Criminology Commons^™

An Examination Of The Impact Of Drug Court Clients’ Perceptions Of Procedural Justice On Graduation Rates And Recidivism, Cassandra A. Atkin-Plunk, Gaylene Armstrong

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Over the years, researchers have found drug courts reduce recidivism for participants. Scholars have hypothesized that drug courts are effective at producing positive outcomes for participants due in part to a case management approach that implements concepts of procedural justice. Using a convenience sample of participants involved in one drug court, this study adds to the limited body of research on procedural justice and drug courts by examining whether variation in drug court clients’ perceptions of procedural justice is related to their likelihood of graduation from drug court and recidivism. Results, policy implications, and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Juvenile Prostitution: An Exploration In Gendered Theory, Kelli Reynolds

Master’s Theses and Projects

The purpose of this study is to investigate the ways in which juvenile females enter into prostitution. This theoretical analysis will assess support for existing explanations of delinquency and prostitution of female juveniles using secondary data sources. This secondary data source is pulled from a survey of 114 adjudicated delinquent girls in South Carolina, which was collected in 2014. A comprehensive review of the literature regarding juvenile prostitution will include perspectives on polyvictimization and cumulative trauma as well as the history of prostitution. These concepts will be supported further by discussing current research and survey data. The specific focus of …

Developing An Alternative Juvenile Programming Effort To Reduce Detention Overreliance, Jacqueline G. Van Wormer, Christopher M. Campbell

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications and Presentations

The assumption underlying juvenile detention alternatives is that youth on probation receiving programming or treatment are less likely to recidivate, whereas youth in detention will be more likely to recidivate. Under a coordinated justice reform effort, a juvenile justice court system serving two southeastern counties in Washington state developed a program (the FAST program) for probation violators that offered 2 sessions of accountability skill development to address targeted criminogenic needs in lieu of a formalized hearing and a subsequent stay in detention. The goal of the FAST program for participating youth was to reduce future probation violations and detention stays. …

The Proteus Effect And Gaming: The Impact Of Digital Actors And Race In A Virtual Environment, Christopher M. Via

Doctoral Dissertations and Master's Theses

Race and racial identity is a frequently discussed topic in the media today. This topic is driven by what oftentimes amounts to culture clashes, and a system that claims impartiality yet is rampant with implicit bias demonstrating favorable treatment of one race over another. An example of this favoritism resides within video game design, where over 50% of player-controlled game characters are White, and less than 40% are Black (Leonard, 2007). Leonard also wrote that Black game characters are more likely to conform to Black stereotypes (e.g. play sports, or involved in gangs) than Whites (e.g. middle class citizen or …

Care, Control, Or Criminalization? Discourses On Homelessness And Social Responses, Lindsey L. Upton

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

There has been a resurgence of political and media interest in homelessness, particularly in major urban areas throughout the United States. This interest is credited to a number of cities that declared a State of Emergency (SOE) due to their homelessness crisis in 2015. The motivation to declare homelessness as an urgent priority of local politics assists cities in temporarily overcoming longstanding budget and bureaucratic barriers. Undoubtedly, the criminal justice system is part of social response following a declared SOE, and homelessness is not an exception. Little attention has explored the historical, social, and political processes of problematizing homelessness from …

Mandated Anger Management From The Perspective Of Violent Offenders, Cory M. Feldman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Anger management is a mandated treatment for violent offenders (VOs) in Harlem, New York returning from prison under parole supervision. This dissertation asks VOs to describe their experiences with parole-mandated anger management (AM). The objectives of this research are to help illuminate the reasons why anger management is mandated for VOs and why, for some, mandated AM may be potentially harmful to their reintegration. To date, there have not been any studies exploring the role of AM for people on parole charged with violent offenses; the extant literature on AM provides neither formal evaluations nor long-term follow-up to indicate what …

Gender Roles, Social Control And Digital Piracy: A Longitudinal Analysis Of Gender Differences In Software Piracy Among Korean Adolescents, Riccardo Ferraresso

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

In order to improve our understanding of juvenile delinquency and of the factors that can affect it, researchers may need to examine the new forms of crimes emerging in the cyber world. There is still a large knowledge gap regarding the etiology of cybercrime. In particular, very little research on gender differences in cybercrime and the explanatory power of gender based theories and Hirschi’s social bond theory in cybercrime has been undertaken. The current study attempts to fill some of the gaps in the criminological literature on this modern form of crime by examining the explanatory power of traditional theories …

Bullying Prevention In New York City Public Schools: School Safety Agents' Perceptions Of Their Roles, Gabriel R. Paez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Research on school-based bullying gives little attention to how school-based law enforcement personnel perceive their roles while addressing alleged and real acts of bullying, and whether their roles influence their decisions to get involved in instances of bullying. Since research neglects to assess the extent to which personal and contextual factors of law enforcement personnel assigned to schools affect how they perceive themselves in this role and their degree of involvement in instances of bullying, this study addresses two questions:

(1) How do New York City Police Department School Safety Agents (SSAs) in NYC public schools perceive their roles in …

New Approaches To Data-Driven Civilian Oversight Of Law Enforcement: An Introduction To The Second Nacole/Cjpr Special Issue, Daniel L. Stageman, Nicole M. Napolitano, Brian Buchner

Publications and Research

In April of 2016, National Association for Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (NACOLE) and John Jay College partnered to sponsor the Academic Symposium “Building Public Trust: Generating Evidence to Enhance Police Accountability and Legitimacy.” This essay introduces the Criminal Justice Policy Review Special Issue featuring peer-reviewed, empirical research papers first presented at the Symposium. We provide context for the Symposium in relation to contemporary national discourse on police accountability and legitimacy. In addition, we review each of the papers presented at the Symposium, and provide in-depth reviews of each of the manuscripts included in the Special Issue.

An Exploration Of The Factors That Support Improved Pro-Social Outcomes For Young People In Detention: Social Care Practitioners' Perspectives., Emer Loughrey

Dissertations

Youth detention facilities like many other services funded by public money need to be able to demonstrate the difference it makes to the lives of the small cohort of young people who are detained. In a world which has become more security and safety conscious, evidencing the difference made to the lives of these ‘troubled youths’ is of particular interest to society today. This study aimed to explore the factors that support improved pro social outcomes for young people detained. As key agents of change having access to a formative time in young people’s lives while in detention, social care …

Cop Culture: The Impact Of Confrontation On The Working Personality Of Frontline Gardai, Paul Williams

Dissertations

The unofficial, internal culture of An Garda Siochana is an area where there has been a deficit of academic research and scrutiny despite it being existential to the public discourse on garda reform, especially in recent years. It has been pointed out that the lack of data on the organisational value system of the Irish police is due in part to the nascent state of criminological research in Ireland and a reluctance on the part of the Garda authorities to co-operate in research studies. The primary objective of this study was to explore one aspect of police culture: the impact …

Can Noncompliant Behavior Explain Racial/Ethnic Disparities In The Use Of Force By The Nypd? An Econometric Analysis Of New York's Stop-And-Frisk, Omari-Khalid Rahman

Theses and Dissertations

This paper seeks to analyze spatiotemporal variations in NYPD policing patterns in an attempt to identify the causal mechanism(s) driving the observed racial/ethnic disparities; specifically, it addresses questions of how changing neighborhood demographics influence the decision-making of NYPD officers/precincts as it relates to their controversial Stop-and-Frisk policy.

Investigating The Role Of Alternative Education Provision In Supporting Pathways Out Of Crime For Young People., Bronagh Fagan

Dissertations

Interest in the study of desistance has increased dramatically since the 1970s and 1980s and has become the focus of much criminal justice policy, practice and research. Strong evidence suggests that individuals with a history of difficulties at school and low levels of educational attainment are more likely to offend, continue offending and become entangled in the criminal justice system. However, vast numbers of children continue to fall through the cracks of mainstream education in Ireland every year. The principal aim of this study is to investigate the role of alternative education provision (AEP) in supporting pathways out of crime …

How The City Of Indianapolis Came To Have African American Policemen And Firemen 80 Years Before The Modern Civil Rights Movement., Leon E. Bates

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study explores a series of events that occurred in the spring of 1876. The relationship between the Indianapolis city government, the Marion County Courts, the Indianapolis Police Department, and the African American community came together to usher in changes never before envisioned. The Indianapolis Police Department (IPD) was formed in 1855, then disbanded 12 months later in a political dispute. From 1857-to-1876, the IPD was all white. These changes took place as the Reconstruction era was coming to a close. The first Ku Klux Klan was at its apex, terrorizing black communities, and Jim Crow was coming into its …

Black Male Emerging Adults: Investigating Inequalities In Adult Transitions, Social Learning, And Criminality, De Andre' Terrell Beadle

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Emerging adulthood is a life stage that developed as a result of numerous macro-structural changes in recent decades (Arnett 2015), and which has implications for life course criminality and identity formation (Massoglia & Uggen 2010). Much research has been done in the area of the new life stage known as “emerging adulthood,” however little to no research has been done on how emerging adulthood relates to or changes classic findings in criminology, especially about the importance of disadvantages embedded in racial inequalities. This mixed method study analyzes data from the National Study of Youth and Religion (NSYR) to examine Social …

Gendered Self-Concepts And Drinking Behavior In A National Sample Of Emerging Adults, Samantha S. Clinkinbeard, Tim Barnum

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Despite evidence that males drink more than females, there is much to be learned about gendered explanations for sex differences in alcohol use. We use the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health data to investigate gendered self-concept as related to alcohol use and related consequences among a sample of emerging adults. Dominance Masculinity (e.g., being aggressive, forceful, dominant) was the most consistent predictor of alcohol-related outcomes for both males and females. Endorsement of feminine characteristics (e.g., compassion, understanding, sympathetic) was protective against binge drinking and social consequences for males whereas endorsement of general masculine characteristics (e.g., independent, assertive, …

Disentangling The Effects Of Violent Subculture And Structure: A Multi-Level Analysis Of Race-Specific Gun Violence In Urban U.S. Counties, Rick Dierenfeldt

Theses and Dissertations

A large number of studies have examined the contextual level influence of firearm availability on firearm-related violence, yet extant literature has failed to simultaneously consider the effects of structure, culture, and firearm availability on the likelihood of firearm violence. The current study adds to the literature by engaging the use of race- and offense-specific non-linear multi-level analyses to examine the relative influence of structure, violent subculture, firearm availability, and incident characteristics on the likelihood of firearm use during aggravated assaults and robberies. Drawing upon data contained in the National Incident Based Reporting System, American Community Survey, and Wide-Ranging Online Data …

An Application Of General Strain Theory To Recidivism In Arkansas: A Multilevel Study, Brittani Mcneal

Theses and Dissertations

Prior research has focused on individual- and community-level factors in examining recidivism. Additionally, recidivism research has not applied criminological theory to explain recidivism, however, community-level measures have been constructed from social disorganization theory on recidivism. With a spotlight on individual characteristics and the community, potential factors from the institutional environment are limited in research, in addition to, the application of theory. The purpose of this dissertation was to examine the effects strain on recidivism and time to recidivism across prison in Arkansas by applying general strain theory. Specifically, the current study used male offenders released in 2011 who were housed …

Does Gender Still Matter? Child Custody Bias In The Illinois Family Court System, Derek K. Ronnfeldt

Theses and Dissertations

Over the last several decades, nearly all of the states have formed task forces to look at the perception of a gender bias within the family court systems as they pertain to child custody. This self-scrutiny has included the attitudes of judges and attorneys within the system and the need of reform of our family courts. This research focused on replicating a study conducted by Dotterweich and McKinney that was completed in 2000 that compiled statistics from four different state task forces in Maryland, Missouri, Texas, and Washington. This research focused on Illinois judges and attorneys, using the same questions …

Differential Effects Of Mental Health Problems Among Truant Youths, Richard Dembo, Jennifer Wareham, James Schmeidler, Rhissa Briones-Robinson, Ken C. Winters

Criminology Faculty Publications

Research indicates at-risk youth are more likely to experience emotional and psychological problems. Young people who are often truant from school represent a group of at-risk youth, but one for which mental health issues are understudied. This study examined heterogeneity of mental health problems among a sample of 300 truant adolescents using latent class analysis (LCA). LCA indicated the sample of truants was best represented by four latent subgroups of youth with low mental health problems; high depression, low mania; high mania, low depression; and high depression and mania. These subgroups were examined in relation to sociodemographic and psychosocial measures …