Other Legal Studies Commons^™

Exploring Job Stress Among Drug Court Personnel, Ragan Andrew Downey

Dissertations

In the field of criminal justice, much research has been devoted to exploring job stress among corrections staff, police officers, and individuals working in legal professions. Additionally, there is an abundance of research regarding drug courts and their impact on the justice system. There is, however, a stark absence of research concerning job stress among drug court personnel. This study was designed to fill that gap in the existing literature by examining the perceptions of drug court personnel regarding job stress, job satisfaction, and other relevant factors identified in the literature. Results of bivariate and multivariate analyses indicated that drug …

The Lingering Killer: Agent Orange, Sharon Ungerfeld

Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science

This paper explores the utilization of the chemical herbicide, Agent Orange, as it was sprayed over Vietnam during the Vietnam War in 1961 to 1971. The United States government, military, and corporations acted irresponsibly by creating the chemical and spraying it as a war tactic. The outcome of the spraying includes detrimental socioeconomic impacts, environmental degradation, and health problems. The socioeconomic impact is explained with statistics and an explanation of loss of job and education capabilities. With data on the destroyed trees and vegetation, this paper demonstrates the degree to which the environment faced harm. The health effects of Agent …

Running The Boys' Club: An Examination Of The Experiences Of Female Law Enforcement Leaders, Jennifer Lynn Taylor

Dissertations

After struggling for decades for an equal status, it appears that female law enforcement officers in general have overcome the obstacles that initially kept them away from the job. Now, it is not uncommon to see a woman working as a patrol officer or criminal investigator. It took a shift in attitude over time and government intervention for this evolution to occur. Male officers were resistant, because the presence of women was considered a threat to their boys’ club that they so cherished. But, eventually, they have come to accept the role of women in policing.

Unfortunately, another dilemma surfaced …

The Stigmatization Of Individuals Convicted Of Sex Offenses: Labeling Theory And The Sex Offense Registry, Carla Schultz

Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science

The sex offender registry currently lists over half a million U.S. citizens as sex offenders. Modern day legislation directed toward sex offenders was born in an era of public fear and rash decision-making. Terrible consequences have since been identified as resulting from the labeling of sex offenders via the registry. These unintended consequences socially, economically, and psychologically influence the lives of sex offenders. Labeling theory states that individuals who are given a label eventually subscribe to that label; in other words, it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. In the case of sex offenders, this can only mean more damage to society. …

Ethics And The Use Of Coercion In The Treatment Of Psychiatric Patients, Jen Rushforth

Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science

Involuntary psychiatric treatment occurs under such conditions as the medicating or placing in treatment facilities of patients without their consent. Such involuntary treatment has been litigated in the Supreme Court; however, the Court’s rulings have been applied to incarcerated persons, with the notable exception of the 1975 ruling in O’Connor v. Donaldson, a case argued as a civil rights violation. Using O’Connor v. Donaldson as a framework, this paper argues that forcing non- violent psychiatric patients to take medication, or be otherwise treated against their will, is an unethical practice and must be discontinued. This practice of forcible treatment violates …

In It For The Long Haul: Exploring Gender Dynamics In Former Prisoner– Family Relationships, Damian J. Martinez, Andrea Leverentz

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"This article contributes to the growing body of literature on the role of families of origin in the reentry of former prisoners by focusing on a group of young men of color recently released from prison. Our in-depth interviews with young men and selected family members highlighted the ongoing importance of their family relationships for providing important emotional and instrumental support. These relationships also are gendered. In relationships with female relatives, the former prisoners’ primary role was to be there for the women in the family and thereby demonstrate their love of family and their commitment to desistance from crime, …

Kenneth D. Tunnell, Once Upon A Place: The Fading Of Community In Rural Kentucky, Travis Linnemann

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"It is difficult to think of the rural apart from rolling hills and green fields that offer a respite from the city’s disquiet. Along with images of a bucolic rurality however, is a darker anti-idyll that has loomed in the social imaginary for centuries. While the narrative is timeless, the rural’s decline is something few among us have lived or even cared to witness first-hand. However, in the pages of Kenneth D. Tunnell’s Once Upon a Place, we travel to the disregarded landscapes of rural Kentucky and witness the history of its struggles. Like looking out the window of …

Expressing Strain: A Qualitative Evaluation Of The Testimonies Of Female Sex Offenders, Jennifer L. Klein, Danielle Tolson, Cathy Collins

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"For those convicted of a sexual offense, life on the registry is not an easy one. There is a great deal of stigma associated with these offenders despite the fact they served their sentences and were released back into society. Current research examines what life is like for female sex offenders whose information is listed on the Florida Sex Offender Registry. Using Robert Agnew’s General Strain Theory as a lens to examine the registry, this article will show the stress present in the lives of the registrants. Specifically, the article will address coping mechanisms, anger, and several unintended consequences of …

Beyond Basic Needs: Social Support And Structure For Successful Offender Reentry, Andrew S. Denney, Richard Tewksbury, Richard S. Jones

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Barriers to successful reentry have long been identified as impeding an offender’s ability to successfully reenter society upon release from incarceration. As a result, research has long examined what shared obstacles the majority of offenders often face upon reentering society. Much of the research identifies factors such as poor education, obtaining/maintaining employment, stable housing, and transportation as common barriers to successful reentry. By using in-depth interviews with ex-offenders deemed as successful that were conducted by two respective non-profit agencies, the present study explores what significant requirements, if any, successful offenders perceive to need and/or have experienced as lacking while attempting …

Editorial, Willard M. Oliver

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"When I took on the role of editor for the new Journal of Qualitative Criminal Justice & Criminology, I wanted to secure as many of the leading qualitative researchers as I could for the editorial board. While I did not know Jock Young personally, I knew of him and his reputation and writings, and I figured he was one who should be on the board. When I asked my book review editor, Kevin Steinmetz, now Dr. Steinmetz, who I should include on the board, the first two people he requested were Jock Young and Jeff Ferrell. I agreed and …

Obituary: Unapologetic Irreverence: The Life And Legacy Of William “Jock” Young (1942-2013), Robert Donald Weide

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"I first met my dear friend and mentor Jock Young as a doe faced graduate student, “full of it,” as he would have probably described me at the time. It was a quality he apparently admired in me, unlike many of my other academic mentors. Our dear friend, colleague and another cherished mentor, David Charles Brotherton, made the introduction and while Jock shook my hand, he gave me the cock-eyed look of a madman as he peered into my soul, remarking to David with a deviant smirk, “Oh look, we have another trouble maker here!” Well it takes one to …

Conceptualizing Social Recovery: Recovery Routes Of Methamphetamine Users, Miriam Boeri, David Gibson, Paul Boshears Europäische Universität Für Interdisziplinäre Studien (The European Graduate School)

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"The goal of our qualitative study was to gain a phenomenological understanding of routes to recovery from problematic drug use. In-depth interviews and drug histories were collected from 50 former methamphetamine users recruited from a U.S. metropolitan suburb who identified as having had problematic use of this drug in the past. Transcripts of the audio-recorded interviews were coded for common themes regarding types of recovery strategies or tools employed on the route to recovery. The common strategies used in all routes for recovery from problematic methamphetamine use were social in nature and did not necessarily include the cessation of all …

Heith Copes & Mark R. Pogrebin (Eds.), Voices From Criminal Justice: Thinking And Reflecting On The System, Joshua B. Hill

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"The introductory criminal justice “reader” is a difficult text to get right. The material should not be too advanced for the student (most likely a first-year undergraduate student) to understand, but also cannot oversimplify the topic and risk either insulting students or not conveying an appropriate sense of the complexity of the criminal justice system. Voices from Criminal Justice: Thinking and Reflecting on the System, a new compilation of readings published by Routledge and edited by Heith Copes and Mark Pogrebin, attempts to thread this needle in an interesting way by framing the book as a series of perspectives …

Examining The Death Penalty Insider Perspective: Capital Bench & Bar Interviews, Sherri Dioguardi

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"This study conducted semi-structured interviews with 27 death penalty insiders (9 capital judges, 9 prosecutors and 9 defense attorneys) across three states. Prior research examined whether knowledge of capital punishment correlates with death penalty support (the Marshall Hypothesis). While prior research focused on opinions of laypeople, this study interviewed those with direct, hands-on experience to explore the knowledge-based, insider perspective. The majority (80%) of interviewee-respondents did not believe the death penalty is necessary in light of Life without the Possibility of Parole as an available sentencing option, and 62% did not support capital punishment. Qualitative data analysis reveals a wealth …

An Exploratory Examination Of A Prison Disciplinary Process: Assessing Staff And Prisoner’ Perceptions Of Fairness, Ann Marie Rocheleau

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

There has been scant research on how prison disciplinary processes work in comparison to the myriad of studies on individual, situational, and prison-level factors associated with prison misbehavior. This exploratory research delved into staff and prisoners’ perceptions of a prison system’s disciplinary process. Using in-depth interviews with 25 staff and 25 prisoners as well as direct observation of classification and disciplinary hearings, this research primarily focused on perceptions of fairness. It uncovered those features of the disciplinary process that prisoners and some staff assessed as problematic and unfair. These included: the nature, consistency, and investigation of disciplinary reports, the use …

Duran, Robert J., Gang Life In Two Cities: An Insider’S Journey, Robert Donald Weide

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"In his newly published book, former gang member and probation officer Robert J. Duran provides both a compelling comparative ethnography of gang life in two middle American cities, Denver, Colorado and Ogden, Utah, as well as a needed critical analysis of both the historical and contemporary roles of colonial oppression and law enforcement practices and policies that have contributed to the formation and perpetuation of gang identities in the barrios of those cities. Although neither cites the other’s work, I think it is fair to cast Duran’s book as a counterpart to Michelle Alexander’s celebrated work The New Jim Crow …

Howard S. Becker, Outsiders: Studies In The Sociology Of Deviance, Kenneth D. Tunnell

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"While recently reviewing a manuscript submission for a sociology journal and noticing Becker’s (1963) appearance in the body of the text, I discovered, when skimming the references, that the citation read “The Outsiders.” I remember wondering just how familiar the authors may have been with Outsiders or if they had actually read it – given that they got the title wrong. After all, Outsiders has become one of those books that simply must be cited. And, with growing interest among younger scholars in field research, deviant groups, cultural criminology and inductive analysis, Outsiders has become symbolic of good work that …

Contraceptive Sabotage, Leah A. Plunkett

Law Faculty Scholarship

This Article responds to the alarm recently sounded by the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists over “birth control sabotage”—the “active interference [by one partner] with [the other] partner’s contraceptive methods in an attempt to promote pregnancy.” Currently, sabotage is not a crime, and existing categories of criminal offenses fail to capture the essence of the injury it does to victims. This Article argues that sabotage should be a separate crime—but only when perpetrated against those partners who can and do get pregnant as a result of having sabotaged sex. Using the principle of self-possession—understood as a person’s basic right …

Abolishing Jailhouse Snitch Testimony, Russell D. Covey

Faculty Publications By Year

Jailhouse snitch testimony is inherently unreliable. Snitches have powerful incentives to invent incriminating lies about other inmates in often well-founded hopes that such testimony will provide them with material benefits, including in many cases substantial reduction of criminal charges against them or of the time they are required to serve. At the same time, false snitch testimony is difficult, if not altogether impossible, for criminal defendants to impeach. Because such testimony usually pits the word of two individuals against one another, both of whose credibility is suspect, jurors have little ability to accurately or effectively assess or weigh the evidence. …

The Museum As An Inclusive Community: A Blueprint For Moving Forward, Howard P. Scott

All Master's Theses

The focus of this study is museum accessibility for patrons with disabilities. The history of museums and their evolution into institutions that strive to create an inclusive community means that many aspects of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 as well as the Architectural Barriers Act of 1968 are applicable. Developing a tool for assessing museum compliance with the law was key to gathering data to use for improving compliance with the law. Using this data and comparing current compliance in four museums to three major legal cases against museums showed common areas for improvement in accessibility in all …

Grappling At The Grassroots: Access To Justice In India's Lower Tier, Jayanth K. Krishnan, Shirish N. Kavadi, Azima Girach, Dhanaji Khupkar, Kilindi Kokal, Satyajeet Mazumdar, Nupar, Gayatri Panday, Aatreyee Sen, Aqseer Sodhi, Bharati Takale Shukla

Articles by Maurer Faculty

From 2010 to 2012, a team of academic and civil society researchers conducted extensive ethnographies of litigants, judges, lawyers, and courtroom personnel within multiple districts in three states: Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Himachal Pradesh. This Article provides an in-depth account of the everyday struggles these actors face in the pursuit of their respective objectives. The findings illustrate a complex matrix of variables-including infrastructure, staffing, judicial training and legal awareness, costs and continuances, gender and caste discrimination, power imbalances, intimidation and corruption, miscellaneous delays, and challenges with specialized forums-impact access to justice in the lower tier. The results of this study offer …

La Tirania De La Invisibilidad: La Necesidad De Reconocer Y Analizar La Violencia De Genero En La Argentina, Laura Mallison

Scripps Senior Theses

This thesis examines gender violence in Argentina in the context of the historic continuum of gender inequality, with a more in-depth analysis of gender violence during the 1976-1983 dictatorship. I argue that gender violence is perpetuated and normalized by its lack of recognition as a political issue with ramifications extending to daily life. I use the construction of a collective memory of the Dictatorship as a framework for making the intricacies of gender violence more visible and provide a detailed analysis of two laws against gender violence to demonstrate its systematic nature. Ultimately, laws are not sufficient to address such …

Editorial, Willard M. Oliver

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"In light of this being the second issue of the new journal and the last issue of Volume 1, I have many people to thank for making this issue – this volume – this journal – a reality."

Eugene Debs, Walls & Bars: Prisons & Prison Life In The “Land Of The Free”, Edward L. W. Green

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"This piece reviews a largely overlooked account of prison experience written by Eugene V. Debs, concerning observations of prisons around the turn of the 20th century in the US. The book Walls and Bars: Prisons & Prison Life in the “Land of the Free” contributes many insights consistent with contemporary knowledge for criminology and criminal justice. It is not, however, without notable limitations. The subject-position of this account is clearly political and biased in a Protestant brand of morality and humanism. Debs expresses himself substantively throughout the book between the polemics of the sacred and the profane, although not in …

Building Grounds For Release: Women’S Perceptions Of A Community Corrections Program, Andrea Cantora

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Few studies have examined the role halfway houses play in helping women navigate the transition from prison to community. To add to this research, my article explores the perceptions and experiences of women residing at a New Jersey female halfway house upon their release from prison. In-depth qualitative interviews with 33 women that I conducted were analyzed to understand the prison to halfway house transition. The study aims to answer the following questions: How does the halfway house help and/or hinder the reentry process? How do women perceive the halfway house during this transitional phase? The results of my research …

John Irwin, Lifers: Seeking Redemption In Prison, Brian P. Schaefer

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"The late John Irwin had a distinguished career researching the realities of American prisons and the associated cultures and norms that develop within these institutions. His legacy of research challenged widely held beliefs about the nature of imprisonment and reentry and introduced us to new frameworks to understand the prison industry. Along with famous works such as The Felon (1970), The Jail (1985), and The Warehouse Prison (2004), Irwin was instrumental in introducing Convict Criminology to academe, giving a voice to those who experienced the pains of imprisonment. In his final book, Lifers: Seeking Redemption in Prison (2009), Irwin once …

“We Incarcerate To Set Free:” Negotiating Punishment And Rehabilitation In Jail, Brittnie L. Aiello

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Criminology has documented the decline of rehabilitation in the age of get-tough approaches to crime and punishment. Therapy and punishment, however, are not mutually exclusive. Rehabilitation and traditional punishment have long co-existed in penal facilities. In this article, I examine the role of rehabilitation at Northeast Jail, a county jail in the U.S. that adhered to an ideology of rehabilitation. But Northeast Jail was, first and foremost, a penal facility where offenders were confined and punished. While staff and administrators at Northeast Jail routinely invoked a rhetoric of rehabilitation, they adhered to rules and engaged in punitive practices that interfered …

African American Perceptions Of Police Misconduct And Accountability, Ronald Weitzer, Rod K. Brunson

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"This article examines city residents’ reported experiences with and perceptions of various forms of police misconduct as well as their perspectives on two types of accountability mechanisms: internal and external to the police department. The data are derived from in-depth interviews with adult African American residents of the city. Our findings highlight the complexities involved in establishing credible citizen-led review boards, particularly in the types of cities such as the one examined here, East St. Louis. Survey research reveals that a majority of the public supports the principle of external oversight, but this general support may be diluted in settings …

Sex Offenders And Campus-Based Sex Offender Registration: Stigma, Vulnerability, Isolation, And The Classroom As Refuge, Richard Tewksbury

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Inclusion on the sex offender registration list is well known to produce stigma, collateral consequences, stress, and feelings of vulnerability for offenders. In addition to state-based registries, a number of institution-specific registries are beginning to appear, including those on college campuses. By using in-depth interviews with a sample of sex offenders listed on a campus-specific sex offender registry, this study explores the experiences resulting from this label. Findings highlight the feeling of vulnerability listing imposes, as well as self-isolating efforts designed to manage the possibility of identification, exposure, and confrontation. The interactional limitations, as well as the unintended consequence of …

“Hidden In Plain Sight”: Locating The Men And Women Of The 1954 Boston Special Youth Program, Richard K. Moule Jr., Scott H. Decker

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"The growing prevalence of longitudinal research in the social sciences, coupled with technological advances, provide new opportunities for researchers to more readily find participants from earlier studies. In addition, these advances necessitate the development of new strategies and methodologies for locating and building rapport with respondents. Drawing on previous methods of subject identification and location, this paper examines techniques for locating and interviewing former gang members from the 1954-1957 Special Youth Program in Roxbury, MA. In contrast to most longitudinal studies, (1) more than 50 years have passed since the original study with no contact with respondents in the interim, …