Criminology Commons^™

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. …

Contents Full Article Content List Abstract Introduction How Media Affects Attitudes Media And Law Enforcement Public Perception Of And Support For Torture Linking Public Opinion And Policy Experimental Design Participants Results Discussion Future Directions Policy Implications Acknowledgements Notes References Did You Struggle To Get Access To This Article? This Product Could Help You Lean Library Figures & Tables Article Metrics Related Articles Cite Share Request Permissions Explore More Download Pdf Open Epub “If Torture Is Wrong, What About 24?” Torture And The Hollywood Effect, Erin M. Kearns, Joseph K. Young

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Since 9/11, entertainment media has focused on depictions of terrorism and counterterrorism. How do dramatic depictions of counterterrorism practices—specifically torture—affect public opinion and policy? Using a mixed within-subjects and between-subjects experimental design, we examine how framing affects support for torture. Participants (n = 150) were randomly assigned to a condition for dramatic depictions showing torture as (a) effective, (b) ineffective, or (c) not present (control). Participants who saw torture as effective increased their stated support for it. Participants who saw torture—regardless of whether or not it was effective—were more likely to sign a petition on …

Aggregate-Level Lead Exposure, Gun Violence, Homicide, And Rape, Brian Boutwell, Erik Nelson, Zhengmin Qian, Michael Vaughn, John Wright, John Wright, Kevin Beaver, Kevin Beaver, J. Barnes, Melissa Petkovsek, Roger Lewis, Mario Schootman, Richard Rosenfeld

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Works

Context An increasing body of research has linked the geographic distribution of lead with various indicators of criminal and antisocial behavior. Objective The current study, using data from an ongoing project related to lead exposure in St. Louis City, MO, analyzed the association between aggregate blood lead levels and specific indicators violent crime within the city. Design Ecological study. Setting St. Louis, Missouri. Exposure measure Blood lead levels. Main outcome measure Official reports of violent crimes were categorized as 1) crimes involving a firearm (yes/no), 2) assault crimes (with or without a firearm), 3) robbery crimes (with or without a …

Crisp-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (Csqca) And Criminology, Belinda L. Parker

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"This article presents Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA; Ragin, 1987, 2000) as a useful methodological approach for criminological research. The aim is to introduce QCA’s logic and assumptions and a step-by-step guide to its application of crisp-set QCA using an illustrative hypothetical example. While QCA is a relatively new method and not widely used within criminological research thus far, it offers a unique approach that is particularly well suited to the field. This article is intended to serve as an introduction to those researchers interested in QCA and to demonstrate how they may incorporate it into their research."

Employment Pathways: How Former Offenders Navigate To Employment, Breanne Pleggenkuhle, Alaina Bearsby Steele, Elle Gray Teshima

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Employment is one of the most critical dimensions of reintegration, and much research documents the barriers formerly incarcerated persons experience in seeking out steady work. However, most offenders are ultimately successful in obtaining some form of employment. Less research discusses how offenders manage these barriers or examines the practice by which offenders navigate employment pathways, and even less examines whether particular offense categories further challenge the process. The current research utilizes qualitative data to examine the methods by which ex-offenders seek out and obtain employment, with an emphasis on the function of self-motivating practices, access to services, and the utilization …

“Losing The Humanity Of The Street”: Retired Police Officer Narratives Of The Evolution Of Low-Level Enforcement In New York City, Megan Welsh

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Low-level enforcement activities such as pedestrian and traffic stops, the issuance of criminal court summonses (tickets or citations), and misdemeanor arrests comprise the vast majority of police-citizen encounters relative to the policing of more serious, felony-level offenses. The complexities of these activities – particularly from the perspectives of the police officers who carry them out – have received relatively little scholarly attention. In an effort to more fully understand the nuances of low-level enforcement, in particular how such activities have changed over time and how police officers have experienced such changes, in-depth interviews were conducted with a small sample of …

Forrest Stuart, Down, Out, And Under Arrest: Policing And Everyday Life In Skid Row, Jordan Denton

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Aggressive crime control strategies such as stop-and-frisk and poverty governance bring forth contentious debates on their impact. Proponents argue the policies are needed to combat crime, while opponents contend they are oppressive, harmful, and discriminatory. It is rare in these discussions that the perspectives of the control agents and the public impacted by the policies are simultaneously engaged. Forrest Stuart in his book Down, Out, and Under Arrest: Policing and Everyday Life in Skid Row fills this gap using ethnographic and historical data to depict how poverty governance impacts the everyday interactions of Skid Row residents, police, and community organizations. …

‘It Just Be Like That’:Young Men’S And Women’S Attributions Of Negative Sexual Behavior, Christopher W. Mullins, Daniel R. Kavish

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"This paper provides an examination of the role that male peer support plays in negative sexual attitudes and behaviors vis-àvis women. Drawing on semi-structured interview data collected from at risk high school students in an urban Midwestern town, we are able to qualitatively explore attitudes, behaviors, and experiences within this group of young men and women as they relate to negative sexual behaviors. We integrate routine activites theory with a male peer support theory of violence to to obtain a more holistic view of negative sexual behaviors. Male peer support models provide us with a theoretical explanation of the variation …

Public Perceptions Of Crime Maps: Considering The Impact Of Map Style On Perceptions Of Safety, Kathryn Wuschke, Kris Henning, Greg Stewart, Kaitlyn Bonn

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications and Presentations

Presentation slides for a study that questions how people may interpret and understand the types of crime maps that are frequently publicly available. As public crime maps increase in use and distribution, researchers are beginning to explore the impacts of access.

In The Crosshairs Of The White Nationalist Movement: Is Bridgewater State Ready?, Carolyn Petrosino

Bridgewater Review

No abstract provided.

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 …

Why Are Some Officers More Supportive Of Community Policing With Minorities Than Others?, Erin M. Kearns

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Officers are not equally supportive of community policing despite its potential for improving police–citizen relationships. Research has yet to identify and explain variations in officer support for community policing with racial minorities. Using roll-call surveys with 741 officers in three departments, this project addressed two questions: Do officers differ in their support for community policing across racial groups? And, if so, why? Officers are less supportive of community policing with racial minorities and perceive greater social distance from minority groups. General support for community policing and lower perceived social distance from a minority community are linked with greater support for …

Serving Their Country And Their Communities? An Exploratory Study Of The Impact Of Military Presence On County-Level Crime Rates, Rocio A. Paez

Theses and Dissertations

Criminologists have long established an association between social disorganization factors and crime. The majority of criminological literature on social disorganization, however, has overlooked the role that certain social institutions play into the equation. Specifically, the degree to which military presence, manifested by the exposure to the military institution and its personnel, influences local areas has yet to be examined from a criminological perspective. This dissertation was designed to extend this body of research by envisioning the military as a social institution salient in understanding variation in the of crime and delinquency across communities. To accomplish this, I relied on data …

Adolescent Networks: An Exploratory Study Assessing Bullying Victimization And Outcomes Of Social Capital On School Avoidance, Kristen Nicole Sobba

Theses and Dissertations

Bullying victimization has been found to lead to several detrimental effects including depression, anxiety, poor academic achievement, and, in extreme cases, suicidal tendencies. One consequence that has not been studied as extensively is school avoidance. School avoidance can lead to further emotional problems and school dropout, therefore, addressing ways to deter this problem is imperative for future research. The purpose of this dissertation was to identify correlates of school avoidance in addition to understanding the moderating relationship of bullying victimization and social capital on school avoidance. It was expected that social capital would serve as a buffer to bullying victimization, …

The Punishment Marketplace: Competing For Capitalized Power In Locally Controlled Immigration Enforcement, Daniel L. Stageman

Publications and Research

Neoliberal economics play a significant role in US social organization, imposing market logics on public services and driving the cultural valorization of free market ideology. The neoliberal ‘project of inequality’ is upheld by an authoritarian system of punishment built around the social control of the underclass—among them unauthorized immigrants. This work lays out the theory of the punishment marketplace: a conceptualization of how US systems of punishment both enable the neoliberal project of inequality, and are themselves subject to market colonization. The theory describes the rescaling of federal authority to local centers of political power. Criminal justice policy activism by …

“I’Ve Risen Up From The Ashes That I Created”: Record Clearance And Gendered Narratives Of Self-Reinvention And Reintegration, Elsa Chen, Ericka Adams

Faculty Publications

Record clearance allows some individuals to redesignate or remove certain minor convictions from their criminal records. This interview-based study finds that both men and women seek opportunities for personal gain through record clearance, but women are more motivated by moral and religious influences and concern about reputation. Women are also more likely than men to acknowledge personal flaws, and to desire to replace criminal identities with law-abiding identities. As women redefine their identities, caregiving is especially important as a personal obligation and professional aspiration. Record clearance is particularly compatible with women’s motivations, willingness to change, and personal and professional goals.

Unpacking The Mind Of Evil: A Sociological Perspective On The Role Of Intent And Motivations In Genocide, Timothy Williams, Dominik Pfeiffer

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

For quite some time, theories on the role of intent in genocide were conceptually frozen in polarised liberal and post-liberal, or purpose- and knowledge-based approaches, respectively. In accordance with recent criminological thought that moves beyond the narrow debate, this article develops a new sociological perspective on the role of intent in genocide. Drawing on frame analysis it is argued that intent is mainly relevant for framing genocidal action at the macro level. However, individual low-level perpetrators act from a large number of different motivations, of which ideologies of intent are only one. Others range from obedience to authority, coercion and …

Child And Adolescent Commercial Sexual Exploitation In Mexico: The Exploiters And The State, Sonia M. Frias, Mariajosé Gómez-Zaldívar

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Commercial sexual exploitation of children (CSEC) is a form of violence in which children, mainly girls and female adolescents, are reduced to sexual objects for rent. In this study, we argue that the concept of who is an exploiter must be broadened to include everyone who directly or indirectly benefits from CSEC. This paper is based on life stories of 10 female residents from a shelter, which we call Casa Libertad (a fictitious name) in Mexico City, for female victims of violence. Researchers also used semi-structured interviews with experts on CSEC to examine the exploiters' profiles. The research challenges the …

Ted Kaczynski: Evil Or Insane?, Drew C. Warren

Student Publications

Explores the life of the infamous Unabomber, and demonstrates why his manifesto on society and his extraordinary intelligence makes him the most unique and brilliant serial killer in United States history.

Patriarchy And Varieties Of Violence Against Women: A Contextual Analysis, Margaret Schmuhl

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Violence against women (VAW) is a widespread social problem affecting nearly two million women in the United States each year (Tjaden & Thoennes, 2000). In recent years, feminist criminologists have called for the ‘resurrection’ of patriarchy as a theoretical explanation of VAW women (Hunnicutt, 2009) suggesting that the prior literature’s focus on gender inequality in social institutions must be broadened to include patriarchy’s ideological element. The empirical literature on VAW mostly examines the effects of gender inequality on rape and femicide often neglecting more common forms of violence that women experience. In addition, while there are some exceptions, this literature …

Hatred Simmering In The Melting Pot: Hate Crime In New York City, 1995-2010, Colleen E. Mills

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Hate crime proves prevalent in American society, inflicting a variety of harms on victims as well as society at large. Scholars have long sought to understand the motivations and conditions behind hate crime offending. Green and his colleagues conducted the classic neighborhood studies examining the conditions that foster hate crime (Green, Glaser, & Rich, 1998; Green, Strolovich, & Wong, 1998; Green, Strolovitch, Wong, & Bailey). Using data from the New York Police Department’s Hate Crimes Task Force, the current study replicates and extends Green's neighborhood studies by investigating hate crime in New York City from 1995 to 2010. This study …

Preventing Sexual Violence Where It Most Often Occurs: An Investigation Of The Situational And Structural Components Of Child Sexual Abuse In Residential Settings, Nicole Colombino

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Given that sex offenders tend to perpetrate crimes against people they know (e.g., Greenfield, 1997) and first encounter victims in residential locations (Colombino, Mercado, Levenson, & Jeglic, 2011), it is important that research examine the circumstances of sexual offenses within residential settings. Although previous research has examined the perpetration patterns of sexual offenses against children, especially related to grooming tactics (e.g., Conte, Wolf, & Smith, 1989) and situational factors (e.g., Wortley & Smallbone, 2006), there are few studies that specifically examine the correlates of child sexual abuse within residential settings. This type of data would allow for the development of …

Here Today, Gone Tomorrow: The Temporal Stability Of Crime Hot Spots And The Criminology Of Place, Michael J. Deckard

Dissertations

It is widely recognized that the distribution of crime in urban areas is not randomly distributed, but is highly concentrated in small pockets of space known as crime “hot spots”. While the empirical evidence supporting the law of crime concentration is strong, most studies that have examined the stability of crime hot spots over time have aggregated crime across years. This dissertation seeks to expand our understanding of the temporal stability of micro-geographic crime hot spots by addressing three research questions: (1) How are high-crime micro-places distributed at the monthly level? How much variation exists in the distribution of crime …

Factors Associated With Reporting Of Sexual Assault Among College And Non-College Women, Ryan E. Spohn, Abby L. Bjornsen-Ramig, Emily M. Wright

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to examine factors impacting college and non-college women reporting sexual assault to police. The goal is to increase knowledge regarding differences in the rates of reporting and reasons for reporting across these two groups.

Design/methodology/approach

Participants were drawn from a national telephone survey of US women and a sample of US college women. Bivariate and multivariate analyses were conducted to determine factors influencing the reporting of sexual assault to police.

Findings

Non-college women were more likely than college women to report to police. Women who perceived their victimization as rape were much more …

First World Congress Of Victimology: Victim-Witness Intimidation, William C. Toomey

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Understanding Resilience Strategies Among Minor-Attracted Individuals, Allyson Walker

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The field of criminology generally assumes that attraction to minors is synonymous with sex offending. This erroneous and reductive assumption has led to a lack of exploration into the lives of individuals who are attracted to minors and who live their lives without offending. The lack of research on this topic reinforces the already overwhelming stigma against this population, and has limited our understanding of how individuals who are attracted to minors strategize to refrain from offending. This knowledge may also help others struggling with these attractions to remain resilient.

This dissertation is a result of efforts to learn more …

Desisting In Prison: Myth And The Council For Unity Model, Kevin Moran

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation is a qualitative examination of aspects of the desistance process among incarcerated men in both prison and jail. Data collection for this project occurred in and around the correctional version of the Council For Unity program, which is also examined in this write up. The premise of this project is that a minority of men do desist whilst incarcerated and thus the research presented here analyzes how prisoners act towards their attempts to desist from crime in terms of the meaning this process has for them, their interaction with others during this process, and the interpretative progression by …

Genealogy Of The Concept Of "Hate Crime": The Cultural Implications Of Legal Innovation And Social Change, Roslyn Myers

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The term "hate crime" is new to legislative and public discourse, as well as legal and social science scholarship. A decade after the concept of a "hate crime" was introduced in Congress, the 2009 Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act (HCPA), to punish criminal actors who target victims because of their characteristics (race, color ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, gender, gender identity, or disability). Using relevant archival sources, this project uses genealogical qualitative methods to examine the interplay of cultural elements manifested in this provocative term, which reflect dominance and subjugation among social groups (In- and Out-Groups) …

Prosecuting Buyers In Human Trafficking Cases: An Analysis Of The Implications Of United States V. Jungers And United States V. Bonestroo, Andrea J. Nichols, Erin Heil

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

This article provides a review and analysis of United States v. Jungers and United States v. Bonestroo, important court cases providing precedent for charging buyers of sex as traffickers in cases involving minors. The decisions in these court cases, and in subsequent cases, further solidify the presence of end-demand efforts in the form of prosecution. Yet, the decisions in these cases raise additional questions about their implications for state-level prosecution, the prosecution of buyers in cases involving adults who experience sex trafficking, and the buyers of trafficked labor. Drawing from an analysis of relevant cases, this article analyzes the …

Restorative Justice: A Look At Victim Offender Mediation Programs, Katie L. Moran

21st Century Social Justice

This report conceptualizes the effectiveness and benefits of utilizing the restorative justice model of Victim Offender Mediation (VOM) within the criminal and juvenile justice systems to serve the rights of victims, offenders, and society more justly. Victim Offender Mediation is discussed as a possible alternative justice model which reframes the victim-offender relationship to foster and respect the dignity and worth of each participant. This restorative justice model combats victims’ feelings of helplessness by giving them back their voice, while having the potential to specifically offer relief to those secondarily victimized by the legal system in cases of simple rape. Offenders …