Criminology Commons^™

The Normalization Of Sexual Exploitation, Donna M. Hughes

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Does Treatment Setting In Ati Matter? An Examination Of Completion Rates And The Role Of Violent Charges Among Individuals With Co-Occurring Disorders, George J. Anderson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Despite the proliferation of alternatives to incarceration (ATI) for individuals with co-occurring disorders in recent decades, little is known about comparative styles of treatment used in this context. The following study uses data from a case management service in a large urban city (n=273) where several types of treatment are utilized in the ATI landscape. Specifically, this study compares ATI completion rates and time to completion or failure for several styles of treatment: clinic-based outpatient, residential, assertive community treatment (ACT) and personalized recovery-oriented services (PROS) programs. Results of a logistic regression indicate that individuals initially referred to residential treatment had …

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 …

Safe Streets, Secure Futures: Preventing Violent Crime In The United States, Haley Aleman

Posters - 2024

Violent crimes inflict not only direct physical harm but can also foster cycles of fear and mental anguish throughout affected communities.

This atmosphere can hurt and impede economic and social development. Destruction of a community’s trust in law enforcement can infect other areas of life such worsening economic development. In this, we will continue our evaluation of factors contributing to violent crime rates by exploring the following hypothesis through additional study.

This hypothesis is as follows: There is a relationship between political affiliation and violent crime rates such that democratic states have higher rates of violent crime.

Review Of The Violence Project: How To Stop A Mass Shooting Epidemic, Chris Hausmann

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

When Police Pull Back: Neighborhood-Level Effects Of De-Policing On Violent And Property Crime, A Research Note, Justin Nix, Jessica Huff, Scott E. Wolfe, David C. Pyrooz, Scott M. Mourtgos

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Many U.S. cities witnessed both de-policing and increased crime in 2020, yet whether the former contributed to the latter remains unclear. Indeed, much of what is known about the effects of proactive policing on crime comes from studies that evaluated highly focused interventions atypical of day-to-day policing, used cities as the unit of analysis, or could not rule out endogeneity. This study addresses each of these issues, thereby advancing the evidence base concerning the effects of policing on crime. Leveraging two exogenous shocks presented by the onset of the coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and social unrest after the murder of …

Sujo, Christopher R. Deacy

Journal of Religion & Film

This is a film review of Sujo (2024), directed by Astrid Rondero and Fernanda Valadez.

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 …

Beyond Punishment: A Critical And Interpretive Phenomenology Of Accountability, Cameron Rasmussen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

State responses to interpersonal violence in the US have long been focused on punishment and prison. While opposition to punitive responses to interpersonal violence has been marginal, there are small but growing efforts to challenge the primacy of punishment and incarceration. In its place, different non-punitive approaches to justice have been practiced and promoted including restorative justice and transformative justice, which see accountability, not punishment, as a primary goal. Accountability has been theorized and researched largely from the perspective of survivors of harm, and there is limited research on the experiences of people who have caused harm and engaged in …

Brutality Behind Bars: A Look At Prison Violence In Ecuador, Zulema Alejandra Palacios Jaramillo

Graduate Masters Theses

Prisons are frequently perceived as spaces where those unwanted by society are placed. Thus, they are often purposefully ignored and left under-served. This is the reality of prisons and inmates in Ecuador, where violence has reached unprecedented levels, raising concerns about its causes. As this thesis shows, violence inside prisons is not an isolated incident only provoked by the restrictive nature of detention centers, or the character of inmates, but rather a manifestation of a complex mix of institutional, organizational, criminological, and social factors at play in the country. This thesis aims at understanding, from a conflict resolution perspective, what …

Female Perpetrators Of Ritually Motivated Pedicide And Mutilation Of Children, Chima Agazue

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Ritually motivated pedicide is among contemporary Africa’s most severe crimes against children. Most of these crimes involve brutal acts of violence or mutilation of the victim. While men are most often the perpetrators of violent crimes, ritually motivated pedicide and mutilation equally attract women. The role of women in these crimes is not restricted to the less violent aspects of the crimes; instead, they also extend to the most brutal elements, often involving mutilation, decapitation or outright murder of the victim. This article explored the involvement of women in these crimes that target children for mutilation and pedicide. The article …

Infidelity, Liability, And Violence, Jason Manning

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

Much criminal violence arises from conflict and is moralistic. The perpetrator is punishing someone for a perceived wrong. Liability refers to accountability for a wrong: Who exactly has to suffer punishment? Here I argue that violence arising from infidelity and sexual jealousy is a strategic research site for studying liability. When these matters trigger lethal violence, there is variation in who the perpetrator targets. Using detailed descriptions of US homicides, as well as the cross-cultural ethnographic literature, I describe and classify three patterns of liability: mate, rival, and dual. I conclude by suggesting sociological factors relevant to explaining these patterns …

Maternal Figures Or Aggressors: Controlling Images In Newspaper Constructions Of Police Violence Against Black Women And Men, Ashley Hollingshead

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"In the last decade, media coverage of state-sanctioned police violence against Black women and men re-emerged. Despite campaigns that expose how Black women and men become victims of police violence, Black men’s fatalities gain more traction, garnering national outrage and calls for police reform, policy reform, and criminal justice reform (Crenshaw & Ritchie, 2015). I conduct a content analysis of 76 newspaper articles covering 24 cases of Black women and men from 2016 to determine how newspapers construct narratives of Black women and state-sanctioned violence in comparison to Black men. Newspaper articles reflect and construct differing narratives on Black women’s …

The Impact Of Appearance On Transgender Victimization, Tabrina M. Bratton

Theses and Dissertations

Trans people experience disproportionate rates of victimization compared to cisgender people. This disparity persists despite the finding that many of the same predictors of cisgender victimization have been identified for transgender victimization (e.g., age, race, income, employment, sex work participation, homelessness), which suggest transgender-specific factors may be at play. Some scholars have proposed that transgender victimization is due to their non-conforming appearance. The purpose of this dissertation was to expand our understanding of anti-trans violence by concentrating on the relationship between appearance and sexual and recent physical victimization. This dissertation builds upon the existing transgender victimization literature by focusing on …

To Report Or Not To Report: Student Reporting Behaviors Of Violent Crimes In Schools, Heather Monaghan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

School-based violence is a criminal justice topic that often captures the attention of the media and the public. As a result, measures - such as school security strategies, safety personnel, and teacher training - are put into place to help combat school-based violence. These measures are not only costly and time consuming, but also have inconclusive research findings to support them. However, violence in schools can still be prevented. Research has found support for the role that student reporting has in preventing violence. However, many students may choose not to report violent crimes. Using a modified version of Sykes & …

An Examination Of The Relationship Between Childhood Punishment And Adult Ipv, Anna G. Griffith

Honors College Theses

The goal of this project is to examine the relationship between childhood punishment and experiencing intimate partner violence (IPV) as an adult. Using an anonymous, self-report survey, students from Georgia Southern University were asked about their experiences with IPV, as well as their experiences of childhood punishment administered by both mother and father. The results show that children who receive corporal, verbal, and emotional punishment from their mother are more likely to experience all forms of IPV later in life. When analyzing the same relationships with fathers, corporal punishment is not associated with IPV while verbal and emotional punishment is.

Children As Mischievous Spirits: Legitimizing Child Cruelty And Filicide In Contemporary Africa, Chima Agazue

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

The belief that certain humans are spiritual entities and the belief that some people are spiritually possessed can be found across histories and cultures. While these individuals are not always viewed in the negative or treated inhumanely, cases abound whereby degrading and inhumane treatments are meted out to some of them. In the African continent, certain groups of people, particularly children are linked to certain mischievous spirits due to their unusual appearance, aberrant behavior, disability, chronic illness, psychopathology or exceptional ability. Some are also suspected and consequently mistreated due to events surrounding their birth. Such children are known by different …

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 …

Decolonizing Vawa 2021: A Step In The Right Direction For Protecting Native American Women, Tara N. Richards, Sheena L. Gilbert, Emily M. Wright

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) (1994) was a hallmark legislation aimed at combating violence against women. While violence against women is a national issue that affects women of all race/ethnicities, it affects Native American women the most, as Native women experience the highest rates of violence. Violence against Native women is rooted in colonization because it decreases the power of tribal government, diminishes tribal sovereignty, and devalues Native Americans, which in turn leaves Native women more vulnerable to victimization. As such, amendments to VAWA must take particular action on violence against Native women, including actions that support decolonization. The …

A Page-Turner With A Social Conscience: Requiem For A Female Serial Killer By Phyllis Chesler, Paula J. Caplan

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Murders In The German Sex Trade: 1920 To 2017, Manuela Schon, Anna Hoheide

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

This research report is the result of collecting and evaluating data on cases of homicides and attempted homicides in the German sex trade from 1920-2017. The findings show violence against prostituted women and the attitudes of the sex buyers who commit most of the violent acts against the women. The report discusses the media coverage of murder cases, complication of cases, and a critique of methods of criminal evaluation by the police. From 1920 to 2017, 272 victims of murder and attempted murder were identified. Liberalization of prostitution occurred in 2002. From then until 2017, there is a decrease in …

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 …

Does Imprisonment Have An Effect On Crime Rates?, Diana E. Mendez

Student Publications

Since the 1790s, prisons in the United States were built with the means of reducing crime rates through the usage of incapacitation, deterrence, and rehabilitation. However, while it may seem intuitive to assume that higher incarceration rates yield lower crime rates, it is not regularly the case. Using the 2016 States dataset, I examine the effects of incarceration rates and its influence on crime rates in the United States; I suggest that states with higher incarceration rates will have higher crime rates than states with lower incarceration rates. Therefore, the evidence concludes states with high incarceration rates generate higher rates …

"...Make Them Disappear With A Piece Of Paper": Understanding The Lived Realities Of Federally Unrecognized Indigenous Women In The Southeast, Brian A. Pitman

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Indigenous women experience some of the highest rates of violence and negative health outcomes of any racial/ethnic group yet are largely ignored in social science research. This dissertation explores the lived realities of Indigenous women who are members of federally unrecognized nations and how their tribal membership impacts their experiences with a variety of criminal justice and social issues. Unrecognized nations do not have access to potential benefits, opportunities, and legitimacy that comes with federal recognition thereby creating an additional intersection to consider for some Indigenous women. Essentially, federal recognition policies seek to place further constraints on Indigenous identity, while …

Media Killed The Serial Killer Star, Brooke Ingala

Criminal Justice

This work examines the influences the media had in the “serial killer era” of the late 1960s into the late 1980s. While serial killers have made headlines in America since the 1896 capture of H. H. Holmes (Brown et al, 2015), the two-decade long hangover after the 1960s brought a rise of these violent offenders the likes of which had never been seen (Aamodt, M. G. 2016). This work defines the era as beginning with the Manson murders in 1969 and ending with the Columbine high school massacre of 1999 (Aamodt, M. G. 2016). This research explores the …

"I Assumed Chicago Would Be In The Forefront": Comments On The Movement To End Prostitution With Survivor-Leader Brenda Myers-Powell, Jody Raphael

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

For many years in the 2000’s, researcher Jody Raphael, teamed with prostitution-survivor Brenda Myers-Powell, undertook a myriad of speaking engagements in the Chicago metropolitan area, intended to raise awareness of the violence and coercion in the sex trade industry. Ten years ago, they were asked to make a video of their presentation. Recently, Dignity editors came across the video and asked for an update on the conversation. This piece is the result.

The Danger Of ‘No’: Rejection Violence, Toxic Masculinity And Violence Against Women, Lily Katherine Thacker

Online Theses and Dissertations

This study illuminates the relationship between toxic masculinity and rejection violence, here defined as instances where men react violently toward women who reject their expressions of romantic or sexual interest. It begins with an analysis of the definition and construction of toxic masculinity and, through the analysis of different cases as reported in the media, expands into a discussion on how toxic masculinity contributes directly to cases of rejection violence. The study analyzes over 40 cases of rejection violence to present a clear picture of the relationship between these occurrences and toxic masculinity.

Parents Who Kill: Media Constructions Of Male And Female Filicide Cases, Mary Mccluskey

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Often, mothers who murder their children are portrayed as “bad mothers”, as “the news media creates monsters out of [those] who transgress what is considered appropriate maternal behavior” (Goc, 2009, p. 42). This is especially important, as the media has created portrayals of females as murderers which are different from portrayals of males who murder their children. Previous research has addressed the association of motherhood in female offenders, however, there is a lack of research that compares the portrayals of females and males who murder their children, formally known as filicide. Using a social constructionist lens, this research analyzes filicide …

Victimization Of The Homeless: Public Perceptions, Public Policies, And Implications For Social Work Practice, Marion M. Turner, Simon P. Funge, Wesley J. Gabbard

Journal of Social Work in the Global Community

Homeless individuals are particularly vulnerable to victimization, sometimes resulting in fatalities. Theories of victimization prove useful to understanding the risks inherent in being homeless as well as the public’s perception of the homeless population. Problematically, public policy that criminalizes this population may exacerbate the victimization of this group. Municipalities have turned to law enforcement and the criminal justice system to respond to people living in public spaces. Programs that ensure adequate income, affordable housing, and supportive services to prevent homelessness and address the needs of those who are homeless are essential. In addition, increased law enforcement training and the implementation …

Understanding Micro-Spatial Crime Patterns: A Comprehensive Trajectory Analysis Of Violent Crime At Street Segments In St. Louis, Mo, Aaron Levin

Dissertations

Spatial crime studies have existed for over a century, but the last 20 years have seen a turn in focus toward micro-spatial units such as street blocks and street segments. A particular subfield of this modern micro-spatial perspective is called crime trajectory analysis, which can isolate patterns of crime at small spatial units over time. Though several crime trajectory analyses have been conducted for coastal cities, the technique has never been applied to Midwestern data. This project fills that research gap by using the group-based trajectory modeling (GBTM) algorithm to uncover patterns of violent crime at street segments in St. …