Criminology Commons^™

Digital (In)Justice? Evaluating Procedural Justice In Online Crime Reporting, Nazmy Natia

Dissertations and Theses

Online Crime Reporting portals (OCR) have become a routine entry point for non-emergency police services, fundamentally redefining how the public initiates contact with law enforcement. Although these portals are presented as efficient and accessible, little attention has been paid to whether their design and communication serve the people who use them. Prior research on procedural justice (PJ) has largely examined face-to-face police encounters, while latest studies of OCR systems emphasize victim experience and usability. However, the existing literature offers limited guidance on how PJ principles translate from in-person encounters to digital reporting platforms. This prompted the current study, drawing on …

To Protect And To Serve? A Phenomenological Exploration Of Interactions Between Black Transgender Women And Law Enforcement In The Midwest, Anthony Banks, Kelli E. Canada, Erin L. Robinson, Mansoo Yu, Lynn Mie Itagaki

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Current research indicates transgender women of color are experiencing what is being referred to as an “epidemic of violence.” Law enforcement personnel are in a unique position to mitigate this violence among transgender women of color, however past research shows that law enforcement may in some instances perpetuate already existing violence with this population instead of preventing and intervening in these situations. This study aimed to add to the limited research by using an intersectional theoretical framework to better understand these interactions. Research questions were answered using a phenomenological research design. Data from 36 semi-structured interviews with Black transgender women …

Exploring Barriers And Facilitators Of Mental Health Treatment For Law Enforcement Officers: The Impact Of Police Occupational Culture, April Reed

Graduate Studies Theses and Dissertations 2026

Prior research has explored the impact of police culture on mental health stigma among law enforcement, however, a deeper understanding about how different aspects of police culture may inhibit or facilitate mental health treatment utilization is needed to inform policy and practice. This dissertation explores the relationship between police culture and mental health using a qualitative research design. Twenty-five (n=25) law enforcement officers from a county sheriff’s office in Central Florida were interviewed and participant observations were conducted during a three-month period. The present study sought to address the following research questions: What are the experiences of the job and …

"Significant Bodily Intrusions": Investigations Into Law Enforcement Phlebotomy, Anne Kathleen Johnson

Dissertations and Theses

This three-paper dissertation explores law enforcement phlebotomy, the ability of law enforcement officers to draw blood. Phlebotomy is both a ubiquitous, invasive diagnostic tool as well as a social site with complex relational dynamics at play between phlebotomist and patient. Through law enforcement phlebotomy, the blood draw is co-opted from the medical field into the policing field, and the normative framework through which it is used changes: whereas medical edicts instruct providers to work with patients through an ethics of care--respecting consent and refusal--policing is not similarly bound, instead operating through a prioritization of security and efficiency. In the articles …

Book Review: Tracers In The Dark: The Global Hunt For The Crime Lords Of Cryptocurrency, Marion Jones

International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence & Cybercrime

Doubleday released Andy Greenberg’s Tracers in the Dark: The Global Hunt for the Crime Lords of Cryptocurrency in November 2022. Through vivid case studies of global criminal investigations, the book dispels myths about the anonymizing power of cryptocurrency. The book details how the ability to identify cryptocurrency users and payment methods successfully brought down several large criminal empires, while also highlighting the continuous cat-and-mouse game between law enforcement officials and criminal actors using cryptocurrency. The book is an excellent resource for law enforcement officials, academics, and general cybersecurity practitioners interested in cryptocurrency-related criminal activities and law enforcement techniques.

Reports On The Cost Of Administration Of Criminal Justice In Omaha And Lincoln, Nebraska, 1933: A Facsimile Edition & Contextual Casebook., Hattie Plum Williams, Michael R. Hill, Mary Jo Deegan

Zea E-Books Collection

The professional life of Hattie Plum Williams (1878–1963) epitomized the first generation of professional women sociologists on the Great Plains. At the University of Nebraska, she became the first woman in the world known to hold a regular appointment as chair of a coeducational, doctoral department of sociology (1923–1928). Often characterized as a social worker, her professional allegiance remained to sociology. Williams’ unsung labors in the early 1930s on behalf of the National Commission on Law Observance and Enforcement (NCLOE) resulted in two detailed, typewritten accounts of crime and criminal justice in Omaha and Lincoln, Nebraska. Her data collection, along …

National De-Escalation Training Center - Year 1 In-Person Data Archive, Morgan Steele

Criminal Justice Research Data

This dataset includes the demographics, education, perceptions, and assessment of de-escalation skills of law enforcement officers, and other professionals, which were collected as a part of in-person de-escalation training. Many of these trainings were funded as a part of the Office of Community-Oriented Policing Services (U.S. Department of Justice). All of the data is anonymous, and can be linked based on the trainee generated identification number. This data was collected across three separate activities. The first was a pre-training survey that included questions about the trainees' demographics, perceptions, and experiences, and was collected via a Qualtrics survey link. The second …

Has There Been Another “Ferguson Effect”?, Megan Majewski

Political Science Theses and Capstones

On May 25^th, 2020, America stood still as they watched the video of Officer Derek Chauvin press his knee onto the neck of George Floyd leading to his death. Protests, riots, and calls to defund the police all ensued in the following months. I focus on how Floyd’s death changed attitudes towards law enforcement and may have contributed to an increase in crime, similar to the idea of a Ferguson effect, perhaps there was a Floyd effect in 2021. I focused this research on 69 cities, using crime data from the Major Cities Chiefs Association. I then measured …

The Association Between Perceptions Of Mental Illness And Law Enforcement’S Training And Treatment Of Individuals With Mental Illness, Melissa L. Bustamante

Student Theses and Dissertations

The current study obtained information on how police officers handle and improve their knowledge with individuals with mental illness and how certain factors, such as community, media, and perceptions of law enforcement, are potentially associated with how law enforcement handles individuals with mental illness. It is important to capture the law enforcement perspective because some research suggests that officers arrest individuals with mental illness at a higher rate than those who do not. Twelve officers from three local departments in the South were interviewed, with two having issues with the budget for CIT training. Some officers increased their understanding of …

Blue Lives Matter: Public Perception In Texas, Nohely Karyme Lozano

Theses and Dissertations

In recent years, Blue Lives Matter, a pro-policing movement, was established across the United States. The movement sheds light on the attacks and killings of police officers while on the line of duty. Also, it raises awareness of the dangers and risks law enforcement agents face while on duty and off duty. Throughout the years, the movement has gained many supporters across the nation. However, it has been controversial, and many considered it as a countermovement to Black Lives Matter. To bridge the gap in the literature, the researcher investigated the perception of Texans towards the movement. Moreover, the research …

The Development And Validation Of The General Attitudes Toward Police (Gap) Questionnaire, Rachel Greis

Mahurin Honors College Capstone Experience/Thesis Projects

Previous studies have examined the relationships between various demographic characteristics (e.g., race/ethnicity, prior arrest experience, residential living area, political affiliation) and various measures of attitudes toward police (e.g., trustworthiness, legitimacy; Brown & Benedict, 2002; Hindelang, 1974; Rizer & Trautman, 2018; Schuck et al., 2008). However, a measure of overall general attitudes toward police has not been established. The main goal of the present research was to fill this gap in the literature by creating and validating a brief questionnaire that effectively captures respondents’ general attitudes toward police. In Study 1, a brief 14-item questionnaire that captured general attitudes toward police …

The Yakuza: Organized Crime In Japan, Darlene N. Moorman

The Downtown Review: An Interdisciplinary Journal Written and Peer-Reviewed by Mandel Honors College Students at Cleveland State University

Examining organized crime groups should not be purely economic; in other words, the culture, social structure, political contexts, and so on, are also critical in an insightful analysis of any organized crime group. For this paper, the Japanese yakuza are considered both in an economic viewpoint, such as how they make money, but also in other areas, such as its syndicates' notable cultural contributions and specific social characteristics. Moreover, this paper explores the dynamic changing of the organization overtime, especially in regards to its shifting relationship with the Japanese government.

Justifying Force: Police Procedurals And The Normalization Of Violence, Emily Brenner

Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works

Much like the CSI effect in forensic crime dramas, portrayals of law enforcement in crime media can potentially skew a viewer’s perception of what the profession actually entails. Many studies address the depiction of law enforcement in the media, but few solely examine the use of force by television police officers, and the impact this may have on frequent viewers. In an era of calls for accountability over growing attention towards police brutality and misconduct, the media as an influencer has the potential to play a role in how real-world instances of brutality are perceived, and more importantly, how it …

Dirty Johns: Prosecuting Prostituted Women In Pennsylvania And The Need For Reform, Mckay Lewis

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Prostitution is as old as human civilization itself. Throughout history, public attitudes toward prostituted women have varied greatly. But adverse consequences of the practice—usually imposed by men purchasing sexual services—have continuously been present. Prostituted women have regularly been subject to violence, discrimination, and indifference from their clients, the general public, and even law enforcement and judicial officers.

Jurisdictions can choose to adopt one of three general approaches to prostitution regulation: (1) criminalization; (2) legalization/ decriminalization; or (3) a hybrid approach known as the Nordic Model. Criminalization regimes are regularly associated with disparate treatment between prostituted women and their clients, high …

Understanding Body-Worn Camera Diffusion In U.S. Policing, Justin Nix, Natalie Todak, Brandon Tregle

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

By 2016, approximately one half of American police agencies had adopted body-worn cameras (BWCs). Although a growing body of research has examined the impact of BWCs on outcomes such as use of force, complaints, and perceptions of police, few have considered how and why some agencies adopted BWCs, while others have not. With guidance from the diffusion of innovations paradigm, this study explores variation in BWC adoption by police agencies. Drawing on a survey administered to a national probability sample of 665 municipal police executives in the spring of 2018, we found agency size, region, and the demographic composition of …

Are Police Actions Towards African Americans Different From Other Races?, Colby King

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Research implies that African Americans and other minorities experience racial disparities in their encounters with police. Their white counterparts tend to not experience any racially driven disparity. Oftentimes this research does not use different characteristics while testing for racial disparity, leaving much more to be explored when researching police encounters among minorities. I will be using data from the United States Department of Justice, Bureau of Justice Statistics to test some of these characteristics. This study will test demographics regarding the citizens race and gender, as well as the nature of their police encounters. Using these demographics, we can find …

“Everybody Loses:” Understanding Police Roles And Perceptions Of Domestic Violence Calls, Anjali Fulambarker

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"To better understand police response to domestic violence, it is useful to consider the perspectives of officers themselves. Through exploratory, in-depth interviews and applying the lens of role theory, this study focuses on police officers’ perceptions of their role in responding to domestic violence, their perceptions of the effectiveness of their response, and challenges they face. Findings suggest that, for these participants, there is an overlap in the different roles they inhabit, as well as limitations and barriers to their response. These limitations and obstacles are a signal that officers may be experiencing role overload, which leads to their frustration …

Racial Differences In Conceptualizing Legitimacy And Trust In Police, Erin M. Kearns, Emma Ashooh, Belen Lowrey-Kinberg

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Scholarly debate on how best to conceptualize legitimacy and trust in police has generally assumed these conceptualizations are stable across demographics. Recent evidence, however, suggests that this may not be the case. We examine how the public conceptualizes legitimacy and trust in police, how public conceptualizations relate to academic debate on these terms, and how public views differ between and within racial groups. This work is exploratory, though it is rooted in differences found in theoretically driven empirical work on the subject. Data are from online, national samples of White (N = 650), Black (N = 624), and …

Effect Of Prison Length Of Stay In Oregon, Mark Harmon, Christopher M. Campbell, Kris R. Henning, Brian Renauer

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications and Presentations

Oregon’s Justice Reinvestment Initiative (JRI), “is an approach to spending resources more effectively with the goals of reducing recidivism, decreasing prison use, protecting the public and holding offenders accountable (Oregon Criminal Justice Commission, 2019).” To maximize the effectiveness of Justice Reinvestment programs, policy makers need to understand the relationship between imprisonment, particularly length of stay (LOS), and recidivism. Subsequently, the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission (CJC) sought to conduct a LOS study in Oregon similar to a study completed by Snodgrass et al (2011). The goal of Portland State University’s (PSU) analysis is to provide useful information for Oregon’s JRI effort …

A Bit Like Cash: Understanding Cash-For-Bitcoin Transactions Through Individual Vendors, Stephanie J. Robberson, Mark R. Mccoy

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

As technology improves and economies become more globalized, the concept of currency has evolved. Bitcoin, a cryptographic digital currency, has been embraced as a secure and convenient type of money. Due to its security and privacy for the user, Bitcoin is a good tool for conducting criminal trades. The Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has regulations in place to make identification information of Bitcoin purchasers accessible to law enforcement, but enforcing these rules with cash-for-Bitcoin traders is difficult. This study surveyed cash-for-Bitcoin vendors in Oklahoma, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Kansas, Colorado, and New Mexico to determine personal demographic information, knowledge of …

Effects Of Senate Bill 4 On Wage-Theft: Why All Workers Are At Risk In Low-Income Occupations, Daniella Salas-Chacon

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming

Undocumented Crime Victims: Unheard, Unnumbered, And Unprotected, Pauline Portillo

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming

Body-Worn Cameras And Officer Behavior, Noah Simondet

Honors Capstones

The use of body-worn cameras in law enforcement is controversial because there are possible disadvantages among the numerous advantages. Body-worn cameras are often implemented to reduce use of force by officers. A majority of studies on the effects of law enforcement using body-worn cameras found that the use of body-worn cameras reduced use of force as well as other aspects of officer behavior. Law enforcement officers using body-worn cameras are more likely to write citations, less likely to arrest, and will often report more self- initiated incidents. This may be because officers wearing body-worn cameras worry that the use of …

The Social Dynamics Of Women Policing In Nigeria: Back Door To Equality, Dickson Ogbbonnaya Igwe

Ray Browne Conference on Cultural and Critical Studies (2015-2021)

The culture of patrimony in pollicising is increasingly failing acceptance test in developing world as clamour inclusiveness in law enforcement continue to gain grounds. Although the topic of women police has been fairly marginal in police studies in Nigeria, however, many of the problems of modern law enforcement corruption, excessive force and neglect of victims are closely associated with the male dominated nature of police work. The available research evidence supports the idea that policing would be considerably improved in many areas were the proportion of women police much more representative of their proportion in the general population. The research …

Female Law Enforcement Officer's Experiences Of Workplace Harassment, Vanessa Brodeur

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

Prior research shows that female police officers experience more incidents of harassment than male police officers, and these experiences of harassment have been shown to have negative effects on their mental and physical health, retention, and job satisfaction. The current study examined the experiences of harassment of 20 female police officers from agencies around Southern California. A survey interview was used, and it was found that none of the women had experienced quid pro quo harassment, but every woman recalled experiencing environmental harassment at some point throughout their career. Hostility towards women was more commonly experienced than harassment which was …

Millennial Generation Law Enforcement Academy Recruits And Their Perception Of Mental Health, Jeffrey M. Mcgill

School of Criminal Justice Theses and Dissertations

The traumatic and cumulative stresses associated with a law enforcement career are well documented both empirically and anecdotally. While previous generations have acknowledged and coped with these stressors with varying levels of success, research shows that the millennial generation has reported more mental health issues than any generation in history. Since suicide is the single leading cause of death for United States law enforcement officers in recent years, addressing mental health should be a priority of all agencies. The introduction of millennial generation law enforcement officers creates the potential for increased mental health needs within the field. 25 millennial-aged Florida …

The Criminological Implications Of Moral Foundations, Jasmine Renee Silver

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Judgments about morality play an important role in several areas of crime and justice. This dissertation applies Haidt’s Moral Foundations Theory (MFT)—which posits that judgments about morality are intuitive and pluralistic—to develop a theoretical framework for understanding the role of moral cognition in shaping attitudes and behaviors related to crime and justice. I also draw on research suggesting that people make moral judgments separately about moral agents (e.g., offenders) and moral patients (e.g., victims). Specifically, via an offender-centered theoretical framework, I argue that endorsement of moral foundations that promote moral concerns that are specific to one’s ingroup (a binding motive) …

Stress And Coping Abilities Of Swat Personnel In A Metropolitan Area Of Florida, Pedro Corpas

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

For decades, stress has been scientifically studied and found to have effects on the law enforcement community. Furthermore, scholars have thoroughly studied the correlation between stress and the law enforcement occupation which has been proven to affect their well-being. Although there is currently ample literature on stress and police officers, to date there has been little research on factors associated with stress and SWAT police officers. Using Lazarus and Folkman's cognitive theory of stress and coping as the foundation, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore how SWAT police officers cope with stress while on duty and off …

Does A Criminal Justice Degree Produce Law Enforcement Officers?, Bryan Keith Murray

Theses and Dissertations

Police departments are being asked to diversify their ranks in a job field dominated by White males. Hispanics are predicted to be the majority-minority by 2043, few studies were conducted to explore whether Hispanic students majoring in criminal justice will pursue a career in law enforcement agencies upon graduation. Therefore, it is necessary and important to investigate the willingness of Hispanic students perusing a career in law enforcement agencies and what kind of factors behind this pursuit. This research anonymously surveyed 203 students currently enrolled in a four-year Hispanic university. Gender and the liberalizing effect served as the independent variables. …

Police Research, Officer Surveys, And Response Rates, Justin Nix, Justin T. Pickett, Hyunin Baek, Geoffrey P. Alpert

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

In recent years, policing scholars have increasingly used survey methods to gain insight into officers’ attitudes and behaviours. Yet, surprisingly, methodological research analysing surveys of police officers is rare. We analysed the extent and correlates of response rates in police surveys, providing insights about the survey design features and study characteristics associated with higher rates of officer participation. We examined the response rates to 497 police surveys reported in 390 articles published in 15 journals from 2008 to 2017. Findings included the following: (1) the average response rate was 64%, but there was a great deal of variation, (2) in-person …