Criminology Commons^™

Rituals Upon Celluloid: The Need For Crime And Punishment In Contemporary Film, J C. Oleson

Cleveland State Law Review

Most members of the public lack first-hand experience with the criminal justice system; nevertheless, they believe that they possess phenomenological knowledge about it. In large part, the public’s understandings of crime and punishment are derived from television and film, which provide modern audiences with a vision of institutions that are normally occluded from view. While public rituals of punishment used to take place on the scaffold, equivalent moral narratives about crime and punishment now occur on film because modern punishment is imposed outside of the public gaze. Yet because crime films distort what they depict, the public’s view of crime …

Racial Conflict And Bias Crimes Across Us Cities : An Analysis Of The Social Threat Perspective, Suzanne M. Strong

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This research examines racially biased crimes across US cities, utilizing social threat and a general criminality perspective based on social disorganization and strain theories. Racially biased crime is compared to violent crime in general and to unbiased racially disaggregated homicide to further examine the effects of social threat and general crime variables on different forms of violent crime. Data is compiled mainly from the 1990 and 2000 US Censuses, the 1996-2000 Uniform Crime Reports and the 1996-2000 Supplemental Homicide Reports. The research shows bias crimes cannot be explained utilizing general crime predictors. In particular, anti-Black violent bias crimes committed by …

Welfare And Crime Revisited : Beyond Yea Or Nay, Colin Gruner

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The criminological literature has found that welfare is negatively associated with crime, but few studies have tested this association with data from after the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (PRWORA) passed in 1996. PRWORA fundamentally altered the structure of the U.S. welfare state. The goals of this dissertation were to identify the research and theories on welfare and crime and test whether the relationship has changed since PRWORA. A review of the literature showed that there were several lines of research on welfare and crime but no studies drawing on the full extent of the welfare-crime literature. After combining …

The "New Civil Rights" : The Innocence Movement And American Criminal Justice, Robert Norris

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Few issues have captivated the criminal justice world in recent years like wrongful convictions. An advocacy network has developed around the United States, responsible for exonerating more than 1,500 individuals and successfully passing reforms at all levels of criminal justice policy and practice. This "innocence movement" has been described as a "revolution" and a "new civil rights movement," yet has rarely been examined in-depth by scholars. In this dissertation, I explore the history and theoretical underpinnings of the movement through interviews with 37 actors involved in innocence work, archival materials, and observational research. I draw on the rich body of …

Employment After Incarceration : Exploring The Influence Of Cumulative Disadvantage On Multiple Employment Outcomes, Amanda D. Emmert

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Prisons and jails across the Unites States release more than 600,000 inmates each year. Scholars have posed and addressed numerous concerns for the reintegration outcomes and prospects that face ex-inmates. Yet, little is known about the cumulative employment and economic disadvantages faced by ex-inmates who experienced their first incarceration at early ages or experience multiple incarcerations throughout their lives. Using event history and fixed effects analyses on longitudinal data from the Rochester Youth Development Study (RYDS), this project explores employment acquisition, employment tenure, employment stability, and use of public assistance for signs of differential ex-inmate disadvantages. While cumulative disadvantage is …

Stereotypes And Deadly Force Decision-Making, Mark R. Chaires

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Abstract

Predicting Job Performance In Correctional Officers With Pre-Employment Psychological Screening, Shelley S. Hyland

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

There is substantial cost in the hiring and training of a correctional officer, with a high rate of turnover compounding these costs. While pre-employment psychological screening is suggested as one method to prevent these losses, mandates to screen are not as common in corrections as they are in law enforcement. Further, minimal research has examined the validity of psychological testing in correctional officers. This dissertation examined pre-employment psychological screening for 421 correctional officers hired by one of three upstate New York sheriff's departments. Assessments were conducted by Public Safety Psychology, PLLC from March, 1997 to June, 2012. T scores and …

What We Can Learn From Small Units Of Analysis, Andrew Palmer Wheeler

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The dissertation is aimed at advancing knowledge of the correlates of crime at small geographic units of analysis. I begin by detailing what motivates examining crime at small places, and show how aggregation creates confounds that limit causal inference. Local and spatial effects are confounded when using aggregate units, so when the researcher wishes to distinguish between these two types of effects it should guide what unit of analysis is chosen. To illustrate these differences, I generate simulations of what happens to effect estimates when you aggregate a micro level spatial effects model or presume a neighborhood effects model.

911 : Help Or Hindrance In Reducing Repeat Victimization, Kay Elizabeth Lang

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In my dissertation I examine two pieces of criminological knowledge in order to explore the point at which they converge. First, crime victims call the police for a variety of reasons, one of which is to stop future attacks; and second, research suggests that previous victimization is a significant predictor of future victimization. In my research I seek to expand current knowledge about repeat victimization using the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS). I examine repeat victimization at the individual level, with crimes of violence, and at the household level, by examining residential burglary. But my project expands on existing knowledge …

When Is Hacking Ethical?, Sharif Rezazadehsaber

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This thesis examines situations in which computer hacking might be considered ethical. It addresses fundamental questions regarding the motivation and consequences of ethical hacking. The paper is organized into three sections. The first section discusses the history of hackers, classifies them according to their motivational background. The second part of the paper comprehensively describes the features of the ethical or “white hat” hacker group, and explores the positive and negative behaviors of ethical hackers in relation to their ethical principles. In the final section of the paper, I discuss hacktivist groups, their unique ideologies, and the risks they face, including …

Exploring Interactions Between Police And People With Mental Illness, Krystle L. Shore Ms.

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Contact between people with mental illness (PMI) and police is on the rise. The current study analyzed a six-month period of official police data (N = 400 occurrences) to provide a description of the PMI that came into contact with police and the typical characteristics and outcomes of these encounters. Results indicated that these interactions were initiated by family members and are taking place at home. Police are most commonly resolving the situations formally with apprehensions under the Mental health Act (55%), however only half of the time these apprehensions result in the PMI being admitted into hospital care, …

Critical Champions Or Careless Condemners? Exploring News Media Constructions In Cases Of Wrongful Conviction, Katherine Rozad

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Countless incidences occur throughout the world each and every day. However, only a few of these occurrences are deemed newsworthy by the media. One area of information quite often categorized as “newsworthy” is that surrounding crime. Within crime-related news coverage are occasionally cases of wrongful conviction – miscarriages of justice in which the innocent are labeled “guilty” and wrongly punished. Despite decades of research in both the areas of crime and media, as well as wrongful conviction studies, no research to date has examined the way that cases of wrongful conviction are constructed in the media from the beginnings of …

Framing A Narrative Of Discrimination Under The Eighth Amendment In The Context Of Transgender Prisoner Health Care, Sarah Halbach

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

This Comment looks closely at the reasoning behind two recent federal court opinions granting transgender prisoners access to hormone therapy and sex-reassignment surgery. Although both opinions were decided under the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishment, which does not expressly prohibit discrimination based on gender identity, a careful look at the courts’ reasoning suggests that they were influenced by the apparent discrimination against the transgender plaintiffs. This Comment argues that future transgender prisoners may be able to develop an antidiscrimination doctrine within the Eighth Amendment by framing their Eighth Amendment medical claims in terms of discrimination based on …

Trevino V. Thaler: Falling Short Of Meaningful Federal Habeas Corpus Reform, Cristina Law

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

Prisoners face many barriers when petitioning for federal habeas corpus relief, especially when asserting ineffective assistance of trial counsel claims. The Supreme Court’s decision in Trevino v. Thaler attempted to lower these barriers by carving out a narrow exception to the procedural default rule. Although a step in the right direction, this narrow exception fell short of meaningful habeas corpus reform. This Comment argues that although the Supreme Court’s decision in Trevino appears to guarantee habeas corpus petitioners the ability to raise ineffective assistance of trial counsel claims in federal court, it is unlikely to provide prisoners meaningful opportunities to …

Investigating The Programmatic Attack: A National Survey Of Veterans Treatment Courts, Julie Marie Baldwin

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

Veterans treatment courts (VTCs), a recent emergence from the specialized court movement, target the population of veterans in contact with the criminal justice system. Due to the contemporary nature of their dissemination, published empirical research on VTCs is only beginning to materialize. Additionally, national surveys of specialized courts are rare and typically occur decades after the courts emerge. This Article presents descriptive results regarding the establishment, policy, structure, and procedures of VTCs using data from the first national survey of these courts, conducted in the early stages of their emergence. A national compendium of VTCs (N = 114) was created. …

Examining The Sources Of Correctional Officer Legitimacy, Benjamin Steiner, John Wooldredge

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

Correctional officer legitimacy has been linked to prison safety and order, and it may also be relevant for inmate well-being and facilitating behavioral change. Yet few studies have examined the sources of correctional officer legitimacy. Findings from analyses of survey data collected from over 5,500 inmates housed throughout forty-six facilities in Ohio and Kentucky revealed that inmates’ perceptions of the treatment they received during their most recent encounters with correctional officers (procedural justice) impacted the strength of their beliefs regarding the legitimacy of those officers. The analyses also revealed that background factors such as inmates’ age and race were relevant …

Sentencing And Interbranch Dialogue, Eric S. Fish

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

American legislatures generally delegate primary control over sentencing policy to one of two actors: trial judges or a sentencing commission. In choosing between these actors, a legislature decides between two values: individualization or uniformity. If it empowers trial judges, sentences will be individually tailored to each defendant, but there will be unjust disparities because different judges have different sentencing practices. If it empowers a sentencing commission, sentences will be uniform across cases, but they will not be tailored to each defendant. This Article proposes a different architecture for American sentencing systems, one that relies on interbranch dialogue to transcend this …

Everyday Racial Interactions For Whites And College Students Of Color, Leslie H. Picca

Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work Faculty Publications

While in the recent past overtly racist comments were tolerated and expected, now social pressures exist to avoid such racist statements (Feagin, 2006). However, subtle measures and tests in psychology and social psychology suggest a nonracist mask is covering an intact racist core, and that whites regularly underestimate the extent of their prejudice (Bonilla-Silva & Forman, 2000; Kawakami, Dunn, Karmali, & Dovidio, 2009). There is much social science literature on modern racism or colorblind racism: negative racial attitudes that haven't disappeared, they've just gone underground (Bonilla-Silva, 2006; Carr, 1997; Dovidio & Gaertner, 1991). Specifically, many argue that racism is hidden, …

Maternal And Paternal Imprisonment And Children's Social Exclusion In Young Adulthood, Holly Foster, John Hagan

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

The United States has entered its fourth decade of high imprisonment levels. It is now possible to assess the impact of parental imprisonment on children who have completed the transition to adulthood. We elaborate the role of parental incarceration from a life course perspective on intergenerational social exclusion in young adulthood. The National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health [Add Health] representatively sampled the historically unique national cohort born in the 1980s, during the onset of mass incarceration. Four waves of the Add Health survey provide a valuable moving window on incarcerated parents and the transitions of their children from adolescence, …

To Be Judged By Twelve Or Carried By Six? Quasi-Involuntariness And The Criminal Prosecution Of Service Members For The Use Of Force In Combat - A Grunt's Perspective, Lupe Laguna

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

Post-9/11 conflicts have altered the way that the United States of America and her allies fight wars. Over the last ten years military commanders have embraced counterinsurgency doctrine as the path to victory in the War on Terror. As they have done so, commanders have been faced with the difficult task of balancing the need to protect local civilian populations with the need to proactively target insurgent fighters. To accomplish this mission, the military has adopted rules of engagement that allow a service member to engage a target when he or she perceives that the target exhibits “hostile intent.” The …

The Psychology Of Workplace Deviant & Criminal Behavior, William Brice, Deborah E. Rupp

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

The 2013 book Deviant and Criminal Behavior in the Workplace addresses the psychological constructs, situations, and environments underlying active counterproductive workplace behaviors. Building on a diverse range of psychological findings, this book highlights that the field of criminology needs to expand outside of the realm of violence and instead look at how deviant workplace behaviors can tie into—and motivate—other types of crime.

Lawful Or Fair? How Cops And Laypeople Perceive Good Policing, Tracey L. Meares, Tom R. Tyler, Jacob Gardener

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

Legal authorities and the public live in two separate worlds. One world is suffused with law, and the other world is suffused with people’s lived experiences that support their evaluations of fairness. When legal authorities consider whether police policies and practices are desirable, a framework regarding the lawfulness of the relevant policies and practices dominates the conversation. Police departments, their policies, and police officers’ actions are viewed as right or wrong with reference to constitutional standards, as interpreted by prosecutors, judges, and other legal actors. In contrast, we argue that the public is generally insensitive to the question of whether …

Estimating The Prevalence Of Entrapment In Post-9/11 Terrorism Cases, Jesse J. Norris, Hanna Grol-Prokopczyk

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

How many of the terrorism convictions since September 11, 2001 have been the product of entrapment? Some scholars and journalists have suggested that the number is quite high. One report went so far as to claim that only 1% of terrorism prosecutions involve “real” terrorism. The government’s defenders, at the opposite extreme, come close to saying that entrapment in a terrorism case is a contradiction in terms.

Little empirical basis exists for evaluating these competing claims. Existing literature on terrorism and entrapment is typically based on detailed discussions of a few egregious cases, rather than systematic analysis of the phenomenon. …

Symposium On The Center On Wrongful Convictions: Foreward, Karen L. Daniel

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

No abstract provided.

An Ideological Odyssey: Evolution Of A Reformer, Rob Warden

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

No abstract provided.

Remembering Disputed Sexual Encounters: A New Frontier For Witness Memory Research, Deborah Davis, Elizabeth F. Loftus

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

This paper reviews sources of distortion in memory for sexual encounters, particularly those between intoxicated participants. We review factors leading to initial misinterpretations of sexual consent including the indirect nature of sexual consent communications, misleading cultural sexual scripts, misinterpretation of passivity, and others. In this context, we consider the way in which alcohol can both contribute to initial misunderstanding and promote specific distortions in memory over time. Finally, we discuss additional influences on memory, including motivations related to self-esteem, self-concept maintenance, or litigation, and the effects of social influence from sources such as friends, forensic interviewers or therapists.

The Unindicted Co-Ejaculator And Necrophilia: Addressing Prosecutors' Logic-Defying Responses To Exculpatory Dna Results, Jacqueline Mcmurtrie

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

This article addresses a prosecutor’s development of new and bizarre theories, particularly in cases involving confession evidence, to explain away exculpatory DNA results. In Juan Rivera’s case, the prosecutor’s theory for why sperm found inside the 11-year-old victim on the day she was murdered did not belong to Rivera was that she had sex with someone before Rivera came along and raped (but did not ejaculate) and murdered her. The unnamed-lover theory is used so often by prosecutors that it has a moniker: “the unindicted co-ejaculator.” In the case of the Dixmoor Five, teenagers convicted of the rape and murder …

The Chronic Failure To Discipline Prosecutors For Misconduct: Proposals For Reform, Thomas P. Sullivan, Maurice Possley

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

While most prosecutors adhere to the maxim that their primary task is to obtain just results, there are some who violate their ethical responsibilities in order to rack up convictions. This article describes the distressing, decades-long absence of discipline imposed on prosecutors whose knowing misconduct has resulted in terrible injustices being visited upon defendants throughout the country. Many honorable lawyers have failed to speak out about errant prosecutors, thus enabling their ethical breaches. The silent accessories include practicing lawyers and judges of trial and reviewing courts who, having observed prosecutorial misconduct, failed to take corrective action. Fault also lies with …

Who Could It Be Now? Challenging The Reliability Of First Time In-Court Identifications After State V. Henderson And State V. Lawson, Aliza B. Kaplan, Janis C. Puracal

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

Despite the recent advances in assessing the reliability of eyewitness identifications, the focus to date has largely been identifications made pretrial. Little has been written about identifications made for the first time in the courtroom. While in-court identifications have an extraordinarily powerful effect on juries, all such identifications are potentially vulnerable to post-event memory distortion and decay. Absent an identification procedure that effectively tests the witness’s memory, it is impossible to know if the witness’s identification of the defendant is a product of his or her original memory or a product of the extraordinarily suggestive circumstances created by the in-court …

Prohibition, Stare Decisis, And The Lagging Ability Of Science To Influence Criminal Procedure, Wesley M. Oliver

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

Science has revealed that, contrary to longstanding intuitions, eyewitnesses are sometimes mistaken and false confessions do occur. The methods police use to obtain identifications and confessions can affect their reliability. Yet criminal procedure does not deter investigatory methods that produce unreliable evidence as thoroughly as it does those methods that produce reliable evidence. If an officer conducts an illegal search of a car trunk, the evidence is excluded and subsequently officers know that they must follow the rules if they hope to admit the fruits of such searches. If, however, an officer creates a suggestive lineup—which risks a false conviction—the …