Sociology Commons^™

Comparing Meters To Yards: A Nationally Representative Evaluation Of Gender Bias In Risk Assessment, Zachary Hamilton, Melissa Kowalski, Michael Campagna, Addison Kobie, Alex Kigerl

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Risk-needs assessments (RNAs) assist correctional staff in assigning supervision and programming. While gender is a well-known predictor of crime, for decades contemporary RNAs have claimed “gender-neutrality” or risk prediction equality for males and females. Unfortunately, females are frequently overclassified, relegated to a category higher than their risks indicate. Using ridge and mixed effects regression methods, we sought to enhance the predictive accuracy of the Modified Positive Achievement Change Tool (MPACT) comparing three common assessment development methods via a 10-state sample of youth (N = 241,596) across multiple justice settings. Findings demonstrated recidivism rates vary substantially by gender and bias/overclassification …

The Emergence Of “The School Shooter” As A Category Of Analysis, Rebecca Jimenez

Undergraduate Research Symposium Lightning Talks

Policy Recommendation: Creating a more inclusive campus, administrative checks, recognizing the signs of violence, ineffective school punishments, putting a stop to stereotypes.

Determinants Of Gun Violence In America, Rick Fuller

Undergraduate Research Symposium Podium Presentations

Gun violence is on the rise in America. 74.5% increase between 2014-2022. 55.2% increase in Gun Safety Legislation. Constitutional Carry adopted by 27 states. Suicide rates skew gun violence statistics.

From The Governor's Desk To A Bullet In Your Chest: The Fatal Implications Of Anti-Trans Legislation, Iyan Wickel

Online Theses and Dissertations

Proposed discriminatory legislation in the hundreds has resulted in a renewed look at trans communities, both of support and vitriol. Just as new legislation has been proposed in recent years at a rate that is higher than ever before, so has the reported rate of murder of transgender and gender nonconforming individuals, seemingly at a similar rate with hate fueled rhetoric and legislation. This general observation was the driving force behind this study; to determine whether or not anti-trans legislation in particular coincided with the rate of murder of trans and gender non-conforming people. The study at hand examined the …

The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On The Well-Being Of People Incarcerated In United States Prisons, Kimberly Rivera

Department of Sociology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

The COVID-19 pandemic has negatively impacted the population as a whole. However, the incarcerated population (which also experiences a variety of health disparities) has been disproportionately affected by the pandemic. Due to overcrowding, poor ventilation, and lack of resources, the incarcerated population already is at a heightened risk for negative health outcomes, made worse by the recent pandemic. To adapt to the rapidly changing conditions during the pandemic in 2020 and into 2022, new safety measures were implemented, but the unintended consequences associated with the implementation of these procedures have yet to be examined empirically. I conducted a qualitative content …

Epidemiological Criminology And Covid: A Transdisciplinary Analysis Of Violent Crime And Emergency Department Admissions During Covid, Lindsey Wylie, Julie D. Garman, Gaylene Armstrong, Ashley Farrens, Jenny Burt, Mark Foxall, Michael Visenio, Macall Cox, Cynthia Hernandex, Charity H. Evans, Ashley Ann Raposo-Hadley

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

As little is known about the influence of COVID-19 on rates of violent crime, the purpose of this study is to examine violent injury captured by emergency department admissions and by law enforcement in a mid-sized midwestern city (Omaha, Nebraska) from January 2016 to December 2020. Although COVID-19 did not show a direct significant relationship, weeks during the COVID-19 period showed a marginal increase in incident rate ratios for violent incidents in both datasets. While violence remained stable during the pandemic, racial differences between samples were observed. This study emphasizes the utility of a transdisciplinary approach to understand the underlying …

Examining The Interrelations Between Rational Choice Inputs: Implications For Criminological Theory And Research, Benjamin Hamilton

Dissertations

An essential component of any rational choice theory of criminal behavior is the notion that crime decisions are driven by an individual’s expected gains and losses to illicit activities. More specifically, offenders are typically presumed to balance the pleasures of the various benefits to crime against the pains associated with crime’s risks and costs, the presumption being that the offender will pursue criminal acts in the event he or she believes the expected utility to crime exceeds that which can be achieved through strictly legal means. Although criminologists have managed to test some of the more basic implications of this …

Recent Updates From The Bgsu Police Integrity Research Group, Philip M. Stinson

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the American Society of Criminology in Philadelphia, PA on November 17, 2023.

Designing Safety: Community Safety Initiatives Managed By The New York City Department Of Youth And Community Development, Kwan-Lamar Blount-Hill, Patricia A. Cobar, Fidel L. Osorio, Sheyla A. Delgado, Jeffrey A. Butts

Publications and Research

New York City supplements traditional policing with community-based strategies to prevent crime and violence. At the request of the Department of Youth and Community Development, the Research and Evaluation Center at John Jay College reviewed three such programs: the Crisis Management System (CMS), the Mayor’s Action Plan for Neighborhood Safety (MAP), and the Precision Employment Initiative (PEI). While grounded in promising practices, these initiatives have not yet undergone rigorous evaluation. Additional research is needed to assess their effectiveness and guide potential expansion efforts.

Intimate Partner Violence, Socioeconomic Status, And The Media, Christianna Victoria Page

Theses and Dissertations

News media’s communication of social issues can create societal pushes for policy change. This is true regarding femicide and violence against women. How news media communicate demographics such as socioeconomic status (SES) of intimate partner femicide (IPF) victims in a digital space is underexplored. This study is a thematic analysis analyzing how digital news articles communicate the SES of IPF victims. The sample for this study was taken from a population of digital news articles about IPF sources from ten major U.S.-based online news sites and analyzed 50 digital articles for news media’s communication of SES of victims. Results from …

Experiences Of Kinship And Connection To Family For Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander Young Men With Histories Of Incarceration, Shelley Joy Walker, Michael Doyle, Mark Stoové Professor, Troy Combo, Mandy Wilson

Journal of the Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet

Epidemiological approaches have brought important attention to the issues surrounding the over-incarceration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people, and the enormous health and socio-economic disparities they face. An implicit discourse often exists within the construction of this “knowledge”, however, that situates Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people in deficit terms.

Using narrative inquiry, a methodological approach congruent with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and ways of knowing, we aim to challenge this dominant discourse, via an examination of the narratives of eight Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander young men (aged 19-24 years) involved in the criminal justice …

Population-Level Alcohol Consumption And Homicide Rates In Latin America: A Fixed Effects Panel Analysis, 1961-2019, Guillermo J. Escano, William Alex Pridemore

School of Criminal Justice Faculty Scholarship

Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) possesses 8% of the global population but approximately one-third of global homicides. The region also exhibits high per capita alcohol consumption, risky drinking patterns, and a heterogeneous mix of beverage preferences. Despite this, LAC violence receives limited attention in the English-language literature and there are no studies of the population-level alcohol-homicide association in the region. We examined the effects on total, male, and female homicide rates of total and beverage-specific alcohol consumption (22 nations, 1961-2019) and of risky drinking patterns (20 nations, 2005 and 2010). We collected homicide and alcohol data from the World …

Un Análisis De Los Programas De Asistencia Para Varones Que Han Ejercido Violencia De Género En La Área Metropolitana De Buenos Aires (Amba). An Analysis Of Programs Of Assistance For Men Who Have Committed Gender Violence In The Metropolitan Area Of Buenos Aires., Shreya Shrestha

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

La violencia de género es una forma de opresión que tiene graves consecuencias para mujeres, niños y niñas y personas LGBTQ+ tanto en Argentina como en el resto del mundo. Históricamente, las iniciativas de prevención en este tema se han centrado en la asistencia destinada a las víctimas de situaciones de violencia, incluyendo apoyo económico y legal. Sin embargo, el hecho de que casi todos los casos de violencia están cometidos por varones ha iniciado una nueva discusión en las últimas décadas sobre los vínculos entre la masculinidad hegemónica y la violencia, junto con estrategías preventivas con el objetivo de …

Ethnographic Activism And Critical Criminology, David C. Brotherton

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

An Exploration Of Change Or Stability Over Time (2005-2018) In The Number And Likelihood Of Police Officers Arrested, Dismissed, And Convicted For On- And Off-Duty Misconduct, Adam Watkins, Eric M. Cooke, Philip M. Stinson, John Liederbach

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

This research was presented at the annual conference of the Midwestern Criminal Justice Association on September 28, 2023, in Chicago, IL.

Methodological And Practical Considerations For Cross-Cultural Focus Groups On Sensitive Topics Within Criminal Justice And Criminology, Hillary Mellinger, Belén Lowrey-Kinberg, Maya Pagni Barak

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

Cross-cultural focus groups offer several advantages over other qualitative methods, particularly when the research goal is to better understand individual and collective perceptions, opinions, or conceptualizations of issues salient to marginalized groups. However, cross-cultural focus groups also pose several unique challenges despite their advantages. Therefore, more scholarly attention needs to address how to overcome these challenges. In this article, we tackle three issues related to cross-cultural focus groups: (1) defining homogenous regarding focus group formation; (2) incorporating intersectionality into cross-cultural focus groups while maintaining homogeneity in crucial aspects of participants’ identities; and (3) overcoming unexpected practical challenges that may appear …

Blood On The Walls: The Influence Of Place Management On Jail And Prison Victimization, Victor J. St. John

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

This study examines the influence of place management on victimization within jail and prison settings. The author conducts content and thematic analysis of narratives deriving from 87 individuals who were formerly incarcerated in Newark, New Jersey, and Cleveland, Ohio. Qualitative findings illustrate that place management may set the stage for victimization by exposing persons in custody to coercive interactions, inadequately surveilled places, deplorable physical conditions, and limited access to quality health services. Such treatment fosters poor relationships among occupants within the correctional setting. I conclude that mismanaged prisons and jails influence the perpetuation of violent victimization. Correctional administrations may foster …

Pilot Study: An Exploration Of Medication Assisted-Treatment (Mat) For Indigenous Americans Within Tribal Healing To Wellness Courts, Fanni Farago, Lindsay Smith, Violette Cloud, Michael Gordon, Faye Taxman

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

Considering the opioid epidemic’s adverse and disproportionate consequences on Indigenous American communities across the nation, United States federal agencies (i.e., Indian Health Service, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and the White House Office of National Drug Control Policy) and Tribal nations are urgently calling for more substance use treatment and prevention efforts. Problem-solving courts (PSCs) are a well-known innovation for treating individuals with substance use disorders (SUDs) and those who have committed non-violent offenses. However, very little is known about these courts in indigenous communities and how they address substance use disorders. Drawing on a small sample of court coordinators …

Eroticization Of The Body, Reflexivity, And Qualitative Methodology In Criminology: An Omerta, Catherine Montgamny Grenier

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

This article reflects upon the notion of reflexivity in qualitative methodology, both generally and specifically within the field of criminology. This reflection stems from completing my pre-field research in Costa Rica, which I undertook while completing my doctoral thesis regarding the sexuality of solo female travelers. Based on a sexual assault I experienced during this pre-field research, I critically discuss the notion of reflexivity in cases where the security of researchers is undermined by the relations of power that exist between gatekeepers and participants as a result of gender identity and the eroticization of the body. This article specifically questions …

Actionable Motivational Interviewing: Gendered Perceptions Of Probation Officer-Client Relationships, C.J. Appleton, Lindsay Smith, Danielle S. Rudes

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

Prior research purports that probation officers (POs) view the differences between women and men clients as emotional, with women being more "in-touch" with their emotions and "self-aware" of their issues (Welsh, 2019). Since probation client satisfaction links to relationships with POs (DeLude et al., 2012), it is also important to examine clients' perceptions of POs using a gendered lens that considers the potential variations in women and men clients' views of officers. This study uses 15 semi-structured interviews with women and men clients in one Northwestern probation agency. We examine clients' perceptions of the officer-client relationship, finding that clients desire …

Advancements In Technology Empower Loss Prevention Professionals In Security Investigations, Alan Saquella

Publications

In recent years, the field of security investigations has witnessed a profound transformation, owing to the rapid integration of technology. Loss Prevention professionals have been at the forefront of this revolution, harnessing advanced tools and capabilities that have greatly enhanced their effectiveness in preventing and resolving criminal activities. This article explores how the use of technology, including drones, cameras, AI, video analytics, and intelligence software, has reshaped security investigations and how staying on the cutting edge of these advancements is crucial for the future of this field.

The “War On Cops,” Retaliatory Violence, And The Murder Of George Floyd, Michael Sierra-Arevalo, Justin Nix, Scott Mourtgos

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

The police murder of George Floyd sparked nationwide protests in the summer of 2020 and revived claims that public outcry over such high-profile police killings perpetuated a violent “war on cops.” Using data collected by the Gun Violence Archive (GVA) on firearm assaults of U.S. police officers, we use Bayesian structural time series (BSTS) modeling to empirically assess if and how patterns of firearm assault on police officers in the United States were influenced by the police murder of George Floyd. Our analysis finds that the murder of George Floyd was associated with a 3-week spike in firearm assaults on …

Understanding Victim-Offender Overlap Among Youth In Custody In The United States And Taiwan, Tzu-Ying Lo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The issue of the victim-offender overlap was identified more than 60 years ago (Wolfgang, 1958), but it was not until the last decade that research interest in the victim-offender overlap began to flourish. Although the victim-offender overlap is arguably established by a substantial body of research, a closer look at the existing literature will find scant attention paid to the incarcerated population. Recent studies (Daquin & Daigle, 2020; Kuo et al., 2021; Toman, 2017) have begun to discover the victim-offender overlap in adult prisons, but the victim-offender overlap in juvenile facilities remains underexplored. To fill the research gap, this dissertation …

Beyond Punishment: A Critical And Interpretive Phenomenology Of Accountability, Cameron Rasmussen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

State responses to interpersonal violence in the US have long been focused on punishment and prison. While opposition to punitive responses to interpersonal violence has been marginal, there are small but growing efforts to challenge the primacy of punishment and incarceration. In its place, different non-punitive approaches to justice have been practiced and promoted including restorative justice and transformative justice, which see accountability, not punishment, as a primary goal. Accountability has been theorized and researched largely from the perspective of survivors of harm, and there is limited research on the experiences of people who have caused harm and engaged in …

Typologies Of Battering: Uncovering Patterns Of Coercive Tactics Used By Abusive Men In A Mixed Methods Study, Abbie L. Tuller

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Coercive control provides a current day feminist understanding of intimate partner violence (IPV). Recent research has demonstrated the significance of coercive control and suggests it provides a more accurate understanding of IPV than using physical violence alone. Utilizing a feminist lens, this study’s first aim was to explore if typologies based on coercive control could be developed. The second and third aims were to explore if demographic differences and differences in masculinity exist across typologies. The final aim of this study was to continue the feminist understanding of IPV using the moral emotions of shame and guilt as an extension …

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

International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence & Cybercrime

Artificial intelligence is one of the newest innovations which offenders exploit to satisfy their criminal desires. Although understanding cybercrime that is 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 two articles featured in the special issue of the International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence and Cybercrime, one about deepfakes in the metaverse and the other about social engineering attacks. The articles were written by the winners of the student paper competition at the 2023 International White Hat Conference.

Victimization By Deepfake In The Metaverse: Building A Practical Management Framework, Julia Stavola, Kyung-Shick Choi

International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence & Cybercrime

Deepfake is digitally altered media aimed to deceive online users for political favor, monetary gain, extortion, and more. Deepfakes are the prevalent issues of impersonation, privacy, and fake news that cause substantial damage to individuals, groups, and organizations. The metaverse is an emerging 3-dimensional virtual platform led by AI and blockchain technology where users freely interact with each other. The purpose of this study is to identify the use of illicit deep fakes which can potentially contribute to cybercrime victimization in the metaverse. The data will be derived from expert interviews (n=8) and online open sources to design a framework …

Harnessing Large Language Models To Simulate Realistic Human Responses To Social Engineering Attacks: A Case Study, Mohammad Asfour, Juan Carlos Murillo

International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence & Cybercrime

The research publication, “Generative Agents: Interactive Simulacra of Human Behavior,” by Stanford and Google in 2023 established that large language models (LLMs) such as GPT-4 can generate interactive agents with credible and emergent human-like behaviors. However, their application in simulating human responses in cybersecurity scenarios, particularly in social engineering attacks, remains unexplored. In addressing that gap, this study explores the potential of LLMs, specifically the Open AI GPT-4 model, to simulate a broad spectrum of human responses to social engineering attacks that exploit human social behaviors, framing our primary research question: How does the simulated behavior of human targets, based …

The Varied Landscape Of Consumer Fraud, Alan Saquella

Publications

In today's interconnected world, consumer fraud remains a persistent threat that can have far-reaching consequences for individuals and their financial well-being. While these insights are relatively current, it's essential to acknowledge that specific numbers and trends may have.

Nonprofit Accountability: Effects Of Subsector On Online Accountability, Ibrahima F. Yaro, Trent A. Engbers

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

Scandals within the nonprofit sector over compensation and management have increased calls for nonprofits to demonstrate accountability. Many organizations have responded by disclosing information online and providing tools that allow web-based interactions with stakeholders. The literature on nonprofits’ online accountability has found that the level of nonprofit online accountability is affected by their size, age, asset, revenue, and location, but hasn’t been examined in terms of how subsector influences online accountability. Through a web-content analysis of fifty-five nonprofits, this research investigated how subsector (arts and culture, education, health, and human services) influences online accountability using a framework of four types …