In Florida, the law enforcement response to burglaries is estimated to cost $1.3 billion, yet little is understood about whether specific types of enforcement and investigation strategies have an impact on reducing the incidence of burglary. Using Cohen and Felson's concept of guardianship as part of routine activities theory as the foundation, the purpose of this quantitative cross-sectional study was to examine whether any or all crime reduction strategies (community policing, intelligence led policing, Compare Statistics policing, traditional policing, hot spot policing, and evidence based policing) when combined with urbanity, household income, the sworn officers per 1000 population are statistically associated with reductions in burglary rates. Data were collected from 64 of the 67 sheriff's offices in Florida through a researcher developed survey. Data were analyzed using multiple linear regression. Findings indicate that there is no statistical significance between type of crime reduction strategy and burglary rates. Median household income was the only covariate associated with residential burglaries with areas of higher incomes associated with lower burglary rates (p = .023). The positive social change implications stemming from this study include recommendations for law enforcement officials to examine how they are engaging in guardianship in less affluent communities and developing a measurement on how to evaluate crime reduction strategies that are more mutually exclusive with clearly defined outcomes. Implementation of these recommendations may reduce burglaries thereby promoting safer communities and mediating financial and emotional losses experienced by community members.

Women comprise 50.8% of the United States population and 47% of the workforce, and over the past few decades, many women have been promoted to midmanagement positions in Fortune 500 and other major corporations, but few run companies at the executive levels. The research problem addressed the underrepresentation of women in top leadership positions in the executive suite. The purpose of this study was to explore the perceptions of women in upper level management in large corporations on rising to the C-suite. A basic qualitative naturalistic inquiry was used employing interviews in collecting and analyzing the data. The targeted population was 15 women in senior positions between the ages of 25 and 60, who have worked for a company with a minimum of 5 years' experience. Introductions by friends and snowballing sampling were used to select 15 participants for the semistructured interviews. The results of the interviews were analyzed through the completion of a content analysis obtained through coding to allow for the identification of emergent themes. Key findings indicated the emergence of the following themes: loss of confidence, mentoring, sponsoring, and diversity. The study was socially significant in that it provided information for policy changes, access to sponsorship and mentorship programs, and promotion of social change in relation to gender equality in the workplace.

Guided by traditional and micro-level theories, the present study seeks to identify the relationship between race/ethnicity and risk factors in the Florida juvenile justice system. Central to this explanation is the understanding that racial biases and stereotypes have been shown to influence the decision-making of probation officers. The objectives are to examine the extent that race and risk factors influence court outcomes, in addition to the extent to which individual level risk factors influence court outcomes. The results provide insight into the relationship between the influence of racial biases and stereotypes of probation officers and juvenile risk assessment scoring.

This descriptive study was designed to determine whether substance abusers could be differentially characterized by past involvement in crimes and, further, whether there is a relationship between the type of substance abused and the degree of violence of the crimes committed. By comparing the socio-demographic characteristics, substance-use, and strain-inducing events reported by 598 residential and outpatient treatment seekers in the Kentucky Treatment Outcome and Performance Pilot Studies Enhancement Project, this study provides further understanding of the crime-substance relationship. This study utilized Robert Agnew's 1992 general strain theory. Results suggest that substance addicts and substance users can be characterized in terms of their previous involvement in crime and their perceptions of personal strain. However, further differentiation between nonviolent and violent criminal offenders and type of substance used is not substantiated by findings presented in this study.

This study examines the sociodemographics, drug use, criminal, and treatment histories of 598 residential and outpatient legally coerced drug treatment seekers in the Kentucky Treatment Outcome and Performance Pilot Studies Enhancement Project. Analyses examined whether users/addicts entering chemical dependency treatment under legal coercion differed from nonlegally coerced treatment seekers. Stanley Cohen's theoretical model of social control provided the theoretical framework for the study. Results showed demographic and behavioral differences were noted between respondents under no coercion and those under legal coercion on gender, age, educational status, pretreatment criminality and current treatment modality. In addition, differences between the legally coerced and not legally coerced clients varied across geographic regions.

In this paper I discuss retributivist justifications for legal punishment. I argue that the main moral retributivist theories advanced so far fail to support a plausible system of legal punishment. As an alternative, I suggest, with some reservations, the legal retributivism advanced by Alan Brudner in his Punishment and Freedom.

The Shackleford Marijuana Perception Survey is a series survey conducted on criminal justice students at Georgia State University. The current survey design is targeted towards determining perceptions of marijuana related issues at GSU related to the theoretical concepts of Social Learning Theory and the Gateway process of substance use escalation. The currentfindings will include the responses of 163 students in three criminal justice related classes. The major focus of the analysis will be the comparison of the results of the “marijuana knowledge test” section to the likert scale opinion section and the overall positive or negative opinion score for each respondent. It is the goal of this research is to measure and eventually tack changes in the opinions of students taking criminal justice themed classes at GSU as they pertain to marijuana and related issues. This research is called for by the increasing interest by State Legislations, and recently the federal government, in the reform of marijuana laws and policing practices. Understanding this, and other, samples’ level of knowledge and their relative opinions about this topic is needed in order to help formulate effective and efficient policy reform.

There continues to be much debate in the criminal justice academic community about the value of the degree in the practice of law enforcement. Most of the debate centers on earlier research that was both non-discipline specific and did not include direct data collected from persons holding the degree and serving as police officers. Unfortunately, there is little identifiable research into whether criminal justice graduates perceive their degree as having a positive impact on their career in law enforcement. This research is an exploration of the relationship between criminal justice higher education and the majoring graduate?s success in a law enforcement career. The research is vital in understanding the perceived relationship between the criminal justice degree and the law enforcement career from a program graduate/law enforcement practitioner perspective. The study utilized qualitative inquiry and interpretive phenomenological analysis to develop major themes of the graduates' perceptions of how their criminal justice degree has contributed to their success in a law enforcement career. The findings of the study indicate that most graduates perceive the degree as having direct links between college course curriculum and the academy training programs for law enforcement officers. There is also an indication that strong criminal justice related writing requirements improve career opportunities. In addition, the study supports the inclusion of required internship programs in the criminal justice curriculum, and the use of regular and adjunct faculty with career experience in law enforcement.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Oregon, 2000. / Typescript. Includes vita and abstract. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 241-252). Also available for download via the World Wide Web; free to University of Oregon users.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Mississippi State University. Department of Political Science and Public Administration. / Title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references.