Criminology Commons^™

Lost In Translation: Domestic Violence, The Personal Is Political, And The Criminal Justice System, Kimberly D. Bailey

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

No abstract provided.

Policing: A Sociologist’S Response To An Anthropological Account, Peter Moskos

Publications and Research

Social science writing should not ape quantitative science in format, structure, or style. If we can’t explain ourselves to others in a style both illuminating and interesting, we won’t and don’t deserve to be taken seriously. Too many in the Ivory Tower cling to the belief that research and academic writing must conform to a “scientific” format. Quality writing is more art than science. To be relevant, writing need not be – indeed should not be – rooted in a limited model of “hypothesis, replicable experiment, findings, discussion.” The more jargon and sociobabble we anthropologists, sociologists, and ethnographers spew out, …

Exit Strategy: An Exploration Of Late-Stage Police Crime, Philip M. Stinson, John Liederbach, Tina L. Freiburger

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

There are no exhaustive statistics available on the crimes committed by law enforcement officers, and only a small number of studies provide specific data on police crimes. The purpose of the current study is to examine the character of police arrests known to the media. Cases were identified through a content analysis of news coverage using the internet-based Google^TM News search engine and its Google News Alerts search tool. The study focuses on the crimes committed by experienced officers who are approaching retirement. The occurrence of these late-stage crimes presents a challenge to existing assumptions regarding the relationship between …

Sense And Sentencing: Our Imprisonment Epidemic, Michael A. Simons

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

Over the past thirty years, the most important sentencing development has not been the legislative adoption of mandatory guidelines, or the judicial creation of advisory guidelines, or the adoption of a wide variety of guidelines systems in the states, or the widespread elimination of parole, or the abandonment of rehabilitation as a sentencing goal. No, the most important sentencing development has been our rejection of the principal of parsimony: the notion that a sentence should be as long as - but no longer than - necessary to accomplish the goals of punishment. Instead, we have replaced parsimony with severity, …

The Effect Of Plea Bargaining Vs. Trial Conviction On The Sentencing Of Offenders Charged With A Drug Offense In Cook County, Illinois, Joseph George Dusek

Dissertations

Traditional wisdom suggests those who lose at trial for a criminal charge receive a heftier prison sentence than those who plea bargain. Plea bargaining reduces strain on the courts, expedites adjudication and may indicate the defendant's propensity for rehabilitation as they accept responsibility for their actions. Some ask why two people charged with the same crime should receive different sentences based on the adjudication method. The Constitution guarantees the right to a jury trial. Innocent defendants may decide to plead guilty for a sure short sentence rather than risk a trial conviction's lengthier one. This study using statistical procedures examined …

Three Worlds Of Western Punishment: A Regime Theory Of Cross-National Incarceration Rate Variation, 1960-2002, Matthew Demichele

University of Kentucky Doctoral Dissertations

This dissertation offers an explanation of cross national incarceration rate variation for 17 industrialized countries for the second half of the 20^th century. Both historical case studies and time-series cross-section analyses are used to provide an institutional explanation of incarceration rate differences. Borrowing from Weber’s Sociology of Law and comparative legal scholarship, it is suggested that three types of legal thinking exist among western democracies—Common, Romano-Germanic, and Nordic law. A regime approach commonly applied in political economic explanations of welfare state development is used to quantify the legal and criminal justice institutional differences between 1960 and 2002 to assert …

Seeking Alternatives To Marijuana Prohibition, Rachel Kiesel

Honors Program Theses

Marijuana legality is a highly controversial social issue. Although our society continues to be bombarded by negative images of drugs and crime in the media, cultural perceptions regarding marijuana have been changing over the past few years. Today, many people are more accepting of marijuana use than ever before. As a result of these shifting attitudes, several states have taken the initiative to pass new legislation on regulating marijuana with reduced restrictions.

Testing The Selective Chivalry Theory In Iowa : Gender Sentencing Of Rural Property Offenders, Maria Dorothy Herring Koeppel

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

During recent decades, sentencing patterns of offenders based on gender have been the topic of criminological and sociological research. There has been particular attention given to the lenient sentencing of female offenders compared to male offenders. Several research studies have found that gender affects the sentencing process in ways that are advantageous to female offenders, such as lower incarceration rates and shorter prison sentences. Despite the existing research on gender and sentencing, there are still several specific areas that need to be studied regarding this topic, such as property crimes and rural areas. The current research adds to the existing …

Street Stops And Broken Windows Revisited: The Demography And Logic Of Proactive Policing In A Safe And Changing City, Jeffrey A. Fagan, Amanda Geller, Garth Davies, Valerie West

Faculty Scholarship

This chapter examines the development of “order maintenance policing” in New York City. It studies the stop-and-frisk activities of New York City police officers by examining temporal and spatial patterns of stops from 1999, 2003, and 2006. Findings reveal that stop rates have increased by 500 percent since 1999 despite little change in crime rates Stop activity was greatest in poor and minority communities, and stop patterns were more closely tied to demographic and social conditions than to disorder or crime. The efficiency of stops, measured as “hit rates,” dropped considerably, with the sharpest declines occurring in minority neighborhoods. Overall, …

The Effects Of Owi Victim Impact Courses On Offender Recidivism, Sarah Emily Johnson

Dissertations and Theses @ UNI

This study examines the effectiveness of victim impact courses, a court mandated intervention program, for 2nd OWI offenders (individuals with a second conviction of operating while intoxicated) in the first, fifth, and sixth districts of Iowa. Victim impact courses are intended to teach offenders about how drinking and driving can come to affect others in various different ways. The course is intended to lower reoffending rates for those who participate. Data was obtained through the ICON database. The ICON database is utilized by the Department of Corrections in Iowa to track information concerning offenders and their offenses. A bivariate analysis, …

The Applicability Of The Megargee Classification System For The Mmpi-A, Joel Andrew Dillon

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Megargee (1977) originally developed a classification system for MMPI profiles for male offenders, and eventually expanded this system to also accommodate the MMPI profiles of female offenders (Megargee, 1992). Recently Megargee expanded and modified this system for use with the MMPI-2 (Megargee, Carbonell, Bohn, and Sliger, 2001). The purpose of the current study was to examine the utility of Megargee's systems as applied to adolescents in correctional facilities based on MMPI-A results. The Megargee classification criteria were modified for the purposes of this study, generally based on quite limited modifications to accommodate the lower profile ratings typically found for adolescents …

Social Disorganization And The Spatial Distribution Of Homicides In El Paso, Nicholas Andrew Emerick

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Recent research on social disorganization theory shows general support for economic and stability measures of disorganization, but spatial dispersions and the disaggregation of homicides of crime have not been fully examined. 1985-1995 homicide data from the El Paso Police Department's detective logs and US Census data are combined to explore social disorganization in El Paso, the impact of ports of entry, and how motive interacts with social disorganization. Findings for total homicides in El Paso support existing social disorganization research. Motive specific homicides displayed distinct relationships to the disorganization measures. The concentrations of homicides near ports of entry can be …

Singing Across The Scars Of Wrong: Johnny Cash And His Struggle For Social Justice, Kenneth D. Tunnell, Mark S. Hamm

Justice Studies Faculty and Staff Research

The life and music of Johnny Cash are explored in this article as we detail his commitment to social justice. Situating his politics and biography within a cultural criminology orientation, we show that Cash's lived politics and edgy music reflect his concerns with the working class, the dispossessed, the rebellious, the American Indian, and above all, the convict. A pusher of social causes, Cash advocated for prison reform through decades of social activism and public and private politics. DOI: 10.1177/1741659009346015

Juveniles Who Commit Sex Offenses Against Minors., David Finkelhor, Richard Ormrod, Mark Chaffin

Crimes Against Children Research Center

Presents population-based epidemiological information about the characteristics of juvenile offenders who commit sex offenses against minors. The authors analyzed data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) and provided topical statistics highlighting the fact that juveniles account for more than one-third (35.6 percent) of this type of offender. Findings may support the development of research-based interventions and policies to reduce sexual assault and child molestation as perpetrated by juvenile offenders.

Disproportionate Minority Contact In Maine: Dmc Assessment And Identification, Becky Noréus, Teresa A. Hubley, Michael Rocque

Justice Policy

Executive Summary:

Since 1998, the Juvenile Justice Delinquency Prevention (JJDP) Act has required all states that receive formula grant program funding to determine whether the proportion of minority youth in confinement exceeds their proportion of the population, and, if so, to develop corrective strategies. In 1992, Congress elevated this issue to a “core requirement” of the JJDP Act. In 2002, the Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention expanded the requirement to include the proportion of minorities at each key decision point, and not just at confinement. This allows a broader examination of how minority groups are treated in the …

Youth Involvement In Alternative Subcultures, Groups, Belief Systems, And Lifestyles: Examining International Police And Societal Response, Gordon A. Crews

Criminal Justice Faculty Research

This presentation comparatively examines relationships in the United States, Eastern and Central Europe, Scandinavia, and parts of the Middle East among juvenile violence, "heavy metal" music, substance abuse, and participation in occult and "alternative" youth groups (e.g., Wicca, Satanism, vampirism, Goth). We trace the movement of certain groups, behaviors, and preferences and make a correlation between some of these movements and an increase in youth violence and substance abuse. The authors use results from surveys and participant observations in the U.S., Copenhagen, Germany, the Netherlands, & the Middle East (Egypt & Turkey) that indicate, however, that mere participation in these …

A Sociological Analysis Of Crimes Of Honor: Examining The Effects Of Higher Education On The Concepts Of Honor And Notions Of Gender Equality In Jordan, Alex Miller

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

The study analyzes the ever present traditional notions of patriarchy in Jordan, and the contexts by which they are surviving in the milieu of democratization. By way of 12 interviews with academics, legal professionals, judges, and tribal sheikhs, it specifically looks to legislation, concepts of honor, and gender notions as exemplified by the traditional exercise of honor killings in Jordan. The conclusion of this research critically assesses that, despite a wealth of political rhetoric promising the ideals of egalitarianism, Jordan still harbors a patriarchal society that does not apply benefits of equality (especially sexual equality) to all of its citizens …

Cj Times Volume 2, Issue 2, Department Of Criminal Justice

CJ Times (Newsletter)

No abstract provided.

Sources Of Informal Social Control And The Relationship To Victimization In Southeastern Virginia, Jennifer R. Jones

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

The link between community characteristics and crime has been at the forefront of criminological research for some time. Social disorganization theory focuses on the relationship between structural characteristics of communities and crime. Recent examination of the social disorganization perspective has emphasized the role of informal social control as mediating the effects of structural characteristics on victimization. In this study, contemporary social disorganization theory was tested using data from the U.S. Census Bureau: Census Tract Fact Finder (2000) and the Southeastern Virginia Community Survey (2008). This research addressed three central research questions: Is there a relationship between structural characteristics (i.e., poverty, …

Voz De Los Internos: Atención De Salud En El Recinto Penal En Arica, Chile, Lily Hoffman

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

According to both international and Chilean laws, incarceration does not affect one’s right to healthcare. Despite this protection, the health of prisoners’ remains a controversial topic in many communities, which may contribute to the inconsistencies in the levels of access to, and quality of, healthcare services in jails/prisons. A voice that is commonly overlooked, despite its value, is that of the patients of healthcare systems in jails/prisons around the world. This project was conducted in the maximum security prison complex in Arica, Chile and includes interviews with twenty-two incarcerated individuals based on their experiences with healthcare services in prison. Sixty-eight …

Access To Justice As A Component Of Citizenship: Reconsidering Policing Services For Canada’S Homeless, Laura Huey, Marianne Quirouette

Sociology Publications

Due to their vulnerability on the streets, it has been frequently reported that the homeless experience high rates of harassment and criminal victimization. And yet, reports of such victimization are rarely made to the police. Failure to report crime has often been conceptualized as a problem for law enforcement, policy makers and social scientists (Skogan 1984). We conceptualize the failure to notify authorities as to the experience of criminal victimization by homeless men, women and youth as a problem directly linked to their status as ‘lesser citizens’, individuals and groups who are more often viewed as the criminal element to …

Fear Or Rage?: Assessing Public Opinion And Policy Responses To Terrorist Attacks, Gabriel Rubin

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Mass fear has been posited as the main emotional outcome of terror attacks. Indeed, the term “terrorism” itself emphasizes that such attacks are meant to stoke fear. Yet, a critical piece of the post-terror attack dynamic has been largely ignored: the public rage that comes in response to terror attacks. Witness the call for politicians to step down after the November 2008 attacks in Mumbai or the placard reading “Nuke ‘Em Till They Glow” at the 2001 World Series. It is the contention of this paper that, after a major terror attack has occurred, the public is more angry than …

The Writer-Of-Violence-As-School-Shooter-Stereotype: How Columbine, Virginia Tech, And Public Fear Make Writing Violence Dangerous For High School And College Students, Matt Foy

UNIversitas: Journal of Research, Scholarship, and Creative Activity

This Time Magazine excerpt from “The Legacy of Columbine,” published on March 11, 2001, nearly two years after the infamous attack at Columbine High School, is a chilling reminder of the culture of fear that consumed the United States in the wake of the massacre, at that point the most horrific incident of gun violence in a United States school. The bloody rampage of teenage gunmen Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, respectively 18 and 17 years old and both seniors at upper class, mostly white Columbine High School in Littleton, Colorado, instantly captured the awe, grief and outrage of the …

A Multivariate Analysis Of The Sociodemographic Predictors Of Methamphetamine Production And Use, Todd A. Armstrong, Gaylene Armstrong

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

To date, research testing the community characteristics associated with methamphetamine production and use has found that the community-level sociodemographic predictors of methamphetamine production and use vary from those of drug use in general. In this study, the authors furthered the research in this area using data from all 102 counties in Illinois. These data included measures of sociodemographic characteristics taken from the U.S. census, measures of methamphetamine production and use, and a measure of arrests for controlled-substance violations. Negative binomial regression models showed that poverty and the racial and ethnic compositions of communities were the strongest and most consistent predictors …

College Students' Crime-Related Fears On Campus: Are Fear-Provoking Cues Gendered?, David May, Bonnie S. Fisher

Safety, Security and Emergency Management Faculty and Staff Scholarship

Gender plays a central role in the study of crime-related fear as does the description of various fear-provoking cues in the environment. Despite the ever-growing body of crime-related fear research, few researchers have examined which fear-provoking cues, if any, are gendered. Using a large sample of undergraduates from a public university, this article explores the gendered nature of fear-provoking cues and crime-related fears while on campus. Bivariate and multivariate results suggest that fear-provoking cues are not gendered for fear of larceny-theft or fear of assault. These results inform the fear of crime research on a number of dimensions and have …

Participatory Evaluation Of The Tribal Victim Assistance Programs At The Lummi Nation And Passamaquoddy Tribe, Ada Pecos Melton, Michelle Chino

School of Public Health Faculty Research

The high rate of crime in American Indian/Alaska Native (AI/AN) communities and/or against AI/AN people reflected in numerous studies in the last three decades, demonstrates the need for victim assistance programs in Indian Country to help victims cope with and heal from violent crime (Wolk 1982; Allen 1985; Sacred Shawl Women’s Society, no date; McIntire 1988; DeBruyn, Lujan & May 1995; Norton & Manson 1995; Fairchild et. al 1998; Greenfield & Smith 1999; Alba, Zieseniss, et al 2003; Perry 2004). The U.S. Department of Justice, Office for Victims of Crime (OVC) became aware of the lack of resources available to …

Parental Divorce: A Protection From Later Delinquency For Maltreated Children, Christopher A. Mallett, Patricia A. Stoddard Dare

Social Work Faculty Publications

Family structure and maltreatment (abuse and neglect) have been identified as predictors of youth delinquency, although the relationship is not clear. This article furthers this research by studying a sample of maltreated children (n = 250) in one Midwest county, and through a multiple regression analysis of many risk factors, the study identified only one significant delinquency variable that made delinquency less likely—children who experience parental divorce. Some established risk factors were surprisingly found not to be predictive of later delinquency: minority race, one-parent families, youth substance abuse, recurrent maltreatment, and youth behind in academic grade level. Implications for the …

Immigrants As The Enemy: Psychoanalysis And The Balkans' Self-Orientalization, Dušan I. Bjelić Phd

Department of Criminology

Maria Todorova claims that Edward Said's orientalism differs from balkanism since the Balkans were never colonized in the traditional (political and economic) sense. Yet the colonial politics of representation and colonial psychology have been fully operational there. This article interprets the work of two world-renowned psychoanalysts from the Balkans, Julia Kristeva and Slavoj Zizek, as part of a continuum of centre-to-periphery representation predicated upon the West/East geopolitical split. Their respective work thus becomes relevant not only to Said's orientalism but, more specifically, to Todorova's concept of balkanism, as elucidated in her seminal work, Imagining the Balkans.

Examining Re-Entry Challenges And Needs Of Trinidad And Tobago Offenders, Kamhya M. Milan

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

This research examines the challenges and needs that Trinidad and Tobago offenders face upon release from prison. The purpose of this research is to provide a foundation for policy recommendations to improve successful reintegration for prisoners corning home. Although there is a lack of re-entry literature based on Trinidad and Tobago offenders, the findings in this study show that Trinidad and Tobago offenders experience the same challenges and needs revealed by America research on offender re-entry. Study results show that policy intervention should be designed to ensure offenders returning home receive assistance with finding shelter, employment, educational resources, counseling and …

A Test Of Direct And Partially Mediated Relationships Between Leader Member Exchange, Job Embeddedness, Turnover Intentions, And Job Search Behaviors In A Southern Police Department, Mark D. Bowman

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Job embeddedness has been found to predict turnover intentions, job search behaviors and turnover, and job embeddedness researchers assert, but have not tested, that job embeddedness is a mediator of other organizationally significant factors relative to organizational outcomes. A relationship not previously explored is the role of a supervisor in job embeddedness, which was operationalized in this study as leader-member exchange. A single panel survey was conducted in a police department in the southern United States with 276 current members holding the rank of police officer. Usable surveys were completed by 128 of those police officers, which is a response …