Criminology Commons^™

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 …

Making Sense Of Unofficial Deadly Force Data, Justin Nix

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Ferguson. Baltimore. Louisville. Minneapolis. Deadly police-civilian encounters over the past decade in these and other U.S. cities have launched presidential task forces and sparked protests, riots, and in some cases, retaliatory violence against officers (e.g., Dallas). Yet shockingly, there still isn’t a comprehensive, official dataset that tracks the use of deadly force by police officers. The absence of such a dataset seems absurd, given the widespread ability to track other information like current employment statistics or when a package will arrive at the recipient’s doorstep. The absence of such a dataset makes it too easy for people with large platforms …

An Experimental Look At Reasonable Suspicion And Police Discretion, Kyle Mclean, Justin Nix, Seth W. Stoughton, Ian T. Adams, Geoffrey P. Alpert

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Purpose

This study aims to demonstrate the need for further examination of legal judgments and the exercise of discretion in policing.

Design/methodology/approach

A factorial vignette survey with traffic stop scenarios based on US Court of Appeals decisions was administered to 396 police officers across six states. Officers were asked to indicate their assessment of the presence of reasonable suspicion and the likelihood that they would extend the stop for investigatory purposes.

Findings

Officers' reasonable suspicion judgments are significantly influenced by the vignette facts and align with court ruling expectations. However, even in the presence of reasonable suspicion, responses indicate a …

The Theorizing Of Terrorism Within Criminology, Daren Fisher, Erin M. Kearns

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Objectives. While terrorism studies were once castigated as atheoretical and unempirical, criminology has been well suited to apply theories of crime to terrorism and to then test those theories with rigorous methods and robust data. The present study takes stock of how criminologists have theorized about terrorism and tested those theories over time in 13 of the discipline’s leading journals. Methods. The study systematically examines theoretical framing, hypotheses, methodological approach, focus within criminology and criminal justice, and policy recommendations in terrorism-focused articles. Results. While terrorism has become more central within top journals, sparse attention has been paid to many criminological …