Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons^™

Harry Potter And Zones Of Shade: Using Contemporary Literature To Examine The Impacts Of Social Control, Garrison A. Crews, Gordon A. Crews

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

•Using the story of childhood wizard Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling to examine how “Zones of Shade” impact anti-social and criminal behavior in American society. •This examination is conducted through the eyes of political theorist Michel Foucault (Discipline & Punish: The Birth of the Prison, 1975). •Examples from the Harry Potter series will be presented and examined to explain many current social ills in America. •Special interest will be given to connections with political and social rhetoric about crime and justice.

Police Sexual Misconduct: Arrested Officers And Their Victims, Philip M. Stinson, Steven L. Brewer, Brooke E. Mathna, John Liederbach, Christine M. Englebrecht

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Police sexual misconduct encompasses a range of acts from less serious noncriminal behaviors to more egregious criminal behaviors including police sexual violence. Victims of sex crimes are often reluctant to report sexual abuse when the offender is a police officer. The study provides empirical data on 771 sex-related arrest cases in years 2005-2008 of 555 sworn officers at 449 nonfederal law enforcement agencies across the United States. The study identifies and describes incidents where officers were arrested for sex crimes through a quantitative content analysis of published newspaper articles and court records. Findings focus on arrested officers and their victims.

Youth Gangs: An Overview Of Key Findings And Directions For The Future, Terrance J. Taylor, J. Michael Vecchio

Criminal Justice & Criminology: Faculty Publications & Other Works

Youth gangs have received considerable attention for many decades. Undoubtedly, their disproportionate involvement in violence is one main reason for this attention. While gang members spend most of their lives engaging in the same types of behaviors as other youth (sleeping, eating, playing video games, going to school), they are also much more likely than non-gang members to be involved in violence and other criminal activity. Indeed, scholars have often highlighted the functional nature of violence as it pertains to gangs.

Gangs come in a variety of forms: prison gangs, outlaw motorcycle gangs, extremist groups, and drug trafficking organizations, among …

Gate Keeping And The Politics Of Access To Prisons: Implications For Qualitative Prison Research, Janani Umamaheswar

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"In this article, I draw on and contribute to existing literature on reflexivity and access in qualitative research, specifically in the context of prison research. I do this through a critical discussion of the research process involved in conducting a study on women prisoners in the U.S. In addition to describing the obstacles I faced in gaining access to a research site in which to conduct the study, I also discuss the implications of gate keeping for knowledge produced about women prisoners. Finally, I build on Bosworth et al.’s (2005) discussion of prison research using communication by mail. I argue …

Sarah Wilson, The Origins Of Modern Financial Crime: Historical Foundations And Current Problems In Britain, Aneta Spaic, Claire Angelique Nolasco

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"This book traces the roots of financial crime to the Victorian Era roughly between the years 1840-1880. Wilson situates financial crime within the context of the concerns, perceptions, developments, and issues endemic to that period. She attempts to draw the reader to the realities of this particular Victorian era as it was unfolding and explains how financial misconduct within commerce became rampant as construction of the railways spurred the growth of industrialization. The book contributes to existing literature on financial crime by providing a historical analysis of its etymology and creating awareness of its historical origins and prevalence long before …

Legalizing Recreational Marijuana: Comparing Ballot Outcomes In Four States, Kenneth Leon, Ronald Weitzer

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Medical marijuana is now available in 23 states, and its growing acceptance has paved the way for the legalization of recreational marijuana. This article examines four recent campaigns to legalize recreational marijuana–two failures and two successes. Using data from newspaper sources, interviews with key players, and other sources, we examine the factors that influence whether a ballot initiative succeeds or fails. We identify similarities and differences between the four measures, the social forces shaping the debate, their claims and counterclaims, and a set of factors that appear to increase the odds that a recreational marijuana ballot measure will be successful."

An Examination Of The Researcher Guard Role: Bringing Prison Fieldwork Into The 21st Century, Scott Chenault

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"In 1986, James Marquart published a seminal article on qualitative methodology in Justice Quarterly. In that piece he presented the strengths and weaknesses associated with the researcher guard role he used while conducting a prison ethnography in Texas. His method led to data that is still central to our understanding of prison culture. However, in the past 30 years, correctional philosophy and practice have undergone significant shifts in the United States. Despite these shifts, there has been a dramatic decrease in prison ethnography during the same time period. This article presents a modern adaptation of Marquart’s method, based on a …

Editorial, Willard M. Oliver

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Welcome to the second issue of volume two of the Journal of Qualitative Criminal Justice & Criminology. Rather than closing with acknowledgments, I would like to start this editorial introduction with them. First and foremost, I would like to thank both the editorial board members and the reviewers for this volume of the journal. Their names are listed at the beginning of this issue for without them, this journal would not be possible. Still further, if it was not for the hard work and dedication of my book review editor, Kevin Steinmetz, who recently accepted an academic appointment at …

Bradley Garrett: Explore Everything: Place-Hacking The City, Kevin F. Steinmetz

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"While most people seem content to enjoy the front-stages of everyday life– going to safe spaces deemed appropriate for occupation–there are those who are enthralled by the backstage spaces of contemporary urban landscapes. In Explore Everything: Place-Hacking the City, Bradley Garrett details his research into urban explorers, a subculture that delves into the hidden (or hidden in plain sight) city spaces such as abandoned urban ruins, underground tunnels, and imposing skyscrapers. To date, this work is most likely the definitive study of urban exploration (sometimes referred to as UE) and should be the starting point for anyone from student …

Contreras, Randol, The Stickup Kids: Race, Drugs, Violence, And The American Dream, Robert J. Durán

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Most academics do not live in segregated black or Latino communities that contain higher rates of violence and incarceration. Historically, ethnographers have attempted to bridge this gap, but only a small number of these researchers match the populations they are studying in terms of age, class, ethnicity, and gender. An even rarer ethnographer comes from these same neighborhoods and shares lifelong friendships with the participants. Randol Contreras’s Stickup Kids provides an in-your-face portrayal of a drug dealing crew turned drug robbers in the South Bronx of New York City during the late 1980s and early 1990s. Due to structural changes …

Holloway, Pippa, Living In Infamy: Felony Disfranchisement And The History Of American Citizenship, Gregory J. Fremin

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"In a historical account of the origins of felony disfranchisement in America, Pippa Holloway details how race and regional politics formed the basis for the exclusion of African Americans on the right to vote. Holloway’s Living in Infamy attempts to connect the dots from the past to the present by educating the reader on how America came to utilize felony convictions as a societal class preservation tool to exclude African Americans from voting. Holloway delves deeply into ancient Roman and Greek law and continues through Anglo-European law and ideology to set the stage for how our forefathers in early America …

Nigel South & Avi Brisman (Eds.), Routledge Handbook Of Green Criminology, Gary R. Potter

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"The first articulation of a ‘green’ criminology – that is, a criminology concerned with man-made environmental harm – is usually attributed to Michael Lynch (1990) in his essay The Greening of Criminology: a perspective on the 1990s. Although not the first criminological work on environmental harm, Lynch was one of the first to argue that environmental problems in themselves, and the social harms that so often stem from them, can be seen to be legitimate criminological concerns – and that criminologists, therefore, may be well positioned to contribute to analysis and discussion of the environmental degradation that has become …

Exploring The Roles Of Redemption, Agency, And Motivation In Two Groups Of High-Risk Felony Probationers, Steve Boehm

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Problem-solving courts were developed in the 1980s and 1990s to reduce recidivism and probation revocations. The first problem- solving courts focused primarily on treating drug abuse, but the missions have expanded to include issues such as domestic violence and the problems faced by returning war veterans. Research has found these courts to be generally effective, but there is wide variation in their outcomes, and there are questions about the perceptions of problem-solving court participants compared to other probationers. This study presents qualitative analysis of interview data for a group of problem-solving court probationers (n = 19) and a similar group …

Bill Chambliss, On The Take: From Petty Crooks To Presidents, Gary W. Potter

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"On the Take: From Petty Crooks to Presidents (first published in 1978) was the product of seven years (1962-1969) of observational research in Seattle, Washington (Chambliss, 1988). Chambliss used his background in law and sociology to interpret the things he saw and the stories he heard on Seattle’s skid row. He gained entrée into Seattle’s underworld by posing as an itinerant truck driver. Outfitted in old, worn shirts, khaki slacks and with bearded stubble on his face, he interacted with the bottom echelon of Seattle’s crime entrepreneurs–bar owners, illegal card room and bingo operators, street-level drug dealers and prostitutes. …

Prisons First: Putting Prisons At The Center Of The Criminal Justice Policy Debates, Jeremy Travis

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Identifying Program Needs Of Women Detainees In A Jail Environment, Jeanna Michele Rodda

Theses and Dissertations

Since the 1980s, the population of incarcerated women has been steadily increasing. Approximately 200,000 women are incarcerated in prisons and jails in the United States (Clarke, Phipps, Tong, Rose, and Gold, 2010). There is an increasing level of comorbidity among the population of incarcerated women, with the majority requiring mental health, physical health, substance abuse and pregnancy services at the time of their incarceration or soon afterwards. Incarcerated women face a number of challenges; they are cut off from their primary support system and their children. Their physical health deteriorates, they lack appropriate coping skills, and often experience withdrawal symptoms. …

An Ntsb For Capital Punishment, Adam M. Gershowitz

Faculty Publications

When a fatal traffic accident happens, we expect the local police and prosecutors to handle the investigation and criminal charges. When afatal airplane crash occurs, however, we turn instead to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The reason is that air crashes are complicated and the NTSB has vast expertise. Without that expertise, investigations falter. We need look no further than the mess made by Malaysian authorities in the search for Flight 370 to see the importance of expertise in handling complicated investigations and processes. It is easy to point to a similar series of mistakes by local prosecutors and …

Committed To The Cause? Violent And Financial Criminal Behaviors Of Domestic Far-Rightists, Ashmini G. Kerodal

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study used factor analysis, logistic and multinomial logistic regression analysis to evaluate the effects of an individual's level of commitment to far-right extremism on his / her criminal offending behavior. Agnew's General Strain Theory (2001, 2005), Cloward and Ohlin's Differential Opportunity Theory (1960) and Simi and Futrell's (2010) concept of free / movement spaces were used to address the three research questions: (1) What effect did individual level stressors, significant others, and negative interactions with government officials have on membership in a far-right group, (2) What effect did individual level stressors, significant others, membership in an extremist group, and …

A Study Of Twenty Two Caliber Long Rifle And Nine Millimeter Parabellum Bullet Ricochet From Common Substrates, Peter Diaczuk

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Determining the angle at which a bullet will successfully ricochet is essential information when a shooting investigation involves indirect fire. In this research, determining the critical angle and its variance was measured for six substrates, two calibers and two bullet types. This information provides the forensic scientist with fundamental data required for the scientific reconstruction and assessment of a shooting scene. Depending upon the bullet's design, the substrate, and the angle of impact, a bullet may fail to ricochet upon impact, or the bullet will ricochet. Knowledge of bullet behavior with common substrates provides valuable information for scientific investigation of …

Risk Assessment Of Sexually Abusive Clergy: Utility Of Sex Offender Risk Instruments With A Unique Offender Subgroup, Anthony Perillo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Sex offender risk instruments provide empirically based outlooks on recidivism risk and often serve as a critical part of sex offender management. If applied to unrepresented offender groups, these instruments may offer inaccurate pictures of risk and hinder efforts to reduce sexual violence. With little research available on sexually abusive clergy prior to the abuse scandal of the early 2000s, sexually abusive clergy are one group not represented in the research used to develop risk measures. An understanding of the validity of current risk assessment practices with sexually abusive clergy is critical and timely, as changes to the handling of …