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- Creators: Barrett, The Honors College
Description
This thesis project was a response to the NFL's struggles with domestic violence in the recent past. To contextualize the issue, this paper examines key domestic violence statistics and rates in the United States. Also discussed are the issues that United States law enforcement has with domestic violence cases, namely a problem with under-reporting and inconsistent arrest policies from state to state. Controversy surrounding NFL players and domestic violence was sparked by Ray Rice's arrest in 2014 and exacerbated by the league's light discipline of Rice. This paper attempts to uncover the root causes of the NFL's domestic violence problem and identifies issues the league has in terms of its inconsistent punishment history for domestic violence offenses, recent arrest trends for NFL players and the efforts the league and its members have made to combat the issue. Also considered are the ways the NFL has attempted to resolve the issue of domestic violence. The paper examines the policies set forth in the NFL's personal conduct policy as well as partnerships the league has made with nationwide organizations dedicated to education and prevention of domestic violence, including NO MORE and the National Domestic Violence Hotline. This thesis also compares the NFL's policies regarding domestic violence to that of its peers, Major League Baseball and the National Basketball Association. Lastly, the thesis offers several recommendations to the NFL for how it can rectify its prior shortcomings. These recommendations include revamped education programs for players, heightened disciplinary standards and more open communication with fans and outsiders.
ContributorsBeck, Ian Christopher (Author) / DeCarolis, Claudine (Thesis director) / Brumfield, Kenya (Committee member) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor) / W. P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
The effects that forensic-themed programs such as CSI: Crime Scene Investigation has on the public's understanding and expectations of the criminal justice system has been a main focus of study in recent years. This phenomenon was coined by the media and termed the "CSI Effect." This study aimed to research the correlations between age, gender, and program-watching habits on potential juries' evidence expectations in court. To do so, 70 people were surveyed and asked a series of demographic questions, as well as questions about how often they watch forensic-themed shows and their experience with the criminal justice system. They were given a mock crime scene scenario and asked about their scientific and non-scientific evidence expectations in this particular case. The most notable results showed that a longer exposure time to forensic-themed programs correlated to high evidence expectations. However, how often viewers watch forensic-themed programs did not seem to affect their evidence expectations. It was concluded that the higher evidence expectations by modern jurors may be due to a combination of the "CSI Effect" and the newly hypothesized "Tech Effect," instead of just being the consequence of the watching too much forensic-themed television.
ContributorsJones, Kristin Taylor (Author) / Kobojek, Kimberly (Thesis director) / Lafond, Sue (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences (Contributor)
Created2014-05
Description
A global trend towards cashlessness following the increase in technological advances in financial transactions lends way to a discussion of its various impacts on society. As part of this discussion, it is important to consider how this trend influences crime rates. The purpose of this project is to specifically investigate the relationship between a cashless society and the robbery rate. Using data collected from the World Bank’s Global Financial Inclusions Index and the United Nations Office of Drugs and Crime, we implemented a multilinear regression to observe this relationship across countries (n = 29). We aimed to do this by regressing the robbery rate on cashlessness and controlling for other related variables, such as gross domestic product and corruption. We found that as a country becomes more cashless, the robbery rate decreases (β = -677.8379, p = 0.071), thus providing an incentive for countries to join this global trend. We also conducted tests for heteroscedasticity and multicollinearity. Overall, our results indicate that a reduction in the amount of cash circulating within a country negatively impacts robbery rates.
ContributorsChoksi, Aashini S (Co-author) / Elliott, Keeley (Co-author) / Goegan, Brian (Thesis director) / McDaniel, Cara (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Department of Economics (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Sentencing reform has been the subject of much debate in the 21st century and has resulted in a great deal of consternation in state and federal systems of government (Chesney-Lind, 2012). The public does not view incarceration as an important topic needing attention or requiring change, which makes invisible the needs and histories of prisoners as a consequence of not addressing them (Connor, 2001). Through an analysis of the spectrum of women’s crime, ranging from non-violent drug trafficking to homicide, I conclude within this paper that the criminal justice system was written as a male-oriented code of addressing crime, which has contributed to women being made into easier targets for arrest and female imprisonment at increasing rates for longer lengths of time.
In the last decade, California’s imprisoned population of women has increased by nearly 400% (Chesney-Lind, 2012). The focus of this thesis is to discuss the treatment—or lack thereof—of women within California’s criminal justice system and sentencing laws. By exploring its historical approach to two criminal actions related to women, the Three Strikes law (including non-violent drug crimes) and the absence of laws accounting for experiences of female victims of domestic violence who killed their abusers, I explore how California’s criminal code has marginalized women, and present a summary of the adverse effects brought about by the gender invisibility that is endemic within sentencing policies and practice. I also discuss recent attempted and successful reforms related to these issues, which evidence a shift toward social dialogue on sentencing aiming to address gender inequity in the sentencing code. These reforms were the result of activism; organizations, academics and individuals successfully raised awareness regarding excessive and undue sentencing of women and compelled action by the legislature.
By method of a feminist analysis of these histories, I explore these two pertinent issues in California; both are related to women who, under harsh sentencing laws, were incarcerated under the state’s male-focused legislation. Responses to the inequalities found in these laws included attempts toward both visibility for women and reform related to sentencing. I analyze the ontology of sentencing reform as it relates to activism in order to discuss the implications of further criminal code legislation, as well as the implications of the 2012 reforms in practice. Through the paper, I focus upon how women have become a target of arrest and long sentences not because they are strategically arrested to equalize their representation behind bars, but because the “tough on crime” framework in the criminal code cast a wide and fixed net that incarcerated increasingly more women following the codification of both mandatory minimums and a male-oriented approach to sentencing (Chesney-Lind et. al, 2012).
In the last decade, California’s imprisoned population of women has increased by nearly 400% (Chesney-Lind, 2012). The focus of this thesis is to discuss the treatment—or lack thereof—of women within California’s criminal justice system and sentencing laws. By exploring its historical approach to two criminal actions related to women, the Three Strikes law (including non-violent drug crimes) and the absence of laws accounting for experiences of female victims of domestic violence who killed their abusers, I explore how California’s criminal code has marginalized women, and present a summary of the adverse effects brought about by the gender invisibility that is endemic within sentencing policies and practice. I also discuss recent attempted and successful reforms related to these issues, which evidence a shift toward social dialogue on sentencing aiming to address gender inequity in the sentencing code. These reforms were the result of activism; organizations, academics and individuals successfully raised awareness regarding excessive and undue sentencing of women and compelled action by the legislature.
By method of a feminist analysis of these histories, I explore these two pertinent issues in California; both are related to women who, under harsh sentencing laws, were incarcerated under the state’s male-focused legislation. Responses to the inequalities found in these laws included attempts toward both visibility for women and reform related to sentencing. I analyze the ontology of sentencing reform as it relates to activism in order to discuss the implications of further criminal code legislation, as well as the implications of the 2012 reforms in practice. Through the paper, I focus upon how women have become a target of arrest and long sentences not because they are strategically arrested to equalize their representation behind bars, but because the “tough on crime” framework in the criminal code cast a wide and fixed net that incarcerated increasingly more women following the codification of both mandatory minimums and a male-oriented approach to sentencing (Chesney-Lind et. al, 2012).
ContributorsD'Souza, Kristin Tessa (Author) / Gomez, Alan (Thesis director) / Fonow, Mary Margaret (Committee member) / Leone Hamm, Donna (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor)
Created2013-05
Description
Since the inception of what is now known as the Behavioral Analysis Unit (BAU) at the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in the 1970s, criminal profiling has become an increasingly prevalent entity in both forensic science and the popular imagination. The fundamental idea of which profiling is premised – behavior as a reflection of personality – has been the subject of a great deal of misunderstanding, with professionals and nonprofessionals alike questioning whether profiling represents an art or a science and what its function in forensic science should be. To provide a more thorough understanding of criminal profiling’s capabilities and its efficacy as a law enforcement tool, this thesis will examine the application of criminal profiling to investigations, various court rulings concerning profiling’s admissibility, and the role that popular media plays in the perception and function of the practice. It will also discuss how future research and regulatory advancements may strengthen criminal profiling’s scientific merit and legitimacy.
ContributorsGeraghty, Bridget Elizabeth (Author) / Kobojek, Kimberly (Thesis director) / Gruber, Diane (Committee member) / School of International Letters and Cultures (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
Much of modern urban planning in the United States is concerned with making cities more walkable. However, this is occurring as the urban landscape of the U.S. is altered radically by changes in crime patterns after the summer of 2020. This paper seeks to find out what the relationship is between walkability and crime in major U.S. cities after 2020. Using multiple linear regressions at the city and neighborhood scale, walkability is found to be a significant, positive predictor of 2019 violent crime rate, 2020 violent crime rate, 2020 property crime rate, and 2020 total crime rate at the city level. It was found to be a positive, but not significant predictor at the neighborhood level. Walkability has no protective influence against crime/rising crime, and it appears that as crime gets worse it tends to get worse in the cities that are more walkable, but other variables such as African American population are better determinants of crime. Urban planners should seek to increase walkability while also finding a way to mitigate potential exposure to crime.
ContributorsWeisman, Holden (Author) / Kelley, Jason (Thesis director) / Salon, Deborah (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Geographical Sciences and Urban Planning (Contributor)
Created2023-05
Description
It is no surprise that crime has become an interest to people both nationally and globally. It is impossible to turn on a TV without hearing cable news talking about a bank robbery or a murder, or a political hearing of some sort. Crime TV shows are incredibly common—there are whole channels dedicated to just crime, and many prime-time TV shows deal with some form of crime, most often the law enforcement teams that interact with it. Movies and books about crime are also incredibly common—most movie theaters have at least one horror movie or psychological thriller on show at a given time, and books stores and libraries have entire sections about true crime and mysteries.
Crime has become an inescapable part of being a consumer and viewer in today’s society. The interest in crime, however, could not have just been created by the media or a few specific parties and gained the amount of attention that is has today. Crime has been of interest since ancient times, seen immortalized in art and literature with famous events like the death of Socrates and the assassination of Julius Caesar. However, only more modern advances in media and the growth in consumerism could have led to interest and commodification of crime as we see it today. Landmark cases like Ted Bundy and O.J. Simpson have contributed to the growth of the media landscape, but because of the cyclical nature of the news and consumer cycle, these cases would not differ much in the way that they would be covered today, even with the new methods of disseminating information that we have today, such as social media and news websites that are accessible by everyone. Crime as entertainment has been a product not just of the media and popular culture but also from American consumers who continue to give media and pop culture producers a consumer who wishes to view their content and to continue to further the interest in crime. Media and popular culture are not the only people to blame for the popularization of crime as a product; people in the United States, and globally, are just as much responsible for the creation of crime as entertainment.
Crime has become an inescapable part of being a consumer and viewer in today’s society. The interest in crime, however, could not have just been created by the media or a few specific parties and gained the amount of attention that is has today. Crime has been of interest since ancient times, seen immortalized in art and literature with famous events like the death of Socrates and the assassination of Julius Caesar. However, only more modern advances in media and the growth in consumerism could have led to interest and commodification of crime as we see it today. Landmark cases like Ted Bundy and O.J. Simpson have contributed to the growth of the media landscape, but because of the cyclical nature of the news and consumer cycle, these cases would not differ much in the way that they would be covered today, even with the new methods of disseminating information that we have today, such as social media and news websites that are accessible by everyone. Crime as entertainment has been a product not just of the media and popular culture but also from American consumers who continue to give media and pop culture producers a consumer who wishes to view their content and to continue to further the interest in crime. Media and popular culture are not the only people to blame for the popularization of crime as a product; people in the United States, and globally, are just as much responsible for the creation of crime as entertainment.
ContributorsCooke, Emilie (Author) / Kobojek, Kimberly (Thesis director) / Gordon, Karen (Committee member) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor) / School of Mathematical and Natural Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Realistically, everyone should either be in jail or in court for crimes that everybody
commits. Outside of the house, there are people speeding, jaywalking, littering, sharing
medication, and driving without seat belts. Inside the house, people are downloading
music/movies, drinking while underage, using (and abusing) social media while under the age of
18, and reading another person’s mail. With so much of a focus on serious crimes, or felonies,
people tend to forget about the everyday actions in America that are also illegal. For example, a
police officer may not do anything if several cars are going well over the speed limit on the
highway, because it is normalized. This paper explores two sides of this issue: the psychological
side and the legal side. The goal is to find out how culpable people really are for their actions
when they do not have the mental intent that the they are determined to have in court. All human
behavior will be divided into two sections (people with non-extreme mental disorders and people
who have total control over their behavior). First, I dive into the complexity of anxiety,
depression, and ADHD, and explain how these disorders will subtly change someone’s behavior.
Next, I examine how actions like speeding and jaywalking and explain how certain illegal
actions have become so normalized that people may not be very guilty, even when they are
knowingly committing these crimes. I use different misdemeanors as examples for each of these
types of behaviors to argue why people should be more culpable (aggravating factors) or less
culpable (mitigating factors) because of their respective predispositions. Finally, I discuss issues
of fixing the criminal justice system such as: how to make all punishments fair/accurate, how to
fix the public’s distrust towards the law, and how to stop these normalized illegal behaviors for
all people, regardless of mental health or intent.
commits. Outside of the house, there are people speeding, jaywalking, littering, sharing
medication, and driving without seat belts. Inside the house, people are downloading
music/movies, drinking while underage, using (and abusing) social media while under the age of
18, and reading another person’s mail. With so much of a focus on serious crimes, or felonies,
people tend to forget about the everyday actions in America that are also illegal. For example, a
police officer may not do anything if several cars are going well over the speed limit on the
highway, because it is normalized. This paper explores two sides of this issue: the psychological
side and the legal side. The goal is to find out how culpable people really are for their actions
when they do not have the mental intent that the they are determined to have in court. All human
behavior will be divided into two sections (people with non-extreme mental disorders and people
who have total control over their behavior). First, I dive into the complexity of anxiety,
depression, and ADHD, and explain how these disorders will subtly change someone’s behavior.
Next, I examine how actions like speeding and jaywalking and explain how certain illegal
actions have become so normalized that people may not be very guilty, even when they are
knowingly committing these crimes. I use different misdemeanors as examples for each of these
types of behaviors to argue why people should be more culpable (aggravating factors) or less
culpable (mitigating factors) because of their respective predispositions. Finally, I discuss issues
of fixing the criminal justice system such as: how to make all punishments fair/accurate, how to
fix the public’s distrust towards the law, and how to stop these normalized illegal behaviors for
all people, regardless of mental health or intent.
ContributorsHildebrand, David Abel (Author) / Rigoni, Adam (Thesis director) / Cavanaugh-Toft, Carolyn (Committee member) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
This study examines what factors have influenced the St. Louis homicide spike between 2011 and 2018. The study uses data provided by the U.S. Census Bureau and the St. Louis Missouri Police Department, including information on population, poverty levels, race, homicide demographics, and homicide toxicology reports to analyze possible explanations for the high rates in homicide. In this study, I explore literature on elements associated with homicide that could be responsible for the high levels in St. Louis. Concepts of concentrated disadvantage, drug markets, firearms, regional differences, and the Ferguson Effect are reviewed and then evaluated in regard to the St. Louis data. I found that the high rates of homicide are related to high levels of concentrated disadvantage, increased use of drugs, increased homicide by firearm, and regional differences within the broader context of the city.
ContributorsMercer, Mackenzie (Author) / Chamberlain, Alyssa (Thesis director) / Sweeten, Gary (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Whether fights to the death, or a masked murderer chasing an unwilling teen, viewers are seemingly drawn to human suffering. This thesis will examine the blurring of lines between traditional horror and crime films to better understand how both films provide a similar experience, as well as apply traditional film theories on pleasurable viewership to both genres, in an attempt to discover viewers’ attraction to the perverse.
ContributorsBenavidez, Markus A (Author) / Miller, April (Thesis director) / Mack, Robert (Committee member) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05