Matching Items (20)
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
The #MeToo Movement has sparked debate across the world as to how prevalent sexual assault is and what can be done to help survivors. Although sexual assaults are the least likely crime to be reported to police, it is important to examine the criminal justice system’s treatment of these cases. The focus of this thesis is on the prosecution of sexual assault cases. Specifically, the goal is to uncover the factors that impact prosecutorial decision-making in sexual assault cases across three different timepoints. This study examines qualitative interviews conducted in 2010 with 30 Deputy District Attorneys from Los Angeles, California. Results reveal that prosecutors’ largely rely on their “gut feelings” about whether a case will be successful based on a combination of factors, including: victim credibility, availability of evidence, and corroboration of the victim’s story, just to name a few. The study concludes with an examination of these results, a discussion on the limitations of the study and a guide for future research, and what policy changes can come from these findings.
ContributorsHale, Julianna (Author) / Talbot, Kathleen (Thesis advisor) / Stolzenberg, Stacia (Committee member) / Spohn, Cassia (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2019
Description
The Zero Tolerance Policy began appearing in secondary schools in the early 1990's. In the late 1980's, crimes committed by juveniles were at an all-time high. Fears that the violence would spill onto campus propelled lawmakers and school officials to take preventative measures. With the creation of the Gun-Free School Zone Act of 1990 and Gun-Free Act of 1994, any individual caught with a weapon on campus would be found in violation of the Act and be punishable by law. In addition to the Acts, School Resource Officers (SROs) became more prominent on campus. SROs were originally on campus to teach drug prevention programs, however SROs began to take on more of a disciplinary role to support the Zero Tolerance Policy. Furthermore, educators began turning towards SROs to handle less serious incidents such as behavioral outbursts. As SROs took a more active role, arrests among students started to rise. Many think this is a direct pathway to our criminal justice system, more commonly known as the school-to-prison pipeline. This pipeline disproportionately affects African Americans. This paper will examine the creation, aims and purpose of the Zero Tolerance Policy as well as what incidents helped create and install the policy. This paper will look at what the Zero Tolerance Policy looks like since it has been enacted. Moreover, there will be a focus on which students are affected the most and if this policy will lead to criminal justice contact in the future. Lastly, alternatives to the Zero Tolerance Policy will be discussed and if the policy can be improved or should it be eliminated.
ContributorsSoto, Tatyana E. (Author) / Sweeten, Gary (Thesis director) / Stolzenberg, Stacia (Committee member) / School of Social Work (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
This study examined the type and frequency of questions asked by attorneys in cases of children alleging sexual abuse. Of interest was whether child age would affect the questions asked. The participants included 25 child witnesses testifying in criminal trials in Maricopa County over a recent ten-year period. Children were placed into two groups: younger (five to seven-year-olds) and older (eight to nine-year-olds). Every question asked, and answer provided, during children's testimony, was systematically and reliably coded for the content of the interaction. Attorneys exhibited developmental sensitivity, varying the amount of question they asked across content areas by the age of the child. In addition, attorneys varied in what they asked about: the prosecution focused more on the plausibility of abuse, whereas the defense focused more on how others may have suggestively influenced the child's report. Both attorneys were equally concerned about the consistency of narratives. The findings from the present study have direct policy implications for how attorneys structure their arguments, both in an attempt to establish, and question, children's credibility in these important cases. Keywords: children, age, suggestibility, consistency, inconsistency, plausibility
ContributorsHogan, Caitlyn Rose (Author) / Stolzenberg, Stacia (Thesis director) / Fradella, Hank (Committee member) / College of Public Service and Community Solutions (Contributor) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
Description
This research study looked at frequency and proportion of suggestive questions (negative term, statement, and tag), the age of the child, and the attorney conducting the examination (prosecution versus defense). The population of this study was obtained from Maricopa County Attorney's Office court transcripts from 2005-2015 and the sample included 64 minors between the ages of 5-12 years old. The present study showed that regarding frequency, there was no significant difference between the number of suggestive questions asked by the prosecution and defense, however, when looked at the proportion of these questions, prosecution asked significantly fewer suggestive questions compared to the defense. Older children (9-12 year olds) receive more, both in terms of frequency and proportion, suggestive questions than younger children (5-8 year olds). Lastly, children typically gave elaborate responses to suggestive questions from the defense more than from the prosecution. This study shows that attorneys are using problematic methods when questioning children between the ages of 5-12 years old and these suggestive methods may affect the child's ability to provide credible testimony.
ContributorsMcDonald, Ashley (Author) / Stolzenberg, Stacia (Thesis director) / Fradella, Hank (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
Most of the existing literature on how alleged sexual offenders interact with children is based on the perspectives of offenders themselves. Few studies have explored children's accounts of their relationship with their perpetrator before the abuse and/or disclosure. To address this gap, the current study investigated children’s reported first and later impressions of their alleged sexual perpetrators. Using qualitative content coding, we examined 34 transcripts of forensic interviews relating to child sexual abuse and categorized the impressions into three main types: positive, neutral, and negative. A majority of the first impressions were positive or neutral while most of the later impressions were negative. Impressions were complex and varied widely within a single category. Analyzing children’s rationale for their first impressions can provide insight into their thought processes as well as allow for an analysis of the perpetrator behavior. The examination of first and later impressions can be a crucial variable for practitioners and scholars to study, as it can quickly assess the evolution of the child-offender relationship and elicit information about perpetrator tactics such as grooming and seduction.
ContributorsTran, Sydney (Author) / Stolzenberg, Stacia (Thesis director) / Lawler, Siobhan (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Sanford School of Social and Family Dynamics (Contributor) / School of Human Evolution & Social Change (Contributor)
Created2023-05
Description
Missing children are very sensitive cases where any kind of help is needed from the community and authorities. The definition is a child under 17 years of age where guardians or family are not aware of their whereabouts requires much effort and resources to bring them home. However, what happens when those efforts are not to the same extent as other missing children? This has been seen among missing children of different races that have similar cases and circumstances. The different tools and resources needed such as AMBER Alerts, social media, journalism, and police reaction have resulted in vastly different endings for these children. Different states and communities have been faced with the same issue and have only grown. Statistics show that Black children have been at a disadvantage of these resources and have stayed missing all too often. This issue has been brought to attention by many outlets and members of the community questioning why this is happening to their children. To counteract this issue, organizations and platforms have emerged to raise awareness for these disadvantaged children and hope to bring them home to put an end to this.
ContributorsTarin Reyes, Mayrani (Author) / Hasaley, Hilary (Thesis director) / Stolzenberg, Stacia (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor)
Created2022-12
ContributorsTarin Reyes, Mayrani (Author) / Hasaley, Hilary (Thesis director) / Stolzenberg, Stacia (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor)
Created2022-12
ContributorsTarin Reyes, Mayrani (Author) / Hasaley, Hilary (Thesis director) / Stolzenberg, Stacia (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor)
Created2022-12
Description
In this thesis, the researcher analyzed 100 court transcripts of criminal trial testimony where children (those under 17 years old) alleging sexual abuse identified a first disclosure recipient. This thesis explores how the age and gender of these children were related to who they reported to as their first disclosure recipient. This thesis found that mothers were overwhelmingly the first disclosure recipient, regardless of victim age, in 35.35% of the cases. There was no significant relationship found to suggest that as a victim ages, they are more likely to tell a same-aged peer in adolescence. In addition, there was no relationship found between the victim's age and disclosure to someone of the same gender; however, almost all of the first disclosure recipients were women (79%). A relationship was found between age and disclosure to a parental figure; for every year older a victim was they were 1.147 times more likely to first disclose to a parental figure. These results suggest an increased importance for further study of first disclosure recipients and procedures to decrease dead-end disclosures.
ContributorsMcDermott, Heather (Author) / Stolzenberg, Stacia (Thesis director) / Elqadah, Zeina (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor)
Created2023-12