Criminology Commons^™

How Drugs And Incarceration Tore One Family Apart, Deonna Anderson

Capstones

My capstone project follows the life of a mother and her children after her addiction to drugs and a prison sentence. It explores the impact of the criminal justice system on women and families.

Link to capstone project: http://deonnareports.com/2016/12/12/how-drugs-and-incarceration-tore-one-family-apart/

Social Identities And Meanings In Correctional Work, Caitlin C. Botelho

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study focuses on correctional officers’ values and perceptions of their workplace, the people they work with and for, and members of the general public. Although prior research has investigated correctional staff members’ feelings about their occupation, far fewer studies have implemented a comprehensive qualitative, microsociological approach. The author conducted 20 in-depth interviews with current and former correctional officers (COs) in public-supported facilities. Additional data were collected through two public Facebook pages designated for COs and citizens interested in the criminal justice system. The study offers insights about the significance of COs’ feelings about their work and how the correctional …

Fitting Eyewitness Identification And Confidence To A Diffusion Model Of Processing, Brittany Nicole Race

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

It is necessary to better serve justice to understand the mechanisms behind eyewitness identification and reports of confidence. The material contained within attempt to fit eyewitness identification to a diffusion model of processing, RTCON (Ratcliff & Starns, 2009). Participants saw eight mock crime videos and were then tasked with using eight showups or eight lineups to identify the suspects within the video. Half of the presentations were target present and half were target absent. Additionally, participants were either presented with biased or unbiased instructions. Strangely, unbiased lineups led to higher hit rates which is contrary to most findings in the …

A Prospective Investigation Of Behavioral Risk Factors And Sexual Victimization Outcome In College Females, Tara E. Casady

Dissertations

The current study was a prospective examination of the potential predictors of sexual victimization in women with and without sexual victimization histories. Utilizing a longitudinal design, we investigated sexually risky behavior, sexual sensation seeking, and substance use disordered behavior with regard to the later experience of sexual victimization during 2-­‐‑, 6-­‐‑, and 12-­‐‑month follow-­‐‑up periods. As reported previously, Time 1 data suggested that women with victimization histories were more likely to engage in sexually risky behaviors, engage in substance use disordered behavior, and were more likely to endorse higher scores of sexual sensation seeking. A statistically significant relationship was not …

“Follow Me So I Can Dm You Back”: An Exploratory Analysis Of A Female Pro- Isis Twitter Network, Joseph A. Varanese

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

The purpose of this study is to explore a network of female pro-Islamic State of Syria and Iraq (ISIS) supporters on Twitter. To do so, I identified twenty Twitter accounts (n=20) through snowball sampling, and analyzed their network comprising 5,861 vertices and 12,034 edges. I studied the network using three social network analysis metrics—Freeman’s normalized betweenness centrality, average geodesic distance, and tie strength. Females in the sample were more influential than males, and as a result, had a greater ability to radicalize other females within their network. Further, I observed that it took females longer than expected to …

Juvenile Prostitution: An Exploration In Gendered Theory, Kelli Reynolds

Master’s Theses and Projects

The purpose of this study is to investigate the ways in which juvenile females enter into prostitution. This theoretical analysis will assess support for existing explanations of delinquency and prostitution of female juveniles using secondary data sources. This secondary data source is pulled from a survey of 114 adjudicated delinquent girls in South Carolina, which was collected in 2014. A comprehensive review of the literature regarding juvenile prostitution will include perspectives on polyvictimization and cumulative trauma as well as the history of prostitution. These concepts will be supported further by discussing current research and survey data. The specific focus of …

Care, Control, Or Criminalization? Discourses On Homelessness And Social Responses, Lindsey L. Upton

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

There has been a resurgence of political and media interest in homelessness, particularly in major urban areas throughout the United States. This interest is credited to a number of cities that declared a State of Emergency (SOE) due to their homelessness crisis in 2015. The motivation to declare homelessness as an urgent priority of local politics assists cities in temporarily overcoming longstanding budget and bureaucratic barriers. Undoubtedly, the criminal justice system is part of social response following a declared SOE, and homelessness is not an exception. Little attention has explored the historical, social, and political processes of problematizing homelessness from …

The Proteus Effect And Gaming: The Impact Of Digital Actors And Race In A Virtual Environment, Christopher M. Via

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Race and racial identity is a frequently discussed topic in the media today. This topic is driven by what oftentimes amounts to culture clashes, and a system that claims impartiality yet is rampant with implicit bias demonstrating favorable treatment of one race over another. An example of this favoritism resides within video game design, where over 50% of player-controlled game characters are White, and less than 40% are Black (Leonard, 2007). Leonard also wrote that Black game characters are more likely to conform to Black stereotypes (e.g. play sports, or involved in gangs) than Whites (e.g. middle class citizen or …

Gender Roles, Social Control And Digital Piracy: A Longitudinal Analysis Of Gender Differences In Software Piracy Among Korean Adolescents, Riccardo Ferraresso

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In order to improve our understanding of juvenile delinquency and of the factors that can affect it, researchers may need to examine the new forms of crimes emerging in the cyber world. There is still a large knowledge gap regarding the etiology of cybercrime. In particular, very little research on gender differences in cybercrime and the explanatory power of gender based theories and Hirschi’s social bond theory in cybercrime has been undertaken. The current study attempts to fill some of the gaps in the criminological literature on this modern form of crime by examining the explanatory power of traditional theories …

Mandated Anger Management From The Perspective Of Violent Offenders, Cory M. Feldman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Anger management is a mandated treatment for violent offenders (VOs) in Harlem, New York returning from prison under parole supervision. This dissertation asks VOs to describe their experiences with parole-mandated anger management (AM). The objectives of this research are to help illuminate the reasons why anger management is mandated for VOs and why, for some, mandated AM may be potentially harmful to their reintegration. To date, there have not been any studies exploring the role of AM for people on parole charged with violent offenses; the extant literature on AM provides neither formal evaluations nor long-term follow-up to indicate what …

Bullying Prevention In New York City Public Schools: School Safety Agents' Perceptions Of Their Roles, Gabriel R. Paez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Research on school-based bullying gives little attention to how school-based law enforcement personnel perceive their roles while addressing alleged and real acts of bullying, and whether their roles influence their decisions to get involved in instances of bullying. Since research neglects to assess the extent to which personal and contextual factors of law enforcement personnel assigned to schools affect how they perceive themselves in this role and their degree of involvement in instances of bullying, this study addresses two questions:

(1) How do New York City Police Department School Safety Agents (SSAs) in NYC public schools perceive their roles in …

Can Noncompliant Behavior Explain Racial/Ethnic Disparities In The Use Of Force By The Nypd? An Econometric Analysis Of New York's Stop-And-Frisk, Omari-Khalid Rahman

Theses and Dissertations

This paper seeks to analyze spatiotemporal variations in NYPD policing patterns in an attempt to identify the causal mechanism(s) driving the observed racial/ethnic disparities; specifically, it addresses questions of how changing neighborhood demographics influence the decision-making of NYPD officers/precincts as it relates to their controversial Stop-and-Frisk policy.

"Support For Sisters Please": Comparing The Online Roles Of Al-Qaeda Women And Their Islamic State Counterparts, Hillary Peladeau

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This study evaluates female roles in pro-jihadist terrorism by examining online content. Data was collected from 36 Twitter accounts of women associated with al-Qaeda (AQ) affiliated groups for a period of six months. The purpose for collecting this data was to: 1) compare how traditional female roles, as constructed within a jihadi-Salafist ideology, are reproduced and challenged on social media; 2) and determine the extent that AQ-affiliated women conform to roles outlined in Huey’s classification of females in pro-Islamic State (IS) Twitter networks. The results of this study reveal that women’s traditional roles in pro-jihadist activities are reproduced on Twitter. …

A Multimodal Discourse Analysis Of The Bonnaroo Music And Arts Festival Website: A Cultural Criminology Of Peace- And Community-Building, Katie Marie Highbaugh

Masters Theses

Social settings that are low in interpersonal crime offer an opportunity to understand social control and, moreover, peace-making. Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival held each summer since 2002 in Manchester, Tennessee, is a contemporary example of a peaceable provisional community. To analyze the culture of Bonnaroo, I undertook a multimodal discourse analysis, which is as a systematic analysis of all texts and images (Fairclough 2013; Machin & Mayr 2012). I paid particular attention to how the website was able to foster community via what they communicated and how – through overall website design or visual semiotics, and images, as well …

Black Male Emerging Adults: Investigating Inequalities In Adult Transitions, Social Learning, And Criminality, De Andre' Terrell Beadle

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Emerging adulthood is a life stage that developed as a result of numerous macro-structural changes in recent decades (Arnett 2015), and which has implications for life course criminality and identity formation (Massoglia & Uggen 2010). Much research has been done in the area of the new life stage known as “emerging adulthood,” however little to no research has been done on how emerging adulthood relates to or changes classic findings in criminology, especially about the importance of disadvantages embedded in racial inequalities. This mixed method study analyzes data from the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR) to examine Social …

How The City Of Indianapolis Came To Have African American Policemen And Firemen 80 Years Before The Modern Civil Rights Movement., Leon E. Bates

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explores a series of events that occurred in the spring of 1876. The relationship between the Indianapolis city government, the Marion County Courts, the Indianapolis Police Department, and the African American community came together to usher in changes never before envisioned. The Indianapolis Police Department (IPD) was formed in 1855, then disbanded 12 months later in a political dispute. From 1857-to-1876, the IPD was all white. These changes took place as the Reconstruction era was coming to a close. The first Ku Klux Klan was at its apex, terrorizing black communities, and Jim Crow was coming into its …

Does Gender Still Matter? Child Custody Bias In The Illinois Family Court System, Derek K. Ronnfeldt

Theses and Dissertations

Over the last several decades, nearly all of the states have formed task forces to look at the perception of a gender bias within the family court systems as they pertain to child custody. This self-scrutiny has included the attitudes of judges and attorneys within the system and the need of reform of our family courts. This research focused on replicating a study conducted by Dotterweich and McKinney that was completed in 2000 that compiled statistics from four different state task forces in Maryland, Missouri, Texas, and Washington. This research focused on Illinois judges and attorneys, using the same questions …

Bakken Bombs: A Criminological Inquiry Into The Lynchburg Train Derailment, Travis W. Milburn

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

In recent years, several significant train derailments involving the transportation of crude oil have dotted the North American landscape. Each resulted in environmental and social harm to some degree which was extensive in many instances. Oil train derailments have occurred in places such as Lac-Mégantic, Canada (July 2013), Casselton, North Dakota (December 2013 and November 2014), and Mount Carbon, West Virginia (February 2015). Following derailments, communities have faced substantial environmental damage, human death and injury, and overall disruption from the explosions and subsequent oil spills that characterize these events. This project specifically examined the April 30, 2014 derailment in Lynchburg, …

United States Interventions: Power Vacuums And The Rise Of Extremist Groups, Sarah Nicole Pedigo

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine U.S. foreign policy in Iraq and Syria and the rise of violent extremist groups such as ISIS. By utilizing the integrated theory of violations of international criminal laws and the realpolitik theoretical frame, this qualitative case study analysis will explore how the U.S. foreign policy, driven by realpolitik and neo-liberalism in Iraq and Syria, resulted in the rise of violent extremist groups such as ISIS. It was concluded that if the United States were to remove the Assad regime and dismantle the Alawite ruling class as it did with the Hussein regime …

Education And Post-Release Employment: An Exploratory Study Of Offender Perceptions, Frank R. Wood Jr.

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Employment is an essential component of the reintegration process for returning offenders. As one of the eight criminogenic needs, improving employment opportunities for returning offenders increases the ability of returning offenders to reintegrate back into the community, as well as decreases the potential threat of recidivism. However, further research is needed to examine how an offenders’ prospectus from educational experiences influences their perceptions of finding legal employment after release. The current study contributes to current literature by explaining why employment is a barrier to offender reentry, specifically, how educational factors influence an offender’s belief that he or she will find …

What Can State Talk Tell Us About Punitiveness? A Comparison Of Responses To Political Mass Shootings In The United States And Norway, Kimberlee G. Waggoner

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Highlighting the culturally contingent nature of state reactions to crime, the present work focuses on state talk issued by the U.S. and Norwegian governments in the aftermath of politically motivated mass shootings. The research is guided by the question: how does state talk—conditioned by economic, political, and cultural forces—facilitate or constrain punitive responses to political mass shootings? Here, the focus is on the January 8th 2011 shooting of U.S. representative Gabrielle Giffords and her constituents and the July 22nd 2011 bombing of a government building and shooting of a youth political camp in Norway. These two cases illustrate how state …

Making The Case For Place: An Exploration Of Urbanization Measures On A Model Of Social Capital And U.K. Crime Rates, Kyshawn K. Smith

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Studies of social capital and crime have become quite popular in recent history, and a plethora of empirical tests have sought to clarify relationships between the two variables. However, most of these studies center on communities in the United States, and often overlook the many differentiating features between urban and rural communities that would affect such models. Reasons offered for such skew in the past and current research on this subject are middling at best, and largely cite either a lack of availability in data for crime and social capital in non-urban communities, or questionable accuracy for what data is …

Killing The State: The Cultural Afterlife Of Edward Byrne, Justin Turner

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

The death of a police officer provides us a chance to understand our current histories. As something tragic, the bodies of officers killed in the line-of-duty gain national attention. On display at police funerals is the enormous power of the state, as thousands of officers escort the casket, while helicopters and SWAT, accompanies the body to its final resting place. Following the officer’s death is a nation’s grief. As bills are passed in their honor, and weeks are named for those lost, the nation responds to such acts with general anger and disbelief. The killing of a police officer, generally, …

Representations Of Youth Crime In Canada: A Feminist Criminological Analysis Of Statistical Trends, National Canadian Newspapers, And Moral Panics, Jennifer Silcox

Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository

This research explores different representations of youth crime in Canada from a feminist criminological and social constructionist perspective. Using a mixed-methods approach that draws upon historical scholarly works, official governmental crime and court statistics, and national Canadian newspapers, I investigate statistical and media representations of youth crime in Canada.

Official crime and court statistics were analyzed to identify trends in youth crime and how they vary by gender and legislative changes. I provide an historical overview of changing definitions of youth, crime and delinquency, and consider how these combined with changing norms regarding morality to shape youth crime legislation in …

Effects Of The Legalization Of Recreational Cannabis In Washington State, John Anthony Poore

Global Honors Theses

The War on Drugs has failed. The criminalization of the use of recreational marijuana has not led to a reduction in use. This paper argues that policy surrounding recreational cannabis should observe existing policies such as legalization with regulations or decriminalization in order to increase public health and reduce government expenditures from the enforcement of criminal penalties for cannabis use. The existing literature suggests that these methods help to reduce harmful drug use, illegal sales and drug related crime. Experts in the areas of public health, criminal justice, cannabis policy and the cannabis industry were interviewed for the purpose of …

Does The School Day Matter? The Association Between Adolescent School Attachment And Involvement And Adult Criminal Behavior, Madeline O'Neil

Dissertations and Theses

Research with adolescence demonstrates school involvement and attachment greatly influences students' outcomes and choices outside of their school environment. Many studies have addressed whether delinquent behavior while in adolescence is associated with various aspects of schooling, but there is limited research looking at the long-term effects schooling has on criminal behavior in adulthood. The purpose of this study was to assess whether students' attachment to their school or involvement in extracurricular activities at school shapes students' outcomes in adulthood--specifically their criminality and likelihood of being arrested. In addition, this study took on a gendered relationship, examining how gender moderates the …

A Quantitative Analysis Of Sex Trafficking Law On The Decriminalization Of Youth Involved In Commercialized Sex, Nay Petrucelli

Theses and Dissertations

Legislators have been responding to the growing push to treat youth in the sex industry as victims of a crime instead of perpetrators. Recent legislative changes have occurred in every state and nationally as part of anti-trafficking legislation, not prostitution law directly. While the content of these laws has been studied, its outcomes for youth have not. This study uses a cross-sectional time-series model to test the impact that changes to state trafficking law has had on juvenile prostitution arrest rates. Findings support the hypothesis that legislation passed with a juvenile protection component decreases the juvenile prostitution arrest rate. It …

Public Opinion And Regional Differences In Death Penalty Policies, Alicia Blecich

Honors Theses

Despite the 1976 affirmation by the Supreme Court that the death penalty does not violate the Constitution, some states have moved away from this practice due to a variety of reasons to the point that there appears to be regional differences in policy on this issue. The objective of this study is to determine which factors influence public opinion on capital punishment and how they account for the regional discrepancies in policy. I identify a number of demographic factors that have been found to influence this opinion on a national scale, for reexamination at the regional level. Six states are …

The Internet, Prostitution, And Rape: Can Taking Prostitution “Indoors” Mitigate Social Harms?, Maryssa Brogis

Honors Theses

Prostitution is often debated as an illegal activity that causes individual and social harms. This study uses feminist theories on prostitution in conjunction with econometric tools to find if prostitution can actually reduce social harms such as rape. Prostitution is a highly debated subject within feminist literature, as some believe prostitution is considered legitimate work, while others view prostitution as extremely harmful toward women and an act that perpetuates female submission. This econometric study adds to the feminist debate on prostitution by implementing the internet’s role in expanding the indoor market as a potential causal factor in the relationship between …

The American Nightmare: Land Of The Incarcerated, Jamara Bernard

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

A collection of poems focusing on the mass incarceration of African-American men and how the prison industrial complex is designed to legally exploit prisoners specifically for profits. Along with a reflective essay about the history of legal discrimination and the creative process by which the poems were created. Then how it ties in with the capstone course theme of race, gender, class, feminist theory, and social justice.