Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons^™

A Professional Perspective Into The World Of Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking, Lira M. Polanco

Criminology & Criminal Justice Theses - Archive

The purpose of this study is to analyze the knowledge and perceptions of professionals involved in the world of domestic minor sex trafficking. Specifically, the perceptions of advocates, social workers, law enforcement and medical professionals in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area are examined via survey responses. An exploratory approach is used to measure the views of professionals working in the area of domestic minor sex trafficking, through the use of a non-experimental, cross-sectional questionnaire composition, which consists of a single observation of professionals in the Dallas/Ft. Worth area involved in the aid of victims of domestic minor sex trafficking. A non-probability …

Racial Discrimination And The Death Penalty: An Analysis Of The United States' Judicial System, Jessica Recarey, Nerses Kopalyan

McNair Poster Presentations

Racial discrimination plays a role in the administration of the death penalty. This research analyzes the history, and past scholarly research, of the death penalty. The purpose of this research is to understand the correlation between racial discrimination and those sentenced to death. This study includes a literature review regarding the different aspects of the death penalty and race. Following the literature review, an analysis is performed of both previous literature and current death penalty statistics that augments the discussion of the death penalty.

Shadow Dwellers: The Underregulated World Of State And Local Dna Databases, Stephen Mercer, Jessica D. Gabel

Faculty Publications By Year

No abstract provided.

Abolishing Jailhouse Snitch Testimony, Russell D. Covey

Faculty Publications By Year

Jailhouse snitch testimony is inherently unreliable. Snitches have powerful incentives to invent incriminating lies about other inmates in often well-founded hopes that such testimony will provide them with material benefits, including in many cases substantial reduction of criminal charges against them or of the time they are required to serve. At the same time, false snitch testimony is difficult, if not altogether impossible, for criminal defendants to impeach. Because such testimony usually pits the word of two individuals against one another, both of whose credibility is suspect, jurors have little ability to accurately or effectively assess or weigh the evidence. …

Kidnapping Incorporated: The Unregulated Youth-Transportation Industry And The Potential For Abuse, Ira Robbins

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Strangers come into a child's room in the middle of the night, drag her kicking and screaming into a van, apply handcuffs, and drive her to a behavior modification facility at a distant location. What sounds like a clear-cut case of kidnapping is complicated by the fact that the child's parents not only authorized this intervention, but also paid for it. This scarcely publicized practice-known as the youth-transportation industry-operates on the fringes of existing law. The law generally presumes that parents have almost unlimited authority over their children, but the youth-transportation industry has never been closely examined regarding exactly what …

“White Collar” Crimes, Samuel W. Buell

Faculty Scholarship

In addition to serving as a précis of the subject of ‘white collar’ crime, this chapter does three things. First, it deals with white collar crime’s longstanding definitional problem, rejecting several standard approaches and arguing that the category is most usefully understood according to the conceptual legal problem these offenses generate. White collar crimes, much more than other offenses, are committed in social settings in which undesirable behaviors are embedded within socially welcome conduct. Thus they are difficult to set apart and extract through clearly specified ex ante rules of law. Second, the chapter illustrates this definitional claim, and discusses …

Threat Communication As It Relates To Perception Of Victimization: A Study Of Awareness Of Concealed Weapon Permit Issuance, Cody Jordan

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Concealed weapon permit issuance is one of the most contentious topics debated in modern politics today. The primary point of disagreement within this debate hinges on whether these permits serve to increase violence by those who possess them, or whether they decrease crime through the deterrent effect of their presence in society. Using responses of residents of a large southeast correctional facility this study analyzed the reported inclination of criminals to commit direct contact crimes under several specific scenarios, based on their exposure to various levels of information relating to issuance of concealed weapon permits. By comparing the responses across …

Offender Reentry: A Mixed Model Study Of Interorganizational Commitment To Partnership, Gail Humiston

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explores the associations between the independent variables of organizational motivations and culture with the dependent variable of organizational commitment to local jail reentry partnerships. A cross-sectional, mixed methods design was used based primarily on a quantitative survey mailed to organizational informants involved in jail reentry activities within three central Florida counties. Qualitative data was also collected by observing conveniently sampled reentry meetings and analyzing the content of social artifacts, such as meeting handouts, minutes, e-mails, and other related documents. This study extends the literature by using the theoretical framework of Oliver (1990) to develop measures of organizations' motivations …

Trends In Adult Justice, Jared M. Ellison, Ryan E. Spohn

Reports

The Nebraska Center for Justice Research was established in 2014 with a mission to develop and sustain research capacity internal to the State of Nebraska. Our hope is to assist the Legislature in research, evaluation, and policymaking to reduce recidivism, promote the use of evidence-based practices, and improve public safety. The primary purpose of this report is to provide an overview of recent trends in Nebraska’s adult criminal justice system.

Most of the data in this report is presented statewide as well as separated into Nebraska’s twelve judicial districts. Nebraska’s two most metropolitan counties are represented by District 4 (Douglas …

Transformation Project Annual Report, Uno Nebraska Center For Justice Research

Reports

For years debate has rumbled in this country over prison overcrowding. More recently, there has been an additional spotlight on issues that are exacerbated when prisons are over capacity, such as prison rape and the use of restrictive housing (housing inmates in isolated conditions). In the case of prison rape, federal standards have been placed on institutions through the passage of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). General consensus among corrections professionals is that a lack of internal action diminished their voice during the creation of the PREA standards. There is consequently a large motivation for correctional institutions to work …

Trends In Adult Justice 2014, Jared Ellison, Ryan E. Spohn, Nebraska Center For Justice Research, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Reports

The Nebraska Center for Justice Research was established in 2014 with a mission to develop and sustain research capacity internal to the State of Nebraska. Our hope is to assist the Legislature in research, evaluation, and policymaking to reduce recidivism, promote the use of evidence-based practices, and improve public safety. The primary purpose of this report is to provide an overview of recent trends in Nebraska’s adult criminal justice system. Most of the data in this report is presented statewide as well as separated into Nebraska’s twelve judicial districts. Nebraska’s two most metropolitan counties are represented by District 4 (Douglas …

The Transformation Project: 2014 Annual Report, Nebraska Center For Justice Research, University Of Nebraska At Omaha, H. Daniel Butler, Starr Solomon, Ryan E. Spohn, Daniel Patrick O'Dell, Laura Schoenrock

Reports

For years debate has rumbled in this country over prison overcrowding. More recently, there has been an additional spotlight on issues that are exacerbated when prisons are over capacity, such as prison rape and the use of restrictive housing (housing inmates in isolated conditions). In the case of prison rape, federal standards have been placed on institutions through the passage of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA). General consensus among corrections professionals is that a lack of internal action diminished their voice during the creation of the PREA standards. There is consequently a large motivation for correctional institutions to work …

Commercial Sexual Exploitation Of Teens, Tamieka Meadows, Alexis Kennedy

McNair Poster Presentations

This research explores whether commercially sexually exploited children (CSEC) abuse drugs or face greater histories of abuse than their delinquent peers. This research will evaluate whether girls who are CSEC victims experience more abuse of drugs or experience more physical, emotional, or sexual abuse. The study also explores whether CSEC victims witnessed more abuse than non-CSEC victims. A survey of needs and issues facing delinquent girls was given to 130 girls between the ages of 13 to 18. Questions asked about their drug use, abuse history, and whether they witnessed abuse. This research found that many girls who are CSEC …

The New Scarlet Letter? Negotiating The U.S. Labor Market With A Criminal Record, Steven Raphael

Upjohn Press

This book explores the difficulties facing ex-offenders as they try to enter and remain in the U.S. labor market.

When Speech Isn't Free: Legal Barriers And Consequences Of Reporting Sexual Violence, Kevin M. Fleming

Departmental Honors Projects

Incidents of sexual violence continue to be a serious problem for society. Likewise, acts of sexual violence impose severe consequences for survivors. The consequences initially begin at the onset of the survivor’s journey to psychological recovery following the traumatic sexual assault. The consequences take on a unique set of characteristics when the survivor attempts to use the justice system to confront the perpetrator who committed the offense. These characteristics can transform an adversarial process into an isolated battle for the survivor. In the worst cases, the justice system empowers individuals who wish to silence survivors with free speech restrictions instead …

The Life Course Perspective Of Delinquency: An Empirical Analysis Of Female Juvenile Offending From The National Youth Survey, Doshie Piper

Contemporary Issues in Juvenile Justice

No abstract provided.

Failures Require New Thoughts On Crime, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Social Status, Opportunity And Repeat Victimization: The Unequal Distribution Of Safety, Zavin Nazaretian

Wayne State University Dissertations

This research examines the relationship between victimization, social status and opportunity. More specifically, the effects of social status and opportunity on repeat victimization are examined. How does social status and opportunity simultaneously effect repeat victimization? This report consists of a secondary data analysis of the 2004 and 2009 Canadian Victimization Survey with a combined sample size of 43,200 people who were interviewed by telephone. Opportunity either partially or completely mediated the effects of social status on repeat victimization; however for certain subsamples neither opportunity nor social status explained repeat victimization. Additionally, the groups whose victimization was not explained by opportunity …

Robust Regression Methods For Massively Decayed Intelligence Data, Akiva Joachim Lorenz

Wayne State University Dissertations

Homeland Security, sponsored by governmental initiatives, has become a vibrant academic research field. However, most efforts were placed with the recognition of threats (e.g. theory) and response options. Less effort was placed in the analysis of the collected data through statistical modeling. In a field that collects more than 20 terabyte of information per minute though diverse overt and covert means and indexes it for future research, understanding how different statistical models behave when it comes to massively decayed data is of vital importance.

Using Monte Carlo methods, three regression techniques (ordinary least squares, least-trimmed, and maximum likelihood) were tested …

Green And Grey: Water Justice, Privatization, And Resistance, William Mcclanahan

Online Theses and Dissertations

Since its initial proposal in the 1990s, `green criminology' has focused on environmental crimes and harms affecting non-human and human life, ecosystems, and the planet as a whole. Describing global trends toward privatization of water supply systems and the criminalization of several water conservation activities and tactics, this paper employs theoretical perspectives offered by green, cultural, and critical criminologies, focusing on overt resistance to water privatization and oppressive regulations governing rainwater storage and residential water recycling. Taking a critical theoretical perspective, this paper examines water access and autonomy, individuals and groups openly resisting the criminalization of household water reuse and …