Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons^™

Perceptions Of People's Experiences Regarding Gun Violence, Charles M. Ndikum

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Gun violence is a problem in many communities across the United States that are characterized by poverty, and lack of quality education, yet little is known about the experiences of victims of gun violence in these places. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to better understand how people who have been victims of gun violence perceive problems and solutions associated with the production, distribution, and ownership of guns. Based on the theoretical framework of Rousseau's social contract theory, this study explored gun violence from the perspectives of 10 victims whose lives were directly or indirectly affected by gun violence …

A Case Study Of Overcrowding In A County Jail In The Southeast United States, Marquice Robinson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

For the past several decades, the county jail in a large metropolitan city in the southeast United States has been overcrowded, which has resulted in violence within the jail, excessive costs to the Sheriff's Office, and a requirement of Federal oversight of the jail from 2005 to 2015. In spite of these events, little is understood about why jail overcrowding is prevalent in the county and what impacts overcrowding may have on the communities around the jail. Using Shaw and McKay's social disorganization theory as the foundation, the purpose of this case study was to understand the unique circumstances around …

The Effect Of Cultural Awareness Training On Staff In Intergovernmental Service Agreement Facilities, Steven Alan Coffman

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No system-wide diversity training exists at Immigration and Customs Enforcement Intergovernmental Service Agreement (IGSA) facilities. This study was conducted to determine if diversity training has a short-term effect on cultural awareness of staff in these facilities in the midwestern United States. This information is important to administrations in IGSA facilities when deciding to include diversity training in the annual required training of staff, as the efficacy and relevance have been unknowns. The theoretical foundation of this study is Smircich's organizational culture theory. A nonequivalent control group research design was utilized to collect survey data from 48 participants at 2 midwestern …

Probation Officers' Attitudes On Illinois Electronic Monitoring Program For Drug Offenders, Erika J. Jones-Dilworth

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Probation Officers' Attitudes on Illinois Electronic Monitoring Program

For Drug Offenders

by

Erika Jones-Dilworth

MPA, Governors State University, 2009

BS, Governors State University, 2007

Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment

of the Requirements for the Degree of

Doctor of Philosophy

Public Policy & Administration

Walden University

November 2018

The Lived Experiences Of African-American Male Exoffenders In The Northeast United States, Jacqueline Grant

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Discrimination, racism, and class bias affects the accessibility of resources available to African American males who are exoffenders. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of African American, male exoffenders' ability to access resources postincarceration. Guided by Bell and Freeman's critical race theory, a purposeful sample of 6 African American, male exoffenders were recruited from 2 reentry programs in the Northeast United States. A semistructured interview approach was employed to examine the life history, details of experience, and reflection on the meaning of the lived experience from the participants. The modified Stevick, Colaizzi, and Keen …

The Consensus Myth In Criminal Justice Reform, Benjamin Levin

Scholarship@WashULaw

It has become popular to identify a “bipartisan consensus” on criminal justice reform, but how deep is that consensus, actually? This article argues that the purported consensus is largely illusory. Despite shared reformist vocabulary, the consensus rests on distinct critiques that identify different flaws and justify distinct policy solutions. The underlying disagreements transcend traditional left/right political divides and speak to deeper disputes about the state and the role of criminal law in society. The article offers a typology of the two prevailing, but fundamentally distinct, critiques of the system: (1) the quantitative approach (what I call the “over” frame); and …

The Importance Of Outcome Fairness: Revisiting The Role Of Distributive Justice, Kyle Mclean

Theses and Dissertations

Distributive justice, or the perceived fairness of outcomes, has played a minimal role in research into procedural justice and legitimacy in policing. However, allegations of racial bias that have contributed to the present legitimacy crisis in policing are more consistent with the concept of distributive justice than procedural justice. As such, the present study attempts to re-orient distributive justice within policing research. This study proposes that individuals infer the fairness of outcomes from the treatment that they receive from police officers. These judgments about outcome and treatment then combine to influence individuals’ perceptions of the legitimacy of police. In addition …

The Perception Of Community Oriented Policing From A Law Enforcement Organization's Perspective, James Wyatt Roberts

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

Community-oriented policing surfaced in the 1980s as a new philosophy in policing. Despite the widespread community support for community policing, the perceptions of this philosophy from a law enforcement organization’s perspective remain unclear. This quantitative, non-experimental research study utilized a survey method to address seven research questions. One large law enforcement organization (sworn and civilian members) in Central Florida was invited to complete a survey to assist in better understanding the role of community-oriented policing and its impact on bridging the gap between law enforcement and the community. This study seeks to better understand a law enforcement organization’s perception of …

Reading Between The Crimes: Online Media’S Representation Of Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander People’S Interaction With The Criminal Justice System In Post-Apology Australia, Jonathan Cannon

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Australian research confirms that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience high levels of social inequality, racism and injustice. Evidence of discrimination and inequality is most obvious within the criminal justice system where they are seriously over-represented. The Australian news media plays a large part in reinforcing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander inequality, stereotypes and racist ideology within specific situations such as the Northern Territory Emergency Response and the Redfern riots. This study widens the scope from how the media reports a single criminal justice event to how the media reports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s interaction with the …

An Investigation Of Mobile Phone Use While Driving: An Application Of The Theory Of Planned Behavior, Sokunthea Kruy

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Mobile phone use while driving has been an emerging issue for road safety in recent years. The development of new technology has meant that users are more connected to their devices than ever before. This has led to use while driving despite the illegality of this behaviour. In this research, three mobile phone use behaviours were investigated: making/receiving calls; creating/sending text messages, and accessing social media. Through application of the Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB), an online survey was developed. Five hundred and fifty-nine university students including 193 young respondents (aged 17 – 25) responded to investigate attitudes, subjective norms, …

Evidence-Informed Criminal Justice, Brandon L. Garrett

Faculty Scholarship

The American criminal justice system is at a turning point. For decades, as the rate of incarceration exploded, observers of the American criminal justice system criticized the enormous discretion wielded by key actors, particularly police and prosecutors, and the lack of empirical evidence that has informed that discretion. Since the 1967 President’s Commission on Law Enforcement and Administration of Justice report, The Challenge of Crime in a Free Society, there has been broad awareness that the criminal system lacks empirically informed approaches. That report unsuccessfully called for a national research strategy, with an independent national criminal justice research institute, along …

The Intersection Between Young Adult Sentencing And Mass Incarceration, Joshua Gupta-Kagan

Faculty Scholarship

This Article connects two growing categories of academic literature and policy reform: arguments for treating young adults in the criminal justice system less severely than older adults because of evidence showing brain development and maturation continue until the mid-twenties; and arguments calling for reducing mass incarceration and identifying various mechanisms to do so. These categories overlap, but research has not previously built in-depth connections between the two.

Connecting the two bodies of literature helps identify and strengthen arguments for reform. First, changing charging, detention, and sentencing practices for young adults is one important tool to reduce mass incarceration. Young adults …

Life, Liberty, And Trade Secrets: Intellectual Property In The Criminal Justice System, Rebecca Wexler

Faculty Scholarship

The criminal justice system is becoming automated. At every stage, from policing to evidence to parole, machine learning and other computer systems guide outcomes. Widespread debates over the pros and cons of these technologies have overlooked a crucial issue: ownership. Developers often claim that details about how their tools work are trade secrets and refuse to disclose that information to criminal defendants or their attorneys. The introduction of intellectual property claims into the criminal justice system raises undertheorized tensions between life, liberty, and property interests.

This Article offers the first wide-ranging account of trade secret evidence in criminal cases and …

Give Them A Chance: Public Attitudes To Sentencing Young Offenders In Western Australia, Suzanne Ellis, Natalie J. Gately Dr, Shane Rogers, Andree Horrigan

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

Public opinion is often reported as punitive towards sentencing young people. Attitudes remain important to investigate given their potential to influence policy within the criminal justice system. Therefore, it is important to understand the formation of these attitudes and their consistency with sentencing principles. Semi-structured interviews (n = 72) and surveys (n = 502) were used to gauge opinions of sentencing young people under different scenario manipulations (age, weapon, drug treatment, prior record). The findings revealed the public expected punishment, but favoured rehabilitation with an opportunity to repent, suggesting the public are open to alternatives to ‘tough on …