Criminology Commons^™

The Cost Of Compassion: Mixed Methods Insights Into Healthcare Chaplains’ Experiences Of Workplace Violence, Dana Fachner

Theses and Dissertations

Healthcare workers’ exposure to workplace violence has been well documented, with research emphasizing both its frequency and severity among clinical staff like physicians and nurses. Still, one group remains markedly overlooked: healthcare chaplains. Despite their frequent presence in high-stress, unpredictable, and emotionally charged situations, chaplains have never before been included in research regarding healthcare workers’ exposure to workplace violence. Healthcare chaplains provide spiritual and emotional care to patients, families, and staff by offering support that is culturally sensitive and appropriate to patients’ religious traditions. Chaplains collaborate with medical teams to deliver holistic care and are involved in a wide range …

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 …

Assessing Abuse And Neglect In U.S. Nursing Homes: A Comparative Analysis Across Pre-, During, And Post-Pandemic Periods, Katherine Gane

Theses and Dissertations

Nursing homes are among the most closely regulated providers in the U.S. healthcare system, with both federal and state agencies working together to monitor care and help protect residents. The COVID-19 pandemic, however, introduced unprecedented challenges for facilities and survey agencies alike, disrupting normal operations, limiting in-person visits, and temporarily shifting regulatory priorities. The purpose of this study was to examine how these pandemic-related disruptions were reflected in the severity and reporting patterns of substantiated abuse and neglect deficiencies in U.S. nursing homes. Using publicly available data from the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS), this study analyzed 39,607 …

Police Supervisor Selection Process And The Need For Uniformity In Practices To Improve Police Leadership In The Usa, Catrina M. Rhatigan

Theses and Dissertations

Effective police leadership is crucial to sustaining the culture shift in law enforcement. Leaders need to lead, and how the executive staff assess their leadership capabilities will determine whether they are up to the task. Police executives need to determine first what their motives are: to fill open supervisory spots? Promote the best leaders? This study and the results highlight the need to focus on the latter, identify the leadership qualities that best fit your department's needs, and work from there. A lack of oversight and inconsistent standards for police supervisors leads to poor policing and inadequate responses to significant …

Commercial Off-The-Shelf Electronic Warfare Threats To Global Positioning System Receivers, Matthew P. Robinson

Theses and Dissertations

This research evaluates the feasibility of commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) hardware developed into an electronic warfare (EW) system used to degrade or deny Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers. All 16 critical infrastructure sectors rely on GPS signals to operate safely and effectively. Millions of Americans rely on GPS signals and the services they provide in their daily lives, so the loss of these vital services would dramatically impact our society. Our nation’s reliance on the GPS network makes it a potential target for COTS EW threats. The ways and means to develop COTS hardware into EW systems to interfere with GPS receivers …

Constructing And Deconstructing Homelessness: Challenging The Stigmatization Of The Unhoused Through Lived Experience, Brenna Jones

Theses and Dissertations

As homelessness rises across the United States, public discourse plays an important role in shaping how the housing crisis is understood and addressed. This study examines how homelessness is constructed through local media narratives and how these constructions shape the experiences of unhoused individuals. Using a case study of Greater Bangor, Maine, this research combines a critical content analysis of 315 news articles from the Bangor Daily News (2020-2025) with in-depth interviews with 18 unhoused and precariously housed individuals. The findings demonstrate how media portrayals construct homelessness as a stigmatized identity associated with disorder, addiction, and danger. These narratives contribute …

Have Gun, Will Travel: The Domestic Intelligence Implications Of Travel-To-Target Distances In Domestic Violent Extremist Attacks, Kyle W. Mcdonnell

Theses and Dissertations

Domestic violent extremist (DVE) attacks in the U.S. present a fluid and dynamic threat to national security. While past research has extensively examined the ideological drivers of DVE violence, relatively little focus has been placed on their geographic mobility, particularly how far DVE actors travel from their hometowns to attack sites and what insights this provides for intelligence and law enforcement. This dissertation explores how geographic proximity, ideological motivation, and logistical constraints shape DVE travel patterns. Using a comprehensive dataset covering U.S.-based DVE incidents from 2001 to 2025, this study employs a mixed-methods approach combining quantitative geospatial analysis with qualitative …

Exploratory Research Into U.S.-Based College/University Population Perceptions And Security Responses To On-Campus Active Shooter Incidents, Donald E. Stanton

Theses and Dissertations

On-campus active shooter incidents challenge U.S.-based Institutions of Higher Learning (IHLs) as they are usually only identifiable after the first shot. My mixed-methods, exploratory study was conducted to fill gaps in the limited research regarding on-campus active shooter incidents. Using purposive sampling, I identified two IHL security directors for the initial qualitative phase of my research. I conducted separate virtual interviews to discuss active shooter-specific responses, policies, procedures, security measures, potential active shooter-specific security systems, and their views on the importance of open-campus learning and social environments. We also discussed their active shooter response postures and whether they believed their …

Life After Prison: Exploring Gendered Differences In The Impact Of Social Support On The Ease Of Reintegration For Previously Incarcerated Men And Women, Joy Ferdinand

Theses and Dissertations

Successful reintegration into society remains a significant challenge for formerly incarcerated individuals, particularly in securing stable housing and employment. This study examines the gendered impact of social support on reintegration outcomes, specifically assessing how peer instrumental support, familial instrumental support, and familial emotional support influence housing stability and employment within three months of release. Using data from the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI), this study employs logistic regression models to explore whether gender moderates the relationship between social support and reentry success. Findings indicate that peer instrumental support significantly affects housing stability, but its impact varies by gender. …

Punitiveness In The Modern Era: Gender Roles & Anti-Transgender Attitudes, Haley Brooke Trantham

Theses and Dissertations

Public opinion on punitiveness is an important topic of study because it can influence political elites’ decision making when developing legislation. This study focused on the role gender ideology and anti-transgender attitudes on punitiveness while controlling for religious and political conservatism. The 2020 American National Election Study (ANES) was used to examine the association between conservatism, traditional gender roles, and anti-transgender attitudes on their influence of punitiveness. Three ordinal logistic regressions were run for each type of punitiveness (i.e., death penalty support, crime spending, and felon disenfranchisement). Results indicated that religious conservatives had lesser odds for supporting the death penalty …

Mental Health Courts: An Assessment Of Eligibility Criteria, Service Characteristics, And Public Opinion, Emily Suiter

Theses and Dissertations

Mental health courts, a type of specialty court targeting justice-involved persons with mental illness, have become prominent across the United States. Using a therapeutic jurisprudence approach, these courts largely operate independently with no guiding framework, leading to varied practices. Additionally, public opinion on mental health courts is unknown, causing potential problems as these courts are rapidly expanding and funded, at least partially, through taxpayer dollars. Chapter One of this dissertation provides a framework for the remainder of the dissertation. Chapter Two is a detailed literature review of relevant theories and past research regarding mental health courts. Chapters Three and Four …

Enhancing Emergency Response To The Active Shooter With Nims, Edwin A. Vazquez

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of the following study is to identify components of the National Incident Management System (NIMS) that can be used to improve first responder deployment in critical incidents, such as in the occurrence of an Active Shooter (AS) and Active Deadly Threat (ADT). The Incident Command System (ICS), a component of NIMS, is the on-scene emergency management organization designed to aid in managing resources during planned and unplanned catastrophic events. An AS/ADT incident is typically planned by the perpetrator and unexpected to first responders, leaving them with limited time to respond to and neutralize this type of threat effectively. …

Lost In The System: Child Sex Trafficking In Foster Care, Jennifer L. Monaghan

Theses and Dissertations

“The true character of society is revealed in how it treats its children.” – Nelson Mandela Human trafficking has always existed. It spans the globe and has always been an epidemic. It is often referred to as a crime hidden in plain sight. The sexual exploitation of children in foster care is a topic within the field of sex trafficking that has not been explored enough in research. This research study focuses on the question, “How can placing a child in foster care make them susceptible to becoming a victim of child sex trafficking?” This research study has 132 female …

Normalizing Delinquency And Risky Behaviors In Adolescents: An Application Of Neutralization Theory To Parents, Audrey Cheatham

Theses and Dissertations

Sykes and Matza’s Neutralization theory (1957) was originally developed to explain juvenile involvement in delinquency, with extensions of this theory being used to understand crime in other offending groups. Although neutralization theory has been widely applied to offenders, far less research has examined how neutralizations may be used by non-offending groups. This study applies Sykes and Matza’s framework to parents to explore whether neutralizations are being employed to justify risk taking or delinquent behavior among their adolescent children. This study also examines how parents differentiate risky behavior from delinquent behavior, as well as their attitude towards seven major risk factors …

Perceptions And Treatment Decisions For A Drug Offender Based On Social Class, Cocaine Type, Personal Characteristics, And Compassionate Love: A Vignette Study, Yasmin A. Odeh

Theses and Dissertations

Problem: The shift from a focus on rehabilitation to the more punitive, “tough on crime” approach to illegal behavior in the U.S. has been enacted in no small way by policies connected to the use and abuse of drugs. The disparities between crack and powder cocaine—two chemically similar substances—have headlined this shift (Vagins and McCurdy 2006). However, research is scarce on laypeople’s approval of deterrence approaches for drug offenses, including as a function of types (e.g., powder vs. cocaine possession). This study examined people’s perceptions of prosecutorial decisions for drug offenders—whether they are punished, rehabilitated, or both—and whether people perceived …

News Mediated Reporting And Governmental Narratives About The Enforcement Of Elite Criminality: Exploring The Social Construction Of Financial Frauds And Discrepancies In Punishment, Dominic J. Zicari

Theses and Dissertations

This study examines how financial crime enforcement decisions are socially constructed through a qualitative content analysis of news articles and government communications pertaining to two specific cases: the Enron scandal of 2001 and the subprime mortgage crisis of 2008. The study was guided by a theoretical framework that utilizes Barak’s (2017) theory of state-routinized crime control. The rigorous analysis of 394 news articles and government communication documents revealed that the media and the state rarely framed the subprime mortgage crisis as a criminal issue. Although the Enron scandal was frequently described as financial crime, journalists and government communicators were often …

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 …

Understanding The Transitional Needs Of Servicemembers To Veterans: A Focus On Mental, Social, And Behavioral Health, Marieann C. Raguso

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation was designed to fill the gaps on the transitional American veterans’ lived experience using their own voice. The reconstruction of an American Veteran’s identity after transitioning back into civilian life is a process with many challenges. Transitional practices often fail to help veterans to acculturate back into the civilian world. This includes the formulation of identities and associations. There is a lack of consistency in military transitional practices leading to identity loss and the formulation of mental and behavioral disorders. The aim of this study is to examine the lived experiences of veterans who have transitioned back …

Mental Illness Amongst Incarcerated Individuals And Its Effect On Gaining Employment, Tionna S. Miller

Theses and Dissertations

More than half the correctional population has a mental health disorder (NIH, 2022). Having a mental health disorder can severely interfere in one’s transition back into the community, specifically surrounding their access to employment. This dissertation analyzes the extent to which the mental health of previously incarcerated individuals affects their employment upon release. Results from this study concluded that having a mental health diagnosis did interfere with previously incarcerated individuals’ access to employment, especially if those individuals were black. This dissertation concludes with a discussion of the findings, limitations, contributions, as well as implications for practitioners, policy makers and researchers.

Childhood Adversity's Impact On Criminal Behavior, Isobel Marie Avento

Theses and Dissertations

Adverse childhood experiences (ACEs), such as abuse, neglect, and family criminal history, have been identified as potential risk factors for negative physical, psychological, and behavioral health outcomes. Emerging literature suggests that ACEs are also among the primary factors leading to delinquency and adult criminal behavior. However, there is limited applied research that provides practitioners with appropriate insight to intervene when ACEs are identified among juvenile delinquents to reduce recidivism risk. This study adds to the existing literature by examining how cumulative ACEs shape criminal behavior of individuals from the onset until its desistance over the span of twenty years. Using …

Unpacking The Relationship Between Legitimacy, Procedural Justice, Identity, And Desistance, Qassim Bolaji

Theses and Dissertations

Knowing why people stop offending over time and the criminal justice agencies' role in this process is essential for designing effective crime control interventions. Legal authorities have the core function of ensuring that social norms and laws are obeyed. However, the coercive and punitive tactics that police, judicial, and penal authorities typically resort to have been shown to have only limited impact on controlling and preventing crime while having the unintended consequence of worsening the public's perception of their institutional legitimacy. Specific to policing, the use of coercive policing tactics and their perceived ineffectiveness has, in recent decades, led to …

The Effects Of Burnout And Secondary Trauma On Parole Officers Working With Elderly Inmates, Kiley Leeann West

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to understand the impact of working with aging inmates on parole officers. Overall, previous research has shown those who work with parolees experience secondary trauma and burnout due to long contact hours, and lack of job training and resources. Research, however, has been limited on parole officers who work with the elderly offender population. Arguably, older inmates face unique obstacles that are in addition to the general offender population such as chronic health conditions, physical disabilities, and lack of family support. As the number of elderly parolees continues to increase, parole officers who work …

Optimizing Reunification Capabilities At Outdoor Music Festivals: Empowering Social Groups To Maintain Situational Awareness Through Geofencing And Geolocation, Justin Andrew Puchalsky

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this research was to apply Social Identity Theory concepts to a modified Technology Acceptance Model for existing application-based software technologies on android and iOS platforms in an effort to facilitate user expectations of reunification efforts for pre-planned or spontaneous evacuations of Outdoor Music Festivals (OMF). Geofencing technology combined with geolocation sharing software will enable users that “opt-in” the ability to interface, plan, and disseminate instructions when separated from their social groups. While the overarching goal will allow evacuees to maintain baseline situational/spatial awareness, the modified concept, when applied, functions as a pseudo-visual crowd analysis tool for evacuees …

Homeless Encampments On Railroad Property And Their Effect On Crime Rates: A Multiple Methods Analysis, Michael Everett Jones

Theses and Dissertations

The U.S. homeless population’s size, vulnerability, and crime victim and offender risk merit further investigation. Valuable studies relating to homelessness and crime have been completed. However, there are missing notes in which a sample populace of homeless encampment sites, and subject matter expert opinions are combined into one study. A relationship tradition exists in the criminology research arena between appearance and esthetics levels in areas as visual cues and criminality. Through the decades, variations in crime rates across different settings have resulted in research about setting appearance and changes in frequency of crimes committed there. The purpose of this study …

From The Deceptive Delinquent To The Illusive Illicit Alien: A Qualitative Study Of 21st Century United States Border Security Law Enforcement’S Capabilities, Competencies, And Capacities Designed To Counter Transient Criminality Recruitment, Christopher C. Palme

Theses and Dissertations

The transient criminal enterprise progressively evolved through expansion of illicit trafficking pathways throughout the 21st century. Scholars and practitioners share roles and responsibilities in missed opportunities to combat transient criminality. The Intelligence Community’s intelligence process is deficient in timely production and dissemination of their products. Starting with the transient criminality recruitment process, a correlated lack of psychosocial training programs dedicated to countering the transient crime threat exists. This study is rooted in sociological theory. It addresses Homeland Security dilemmas through the theoretical lens of sociology of security (Bajc, 2013) and is enhanced by concepts from Social Identity (Tajfel, 1979), Social …

Broadcasting Bombs: Classifying Antecedent Behaviors And Strategizing Preventative Tactics In Lone-Actor Terrorists And Mass-Murderers, Julia Varvaro

Theses and Dissertations

The modern notion of a socially isolated lone-wolf terrorist and public mass- murderer is challenged by analyzing those individuals’ pre-attack behaviors. Many of these behaviors can be explained with theories such as Social Identity, Social Network, and Social Movement Theory, which examine the changes in human behavior to understand motivations. Properly classifying certain behaviors in a radicalized individual could help identify potential risk factors indicating an impending attack, prompting better responses, and solutions to strategize tactics and policies in preventing terrorism. Using existing literature and theory as the basis, this dissertation will examine common broadcasting behaviors of individuals who have …

A Qualitative Analysis Of Section 1983 Filings By Incarcerated Plaintiffs, Hollie Macdonald

Theses and Dissertations

The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic was a “watershed moment" in human history, transcending its role as a mere health crisis to reveal deeper fissures within societies. The present retrospective longitudinal study examined COVID-19 as an “era” of complexity utilizing it as an intermediate construct that delineates “pre-COVID” and “post-COVID.” In order to understand the impact of the COVID-19 era, the design of the study and hypotheses stem from an assumption of the interconnectedness of issues related to health, social justice, racial justice, politics, and information dissemination.

This study utilized both manifest and latent content analysis to explore the most …

The Predictive Validity Of Sex Offender Treatment Progress Scale (Sotips) Using Iowa Sex Offenders, Holly Kelley-Chown

Theses and Dissertations

This study is a replication study of McGrath, Lasher, and Cumming's 2012 study. McGrath et al.'s population consisted of convicted Vermont sex offenders, while this replication study's population consisted of convicted Iowa sex offenders. Nearly 2,000 sex offenders are under the Iowa Department of Corrections community supervision (Daily Statistics-DOC Offender, 2023). Iowa uses SOTIPS, Static-99R, and the Iowa Risk Revised (IRR) to determine recidivism risk and supervision levels. The Static-99R was developed in Canada and has been validated in several jurisdictions, including Iowa (Statistical validation of the ISORA8 & Static-99 final report, 2010). The IRR was developed in Iowa using …

Harm-Focused Policing: A Comparison Of Citizen And Patrol Deputy Perceptions On The Severity Of Social Harms, Christina Finn

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined the perceptions of Volusia County citizens and patrol deputies regarding the severity of social harms attributed to incidents of criminal activity. Despite the widespread assessments of crime, the perceptions of associated harms remain unclear. Developing a social harm index may provide current insight into the opinions of harm as perceived by both the public and law enforcement agencies. Using a sequential explanatory mixed method design, patrol deputies from the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office and residents of Volusia County, Florida, were invited to complete a series of surveys and follow-up interviews. This study aimed to compare participant ratings …

Spouse Violence In Case Of Police Officers In Puerto Rico: Violence In Police Families, Jorge Ismael Suarez

Theses and Dissertations

This applied dissertation was designed to explore the relationship between factors related to police work and whether these factors help predict domestic violence in a sample of officers of the Puerto Rico Police. The following factors were explored in this study: external burnout, alcohol abuse, department withdrawal, and authoritarian spillover. This study was based on a previous study by Johnson et al. (2005), which revealed that violence exposure and domestic violence among police officers are linked according to four mediation chains. The mediation chain was a model implemented by the authors to determine the influence of burnout, authoritarian spillover, alcohol …