Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons^™

Comorbidity And Violence: What Role Does Resilience Play In Preventing Violent Acts?, Madeline J. Petit

Theses and Dissertations

The conjunction of substance use disorders, mental illnesses, and violence has been shaped through traditional risk-centered models, yet these approaches fail to explain why most individuals do not engage in violent behavior despite being high risk. This study aims to investigate how resilience may buffer the criminogenic effects of comorbidity and help understand the majority of those at risk who remain nonviolent. The data for this study is drawn from the MacArthur Violence Risk Assessment Study, which consisted of 2.255 person-waves, as the data examined comorbidity across 5 waves, consisting of 451 participants in each wave.Each participant in each wave …

Explaining Police Officer Intentions To Leave Their Career Field, Michael T. Rossler, Charles Scheer

Faculty Publications - Criminal Justice Sciences

Research examining police officer retention has generally relied upon general work environment predictors to explain intentions to leave a police career. Recent research has applied theory explaining departures as a multistep process, where job satisfaction and stress mediate the relationship between work conditions and leaving the profession. These prior inquiries have been methodologically limited in the number of predictors and agencies included. The current inquiry uses a survey of eight police agencies to test the conceptual framework that job satisfaction and stress mediate the relationship between workplace environment and intentions to leave policing. Findings indicate that many commonly theorized predictors …

Normalizing Delinquency And Risky Behaviors In Adolescents: An Application Of Neutralization Theory To Parents, Audrey Cheatham

Theses and Dissertations

Sykes and Matza’s Neutralization theory (1957) was originally developed to explain juvenile involvement in delinquency, with extensions of this theory being used to understand crime in other offending groups. Although neutralization theory has been widely applied to offenders, far less research has examined how neutralizations may be used by non-offending groups. This study applies Sykes and Matza’s framework to parents to explore whether neutralizations are being employed to justify risk taking or delinquent behavior among their adolescent children. This study also examines how parents differentiate risky behavior from delinquent behavior, as well as their attitude towards seven major risk factors …

Perceptions And Treatment Decisions For A Drug Offender Based On Social Class, Cocaine Type, Personal Characteristics, And Compassionate Love: A Vignette Study, Yasmin A. Odeh

Theses and Dissertations

Problem: The shift from a focus on rehabilitation to the more punitive, “tough on crime” approach to illegal behavior in the U.S. has been enacted in no small way by policies connected to the use and abuse of drugs. The disparities between crack and powder cocaine—two chemically similar substances—have headlined this shift (Vagins and McCurdy 2006). However, research is scarce on laypeople’s approval of deterrence approaches for drug offenses, including as a function of types (e.g., powder vs. cocaine possession). This study examined people’s perceptions of prosecutorial decisions for drug offenders—whether they are punished, rehabilitated, or both—and whether people perceived …

Developing Qualitative Research Questions For Illinois Post-Release Prison Analysis, Kiera Eckhardt

Student Research – Stevenson Center

The Illinois Sentencing Policy Advisory Council (SPAC) partnered with Dr. Kathryn Bocanegra of the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) to conduct a two part research study examining the impact of long term prison sentences in Illinois state facilities. This study is unique, in that it incorporates both quantitative and qualitative methodologies in its data collection and analysis. The purpose of this report is to exemplify the process used to develop the qualitative research interview questions for the UIC study. Components of this process, including relational meetings, and recommendations provided by stakeholders in the criminal legal system for conducting post-release …

Substance Use And Life-Course Narratives For Criminally Involved Veterans, Tyler J. Marcheschi

Theses and Dissertations

Criminal justice involvement stemming from substance use is a common issue with whichmilitary veterans struggle. Research on substance use has indicated that a multitude of negative life-course outcomes can result for individuals who abuse substances. While prior research has studied the relationships between substance use and military veterans, there is little empirical analysis that focuses on the narrative accounts of veterans and their experiences with substance use. The goal of the current thesis is to expand on this topic by exploring how criminally involved veterans experience substance use and the perceived impact substance use has on the life-course according to …

Social Support, Mental Health Problems, And Rule Infractions: A Study Of Female Inmates, Suraiya H. Shammi

Theses and Dissertations

Currently there are few studies that solely focused on female inmates and their mental health problems. There is huge lack of in-depth examination on the impact of social support variables on overall rule infractions. Using a multilevel analysis, this study analyzed the moderation effect of social support variables on rule infractions among female inmates (n=2,930) from the 2004 Survey of Inmates of State Correctional Facilities in the United States. Findings suggest that almost 55% of the sample suffered from mental health problems where female inmates with mental health problems reported significantly higher rates of minor rule infractions (78%). Also, the …

The Media’S Response To Vaping: Catch-Up For A Failed Response?, Christian Maynard

Honors Theses

Media coverage on vaping has become more negative and more prolific due to the recent ‘vaping epidemic’ that has incurred over 2,000 hospitalization. Research on vaping has been limited. The purpose of this study is to investigate the correlations between vape use increase and media publication increase and the specific focus of the articles. Using secondary data from Monitoring the Future: A Continuing Study of the Lifestyles and Values of Youth conducted in 2016, 2017, and 2018 and data generated through qualitative coding of The New York Times articles on vaping between 2016 and 2018, we find that media publications …

An Intersectional Examination Of Criminally Involved Women Of Color With Mental Illness, Cailin Rosemary Mcdermott

Theses and Dissertations

Women, people of color, and people with mental illness are fast growing populations in the criminal justice system. However, research tends to overlook the women of color with mental illness who exist at the intersection of these statuses. The current thesis attempts to apply an intersectional framework to the analysis of the narratives of these multifaceted women to explore the ways that their varying positions in society interact to shape unique life experiences. I analyzed a secondary data set of semi-structured life-course interviews with 65 women on a Seriously Mentally Ill (SMI) probation caseload. Implementing a grounded-inspired approach, the interviews …

Police Body-Worn Camera Perceptions Pre/Post Deployment, Aaron Veerman

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to determine if officers’ perceptions of Body-Worn Cameras (BWCs) changed over the course of a six-month pilot program. Officers from a Midwest police department were surveyed prior to or shortly after receiving their BWCs (Pre-Test) and again approximately six months later (Post-Test). Once completed, independent samples t-tests, mean comparisons, and Pearson’s correlations were used to analyze the data. This study did not produce many significant differences in officers’ perceptions over the course of the study, according to t-test results. However, several significant differences were found after each shift was analyzed separately. Overall, less than …

Do College Students’ Perceptions Of The Police Differ By Education Level And Major?, Lashanti Wilson Brown

Theses and Dissertations

Little is known about the impact that higher education has on students’ perceptions of the police, especially with respect to justice education. This study examines perceptions of the police among college students at Illinois State University. It questions how differences in education levels, major, race, age, and gender affect student perceptions about the police. A 55-question online survey was administered to 451 students at Illinois State University.

Results revealed that those with more education did not have significantly different contact with police officers than those with less education, however, they were significantly more likely to report negative attitudes towards the …

Pretrial Release And Failure-To-Appear In Mclean County, Il, Jonathan Monsma

Student Research – Stevenson Center

Actuarial risk assessment tools increasingly have been employed in jurisdictions across the U.S. to assist courts in the decision of whether someone charged with a crime should be detained or released prior to their trial. These tools should be continually monitored and researched by independent 3^rd parties to ensure that these powerful tools are being administered properly and used in the most proficient way as to provide socially optimal results. McLean County, Illinois began using the Public Safety Assessment-Court^TM (PSA-Court or simply PSA) risk assessment tool beginning in 2016. This study culls data from the McLean County Jail …

The Financial Impact Of Registered Sex Offenders On Home Sale Prices: A Case Study Of Mclean County, Illinois, Cara Rabe-Hemp, John C. Navarro

Faculty Publications - Criminal Justice Sciences

This study extends the current sex offender and housing literature by examining whether the presence of registered sex offenders (RSOs) and sexual predators (SPs) influenced home sale values in a mixed rural/agricultural and urban community. Using ArcGIS, the residences of RSOs in McLean County, Illinois, and home sale transactions, along with property and neighborhood characteristics were geocoded. The associations of home sale values to the distance to the nearest RSO and SP, as well as, the concentrations of RSOs and SPs were examined. Results revealed that each foot increase between the sold home to the residence of the nearest RSO …

Assessing The Experiences Of Women Who Have Suffered Intimate Partner Violence Living In Shelters, Queencilla N. Hammond

Theses and Dissertations

According to the Centers for Disease Control on National Intimate Partner and Sexual Violence in 2010, more than 1 in 3 women (35.6%) and more than 1 in 4 men (28.5%) in the United States have experienced rape, physical violence, and/or stalking by an intimate partner in their lifetime. Throughout history, someone they knew has most often victimized women. Over the past thirty years, feminist organizers of the domestic violence (DV) movement powered public awareness regarding the prevalence of intimate partner violence (IPV) dominantly. This led to the development of a network of shelters and other support services for victims, …

You Have Seventy-Two Hours: How The City Complaint System Enables Criminalization Of The Unsheltered Population, Lindsey Grace Earl

Theses and Dissertations

The unsheltered population has been denigrated since the formation of the United States. This is true in a city I call Marinville, Illinois where the privatization paradigm, social stratification, and anti-homeless ordinances have contributed to the shutdown of at least five homeless encampments. Multiple times per week, law enforcement officials interact with the chronically unsheltered population and incarcerate individuals for petty ordinance violations. In our current regulatory system, city officials, police officers, and homeless service organizations (HSOs) all influence the unsheltered population’s lives, including options for social and spatial mobility. This thesis is based on multi-method research from 2016-2017: engaging …

Understanding The Experiences And Perceptions Of Specialty Mental Health Probation Officers, Brice Terpstra

Theses and Dissertations

Over the last two decades, specialty mental health probation caseloads have become increasingly common – focusing on offenders with serious mental illness (SMI). Scholars have examined overall effectiveness, the organization and design of these programs, and the differences between standard probation and specialty probation. Less attention, however, has been placed on examining how the officers supervising these SMI caseloads perceive their roles as specialty mental health probation officers and how discretion impacts their caseload management. In the current study semi-structured interviews were conducted with a complete census of 24 SMI caseload probation officers and supervisors in Maricopa County, Arizona over …

The Perceptions Of Illinois State University Students Regarding Sexual Assault On Campus, Brittany Lee Acquaviva

Theses and Dissertations

The prevalence of sexual assault on college campuses is a continued epidemic within the United States. The increase of literature on this topic highlights the risk factors and perceptions that students hold on sexual assault. Previous findings have been able to aid in the creation of educational programs to be administered by universities to their students on commonly misconstrued topics within sexual assault and consent. This research adds to existing literature with its investigation on perceptions of sexual assault that Illinois State University students old. Specifically, this study looks at the beliefs and values that students hold about sexual assault, …

Veterinarians And Their Perception Of The Treatment Of Animal Abuse Cases In The Criminal Justice System, Dustin A. Richardson

Theses and Dissertations

Americans love their companion animals. In 2015, nearly two-thirds (65%) of all households in the U.S. housed at least one pet (APPA, n.d.). This love does not translate to policy, however, as many animals are left defenseless. Interestingly, the Animal Legal Defense Fund (2016) has ranked Illinois’ animal protection laws as the strongest in the nation for the last eight years. Extant animal abuse research is almost exclusively concerned with the ramifications that the abuse has for humans, and there is a dearth of social science research that examines veterinarians and the criminal justice system. Extremely limited research on this …

An Examination Of The Evolution Of Racially Biased Pretextual Investigatory Stops And Their Legitimacy In Policing, Brett A. Lacey

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the use of tactics originally purposed as a component of the Drug Enforcement Agency’s Operation Pipeline and their evolution since their creation in the 1980’s. The paper provides a history of investigatory policing stops regarding the argument of Epp et al. (2014) that primarily relied on Police Chief magazine and Remsberg’s Street Survival. Epp argues that the methods used in investigatory stops are an invasion of privacy, use racial profiling, and have proliferated from a tactic used in the war on drugs to combat drug trafficking to a routine day-to-day policing tactic. Through the use of a …

The Impact Of Employment On Probationer Recidivism, Clayton T. Cottle

Theses and Dissertations

There is increasing need to understand and improve rates of recidivism in all fields associated with the Criminal Justice system. This research investigated the influence that employment status and job stability have on probationer recidivism. For this project, recidivism is defined as any arrest within four years after the termination of probation. Results from this study indicate that obtaining and sustaining employment can reduce the likelihood of recidivism in probationers. Additionally, the findings suggest that job stability is indicative of increased desistance. Findings from this study lend support to the notion that there is an employment-crime relationship. The findings of …

Death And Destruction: Insight Into The Rhino Poaching Epidemic In South Africa, Richard Wayne Charlton

Theses and Dissertations

The poaching of wildlife has been a concern to many involved in the protection of wildlife. Poaching is found throughout the world and has been around for thousands of years. In the past century, poaching has reached new heights and the concern of an extinction of a species has bought the topic of poaching to new light. Whilst poaching has been seen as a biological or conservation topic in the past, criminologists around the world have now started to delve into the topic. The poaching of wildlife and more so in recent years, rhino poaching, has been a concern in …

Does Gender Still Matter? Child Custody Bias In The Illinois Family Court System, Derek K. Ronnfeldt

Theses and Dissertations

Over the last several decades, nearly all of the states have formed task forces to look at the perception of a gender bias within the family court systems as they pertain to child custody. This self-scrutiny has included the attitudes of judges and attorneys within the system and the need of reform of our family courts. This research focused on replicating a study conducted by Dotterweich and McKinney that was completed in 2000 that compiled statistics from four different state task forces in Maryland, Missouri, Texas, and Washington. This research focused on Illinois judges and attorneys, using the same questions …

A Quantitative Analysis Of Sex Trafficking Law On The Decriminalization Of Youth Involved In Commercialized Sex, Nay Petrucelli

Theses and Dissertations

Legislators have been responding to the growing push to treat youth in the sex industry as victims of a crime instead of perpetrators. Recent legislative changes have occurred in every state and nationally as part of anti-trafficking legislation, not prostitution law directly. While the content of these laws has been studied, its outcomes for youth have not. This study uses a cross-sectional time-series model to test the impact that changes to state trafficking law has had on juvenile prostitution arrest rates. Findings support the hypothesis that legislation passed with a juvenile protection component decreases the juvenile prostitution arrest rate. It …

Collateral Impact Of Maternal Incarceration: Burdens Placed On Child Caregivers, Daniel Anderson

Theses and Dissertations

Although parental incarceration is both a maternal and paternal issue, it is particularly detrimental to the family when the mother is incarcerated. The number of children with a mother in prison has more than doubled since 1991 (Glaze & Maruschak, 2008). Although there are more children of incarcerated fathers than mothers, it is particularly important to note that sixty-four percent of mothers were the primary caregivers to their children at their time of arrest (Glaze & Maruschak, 2008; Mumola, 2000). The incarceration of a mother is often more detrimental than that of the father as it typically results in displacement …

The Role Of Official Misconduct In Wrongful Convictions, Mia Gilliam

Theses and Dissertations

As the number of wrongful convictions and exonerations of individuals imprisoned for crimes they did not commit has increased dramatically, the study of wrongful conviction has become increasingly important. The majority of past research has focused on the various causes of wrongful convictions. However, very little attention is given in detail to the specific nature of each of these causes. This thesis examined the most current, inclusive database of exonerations in the United States that exists, the National Registry of Exonerations. Qualitative and Quantitative data was examined and refined, and statistical analyses were run including descriptives, frequencies, and correlations in …

Terrorism Preparedness: A Law Enforcement Perspective, Cayla Comens

Theses and Dissertations

Since September 11, 2001, the environments in which law enforcement agencies operate have been changing. Contingency theory hypothesizes that an organization adapts to their environment through organizational structure and contingencies in order to accomplish a state of fit or higher performance. Utilizing the contingency theory framework, the study looked to answer two research questions: (1) Do municipal and county police agencies believe they have the necessary resources and training to prevent and or respond to the next terrorist attack? (2) How does agency size, structure, funding, and perceived risk influence terrorism preparedness? A sample of 902 county and municipal law …

The Role Of The Institution On The Adoption Of Law Enforcement Technology, Cassandra Dodge

Theses and Dissertations

While law enforcement agencies perceive that technology increases their ability to complete their mission in the most efficient manner possible, this may not be the case in reality. Considering the potential expenses, potential danger, and lack of proven efficiency, it is surprising that these technologies are continuing to be adopted. Observing law enforcement agencies through the lens of institutional theory provides an explanation for the discrepancy between what would be expected and what has actually occurred. The purpose of this exploratory study was to examine the use of five technologies (records management systems, broadband networking with vehicle computers, long range …

Token Female Police Officers Or Police Exemplars: An Evaluation Of The Theory Of Tokenism, Cameron Michael Harper

Theses and Dissertations

Despite gains in the percentage of female police officers over past decades, female police officers are vastly underrepresented in modern policing. Female police officers face barriers to integration into policing and the surrounding culture that male police officers do not face, including unbalanced physical testing, double standards for success, and others. One explanation for the different experiences of female police officers compared to male police officers is the token status of women in policing. Instead of taking the token status of female police officers for granted, this study explored the utility of the theory of tokenism (Kanter, 1977) in explaining …

Road To Recovery: Recidivism And The Mclean County Drug Court, Julia Neaves

Student Research – Stevenson Center

This study explores the effectiveness of the McLean County Drug Court at reducing time to recidivism using survival analysis techniques. Data on 146 drug court participants was collected using the county’s proprietary case management systems. Findings suggest that length of drug court programming significantly reduces time to recidivism. Unfortunately, black offenders and offenders with prior criminal history were found to return to the prison system more rapidly than other groups, suggesting that drug court programming may not be addressing the greater systemic issues present in the criminal justice system. These findings collectively inform policy recommendations provided to county administrators and …

Wisconsin School For Girls Inmate Record Books: A Case Study Of Redacted Digitization, Eric Willey, Laura Farley

Faculty and Staff Publications – Milner Library

The Wisconsin School for Girls collection housed in the Wisconsin Historical Society (WHS) archives contains a variety of documents from the institution’s period of operation. Inmates who were admitted to the institution were predominately juvenile females at the time of the records’ creation; because of this, the contents of the records are protected by Wisconsin state statutes, which mandate restricted access for patrons as well as limitations on the use of the information contained within the records. This article examines how the restrictions on the collection continue to protect the privacy of the inmates and their descendants, what procedures WHS …