Criminology Commons^™

Editorial, Jane L. Ireland, Robert J. Cramer

Community & Environmental Health Faculty Publications

We commence this edition with an invited paper by David DeMatteo, Suraji Wagage, and Jaymes Fairfax-Columbo on cyberstalking. Their paper considers the role of law and public opinion in this rapidly evolving area of study. One of the most interesting findings represents the difference between public opinion and the legal concept of cyberstalking; public opinion does not support the (legal) suggestion that cyberstalking should be considered alongside more general stalking. This reflects a move in the literature more generally that considers cybercrime distinct in many ways from contact offending. Indeed, it parallels considerably with the cyberbullying literature, which some would …

The Relationship Between Mainstream Radio Music, Vulgar Lyrics, And Race And The Impact On The Criminal Black Male Stereotype., Deangelo K. Brown

School of Criminal Justice Theses and Dissertations

The criminal Black male stereotype, cemented in early American literature, has been perpetuated in movies, TV shows, and now on mainstream radio. For this study, Billboard song lyrics were analyzed for three main themes—violence, misogyny, and drugs/alcohol. Billboard song rankings are based on digital download sales, radio airplay, and Internet streaming. The researcher found that the songs played on hip hop and rap genre radio stations con-tained lyrics that strongly correlated with the three themes. The researcher also examined whether a relationship existed between artist’s race and lyrics about violence, misogyny, and drugs/alcohol. Black artists comprised 48% of the artists …

Erasing The Mark Of A Criminal Past: Ex-Offenders’ Expectations And Experiences With Record Clearance, Ericka Adams, Elsa Chen, Rosella Chapman

Faculty Publications

Through the process of record clearance, individuals can have certain minor convictions removed from their criminal records or designated as expunged. This study analyzes data gathered from semi-structured interviews with 40 persons with past criminal convictions to examine the expectations of individuals who seek record clearance and the extent to which completion of the process facilitates efforts to reintegrate into society and desist from crime. The analysis finds that record clearance benefits ex-offenders through external effects, such as the reduction of barriers to employment, and internal processes, such as the facilitation of cognitive transformation and the affirmation of a new …

Healthy Relationships And Wellbeing Among Youth Offenders, Amanda J. Kerry

Healthy Relationships Plus Program Implementation Study

Historically, the perception of youth offender treatment programs was “nothing works” (Andrew & Bonta, 2010). Fortunately, we have since shifted from that view and current research suggests that effective programs for youth offenders should aim to reduce re-offending by targeting multiple risk factors and promoting the development of healthy, prosocial skills. Consistent with the effective ingredients of programming, the Fourth R and HRPP programs target multiple risk factors (i.e., substance use, risky sexual behaviour) and promote social and cognitive skill building (i.e., communication skills, help seeking). The goal of this research project was to examine the feasibility and fit of …

Preparing Police Recruits Of The Future: An Educational Needs Assessment, Laura Huey, Hina Kalyal, Hillary Peladeau

Sociology Publications

Given increasing demand for post-secondary education (PSE) within Ontario’s police applicant pools, coupled with rising costs in post-secondary education, it is of critical importance we ensure the content and quality of PSE programs marketed to students as appropriate for a policing career, does, indeed, match the needs of potential employers. This study examines this issue by drawing on the results of a mixed-methodological approach, combining qualitative interviews of police recruiters and senior officers with an environmental scan of relevant college and university programs. Our findings indicate there are both strengths and weaknesses in the delivery of PSE when it comes …

The Economics Of Policing Research, Laura Huey

Sociology Publications

In 2012, provincial, territorial and federal governments of Canada reached consensus on an important policy issue: public policing costs were escalating and something needed to be done about ‘the economics of policing’. They also discovered that, as a result of the federal government’s chronic defunding of policing research, they had very little Canadian knowledge upon which to draw. The focus of the present paper is on how both the ‘economics of policing’ crisis, and policy-makers’ inability to utilize domestic research to resolve it, were generated by successive governments sharing an ideologically-informed view of the relative importance of criminal justice research.

Probation In The United States: A Historical And Modern Perspective, Ryan M. Labrecque

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications and Presentations

Probation is a court order through which a criminal defendant is placed under the control, supervision, and care of a probation officer in lieu of imprisonment; so long as the probationer maintains certain standards of conduct. This chapter reviews the historical development of probation in the United States, and highlights how the practice is used in the 21st century. Probation has many advantages over imprisonment, including lower operational costs, increased opportunities for rehabilitation, and reduced risk of criminal socialization. However, there is increasing evidence to suggest probation strategies that focus on compliance monitoring and other law enforcement aspects of supervision …

Hopelessness Depression As A Predictive Risk Factor For Recidivism And Survival Time Among Juvenile Offenders, Todd Milton Mcginnis

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the United States, there is a high incidence of recidivism among juvenile offenders with mental health disorders. This is a critical social issue facing the public and the Department of Juvenile Justice Administration today. However, research is not clear on the role of psychological factors in recidivism frequency and survival time. The purpose of this study was to examine whether hopelessness depression, as measured by suicidal-ideation, depression-anxiety, anger-irritation, and alcohol-drug use, and offense type, were predictors of recidivism frequency and survival time when controlling for age, gender, and race. The total sample consisted of archival data from 404 juvenile …

Exploring The Merging Of Two Divergent Behavioral Support Systems In Juvenile Justice, Linda Susan Spaulding

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In 2016, over 47,000 youths in the state of Florida were served by the Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) probation services. While on probation, these youths were exposed to 2 different, and potentially conflicting disciplinary management systems. Youth are under the authority of juvenile probation officers (JPOs), who are bound to a consequence-based management approach. This approach is guided by negative reinforcement. The youths are simultaneously engaged with staff from diversion programs, many of which are strengths-based and guided by positive reinforcement. According to the ecosystemic complexity theory of conflict, exposure to incongruent systems can have negative effects such as …

Security Strategies For Hosting Sensitive Information In The Commercial Cloud, Edward Steven Forde

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

IT experts often struggle to find strategies to secure data on the cloud. Although current security standards might provide cloud compliance, they fail to offer guarantees of security assurance. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to explore the strategies used by IT security managers to host sensitive information in the commercial cloud. The study's population consisted of information security managers from a government agency in the eastern region of the United States. The routine active theory, developed by Cohen and Felson, was used as the conceptual framework for the study. The data collection process included IT security manager …

Juvenile Delinquency And Cause Of Death For Adolescents Between 13 And 17 Years In Detroit In 2015, Tao Lei

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

The records for the cause of death of 3 8 adolescents who died near Detroit, MI in 2015 were examined from case files at the Wayne County Medical Examiner's Office. Adolescents between the ages of 12 and 17 years were more prone to being victims of violence than natural death, with a peak in violent deaths during the month of April. The majority of adolescents in this sample were Black males (58%). The manner of death among the majority of adolescents was accidental (47%), however the cause of death was all in a violent manner. The cause of death reported …

Perceived Credibility Of Child Witness Statements Based On Age And Gender, Beverly M. Griffor

Master's Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

Although a great deal of empirical research and theoretical analysis has been done on in relation to jury perception of the credibility of child witnesses, virtually none of it has focused on the impact of age and gender of child witnesses alone on juror perceptions. This study expands on the existing body of knowledge on juror bias by exploring the connection between the perceived credibility of a child witness and the age or gender of that witness. Participants were given a choice between two children of different ages and/or genders. The participants were asked about the believability of the identified …

Rhetorical Commonsense And Child Molester Panic--A Queer Intervention, Ian Barnard

English Faculty Articles and Research

This article considers how contemporary representations of child molesters in scholarly, political, and popular culture participate in projects that revolve around the recuperation of heteronormativity. I argue that these multimodal obsessions with child molestation displace the resilience of entrenched homophobic fears, prejudices, and dispositions, giving the lie to the commonplace that the political advance of same-sex marriage in the United States signals the apotheosis of gay rights. My analysis focuses on two representative popular and scholarly texts: the long-running television series Law and Order: SVU and a scholarly article about the Jerry Sandusky case published in jac. The former …

Black Male Probationers' Perceptions Of Juvenile Probation Officers' Role In Reducing Recidivism, Fern H. Clarke

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The high recidivism rate of Black male juvenile offenders is a problem in the United States that continues to be of great concern. Probation has gained popularity as being a means of addressing and reducing the high recidivism rates of juvenile offenders. However, there is a lack of research regarding Black male juvenile probationers' perceptions of their probation officers' role in reducing their recidivism. This study examined the following: a) the predictive relationships between Black male probationers' perceptions of their probation officers, their perceptions of the probation officers' job, and their recidivism within 3 years of being place on probation; …

The Relationship Between Demographic Characteristics, Types Of Contact With Police, And Perceptions Of Police, Allison Simko

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Police officers play a very important role in their communities, considering they need to interact with the public in order to carry out their duties. For that reason, the relationship between the public and police officers has been the focus of many studies. The current study analyzed data from the 2011 Police-Public Contact Survey (n= 49,246). The study was conducted in three separate parts - the relationship between individual demographic characteristics and type of contact with the police, individual demographic characteristics and perceptions of police, and type of contact with the police and perceptions of the police. The results from …

The Risk Principle Paradox: A Multilevel Approach To Examine Which High-Risk Offenders Successfully Change During Rehabilitation Programs, Cole Higley

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The empirically supported risk principle demonstrates that correctional agencies can reduce recidivism by providing greater supervision and rehabilitation services to higher-risk offenders. The current study examined the paradox that offenders with the greatest risk to reoffend also have the most potential to successfully change; yet, little research has examined why some high-risk offenders succeed in programs, while others do not. Analyses examined whether certain demographic, motivation, and rehabilitative group features were related to program performance and post-release recidivism. Results showed that in certain rehabilitation types, statistically significant interactions were observed, such that the relationship between individual risk and outcome (either …

A Swot Analysis Of Community Policing As A Reform Schema For The Egyptian National Police To Counter Violent Extremism, Daniel Waddington Waddington

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Like much of the Middle East and Africa, Egypt has been experiencing increasing incidents of extremist violence and terrorism in recent years. However, an effective methodology for addressing this violence has not been identified. One approach that has been promoted internationally is countering violent extremism through community policing.

Immigration And Victimization : Applications Of Criminological Concepts To The Lesser-Known Side Of The Immigration And Crime Nexus, Allen W.C.P. Wong

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In recent decades, scholarly interest on immigration and crime has been on the rise. This increase in interest has even recently produced an academic consensus on the structural-level relationship between immigration and crime: on average, changes in immigration levels do not disproportionately increase crime rates. However, what is less explored in the literature is the individual-level relationship between immigration and criminal victimization, and specifically, the role played by criminological variables among generations of immigrant ethnic groups and their victimization experiences.

Cops And Cells : Theorizing And Assessing The Implications Of Smartphone Surveillance For Policing, Sean Patrick Roche

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In the United States, police officers are empowered to use force, and are often people’s first point of contact with the criminal justice system. Significantly, in the last decade, the majority of American citizens have acquired smartphone technology, which allows them to document and broadcast police behavior on a scale never before seen. Several high-profile police use of force incidents have been captured on video, and the resulting public outcries suggest that this technology now presents exceptional challenges to the maintenance of police legitimacy. Foucault (1977) argues that power in modern society is achieved by surveillance systems that work to …

Redefining Murder : A Qualitative Exploration Of Emotion And Identity Following Loss Of A Loved One To Homicide, Kristen Lee Hourigan

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This dissertation research project is a qualitative exploration of emotion and identity following loss of a loved one to homicide. It answers the questions, “How do individuals who have lost loved ones to homicide understand and experience forgiveness, and how does this vary by social distance from the offender and social position (race, gender, social class, age, religion, and education)?” and “How do forgiveness processes relate to identity?” It uses a symbolic interactionist framework and draws upon several diverse literatures including identity theory and affect control theory in sociology, research on forgiveness and empathy in psychology, and concepts from restorative …

Targeting The "Absence" In A Desistance Framework : Balancing Risk And Rehabilitation In Mandated Criminal Background Check Employment Decisions, Megan Denver

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Recent research efforts have documented resistance from employers in hiring individuals with criminal records. In response, advocates and policymakers have implemented strategies ranging from grassroots movements that delay criminal record inquiries to federal guidance that directs decision makers to conduct “individualized assessments.” However, it is not clear precisely what information employers actually are (or should be) seeking when they conduct criminal background checks. Furthermore, there may be a catch-22: while employment might promote desistance, applicants may need to demonstrate that they do not pose an undue risk before being able to secure a job or license (Maruna 2009). Since desistance …

Records Of The American Society Of Criminology, Division On Women And Crime Finding Aid And Container List, Thomas G. Carpenter Library Special Collections And University Archives

Finding Aids and Container Lists

No abstract provided.

Crime In Context: Utilizing Risk Terrain Modeling And Conjunctive Analysis Of Case Configurations To Explore The Dynamics Of Criminogenic Behavior Settings., Joel M. Caplan, Leslie W. Kennedy, Jeremy D. Barnum, Eric L. Piza

Publications and Research

Risk terrain modeling (RTM) is a geospatial crime analysis tool designed to diagnose environmental risk factors for crime and identify the places where their spatial influence is collocated to produce vulnerability for illegal behavior. However, the collocation of certain risk factors’ spatial influences may result in more crimes than the collocation of a different set of risk factors’ spatial influences. Absent from existing RTM outputs and methods is a straightforward method to compare these relative interactions and their effects on crime. However, as a multivariate method for the analysis of discrete categorical data, conjunctive analysis of case configurations (CACC) can …

A Review Of State Standards For Batterer Intervention Treatment Programs And The Colorado Model, Angela Gover, Tara Richards

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Many states aiming to improve domestic-violence-offender treatment have passed legislative standards for Batterer Intervention Treatment (BIT). This article reviews existing literature in relation to state standards for BIT in general and Colorado’s unique model for BIT specifically. In addition, existing research focused on the Colorado model’s adherence to evidence-based practices and principles is discussed, and ongoing research that examines the relationship between the novel elements of the Colorado model and BIT completion and recidivism is explained.

The Current And Potential Role Of Crime Analysts In Evaluations Of Police Interventions: Results From A Survey Of The International Association Of Crime Analysts, Eric Piza, Shun Q. Feng

Publications and Research

Crime analysts play a pivotal role in evidence-based policing by readily diagnosing the nature of crime and disorder problems. Such analysis products are key in the design of evidence-based strategies. The role of analysts in the subsequent process of evidence-based policing, the evaluation of programs to determine what works, is less known. The current study seeks to fill this gap in the literature through a survey of the International Association of Crime Analyst Membership. Findings suggest that program evaluation lies on the periphery of the crime analysis profession. Across all measures incorporated in this study, program evaluation was emphasized less …

Older Indigent Women’S Economic Crimes: Subsuming Feminism In Favour Of A Human Rights Explanation, Patricia Joan Rhodes

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

Many people today believe the concept of gender inequality is outmoded, irrelevant and unnecessary in Western societies that are deemed egalitarian. As a consequence, feminism as a movement with gender equality at its core has often been proclaimed ‘dead’,a relic of the past. Feminist perspectives, nevertheless, have produced differing points of view about the sources of gender inequality affecting crime rates and criminal behaviour.

For the last 50 years or so, women and girls have been the subject of criminological research that has largely evolved from sociological perspectives and specifically from feminism. Although gender intersects with other social realities and …

Motivations To Return To A Gang After Severe Physical Victimization, Nora Vlaszof

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Abstract

Gang violence is a social concern because of the risks of victimization among gang members and their communities. Many gang members have been victims of gang violence, and some choose to remain involved with their gang even after being victimized. Researchers have explored why people join gangs, but less is known regarding the gang-victimization link, which is the focus of this study. Social bond theory guided the study's research question on the motivation of gang members to rejoin their gang after severe physical victimization. A multiple case study design was employed with a purposeful sample of six English-speaking men, …

Police Officers' Perceptions Of Social Media's Involvement On Delinquent Behavior By Juveniles, Rachel K. Wisnefski

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The rapid growth of social media platforms coupled with the technological savviness of juveniles has led to their delinquent behavior involving social media. Researchers should investigate this phenomenon in order to establish its extent and to minimize the harmful effects this behavior may have. The purpose of this qualitative study was to investigate and explore potential connections between social media and delinquent acts committed by juvenile offenders through the use of police officers' perceptions of those types of acts. The primary research question focused on determining what the perceptions and experiences of police officers in a southeastern state were relative …

Law Enforcement Officer Knowledge Of Mental Illness, Nashira Funn

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Media and activist groups have recently exposed the problem of negative interactions between law enforcement officers and civilians. Many of these civilians have a mental illness. Various researchers attribute these negative interactions to insufficient officer knowledge of mental illness due to a lack of training, education, and personal experiences. Very little research addresses how insufficient knowledge of mental illness may influence interactions. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore and analyze self reported law enforcement knowledge using Malcolm Knowles' conceptualization of adult learning theory and andragogy as the theoretical framework. This framework bases self-directed learning/training on a needs …

Lived Experiences Of Secondary Victims During The Parole Process: A Phenomenological Approach, Jessica Millimen

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Secondary victims of traumatic violent crimes are subject to continuing the process of fighting for the loved ones they have lost. Once the offender is incarcerated, such victims may still have to face the process of parole if the offender has been granted a possibility of parole after years served. There is a gap in the literature and a need for research in the area of lived experiences for secondary victims as they progress through the parole process. For this study, a phenomenological study was utilized with 10 secondary victim participants. Participants were interviewed questions via telephone and the data …