Criminology Commons^™

Fox In The Henhouse: A Study Of Police Officers Arrested For Crimes Associated With Domestic And/Or Family Violence, Philip M. Stinson, John Liederbach

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

The problem of violence within police families has been increasingly recognized as an important socio-legal issue, but there is a lack of empirical data on what has commonly been referred to as officer-involved domestic violence (OIDV). There are no comprehensive statistics available on OIDV and no government entity collects data on the criminal conviction of police officers for crimes associated with domestic and/or family violence. Prior self-report officer surveys are limited by the tendency to conceal instances of family violence and the interests of officers to maintain a "code of silence" to protect their careers. The purpose of the current …

A Study Of Drug-Related Police Corruption Arrests, Philip M. Stinson, John Liederbach, Steven L. Brewer, Hans Schmalzried, Brooke E. Mathna, Krista L. Long

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Purpose – The purpose of the study is to provide empirical data on cases of drug-related police corruption. It identifies and describes incidents in which police officers were arrested for criminal offenses associated with drug-related corruption.

Design/methodology/approach – The study is a quantitative content analysis of news articles identified through the Google News search engine using 48 automated Google Alerts queries. Statistical analyses include classification trees to examine causal pathways between drugs and corruption.

Findings – Data were analyzed on 221 drug-related arrest cases of officers employed by police agencies throughout the United States. Findings show that drug-related corruption involves …

The Nature Of Crime By School Resource Officers: Implications For Sro Programs, Philip M. Stinson, Adam M. Watkins

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

School resource officers (SROs) have become a permanent presence in many K-12 schools throughout the country. As a result, an emerging body of research has focused on SROs, particularly on how SROs are viewed by students, teachers, and the general public. This exploratory and descriptive research employs a different focus by examining the nature of crimes for which SROs were arrested in recent years with information gathered from online news sources. The current findings are encouraging insofar as they reveal that SROs are rarely arrested for criminal misconduct. When SROs were arrested, however, they are most often arrested for a …

Research Brief One-Sheet No.5: Police Criminal Misuse Of Conductive Energy Devices, Philip M. Stinson, Bradford W. Reyns, John Liederbach

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

The purpose of the research is to explore and describe the nature and character of arrest cases that involve the criminal misuse of TASERS by police officers through a content analysis of news articles. The research specifically focuses on factors that were common among the arrest events involving CEDs, especially with regard to the actions and motivations of the arrested officers and how the situational context appeared to influence the criminal misconduct of police officers.

Public Perceptions Regarding The Police Bureau And Crime In Portland, Oregon, Brian Renauer, Kimberly Barsamian Kahn, Kris R. Henning, Greg Stewart

Criminal Justice Policy Research Institute Research Briefs

On September 12, 2012 the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) filed a complaint in the Federal District Court for Oregon asserting that the City of Portland has engaged in a pattern and practice of unnecessary or excessive force against persons experiencing a mental health crisis. This survey is the result of a settlement agreement between Portland’s City Council and the DOJ which specified the Portland Police Bureau (PPB) develop a means of assessing public perceptions.

This report examines public perceptions of PPB across four content areas that are highlighted in the DOJ settlement agreement. Data for the report were …

The Buzz About Ecstasy, University Of Dayton

Crime/Violence

Bibliography and photograph of a display of government documents from the University of Dayton, Ohio.

Law Enforcement Personnel And Lawmaking, Katrina Roberts

A with Honors Projects

Police officers have the difficult job of reconciling two deeply held but conflicting values: our desire to be safe and secure and our strong belief in the right of individuals to be free from government coercion and excessive control. How law enforcement officers and departments handle this conflict has a direct bearing on how the public sees them. As a culture, we expect our police officers to be able to balance these goals, but when they veer off too far we criticize them. At the extreme, too heavy a focus on order and safety may border on police brutality.

Control Fraud In America: Are We Structurally Encouraging Control Fraud?, Emmanuel J. Connell

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

Control fraud, defined as a criminal in control of a company using it as a weapon and shield to defraud others and makes it difficult to detect and punish the fraud, has become a social epidemic (Black, 2005, 1); (Wheeler & Rothman, 1982, 1403). Since the savings and loans scandal of the 1980's, control frauds have been looting and manipulating others virtually unchallenged by any government regulatory agencies. White collar control frauds cause billions of dollars in damage to the public annually, while that of street crime causes far less damage in the range of millions. Despite the disparity in …

Would Violent Offenders Benefit From Participation In Drug Court?, Arica Marlene Burke

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The benefits and implications of allowing violent offenders to participate in federally funded drug court programs was studied. Fourteen drug court team members gave their professional opinion about the potential benefits and implications of allowing violent offenders to participate in drug court programs. The survey results showed support for the hypothesis; however, narrative answers showed that the majority of members of the drug court team would not be in favor allowing violent offenders to participate in drug court programs.

Knowledge Of Juvenile Sex Offender Registration Laws As A Predictor Of Adolescent Sexual Behavior, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Margaret C. Stevenson, Tisha Ra Wiley

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Because juveniles can now be registered as sex offenders, we conducted a pilot study to investigate awareness of these policies and sexual behavior histories in a convenience sample of 53 young adults (ages 18 to 23, 79% women). These preliminary data revealed that 42% percent of participants were unaware that youth under the age of 18 can be registered as sex offenders, and when informed that they can be, participants were unaware of the breadth of adolescent sexual behavior that warrants registration. Furthermore, those unaware of juvenile registration policies, compared to those who were aware, were marginally more likely to …

The Inmate Code: The Stories Lived And The Stories Told Of Men Behind Bars, Pauline Matthey

Masters Theses

Using Coordinated Management of Meaning, this study links socialization and identification with the intricate levels of the inmate code that male prisoners live by, or live with anyway, while being incarcerated. In doing so, the research showed that the more highly identified to the inmate code a prisoner is, the less likely he is to have a desire to coordinate the meaning of his stories lived with the stories told of others. Furthermore, this project uncovered a characteristic of metamorphosis, the TRAP, or Temporary Relapse Alluding to the Past. TRAP takes place when prisoners who have developed the ability to …

Yogahome: Emotional, Physical And Social Impacts Of A Yoga Program On Community Homeless Shelter Residents, Jennifer Davis-Berman, Jean Farkas

Sociology, Anthropology, and Social Work Faculty Publications

This article reports on a qualitative analysis of semi-structured in-depth interviews conducted with 12 women and 2 men who participated in a community-based yoga program, run by a certified yoga teacher and a social worker, at a homeless shelter in a medium-sized city in the Midwestern United States. This restorative yoga program was developed in the shelter in response to the severe stress of being homeless and the chaotic nature of shelter life. Based on an analysis of transcribed interviews, the following themes were generated and discussed: Yoga as Relaxation, Stress Relief, Pain Relief, and Future Practice. The challenges and …

Victimization, Urbanicity, And The Relevance Of Context: School Routines, Race And Ethnicity, And Adolescent Violence, Anthony A. Peguero, Edwardo L. Portillos, Jun Sung Hong, Juan Carlos GonzáLez, Lindsay L. Kahle, Zahra Shekarkhar

Social Work Faculty Publications

The United States is undergoing a historical racial and ethnic demographic shift. There is limited criminological research exploring if and how these changes influence variation in the relationship between routine activity theory and adolescent violence. Although the link between routine activities and victimization has been tested and well established, criminologists have questioned if routine activities can explain adolescent violence across different social contexts. Prior research demonstrates that there are potential nuances in the theoretical connections between routine activities and victimization, particularly when considering race and ethnicity. This study builds on previous research by questioning if the elements of routine activities …

Socially Situated Identities Of Gay Gang- And Crime-Involved Men, Vanessa R. Panfil

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Within the criminological literature, gay men have primarily been portrayed as victims of anti-gay bias crimes or intimate partner violence, or as sex workers and/or drug users. This coverage, which is limited in scope, largely fails to recognize that gay men have agency (choice or power to control the situation). It also provides an incomplete picture regarding gay men's involvement in gangs, violence, and crime.

Developing A Typology Of Juvenile Sex Offenders, Creaig Anthony Dunton

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Understanding juvenile sex offenders is of the utmost importance in order to ensure effective treatment and reduce recidivism. A more thorough recognition of this population is the best option in preventing future offending, because most adult sex offenders began their criminal careers in adolescence. Extant typologies of this population have been limited to be only descriptive or not empirically verified and thus of limited use. Hierarchical cluster analysis is used to develop a taxonomy based upon the content of case files from two juvenile treatment programs, based upon demographic information, offense details, psychological and behavioral issues, and participation in treatment. …

Dynamics Of Drug Markets : An Examination Of Arrestee Drug Acquisition Behavior, Tanya T. Meisenholder

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Using data from the Arrestee Drug Abuse Monitoring (ADAM) program, and from the 2000 U.S. Census, this exploratory study examined drug market acquisition behaviors and how this behavior differs by drug type, user characteristics, and across locations. A descriptive and comparative assessment of drug markets and acquisition behavior revealed substantial differences within and across drug types. This wide variation was evident across drug market clientele and across locations, regardless of the measure considered. The analysis also demonstrated that this data can be used to identify drug buyers that may also be drug sellers. Hierarchical and K-means cluster analysis was used …

Gentrification And Crime In New York City 1980-2009, Michael Scott Barton

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

It is a well supported fact that crime rates in cities across the United States increased between the 1960s and 1980s before dramatically declining during the 1990s. While scholars agree that this decline occurred, they continue to debate the cause of the decline (Greenberg, 2013; Zimring, 2011). References to changes in neighborhood crime rates as a result of gentrification have been common in previous research on gentrification, but only a few studies have empirically assessed the association between gentrification and crime. Kreager, Lyons, and Hays (2011), Papachristos, Smith, Scherer, and Fugiero (2011), and Smith (2012), who utilized innovative measures of …

Factors Related To Recidivism Among Mentally Disordered Offenders : Differential Impact Of Historical And Dynamic Clinical Indicators Across Risk Level, Lori J. Torgersen

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Understanding the factors related to recidivism among mentally disordered offenders is important so that criminal justice and mental health systems can prioritize resources to intervene with those most likely to reoffend by targeting factors that are most likely to reduce risk. While there is a sound body of literature identifying the predictors of recidivism among non-disordered adult offenders, the same inquiry in the case of mentally disordered offenders has been more equivocal.

The New Welfare State : Reconsidering The Welfare-Crime Nexus, Colin Gruner

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

A sizeable body of literature has found that welfare reduces crime, but the majority of these studies have used data from before 1996. In 1996 the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act (PRWORA) radically changed the welfare system of the United States. Control of welfare programs shifted from the federal government to the states and PRWORA increased the emphasis on getting people off welfare via the introduction of lifetime limits on the receipt of aid and mandatory participation in work programs for able-bodied recipients. Consistent with this emphasis, researchers have documented a precipitous drop in caseload sizes across the …

Capital Punishment In The Lone Star State : A County-Level Analysis Of Contextual Effects On Sentencing, Jennifer Lynn Owens

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

In its landmark decision, Furman v. Georgia (1972), the Supreme Court held all existing death penalty statutes unconstitutional, largely due to the arbitrary nature of the capital sentencing processes that resulted from them. In response to the Furman decision, several states revised their death penalty statutes to address the Court's concerns. Although the Court upheld the newly-drafted statutes in Gregg v. Georgia (1976) and its companion cases, subsequently reinstating the death penalty, intrastate variation in death sentencing suggests that the death penalty may continue to be applied in an arbitrary and capricious manner inconsistent with the Eighth Amendment. This dissertation …