Criminology Commons^™

Knowledge Is Power: A Study Of Juvenile Justice Facilities And Educational Programs, Molly Anne Latham

Masters Theses & Specialist Projects

The Juvenile Justice System is established to maintain public safety, as well as rehabilitate youth that have involved themselves in criminal activity. The overall goal is to create a better future for these individuals and transform them into law-abiding citizens for the good of society. In order to understand where the system has failed in doing this, we must first examine what opportunities and programs these individuals have to help them succeed. The current study will employ a secondary analysis of a cross-sectional survey through which the United States Bureau of the Census (1995) collected data on the characteristic of …

Covid-19 Exacerbates Existing System Factors That Disadvantage Defendants: Findings From A National Survey Of Defense Attorneys, Tarika Daftary-Kapur, Kelsey S. Henderson, Tina M. Zottoli

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications and Presentations

COVID-19 has impacted many facets of daily life and the legal system is no exception. Legal scholars have hypothesized that the effects of the pandemic may contribute to more coercive plea bargains (Cannon, 2020; Johnson, 2020). In this study, we explored defense attorneys' perceptions of whether and how the plea process has changed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Global Studies Initiative Faculty Report: Interdisciplinary Collaborations, Shannon Bridges

Global Studies Initiatives in Social Sciences 2020 - 2021

No abstract provided.

Wrath And Relationships: Homicide Weapon Choice And Victim Offender Relationships, Joseph Gonnella

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine the influence that victim-offender relationships and the event circumstances have on homicide weapon choice. From Cornish and Clarke’s Rational Choice theoretical perspective, offenders go through decision- making processes to determine which weapon will be the most effective to meet their goal, based on the circumstances of the event. This study examined the use of three weapon types: firearms, knife/ blunt objects, and personal weapons, amongst victim-offender relationships such as acquaintance, intimate, non-intimate family/friend, and strangers along with circumstances such as homicides committed as the result of a felony, and homicides committed as …

The Impact Of Parent And Peer Socialization On Juvenile Delinquency, Ebony I. Pender

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Juveniles often make decisions based on socialization and behaviors that are taught at a young age. Socialization experiences which can either protect or lead to adverse outcomes such as juvenile delinquency. It is extremely important to examine the role of socialization in delinquency due to the large number of youths currently involved in criminal acts. There are many violent and nonviolent crimes that are committed by youth under the ages of 18. For example, in 2018, there were 728,280 arrests of youths under the age of 18. A significant number of those, 46,410, were for violent index crimes with 141,500 …

The Role Of Religiosity In Drug Use: A Social Integration Perspective, Lindsey Dianna Thomas

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this study is to examine the relationship between religiosity and drug use among civilian, noninstitutionalized individuals over the age of 18 in the United States within the theoretical framework of Durkheim’s social integration theory. Focusing on the three aspects of religiosity, practice, belief, and affiliation, this study used logistic regression models to determine the relationship between drug use, specifically the use of marijuana/hashish, cocaine, and heroin, and religiosity. Control variables were incorporated into these models in order to separate the effects of religiosity from demographic variables. The research determined that individuals who reported higher measures of religiosity, …

Re-Spatializing Gangs In The United States: An Analysis Of Macro- And Micro-Level Network Structures, Ryan J. Roberts

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

Despite the significant contributions from location-based gang studies, the network structure of gangs beyond localized settings remains a neglected but important area of research to better understand the national security implications of gang interconnectivity. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the network structure of gangs at the macro- and micro-level using social network analysis. At the macro-level, some gangs have formed national alliances in perpetuity with their goals and objectives. In order to study gangs at the macro-level, this research uses open-source data to construct an adjacency matrix of gang alliances and rivalries to map the relationships between …

Racial Sympathy And Support For Capital Punishment: A Case Study In Concept Transfer, Kellie R. Hannan, Francis T. Cullen, Leah C. Butler, Amanda K. Graham, Alexander L. Burton, Velmer S. Burton Jr.

Criminal Justice & Criminology: Faculty Publications

Beliefs about race, especially racial resentment, are key predictors of public support for capital punishment and punitiveness generally. Drawing on a conceptual innovation by political scientist Jennifer Chudy, we explore the utility of transferring into criminology her construct of racial sympathy – or Whites’ concern about Blacks’ suffering. First, across three data sets, we replicate Chudy’s finding that racial sympathy and resentment are empirically distinct constructs. Second, based on a national-level 2019 YouGov survey (n = 760 White respondents) and consistent with Chudy’s thesis, racial sympathy is then shown to be significantly related to the race-specific view that capital punishment …

The Challenges Of Identifying Dangers Online And Predictors Of Victimization, Catherine D. Marcum

International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence & Cybercrime

This short paper will provide an overview of the impressive pieces included in this issue of the International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence and Cybercrime. This issue includes articles on the following pertinent topic, utilizing a range of approaches and methodologies: 1) online credibility; 2) cyberbullying; and 3) unauthorized access of information. An emphasis on the importance of policy development and better protection of potential victims is a common thread throughout the issue.

Indian Media Narratives In Gang Rape, Astha Bhandari

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Violence against women is a worldwide phenomenon, and while brutal crimes shock us, it is nothing exceptional. This social construction of violence against women is displayed through the media's language. The language then portrays structures of power dynamics, fueling patriarchal discourse, where masculinity becomes the king, and femininity denigrated, birthing a rape culture. This study explores the impact of media reporting of gang rape cases of women in India and investigates the media reporting of nine different gang rape cases, post 2012 Delhi gangrape.

The research looks to identify the media semantics used in portraying the victims in the print …

Courageous Endurance: The Lived Experiences Of Trans Folx And The Criminal Legal System, April Carrillo

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

The field of criminology and criminal justice have widely ignored the experience of being a trans person and interacting with the criminal legal system, despite the reality that trans folx experience discrimination and harm at the hands of criminal legal practitioners. This dissertation explores these experiences, as well as how trans folx navigate a myriad of other issues to include their identity and institutional discrimination. Trans folx are not guaranteed many protections or rights in the United States which leaves them at an especially vulnerable position when entering the criminal legal system. Essentially, trans folx are forced to navigate a …

The Influence Of Defendant Race/Ethnicity And Police Body-Worn Cameras On Traffic Case Processing, Jessica Huff, Michael D. White, Kathleen E. Padilla

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

The current study evaluates the impact of defendant race/ethnicity and police body-worn cameras (BWCs) on dismissals and guilty pleas in traffic violations. Despite the frequency of traffic violations and the potential for racial/ethnic bias in these incidents, researchers have yet to examine the outcomes of these violations in court. Research is also needed to assess the potential for BWCs to provide evidence and reduce charging disparities and differential pleas for minority defendants. Traffic violations processed in the Tempe, Arizona Municipal Court before and after BWC deployment were examined using logistic regression. Black and Hispanic defendants were less likely to have …

Going Beyond The Blue: The Utility Of Emergency Medical Services Data In Understanding Violent Crime, Julie Hibdon, Cody E. Telep, Jessica Huff

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

National victimization data suggest less than 50% of violent crime incidents are reported to the police. Official reports of crime to police, however, are often the only type of data used for the analysis of violence problems, the identification of geographic concentrations of violent crime, and the selection of targets for police and prevention resources. Yet, the question remains, are estimates of violent crime prevalence and location distorted from a unilateral reliance on police data? Here, we examine whether emergency medical service (EMS) data collected by the fire department are spatially concentrated in the same way as police data and …

Intergroup Images Mediate The Relationships Between Government Abuse, Sociopolitical Orientations, And Political Action, Erin M. Kearns, Christopher Federico, Victor Asal, James Igoe Walsh, Allison E. Betus, Anthony F. Lemieux

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

What factors impact how people mobilize against state human rights abuses? Drawing on Image Theory, we examine how perceptions of an out-group, government abuse, and sociopolitical orientations impact political action. Using an online survey-embedded experiment with a sample of 2,932 U.S. adults, we manipulated two factors: (1) the level of government abuse and (2) the risk of punishment for taking action against the state, while also including social dominance orientation (SDO) and right-wing authoritarianism (RWA) as covariates. Participants indicated their propensity to engage in and justify both protest and violence. Participants rated the out-group as oppressive and evil. State abuse …

Understanding Disrespectful Behavior Through A Gendered Lens: Race And Power In A Women’S Prison, Timbre Wulf, Rebecca Trammell

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Seventy-four incarcerated women in a Midwestern prison were interviewed to explore their experience with disrespect between inmates and staff in a prison setting. Nonwhite women experienced disrespect and conflict differently than their white peers. While the women generally described disrespect as staff members expressing their power inappropriately, non-white women were quick to describe disrespect as tied to racist behaviors. Further, African-American women in our study were more likely to believe that few people, inmates or employees, show respect to others on a regular basis in prison. White women tend to be more positive in their evaluations of interactions with staff …

The Politics Of Being An "Expert": A Critical Realist Auto-Ethnography Of Drug Policy Advisory Panels In The Uk, Alex Stevens

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"The work of ‘experts’ with policy advisory panels plays an important part in the making of illicit drug and other policies. This article explores what is involved in this work. It uses critical realist auto-ethnography of the author’s experience over five years of working with the UK’s Advisory Council on the Misuse of Drugs and the House of Commons Health and Social Care Committee. It analyses: how some people become recognised as a ‘suitable’ expert through relational networks of esteem, while others are excluded; how bureaucratic processes and scientific modes of discourse select some types of information rather than others …

Who Wears The Maga Hat? Racial Beliefs And Faith In Trump, Amanda Graham, Francis T. Cullen, Leah C. Butler, Alexander L. Burton, Velmer S. Burton Jr.

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

On the basis of a 2019 YouGov survey of white respondents (n = 734), the impact of racial beliefs on support for Donald Trump was explored. The analysis revealed that in addition to racial resentment, white nationalism—a desire to keep the United States white demographically and culturally—was strongly related to faith in Trump. Analyses based on a 2019 Amazon Mechanical Turk survey yielded similar results and also showed that white nationalism increased willingness to wear a MAGA hat. Future research on the political consequences of racial beliefs should focus on what whites think not only of blacks but also …

Who Wears The Maga Hat? Racial Beliefs And Faith In Trump, Amanda K. Graham, Francis T. Cullen, Leah C. Butler, Alexander L. Burton, Velmer S. Burton Jr.

Criminal Justice & Criminology: Faculty Publications

On the basis of a 2019 YouGov survey of white respondents (n = 734), the impact of racial beliefs on support for Donald Trump was explored. The analysis revealed that in addition to racial resentment, white nationalism—a desire to keep the United States white demographically and culturally—was strongly related to faith in Trump. Analyses based on a 2019 Amazon Mechanical Turk survey yielded similar results and also showed that white nationalism increased willingness to wear a MAGA hat. Future research on the political consequences of racial beliefs should focus on what whites think not only of blacks but also …

A New Frontier: The Development And Validation Of The Intimate Partner Cyber Abuse Instrument, Erica R. Fissel, Amanda Grham, Leah C. Butler, Bonnie S. Fisher

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

As technology advances, new opportunities for partners to gain power and control in their romantic relationships are readily available. New cyber-based behaviors have slowly garnered scholarly attention, but measurement-related issues have not. We take the logical next steps to (1) develop and validate a comprehensive measure of intimate partner cyber abuse (IPCA) for adults using classical test theory and item response theory and (2) estimate IPCA prevalence rate for a range of relationship types. A sample of 1,500 adults, currently in an intimate partner relationship, 18 years or older, and living in the United States, completed an online questionnaire about …

Examining Trauma And Crime By Gender And Sexual Orientation Among Youth: Findings From The Add Health National Longitudinal Study, Jinhee Yun, Miyuki F. Tedor, Matthias I. Quinn, Linda M. Quinn, Christopher A. Mallett

Criminology, Anthropology, & Sociology Faculty Publications

LGBTQ youth, and in particular those of color, are significantly more at risk for experiencing trauma at home and in their community, having school difficulties including bullying and suspensions, and subsequently being involved with the juvenile and criminal justice systems. Research is limited in understanding the pathways these young people take toward youthful and young adult offending and incarceration. The national longitudinal Add Health study data were used to explain how trauma, sexual orientation (gay, bisexual), school experiences, gender, and race impacted juvenile and adult criminal activity and incarceration—looking at a trauma-delinquency-crime link. It was found that females were more …

Prostitution Decriminalization Campaigns In The United States: Libertarianism Or A "Decent Society", Jody Raphael

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Recently, legislative campaigns to totally decriminalize the sex trade industry in a handful of U.S. states and the District of Columbia failed, but a look at campaign supporters and their arguments demonstrates that libertarian principles are mainly guiding their efforts. This article explores how libertarianism principles, when applied to the sex trade, could bring about severe and lasting harm to others, including sellers of sex, potential victims of sex trafficking to meet the new demand, and the general community. Philosophic principles of liberty have been incorporated by courts, which find that liberty is never absolute and requires a balancing test …

Why Did You Become A Police Officer? Entry-Related Motives And Concerns Of Women And Men In Policing, Samantha S. Clinkinbeard, Starr Solomon, Rachael Rief

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

As police agencies in the United States suffer declining applications and struggle to recruit women, the National Institute of Justice has identified workforce development as a priority research area. To recruit more effectively, we must understand what attracts people to policing and what deters them. We surveyed officers in two Midwestern police departments (n = 832) about entry motivations and concerns and examined gender differences. Serve/protect motivations were most important for men and women, though women rated the category significantly higher. Women and non-White officers rated legacy motives higher than did males and White officers. Women reported more concerns …

Mandatory Sexual Assault Kit Testing Policies And Arrest Trends: A Natural Experiment, Scott M. Mourtgos, Ian T. Adams, Justin Nix, Tara N. Richards

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

The present study employs a quasi-experimental design to evaluate the effects of a mandatory sexual assault kit (SAK) testing policy on rape arrests in a large western US jurisdiction. We use a Bayesian structural time-series model and monthly data on arrests for rape from 2010 through 2019. In the post-implementation period, we observed a downward trend in the arrest rate for rape. Based on the results, the most conservative interpretation of our findings is that the policy implementation did not affect rape arrest rates. While mandatory SAK testing policies are often advocated for based on the belief that they will …

The Influence Of Adverse Childhood Experiences On Internalizing And Externalizing Problems In Early Adulthood: Evidence Of A Gene × Environment × Sex Interaction, Emily M. Wright, Joseph A. Schwartz

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Background

Although adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) have negative effects on subsequent wellbeing, questions remain regarding how and why they do so. Sex, environmental effects, and genetic influences may play a role in both one’s exposure to ACEs as well as one’s reactions to ACEs.

Objective

To understand the combined genetic and environmental influences on males’ and females’ exposure and reactions to ACEs, and to determine whether sex differences in offending and depressive symptoms were partially impacted by genetic influences.

Methods

We employed a sample of monozygotic twins (n = 217 pairs), same-sex dizygotic twins (n = 185 …

Do I Report This? Understanding Variation In The Content Of State Mandatory Reporting Laws, Robert D. Lytle, Dana L. Radatz, Lisa L. Sample, Randi M. Latiolais

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Since accusations went public that administrators at Pennsylvania State University ignored reports of child abuse during the Jerry Sandusky trial almost a decade ago, several educational and state agencies have reinterpreted aspects of their respective laws requiring certain persons to report suspected child maltreatment (mandatory reporting laws). These reinterpretations were possible due to the ambiguity of statutory language used in the law and, subsequently, may have exposed individuals to a legal responsibility to report to which they were previously unaware. In this study, we use a thematic content analysis to examine variation across state mandatory reporting statutes from all fifty …

Straight From The Source: Examining Gender Differences In Inmate Advice For Avoiding Prison Sexual Victimization, Beatriz Amalfi Marques, Ashley G. Blackburn, Shannon K. Fowler, Janet L. Mullings, Maria L. Lecuna

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Once incarcerated, inmates face a myriad of potential threats to their physical and emotional wellbeing. The threat of being sexually or otherwise victimized while in prison breeds anxiety and fear among inmates, especially those who are new to the prison environment. In response, inmates have developed strategies to avoid victimization. The present study, utilizing self-report questionnaires, asked a sample of male and female inmates in a large Southern prison system about the advice they would give to another newly incarcerated inmate to avoid being sexually assaulted. A thematic analysis of inmates’ open-ended responses revealed male and female inmates have different …

Forced Interactions With Sheriff Deputies Over Time And Their Influence On Stigma And Self Identities Among Individuals Convicted Of Sex Crimes, Lisa L. Sample, Brooke Cooley, Tusty Ten Bensel, Carin Hyter, Brett Hurley

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

This paper examined the perceptions of convicted sex offenders and their interactions with law enforcement over time. Specifically, we focused on how formal interactions influenced stigma management and self-identity transformation. For decades, scholars have proposed that identities and behaviors often result from interactions with others. Sex offender registration and notification laws force interactions between registrants and police agents for years, if not a lifetime. Given that desistance from sex offending is dependent on prosocial identity transformation, we analyzed interviews with 63 registrants to uncover how interactions with police promote or inhibit identity transformation over time. Our findings suggested interactions with …

Caught In-Between: A Video Essay Of Masculine Identity And Methamphetamine Use In The Rural South, Heith Copes, Jared Ragland, Adam Forrester

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

Since the Great Recession in 2007, rural employment rates have been steadily increasing. According to a 2020 United States Department of Agriculture report, rural unemployment has been at its lowest in over a decade. However, such aggregate trends overlook an important aspect of work—its meaningfulness. In many small towns throughout the Southern United States, much of the available work pays little and demands much on the body. As a result, meaningful employment is often out of reach for some men living in the rural South.

Opening The “Black Box” Of Federal Illegal Reentry Sentencing: A Non-Participant Observational Analysis Of Sentencing Constraints And Judicial Discretion, Kevin Buckler

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Judicial discretion in sentencing has historically produced disparities in criminal sentencing outcomes. In an effort to address disparity at the federal level, in 1984, the U.S. Congress passed legislation that led to the creation of the U.S. Sentencing Commission and subsequently the adoption of federal sentencing guidelines. Studies show that even among similarly situated defendants (in terms of offense score and criminal history category) disparities have persisted regardless of the sentencing guidelines. An understudied source of disparity is the combined and interactive role of judges, prosecutors, and defense attorneys in the application of the guidelines and the statutory framework that …

Miriam Boeri, Hurt: Chronicles Of The Drug War Generation, Kathleen E. Padilla

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

In 1971, President Nixon officially declared the War on Drugs. Flash forward to 2020 and the prison population is approximately 2.3 million people, with 1 in 5 of those individuals having been incarcerated for a non-violent drug offense (Wagner & Wagner, 2020). Among those caught up in drug offenses stemming from the policies enacted during the War on Drugs, the majority are baby boomers. Baby boomers are those that are born between the years 1946 and 1964, and whose current population is approximately 73 million, the second largest generation aside from Millennials (Census, 2019). By the start of the 21st …