Criminology Commons^™

From Minimum To Meaningful: A Use Of Force Training Regimen For Rural Police Departments, Joseph Corley

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

This paper examines how small and rural law enforcement agencies can improve use of force training despite limited staffing, budgets, and training opportunities. Current Minnesota POST Board minimum standards establish baseline requirements but allow significant variation in how agencies develop and deliver training, contributing to inconsistent officer preparedness and skill retention. Drawing on current research in police training, motor skill retention, and scenario based learning, this paper argues that infrequent, skills based training is insufficient for preparing officers to manage dynamic, high risk encounters. The paper proposes an evidence based training regimen centered on two department led use of force …

Dr. Scott Phillips Faculty Spotlight, Katelyn Trimble

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

An interview with Dr. Scott Phillips of the University of Denver's Department of Sociology and Criminology.

Empirical Benchmarks For Interpreting Effect Sizes In Violent Crime Interventions, Kohta James Matsukawa Hansen

Theses and Dissertations

Criminal justice researchers apply Cohen’s (1988) benchmarks to classify effect sizes as small, medium, or large, despite these standards never being meant for broad, decontextualized use (Cohen, 1988; Gies et al., 2024; Goulet-Pelletier & Cousineau, 2018; Lakens, 2013; Milner et al., 2023). Repeatedly doing so may weaken statistical validity, distort findings, and impede effective policymaking. This study introduces the first effect size benchmarks specifically designed for violent crime interventions.

Using a quasi-meta-analysis framework, 1,605 effect sizes from 104 violent crime intervention studies from the CrimeSolutions clearinghouse were converted to Cohen’s d. Three new discrete benchmarking methods were created using a …

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.

Vigilante Justice: A Study On The Causes, Christina Tackett

Morehead State Theses and Dissertations

A thesis presented to the faculty of the College of Caudill College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences Morehead State University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree Master of Arts by Christina Tackett on March 13, 2026.

Decolonizing Restorative Justice: A Teaching Development Project, Lacy Felice Mitchell

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The coloniality of power serves as a central axis within the matrix of domination that characterizes global capitalist modernity, as Anibal Quijano famously argued. This power is rooted in particular ways of looking, seeing, and understanding social reality, anchored in Eurocentrism as an epistemological paradigm for the hegemonic discourse produced by the West against both internal and external categories of “other.” Such categories still inform the production of knowledge in educational settings. In this project, I engage in a critique of the coloniality of power to explore its implications and potential for critical pedagogical practice within the context of sociology …

The Other Side Of The Wall: A Study On The Impact Of Paternal Incarceration On African American Children, Chance M. Wideman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative dissertation explores the long-term psychological, relational, and systemic impacts of paternal incarceration on adult children. Guided by Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) Theory, Attachment Theory, and Family Process Theory, this study examines two research questions:

(1) What types of childhood trauma are associated with paternal incarceration?

(2) How does the childhood trauma associated with paternal incarceration impact one in adulthood?

The study draws on three in-depth narrative interviews with adults who experienced paternal incarceration in childhood. These interviews, framed as dialogic and reflexive spaces, illuminate the deep and layered consequences of incarceration across the lifespan.

Five central findings emerged: …

Creating Abolitionist Classroom Environments And Three Abolitionist Learning Activities, Marina Bell

Feminist Pedagogy

In this paper I describe some of the approaches I have developed over the past six years of abolitionist teaching in the classroom. I will focus on three activities for helping students grapple with abolitionist concepts, principles, and values experientially, with the goal of generating conversation about some of their most challenging aspects, and working through emotions around them. Specifically these exercises are: 1) Distinguishing between carceral and abolitionist reforms, 2) What do we do with “the dangerous people” and our feelings about them?, and 3) A mutual aid exercise in which I have students identify and choose together what …

The Ethics Of “Educational” Prison Tours, Alessandra Milagros Early, Nicole Mckenna, Alison Colby, Lucas Alan Dietsche, Ashley Kilmer

Feminist Pedagogy

Research examining undergraduate student attitudes toward corrections suggests that criminal justice majors hold more punitive sentiments in comparison to their peers in other fields (Mackey & Courtright, 2000). While taking criminal justice courses can shift attitudes (Farnworth et al.,1998; Lane, 1997), how classes are taught can impact student sentiments. Experiential learning, for example, expands learning beyond the classroom (Stacer et al., 2017). Although disciplines have embraced this method, incorporations in criminal justice curricula sometimes manifest as tours of active correctional institutions (Smith et al., 2009) which can be extractive and dehumanizing for people who are incarcerated (C. Agans, personal communication, …

Daring To Dream: Practicing Hope In A Discipline Dependent On Maintaining The Carceral Status Quo, Alessandra Milagros Early, Alison Colby, Ashley Kilmer, Lucas Alan Dietsche, Nicole Mckenna, Hayley Jackey

Feminist Pedagogy

Abolitionist educators may grapple with the cognitive dissonance produced by ethical conflicts arising in their work within academic institutions with well-established ties to the Prison-Industrial Complex (PIC). This is especially likely for those within criminal justice departments whose mission and ideological underpinnings often clash with abolitionist principles. Teaching in classrooms outfitted with furniture produced through the labor of imprisoned people, instructing students who plan to work within the criminal legal system, and contributing to a curriculum that may support State violence and injustices are just a few examples of the tensions that abolitionists in Academia encounter. Additionally, we recognize that …

Does Investing In Schools Reduce Violent Crime?, Jamein Cunningham, Monique E. Davis, Kenneth Whaley

Presentations

No abstract provided.

Introduction To The Criminal Justice System, Courtney A. Crittenden

Open Textbooks

Introduction to the Criminal Justice System is an open educational resource that explores the history, concepts, and foundational knowledge of the contemporary criminal justice system in the United States. The text includes examinations of current events and includes coverage of some controversial topics that may be commonly excluded from introductory texts. Institutional memory, best practices in public safety, and statistical data are incorporated in ways intended to provide an unbiased viewpoint of the current status of the criminal legal system today in order to provide students with a clear picture of the system.

Underlying Causes Linking Foster Care And The Criminal Justice System, Marcia D. Wheeler

Master of Arts in Human Services

This research expands on the ongoing statewide crisis within the foster care system that needs to be properly addressed to benefit future and current foster youth. Research has found a connection between foster care and prison, often referred as the “foster-care-to-prison-pipeline.” This study aimed to explore the impact of trauma experienced by current and former foster youth through a life course lens looking at crucial areas of development using a mixed methodology supported by theoretical theories that explored the connection between foster care and the criminal justice system. The results showed that current and former foster youth face many adversities …

Reimagining Pedagogies Of The Prison Yard: Using Ethnotheatre To Embody Transcarceral Conocimiento, Mabelle Reynoso

Dissertations

Latinxs make up 40% of California's population but account for 45% of the prison population and 47% of the jail population (Sawyer, 2023). Their overrepresentation in carceral custody not only impacts the individual but also affects families and communities by limiting access to social, political, and educational capital and agency. In response to gaps in research specific to the collateral impact, this interdisciplinary arts-based qualitative study highlights the experiences of five formerly incarcerated Latino men who participated in an Arts in Corrections playwriting class during their time in a California state prison. This study foregrounds their knowledge as cuentistas (storytellers), …

Transforming Criminal Justice Leadership With A Servant-Oriented Trauma-Informed Approach, Janina Cich

Forensic Scholars Today

This paper explores the transformative potential of a criminal justice leadership model by integrating principles of servant leadership, emotional intelligence, and trauma-informed care, focusing on rebuilding community trust, improving officer well-being, and fostering equitable, empathetic public service. This transformative module emphasizes humility, accountability, and emotional awareness to address the deep-rooted effects of trauma on both criminal justice personnel and the communities they serve. Through proactive strategies, such as open communication, cultural competence training, and mental health support, future leaders can cultivate resilient, community-focused agencies prioritizing healing, justice, and human dignity.

Breaking The Pipeline: Exploring Exclusionary Discipline, Restorative Justice, And The Attitudes And Beliefs Of Educators, Ericka J. Varnedoe

Honors College Theses

This study explores the connection between exclusionary disciplinary practices and the school-to-prison pipeline. It highlights how exclusionary discipline, including suspensions and expulsions, disproportionately affects marginalized groups such as students of color, students with disabilities, and LGBTQ youth, further contributing to the school-to-prison pipeline. In contrast, restorative justice, a non-punitive approach, offers a promising alternative. Initially adopted from the criminal justice system, restorative justice has been integrated into school environments to foster positive school climates, improve experiences, and mitigate challenging behaviors. This research examines educators' attitudes toward both exclusionary and restorative practices, as well as their awareness and implementation of restorative …

Using Gamification To Teach Cybersecurity In A Social Science Course: An Experience Paper, Roderick Graham, Medina Williams

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

Meta-reviews of gamification suggest that gamifying course instruction can positively impact learners' behaviors and attitudes, leading to improved learning outcomes. However, there is a lack of literature relaying concrete experiences with developing and deploying gamified content. This experience paper contributes to filling that gap by describing the deployment of gamified instruction to students enrolled in a mid-level university social science course. These experiences are organized around four more or less chronological questions the project team needed to answer: (1) why gamify – or what is the rationale for undertaking such an endeavor, (2) what content should be gamified, (3) what …

Is There A Relationship Between Drug Addiction And Incarceration?, Lindsey M. Lopez

SACAD: Scholarly Activities

The connection between drug addiction and incarceration has been widely debated. Many individuals who struggle with substance abuse will end up in the criminal justice system, mainly due to drug-related crimes or offenses committed under the influence like DUI’s. This study examines whether incarceration is effective in solving substance abuse issues or if alternative approaches such as rehabilitation, offer better results. The analysis explores the balance between punishment and treatment programs to determine what the most effective strategy is in reducing recidivism and addressing why drug addiction is high in the justice system.

Forensic Evidence And Its Effect On The Criminal Legal System, Kelsie L. Winter, April Terry

SACAD: Scholarly Activities

The use of forensic evidence is a relatively new initiative, gaining momentum and popularity in the 1980s and 1990s, for its role in addressing wrongful convictions. Yet, with advancements still being achieved, mistakes have been uncovered. In the criminal legal system, inaccurate evidence and/or information can be a barrier for seeking justice. Collectively, estimates suggest forensic errors occur in anywhere between 46-100% of forensic cases, with varying errors occurring based on the type of evidence (e.g., forensic pathology vs. seized drug analysis). As such, this literature review outlines the unreliable aspects of forensic evidence, the misinterpretation of such findings, and …

Parallel Punishments: The School-To-Prison Transgender Pipeline, Rayna Momen, Lindsay K. Semprevivo, Cris Mayo

Journal of Queer and Trans Studies in Education

With increasing criminalization of transgender people, especially legislation targeting youth, researchers need to consider more closely the historical and continuing criminalization of gender non-normativity. We suggest in this article that closer attention to queer criminology in relationship to transgender and gender-related social justice education can help shape research agendas and school practices and disrupt the school-to-prison pipeline for transgender youth. Our focus is specifically on how disciplinary practices requiring identification as well as those that ignore identification both contribute to the growth of punitive responses to gender diversity, especially in relationship to race and ethnicity.

Digital Community Policing: Using Social Media To Engage Students And Enhance Campus Safety, Dathan C. Jackson

Dissertations of Practice

Campus police increasingly rely on social media to reach students, yet little is known about how these efforts influence trust, collaboration, and perceptions of safety. This qualitative case study examined how one public research university’s police department uses social media to support community-policing goals. Data came from student interviews, departmental policy analysis, and a review of social media content.

Findings showed three central patterns. First, top-down, compliance-oriented messaging limited connection and failed to meet students’ expectations for open, two-way communication. Second, consistent and authentic engagement, online and in person, helped build shared responsibility and strengthened trust in campus safety efforts. …

An Interpretative Phenomenological Study Of Sexual Assault Investigations In Sexual Assault Response Teams (Sarts), Caitlyn Marie Clark

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation was designed to provide further insight into sexual assault investigations and response from the lived experiences of Sexual Assault Response Team and Task Force criminal justice professionals. There has been limited research on Sexual Assault Response Teams (SARTs), Multidisciplinary Teams (MDTs), and Sexual Assault Task Force (SATF) units, specifically encompassing the lived experiences of their members. This interpretative phenomenological study sought to explore these collaborative multidisciplinary teams from the lived experiences of the criminal justice professionals who represent them and to analyze the factors of sexual assault investigations and response that these members find significant.

In this …

Toward An Insider Threat Education Platform: A Theoretical Literature Review, Haywood Gelman, John D. Hastings, David Kenley, Eleanor Loiacono

Research & Publications

Insider threats (InTs) within organizations are small in number but have a disproportionate ability to damage systems, information, and infrastructure. Existing InT research studies the problem from psychological, technical, and educational perspectives. Proposed theories include research on psychological indicators, machine learning, user behavioral log analysis, and educational methods to teach employees recognition and mitigation techniques. Because InTs are a human problem, training methods that address InT detection from a behavioral perspective are critical. While numerous technological and psychological theories exist on detection, prevention, and mitigation, few training methods prioritize psychological indicators. This literature review studied peer-reviewed, InT research organized by …

Burnout, Stress And Its Effect On The Use Of Deadly Force, Charles Gutshall

School of Criminal Justice Theses and Dissertations

Police officers encounter significant occupational stressors that contribute to heightened levels of burnout and stress, potentially influencing their critical decision-making during deadly force encounters. This dissertation investigates the relationship between selfreported perceived stress, burnout, and the frequency of deadly force application among officers in southeastern Florida. Drawing on the Professional Quality of Life Scale, the Perceived Stress Scale, and the Restraint in the Use of Deadly Force Scale, survey responses from 202 officers were statistically analyzed using regression and descriptive techniques.

Contrary to initial hypotheses, findings revealed no significant predictive relationship between perceived stress, burnout, and the likelihood of using …

Nature Vs. Nurture In Albuquerque: What Breaking Bad And Better Call Saul Teach Us About How We Talk About Criminals, Max Romanowski

Dialogue: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Popular Culture and Pedagogy

Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul focus on the criminal transformation of their two main characters, Walter White (Bryan Cranston) and Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk). While quite similar on the surface, Walter and Jimmy’s narratives represent two different criminal transitions, evoking the classic nature vs nurture conversation. Both of these shows bring the conversation to the idea of inevitability. The nature vs. nurture argument is a popular one because it acts as a teaching tool for how we think and talk about criminal behavior. At first, it follows that since criminality was in Walter White’s nature the whole time, his …

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 …

Amadeusz’S Prosper: Effective Reintegration Of Adults Facing Firearm-Related Charges In Ontario, Canada, Ardavan Eizadirad, Tina-Nadia Gopal Chambers, Sheena Blake Brown

Education Faculty Publications

This study evaluates the impact of Amadeusz’ Prosper program which supports individuals with firearm-related charges between the ages of 18 to 29 in Ontario, Canada. Prosper offers intensive case management through caseworkers who co-create tailored support plans with participants based on their immediate needs and long-term goals. The program supports individuals during incarceration and post-release once back in community. This study engaged 44 participants through interviews conducted between October 2022 and April 2023. Participants included program beneficiaries (n=29), family members (n=8), community partners (n=4), and caseworkers (n=3). Intersectionality and Critical Race Theory paradigms were applied as part of data analysis …

Chippin’ In: An Analysis Of The Criminological Concepts Within Cyberpunk 2077, Morgan J. Steele

SACAD: Scholarly Activities

The cyberpunk genre dominates much of our popular culture, from how we think of cyber- and white-collar crime, to our understanding of how technology influences the criminal justice system. This article explores the common criminological themes prevalent within the recent video game Cyberpunk 2077 as an example of popular criminology. Specifically, it explores the game’s story and environment by examining key characters’ responses to structural inequalities through an anomie theory lens. Key characters and groups within the game exemplify Merton’s (1938) different responses to rampant poverty and socioeconomic inequality. Thus, the game can be used to explore how cultural goals …

Global Strategies For Addressing Communication Disorders In Justice-Involved Youth, Sophia Martinez, Anne Marie Perrotti, Brooke Baker, Allison Chappell

Undergraduate Research Symposium

Throughout all stages of processing, most juveniles who encounter the justice system demonstrate cognitive-communicative difficulties (CCDs). Empirical evidence reveals that 19-22% of female and 28-38% of male youth offenders, culminating in approximately 50-60% of youth offenders, demonstrate language disorders that require intervention, but most have never received services (Snow et al., 2014; Winstanley et al., 2021). Speech-language pathologists (SLPs) are communication experts certified to assess and treat CCDs. While nations abroad recognize the value of SLP involvement in all stages of processing for justice-involved youth (JIY), America lags in utilizing SLPs to improve JIY outcomes and lower youth's risk of …

Pornography: Social, Emotional And Mental Implications Among Adolescents, William K. Canady

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

This presentation will explain the historical development of pornography. It will highlight three segments: 1- Porn’s impact on brain development of reward pathways, ultimately increasing the appetite for more porn. 2- Porn can be a false substitute for real intimacy, resulting in decreased sexual satisfaction with a real person and increased verbal and physical aggression. 3- Porn promotes sex trafficking, promotes multiple sex partners and reduced STD prevention.