Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons^™

Perceptions Of Legitimacy In Three Forms Of Probation Supervision For People With Serious Mental Illness, Sophia Sarantakos, Emily Claypool

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"In the context of criminal-legal community supervision, standard and specialized probation officers are often tasked with coordinating services for adults diagnosed with serious mental illness (SMI) on their caseloads. The coordination of services varies across different programs including traditional probation, specialty probation, and mental health court. Given the proliferation of programs focused on mental health in the criminal-legal system, the perspectives of front-line workers or street-level bureaucrats in criminal-legal agencies are a rich source of information about what is happening on the ground and could provide insights into the potential translational barriers of policy to practice. A deeper examination of …

From Acrimony To Forgiveness: How Adolescents Make Sense Of Childhood Maltreatment, Katherine Irwin

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"This paper examines 16 adolescents’ narratives about the abuse they experienced during childhood. To date, most research examining child abuse (CA) survivorship and recovery has been conducted with adults who look back on their early experiences. Consequently, this study fills gaps in our knowledge by offering a youth-centered view of survivors’ efforts to cope with CA. The data come from a 12-year qualitative study of a group counseling program for high school students in Hawaiʻi. The findings revealed that a minority (n = 2) of the teens had negative views of their lives and futures, while the majority (n = …

A Content Analysis Of The Sutherland Address, 2001-22: A Qualitative Exploration, Phillip Shon

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Previous indicators of scholarly influence have been primarily quantitative, measuring a scholar’s influence through citation counts. This body of literature has overlooked the reflections of distinguished scholars, such as the recipients of the Sutherland Award, in the discipline as a form of scholarly influence. The current paper examines the Sutherland Address from 2001 to 2022. The key findings indicate that the majority of Sutherland Addresses reproduced existing sociological canons, while a minority of Sutherland Award winners explicitly rejected Sutherland’s sociological assumptions and their influence on criminology. Such findings suggest that Sutherland exerts a hidden influence on the recipients of the …

A Qualitative Analysis Of Gender Inequality In Southeast Missouri Law Enforcement Agencies, Madeline Marie Whistler, Christopher Bradley, H. Hamner Hill

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Does gender inequality impact the careers of female law enforcement officers in the Southeast Missouri region? Using a qualitative single instrumental case study, seven cis-gendered female law enforcement officers who were employed at local law enforcement agencies within the Southeast Missouri region were interviewed to investigate the central research question. Four themes emerged from the data that illustrated their experiences: sexual exploitation and harassment, a lack of work-life balance, the presence of gender stereotypes, and patriarchal hierarchy and male dominance in the workplace. The findings suggest that the experiences of female law enforcement officers are heavily impacted by the behavior …

A Plea For Open Access To Qualitative Criminology: With A Python Script For Anonymizing Data And Illustrative Analysis Of Error Rates, Scott Jaques, Andrew Wheeler

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Qualitative researchers are expected, sometimes required, to publish their data open access (OA). This is for the sake of science, impact, and social justice. Yet, understandably, qualitative criminologists are worried about what this means for their workload and their ability to protect subjects’ confidentiality. To be solutions-oriented, we developed an open-source Python script for anonymizing qualitative data. It uses named-entity recognition and fuzzy-rule based merging to identify and replace personally identifiable information (PII) with unique pseudonyms. This tool doesn’t eliminate the need for manual work, but it reduces the cost and associated risk. In this article, we describe and explain …

Res Historica, Volume 5, Alpha Rho Epsilon Phi Alpha Theta, Lindsay Rae Smith Privette Phd

Res Historica

The 2026 journal of historical research by Anderson University students, Res Historica.

The editorial team for this edition of Res Historica was Dr. Lindsay Rae Smith Privette, Julia Ackerman, Callyn Wright, Logan Davis, and John Hinton. Cover art by Mary Beth Lee.

Online Recruitment For Interview Participants Impacted By The Criminal Legal System, Sarah Lageson, Carolina R. Caliman, Elsa Chen, Ericka Adams

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"As technology has altered communication, qualitative criminologists have turned to digital spaces for a cost-effective approach to recruit participants who have been impacted by the criminal legal system. This paper analyzes the limits and benefits of online recruitment, detailing our experience recruiting 93 interviewees online for a qualitative study of criminal record expungement. We compare three approaches: social media advertisements, Amazon’s crowdsourced MTurk platform, and the opt-in survey platform Prolific, and analyze the financial and labor costs associated with each. We detail our experience individually screening 685 interested participants to obtain 86 qualitative interviews suitable for analysis. Our experience shows …

Fragmented Responses: Variability In Law Enforcement And Prosecutorial Approaches To Sexual Assault Cases, Veronica Gonzalez

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Sexual assault (SA) remains a pervasive issue in the United States, marked by low reporting rates, inconsistent investigations, and limited convictions. In response, researchers and practitioners have promoted a range of best practices aimed at improving law enforcement and prosecutorial responses. This qualitative study draws on interviews with 13 law enforcement agencies and 12 prosecutors' offices to explore how recommended practices—such as victim advocacy, specialized units, interagency collaboration, and case reviews—are interpreted and operationalized in the field. Findings reveal substantial variability, shaped not only by resource availability but also by leadership priorities, organizational culture, and the ambiguity of guidance documents. …

To Protect And To Serve? A Phenomenological Exploration Of Interactions Between Black Transgender Women And Law Enforcement In The Midwest, Anthony Banks, Kelli E. Canada, Erin L. Robinson, Mansoo Yu, Lynn Mie Itagaki

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Current research indicates transgender women of color are experiencing what is being referred to as an “epidemic of violence.” Law enforcement personnel are in a unique position to mitigate this violence among transgender women of color, however past research shows that law enforcement may in some instances perpetuate already existing violence with this population instead of preventing and intervening in these situations. This study aimed to add to the limited research by using an intersectional theoretical framework to better understand these interactions. Research questions were answered using a phenomenological research design. Data from 36 semi-structured interviews with Black transgender women …

"This Is Not A Scam!": Assessment Of An Awareness Raising Program Tackling Older Adults' Scam Victimization In A Multi-Method Study, Katalin Parti, Pamela Teaster, Susanna Rinehart, Charles Dye

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Interactive theatre has long been used to educate and empower communities and prevent crime across all age groups. Although older populations are disproportionately victimized through fraudulent online schemes, effective educational interventions, like interactive theatre, have not been utilized to increase crime awareness. This paper describes an explorational research project, analyzing the results of a theatre-based fraud awareness program aimed towards educating victims and their communities about scams targeting older people. The study employs a mixed-method research design to examine program impact. In applying multifaceted tools of data collection, such as survey, participant observation, and follow-up interviews, the research team identified …

Aging On Parole: A Thematic Analysis Of The Parole Officer’S Perspective, Angela Murolo

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"A growing proportion of people leaving prison are over 50 years old and will live at least temporarily under the supervision of a parole officer. While recidivism rates are lower for older people, there are physical, mental, and societal challenges that accompany advancing age that make successful reentry and reintegration a challenging experience compared to their younger counterparts. This presents novel challenges for parole officers who are tasked with supervising and counseling elderly people on parole. Surveys containing closed and open-ended questions were administered to N=25 parole officers to understand the differences in working with, counseling, and supervising older and …

Violent And Property Crime In The Mountain West, 2024-2025, Sydney Mitchell, Kian Parikh, Kristian Thymianos, Olivia K. Cheche, William E. Brown Jr.

Criminal Justice

This fact sheet presents 2024-2025 violent and property crime data for the Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah. Crime data are sourced from the Real-Time Crime Index (RTCI) created by AH Datalytics. The RTCI table, “Reported UCR Part One Crimes Year to Date” compares violent and property crime rates during the time frames of January-October 2024 and January-October 2025 for states across the U.S. This fact sheet highlights the violent and property crime rates in each Mountain West state and considers how these data have changed between January-October 2024 and January-October 2025.

Lgbtq People's Experiences With Crime, Victimization, And The Criminal Legal System, Vanessa R. Panfil

Sociology & Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

The ebb and flow of social control efforts aimed at LGBTQ people necessitate a thorough investigation into their experiences. This review of the literature is organized around four key themes that characterize LGBTQ people's experiences with crime, criminalization, victimization, and the criminal legal system—including police, courts, and carceral facilities. LGBTQ people experience excessive rates of arrest and incarceration and have higher rates of victimization, which illustrate disproportionality. Their experiences differ from those of their cisgender and heterosexual counterparts and are conditioned by age, race, class, gender, and sexual orientation, illustrating intersectionality. The two primary, interrelated mechanisms driving LGBTQ criminalization and …

#Falseflag: Exploring Themes In Conspiracy Theory Tweets Regarding The Robb Elementary School Active Shooter Event, Madison K. Doyle, Carolyn Willis

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Little is known about the content of conspiratorial posts on social media, specifically regarding active shooter events. This study explores the content of conspiracy theory tweets during the six months following the active shooter event at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. 194 tweets were analyzed. The analysis resulted in two main themes: False Flag and Hypothesized Reasoning. These themes represent the similarities and variations in content among the tweets. In line with research suggesting that people are most vulnerable to conspiratorial thinking when trying to explain unusual and unsettling events, results indicate that many posts were attempting to provide …

“Oh, Are You Gay?”: An Exploration Of Lgbtq+ Students’ Lived Experiences With Microaggressions And Finding Safety On A University Campus, Christina Policastro, Courtney Crittenden, Jadon Clark, Rileigh Arrington

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Studies demonstrate that LGBTQ+ college students experience explicit and covert discrimination with research documenting various microaggressions reported by university students whose gender and/or sex identities are minoritized. Building off existing models of LGBTQ microaggressions, the current study adds to this literature by utilizing focus groups to explore campus safety perceptions among a sample of U.S. undergraduate students who identify as LGBTQ+. Findings highlight the diverse microaggressions experienced by students at the interpersonal and environmental level. Moreover, the results displayed the mechanisms students employed to avoid or disengage from situations where microaggressions may be encountered, as well as underscored ways in …

Are Cyber-Investigators Resilient In The Face Of Adversity? An Inductive Qualitative Analysis Exploring Investigators’ Perceptions Regarding The Challenges And Successes In Online Crime Police Investigations, Julien Chopin, Camille Faubert, David Décary-Hétu, Benoît Dupont, Jerry Ratcliffe, Aili Malm

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Cybercrime investigations continue to pose a significant challenge for most law enforcement agencies. Specifically, these investigations present knowledge, legal, and forensic challenges that hinder police officers’ ability to successfully complete their tasks and develop a sense of well-being on the job. Studies have shown that in the face of such adversity, individuals exhibit a positive coping capacity known as the resilience process. In this research, we set out to improve our understanding of both the difficulties police officers face when investigating online crimes and their ability to cope by analyzing their perceptions of success. To do this, we conducted interviews …

Prosecution In The Eyes Of The Justice-Involved: A Community-Based Participatory Research Approach, Belén Lowrey-Kinberg

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Community based participatory research (CBPR) centers the voices of community members in the research process. Long used in the field of healthcare, criminal justice researchers have employed CBPR only in limited contexts, and never in the context of prosecution research. This paper reports on findings from a CBPR study that employed focus groups with justice-involved individuals to identify their perceptions of the pre-trial process, prosecutors’ priorities, and recommended directions for research. The findings from these focus groups were used as the basis for developing interview questions for prosecutors, which were subsequently implemented in two larger research projects examining prosecutor discretion. …

Communication Inhibitors: Dilemmas In Community Partnerships Amidst Mental Health Crises In Texas, Alessa Juarez, Kendra N. Bowen, Johnny Nhan

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Community partnerships between police departments, social services, and healthcare providers continue to struggle in various ways, with mental health crisis response remaining a primary yet fragmented service delivery. Using the nodal governance perspective, this paper provides qualitative insight into the existing communication and resource barriers between law enforcement personnel and social service providers in a large urban county in Texas. Four key themes are presented: staff and resource availability, continuity of care, staff personnel and characteristics, and communication efficiency. Policy implications are also discussed, with the study’s findings supporting the prioritization of building stronger communication between existing social service providers, …

Elder Fraud In The Mountain West, 2023, Taylor Volk, Madison Dwyer, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Criminal Justice

This fact sheet presents data on complaints of fraud affecting individuals over the age of 60 and associated financial losses reported by elderly individuals in the Mountain West. The 2023 Elder Fraud Report serves to illuminate trends in elder fraud reports throughout the 50 U.S. states, Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, Guam, U.S. Minor Outlying Islands, American Samoa, U.S. Virgin Islands, and Northern Mariana Islands. This fact sheet focuses on elder fraud data for the Mountain West states of Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Utah.

Prosecutorial Perceptions Of Discovery Reform On A Local Level, Gabrielle A. Roubanian, Janne E. Gaub, Marthinus C. Koen, James J. Willis

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"In recent years, several states in the United States have considered and implemented discovery reforms to regulate how evidence is included and shared as criminal cases play out in the court system. Currently, little research explores how prosecutors have made sense of these reforms and how discovery changes have impacted their day-to-day routines. Consequently, this case study considers how prosecutors at a large prosecutorial agency in the United States made sense of discovery reforms implemented in its state two years before data collection. Findings are based on 35 semi-structured qualitative interviews and highlight how prosecutors experienced the implementation of the …

“They Don’T Want Us Anywhere”: The Impact Of Anti-Homelessness Laws On Unsheltered Residents Of Fort Worth, Texas, Brie Diamond

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Access to public space is not afforded equally amongst the population. Often, the people who must spend most of their time in these spaces, people experiencing homelessness, are barred by local or state law from being there. Fort Worth, Texas, implemented a camping ban in 2019 that prohibits camping on public or private property. This article explores the impact of this ban on unsheltered people experiencing homelessness using semi-structured interviews with 18 people residing in encampments across the city. The findings document the tangible and existential losses endured by this group and the impact on the perception of their place …

Campaigning For Change: How State-Level Groups Advocate For Legislative Sexual Offense Reform, Jennifer L. Wooldridge, Danielle J. S. Bailey, Stephanie Taulli

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"In the criminal justice field, advocacy groups work to better the circumstances for specific groups of people facing perceived injustice. While some advocacy groups have been studied extensively, one type of group – sexual offense reform advocates – has been understudied. This is particularly problematic due to stigmatization and legislative differences in how individuals convicted of sex crimes are supervised compared those convicted of non-sexual offenses. These post-conviction differences make it necessary to better understand these advocacy groups and their processes when fighting for public policy change. The current study examines qualitative interviews conducted with affiliates of a national organization …

Complexities Of Appellate Law: Experiences And Perspectives Of Utah Indigent Appellate Attorneys, Whitney Howey, Stephanie Kathan, Jeremiah W. Jaggers, Chris Cambron

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Indigent appellate attorneys experience high stress due to their unique roles and responsibilities. Very little scientific research examines the lives and experiences of attorneys in the workplace. Characterizing and describing the variety of complexities and challenges Utah appellate attorneys face within their work provides information towards filling the profession’s gaps, stressors, and occupational needs. A sample of five Utah appellate attorneys were interviewed to better understand their perspectives and experiences in the workplace. We used thematic analysis to identify themes related to Utah appellate attorney experiences and perspectives. We identified four major themes from the data, including Personal approach, Working …

Puppycide By Gavel: How The Judiciary Uses The Police Killing Of Dogs To Reinforce Justifications For Police Violence, Jeremy J. Smith

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Police discharge their firearms more often at dogs than humans, and as a profession, kill thousands of dogs every year. The number of dogs killed by police during these encounters has government officials declaring that an “epidemic” is occurring within policing itself, with some commentators referring to this trend as “puppycide” or “canicide.” The purpose of this article is to examine how the judiciary rationalizes canicide, or the police killing of dogs, and the role canicide plays in the justification of police violence. To do this, the article provides a sociolegal and ethnographic content analysis of federal court cases and …

Qualitative Analysis Of The Influence Of Military Culture On The Resocialization Of Combat Veterans, Kyle N. Rodgers

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The researcher conducted in-depth interviews with 25 combat-experienced Veterans of the Global War on Terror who fit an operational definition of successful resocialization. How do successfully resocialized combat Veterans compare with combat Veterans who became involved with the criminal justice system? Utilizing a snowball method to identify each participant, the most significant finding from these interviews was that two factors seem to differentiate the civilian and military group styles the most, which were the overwhelming importance of purpose and tribe in the lives of combat Veterans. This confirmed the hypothesis that the most significant difference between the civilian and military …

Actions Speak Louder Than Words: Public Perceptions Of Victim Forgiveness And Offender Reparative Effort, Samantha Does

Bridges: An Undergraduate Journal of Contemporary Connections

Passing judgment is an inevitable aspect of human behaviour, particularly in cases of severe wrongdoing or crime. These assessments can affect the individuals implicated in the transgressions, including the victim and offender. This research enhances our understanding of how third parties judge offenders and victims of crime, exploring whether offender participation in rehabilitation, offender remorsefulness, and the victim's forgiveness following a crime influence the third party's judgement of the victim and offender. Participants were presented with a scenario depicting a significant transgression, after which they responded to prompts concerning their perceptions of the event and the people involved. The findings …

Gender, Parenthood, And Crime: What People Expect When You’Re Expecting, Madelyn Blaser

Honors Thesis

Decades of research have underscored the importance of personal demographics on criminal sentencing outcomes. Race and gender have gained increasing attention within this area, while parental status, particularly expectant parenthood, has largely been neglected. The current study seeks to examine the influence that an offender’s gender and parental status have on how they are viewed by the public. Using a vignette-style survey of American adults, this paper examines how gender and parental status influences public perception of an offender’s character. The survey also highlights the impacts that gender and parental status have on perceptions of a fair correctional outcome. Results …

Prison Foodways In “Orange Is The New Black”, A. E. Stearns, Morgan Wilson, Mckenzie Richard

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"The current study adds to the literature on prison foodways and media studies by exploring the role of prison food on the show Orange is the New Black (OITNB). Specifically, this project aimed to better understand the nature of televised incarceration experiences through the way in which incarcerated characters interacted with food in the scenes. Through an analysis of 601 food-related scenes in OITNB, findings suggest: 1) food is a vehicle for additional layers of institutional control of captive bodies, 2) food plays myriad non-food roles such as medicine, a transactional medium, a vehicle for contraband, and even sexual pleasure, …

An Exploratory Study On The Practice Of Procedural Justice And Use Of Force In Police-Citizen Encounters, Charles Cunha

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Procedural justice is a philosophy and theory demonstrating that the practice of its four principles improves police-community relations. This means that citizens view law enforcement as a legitimate entity of government. Much controversy has stemmed from alleged unlawful killings of suspects in the past decade. These incidents question whether law enforcement acted legitimately. Since then, scholars have researched training in using the four principles of procedural justice. They have also researched the use of procedural justice in police-citizen encounters. The current research study addresses law enforcement officers’ perspectives on the use of force and the use of the four principles …

“They Are Usually Borderline Homeless”: Exploring The Nexus Of Homelessness, Housing Instability, Successful Reentry, And Long-Term Reintegration, Emily I. Troshynski, Carolyn Willis

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"For previously incarcerated persons, affordable and safe housing options are scarce. Barriers to securing housing include federal mandates (i.e., eligibility requirements) as well as local rules and regulations (i.e., zoning and ordinances). When housing is available, disclosing criminal history on applications impacts individuals’ chances to rent (Philips & Spencer, 2013). A lack of a consistent rental history, no personal and/or employment references, and securing capital to cover security deposits are added challenges. Since parole rules direct ex-convicts not to associate with others that have a criminal record, living with partners, friends, and family members may not be an option. Research …