Matching Items (117)
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- All Subjects: criminology
- Genre: Masters Thesis
- Creators: Arizona State University
Description
There is a wealth of knowledge about the harmful effects of prisons. This expertise on negative experiences has resulted in a limited understanding of incarcerated people’s strengths and how prisons may be places where growth can occur. Some researchers have discovered narratives of positivity and identity reconstruction among people in prison who have described their experiences as transformative. However, there is little knowledge about the nuanced aspects of their positive experiences and less understanding about how this information can be translated into practice. The effects of age on positive experiences have also gone unexamined within this literature, despite known linkages between age and positive outcomes such as fulfillment in life and desistance from crime. Through structured interviews with 100 incarcerated women, the current study uses thematic analysis to identify themes within women’s responses to a prompt about a time they felt their best in prison and how these themes vary according to their ages. Four major themes were identified across all responses: accomplishments, personal growth, healthy relationships, and helping and supporting others. While accomplishments and personal growth remained the most common themes across responses from women of all adult life stages (i.e., young, middle, and late adulthood) the theme of helping and supporting others was more often the focus in responses from women in middle and late adulthood (ages 35-83) compared to women in young adulthood (ages 21-34). The results have important implications for taking action to identify the sources of incarcerated people’s positive experiences and provide the means to generate and reinforce them.
ContributorsWhite, Hannah Rose (Author) / Wright, Kevin A (Thesis advisor) / Young, Jacob T N (Committee member) / Stolzenberg, Stacia (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
Despite the constitutional right to trial, the vast majority of defendants waive this right and enter a guilty plea. There are many factors defendants consider when entering a plea, with the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic being the newest factor that may impact defendant decision making. Previous research has found that both innocent and guilty participant defendants were more likely to plead guilty when provided information on COVID-19 outbreaks. Additionally, innocent defendants ranked concerns related to COVID-19 higher than guilty defendants in driving their plea decisions. As the pandemic continues to evolve, so do the various policies and tactics used to reduce transmission rates. This thesis expands on previous work by employing an experimental plea simulation on a college sample to see how varying levels of COVID-19 mitigation strategies in a jail setting impact plea decision making. Varying levels of COVID-19 mitigation efforts on their own did not significantly impact plea decision making; however, presenting COVID-19 related information did increase the willingness to accept a guilty plea more generally. Given the possibility of innocent defendants pleading guilty, this thesis demonstrates the importance of reforming the application of pretrial detention and calls for more oversight into plea negotiations.
ContributorsForston, Jacob W (Author) / Yan, Shi (Thesis advisor) / Mitchell, Ojmarrh (Committee member) / Wilford, Miko (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
ABSTRACT
The legalization of marijuana is increasing in the United States. With more dispensaries opening, it is essential to look at these businesses' impacts on neighborhood crime rates. Alcohol outlets are known as crime attractors/crime generators, and their presence in a neighborhood is also significant to look at when investigating violent crime rates. It is crucial then to take both marijuana and alcohol outlets together to determine the effects these facilities have on aggravated assault and robbery in a neighborhood. To assess the impact of marijuana outlets, on-premises alcohol outlets, and off-premises alcohol outlets in Los Angeles, California, on aggravated assaults and robberies, this thesis uses Los Angeles business, crime, and census data. The study addresses the following research questions: (1) Does an additional marijuana outlet in a neighborhood increase aggravated assaults and robberies? (2) Does the presence of on- and off-premises alcohol outlets increase aggravated assault and robbery? (3) Does the presence of multiple types of risky businesses increase violent crime? The current study finds an increase in aggravated assaults and robberies when marijuana outlets and on- and off-premises outlets are located in a neighborhood. The only non-significant finding is when all three outlet types were present; marijuana outlets are the only outlet type not associated with an increase in robbery. These findings suggest that limits should be placed on the number of risky retailers in a neighborhood and provides policy implications directed toward reducing violent crime near marijuana and alcohol outlets.
KEYWORDS alcohol outlets, marijuana outlets, aggravated assault, robbery
ContributorsStowell, Sierra (Author) / Chamberlain, Alyssa (Thesis advisor) / Wallace, Danielle (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
When questioning children during courtroom testimony, attorneys are instructed to use questions that are short and simple to address children’s cognitive abilities; however, this typically leads to anaphora. Anaphora occurs when a word is substituted for a previously mentioned word, phrase, or concept. For example, the pronoun “he” in “Bill is moving to New York. He is very excited.” indicates an anaphora since the word “he” replaces the name Bill. When asked a question that includes a pronoun-specific anaphora, the respondent must use cognitive skills to refer back to the initial referent. This likely means that as the number of conversational turns between the initial referent and the end of the reference increases, there will be more probable miscommunications between children and attorneys in cases of alleged Child Sexual Abuse (CSA). In this thesis, I analyzed 40 testimonies from cases of alleged child sexual abuse (5-10 years old, 90% female), located attorney use of pronoun anaphora, backward reference distances, and identified probable misunderstandings. I identified 137 probable misunderstandings within 2,940 question-answer pairs that included pronoun anaphora. Attorneys averaged 4.1 questions before clarifying the referent (SD = 10.14), sometimes extending up to 146 lines, leading to considerable backwards referencing. The distance between the anaphora and referent had a significant effect on misunderstandings, where each additional Q-A pair made misunderstandings more likely to occur. To reduce misunderstanding, attorneys should avoid pronoun anaphora of excessive length that require children to backward reference.
ContributorsRuiz-Earle, Ciara Aisling (Author) / Stolzenberg, Stacia (Thesis advisor) / Fine, Adam (Committee member) / Yan, Shi (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
Due to numerous instances of police brutality in the U.S., researchers and policymakers have urged police to shift their job orientation to become more guardian-oriented (i.e., prioritizing community safety and building relationships) and less warrior-oriented (i.e., prioritizing physical control and fighting crime). Using the group engagement model and the expectancy disconfirmation hypothesis, this study examined: (1) young adults’ desire for police to be warrior- or guardian-oriented, (2) their perceptions of the extent to which police in their community are warrior- or guardian-oriented, and (3) the association between participants’ perceptions of the discrepancy between what police in their community should be versus are perceived to actually be and police legitimacy. In this study, a racially and ethnically diverse sample of young adults aged 18-25 in the United States (N = 436) responded to a self-report survey. Participants preferred police to have more of a guardian than warrior orientation and reported that police are not as guardian oriented as they wanted them to be. Further, if police did not meet their guardian expectations, young adults had more negative perceptions of police legitimacy. Expectations for police behavior may influence police legitimation and, within the context of police reform, young adults support the call for police to be more guardian-oriented by prioritizing community safety and building relationships. Fostering a guardian orientation in police is particularly important for police departments that are interested in promoting perceptions of legitimacy among the communities they serve.
ContributorsCross, Allison (Author) / Fine, Adam D (Thesis advisor) / Stolzenberg, Stacia (Committee member) / O'Hara, Karey (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
This study tested hypotheses derived from general strain theory, including whether the disposition for crime (e.g., trait anger and low self-control) and prosocial
coping moderate the link between state-based negative emotions and maladaptive coping.
A 2x2 factorial vignette was embedded in a survey instrument and administered to a
university-based sample (N = 503). The results from the regression models support
different parts of general strain theory, such as the direct effect of strain on negative
emotions, the effect of negative emotions on aggressive coping, and the mediating effect
of negative emotions. Finally, the effect of some negative emotions on aggressive coping
were moderated by trait anger, low self-control, and prosocial coping. The findings of
this study support the argument that dispositions to maladaptive coping amplify the
effects of negative emotion and underscore the importance of establishing prosocial
coping resources.
Keywords: emotions, general strain theory, low self-control, maladaptive coping
ContributorsWood, Margaret Tynan (Author) / Reisig, Michael D. (Thesis advisor) / Young, Jacob T.N. (Committee member) / Telep, Cody W. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
The purpose of this study is to examine how sex influences the physical demandof weapons used in homicide. The study focuses on two research questions using data
from Newark, New Jersey: (1) Does sex influence the use of a weapon that is more or
less physically demanding to commit homicide? and (2) Does the sex dyad of the
offender and victim influence using a weapon that is more or less physically demanding?
The descriptive analysis shows significant relationships between the sex dyad of the
offender and victim in homicide and the level of physical demand used to perpetrate
homicide. The logistic multinomial regression analysis shows suspect sex and suspect
and victim sex dyads significantly predict the physical demand of the weapons used to
perpetrate homicide compared to those who utilized weapons of low physical demand.
The results support the need to challenge traditional perspectives regarding the role of sex
in criminal decision-making and seek to integrate more intersectional and gendered
explanations into neoclassical theories of criminal behavior. Theoretical implications and
future avenues of research are also discussed.
ContributorsAlvarez, Gabriel (Author) / Pizarro, Jesenia M. (Thesis advisor) / Messing, Jill T. (Committee member) / Wallace, Danielle (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022