Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons^™

No Adult Left Behind: An Examination Of The Perception Of Parolees Toward The Ged And Its Possible Impact On Recidivism, Elisa Louise Bircher

Criminology & Criminal Justice Theses - Archive

The purpose of this study is to examine the perception of offenders toward a general education degree. The data is compiled using a 27-question survey of offenders currently on parole and reporting to the Fort Worth II District Parole Office in Fort Worth, Texas. The research found that there are statistically significant differences between offenders who are on parole for the first time and those who have been on parole more than once. In general, offenders who have been on parole more than once perceive that acquiring a general education degree while they are incarcerated is more important than those …

Community Oriented Policing Post September 11, 2001, Shahrzad Pakbin

Criminology & Criminal Justice Theses - Archive

The events of September 11 2001, affected many in the United States, among them the local police. Not only did it impact the way the police operate, but also how they interacted with the general populace. This study identified patterns in the literature as it pertained to Community Oriented Policing post September 11, 2001. It examined the development of law enforcement agencies around Community Oriented Policing and how specifically Middle Eastern communities were impacted. This study was conducted by analyzing the content material of publications post September 11, 2001. Data for this study was collected through a qualitative content analysis, …

Defining Fear And Aggression: Typological Emotive Responses To Perceptions Of Textual Symbols, Donna Lynn Salazar

Criminology & Criminal Justice Theses - Archive

Millennial technology has shed new light on early biological theories of crime. Recent evidence supports a new paradigm in criminological research designed to embrace an integration of neuro-scientific, psychological, and sociological theories in order to understand the multi-dimensional characteristics of causality involved in criminal behavior. The current study explores the value of an integrated approach to define typological fear and aggression emotive responses utilizing symbolic interaction as the mechanism by which the various disciplines interact. Through perceptions of emotionally charged textual symbols, typological representations of fear and aggression, and a 3-Part electronic survey instrument, the study reveals support for an …

Perceptions Of Police Officers Towards Law Enforcement Hiring Practices As They Pertain To Minority Candidates While Controlling For Gender, Angela Nicole Shaw

Criminology & Criminal Justice Theses - Archive

The purpose of this study was to examine perceptions of police officers towards law enforcement hiring practices as they pertain to minority candidates while controlling for gender. A survey instrument was devised and implemented to measure perceptions of hiring practices as they pertain to minorities and females at a police department in northern Texas. Once the data were collected, it was analyzed and examined for any statistically significance.

Students' Opinions Toward Carrying Concealed Handguns On Campus, Melissa Van Winkle

Criminology & Criminal Justice Theses - Archive

Since the massacre at Virginia Tech, there has been much attention regarding the idea of students carrying guns on campus. The purpose of this paper is to determine the opinions of graduate and undergraduate students who attend the University of Texas at Arlington (UTA) regarding policies for carrying guns on campus while differentiating between criminal justice and non-criminal justice majors. The researcher conducted a survey with the target population being students who attend classes on the UTA campus. Students were asked to specify their level of studies (graduate or undergraduate), and their major of studies and provide their opinion as …

Race/Ethnicity And Potential Suicide Misclassification: Window On A Minority Suicide Paradox?, Ian Rh Rockett, Shuhui Wang, Steven Stack, Diego De Leo, James L. Frost, Alan M. Ducatman, Rheeda L. Walker, Nestor D. Kapusta

Wayne State University Associated BioMed Central Scholarship

Abstract

Background

Suicide officially kills approximately 30,000 annually in the United States. Analysis of this leading public health problem is complicated by undercounting. Despite persisting socioeconomic and health disparities, non-Hispanic Blacks and Hispanics register suicide rates less than half that of non-Hispanic Whites.

Methods

This cross-sectional study uses multiple cause-of-death data from the US National Center for Health Statistics to assess whether race/ethnicity, psychiatric comorbidity documentation, and other decedent characteristics were associated with differential potential for suicide misclassification. Subjects were 105,946 White, Black, and Hispanic residents aged 15 years and older, dying in the US between 2003 and 2005, whose …

Jurors And Social Loafing: Factors That Reduce Participation During Jury Deliberations, Cynthia J. Najdowski

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

The American jury system rests on the fundamental assumption that jurors will engage in a thorough analysis of facts and robust debate to ensure that verdicts are reliable. Research demonstrates, however, that this expectation is rarely met. All jurors do not participate equally in deliberations. This may be explained in part by social loafing, or the withdrawal of effort that may occur when an individual works in a group relative to when the individual works alone. Despite evidence that jurors do not participate equally during jury deliberations, an analysis of factors contributing to participation, or the lack thereof, has not …

Understanding Alcohol-Related Sexual Assaults: Characteristics And Consequences, Sarah E. Ullman, Cynthia J. Najdowski

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Sexual assaults commonly involve alcohol use, but little is known about alcohol’s effects on many aspects of assaults and their aftermath. We investigated characteristics of victims, perpetrators, and assaults as a function of whether alcohol was involved in the assault, as well as differences in women’s post-assault experiences. Assaults prior to which only perpetrators were drinking differed not only from non-alcohol-related assaults, but also from those prior to which both perpetrators and victims were drinking. Understanding the effects of alcohol-related assaults is important for identifying victims who should be targeted for mental health and substance use interventions.

Alcohol-Related Help Seeking In Problem Drinking Women Sexual Assault Survivors, Sarah E. Ullman, Cynthia J. Najdowski

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Correlates of alcohol-related help seeking were studied in women sexual assault survivors who were current problem drinkers (N = 526) in a large metropolitan area in 2002-2003. Volunteer participants completed several valid and reliable instruments, which assessed alcohol use and misuse and related help seeking (i.e., the TWEAK, GFM, and MAST). Data were analyzed using logistic regression models. Results suggest that correlates of women survivors’ alcohol-related help seeking vary depending on the specific source. Limitations and implications are noted and recommendations for future research are made. This study was funded by the National Institutes on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism.

The Impact Of Race, Gender, And Age On The Pretrial Decision, Tina L. Freiburger, Carly M. Hilinski

Peer Reviewed Publications

There is an abundance of studies that examine judicial discretion in the final sentencing stages; however, few have examined discretion in the early stages of court decisions. Pretrial release is especially concerning as it has been strongly correlated with a final sentence of incarceration and deprives defendants of their freedom. This study examined whether race, gender, and age influence judges’ decisions to detain or release a defendant prior to trial. The results indicate that females and younger defendants were less likely to be detained. Race was not significant after economic variables were included. When examining males and females separately, race …

Methamphetamine Use And Criminal Behavior, Michael C. Gizzi, Patrick Gerkin

Peer Reviewed Publications

This research seeks to broaden our understanding of methamphetamine’s (meth’s) place within the study of drugs and crime. Through extensive court records research and interviews with 200 offenders in local jails in western Colorado, this research contributes to the creation of a meth user profile and begins to identify the place of meth in the drug–crime nexus. The study compares the criminal behavior of meth users with other drug users, finding that meth users are more likely than other drug users to be drunk or high at the time of arrest and claim their crimes were related to drug use …

Cohabiting, Family And Community Stressors, Selection, And Juvenile Delinquency, Christopher A. Kierkus, Brian R. Johnson, John D. Hewitt

Peer Reviewed Publications

Prior research has established that children from traditional, two-parent nuclear families experience a lower risk of delinquency than children raised in alternative family structures. However, many studies have ignored the effect of parental cohabiting on delinquent development. A growing body of research suggests that cohabiting (even among biological parents) may be harmful to children. This study tests the hypothesis that cohabiting is associated with four different types of delinquent behavior. It examines two theoretical models, a family stress model and a community stress/selection model, as possible explanations of ‘‘the cohabiting effect.’’ The analysis reveals that cohabiting is generally associated with …

A Century Of Criminal Law And Criminology, Amy Deline

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

No abstract provided.

Centennial Symposium: A Century Of Criminal Justice - Foreword, Julia T. Rickert

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

No abstract provided.

A Short History Of American Sentencing: Too Little Law, Too Much Law, Or Just Right, Nancy Gertner

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

No abstract provided.

Two Wrongs Make A Wrong: A Challenge To Plea Bargaining And Collateral Consequence Statutes Through Their Integration, Kevin O'Keefe

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

No abstract provided.

Reforming The Law On Show-Up Identifications, Michael D. Cicchini, Joseph G. Easton

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

No abstract provided.

Cultural Defense, Cultural Offense, Or No Culture At All: An Empirical Examination Of Israeli Judicial Decisions In Cultural Conflict Criminal Cases And Of The Factors Affecting Them, Tamar Tomer-Fishman

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

No abstract provided.

The Modern Irrationalities Of American Criminal Codes: An Empirical Study Of Offense Grading, Paul H. Robinson, Thomas Gaeta, Matthew Majarian, Megan Schultz

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

No abstract provided.

Offending Women: A Double Entendre, Joanne Belknap

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

No abstract provided.

Bill Clinton's Parting Pardon Party, Albert W. Alschuler

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

No abstract provided.

Reflections And Perspectives On Reentry And Collateral Consequences, Michael Pinard

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

No abstract provided.

The Scale Of Imprisonment In The United States: Twentieth Century Patterns And Twenty-First Century Prospects, Franklin E. Zimring

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

No abstract provided.

Drug Law Reform—Retreating From An Incarceration Addiction, Robert G. Lawson

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

Now, thirty years into the "war on drugs," views about the law's reliance on punishment to fix the drug problem are less conciliatory and more absolute: "[t]he notion that 'the drug war is a failure' has become the common wisdom in academic ... circles." Those who have most closely studied the results of the "war" believe that it has "accomplished little more than incarcerating hundreds of thousands of individuals whose only crime was the possession of drugs." More importantly, they believe that it has had little if any effect on the drug problem: "Despite the fact that the number of …

A Century Of Criminal Law And Criminology, Amy Deline, Adair Crosley

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

No abstract provided.

The Rise And Fall Of The American Institute Of Criminal Law And Criminology, Jennifer Devroye

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

No abstract provided.

Provoking Change: Comparative Insights On Feminist Homicide Law Reform, Carolyn B. Ramsey

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

No abstract provided.

Learning From Error In American Criminal Justice, James M. Doyle

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

No abstract provided.

The Undermining Influence Of The Federal Death Penalty On Capital Policymaking And Criminal Justice Administration In The States, Eileen M. Connor

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

No abstract provided.

Denying Defendants The Benefit Of A Reasonable Doubt: Federal Rule Of Evidence 609 And Past Sex Crime Convictions, Julia T. Rickert

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

No abstract provided.