessions not in dispute (n=98). Subsequently, we created a model …

Fight, Flight, And Free Will: How Knowledge Of Biopsychosocial Effects Of Trauma Influence Free Will Beliefs And Punishment For Juvenile And Adult Offenders, Rachel Lazar

Student Theses

Justifications for punishment are generally grounded in retribution or consequentialism. Retribution presupposes a belief in free will, claiming that offenders freely and rationally choose to commit a criminal act, and are therefore deserving of punishment. Consequentialism does not necessitate a reliance on free will, and views punishment as means to a valuable end. In recent years, neuroscientific research has challenged the notion of free will, providing one pathway for a public shift away from retribution and towards consequentialism. However, methods by which to instill this doubt in laypeople are still being discovered. To date, no studies have attempted to instill …

The Relationship Between Aggression And Depression: Testing The Moderating Effects Of Age And Gender, Benjamin P. Comer

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this thesis is to a) explore the research related to aggression and depression and b) test hypotheses that focus on the relationship between aggression and depression in relation to age and gender over time. Aggression and depression are discussed extensively by examining a broad range of literature that points to environmental, social, individual, psychological, and biophysiological influences. First, aggression and depression are discussed separately in terms of their underlying theory, biosocial perspectives, typologies, behavioral and personality abnormalities, brain structures related to each, and neurochemical/neurological influences. The final sections of the literature review discuss how aggression and depression …

Risk-Taking, Thinking Styles, And Criminality: A Fuzzy-Trace Theory Perspective, Adrienne Machann

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Preferred modes of thinking, otherwise known as biases, have been well documented in adult reasoning and decision-making (Evans, 2003; Gilovich, Griffin, & Kahneman, 2002; Reyna & Brainerd, 2011; Tversky & Kahneman, 1986). Researchers have explained these biases by proposing that the basis for them is a system of thought that relies mostly on intuition and “gut feelings” rather than logical analysis of the situation (Reyna & Brainerd, 2011; Tversky & Kahneman, 1986). According to standard dual-process theories, intuition is described as a thought process so quick, it is automatic and, at times unconscious; conversely, analytical thinking is slow and steady, …

Inheritances Of Injustice/Transference Of Freedom: An Intimate Project On Black Women's Intergenerational Relationships And The Consequences Of The Punishment System, Whitney Richards-Calathes

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This project centers the multi-generational familial relationships between system-impacted Black women, mapping and uncovering the ways in which incarceration and practices of punishment impact, shape, hurt, and displace Black femme lineages. Through a qualitative lens and a specific focus on the current social and political landscape of Los Angeles, this dissertation examines the ways Black women are impacted by carceral ideology; from punitive definitions of Black womanhood, to the surveillance on Black femme familial intimacy and the rupture of Black women’s sense of home and place. Understandings of mass incarceration are frequently male-centered and most analyses of Black women’s system …

Female Genital Mutilation In The United States: Estimating The Number Of Girls At Risk, Phyllis Chesler

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Female genital mutilation (FGM) destroys the capacity of women to experience sexual pleasure. It causes serious medical complications such as bleeding, painful urination, cysts, dangerous and recurrent bladder and urinary tract infections, the growth of scar tissue that make marital intercourse a nightmare and that turns childbirth into an experience of danger and torture. Due to immigration, FGM now poses a potential health crisis in the West, both in Europe and in the United States. To estimate how many girls who live in the West are at risk, one can measure the prevalence of FGM in the non-Western countries where …

Recovery After Genocide: Understanding The Dimensions Of Recovery Capital Among Incarcerated Genocide Perpetrators In Rwanda, Kevin Barnes-Ceeney, Lior Gideon, Laurie Leitch, Kento Yasuhara

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Utilizing survey data from 302 men and women incarcerated in the Rwandan correctional system for the crime of genocide, and structured interviews with 75 prisoners, this mixed methods study draws on the concept of recovery capital to understand how individuals convicted of genocide navigate post-genocide healing. Genocide smashes physical and human capital and perverts social and cultural capital. Experiencing high levels of posttraumatic stress symptoms with more than two-thirds of the sample scoring above typical civilian cut-off levels, raised levels of depression, and high levels of anxiety, and failing physical health, the genocide perpetrators require multiple sources of recovery capital …