Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance Commons^™

The Geography Of Race: A Spatial Analysis Of Free People Of Color In The City Of Charleston (1790-1861), Alexandra Ullman

All Theses

In Charleston, South Carolina, for all but one year from 1790 to 1860, the enslaved and free Black population outnumbered that of the white. Through manumission, the process of an enslaved person gaining their freedom, the free Black population grew substantially and reached a peak in South Carolina during the nineteenth century. This large community of free people of color (FPOC), shifted the social climate by upsetting the balance of white power, thus increasing racial conflict, tension, and legislation that aimed to control the movement of FPOC.

Despite FPOC comprising a significant portion of the total population of Charleston, there …

System Disparities: Racial Criminalization And The Risk Of Coerced And False Confessions In Youth, Cynthia J. Najdowski

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Black youth may be even more vulnerable than other youth to admitting to crimes they did not commit in the context of police interrogations. In support, analysis of data from the National Registry of Exonerations indicates that 65% of people who were wrongfully convicted on the basis of false confessions they gave when under 18 years old are Black, whereas only 14% of the U.S. population is Black. In this chapter, I seek to understand the overrepresentation of Black youth in samples of juvenile false confessors by examining the cultural stereotype about Black criminality in relation to both investigators and …

Abortion, Citizenship, And The Right To Travel, Rebecca E. Zietlow

Employee Rights and Employment Policy Journal

This article considers the changed landscape for abortion rights since the United States Supreme Court’s opinion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health. Before Dobbs, the right to choose an abortion was a fundamental right under federal law, enforceable against all state governments. After Dobbs, the scope of one’s right to choose an abortion depends on the state in which one lives, and if abortion is illegal in their home state, their right to travel to another state where abortion is legal. The right to travel is particularly important for workers who must live in an anti-abortion state because their …

The Perception Of Children As Reliable Eyewitnesses, Shelby Mcdonald

Psychology Student Papers and Posters

Eyewitness accounts have been integral to the criminal justice system. However, given that not every criminal case has forensic evidence that is available or admissible, the reliance on eyewitness accounts conjures questions about believability. This is an important area of research because the over-belief of witnesses may lead to wrongful convictions, yet under-belief may leave the victim without justice. The current study investigated how child-witness age, race, role as a witness (bystander versus victim), and the gender of the juror influenced the perception of child eyewitnesses through the lens of the Witness Credibility Model. Participants were presented with the testimony …

A Vicious Cycle: How Racialised Moral Panics Simultaneously Reproduce (And Are Reproduced By) Repressive Policing Practices, Oscar D. Sharples

Culture, Society, and Praxis

Policing and moral panics exist in a mutually reinforcing, reciprocal relationship, the harmful outcomes of which are disproportionately directed towards poor communities of colour. This paper will draw on two examples of moral panics: those surrounding Islamic terrorism and Black crime, in order to illustrate the harm that this reinforcing relationship can cause. This harm manifests itself in increasingly restrictive antiterrorism laws, Prevent initiatives, racial profiling, and internal surveillance within the Muslim community; as well as the policies of Joint Enterprise, Knife Crime Prevention Orders (KCPOs), and the strengthening of the school-to-prison pipeline, which disproportionally target Black youth. With reference …

Public Perceptions Of Police Use Of Force: Does Officer Race Matter?, Diamond G. Pilgrim

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

Objective: The purpose of the current study was to examine the effects of police officer as well as suspect race on U.S.residents’ perceptions of police use of force.

Method: Participants were randomly assigned one of four vignettes describing an encounter between either a Black or White police officer and a Black or White robbery suspect. Suspect race and officer race were manipulated so that participants received a vignette involving pairings of a White officer with a Black suspect; a White officer with a White suspect; a Black officer, White suspect or a Black officer and suspect. Participants were then surveyed …

Has There Been Another “Ferguson Effect”?, Megan Majewski

Political Science Theses and Capstones

On May 25^th, 2020, America stood still as they watched the video of Officer Derek Chauvin press his knee onto the neck of George Floyd leading to his death. Protests, riots, and calls to defund the police all ensued in the following months. I focus on how Floyd’s death changed attitudes towards law enforcement and may have contributed to an increase in crime, similar to the idea of a Ferguson effect, perhaps there was a Floyd effect in 2021. I focused this research on 69 cities, using crime data from the Major Cities Chiefs Association. I then measured …

Crime Pays: How Black Americans Became Central To The Carceral State, Will Brooks

Honors Theses

Over the course of American history, Black Americans have been intentionally criminalized at moments of ostensible social progress. This legacy of intentional criminalization of minority communities has both created the perception that African Americans are innately criminal and given rise to a prison-industrial complex that now depends on Black bodies. Now, predictive policing technology reinforces perceptions of Black criminality necessary for the justification of the carceral state and the survival and expansion of the prison-industrial complex.

Racialized Mass Incarceration In The United States: Exposing The Facade Of “Liberty And Justice For All”, Emily Wingfield

The Compass

No abstract provided.

Sticky Situations: Understanding The Law And Life, Krystal Banks

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

Law and life go hand in hand. Understanding the law and how it connects to life can be an effective tool in teaching youth and adults the value of making good decisions when it comes to life and the law. Sticky Situations places real-world situations in the context of learning how to apply the law and effectively respond to life's sticky situations.

Towards A Psychological Science Of Abolition Democracy: Insights For Improving Theory And Research On Race And Public Safety, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Phillip Atiba Goff

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

We call for psychologists to expand their thinking on fair and just public safety by engaging with the “Abolition Democracy” framework that Du Bois (1935) articulated as the need to dissolve slavery while simultaneously taking affirmative steps to rid its toxic consequences from the body politic. Because the legacies of slavery continue to produce disparities in public safety in the U.S, both harming Black people and the institutions that could keep them safe, psychologists must take seriously questions of history and structure in addition to immediate situations. In the present article, we consider the state of knowledge regarding psychological processes …

Policing Understood As A Racial Project: An Exploration Of The Role Law Enforcement Has Played In The Shaping Of Race Relations In The United States, Jahaan Chandler

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Law enforcement and minority communities have had a complicated history in the United States to say the least. The theoretical propositions used to explain the myriad of interlocking relationships between race, criminal activity, neighborhood disorder, public perceptions of crime, and law enforcement itself, have provided us with nuggets of insight that have all contributed to enhancing our understanding of crime and policing in the U.S., but none have provided an overall interpretation of this complex and often convoluted relationship. This dissertation seeks to rectify this issue by not only examining the history of law enforcement and its relation to minority …

White Racial Identity And Its Impact On Punitive Attitudes Towards Juvenile Offenders, Rossol Gharib

Student Theses

White Racial Identity is a relatively new concept with little to no consensus as to the operationalization of such identity. The first ever White Racial Identity model was developed by Janet E. Helms in 1990. The role of White racial identity has been studied in the context of the racial gap in employment and its influence on racial attitudes, but it has yet to be studied in the context of the juvenile justice system. The criminal justice system is racially imbalanced, with Black males imprisoned 5.5 times more than White males. One of the factors contributing to this imbalance is …

The Formation Of Identity Narratives Within Racialized Space, Eva Alphonse

Departmental Honors Projects

Evelyn Alphonse and Dr. Ryan LeCount, Department of Sociology, Hamline University 1536 Hewitt Ave, St Paul, MN, 55104

Previous research has made it clear that neighborhoods shape individuals’ experiences, perceptions, and identities. Past studies on neighborhood stigma focused primarily on the perception that communities of color and their residents are dangerous or disadvantaged. Another smaller body of work explored how living in criminalized spaces affects residents themselves. This research primarily looked at how neighborhood stigma has materially affected residents, such as through decreased job opportunities. The present study expanded on the previous literature by investigating how living in stigmatized spaces …

Beyond Choice: An Intersectional Analysis Of Identity And Labor In Online Sex Work, Shawna F. Felkins

Theses and Dissertations--Gender and Women's Studies

This intersectional project seeks to understand the complex labor, social lives, and community building of online sex workers. Building on the work of foundational sex work researchers, this project utilizes in-depth interviews, a survey, social media posts, and published writing and research from online sex workers to understand how marginalization and identity impacts participation and success in online sex work. Providing analysis on how race, gender, class, and ability intersect in the digital sexual marketplace, this project critiques the rise of neoliberal feminism in sex work spaces that stems from the centering of white and otherwise privileged sex workers using …

Are Opinions On Abortion Based On Racial Attitudes?, Ashley Mueller

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

My specific research question that I will be addressing through my Honors Research Project is; Does one’s race influence their opinions and criminalization of abortion in the United States? In addition to this question I will be discussing if these views have changed over time depending on race, and how their backgrounds, due to their race, may differentiate these views.

Does Money Indeed Buy Happiness? “The Forms Of Capital” In Fitzgerald’S Gatsby And Watts’ No One Is Coming To Save Us, Allie Harrison Vernon

English (MA) Theses

Looking primarily at two critically acclaimed texts that concern themselves with American citizenship—F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby and Stephanie Powell Watts’ No One is Coming to Save Us—I analyze the claims made about citizenship identities, rights, and consequential access to said rights. I ask, how do these narratives about citizenship sustain, create, or re-envision American myth? Similarly, how do the narratives interact with the dominant culture at large? Do any of these texts achieve oppositional value, and/or modify the complex hegemonic structure? I use Pierre Bourdieu’s “The Forms of Capital” to investigate the ways in which economic, cultural, …

The Countdown, Heaven Jackson-Lattimore

A Midwestern Review: A Magazine of the Arts and Issues at DePauw University

No abstract provided.

Race/Ethnicity, Citizenship Status, And Crime Examined Through Trauma Experiences Among Young Adults In The United States, Chistopher A. Mallett, Miyuki F. Tedor, Linda M. Quinn

Criminology, Anthropology, & Sociology Faculty Publications

Race/ethnicity, citizenship status, and trauma, have significant impact on delinquency and crime outcomes; though the rea- sons for some expected and unexpected crime pathways are still unanswered. Using data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (n = 7,103), this study found the follow- ing results: no difference in the likelihood of engagement in delinquency and crime between blacks and whites; cumulative trauma increased delinquency and crime rates for all racial and ethnic groups; racial and ethnic minority groups compared to whites reported a significantly higher level of child- hood trauma experiences; and native-born female immigrant groups (but not …

Contributing Factors To Mass Incarceration And Recidivism, Nayely Esparza Flores

Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science

The United States has been historically known for having the most incarcerated individuals in its country. Approximately 2.3 million adults can be found under some type of penal control. Since the 1960s, the number of incarcerated individuals can be attributed to decades of tough on crime policies, controversial police practices, and racism. Mass incarceration has raised significant social justice issues, especially since it has been heavily concentrated on poor, uneducated African American men. Moreover, recidivism rates in the United States are at an all time high with over 76.6% of offenders reoffending and returning to prison (National Institute of Justice, …

The New Drug War Or The New Race War: Incarceration's Impact On Minority Children, Families, And Communities, Karen P. Lawrence

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

This non-experimental study examines the issues of over-representation of minorities in the criminal justice system due to drug-related incidences, race relations, and the impact such representation has on families, children, and communities. The exploration of the current criminal justice efforts against drugs is presented through a meta-analysis qualitative lens in an effort to disseminate the information on those arrested, sentenced, and subsequently incarcerated for various drug offenses. In an attempt to understand the encyclical racial disparities that promulgate the criminal justice system, the study relies on information from several key theorists to cement the discussions in the research. Qualitative data …

Race, Social Disorganization And Delinquency, Alina Bazyler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The overrepresentation of racial and ethnic minorities in crime has been an issue of debate. Some evidence, however, has shown that racial differences in offending are largely accounted for by economic disadvantage. Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (n = 4,290), the relationship between race and delinquency was examined looking at social disorganization factors. It was hypothesized that there would be racial and ethnic differences in delinquency and that these differences would be accounted for by social disorganization factors, specifically collective efficacy and economic disadvantage. The results show that compared to White adolescents Hispanic adolescents …

Until The Cops Come Knocking, Mauricio E. Novoa

SURGE

“Fuck the police coming straight from the underground/ A young nigga got it bad ‘cause I’m brown/ And not the other color so police think/ They have the authority to kill a minority” – Ice Cube, “Fuck Tha Police”

At some point in our lives, we have all walked down a street for some minute errand, and a few of those times we may have crossed paths with men in uniform patrolling the streets. Some who cross them may not think anything of it, but for others, they feel their eyes follow every step they take and distaste is exchanged …

A Propensity Score Matching Analysis Of Race On The Decision To Petition A Case In The Juvenile Court, George Higgins, Melissa L. Ricketts, James D. Griffith, Stephanie A. Jirard

Contemporary Issues in Juvenile Justice

No abstract provided.

Racism In The Criminal Justice System, Nichole Griffith

Social Sciences

This paper examines racism in the criminal justice system. The criminal justice system creates and perpetuates racial hierarchy in the United States. African Americans are criminalized and targeted because of their skin color. I analyze the Reagan administration, the War on Drugs, corrupt police practices, media, inner city enforcement, police discretion, racial profiling, and sentencing to reveal this racism and unfair treatment of African Americans. These victims of racism face lifelong marginalization and exclusion because they were criminalized. I also draw a link between the criminal justice system and slavery and Jim Crow. This racism explains why there are so …

Deciphering A Duality: Understanding Conflicting Standards In Sex & Violence Censorship In U.S. Obscenity Law, Rushabh P. Bhakta

Political Science Honors Projects

This research examines the division in US obscenity law that enables strict sex censorship while overlooking violence. By investigating the social and legal development of obscenity in US culture, I argue that the contemporary duality in obscenity censorship standards arose from a family of forces consisting of faith, economy, and identity in early American history. While sexuality ingrained itself in American culture as a commodity in need of regulation, violence was decentralized from the state and proliferated. This phenomenon led to a prioritization of suppressing sexual speech over violent speech. This paper traces the emergence this duality and its source.

How Porous Are The Walls That Separate Us?: Transformative Service-Learning, Women’S Incarceration, And The Unsettled Self, Coralynn V. Davis, Carol Wayne White

Faculty Journal Articles

In this article, we refine a politics of thinking from the margins by exploring a pedagogical model that advances transformative notions of service learning as social justice teaching. Drawing on a recent course we taught involving both incarcerated women and traditional college students, we contend that when communication among differentiated and stratified parties occurs, one possible result is not just a view of the other but also a transformation of the self and other. More specifically, we suggest that an engaged feminist praxis of teaching incarcerated women together with college students helps illuminate the porous nature of fixed markers that …

Explicating Correlates Of Juvenile Offender Detention Length: The Impact Of Race, Mental Health Difficulties, Maltreatment, Offense Type, And Court Dispositions, Christopher A. Mallett, Patricia A. Stoddard Dare, Mamadou M. Seck

Social Work Faculty Publications

Detention and confinement are widely acknowledged juvenile justice system problems which require further research to understand the explanations for these outcomes. Existing juvenile court, mental health, and child welfare histories were used to explicate factors which predict detention length in this random sample of 342 youth from one large, urban Midwestern county in the United States. Data from this sample revealed eight variables which predict detention length. Legitimate predictors of longer detention length such as committing a personal crime or violating a court order were nearly as likely in this sample to predict detention length as other extra-legal predictors such …

Stereotype Threat In Criminal Interrogations: Why Innocent Black Suspects Are At Risk For Confessing Falsely, Cynthia J. Najdowski

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Little theoretical attention has been paid to evidence that Blacks are overrepresented in samples of false confessors compared to Whites. One possible explanation is that innocent Black suspects experience stereotype threat in interrogations and that this threat causes Black suspects to experience more arousal, self-regulatory efforts, and cognitive load compared to White suspects. These psychological mechanisms could lead innocent Black suspects to display more nonverbal behaviors associated with deception and, ironically, increase the likelihood that police investigators perceive them as guilty. In response, investigators might engage in more coercive tactics and exert more pressure to confess on Black suspects than …

Race, Substance Abuse, And Mental Health Disorders As Predictors Of Juvenile Court Outcomes: Do They Vary By Gender?, Chiquitia Welch-Brewer, Patricia A. Stoddard Dare, Christopher A. Mallett

Social Work Faculty Publications

Predicting juvenile court outcomes based on youthful offenders’ delinquency risk factors is important for the adolescent social work field as well as the juvenile justice system. Using a random sample of 341 delinquent youth from one Midwestern urban county, this study extends previous research by examining if race, substance abuse, and mental health disorders influence important delinquency outcomes (number of court offenses, felony conviction(s), probation supervision length, detention length, and number of probation services) differently for male and female juvenile offenders. Multivariate analysis findings revealed that race was significant only for males, and having a substance use disorder was a …