Criminology Commons^™

Genealogy Of The Concept Of "Hate Crime": The Cultural Implications Of Legal Innovation And Social Change, Roslyn Myers

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The term "hate crime" is new to legislative and public discourse, as well as legal and social science scholarship. A decade after the concept of a "hate crime" was introduced in Congress, the 2009 Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr., Hate Crimes Prevention Act (HCPA), to punish criminal actors who target victims because of their characteristics (race, color ethnicity, sexual orientation, religion, gender, gender identity, or disability). Using relevant archival sources, this project uses genealogical qualitative methods to examine the interplay of cultural elements manifested in this provocative term, which reflect dominance and subjugation among social groups (In- and Out-Groups) …

Prosecuting Buyers In Human Trafficking Cases: An Analysis Of The Implications Of United States V. Jungers And United States V. Bonestroo, Andrea J. Nichols, Erin Heil

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

This article provides a review and analysis of United States v. Jungers and United States v. Bonestroo, important court cases providing precedent for charging buyers of sex as traffickers in cases involving minors. The decisions in these court cases, and in subsequent cases, further solidify the presence of end-demand efforts in the form of prosecution. Yet, the decisions in these cases raise additional questions about their implications for state-level prosecution, the prosecution of buyers in cases involving adults who experience sex trafficking, and the buyers of trafficked labor. Drawing from an analysis of relevant cases, this article analyzes the …

Restorative Justice: A Look At Victim Offender Mediation Programs, Katie L. Moran

21st Century Social Justice

This report conceptualizes the effectiveness and benefits of utilizing the restorative justice model of Victim Offender Mediation (VOM) within the criminal and juvenile justice systems to serve the rights of victims, offenders, and society more justly. Victim Offender Mediation is discussed as a possible alternative justice model which reframes the victim-offender relationship to foster and respect the dignity and worth of each participant. This restorative justice model combats victims’ feelings of helplessness by giving them back their voice, while having the potential to specifically offer relief to those secondarily victimized by the legal system in cases of simple rape. Offenders …

Decoding Nopd's Thin Blue Line, Thomas Harrington

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

The New Orleans Police Department history dates back to the 1800’s. Since its inception, the department has been pledged by misconduct, low morale, and low public opinion. This research used Akers Social Structure, and Social learning theory or SSSL to understand the socialization process of the department and determine if the process could attribute for misconduct, the blue wall of silence, and the thin blue line.

A case study was conducted in which twenty former NOPD officers on the department from 1979 to 2004 were interviewed. They were only identified by race, gender, and the number of years on the …

Born To Run: A Grounded Theory Study Of Cheating In The Online Speedrunning Community, Christopher G. Brewer

Master's Theses

Video games represent a growing genre of media quickly becoming one of the leading forms of entertainment (Jordan, 2014). This popularity has allowed new playstyles to emerge across the video game genre, such as e-Sports and speedrunning. In particular, the speedrunning community has somewhat redefined what it means to “cheat” in a video game by accepting the use certain software and hardware violations that could be seen as “cheating” to the general gaming community. This paper examined the social construction of cheating in this digital community through the use of grounded theory methods.

Support For Political Mobilization And Protest In Egypt And Morocco: An Online Experimental Study, Anthony F. Lemieux, Erin M. Kearns, Victor Asal, James Igoe Walsh

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Why do individuals engage in or support acts of contentious politics? Building from previous work, this article uses a 2 (high/low grievance) × 2 (high/low risk) × 2 (high/low opportunity) online experimental design to examine the impact of these factors on political action with participants from Egypt (n = 517) and Morocco (n = 462). Participants assumed a first-person perspective as a member of a fictional oppressed ethnic minority group in one of eight vignettes. Participants then indicated the extent to which they would engage in various forms of protest and violence, and how justified such actions were. …

A Cross-Sectional Exploration Of Household Financial Reactions And Homebuyer Awareness Of Registered Sex Offenders In A Rural, Suburban, And Urban County., John Charles Navarro

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

As stigmatized persons, registered sex offenders betoken instability in communities. Depressed home sale values are associated with the presence of registered sex offenders even though the public is largely unaware of the presence of registered sex offenders. Using a spatial multilevel approach, the current study examines the role registered sex offenders influence sale values of homes sold in 2015 for three U.S. counties (rural, suburban, and urban) located in Illinois and Kentucky within the social disorganization framework. Homebuyers were surveyed to examine whether awareness of local registered sex offenders and the homebuyer’s community type operate as moderators between home selling …

The Divinity Of Crime: How Spirituality Can Strengthen The Resilience Of Criminal Organizations, David R. Vegvari

Student Theses

This thesis conducts a systematic analysis of open source data that discusses ideational factors of resilience in criminal organizations. It does this by looking at the role of spirituality – referred to as an individual’s moral or ethical codes influenced by cultural, ethnic, and religious values – and its effects on an organization’s durability, impenetrability, and adaptability. To understand spirituality as a factor of resilience in criminal organizations, it is delineated into four Dimensions of Spiritual Influence (DoSI). They are (1) trust, (2) spiritual neutralization, (3) strategic arenas, and (4) the logistical use of spiritual institutions. In order to analyze …

The Effects Of Employment On Recidivism Among Delinquent Juveniles, Leigh Kassem

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Current research indicates an association between intense adolescent work (twenty hours or more per week) and delinquent behavior. It has been widely speculated that this relationship is spurious, occurring only as a result of other factors which are common to both offending and intense employment. The current study attempts to fill a gap in the literature by utilizing the Pathways to Desistance dataset to examine the evolution of the relationship between work and self-reported offending in a longitudinal sample of juvenile offenders. Work intensity and consistency, social capital, and expectations for success were analyzed as potential predictors of recidivism or …

What Effects Body Worn Cameras Worn By Law Enforcement Had On Society, James Bianchi

All Student Theses and Dissertations

The United States experienced unprecedented growth after World War II. America in the 60’s began to confront cultural, racial and value issues. Questions regarding brutality and unjust treatment by members of law enforcement towards minorities began to become more observed. March 2015 saw President Barack Obama’s Taskforce on 21st Century Policing begin to address this issue in their interim report. The task force identified law enforcement’s need to use new technology as a tool to improve the relationship with the citizens they are sworn to protect and serve. This finding was supported immediately by the Obama Administration. The goal of …

Command-Level Police Officers’ Perceptions Of The “War On Cops” And De-Policing, Justin Nix, Scott E. Wolfe, Bradley A. Campbell

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Policing has been the subject of intense public scrutiny for the better part of two years after several high-profile police killings of unarmed African Americans across the United States. The scrutiny has been so extreme that some contend there is currently a “war on cops”—whereby citizens are emboldened by protests and negative media coverage of the police, and are lashing out by assaulting police officers more frequently. In response, it is argued that officers are de-policing (i.e. avoiding proactive stops). We surveyed command-level police officers from a southeastern state about their attitudes concerning the war on cops and de-policing. The …

Rehabilitation And Reintegration Of Genocide Ex-Prisoners: Understanding The Correctional Role Of Prisons In Rwanda, Lulu Abdun

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

After the Genocide Against the Tutsi in 1994, over 120,000 people were imprisoned in Rwanda for the perpetration of genocide. Twenty-three years after the Genocide, numerous genocide ex-prisoners have been released. Throughout their prison time and after their release, rehabilitation and reintegration programming has been available. This paper looks at the rehabilitation and reintegration programming available to genocide ex-prisoners, the success and challenges they currently face or have previously faced, and recommendations for reforms for the future prison/rehabilitation/reintegration process. This paper also examines the correctional role of prisons in Rwanda and how that contributes to successful reintegration. From interviewing genocide …

Today's Porn: Not A Constitutional Right; Not A Human Right, Patrick Trueman

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

The Global Supply Chain Of Sexual Exploitation And The Necessity Of Combating The Demand For Commercial Sex, Lisa L. Thompson

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Inextricably Bound: Strip Clubs, Prostitution, And Sex Trafficking, Dan O'Bryant

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Two Questions, The Same Answer: The Role Of Demand In Prostitution And Sex Trafficking, Shamere Mckenzie

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

The Freedom From Sexploitation Agenda: Policy And Legislative Recommendations To Curb Sexual Exploitation, Dawn Hawkins

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Third-Person Perceptions, Hostile Media Effects, And Policing: Developing A Theoretical Framework For Assessing The Ferguson Effect, Justin Nix, Justin T. Pickett

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Objectives

Policing in the United States has come under intense scrutiny following numerous deadly force incidents involving unarmed black citizens, which dominated the news media. Some have argued that consequently, a “chill wind” has blown through law enforcement, such that officers have become more distrustful of civilians, fearful of scandal, and are de-policing. To date, however, scholars have given insufficient theoretical and empirical attention to why and how media coverage of policing may lead to such outcomes.

Methods

We addressed this literature gap using data from a survey of officers in a metropolitan police department in the southeast.

Results

We …

The Devil Is In The Details: Representations Of The Rural Appalachian Deviant, Stephen T. Young

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Every year, it seems, a new film makes its way through theaters across America demonstrating a new variant of the rural Appalachian deviant. These films play a major role in continuing to shape societal perceptions of rural white populations in Appalachia. Drawing on theoretical insights of Cohen, Hunt, Simon, and Lupton this dissertation examines how film depictions of the rural white Appalachians supports the continued construction of the rural Appalachian deviant. This study finds that films support said construction by demonstrating this population through themes about tainted blood, intimate partner violence, and drug addiction. Moreover, these films camouflage the facts …

It Can't Wait: Exposing The Connections Between Forms Of Sexual Exploitation, Dawn Hawkins

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.