Matching Items (18)
Filtering by
- All Subjects: criminology
- Creators: Young, Jacob
Description
Prior research on sentencing and case processing has primarily focused on post-conviction outcomes and the relationship between sentencing outcomes and defendant- related characteristics such as race and gender. The research on pre-conviction outcomes not only is much smaller than the sentencing literature, but also largely neglects victim characteristics, especially in samples that include non-violent offenses. Drawing on the blameworthiness attribution theoretical perspective, the current study examines how certain victim characteristics, including race, gender, and criminal history, may influence certain stages of the judicial process. Additionally, the current study tests whether cases with person victims as opposed to business as victims are handled differently. Four court decisions were examined in this study: the filing decision, the decision to transfer the case to a lower court, the decision to find a defendant guilty, and the decision to sentence a defendant to prison. While legal characteristics were the most prominent predictors in these analyses, the study found that when victims were Black or Hispanic, cases were less likely to be filed and end in a guilty adjudication.
ContributorsErskine, Kymani Mailynn (Author) / Mitchell, Ojmarrh (Thesis advisor) / Yan, Shi (Committee member) / Pizarro, Jesenia (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
Intimate partner homicide (IPH) is the most serious consequence of intimate partner violence (IPV). Current research on IPH focuses primarily on relationships in a heterosexual binary when men perpetrate violence against female partners or vice versa. Those in same-sex relationships that fall outside of this lens have not received much attention in criminological research. The current study utilizes data from the Preventing and Assessing Intimate Partner Homicide Risk (PAIR) Studies, on three same-sex IPHs to examine the characteristics and contexts of these homicides, as well as the perceptions of others. In order, to understand characteristics that are specific to those in same-sex relationships, a case study was conducted utilizing thematic analysis to identify recurring themes or patterns in the cases. Five themes became evident through analysis including: power and control, undertreated mental illness, cultural lag, overkill, and repeat offending. The results from this study indicate that same-sex intimate partner homicides share similar characteristics and contexts with opposite-sex IPH, regardless of the relationship dyad. However, based on the relationship dyad the manifestations and context of IPV leading to IPH differ. Future research must be conducted to determine the motivations leading to, and the impact gender roles have on same-sex IPH.
ContributorsSwisher, Carson (Author) / Pizarro, Jesenia (Thesis advisor) / Messing, Jill (Committee member) / Fradella, Henry F. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
The number of girls in the juvenile justice system is rising; they make up the fastest-growing demographic within the juvenile justice system. Yet regardless of their rising numbers, current treatment plans, screening tools, and diversion programs do not adequately address the mental health problems that girls are six times more likely to experience than boys. Internalized suffering in the form of depression, mood disorders, and anxiety are significantly more prevalent for girls than for boys. Girls are also more likely to be suicidal and at risk of sexual exploitation and abuse. Despite the need for interventions and treatment options that consider these gender-related differences, there is limited research on this subject. The present study explores whether mental illness, substance use, and treatment influence criminal activity. Further, it examines how gender influences these relationships. Through use of logistic regression and data from the 2004 National Household Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH), the present study finds that mental illness, substance use, and treatment influences criminal activity. Furthermore, gender influences these relationships. The present study's findings indicate elevated risks of criminal involvement for youths using alcohol and marijuana, especially for males. Further, there are higher risk factors for becoming criminally involved for males who get into a serious fight at school or work. Therefore, those caring for youths, especially male youths, need to pay attention to any signs of alcohol and or marijuana use and intervene sooner rather than later.
ContributorsIsabella, Jeri Morgan (Author) / Spohn, Cassia (Thesis advisor) / Fine, Adam (Thesis advisor) / Yan, Shi (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
Since the start of the war on drugs, studies have found racial and ethnic disparities in sentencing outcomes among defendants convicted of drug offenses; however, several gaps in the drug literature remain regarding disparity-producing mechanisms, the role of drug offense characteristics, disparities in understudied groups, and possible solutions to unwarranted disparities in drug case outcomes. Using felony case-level data from the state of Florida (n = 3,058 felony drug cases), this dissertation examines three interrelated studies. Study 1 examines bail and pretrial detention practices as disparity-producing mechanisms in drug offense cases. The results of Study 1 suggest that significant variations in bail schedules in Florida’s 20 judicial circuits result in jurisdictional variation in the likelihood of pretrial detention, which subsequently, results in jurisdictional variation in pretrial and sentencing outcomes among drug offenders, given the direct effect of pretrial detention on case outcomes. Study 2 examines racial, ethnic, and immigration status disparities in pretrial and sentencing outcomes across various types of drug offenses and drug substances. The results of Study 2 suggest the presence of racial and ethnic disparities in drug case outcomes in Florida’s circuit courts, as well as the moderating role of drug offense characteristics on the effects of race and ethnicity on pretrial and sentencing outcomes. Study 3 examines whether progressive chief prosecutors, who campaign on a platform to reduce and, in some cases, refuse to prosecute low-level drug offenses, handle drug offenses differently than traditional prosecutors. The results of Study 3 indicate support that progressive chief prosecutors in Florida reduce mass incarceration and unwarranted racial and ethnic disparities in case processing and sentencing outcomes in drug offenses; however, there is still room for improvement in the progressive prosecution movement in Florida. The results of each study have direct implications for theory and policies aimed at creating a more effective and fair criminal justice system.
ContributorsOramas Mora, Daniela (Author) / Mitchell, Ojmarrh (Thesis advisor) / Spohn, Cassia (Thesis advisor) / Pizarro, Jesenia (Committee member) / Peguero, Anthony (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2024
Description
Social media has become a significant aspect of American life and culture.
Criminal groups including extremists of various ideological milieus have found social
media useful in their recruitment efforts. Further, these online spaces allow extremists to
easily interact with one another, reinforcing each other’s radical perspectives. Little
research has examined social media’s role in radicalization and fewer studies have tested
the differences between the radicalization processes of individuals espousing disparate
ideologies. Using Profiles of Individual Radicalization in the United States, a data set of
804 extremist men, this study sets out to determine whether the role of social media in the
radicalization process varies between Islamist and far right extremists using social
learning as a theoretical framework. The results indicate no significant difference
regarding the role of social media in radicalization between Islamists and far rightists.
Additionally, the odds of having radical friends and family were much lower for Islamists
than far rightists, suggesting only partial support for social learning theory as an
explanation of radicalization.
Criminal groups including extremists of various ideological milieus have found social
media useful in their recruitment efforts. Further, these online spaces allow extremists to
easily interact with one another, reinforcing each other’s radical perspectives. Little
research has examined social media’s role in radicalization and fewer studies have tested
the differences between the radicalization processes of individuals espousing disparate
ideologies. Using Profiles of Individual Radicalization in the United States, a data set of
804 extremist men, this study sets out to determine whether the role of social media in the
radicalization process varies between Islamist and far right extremists using social
learning as a theoretical framework. The results indicate no significant difference
regarding the role of social media in radicalization between Islamists and far rightists.
Additionally, the odds of having radical friends and family were much lower for Islamists
than far rightists, suggesting only partial support for social learning theory as an
explanation of radicalization.
ContributorsStewart, Connor James (Author) / Young, Jacob (Thesis advisor) / Decker, Scott (Committee member) / Telep, Cody (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Child advocacy centers provide a safe, child-friendly environment for the forensic interview and subsequent investigation of child victimization cases. However, very little research has examined the effects of burnout, secondary trauma, and organizational stressors on forensic interviewers. The goal of the present project was addressing the following research questions. Do forensic interviewers experience burnout and secondary trauma associated with their profession? How do organizational stressors mitigate or increase these effects among forensic interviewers? Data was collected by conducting an online survey of forensic interviewers working at child advocacy centers across the United States. Specifically, burnout was measured with the Oldenburg Burnout Inventory, and secondary trauma was measured with the Secondary Traumatic Stress Scale (STSS). The current study utilized bivariate correlations, and OLS regression models to analyze the effects of burnout, secondary trauma, and organizational stressors on forensic interviewers. The results indicate burnout and secondary trauma among interviewers in the sample. Job support, funding constraints, and heavy caseloads all influence the outcome measures. Policy recommendations include continued education, training, and mental health services for forensic interviewers. Future researchers should conduct qualitative interviews and expand on variables within the current dataset such as note taking, peer evaluations, and forensic interviewing protocols in order to gain further insight into this population.
ContributorsStarcher, Destinee (Author) / Stolzenberg, Stacia (Thesis advisor) / Telep, Cody (Committee member) / Young, Jacob (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Criminological theories have long incorporated personality traits as key explanatory factors and have generally relied on assumptions of trait stability. However, growing evidence from a variety of fields including criminology, psychology, and neurobiology is demonstrating that personality traits are malleable over the life-course, and substantial individual variation exists in the developmental patterns of personality traits over time. This research is forcing criminologists to consider how and why “enduring” individual characteristics may change over the life course in ways that are meaningfully related to offending. Two traits that have been consistently linked to offending and conflated in key criminological theories (i.e. Gottfredson and Hirschi’s self-control theory), impulsivity and sensation seeking, have recently been shown to be independent personality traits with different normative maturational timetables and biological underpinnings. This dissertation extends this work by examining developmental patterns of impulsivity and sensation seeking and social sources of variation in these traits with the Family and Community Health Survey, a longitudinal data set that consists of approximately 900 African American youth and their families followed from late childhood to their late-twenties. Multiple longitudinal modeling methods are employed (hierarchical linear modeling and group-based trajectory modeling) to address this research agenda. Results from this dissertation lead to four broad conclusions. First, and in support of existing research, there is substantial variability in developmental trajectories of impulsivity and sensation seeking. Average developmental trajectories of these traits greatly mask the degree of individual variability in developmental patterns that exists. Second, social factors are significantly associated with levels of impulsivity and sensation seeking. Socio-environmental experiences characterized by hostility and unsupportiveness are generally associated with elevated levels of impulsivity and sensation seeking while socio-environmental experiences characterized by warmth and supportiveness are associated with lower levels of impulsivity and sensation seeking. Third, sex differences in developmental patterns of impulsivity are nonexistent while sex differences in developmental patterns of sensation seeking are significant. Finally, with few exceptions, predictors of trait levels operate in a general fashion such the same factors typically explain both male and female trait levels and produce similar effects on impulsivity and sensation seeking.
ContributorsHannula, Kara Valentina (Author) / Sweeten, Gary (Thesis advisor) / Decker, Scott (Committee member) / Fine, Adam (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
Mentally ill offenders continue to contribute to mass-incarceration within the United States. The cost, both social and economic, of housing a large number of mentally ill inmates in our prison system has reached a breaking point. The need for empirically founded correctional research, with an emphasis on individuals who suffer from a mental illness, is crucial to reducing the number of incarcerated individuals in the United States. The current study analyzes whether mentally ill inmates reported statistically significant differences in levels of perceived reentry social support, when compared to their non-mentally ill counterparts. The current study utilized data from the APVP. The APVP contained a sample of 231 individuals, 121 female and 110 male, from two Arizona Department of Corrections facilities. The majority of respondents were white (44.58%), medium security (40.26%), non-married (77.49%), and had a mean age of 36.04 years (SD=11.74). The current study conducted both bivariate and multivariate analyses to determine whether mentally ill inmates perceived differences in the reentry social support available to them as compared to non-mentally ill inmates. Further multivariate analyses were conducted to determine whether there were any significant differences the key independent variable and the dependent variables across gender. Mentally ill female inmates reported significantly lower rates of perceived reentry social support in a number of emotional support factors. The findings of this study are a crucial first step for future empirical research on inmate perceptions of social support—perceptions that may directly affect successful reentry.
ContributorsOstertag, Nathan L (Author) / Wright, Kevin (Thesis advisor) / Telep, Cody (Committee member) / Young, Jacob (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
The question of how to reduce the recidivism rates among IPV offenders is one that plagues criminologists to this day. Though a difficult issue to address, educational treatment programs have started to gain popularity as one idea to achieve this reduction. By examining the dataset from the “Domestic Violence Experiment in King's County (Brooklyn), New York, 1995-1997,” conducted by Robert C. Davis et al. (2000), it was found that the results of the educational program showed a great promise in reducing recidivism rates. Though it is important to focus on and analyze the results from this study, it is also important to extrapolate from them by running and examining specific models and variables with the dataset. Focusing on specific variables within the dataset allows researchers to find different themes and results in smaller ideologies of research, versus trying to find one overall answer on how to reduce recidivism.
By examining specific variables such as length of relationship, I wonder how length of relationship between an IPV offender and victim impact recidivism rates? This thesis will discuss IPV history and theoretical perspectives, history of educational programs, length of relationship, and the dataset conducted by Davis et al. (2000).
This thesis examines how the likelihood of IPV recidivism is effected by length of relationship, the different length of treatment programs (overall, eight-week, or twenty-six-weeks), and the interaction between length of relationship and the different treatment programs. The results show overall that length of relationship slightly decreases the rate of recidivism for IPV. When length of relationship is ran in the models with the separate treatment programs, it is found that the overall treatment and twenty-six-week programs have drastic and significant reduction results on recidivism, but that the eight-week program actually increases recidivism rates slightly. The results also indicate that when examining the interaction between length of relationship and the different treatment programs, length of relationship slightly moderates the reduction of the recidivism rates for the individuals enrolled in the overall treatment and eight-week programs, but slightly increases the rates for those in the twenty-six-week program.
By examining specific variables such as length of relationship, I wonder how length of relationship between an IPV offender and victim impact recidivism rates? This thesis will discuss IPV history and theoretical perspectives, history of educational programs, length of relationship, and the dataset conducted by Davis et al. (2000).
This thesis examines how the likelihood of IPV recidivism is effected by length of relationship, the different length of treatment programs (overall, eight-week, or twenty-six-weeks), and the interaction between length of relationship and the different treatment programs. The results show overall that length of relationship slightly decreases the rate of recidivism for IPV. When length of relationship is ran in the models with the separate treatment programs, it is found that the overall treatment and twenty-six-week programs have drastic and significant reduction results on recidivism, but that the eight-week program actually increases recidivism rates slightly. The results also indicate that when examining the interaction between length of relationship and the different treatment programs, length of relationship slightly moderates the reduction of the recidivism rates for the individuals enrolled in the overall treatment and eight-week programs, but slightly increases the rates for those in the twenty-six-week program.
ContributorsWeldon, Shelby (Author) / Wallace, Danielle (Thesis advisor) / Young, Jacob (Committee member) / Pizarro, Jesenia (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016