Matching Items (5)
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- All Subjects: Sex Offenders
- All Subjects: Adolescent
- Creators: Holtfreter, Kristy
- Creators: Arenas, Lauren
Description
The purpose of this preliminary study is to determine if sentencing disparities exist between male and female teachers who have been convicted of sexual misconduct with a student in Maricopa County, Arizona over a ten-year period. The hypothesis is that male teachers convicted of sexual misconduct with a student will receive harsher punishment than their female counterparts. In addition, this research will analyze the sentencing decisions of Arizona judges and prosecutors through plea-bargaining when compared with the presumptive sentence set by the Arizona Legislature. Issues that will be addressed include: a brief review of gender disparities in sentencing, sex offender sentencing, Arizona's rules of criminal procedure, and a review of the Arizona Revised Statutes pertaining to sexual crimes as well as the Arizona Supreme Court sentencing guidelines. The data set consists of fifteen different Maricopa County teachers who committed a sexual offense against a student and were convicted of that offense from February 2000 through September 2009. According to the results of this study, male teachers do receive harsher penalties than their female counterparts within Maricopa County.
ContributorsSimmon, Christopher (Author) / Holtfreter, Kristy (Thesis advisor) / Wright, Kevin (Committee member) / Spohn, Cassia (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
Although recent studies have report that many stressors and strains (i.e., financial, educational and psychological) arise from being an adolescent mother, whether adolescent motherhood influences delinquency remains an unanswered empirical question. Using data from a nationally representative sample of adolescents (National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health), the current study examines the relationship between motherhood, depression, and delinquency (N = 676). The sample is comprised of solely females between ages 13 and 21-years-old. The female subjects were categorized either as an adolescent mothers, non-mother adolescents, or adult mothers. This study tests the following hypotheses: (1) adolescent mothers are prone to involvement in delinquent behavior; and, (2) adolescent mothers who experience depression are at greater risk of delinquent behavior. The results indicate that there is a decrease in delinquency among adolescent mothers who do not experience depression. However, there is an increase in delinquency among adolescent mothers who experience depression.
ContributorsWalker, D'Andre (Author) / Holtfreter, Kristy (Thesis advisor) / Reisig, Micheal (Thesis advisor) / Burt, Callie (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
While there is a good amount of research focused on sex offenders as a whole, only a limited number of studies examine variations within these offenders, how people view the variations, and why their opinions may differ. This study focuses on the interconnections among gender norms, rape myth acceptance, and the perception of sex offenders by administering an online student survey. The survey measured rape myth acceptance and adherence to traditional gender roles to see how they affected perceptions of sex offenders. Perceptions were measured using vignettes that were varied by gender and the situation described. Results showed that higher rape myth acceptance would decrease the blameworthiness of the offender, that the offender was seen as more blameworthy when the offender was a male, and that women tended to see the offender as more blameworthy than men did. The type of sexual situation did not have an impact on blameworthiness, nor did adherence to gender roles. The findings support past research that suggests that rape myth acceptance can impact people’s opinions about offenders in sexual situations and specifically that these opinions differ depending on the gender of the offender. With some offenders being viewed as more blameworthy than others, it is necessary to examine sex offense laws to see how they may disproportionately affect some offenders and implement harsher punishments than the public may deem necessary.
ContributorsArenas, Lauren (Author) / Spohn, Cassia (Thesis advisor) / Fradella, Henry F. (Committee member) / Stolzenberg Roosevelt, Stacia (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
The primary purpose of this project is to study the correlation between exposure to sexually-explicit materials and sexual offending. A thorough literature review has been conducted. The analyses include the definitions and history of sexual deviancy and paraphilia, a review of existing research that examines the complex relationship between said materials and criminal behavior, methods individuals use to access sexually-explicit materials, and case studies of individuals whose behavior is relevant to the purposes of this study. There does not appear to be a causal relationship between these two factors. However, there is an intricate, interrelated dynamic between the two that is worth examining more thoroughly. Further research should study the timeline in which sexual offenders first consumed sexually-explicit material, as well as the genesis of their sexually-deviant behaviors. This may lead to a clearer comprehension of their psychosexual criminality. Further understanding will hopefully lead to improved policies proposed by law makers, refined prevention/intervention strategies by law enforcement, and more effective rehabilitative methods for offenders.
ContributorsDwyer, Brittny Elise (Author) / Rebecca, Loftus (Thesis director) / Randall, Snyder (Committee member) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
General theories of crime have frequently been used to explain a variety of offending and victimization experiences for a wide range of samples. However, feminist criminologists question whether the same causal mechanisms exert similar effects for males and females—a criticism that points to the need for sex-specific analyses. Toward that end, this dissertation examines variables derived from several different general theories of crime in three separate studies. Each of the studies uses split-sample analyses to investigate potential sex-based differences. The first study uses three-level meta-analytic methods to determine if predictor variables derived from general theories explain victimization for both adolescent males (n = 138,848) and adolescent females (n = 176,611). Additionally, it examines both within-dataset and between-dataset differences. The second study uses a sample of high school students in Arizona (n = 2,738 males, n = 2,932 females). It examines the role of parental social ties in explaining the overlap of adolescent dating violence (ADV) offending and victimization. The third study uses two waves of a longitudinal dataset of high-risk adolescents (n = 182 males, n = 203 females). It focuses on the relationship between negative emotions and delinquency, and the role of avoidant coping. In each of the studies, both gender-neutral and gender-specific explanations of offending and victimization were found. In the first study, while predictor variables derived from criminological theory explained victimization for both males and females, larger effect sizes were found for risky lifestyle variables. In the second study, an overlap between ADV offending and victimization was found for both males and females, and social ties explained some of the overlap. However, paternal attachment was only significant for females, and involvement was only significant for males. In the third study, avoidant coping was associated with an increase in substance abuse, and anger was associated with an increase in violent behavior for both males and females. Avoidant coping partially mediated the relationship between anger and substance use, but only for males. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.
ContributorsPusch, Natasha (Author) / Holtfreter, Kristy (Thesis advisor) / Reisig, Mike (Committee member) / Fine, Adam (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020