Criminology Commons^™

Police Perceptions And Decision Making Related To Domestic Minors Trafficked Through Prostitution, Donna Sue Belin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In spite of a paradigm shift redefining domestic minors trafficked through prostitution as victims instead of criminal offenders, many police officers experience uncertainty in the way they evaluate the nature of domestic minor sex trafficking (DMST) and assess the culpability status of prostituted minors. This problem often results in revictimizing children and hindering their ability to access needed services. The purpose of this multiple case study was to explore police officers' perceptions of minors engaged in prostitution and derive an understanding of the experiences, beliefs, and values that underlie these perceptions. The study also focused on how these factors influence …

Predictors Of Community Supervision Failures Among Female Offenders, Fayola Wolfe

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study explored the predictors of community supervision failures amongst female offenders in the United States criminal justice system. Female offenders have, in comparison with male offenders, particular challenges for community reintegration. This study used the relational theory and Maslow's hierarchy of needs theory to investigate the effects of childhood trauma on adult female offenders' behaviors, including substance use disorder and mental health issues. Secondary archival data were obtained from the Court Services and Offender Supervision Agency's AUTO Screener and Supervision and Management Automated Record Tracking System; this data pool included information on 1,085 female offenders who had served at …

Racism Vs. Social Capital: A Case Study Of Two Majority Black Communities, Bruce W. Strouble

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Several researchers have identified social capital as a means to improve the social sustainability of communities. While there have been many studies investigating the benefits of social capital in homogeneous White communities, few have examined it in Black homogeneous communities. Also, there has been limited research on the influence of racism on social capital in African American communities. In this dissertation a comparative case study was used within a critical race theory framework. The purpose was to explore the role of racial oppression in shaping social capital in majority African American communities. Data were collected from 2 majority Black communities …

The Effects Of Merging Proactive Cctv Monitoring With Directed Police Patrol: A Randomized Controlled Trial., Eric L. Piza, Joel M. Caplan, Leslie W. Kennedy, Andrew M. Gilchrist

Publications and Research

Objectives: This study was designed to test the effect of increased certainty of punishment on reported crime levels in CCTV target areas of Newark, NJ. The experimental strategy was designed for the purpose of overcoming specific surveillance barriers that minimize the effectiveness of CCTV, namely high camera-to-operator ratios and the differential response policy of police dispatch. An additional camera operator was deployed to monitor specific CCTV cameras, with two patrol cars dedicated to exclusively responding to incidents of concern detected on the experimental cameras.

Methods: A randomized controlled trial was implemented in the analysis. A randomized block design was used …

Risk Terrain Modeling For Spatial Risk Assessment., Joel M. Caplan, Leslie W. Kennedy, Jeremy D. Barnum, Eric L. Piza

Publications and Research

Spatial factors can influence the seriousness and longevity of crime problems. Risk terrain modeling (RTM) identifies the spatial risks that come from features of a landscape and models how they colocate to create unique behavior settings for crime. The RTM process begins by testing a variety of factors thought to be geographically related to crime incidents. Valid factors are selected and then weighted to produce a final model that basically paints a picture of places where crime is statistically most likely to occur. This article addresses crime as the outcome event, but RTM can be applied to a variety of …

Comparison In Personality Profiles Between Child Abusers Versus Child Neglectors, Jodi R. Cuneo

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Children who suffered parental abuse or neglect can be returned home if their safety can be ensured following offender treatment. However, some caregivers will continue to abuse or neglect their children upon return home, leading to additional treatment, state involvement, and harm to the child. This study assessed personality differences between child abusers and neglectors who were caregivers by applying a binary logistical regression analysis to the Minnesota Multiphasic Personality Inventory, Second Edition (MMPI-2) scores sampled from archival data for 215 caregivers. Analysis showed that the abusers had statistically significant higher scores on the F Scale ('Faking Bad'), but significantly …

Parole And Probation Officers' Perceptions Of Management Effectiveness In Baltimore County, Maryland, Valencia Tamir Johnson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Management practices in the rehabilitation and criminal justice system are primarily concerned with how employees sense, collect, organize, and process information regarding the criminal offender. The purpose of this quantitative study was to measure parole and probation officers' perceptions regarding management support and effectiveness in the workplace, with particular emphasis on communication, collaboration, and conflict resolution. Herzberg's 2-factor theory of motivation served as the theoretical framework for the study, supporting the concept of participatory management as a central factor in job satisfaction. A researcher-designed, Likert-type questionnaire was administered to a randomly selected sample of 31 parole and probation officers in …

Abstract Uneducated Injustice: A Social Cognitive Approach To Understanding Juror Misconduct And Verdict Errors, Melinee Melissa Marie Calhoun

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A continual problem in the adjudication of crime in the United States is the continued occurrence of erroneous convictions and acquittals. This problem impacts the victims of crimes as they endure emotional and mental distress of additional investigations and new trials. Defendants are impacted by errors in verdicts because of the loss of freedom while being factually innocent. These errors may occur because jurors may not be knowledgeable of their role, right and responsibilities. Without regard to the judge's minimum instruction, the jury is not provided direction on the purpose and limitations of their roles. Guided by the social cognitive …

Career Goals For Joining Law Enforcement And Subsequent Stress, Earl Riggins

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Police officers experience stress from operational and organizational demands which are extrinsic in nature. Officers may also experience stress from not being able to attain their personal goals for becoming a police officer, which is referred to as goal negation. The purpose of this mixed model, exploratory study was to examine if stress from goal negation is an intrinsic moderating factor of police officers' overall experience of career-related stress that may be adding to the health risks of the profession. The framework for the study included the concept of goal negation and the theory of operational and organizational or intrinsic …

Influences Of Csi Effect, Daubert Ruling, And Nas Report On Forensic Science Practices, Timothy Patrick Scanlan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The media exaggerates the capabilities of crime laboratories while it publicizes the wrongdoings of individual forensic scientists. Such portrayals skew the perspectives of jurors and hinder expert witness testimony. Complicating the problem are separate, but related, phenomena that influence how forensic laboratories conduct casework. These phenomena are Cole and Dioso-Villa's conceptualization of the unrealistic expectations of forensic science created by fictional television, known as the CSI Effect; the Daubert ruling on the admissibility of expert testimony; and some federal policy changes as a result of a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report that impacted requirements for the daily operation of …

Critical Factors In Police Use-Of-Force Decisions, Orville Nickel

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study investigated law enforcement officers' perceptions of the legal, normative, and practical considerations that are implicit in their decisions when faced with using physical force. Law enforcement officers observe and protect fundamental human rights. A significant problem, however, is that physical force is sometimes misused, impacting public confidence in police services. The study was framed by Durkheim's conflict theory and Beirie's concepts of police corporate culture and social control. It used a grounded theory method and predeveloped case scenarios presented to 2 male focus groups of 7 and 6 participants respectively, and 2 female focus groups of 5 and …

The Effect Of Confirmation Bias On Criminal Investigative Decision Making, Wayne A. Wallace

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Confirmation bias occurs when a person believes in or searches for evidence to support his or her favored theory while ignoring or excusing disconfirmatory evidence and is disinclined to change his or her belief once he or she arrives at a conclusion. The purpose of this quantitative study was to examine whether emotionally charged evidence and evidence presentation order could influence an investigator's belief in a suspect's guilt. The study included 166 sworn police officers (basic training recruits, patrol officers, and criminal investigators) who completed online surveys in response to criminal vignettes across different scenarios to record their measure of …

Attitudes Of Returning Citizens In Government-Managed Post-Release Programming, Zachary D'Jon Weaver

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Nearly 700,000 prisoners return to communities annually, and approximately two-thirds are rearrested within 3 years of release. The cyclic pattern of recidivism presents risks to both returning offenders and the communities that accept them. Reentry research tends to include the voice and experiences of juveniles, community members, and service providers, and narrowly focuses on the socioeconomic conditions of adult ex-offender populations pre- and post-release. Few researchers have explored the attitudes of those returning citizens or the perceived impact on treatment success, as related to employment-based, post-release reintegration programs. This study investigated the attitudes of 32 participants of Project Empowerment, the …

Risk Assessment In Montana: Risk Factors Predictive Of Juvenile Offender Recidivism, Taylor Tillman

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Detention On Juvenile Recidivism In Montana: Is The Impact Of Detention Influenced By Other Factors?, Daniel N. Acton

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The purpose of this study is to identify the effect detention has on recidivism risk as well as to identify the degree to which the effect of detention on recidivism is influenced by other variables. The data for this analysis were collected by probation officers across Montana, using the Back on Track risk assessment instrument (N=840). Although detention was the topic of interest, this analysis also tested aspects of three popular criminological theories: social bond theory, self-control theory, and life-course persistent theory. Using logistic regression, the effects of detention and a variety of other risk factors are identified. Hypothesis one …

Hunting For 'Paper Gangsters': An Institutional Analysis Of Intelligence-Led Policing In A Canadian Context, Crystal Weston

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Contemporary police departments are facing immense pressure to preserve public safety while also remaining fiscally accountable. As a response to economic pressures, police services are turning to intelligence led policing (ILP). ILP promises ‘smarter’ and more efficient policing with the use of advanced technologies and data analysis for decision-making. The present study examines ILP implementation in one urban Canadian police department. Through in-depth interviews with fifteen patrol and middle-management members, fifty-five hours of observation, and an analysis of organizational documents, I examine how ILP reform has been understood and enacted by patrol officers on the ground. From this analysis, I …

Exploring Interactions Between Police And People With Mental Illness, Krystle L. Shore Ms.

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Contact between people with mental illness (PMI) and police is on the rise. The current study analyzed a six-month period of official police data (N = 400 occurrences) to provide a description of the PMI that came into contact with police and the typical characteristics and outcomes of these encounters. Results indicated that these interactions were initiated by family members and are taking place at home. Police are most commonly resolving the situations formally with apprehensions under the Mental health Act (55%), however only half of the time these apprehensions result in the PMI being admitted into hospital care, …

Critical Champions Or Careless Condemners? Exploring News Media Constructions In Cases Of Wrongful Conviction, Katherine Rozad

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Countless incidences occur throughout the world each and every day. However, only a few of these occurrences are deemed newsworthy by the media. One area of information quite often categorized as “newsworthy” is that surrounding crime. Within crime-related news coverage are occasionally cases of wrongful conviction – miscarriages of justice in which the innocent are labeled “guilty” and wrongly punished. Despite decades of research in both the areas of crime and media, as well as wrongful conviction studies, no research to date has examined the way that cases of wrongful conviction are constructed in the media from the beginnings of …

The Study Of Torture: Why It Persists, Why Perceptions Of It Are Malleable, And Why It Is Difficult To Eradicate, Erin M. Kearns

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Why does torture persist despite its prohibition? Scholars, policymakers, and the public have heavily debated this topic in the past decade. Yet, many puzzles remain about the practice of torture. Scholarship on torture spans academic disciplines, which adds diversity in perspectives brought to these questions but also can lead to redundancy and stunted progress in research on the issue as a whole. This article assesses the state of the multidisciplinary literature on torture in counterterrorism with specific focus on why democracies torture despite prohibiting it, how public perception of torture is malleable, and why so few countries are able to …

Penny For Your Thoughts? The Protective Effect Of Youths’ Attitudes Against Drug Use In High-Risk Communities, Emily M. Wright, Abigail A. Fagan, Gillian M. Pichevsky

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Individual-level attitudes about drugs are strong predictors of substance use among adolescents, and aggregate-level community norms regarding deviancy and drug use may influence youth attitudes as well as their drug use. This study examined the direct effects of neighborhood norms about deviance, disadvantage, immigrant concentration, and residential stability on youths’ attitudes about drug harmfulness as well as their variety of past month substance use. The moderating effect of community norms on the relationship between youth attitudes and drug use was also examined. Results suggest that community norms favorable to deviance and drug use reduced youth’s attitudes that drugs were harmful. …