Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons^™

American Surrogacy: Babies For Sale?, Madison Edwards

Honors Projects

More surrogacy contracts are fulfilled in the United States than in any other country (Bromfield, 2016, p. 193). In 2014, there were approximately 2,000 surrogacy arrangements in the U.S., yet the market is totally unregulated (Shellnutt and Grizzle, 2018, p. 31). Given that 1 in 6 American couples face infertility, there will continue to be a demand for alternative and assisted reproductive options (Shellnutt and Grizzle, 2018, p. 34). This paper seeks to explore several areas of surrogacy, including contract enforcement, potential problems parties in surrogacy agreements face, current legislation, the role of religion in surrogacy, and specific case studies. …

Criminal Justice And Criminal Justice News, Georgia Southern University

Criminal Justice & Criminology News (2012-2023)

No abstract provided.

Criminal Justice And Criminal Justice News, Georgia Southern University

Criminal Justice & Criminology News (2012-2023)

• Internship Showcase

Criminal Justice And Criminal Justice News, Georgia Southern University

Criminal Justice & Criminology News (2012-2023)

• Internship Showcase

Using Multiple Mendelian Randomization Approaches And Genetic Correlations To Understand Obesity, Urate, And Gout, Charleen D. Adams, Brian B. Boutwell

Faculty and Student Publications

Observational studies suggest relationships between obesity, urate, and gout but are possibly confounded. We assessed whether genetically determined obesity, higher urate (and related traits), and gout were causal using multiple Mendelian randomization (MR) approaches and linkage disequilibrium score regression for genetic correlations (rg). For data, we used genome-wide association study summary statistics available through MR-Base. We observed that obesity increased urate (beta = 0.127; 95% CI = 0.098, 0.157; P-value = 1.2E−17; rg = 0.25 [P-value = 0.001]) and triglycerides (beta = 0.082; 95% CI = 0.065, 0.099; P-value = 1.2E−21; rg = 0.23 [P-value = 8.8E−12]) and decreased high-density …

Criminal Justice Update - December 2021, Patrick Mahoney

Criminal Justice Updates

The Criminal Justice Update is a monthly newsletter created by the Adams County Bar Foundation Fellow providing updates in criminal justice policy coming from Pennsylvania's courts and legislature as well as the US Supreme Court.

Contents:

• Updates from PA Governor's Office (no updates this month)
• Updates from the PA Legislature
• Criminal Law & Procedure
• Updates from the Courts
• U.S. Supreme Court (no updates this month)
• PA Supreme Court: Criminal Law & Procedure
• PA Superior Court: Criminal Law & Procedure

Corporate Crime And Punishment: An Empirical Study, Dorothy S. Lund, Natasha Sarin

All Faculty Scholarship

For many years, law and economics scholars, as well as politicians and regulators, have debated whether corporate criminal enforcement overdeters beneficial corporate activity or in the alternative, lets corporate criminals off too easily. This debate has recently expanded in its polarization: On the one hand, academics, judges, and politicians have excoriated enforcement agencies for failing to send guilty bankers to jail in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis; on the other, the U.S. Department of Justice has since relaxed policies that encouraged individual prosecutions and reduced the size of fines and number of prosecutions. A crucial and yet understudied …

Race, Gender, And Domestic Violence, Faith Harris, Katrina Cokain

Fall Showcase for Research and Creative Inquiry

Race and gender, as significant social locations, have an impact on many facets of life. One of these areas is the experience of victimization, particularly Intimate Partner Violence (IPV). Race and gender impact who perpetrates, their views towards IPV, who is victimized, the victim's experiences with the Criminal Justice System, and the preparedness of supportive services to assist these victims.

Criminal Justice Update - November 2021, Patrick Mahoney

Criminal Justice Updates

The Criminal Justice Update is a monthly newsletter created by the Adams County Bar Foundation Fellow providing updates in criminal justice policy coming from Pennsylvania's courts and legislature as well as the US Supreme Court.

Contents:

• Updates from PA Governor's Office (no updates this month)
• Updates from the PA Legislature
• Criminal Law & Procedure
• Updates from the Courts
• U.S. Supreme Court (no updates this month)
• PA Supreme Court: Criminal Law & Procedure
• PA Superior Court: Criminal Law & Procedure

Program Review: Criminal Justice Department, Timbre Wulf, Julie Campbell, Jessica Peterson, Kyle Harshbarger

Academic Program Reviews

No abstract provided.

Using Google Alerts To Study Police Crime, Chloe Wentzlof, Philip M. Stinson, John Liederbach

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Presentation from the annual meeting of the Criminology Consortium on October 18, 2021.

Increasing Diversity In Leadership: Perspectives Of Four Black Women Educational Leaders In The Context Of The United States, Natasha N. Johnson, Janice Fournillier

CJC Publications

This paper is a collation of the vicarious experiences of four Black women, all senior-level educational leaders in the United States of America. Considering the predominance of White males in educational leadership, our paper furthers the conversation around increasing race-gender diversification in this realm. We employed the tenets of hermeneutic phenomenology, focusing on the intersections of race and gender, in the effort to challenge extant epistemologies manifested within this context. Using in-depth, timed, semi-structured interviews, participants reflected on their journeys, experiences, and perceptions as non-archetypal leaders in education. In highlighting contributors’ perspectives, our objective was to bring the matter of …

The Fast & The Furious…Torturous?: Examining The Impact Of Torture Scenes In Popular Films On Public Perceptions Of Torture Policy, Erin M. Kearns, Casey Delehanty

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Entertainment media regularly depict torture as effective. Indeed, most popular films contain torture—often outside of counterterrorism-specific plotlines. In the counterterrorism-specific context, watching a scene where torture works increases support for the practice. Yet counterterrorism-specific media is a niche genre, and we do not know if this holds for torture scenes more generally. We address this gap with a 4 (movie rating) x 3 (scene type) experiment with U.S. adults. While participants recognized that torture scenes are in fact torture, viewing these scenes did not impact support for the practice. Findings suggest that media’s influence on views about torture is more …

Gender And Criminal Justice Responses To Terrorism In The United States, Summer Jackson, Jeff Gruenewald, Katie Ratcliff

Research Projects

This brief summarizes findings from a recent study published in Crime & Delinquency titled "Gender and Criminal Justice Responses to Terrorism in the United States" (available at: https://doi.org/10.1177/00111287211047535 ). Using data from the American Terrorism Study (ATS), this study examine show gender varies across federal terrorism cases, how gender shapes federal terrorism case outcomes, and how combinations of relevant case attributes uniquely impact court outcomes for males and females.

Data include a sample of 2,147 defendants in terrorism-related cases across several types of legal measures: charge type, number of charges, whether or not the prosecutor references terrorism (e.g., relying on …

Criminal Justice Update - October 2021, Patrick Mahoney

Criminal Justice Updates

The Criminal Justice Update is a monthly newsletter created by the Adams County Bar Foundation Fellow providing updates in criminal justice policy coming from Pennsylvania's courts and legislature as well as the US Supreme Court.

Contents:

• Updates from PA Governor's Office (no updates this month)
• Updates from the PA Legislature
• Criminal Law & Procedure
• Updates from the Courts
• U.S. Supreme Court: Criminal Law & Procedure (no updates this month)
• PA Supreme Court: Criminal Law & Procedure
• PA Superior Court: Criminal Law & Procedure

Creating A Home Base For Treatment In Homeless Courts, Kyle C. Troeger

Student Publications

As the number of unsheltered homeless increases, an alternative to criminalization, homeless courts, have also become more common. 18 States currently have one or more specialty court programs dedicated to meting out alternative sentencing to the local homeless. Homeless courts are a rehabilitative process with the end goal of reintegration into society. They allow nonviolent misdemeanors to be resolved without jail time or fines. In lieu of traditional sentencing is community service and mandated self-improvement. This chapter examines the current criminalization, and history, of homelessness in the United States. Of primary interest is the development of homeless courts as an …

Proportionality, Constraint, And Culpability, Mitchell N. Berman

All Faculty Scholarship

Philosophers of criminal punishment widely agree that criminal punishment should be “proportional” to the “seriousness” of the offense. But this apparent consensus is only superficial, masking significant dissensus below the surface. Proposed proportionality principles differ on several distinct dimensions, including: (1) regarding which offense or offender properties determine offense “seriousness” and thus constitute a proportionality relatum; (2) regarding whether punishment is objectionably disproportionate only when excessively severe, or also when excessively lenient; and (3) regarding whether the principle can deliver absolute (“cardinal”) judgments, or only comparative (“ordinal”) ones. This essay proposes that these differences cannot be successfully adjudicated, and one …

On-Duty Fatal Police Shootings:Patterns Of Officers Charged With Murder Or Manslaughter, 2005-2020, Chloe Wentzlof, Philip M. Stinson

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Midwestern Criminal Justice Association in Chicago, IL, on September 24, 2021.

Bench Vs. Jury Trials: Sentencing And Conviction Outcomes For Criminally Charged Police Officers, Bethany R. Sager, Chloe Wentzlof, Philip M. Stinson

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Midwestern Criminal Justice Association in Chicago, IL, on September 24, 2021.

Detecting Child Sexual Abuse Images: Traits Of Child Sexual Exploitation Hosting And Displaying Websites, Enrique Guerra, Bryce G. Westlake

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Background
Automated detection of child sexual abuse images (CSAI) often relies on image attributes, such as hash values. However, electronic service providers and others without access to hash value databases are limited in their ability to detect CSAI. Additionally, the increasing amount of CSA content being distributed means that a large percentage of images are not yet cataloged in hash value databases. Therefore, additional detection criteria need to be determined to improve identification of non-hashed CSAI.
Objective
We aim to identify patterns in the locations and folder/file naming practices of websites hosting and displaying CSAI, to use as additional detection …

The Cognitive, Affective And Somatic Empathy Scales For Adults, Adrian Raine, Frances Chen, Rebecca Waller

CJC Publications

The Cognitive, Affective and Somatic Empathy Scales (CASES) assess three forms of empathy, each with subscales for positive and negative empathy. The present study extends this child instrument to adults and examines its factor structure and construct validity. A secondary aim is to investigate the under-researched area of positive empathy. Community samples totaling 2604 adults completed the CASES for adults, together with scales assessing construct validity. Confirmatory factor analysis supported the three-factor cognitive-affective-somatic model and a two-factor positive-negative empathy model. Findings were replicated in a second independent sample. Internal reliabilities ranged from 0.80 to 0.92. Individuals with higher psychopathy and …

U.S. Policing As Racialized Violence And Control: A Qualitative Assessment Of Black Narratives From Ferguson, Missouri, Jason M. Williams

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

U.S. policing has long been captured within a master narrative of colorblind consensus; however, distinct lived experiences between community groups depict grave disparities in law enforcement experiences and perceptions. Orthodox conceptions of law enforcement ultimately silence marginalized voices disproportionately affected by negative contacts with law enforcement. Centering data in critical theory, this study will present thematic results from semi-interviews gathered in Ferguson, M.O., during a critical ethnographic research project. Themes reveal experiences and perceptions of racialized and violent policing, the unique position of Black officers, and regard for the impact police have on children. Results also help to foreground new …

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (Lvmpd) Budget Review, Fiscal Years 2018-2021, Olivia K. Cheche, Elia Del Carmen Solano-Patricio, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Criminal Justice

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s (LVMPD) annual budget increased every fiscal year (FY) from 2018 to 2021. Using data provided by the LVMPD’s final budget reports for FY 2018 to 2021, this Fact Sheet details LVMPD funding increases and summarizes budget expenditures by unit and area command.

Criminal Justice Update - August 2021, Patrick Mahoney

Criminal Justice Updates

The Criminal Justice Update is a monthly newsletter created by the Adams County Bar Foundation Fellow providing updates in criminal justice policy coming from Pennsylvania's courts and legislature as well as the US Supreme Court.

Contents:

• Updates from PA Governor's Office (no updates this month)
• Updates from the PA Legislature (no updates this month)
• Updates from the Courts
• U.S. Supreme Court: Criminal Law & Procedure (no updates this month)
• PA Supreme Court: Criminal Law & Procedure
• PA Superior Court: Criminal Law & Procedure

Technical Assistance Provision For Corrections: Improving The Use Of Actuarial Assessment In Case Management And Reentry, Michael Campagna, Debra O'Connell, Nebraska Center For Justice Research, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Reports

The current project assisted the Nebraska Department of Correctional Service (NDCS) to develop the use of the Static Risk and Offender Needs Guide-Revised (STRONG-R) in case management and reentry services.

Racial Disparities In Police Crime Victimization, Philip M. Stinson, Chloe Wentzlof, John Liederbach, Steven L. Brewer

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Stigma And Juror Bias Toward Mentally Ill Defendants, Sydney Garrison

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

This study examined the influence of mental illness on mock juror decisions in a criminal case. With the knowledge that mental illness continues to be highly stigmatized, I hypothesized that the presence of a mental illness in a defendant of a violent crime would have significant effects on participants’ case decisions and their perception of the defendant’s guilt. Participants in the study read a fictional vignette describing a homicide and a defendant in which the defendant’s mental illness diagnosis was varied (major depressive disorder, schizophrenia, borderline personality disorder, no mental illness). Participants were then required to answer 6 questions regarding …

The N-Sat: The Nebraska Screening And Assessment Tool, Nebraska Center For Justice Research, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Reports

The N-SAT is intended to standardize assessment of youth referred to diversion in Nebraska. It determines risk level of further involvement (1-year) in the justice system (i.e., delinquency/ criminality). It was not purchased “off the shelf”, rather was developed by the Nebraska Crime Commission (NCC). It is free for Nebraska agencies to use, provides domain scores for referral and treatment purposes, and is more accurate than other tools used in Nebraska.

Criminal Justice Update - July 2021, Patrick Mahoney

Criminal Justice Updates

The Criminal Justice Update is a monthly newsletter created by the Adams County Bar Foundation Fellow providing updates in criminal justice policy coming from Pennsylvania's courts and legislature as well as the US Supreme Court.

Contents:

• Updates from PA Governor's Office (no updates this month)
• Updates from the PA Legislature (no updates this month)
• Updates from the Courts
• U.S. Supreme Court: Criminal Law & Procedure
• PA Supreme Court: Criminal Law & Procedure
• PA Superior Court: Criminal Law & Procedure

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 …