Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons^™

Misunderstanding Law: Undergraduates’ Analysis Of Campus Title Ix Policies, Kat Albrecht, Laura Beth Nielsen, Lydia Wuorinen

CJC Publications

Colleges and universities are legally required to attempt to prevent and redress sexual violations on campus. Neo-institutional theory suggests that the implementation of law by compliance professionals rarely achieves law’s goals. It is critical in claims-based systems that those who are potential claimants understand the law. This article demonstrates that: (1) intended subjects of the law (colleges and universities) interpret and frame the law in very similar ways (2) resultant policies are complex and difficult to navigate; and (3) that university undergraduates in an experimental setting are not able to comprehend the Title IX policies designed to protect them. These …

Feminist Lesbians As Anti-Trans Villains: A Comment On Worthen And Elaboration, Callie H. Burt

CJC Publications

In her recent article, “This is my TERF! Lesbian Feminists and the Stigmatization of Trans Women,” Worthen (2022) focuses on feminist lesbians and their alleged “anti-trans” and “trans-exclusionary” beliefs. Analyzing a subsample of ‘cis women’ from a larger online survey, Worthen examines whether feminist lesbians “express greater levels of negativity” toward transwomen than other women and whether there is “a relationship between feminist identity among lesbian cis women and the stigmatization of trans women”. Although Worthen reports finding a positive association between being a feminist lesbian and holding negative views towards transwomen, which she interprets as indicating that lesbian feminists …

Law Enforcement Agencies’ College Education Hiring Requirements And Racial Differences In Police-Related Fatalities, Thaddeus Johnson, Natasha N. Johnson, William Sabol, David T. Snively

CJC Publications

This study examines the effects of agency education requirements on racial differences in police-related fatalities (PRFs) across 235 large U.S. cities between 2000 and 2016. We estimated Poisson pseudo-maximum likelihood (PPML) regression models with multiple fixed effects using data from the Fatal Encounters database, Bureau of Justice Statistics’ Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics survey, and other publicly available databases. Results show that adopting agency college degree requirements is generally associated with decreases in PRFs over time, with significant reductions observed for PRFs of Black citizens. Our study suggests mandating at least an associate’s degree for entry-level officers should equate …

Toleration By Victimized Coffeeshops In Amsterdam, Scott Jacques, Kim Moeller

CJC Publications

Dutch coffeeshops are quasi-illegal. Their sale of cannabis is de jure prohibited but de facto permitted. In this sense, their criminal acts are tolerated. Less often explored, and less well understood, is that coffeeshops also tolerate crimes against them. “Doing nothing” is a common way to manage conflict. Why and how does it occur? In this article, we use the opportunity and rationality perspectives to analyze qualitative data obtained during interviews with 50 personnel of coffeeshops in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. After presenting our findings, we discuss their general implications for tolerant, and intolerant, ways to manage conflict.

Public Records Aren't Public: Systemic Barriers To Measuring Court Functioning & Equity, Kat Albrecht, Kaitlyn Filip

CJC Publications

In a new era of computational legal scholarship, computational tools exist with the capacity to quickly and efficiently reveal hidden inequalities in the justice system. Technically, the laws exist that legally entitle the public to the requisite court records. However, the opaque bureaucracy of the courts prevents us from connecting the public to documents they technically own. We exemplify this legal ethical problem by investigating areas of law where codified protections against inequalities exist and where computational tools could help us understand if those protections are being enforced. In general, the computational requirements of such projects needn't be complex, making …

Central Office Leadership: The Importance Of Promoting Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, And Belonging In The Ivory Tower, Natasha N. Johnson Edd

CJC Publications

As a consequence of their multiple identities, underrepresented leaders often navigate both racialized and gendered pathways to leadership in the U.S. education industry. Nevertheless, relatively little is known about the impact of their intersecting identities and the structural barriers in this sector. To deepen our collective understanding of this phenomenon, the author reviews existing theories and research related to the intersection of race and gender within the educational leadership sphere. More specifically, the author highlights the individual and compounding effects of gender and race on the professional realities of current and aspiring leaders in education at the Central Office (i.e., …

The College Shield: Examining The Role Of Officer Education In Violent Police Encounters, Thaddeus Johnson, Natasha N. Johnson, Eric L. Sevigny

CJC Publications

Objectives: The latest spate of deadly police encounters across the U.S. sparked renewed calls for agencies to hire more college-educated police officers. But educational attainment’s impact on police–citizen altercations remains unclear. Using secondary data, this study examines the association between officer education level and three outcomes: police shootings, violent arrests, and physical altercations. Method: Using the Police Stress and Domestic Violence in Police Families in Baltimore, Maryland data, we employ a doubly robust propensity score design to compare outcomes among 1,104 Baltimore police officers. Results: We find that, on average, officers with some college experience or a completed bachelor’s degree …

Regulating Harm: Tensions Between Data Privacy And Data Transparency, Kaitlyn Filip, Kat Albrecht

CJC Publications

In an era of massive digital data growth, data storage and dissemination has posed complex new problems for privacy regulations across agencies and institutions on a global scale. Laws about data privacy vary substantially by country, by state, and by industry. In formulating these policies, there exists a fundamental tension between a desire for data privacy and one for data transparency. This tension becomes particularly acute as new digital tools and access technologies have made these records more accessible and connectable than ever before. This tension is borne out in the enactment of law. Three states – California, Colorado, and …

Law Of The Land: Tribal Sovereignty And Legally Legitimated Resource-Based Control Of Native Americans, Carrie Stallings, Kat Albrecht

CJC Publications

In this article we reject the premise that race is merely an independent variable when studying the relationship between Native Americans and U.S. law. Instead we advance a new theory construct that more accurately understands the specific relationship between tribal sovereignty and inequality in the U.S. legal system. We term this new theoretical approach resource-based control that considers 1) how groups are racialized in their economic relationships with the United States, 2) how that process is derivative of the continuing process of U.S. settler-colonialism, and 3) how U.S. law functions to protect the capital of the United States.

We test …

Microaggressions: An Introduction, Natasha N. Johnson Edd, Thaddeus Johnson

CJC Publications

Microaggressions are brief and commonplace daily verbal, behavioral, or environmental indignities, whether intentional or unintentional, that communicate hostile, derogatory, or negative slights and insults toward people who are not classified within the “normative” standard. Perpetrators of microaggressions are often unaware that they engage in such communications when they interact with people who differ from themselves. This review of microaggressions in its numerous forms seeks to address the current literature regarding aversive behavior and its impacts; this includes investigating the manifestation and influence of everyday “isms,” on the quality of life of those on the receiving end of these acts. Ensuing …