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Mission And Editorial Policy

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Statement From The Indiana Academy Of The Social Sciences And Board Of Directors

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

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Editor's Note

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

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Missing Spies And Political Murder: The Fbi And The Construction Of Crime, Denise Lynn

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

Juliet Stuart Poyntz disappeared in June 1937 from Manhattan, New York. She was never seen again. The disappearance was not reported until December and the police did not begin a formal investigation until January 1938. Sick from lupus, without her prescriptions, the 50-year-old Poyntz was likely already dead, but her friends did not believe it was because of her untreated disease, it was more likely the Soviet Secret police killed her. One friend in particular, anarchist Carlo Tresca, was very loud in accusing the Soviet Union of her abduction and murder. Tresca gave a press statement, testified before a grand …

Are Economic Gender Differences The Same Everywhere? Cross-Societal Comparisons In The Early 21st Century, Joyce P. Jacobsen

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

Are gender differences in economic outcomes the same everywhere? Using the most recent available data (generally from the 2021–2023 period), I consider the patterns for these gender differences and provide an annotated list of statistical sources for students and researchers to use in exploring these differences. Overall, women still work less than men in paid work, work more than men in unpaid household work, and make less than men; however, these patterns have converged somewhat, with some narrowing of work and pay gaps relative to the last part of the 20th century, and with women rapidly closing the educational-attainment gap …

Reviewers And Referees

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

No abstract provided.

Author Biographical Notes

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

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Reporting Gunshots: Prevalence, Correlates, And Obstacles To Calling The Police, Kris Henning, Joshua Carmony, Somalia Johnson Calloway, Christian Peterson

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications and Presentations

Accurately documenting where and when firearms are discharged is a critical first step in gun violence prevention. Many cities rely on police calls for service as their primary source for this information. Recent studies find, however, that citizens underreport gunshots. This has led some communities to invest in gunshot detection technology (GDT) as an alternative data source. GDT remains an expensive and often controversial solution with limited evidence for long-term benefits. This underscores the need for additional research on third-party reporting of gunshots. The current study, conducted in Portland Oregon, surveyed 1,240 residents in 23 neighborhoods with above-average firearm discharges. …

Studying Police Crime, Philip M. Stinson

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Invited presentation given at the 2024 NIJ National Research Conference on September 17, 2024 in Pittsburgh, PA. Part of the "Justice Starts with Accountability: NIJ Research on Eradicating Police Crime and Misconduct" panel. Sponsored by the National Institute of Justice, Office of Justice Programs, U.S. Department of Justice.

Cyber Victimization In The Healthcare Industry: Analyzing Offender Motivations And Target Characteristics Through Routine Activities Theory (Rat) And Cyber-Routine Activities Theory (Cyber-Rat), Yashna Praveen, Mijin Kim, Kyung-Shick Choi

International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence & Cybercrime

The integration of computer technology in healthcare has revolutionized patient care but has also introduced significant cyber risks. Despite the healthcare sector being a primary target for cyber-attacks, research on the dynamics of these threats and practical solutions remains limited. Understanding the complexities of cyberattacks in this sector is critical, as the impact extends beyond financial losses to directly affect patient care and the protection of sensitive information. This paper applies Routine Activities Theory (RAT) and Cyber Routine Activities Theory (C-RAT) to analyze high-tech cyber victimization case studies in healthcare. The analysis explores the motivations behind these attacks and identifies …

Understanding The Use Of Artificial Intelligence In Cybercrime, Sinyong Choi, Thomas Dearden, Katalin Parti

International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence & Cybercrime

Artificial intelligence is one of the newest innovations that offenders also exploit to satisfy their criminal desires. Although understanding cybercrimes associated with this relatively new technology is essential in developing proper preventive measures, little has been done to examine this area. Therefore, this paper provides an overview of the articles featured in the special issue of the International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence and Cybercrime, ranging from deepfake in the metaverse to social engineering attacks. This issue includes articles that were presented by the winners of the student paper competition at the 2024 International White Hat Conference.

Investigating The Intersection Of Ai And Cybercrime: Risks, Trends, And Countermeasures, Sanaika Shetty, Kyung-Shick Choi, Insun Park

International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence & Cybercrime

No abstract provided.

Integrated Model Of Cybercrime Dynamics: A Comprehensive Framework For Understanding Offending And Victimization In The Digital Realm, Troy Smith Phd

International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence & Cybercrime

This article introduces the Integrated Model of Cybercrime Dynamics (IMCD), a novel theoretical framework for examining the complex interplay between individual characteristics, online behavior, environmental factors, and outcomes related to cybercrime offending and victimization. The model incorporates key concepts from existing theories, empirical evidence, and interdisciplinary perspectives to provide a comprehensive framework. In contrast to traditional criminological theories, the proposed model integrates concepts from multiple disciplines to offer a holistic framework that captures the complexity of cybercrime and specifically caters for the uniqueness of cyberspace. The article will provide a detailed overview of the conceptual model, its theoretical underpinnings drawing …

Procedural Justice In Prison: Examining Female Inmates’ Experiences, Perceptions, And Interactions With Correctional Officers, Michael E. Antonio, Selena R. Price, Cassandra L. Reyes

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Correctional staff behavior can impact inmates’ perceptions of procedural justice and facilitate incidents of prison misconduct and violence. This analysis showed findings gathered from 136 female inmates incarcerated in a state correctional system. This exploratory analysis examined inmates’ self-reported responses about direct experiences, perceptions, and interactions with correctional officers. Findings from 19 Likert-scale items highlighted inmates’ encounters with correctional officers, however, results shown here focused on findings uncovered from a content analysis performed on inmates’ written comments to an open-ended item. The emerging themes portrayed correctional officers as disrespectful, indifferent, misusing authority, and dehumanizing."

Lessons Learned From An Undergraduate Criminal Justice Internship: The Student Experience, Nancy Blank, Robin S. Goldberg-Glen, Lori Simons, Nicole Scharfetter, Denna Grande

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Internships play a crucial role in the educational and professional training of students. This article presents a qualitative evaluation of the benefits and challenges of an undergraduate internship through an examination of self-reflective journals completed by 20 seniors majoring in criminal justice. Findings were organized into five major themes: knowledge acquisition, professional development, personal development, affective development, and awareness of the realities of the criminal justice system. The most frequently cited benefits included increased learning, the ability to apply coursework to the internship experience, and improved career readiness. Challenges included exposure to field experiences that led to feeling sad and …

Criminology And Criminal Justice Researchers’ Experiences And Challenges With Institutional Review Boards, Elaine Gunnison, Jacqueline B. Helfgott

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Conducting research in criminology and criminal justice settings brings unique challenges involving human subjects. Prior research has examined the quality and effectiveness of Institutional Review Boards (IRB). However, research on the experiences of criminology and criminal justice researchers when interfacing with their IRBs is scant. This study seeks to fill this gap through the exploration of experiences criminology and criminal justice researchers have had with IRBs. Focus groups were conducted with 13 researchers who were members of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences and the American Society of Criminology. Results revealed that participants experienced challenges centering around specific themes …

Information Trolls And Democracy: A Qualitative Examination Of Disinformation Campaigns In Canada, Rachelle Louden, Richard Frank

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"This research explores disinformation delivered during the 2019 Canadian Federal election. This study explores the methods and techniques used by the perpetrators of disinformation campaigns in the context of Canadian elections. This research also examines whether the disinformation discovered during the election falls within criminal foreign interference. Critical discourse analysis is used to qualitatively analyze 26 articles published by a Northeastern U.S. based independent news website within the ten months leading up to the election. This research finds that the use of unnamed sources, hyperbolic statements to misrepresent facts, and strategies to de-legitimize reputable institutions were the most common tools …

The Making Of (Un)Certainty In Knowledge Production: Rhetoric At Play In A Heritability Controversy, Angelica Camacho, Dominique Robert

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"(Un)certainty is not an inherent quality of a scientific assertion. It is rather the product of negotiations and collective work performed amidst noisy or quiet scientific debates. Using a controversy on heritability of crime-related behaviors as a case study, this paper proposes an analysis of the rhetoric at play to produce (un)certainty in publications presenting competing arguments. The controversy under study is at the heart of the legitimization of biosocial criminology, a contested field of study. The research shows that on the discursive front, three main strategies are used to modalize the (un)certainty of scientific claims over that of competing …

Municipal Law Enforcement Perceptions Of Active Shooter Response Training, Christopher M. Martin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

There are continuous occurrences of active shooter events in communities all over the United States. This study explored municipal law enforcement active shooter response training, tools used in response to active shooter incidents, and community policing policies practiced by the agency. The theory of andragogy was used to guide the behaviors associated with active shooter training and response. Research questions focused on how Root Agency (pseudonym) officers felt about their agencies’ active shooter response training and how officers felt about whether more active shooter training with the community would be beneficial. Data were collected using qualitative interviews with 10 law …

Remembering Lost Lives And Collective Healing From Trauma: Homicides, Incarceration, And Pain-Driven Advocacy In The Jane And Finch Community, Ardavan Eizadirad, Devon Jones, Greg Leslie, Tamasha Grant

Education Faculty Publications

This article serves as a vessel for knowledge mobilization and activism as research, intertwining remembrance of lost lives and communal healing by sharing collective pain amongst the authors and bolstering mutual support. Guided by personal encounters with violence including death, homicides, and incarceration, four authors comprising a teacher, social worker, and two community activists, unveil their 20-year+ advocacy journey in the Jane and Finch community in Toronto, Canada including their involvement with programs and services through the non-profit organization Youth Association for Academics, Athletics, and Character Education (YAAACE). The pain and suffering are shared as symptoms of systemic trauma inflicted …

Rebuilding Risk Assessment Tools And Evaluating Their Effect On Recidivism In Illinois, Cristina Penate

Master's Theses

This study seeks to examine the relationship between alternative measures of criminal history and recidivism in a cohort of convicted individuals released from prison in Illinois between 2010 and 2015. The current study expands on prior research by examining the relationship between prior criminal history and recidivism using alternative measures of both to account for potential bias resulting from differential policing activities that may lead to convictions. Traditionally, risk assessment instruments have relied on an individual’s total prior convictions for any offense and any re-arrest after release from prison. The current research developed a more nuanced measure of prior convictions …

Ritual Child Homicides In Ghana And Kenya: A Criminological Analysis, Emmanuel Sarpong Owusu

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Child homicide is a frequent occurrence in many African communities, and juju beliefs trigger a sizable proportion of this crime. Yet a systematic and critical analysis of juju’s impact on pedicides is lacking in the literature. The sparse extant studies on juju-driven homicide or ritual murder mainly offer historical perspectives rather than criminological analysis of the phenomenon. The present study explores the magnitude, characteristics, and motivations, as well as the socio-cultural and economic contexts of ritual child homicide or juju-driven pedicide (i.e., the killing of children for ritual or occult purposes) in Ghana and Kenya. This aim is achieved by …

Woman Abuse In Sports-Related Contexts: Social Scientific Knowledge, Walter Dekeseredy

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

There was a vibrant surge in the 1980s and 1990s of social scientific work on men’s abuse of women in sports-related contexts, but this wave receded over the past two decades and eventually disappeared. Recently, however, an international cadre of scholars has revisited the off- and online victimization of women in these settings. The main objective of this paper is to examine what the extant scholarly literature tells and does not tell us about this social problem.

Brain Injury And Psychosocial Trauma: Outcomes Among Justice-Involved Individuals, Mahathi D. Kosuri

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Justice-involved individuals experience disproportionately high rates of both traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and psychosocial traumas. However, these traumas have yet to be conceptualized together, leaving a chasm of research on how they interact and influence this population. The current study was the first to measure the effects of TBIs as well as psychosocial trauma among justice-involved men, within the context of executive functioning, history of justice involvement, and recidivism. A sample of men (N=95) from a private correctional facility were given the Ohio State University Traumatic Brain Injury Questionnaire (OSU-TBI-ID), the Lifetime Stressor Checklist- Revised (LSC-R), along with …

Exploring The Correlation Between Google Trends And Crime Statistics: A Focus On Motor Vehicle Theft In The United States, Yu-Hsuan Liu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the linear relationships between motor vehicle theft (MVT) estimates from Google Trends--a form of digital trace data--and official crime statistics, including the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), and 911 calls for service (CFS 911). It offers a comprehensive analysis of the limitations inherent in current crime statistics, discusses measurement errors, and explores statistical models to mitigate the impact of measurement error, applying these methods to validate Google Trends MVT data and other official MVT statistics. Furthermore, this study incorporates social disorganization theory and …

Reimagining Community Safety: Perceptions Of Policy And Practice In Five Cities, Patricia A. Cobar, Kathleen A. Tomberg, Fidel L. Osorio, Jeffrey A. Butts

Publications and Research

The John Jay College Research and Evaluation Center (REC) and the Urban Institute partnered with the National League of Cities to support five U.S. cities in reimagining public safety through the Municipalities Reimagining Community Safety (MRCS) initiative, funded by Wells Fargo. As the research lead, JohnJay REC conducted a three-wave survey to assess local stakeholder perceptions of public safety strategies, focusing on efficacy and equity. Findings provided insight into city-level approaches to crime prevention and community well-being, informing evaluations of MRCS’s impact across diverse urban contexts.

Mind Your Business Or Be Your Brother's Keeper? Managing Vulnerability In The New York City Subway, Maria Barrera-Vilert

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This qualitative study investigates the management of safety and vulnerability in the New York City subway by analyzing public communication campaigns focused on counterterrorism, COVID-19, and deviance awareness. It explores how New Yorkers navigate the tension between adhering to a dominant New York cultural imperative to mind one’s business and being called upon to be their “brother’s keepers” and intervene when something risky happens.

The study is structured around three central elements that align with the three primary processes of public communication campaigns: representation, interpretation, and reaction. This study analyzes visual images associated with public communication campaigns and 43 …

Motivation And Treatment Readiness Of Those Participating In Correctional Educational Programming, Kelly Eileen O'Bryan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study examined what motivated male inmates in a private Oklahoma prison to participate in general education diploma or the Microsoft Office Specialist certification program. Research questions explored, what factors motivated program participants to participate in educational programs while incarcerated? Next, whether those who were eligible to participate in the program exhibited treatment readiness? Finally, were those who exhibited higher levels of treatment readiness and motivation were more likely to participate in and complete the program? A survey was used to collect demographic information and assess treatment readiness and motivation through the Corrections Victoria Treatment Readiness Questionnaire for 48 inmates. …

Carceral Liberalism: Feminist Voices Against State Violence, Andrea Michaels

Feminist Pedagogy

The following book review of Shreerekha Pillai’s Carceral Liberalism: Feminist Voices against State Violence (2023) is an expansive and timely collection of essays on the carceral state in its implications for feminist educators. This review focuses on the connections and connectivity of two essays in the collection that attempt to address a minor examination of the person as political.

The Experiences Of Decision Making In Gangs, Julian Geoffrey Harris

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Gang violence and illicit gang activities continue to be a major problem to society and law enforcement. Gang violence is responsible for much of the violence death and illicit drug trade. The decision juveniles make to initiate into a gang increases these unwelcome behaviors. The ways in which juveniles make decisions about gang initiation and how to assess the ramifications of those decisions are understudied and reflect a gap in the literature. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to better comprehend the experiences of juveniles who make decisions to initiate into a gang and to better understand how they …