Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons^™

Human Rights? What A Good Idea! From Universal Jurisdiction To Crime Prevention, Daniel Feierstein

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

Over the last decades, Genocide Studies has entered in a “comfort zone.” With fellowships and support from governments or NGOs, we have developed a very comfortable environment in which the knowledge we produce about genocide prevention is neither critical nor useful. We have become trapped by assumptions we have never checked against reality and many of us have chosen to work inside the circle of those assumptions: genocide and mass violence are horrible acts committed by horrible people; we cannot stand by and do nothing; we have the responsibility to protect civilian populations and that responsibility takes the form, as …

How Gun Control Laws Affect Homicide, Abbey Maloney

Honors Theses

Homicide is an ever-prevalent problem in the United States (U.S.). One solution that is often turned to is the implementation of stricter gun control laws. This causes much divide as many citizens are not in agreement about whether or not these laws do what they are intended to. The aim of this study was to determine whether or not gun control laws have an effect on homicide, and, if so, what this effect is. The U.S. states were evaluated in several different categories to determine how strict or lax their gun laws were. They were scored using the number of …

Fabricated Forensics: Examining An Undergraduate Population’S Ability To Detect Fallacies In Crime-Based Media, Conner Davis

Senior Capstone Theses

My research examines the effects of general education on students’ perspectives of the CSI effect. The CSI effect is a phenomenon in which people’s perceptions of criminal investigation are distorted from the truth because of the media’s portrayal of criminal investigation. The study sample includes undergraduate students enrolled in a Mid-Atlantic University. To quantify the degrees in which subjects are susceptible to the CSI effect, the subjects will be measured on their ability to identify basic forensic investigation flaws portrayed in three different television series. Subjects were given a worksheet, exposed to a fifteen-minute video compilation, and were told to …

Impact Of High Profile Police Use Of Force Incidents On Violent Crime Rates, Megan Galante

Honors Theses

This research study examined the relationship between high-profile police use of force incidents and local violent crime rates. It is important to analyze the impact that police use of force has on the respective community in regard to crime rates. This study analyzed three incidents of police use of force that have received extensive coverage in the media in order to determine if there was a change in the rates of violent crime in that city. The theory of de-policing suggests that in the aftermath of a high-profile incident of police brutality, police departments in the area change their behaviors …

Police Stress, Depression, And Substance Use Among Police Officers: A General Strain Perspective., Kyra Nicole Fritz

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation examines the utility of general strain theory in explaining substance use as a form of coping among a sample of police officers in a Midwestern, metropolitan city. The dissertation is comprised of five chapters, including the introduction, literature review, method, results, and discussion. Chapter one describes the stressful nature of a career in law enforcement, concentrating on the adverse consequences of prolonged stress, including depression and substance use. Chapter one also examines strain, depression, and substance use among police officers using a general strain perspective, highlighting the limitations of existing empirical studies. Chapter two details the theoretical premise …

Exposure To Violence Leads Youths Convicted Of Serious Offenses To Subsequent Criminal Offending As Adults, Nicolette Perez

Criminology & Criminal Justice Theses - Archive

A growing health issue in the United States is violence, specifically violence against children and youths. Research finds that children and youth are steadily exposed to violence during their daily routines. Thus, exposure to community violence and domestic violence has been of primary interest to researchers. In addition, risk factors that incite these types of violence have been largely studied. As a result, to increased scholar attention, the effects of violence on children and youths is of vital importance. Although constant attention is brought to this public health concern, there is less known about the effects of exposure to violence …

Implementing Gang & Gun Violence Reduction Strategies In Las Vegas, Nevada: Hot Spots Evaluation Results, Nicholas Corsaro, Robin S. Engel, Tamara D. Herold, Murat Yildirim

Criminal Justice Faculty Research

The gang and gun violence reduction project implemented in Las Vegas consisted of three components: hot spots deployment, focused deterrence, and place network investigations. This report focuses on the development, implementation, and evaluation of the hot spots strategy.

Toxic Gymnastics Culture’S Impact On The #Metoo Movement: Sexual Abuse Survivor Aly Raisman’S Trauma Fosters Fight For Change, Jessica Malinsky

Faculty Curated Undergraduate Works

This paper explores how female gymnasts, particularly Aly Raisman, have sparked the gymnastics world’s involvement in the #MeToo movement. It briefly touches on Raisman’s beginnings with gymnastics and how she became an elite U.S. gymnast but promptly dives into her #MeToo story, focusing on her traumatic experiences with Olympic doctor Larry Nassar. Furthermore, her story brings to light how she and other survivors of sexual assault have faced credibility discounting, also known as gaslighting, for sharing their truth. By sharing parts of Aly Raisman and other survivors’ testimonies, this paper highlights not only the trauma and pain they endured while …

Vocational And Life Skills Quarterly Report: Grant Cycle 3, Quarter 6 October-December 2019, Uno Nebraska Center For Justice Research, Katelynn Towne

Reports

This report presents quarterly data and evaluation updates for the Vocational and Life Skills Program (VLS) through Quarter Six of Grant Cycle Three. VLS was created by the Nebraska Legislative Bill 907 in 2014 to reduce recidivism and increase meaningful employment for Nebraskans convicted of a crime. The report contains 1) descriptions of the eight funded programs across the state, 2) a snapshot of program participation across the programs, 3) demographics of the participants served by the VLS initiative, and 4) participation breakdowns and descriptions of the skills participants are gaining through VLS programming. VLS continues to update service providers …

Vocational And Life Skills Monthly Data Update: December 2019, Uno Nebraska Center For Justice Research, Katelynn Towne

Reports

Grantees use an online data management system to submit data on participants served under their Vocational and Life Skills programming. This data is due monthly and reflects all services provided during the previous month to participants. Evaluators at the Nebraska Center for Justice Research work with grantees directly to manage data entry errors on an ongoing basis during update calls and site visits.

The current data derives from an active database, from which data is being entered and updated daily. Data values, including previously submitted information, may fluctuate depending on the duration of lag between service delivery and data entry. …

An Analysis Of The Effects Between Prison Documentaries And Popularity Among Viewers, Dominique Malone

Honors Theses

This research examines the themes between a variety of prison documentaries and the subsequent viewership. In recent years, documentaries depicting prison life have risen in popularity due to a number of factors such as violence, drama, hysteria, and an overall sense of fascination (Cecil, 2009). This popularity may have impacted views on the current criminal justice system considering most people never have contact with the criminal justice system in their lifetimes (Cecil, 2009). Therefore, these documentaries may serve as one of the only bases for information that they may have about the system (Cecil, 2009). Because prison documentaries are fulfilling …

A Venue To Grow: Researching Professional Growth In The Collaborative Courts Of The Northern District Of California, Wyatt Lim-Tepper

Master's Projects and Capstones

This study examines the professional growth of collaborative court staff in the Northern District of California (NDCA). First, it sets forth a background that reviews the history of collaborative courts and details the development, purpose and structure, and current processes at the federal level. Second, the researcher describes the framework of the NDCA as an institution and further identifies the stakeholders who participate in the NDCA’s two collaborative courts: the Reentry Court and the Conviction Alternatives Program (CAP). Third, the study reviews the literature on professional growth in the legal field, education and academia, and public-health fields. Fourth, this paper …

Money Laundering In The Commercial Sex Market In The United States, Youngbee Dale

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

This paper describes money laundering techniques used by different criminal organizations operating in the U.S. sex market. Prior to this study, scholars have not investigated money laundering techniques used in the U.S. sex market in a comprehensive manner. This paper describes and categorizes methods used for money laundering. It discusses the similarities and differences in money laundering techniques in the U.S. sex markets. Current challenges to combating money laundering are reviewed and recommendations are made to strengthen the ongoing fight against money laundering in the U.S. sex markets.

In For A Shock?: Discretion And Disparity In Program Assignment, Brianna Mathis

Honors Theses

Due to the massive prison population in America, correctional agencies are considering alternatives to standard incarceration. These programs are designed to redirect individuals from serving a prison sentence, and are instead assigned to a program specifically targeted at reducing offenders’ likelihood at recidivating. Typically, the main focus of these programs centers on education, job training, and various types of counseling. The Mississippi Department of Corrections (MDOC) has implemented two programs that aim at reducing recidivism: the first was the Regimented Inmate Discipline Program (RID), which was later replaced with the Recidivism Reduction Program (RRP). While both programs were intended to …

Time Series Regression Models And Trends In Drug, Substance Abuse And Index Crimes, Gamaliel G. Gonzales

Social Sciences and Development Review

It is vital for the Philippines to understand the time series interrelationship of index crimes and drug/substance abuse amidst its mandate on the “War on Drugs”. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the best fitting forecasting models of the time series trends of index crimes and drug/substance abuse in the Philippines. The study employed three approaches; (1) delineating time series regression models of index crimes with drug/substance abuse as explanatory variables, (2) describing pure time series analysis by ways of autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) and exponential smoothing, and (3) forecasting the time series trends from 2018 to …

Awareness Of Sex Offender Registration Policies And Self-Reported Sexual Offending In A Community Sample Of Adolescents, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Hayley M. D. Cleary

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Sex offender registration laws are widely implemented, increasingly restrictive, and intended to serve both specific and general deterrent functions. Most states have some form of policy mechanism to place adolescents on sex offender registries, yet it remains unclear whether adolescents possess the requisite policy awareness to be deterred from sexual offending. This study examined awareness of sex offender registration as a potential sanction and its cross-sectional association with engagement in several registrable sexual behaviors (sexting, indecent exposure, sexual solicitation, and forcible touching) in a community sample of 144 adolescents. Results revealed that many adolescents were unaware that these behaviors could …

Catching Killers With Consumer Genetic Information, Angela Hackstadt

University Libraries Faculty Scholarship

In April 2018, Joseph James D'Angelo was arrested as a suspect in the Golden State Killer case. DNA evidence collected at a 1980 crime scene finally shed light on the murderer's identity in early 2018 when investigators turned to GEDMatch, a service that allows users to upload and share DNA data obtained from consumer genetic tests. Consumer genetic testing, DNA collection, and familial DNA searching all raise ethical and privacy concerns. If investigators are using genetic genealogy to solve cold cases, where does that leave consumers?

Observations And Experiences With District Court: A Community Engagement Project For Criminology, Donna Calia, Koto Hamaguchi, Richard Shin, Derek Bastnick

The International Undergraduate Journal For Service-Learning, Leadership, and Social Change

Our service-learning project involved visiting and observing court proceedings in the Magisterial District Court for Union County Pennsylvania. We worked under Judge Leo Armbruster, sitting in on his preliminary court hearings and learning from the District Attorney. Overall, through this experience we were not only able to examine the specific justice system of Union County, but also gain insight on court proceedings that apply in every case nationwide. This made our experiences more applicable to the field of criminology as a whole, as the information and experiences we have amassed over the semester can be easily transferred to other district …

Crime By Policewomen In The United States, 2005-2014, Chloe Wentzlof, Philip M. Stinson

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

This study is a replication and extension of Stinson, Todak, and Dodge’s (2015) study of crime by policewomen across the United States in years 2005-2007. The sample for the current study includes 597 arrest cases involving 555 female police officers, each of whom were arrested during the decade 2005-2014. The arrested female officers were employed by 353 state and local law enforcement agencies located in 273 counties and independent cities within 44 states and the District of Columbia. Findings indicate that crimes committed by policewomen are most often violence-related, alcohol-related, and/or profit-motivated offenses. Descriptive and bivariate statistics are reported on …

Police Crime Across The Life Course: An Exploratory Study Of Arrested Officers Who Reoffend, Chloe Wentzlof, Philip M. Stinson

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

The purpose of this study is to improve policing and inform the public about police crime and patterns of repeat or habitual police crime offenders. The study identified 10,287 arrest cases involving 8,495 individual nonfederal sworn law enforcement officers, each of whom were arrested during the decade 2005-2014. Of these, 505 officers (5.94%) were arrested more than once in the study years and account for 1,343 (13.06%) of the arrest cases in our database. This poster presents data on the criminal arrest cases and the officers who have been arrested multiple times while employed by a state or local law …