Criminology and Criminal Justice Commons^™

Improving Criminal Justice: How Can We Make The American Criminal Justice System More Just?, Joseph L. Hoffmann, Nancy J. King

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

The Family Capital Of Capital Families: Investigating Empathic Connections Between Jurors And Defendants' Families In Death Penalty Cases, Jody L. Madeira

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

General Strain Theory And Juvenile Delinquency: A Cross-Cultural Study, Wen-Hsu Lin

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

General strain theory (GST) (Agnew, 1992, 2001, 2006a) is an established criminological theory. Although the theory has been examined by many and enjoys empirical support, some limitations of previous studies need to be addressed. First, previous studies have not incorporated all major types of strain in their models; hence, the effects of these strains on delinquency are unclear. Second, many previous studies did not include negative emotions and even negative emotions other than anger. Finally, and the most serious limitation, many previous studies rely heavily on samples from Western countries, mostly the U.S.; thus, possible cultural influences are ignored. Although …

Prospective Changes In Attributions Of Self-Blame And Social Reactions To Women’S Disclosures Of Adult Sexual Assault, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Sarah E. Ullman

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

The present longitudinal study examined relations between self-blame attributions and social reactions to disclosure in a community sample of adult sexual assault victims (N = 555). Cross-lagged panel analyses showed that neither characterological self-blame nor behavioral self-blame related to negative social reactions over the 1-year follow-up period. In contrast, characterological but not behavioral self-blame predicted fewer positive reactions over time. Although positive reactions did not reduce self-blame, negative reactions led to greater characterological, but not behavioral, self-blame during the course of the study. Thus, relations between self-blame and social reactions were not reciprocal but rather quite complex. The effects …

Vulnerability And Protective Factors For Sexual Assault, Sarah E. Ullman, Cynthia J. Najdowski

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Approximately 1 in 5 women experience sexual assaults in adulthood during their lives (see Post, this volume, for review), including experiences of unwanted sexual contact, sexual coercion, attempted rape, and completed rape that result from threat, force, or incapacitation from alcohol or drugs (either willingly or unwillingly consumed).

Developmental Trajectories Of Self-Control: Assessing The Stability Hypothesis, James Vance Ray

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

A key proposition of Gottfredson and Hirschi's (1990) self-control theory is the stability hypothesis which suggests that an individual's level of self-control, once established between the ages of 8-10, is stable over the life course. Empirical results from examinations of the stability hypothesis have been mixed. Prior tests of the stability hypothesis have employed aggregate assessment methods (e.g., mean-level and correlational analyses). Such approaches fail to take into account the possibility that individual developmental pathways may differ. This study employs individual longitudinal data over a four year period for 3,249 7^th to 10^th grade subjects to assess the …

Nebraska Strategic Plan 2012-2015, Ryan E. Spohn, Melissa Gray, Mike Behm, Lisa Stamm, Consortium For Crime And Justice Research, University Of Nebraska At Omaha

Reports

The Consortium for Crime and Justice Research (CCJR) at the University of Nebraska at Omaha was tasked by the Nebraska Commission on Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice to facilitate the development of a three-year strategic plan for the use of Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistant Grant (JAG) funds. The Crime Commission serves as the State Administering Agency that is responsible for funding projects that fit into one or more of the seven JAG purpose areas: law enforcement programs; planning, evaluation, and technology improvement programs; prevention and education programs; drug treatment and enforcement programs; corrections and community corrections programs; prosecution and …

Gangs And Gang Activity In America: A Prevention Report, Portland State University. Criminology And Criminal Justice Senior Capstone

Criminology and Criminal Justice Senior Capstone Project

This report covers information on gangs, gang activity, and gang prevention. The report reveals information such as the history of gangs in the U.S., the definition of “gang,” data on prevalence, persons affected by gang activity, demographics of gangs and their members, criminal activity committed by gangs, gang hierarchical structure, prevention strategies, and effectiveness of gang prevention programs.

The Never Ending Attraction Of The Ponzi Scheme, Pearl Jacobs, Linda Schain

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

In the 1920’s, Charles Ponzi engaged in a notorious money making scheme. This scheme had been tried before but no one prior to Charles Ponzi had managed to swindle millions of dollars out of unsuspecting people. Thus, the scheme bears his name. In December 2008, Bernard Madoff, a major Ponzi schemer, was exposed. He managed to con investors out of over $65 billion over a thirty year period. Madoff was a highly respected financial expert. The investors were mostly well educated and supposedly financially savvy. How did this happen? This paper will examine some theories which may help explain both …

Texas Law Enforcement Resource Center: An Exploratory Study Of Fusion Center Databases, Tyler Lawrence Evenson

Criminology & Criminal Justice Theses - Archive

This research is a qualitative study examining fusion center databases, their value to the field of criminal justice, and their potential for shared information/education in the future. The research examines the growing trend of information sharing and analysis and describes a fusion center database created by the Center of Criminal Justice Research and Training within the Department of Criminology and Criminal Justice at the University of Texas at Arlington. Secondary data is reviewed and analyzed on current fusion centers to examine their methods of information gathering, analysis, program implementation, and overall mission.

School-Based Juvenile Probation And Police Partnerships For Truancy Reduction, Leanne F. Alarid, Barbara A. Sims, James Ruiz

Contemporary Issues in Juvenile Justice

Truancy places students at risk in primary and secondary education and is linked to conduct disorder, drug use, and delinquency. To prevent truancy and reduce risk, school-based proba-tion supervision has emerged within school districts in partnership with local law enforcement officers in an effort to enforce probation conditions for truant youths and prevent future delin-quency. This research uses key information interviews of knowledgeable stakeholders to examine the delivery of school-based probation supervision. Home visits and court hearings were perceived to be effective at reducing truancy and tardiness. This study affirms that strong lead-ership, information sharing, and involvement of parents were …

Preparing The Young Offender For Return To Society: A Theoretical Evaluation Of Guyanese Juvenile Delinquents' Narratives Based On General Treatment Models, Bertlyn Gretna Reynolds

Wayne State University Dissertations

The site of the study is a co-educational detention center known as the New Opportunity Corps (NOC), located in a former British colony of South America, now known as Guyana. Forty- eight detainees of this institution, which is also legally designated a training school, were interviewed about their backgrounds, daily activities and plans for the future. These structured interviews were used to test the central tenets of Sociological theories with some bearing on crime. Some of the findings are presented in the form of narrative analysis which includes discussion of various factors likely to have caused their juvenile delinquency. Family …

Assessing Harm Reduction A Qualitative Investigation About The Impact Of Therapeutic Jurisprudence On Non-Completing Drug Court Clients, Traci R. Francis

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Currently, the drug court treatment outcome literature provides little guidance about examining clients that fail to complete drug court. Typically, only successful clients are tracked and measured for outcome success characteristics and not much is known about unsuccessful client outcomes. A large portion of individuals who begin drug court do not complete the program. With unsuccessful rates ranging from 34 to 73%, it seems reasonable to examine the outcome of these cases. Ignoring this phenomenon is problematic because various stakeholders remain uninformed about the drug court model’s full effectiveness. The focus on successful clients may fail to fully capture and …

Studying Rape Through A Theorectical Lens: The Development Of A Serial Rape Model Using Fbi Data, Brooke Smith

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The current study assessed whether there is an empirical foundation for different theories of rape including the feminist, evolutionary, social disorganization, psychopathy, and rapist type theories. Using a data set from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) on serial rapists collected in the early 1990's, the study included two phases. The first phase assessed whether FBI data supported the previously mentioned theories of rape by analyzing associations between individual variables that are thought to support each theory. Support was demonstrated for the evolutionary and psychopathy theories. Using MPlus statistical software to accommodate the multi-level nature of the data, the second …

Judicial Instructions And The Juror’S Ability To Disregard Inadmissible Evidence: Can Varying The Timing And Content Of Judicial Instructions Influence Juror Decision-Making?, Courtney Hougham

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

During the course of a trial, a judge will instruct the jury on how they are to act and reach decisions. The purpose of this study was to examine the effect of different judicial instructions on a juror's ability to evaluate testimony. The research looked at how instructions can interact with a juror's ability to disregard a piece of evidence ruled inadmissible for different reasons. The design was a 3x5 complete factorial design. The stimulus material was a murder trial summary with weak evidence against the defendant, with the key piece of testimony being a hair found on the victim …

Call Of Duty: A Question Of Police Integrity, Albert O. Gamarra

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Policing is a profession linked to ideals of integrity and honor. In spite of this, the profession has not been immune to corruption within its ranks. Most research in policing has concentrated on police corruption rather than police integrity. Research studies have examined the issue of corruption but they have encountered a multitude of measurement issues, making the direct study of corruption difficult.

The goal of this research study was to replicate the seminal Klockars, Ivkovich, Harver & Haberfeld (2000) study examining police integrity within the United States. There has been a lack of research dedicated to the study of …

The Prevalence And Predictive Nature Of Victimization, Substance Abuse & Mental Health On Recidivism: A Comparative Longitudinal Examination Of Male And Female Oregon Department Of Corrections Inmates, Anastacia Konstantinos Papadopulos

Dissertations and Theses

As a consequence of increased awareness and the current scholarly debate regarding women's differential predictors of recidivism, criminal justice agencies are working with researchers in the field to expand their knowledge in this area. In 2007, Portland State University researchers in collaboration with the Oregon Department of Corrections conducted an investigation of factors emerging in the pathways and gender responsive literature as predictive of women's recidivism in a randomly selected sample of female (n=150) and male (n=150) inmates. This study used information gathered from that investigation for two purposes: (1) to assess the prevalence rates of victimization experiences (childhood, adolescent …

A Multilevel Model Of Police Corruption: Anomie, Decoupling, And Moral Disengagement, Ruth Zschoche

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Police corruption is a primary concern for law enforcement agencies. The purpose of this study was to identify factors that could predict the likelihood of police officer susceptibility to corruption. Data was collected through surveys of 1083 officers within eight U.S. police agencies that were participating in the National Police Research Platform funded by the National Institute of Justice. The data were analyzed using multilevel structural equation and base multilevel models.

The theoretical model for this study addressed susceptibility to corruption on both the departmental (clusters) and individual officer levels. Four main constructs were utilized in this study. Acceptance of …

Mental Health Courts Effectiveness In Reducing Recidivism And Improving Clinical Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis, Brittany Cross

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Mental health courts have recently emerged with goals to reduce recidivism and improve clinical outcomes for people with serious mental illness in the criminal justice system. The present study is a review of mental health court literature assessing their effectiveness in reducing recidivism and improving clinical outcomes for participants using meta-analytic techniques. A total of 20 studies that included sufficient information to compute the standardized mean difference effect size, focused on adult populations, and were within the United States were included in the analysis. Only experimental and quasi-experimental research designs were obtained. Using Cohen’s d (1988) guidelines, mental health courts …

Drug Courts Work, But How? Preliminary Development Of A Measure To Assess Drug Court Structure And Processes, Blake Barrett

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The high prevalence of substance use disorders is well-documented among criminal offenders. Drug courts are specialty judicial programs designed to: 1) improve public safety outcomes; 2) reduce criminal recidivism and substance abuse among offenders with substance use disorders; and 3) better utilize scarce criminal justice and treatment resources. Drug courts operate through partnerships between the criminal justice, behavioral health and public health systems. Offenders participate in an intensive regimen of substance abuse treatment and case management while under close judicial supervision. Drug courts' effectiveness in reducing criminal recidivism and drug use has been documented through numerous primary studies as well …