Studies show that family structure is an important factor in explaining delinquency among adolescents (Price & Kunz, 2003). There is a lack of research, however, pertaining to cohabitation. The main goals of this study are to determine if there are variations in delinquency between cohabitating and other family types, and to examine the extent to which parental social control measures account for the variation in delinquency by family structure. Data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) are used for the purposes of this study (n = 4,389). While there are no significant differences in violent delinquency between cohabitating families and other family types, results indicate that adolescents from cohabitating families have a greater odds of engaging in nonviolent delinquency compared to those from 2- biological-parent families, although reaching only marginal significance. This difference, however, is explained once parental social control factors are accounted for in the models.

This thesis attempts to document and illuminate the growing issue of prescription drug abuse among the elderly population. The average elder in the U.S. takes at least one prescription drug per day, depending upon their health status. Likewise, elders that suffer from multiple chronic conditions are more likely to take multiple prescription drugs. As the lifespan of humankind grows well into their 90's and older, even more elders will be placed on prescription drugs. As part of this study, a narrative literature review was conducted to summarize the topic of prescription drug abuse amongst the elderly. The findings suggest that elderly white women over the age of 80 years old are more likely to take prescription drugs that lead to a higher risk of bodily injuries and death. This study is critically important and essential since the current generation that meets the age requirement to be considered elderly is the "Baby Boomer" generation. The "Baby Boomer" generation, defined as individuals born between 1946 and 1964, is considered one of the largest generations recorded in modern times. This study will be useful for practitioners, residential care facilities, policymakers, and family members to have better oversight and communication with elders suffering from chronic conditions that take prescription drugs to cure their illnesses.

This thesis analyzed the effects of sexual victimization among college women. Previous research has found that victimization has several negative effects. This thesis was designed to add to this literature by addressing how sexual victimization effects both behavior and academic performance. Results indicated that there was a significant relationship between sexual victimization and behavior changes, the type of victimization experienced had a different impact on the victim based on the type of victimization they experienced, and that academic performance was significantly affected by sexual victimization.

The involvement of women in human trafficking within the United States has received limited research attention. Human trafficking encompasses labor, sex, and organ trafficking (Roberts, 2012). In 2009 the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) reported that women play a significant role in human trafficking. Nagel and Johnson (1994) conclude that, historically, female offenders have stayed at the edge of the criminal justice system. Generally, theories about prosecution and conviction outcomes derive from the study of male offenders. Women can be involved in all aspects of the human trafficking organizations, from the recruitment, to the supervision of prostitutes and to the finances. Pulling from the chivalry theory framework, this study used data sourced from the FBI on human trafficking offenders and their sentencing outcomes to compare the discrepancies between men and women. The current research adds to the existing literature by examining the gender discrepancy on human trafficking case outcomes. The analysis measures how gender influences court-related decisions.

The Markle Task Force on National Security in the Information Age was created to produce recommendations on how to best leverage intelligence and information to improve security without compromising existing civil liberties. Their second report proposed that the government set up an information-sharing network using currently available technology to improve our ability to prevent terrorist attacks, while protecting civil liberties. The Markle recommendations have been incorporated into the recent Intelligence Reform and Terrorism Prevention Act of 2004. The proposition is that the Markle task force recommendations are sufficient to achieve the required data integration in the United States. To affirm or falsify the proposition, three existing systems will be reviewed: Alabama's Law Enforcement Tactical System Portal (LETS), Florida's Statewide Data Sharing Effort (FINDER), and Orange County, Florida's Integrated Criminal Justice System. This study found that there is no overall model for national intelligence analysis that incorporates the capabilities that law enforcement has for collection and analysis in with the federal capabilities for collection and analysis. This may ultimately limit the regional systems' success. Recommendations for potential initial models are made. In addition, recommendations for improvement in each regional system are provided. Finally, further research is needed to refine a national intelligence analysis model that can be supported by a distributed information sharing network.

The purpose of this research was to examine the influence of police organizational culture on officers' perception of integrity in the Turkish National Police (TNP). Adopting an organizational rather than an individualistic perspective, this study focused on police organizational culture to investigate the causes of integrity problems in the TNP. While focusing on police organizational culture, this study also aimed to determine to what extent officers' perceptions of integrity are influenced by personal and occupational attributes such as age, gender, rank, income, educational level, years of employment, and assignment type. The research was conducted in Turkey's two largest cities, Istanbul and Ankara, as well as the largest city of southeastern Turkey, Diyarbakir. Three hundred officers, consisting of 200 regular police officers and 100 ranked officers, were selected from each city, making a sample size of 900 in total. With a total of 507 respondents, after eliminating cases with missing values, the study achieved a 57% response rate. Structural equation modeling was used to test the hypothesized relationships, since it is the most appropriate statistical method for testing hypotheses based on relations among latent and observed variables. This method enabled the researcher to measure the perception of police integrity and the perception of police organizational culture with their multiple indicators, providing rigorous measurements for both constructs. The results of the statistical analysis supported the research hypothesis. The findings showed that officers' perception of police organizational culture negatively influenced their perception of integrity. It was also found that officers' age and educational level also had a statistically significant influence on their perception of integrity.

For decades, the United States has fought a “War on Drugs” with no success. This war has led to substantial increases in the number of individuals incarcerated in the United States prison system. The following dissertation investigates the impact of the Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 (FSA 2010) on sentencing decisions for crack and powder cocaine offenders sentenced in the federal system. The FSA 2010 is a federal policy that reduced the crack-to-powder cocaine quantity from 100-to1 to 18-to-1 in an effort to reduce racial/ethnic disparity in sentencing associated with harsh penalties. Specifically, I examined federal crack cocaine and powder cocaine offenders sentenced during the years 2005-2009 (pre-FSA 2010) and 2011-2015 (post-FSA 2010). I begin with a discussion of how the social construction of drug use has framed society’s ideas about drugs and how drug offenders should be handled. Second, I outline how the perceived threat of racial/ethnic minorities has contributed the disproportionate number of racial/ethnic minorities in the United States prison system. Data for these analyses are drawn from the United States Sentencing Commission’s (USSC) Monitoring of the Federal Criminal Sentences program for the years 2005-2015 and state data from the American Community Survey, the United States Federal Election Commission, and the FBI’s Uniform Crime Report. Multilevel analyses were used to examine the influence of extralegal, legal, and contextual factors on the incarceration decision and the determination of sentence length for federal drug offenders. Results revealed that the FSA 2010 has had some influence on federal sentencing decisions after its introduction. Additional analyses examined sentencing decisions for federal cocaine and methamphetamine offenses to determine whether the factors influencing sentencing decisions for federal drug offenders vary by drug type. The existing literature shows that cocaine and methamphetamine have been socially constructed in different ways, with cocaine production and use framed as a crime problem and methamphetamine as a public health concern. Supplemental analyses revealed that there was no substantive significance in the sentencing outcomes for federal cocaine and methamphetamine offenders. Theoretical and policy implications, limitations, and directions of future research are discussed.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.