Sociology Commons^™

The Achilles Heel Of Police Body-Worn Cameras: Understanding The Factors That Influence Variation In Body-Worn Camera Activation, Charles M. Katz, Jessica Huff

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

While body-worn cameras (BWCs) are increasingly becoming commonplace in police organizations, researchers and policymakers still know little about their implementation in the field and the factors related to their actual use. Using data collected from 146,601 incidents in Phoenix, Arizona, the present study examines the prevalence and correlates of BWC activation. In doing so, we examine the impact of incident-level factors, officer characteristics, neighborhood context, and changes in BWC activation policy on whether an officer who is assigned to wear a BWC activates their camera during a police-citizen contact. Cross-classified models are used to simultaneously assess the influence of factors …

Helicopter Parenting And Young Adult Well-Being: Differences By Immigration Status, Gender, And Race, Miriam Marcus

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Helicopter parenting is a relatively new phenomenon that involves parental overinvolvement in their kids’ lives. It can manifest in the form of overcontrol of their kids’ decisions, for example, so helicopter parents may contact their children’s professors about changing their grades, or they may control who their children spend time with. Research has shown that helicopter parenting has overall negative effects on young adults, especially regarding their well-being and autonomy. The effects of helicopter parenting on people who come from varying backgrounds can differ, though, and this is something that should be studied. This study was completed through the administration …

Hate In The Heartland: Examining Hate Groups In Nebraska’S Past And Present, Grant Van Robays

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Hate groups that malign entire classes of people based on race, religion, sexuality, gender, or other characteristic appear in every U.S. state. Nebraska is home to nine such groups, one of the highest figures in the country on a per capita basis. While notoriously secretive, previous research and watchdog reporting has pulled back the curtain on hate groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan and various neo-Nazi organizations, positing theories on how and why groups form. Minimal research has described in depth hate groups in a single state, let alone a quaint state like Nebraska. This case study of hate …

The Representation Of Women In Disney Animated Films, Sharik Jimenez

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Disney animated feature film is a big global entertainment arena. This paper analyzes multiple animated Disney classic movies based on the subject of women’s representation. These films are interesting to study because the targeted audience is children, and the stereotypical patterns that these Disney classic films portray may play an important role in their lives. It was found that the character development in the Disney animation films, focuses on giving the primary or the central character more pervasive roles, especially in cases where they are considered the female gender. However, they are gender role concerns in the Disney films that …

Song Tutorial: Deep River, H.T. Burleigh, Shelby Vannordstrand

Curriculum

Instructions and an example of an assignment for Voice Pedagogy (MUS 4610 and MUS 8616).

Divergent Perspectives: Autistic Adults' Perceptions Of The Police, Megan M. Parry, Jessica Huff

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Purpose

Much of the current criminological research regarding police and the autistic community focuses on police training for interacting with autistic individuals or the experiences, fears and perceptions of parents or caregivers. Largely absent from the criminological research are the opinions and perceptions of autistic adults. The purpose of the paper is to examine perceptions of the police and police-led initiatives among these individuals.

Design/methodology/approach

The authors analyze data from 121 autistic adults regarding their perceptions of the police and police-led autism awareness efforts using ordinary least squares (OLS) regression. Variables of interest include perceptions of procedural justice, police treatment …

Violent Victimization Among Immigrants: Using The National Violent Death Reporting System To Examine Foreign-Born Homicide Victimization In The United States, Kayla R. Freemon, Melissa A. Gutierrez, Jessica Huff, Hyunjung Cheon, David Choate, Taylor Cox, Charles M. Katz

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Limited research attention has focused on homicides involving foreign-born victims. Using data from the National Violent Death Reporting System, we examined 9428 homicides that occurred in 2017 in the United States across 32 states and D.C. Approximately 8% of homicide victims were foreign-born. Homicide victimization rates were substantially lower for foreign-born persons, compared to U.S.-born persons. However, foreign-born persons from Honduras, El Salvador, and Jamaica had a substantially higher risk of homicide victimization. Notably, few homicides involving foreign-born victims were gang- or drug-trade-related. With the growing number of immigrants in the United States, policy and prevention efforts should be guided …

Defense, Disrespect, And #Deadly: A Qualitative Exploration Of Precursors To Youth Violence Informed Through Hospital-Based Violence Prevention Program Follow Up, Katherine B. Snyder, Ashley Ann Raposo-Hadley, Charity H. Evans, Ashley Farrens, Jenny Burt, Gaylene Armstrong, Julie D. Garman, Lindsey Wylie, Mark Foxall

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Success of youth violence intervention and prevention effects, particularly for gun violence, will be enhanced when efforts are appropriately informed by the antecedents and context of violence. Youth violence is guided by social and cultural norms that are shifting with the rise of technology. Bullying, gang violence, and self-directed violence is increasingly found to occur in the online space influencing peer groups across contexts. Through focus groups with youth at risk for violence and victimization, this study finds three themes emerge as common precursors to violence: defense of self or others, disrespect of self or family occurring in traditional community-based …

A National Analysis Of Trauma Care Proximity And Firearm Assault Survival Among U.S. Police, Michael Sierra-Arevalo, Justin Nix, Bradley O'Guinn

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Past research on factors influencing firearm assault (FA) mortality have not focused on police officers who, compared to other U.S. workers and the general public, experience especially high rates of firearm victimization. This study focuses on this unique population of FA victims and examines the relationship between travel time to the nearest trauma care facility and the probability of survival among officers shot on duty. Combining data on trauma care center location and 7 years of data on U.S. police officers fatally or non-fatally assaulted with a firearm, we use logistic regression to model the probability of FA fatality among …

Demographics, Workforce, And Housing Review Of North Omaha, Josie Gatti Schafer, Tara Grell

Publications

Data was compiled and analyzed by the University of Nebraska at Omaha Center for Public Affairs Research, a partner with the U.S. Census Bureau’s State Data Center program. The mission of the Center for Public Affairs Research is to collaboratively produce and disseminate high quality public scholarship on topics that impact the lives of Nebraskans. This brief provides data on demographics, the workforce, and housing in North Omaha. The majority of the data presented comes from the American Community Survey by the U.S. Census Bureau for the year 2020. Other data sources and years used in the analyses are notated. …

Nebraska’S Women In Stem | Listen Then Act, Josie Gatti Schafer, Morgan Vogel, Tara Grell, Amanda Parker, Barbara Gomez-Aguinaga, Shawn Maxwelll, Yeonkyung Kim

Publications

A large and vibrant science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) workforce has a range of benefits for the economic and social well-being of communities; yet, women continue to be underrepresented in these occupations. Nationally, in 2017, women accounted for over half of the college-educated workforce but made up only 29% of those employed in science and engineering occupations, while being overrepresented in STEMrelated fields like healthcare. Nebraska’s STEM workforce is reflective of national trends. In 2019, about 27% of Nebraska women 25 years or older worked in a core STEM occupation, which we can estimate to be about 15,300 women …

Summary Of Driver Data From Workforce And Pay Survey, Morgan Vogel, Tara Grell

Publications

Recently, rural transit managers asked for wage data for transit drivers in response to the driver shortage across the state. In order to provide relevant data on driver wages, the Nebraska Public Transit team developed and conducted an online survey to better understand driver compensation and benefits in Nebraska. The survey was sent to transit managers through the NDOT rural transit listserv and was open from May 4, 2022 through June 1, 2022. The survey received 44 responses, for a response rate of 72%. Not all respondents answered all questions, so the frequency of responses will vary from question to …

Summary Of Wage Data From Nebraska Transit Portal, Morgan Vogel, Tara Grell

Publications

Recently, rural transit managers asked for wage data for a range of positions. As a result, the Nebraska Public Transit team collected the associated information from the Nebraska Transit Portal. The tables provide monthly wages and non-pay related employee expenses (FICA, health insurance, etc.) paid to a range of positions. The data is the monthly average for January 2022 – April 2022. We show the averages in regions for Nebraska. The position titles are taken from information input into the Transit Portal by managers about monthly personnel expenses. The tables include average wages, average fringe benefits, average total combining both …

Population Projections For Nebraska Counties 2020 To 2050, Josie Gatti Schafer, Tara Grell

Publications

The 2020 Census, the official count of every person in the United States, placed the population of Nebraska at 1,961,504. Over the decade 2010 to 2020, the state grew 7.4%, see Figure 1. However, population growth was uneven statewide, as 69 counties lost population while areas including Omaha, Lincoln, Grand Island, Kearney, and Columbus grew at stronger rates than previously projected (UNO CPAR, 2015). The release of the 2020 Census data provides the most accurate data to update population projections; however, not all data has been released at this time. Nonetheless, existing data on the fundamental aspects of population change, …

2022 Greater Nebraska Youth Survey Executive Summary, Josie Gatti Schafer

Publications

In January 2020, Nebraska Community Foundation began work with Center for Public Affairs Research at the University of Nebraska at Omaha to co-create a survey designed to explore young people’s perceptions of their Nebraska hometowns. Now, after three years, more than 3,200 students have participated in our youth surveys. In 2022, over 700 students responded to the online survey which was administered in rural communities of varying sizes and geography between January and May 2022. The results of the Youth Survey begin to reveal the priorities, values, and desires of these individuals as well as factors that may influence their …

2022 Poverty In Nebraska, Josie Gatti Schafer, Tara Grell

Publications

After years of declining poverty, the COVID-19 pandemic impacted the well-being of Nebraskans in many ways, including an increase in poverty. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates for 2020, the official overall poverty rate in Nebraska is 10.4%, or 193,820 persons. Sheridan, Thurston, and Pawnee Counties experience poverty at the highest rates. Comparatively, Nebraska’s poverty rate is lower than average across the United States.

Uno Goodrich Scholarship Program 50 Years Investment To Impact, Josie Gatti Schafer, Troy A. Romero, Tara Grell

Publications

This brief attempts to measure the overarching economic value, or return on investment (ROI) of graduating from the University of Nebraska at Omaha’s (UNO) Goodrich Scholarship Program. The ROI calculations consider the increased number of students who graduate as a result of the program, the costs of their education, and the increased earnings as a result of graduating. The return percentage and dollar amounts are to the broader economy

Demographics, Workforce And Housing Review Of South Omaha, Josie Gatti Schafer, Tara Grell

Publications

Data was compiled and analyzed by the University of Nebraska at Omaha Center for Public Affairs Research, a partner with the U.S. Census Bureau’s State Data Center program. The mission of the Center for Public Affairs Research is to collaboratively produce and disseminate high quality public scholarship on topics that impact the lives of Nebraskans. This brief provides data on demographics, the workforce, and housing in South Omaha. The majority of the data presented comes from the American Community Survey by the U.S. Census Bureau for the year 2020. Other data sources and years used in the analyses are notated. …

The Juvenile Reentry Mentoring Project: Adaptations During Covid-19, Anne M. Hobbs, Marta Dzieniszewska

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Delinquent youths oft en do not receive the opportunity to be mentored. Th is is especially true for youths who have committed serious law violations or are detained for multiple law violations. In the United States, youths with the most serious off enses are oft en committed to detention, or rehabilitation, or treatment centers. Since 2011, the Juvenile Reentry Mentoring Project (JRMP) has matched mentors to youths detained in Nebraska Detention, and Treatment Facilities. Th e Nebraska Youth Rehabilitation, and Treatment Centers (YRTCs), specifi cally, are for youths with the highest level of needs and who have exhausted all other …

Racial Attitudes And Criminal Justice Policy, Francis T. Cullen, Leah C. Butler, Amanda Graham

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Empirical research on public policy preferences must attend to Whites’ animus toward Blacks. For a quarter-century, studies have consistently found that Kinder and Sanders’s four-item measure of “racial resentment” is a robust predictor of almost every social and criminal justice policy opinion. Racial animus increases Whites’ opposition to social welfare policies that benefit Blacks and their support for punitive policies that disadvantage this “outgroup.” Any public opinion study that fails to include racial resentment risks omitted variable bias. Despite the continuing salience of out-group animus, recent scholarship, especially in political science, has highlighted other racial attitudes that can influence public …

A Mixed Methods Study Of Undergraduate Research Motivations At The University Of Nebraska Omaha (Uno), Afrah F. Rasheed

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Undergraduate research provides unique experiences and skill sets that are applicable in various careers. However, there has been an increasing need for greater diversity among researchers, namely undergraduate researchers, and the motivations behind undergraduate research participation need to be further explored. The purpose of this study was to identify the demographic information of undergraduate students at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO), and what motivations were the most prevalent in undergraduate research at UNO. A mixed-methods approach was utilized through a quantitative portion and a qualitative portion. The quantitative portion was a web-based survey which gauged for 22 independent …

Examining The Effect Of Perceived Responsibility On Online Bystander Intervention, Target Hardening, And Inaction, Leah C. Butler, Amanda Graham, Bonnie S. Fisher, Billy Henson, Bradford W. Reyns

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Failure to take responsibility for intervening has been identified as a primary barrier to bystander intervention. Building on these findings, we examine how perceptions of responsibility affect responses to witnessing victimization in the online realm—a topic that has received limited attention. Using a maximum-likelihood selection model, we analyze data from the Pew American Trends Panel (N = 3709) to estimate the effects of respondents’ perceptions of the role different groups should play in addressing online harassment on their likelihood to engage in intervention, target hardening, or inaction in response to witnessing online harassment, conditioned upon their likelihood of having …

The Influence Of Youth And Parent Reports Of Parental Knowledge And Monitoring And Reporting Discrepancy On High Risk Youth Offending, Leana A. Bouffard, Gaylene Armstrong

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Introduction

Positive parenting practices are known to be related to lower levels of youth offending. Questions remain as to the overlap between youth and parent perceptions of parenting practices, and the relationship of perception discrepancies with youth offending. This study examines the concordance of parenting behaviors reports, the relationship between parent and youth perceptions of parenting measures with youth offending, and whether discordant youth and parent reports are related to heterogeneity in youth offending.

Methods

Survey data from 818 high risk U.S. youth averaging 16 years old who participated in the Pathways to Desistance study and his or her parent …

Perceptions Of Self-Efficacy & Support Among Secondary Early-Career Teachers And Their Principals During The Covid-19 Pandemic, James A. Martinez, Kelly Gomez Johnson, Frances E. Anderson, Frederick L. Uy

Journal of Curriculum, Teaching, Learning and Leadership in Education

In response to challenges faced by middle and high school educators during the COVID-19 pandemic, a study was conducted in the Spring of 2021 involving 33 early-career mathematics teachers and eight supervising school principals in the State of California. These participants completed detailed surveys which provided demographic information, as well as perceptions of support, efficacy and job satisfaction. Findings show a variety of associations among teacher perceptions of support and their efficacy and job satisfaction in the face of challenging circumstances. As it related to principal support and recognition, principal participants expressed confidence in their ability to support teachers as …

America’S Most Divided Sport: Polarization And Inequality In Attitudes About Youth Football, Andrew M. Lindner, Daniel Hawkins

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

Football may be America’s most popular sport, but with growing evidence of the risk of sport-associated concussions, some adults are reconsidering which sports to encourage children to play. Using data from a nationally representative sample of 958 respondents, we examine how political party, belief in patriotic displays in sport, attention to concussion news, social class, and race are associated with support for children playing each of the five major U.S. sports: baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer, and football. Our findings suggest that unlike other sports, attitudes about youth participation in football are divided by views on patriotism in sport, age, race, …

On Assessing The Scope Of Missing Native Americans In Nebraska: Results From A State-Wide Study And Recommendations For Future Research: On Assessing The Scope Of Missing Native American Persons: Results From A State-Wide Study And Recommendations For Future Research, Tara N. Richards, Emily M. Wright, Alyssa Nystrom, Sheena Gilbert, Caralin Branscum

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Recent legislation in multiple states has called for studies on the scope of missing Native American persons. Here we report on one such study from Nebraska by first describing the practical and methodological issues for researchers to consider when examining data on missing Native persons. Then, using data from four point-in-time-counts in 2020, rates of Native American missing persons as well as case contexts over the study period are reported. Findings show that Native Americans are disproportionately represented among Nebraska's missing persons, that reports often involve minor boys, and that cases are dynamic and most are resolved quickly. Relatedly, most …

Does Protest “Distract” Athletes From Performing? Evidence From The National Anthem Demonstrations In The National Football League, Daniel Hawkins, Andrew M. Lindner, Douglas Hartmann, Brianna Cochran

Sociology and Anthropology Faculty Publications

While there is a long tradition of activism within sport, a popular criticism of athlete protest is that it is a “distraction” that hinders on-field performance. The widespread demonstrations against racial injustice in 2017 among players in the National Football League (NFL) provided an opportunity to test this “distraction hypothesis.” Using data drawn from multiple sources, we first explored which factors predicted player protest, finding that Black players and those playing for underdogs were more likely to protest. Then, using a series of analyses at the player-game level (n = 19,051) and the team-game level (n = 512), …

The Fast & The Furious…Torturous?: Examining The Impact Of Torture Scenes In Popular Films On Public Perceptions Of Torture Policy, Erin M. Kearns, Casey Delehanty

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Entertainment media regularly depict torture as effective. Indeed, most popular films contain torture—often outside of counterterrorism-specific plotlines. In the counterterrorism-specific context, watching a scene where torture works increases support for the practice. Yet counterterrorism-specific media is a niche genre, and we do not know if this holds for torture scenes more generally. We address this gap with a 4 (movie rating) x 3 (scene type) experiment with U.S. adults. While participants recognized that torture scenes are in fact torture, viewing these scenes did not impact support for the practice. Findings suggest that media’s influence on views about torture is more …

The Influence Of Youth And Parent Reports Of Parental Knowledge And Monitoring And Reporting Discrepancy On High-Risk Youth Offending, Leana A. Bouffard, Gaylene S. Armstrong

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Positive parenting practices are known to be related to lower levels of youth offending. Questions remain as to the overlap between youth and parent perceptions of parenting practices, and the relationship of perception discrepancies with youth offending. This study examines the concordance of parenting behaviors reports, the relationship between parent and youth perceptions of parenting measures with youth offending, and whether discordant youth and parent reports are related to heterogeneity in youth offending. Methods: Survey data from 818 high risk U.S. youth averaging 16 years old who participated in the Pathways to Desistance study and his or her parent form …

Measuring Sex Trafficking: A National-Level Victimization Survey Of An At-Risk Sample, Teresa C. Kulig

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

The current study administered a self-report survey with behaviorally specific questions to a stratified sample of non-college educated women, aged 18 to 29, in the general population (N = 996). Notably, the women were classified as being trafficked as adults only (3.8%), minors only (9.6%), or as both adults and minors (9.3%) using the federal legal definition. More than 1 in 5 (22.7%) women in the sample met the criteria for sex trafficking victimization at some point in their lives. However, only 39.6% of the respondents who experienced trafficking as an adult reported these events to police—further contributing to the …