This research sought to understand the potential association between officer perceptions of organizational justiceand officer perceptions of body-worn cameras (BWCs). A questionnaire was administered to a convenience sample of 362 officersfrom the 750 sworn personnel from the Richmond Police Department in Richmond, VA, yielding a response rate of 91% and representing 44% of the Richmond Police Department’s sworn employees. This study extends prior work by partially replicating a previous BWC survey conducted by leading body-worn camera scholars, utilizing a large sample from an urban mid-Atlantic police department. This study also extends prior work on officer perceptions of organizational justice by examining officer perceptions of personal behavior modifications motivated by BWCs. Findings indicate that officers had positive general perceptions of BWCs but did not perceive that their own behavior would change due to wearing a BWC. Officers reported high perceptions of self-legitimacy and mixed perceptions of organizational justice; for example, although three quarters of respondents (74.6%) felt that command staff generally treats employees with respect, less than a third felt command staff explained the reasons for their decisions (29.1%) and that employees had a voice in agency decisions (29.7%), indicating areas for improvement in agency communication. Exploratory factor analysis yielded three separate organizational justice factors: procedural justice, distributive justice, and interactional justice. Regression analyses indicated that only procedural justice had a significant association with officers’ general perceptions of BWCs after controlling for officer demographics and perceptions of self-legitimacy (β = .20, p < .001), and there were no significant correlations between officer perceptions of organizational justice constructs and their perceptions of personal behavior modification motivated by BWCs. Policy recommendations include quarterly command staff attendance at precinct roll calls to improve internal department communication and an evaluation of the promotion process to improve officer perceptions of organizational justice. Practitioner/researcher partnerships are recommended to realize the full potential of BWC video data in improving department training and policies.

Mass murder in the United States is increasing, yet understanding of mass murderers is still relatively limited. Many perpetrators compose manifestos, which include journals, blogs, letters, videos, and other writings. Previous research has indicated that personal messages are of great social and psychological importance; however, there remains an important gap in the current literature regarding studies specific to these manifestos. As such, the purpose of this qualitative multiple case study was to provide greater understanding of mass murderers' motives and mindsets through psycholinguistic analysis of their recorded words. The constructivist conceptual framework enabled gathering, analyzing, interpreting, and reporting thematic language from a purposeful sample of 12 American mass murderer manifestos, all of which were freely available online. The 6 research questions aligned with 6 psycholinguistic themes: ego survival and revenge; pseudocommando mindset: persecution, envy, obliteration; envy; nihilism; entitlement; and heroic revenge fantasy. Descriptive and analytical coding allowed for the identification of sentences and passages representative of each theme. Findings revealed a high degree of support for nihilism and ego survival and revenge, moderate support for heroic revenge fantasy and pseudocommando mindset, and limited support for entitlement and envy. These findings contribute to the existing literature, enhancing social change initiatives through increased understanding of mass murderers' communications and prompting further needed research. With greater awareness comes the potential for early identification and intervention, which may favorably impact psychology and law enforcement professionals and at-risk individuals.

Businesses are under pressure to identify and control risks affecting profitability, including the risk of fraud. Identity theft, a type of fraud, costs businesses, governments, and individuals in excess of $56 billion a year. In order to develop good internal controls to help prevent and detect fraud, it is necessary to identify the risks to the business, but business owners are not always aware of what risk factors relate to identity theft. A nonexperimental research design formed the basis of this research study. The population for this study was data from all 50 U.S. states, represented via government databases maintained by the Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Census Bureau, and the Department of Labor from all 50 U.S. states from 2008 until 2014. The fraud triangle theory formed the theoretical framework for this study. Regression analysis determined the significance of relationships between state-specific instances of international immigration, state-specific unemployment rates, and state-specific instances of identity theft. Both state-specific instances of international immigration and state-specific unemployment rates demonstrated a significant and positive relationship with instances of identity theft. The implications for positive social change include improved understanding of risk factors for identity theft, which could lead to lower costs of operation for businesses and lower prices for consumers.

The media exaggerates the capabilities of crime laboratories while it publicizes the wrongdoings of individual forensic scientists. Such portrayals skew the perspectives of jurors and hinder expert witness testimony. Complicating the problem are separate, but related, phenomena that influence how forensic laboratories conduct casework. These phenomena are Cole and Dioso-Villa's conceptualization of the unrealistic expectations of forensic science created by fictional television, known as the CSI Effect; the Daubert ruling on the admissibility of expert testimony; and some federal policy changes as a result of a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report that impacted requirements for the daily operation of crime laboratories. This study sought to better understand which among these phenomena had the greatest effect on policy development and implementation related to crime lab operations. Quantitative survey data were collected through an online survey from a nationwide sample (n = 124) of forensic practitioners belonging to the American Society of Crime Laboratory Directors. The data were analyzed using ANOVA to evaluate the influence of each factor (CSI Effect, Daubert ruling, and NAS report) on policy creation within crime laboratories. Results indicate that the CSI Effect has a statistically greater impact on policy creation than did either the Daubert ruling or the NAS report (p <.001). The implications for positive social change stemming from this study include recommendations to lawmakers and administrators to reevaluate performance objectives related to operations and increase awareness of the CSI Effect in order to promote scientifically sound results and increase the effectiveness of testimony at trial.

The rise in the number of Black, male, incarcerated, rural youth and the retributive juvenile justice system is a prominent problem in the United States, creating a revolving door for youth in conflict with the law. Restorative justice is an alternative approach that diverts youth from court and focus on rehabilitation, but lacks sufficient experiential evidence from those involved in the process to support broader implementation. The purpose of this study was to explore the experiences of restorative justice arbitrators and the role they play in facilitating resolution of youth criminal charges in a rural setting in a southern U.S. state. The research question asked how restorative justice arbitrators perceive and explain their roles, and successes and failures of a restorative justice process with Black male rural youth. The theoretical framework for the study was Braithwaite's reintegrative shaming, which posits the significance of the immediate family and community in rehabilitation. In this multicase study, research data were collected from semistructured interviews of 4 rural restorative justice arbitrators and analyzed using content analysis. Themes that emerged from the analysis were: the key role of rural community involvement in holding youths accountable to victims for their actions, preventing youths from developing a criminal record, and redirecting youth away from incarceration and more toward the community wellbeing. These findings contribute to social change by informing those working with youth crime about implications for the field of restorative justice specifically related to the opportunity for communities to provide benefits not only for juvenile offenders but also for victims and the community as a whole.

Recidivism is a growing problem in the United States that has contributed to prison overcrowding. In the United States, this is especially true for minorities, who have the highest incarceration, conviction, and recidivism rates. The purpose of this mixed methods study was to explore the relationship between race, recidivism, locus of control, and resilience. For the quantitative component, the Connor-Davidson Resilience scale (CD-RISC) and the multidimensional locus of control scales were used to measure resiliency and locus of control differences among racial groups (N = 126) on parole at a Fort Worth, Texas parole office. For the qualitative component, in-depth interviews of participants (n = 12) provide a context for them to express the challenges they face that may contribute to recidivism. Data collected from both the CD-RISC, and the three multidimensional locus of control subscales were used in a MANOVA analysis to find differences and commonalities among racial groups. The findings showed there were no significant racial differences among resilience and locus of control scores. However, there were noticeable trends revealed from in the in-depth interviews regarding socioeconomic status, education, employment, and neighborhood. Future research should focus on a longitudinal examination of resilience and locus of control, and on how factors such as education, familial involvement, and employment may impact an individuals' success or failure while on parole. This study may bring social change by alerting policy makers to the challenges offenders face, thereby creating laws that help change how the criminal justice system addresses recidivism.

Although a widely used practice, it was previously unknown whether disciplinary segregation is actually effective at modifying prison behavior. This quantitative, retrospective observational study tested deterrence theory and explored the effectiveness of disciplinary segregation in deterring subsequent prison inmate misconduct among those subjected to it (N = 228). It compared a cohort of male inmates incarcerated by the Oregon Department of Corrections who had spent time in disciplinary segregation in 2011 and/or 2012 with a comparison cohort who had not spent any time in disciplinary segregation. Three models were tested, each with the outcome variable operationalized in a different way: overall total rule violations in 2013-2014, total major rule violations in 2013-2014, and total minor rule violations in 2013-2014. Multiple regression analysis was used to control for the influence of age, time spent on current sentence, risk score, prior major and minor rule violations, and time spent in disciplinary segregation. These analyses revealed that for each model, disciplinary segregation was not a significant predictor of subsequent prison inmate misconduct. The findings suggest that deterrence theory does not explain the relation between the experience of disciplinary segregation and subsequent prison misconduct among those subjected to it. The findings further suggest that disciplinary segregation neither decreases nor increases subsequent prison misconduct. These results indicate that disciplinary segregation should undergo a critical evaluation by prison administrators, which could lead to the practice of disciplinary segregation being exercised in a more judicious and informed manner, thus limiting its potentially negative effects and contributing to positive social change.

This research is focused on evaluation of National Strategy Against Narcotics (NSAN) enacted in 2012 in Kosovo. The purpose of this study was to understand the impact of NSAN through visualizing data and gaining deeper insight from experiences of antidrug experts. Convergent parallel mixed methods were used to answer the main research questions. The central research questions examined the impact of strategy implementation in juvenile drug arrest reduction, and its effectiveness on Kosovo criminal justice system. Markwood's comprehensive theory of substance abuse prevention (CTSAP) was used to assess and explore the NSAN. Deidentified juvenile arrest rates taken from Kosovo official police records, were visualized though a scatterplot to show the impact of arrest rates from 2009 to 2015. On qualitative part, 11 antidrug officers who handled juvenile drug arrest cases were in-depth interviewed. Visualized data showed that NSAN did not decrease juvenile drug arrest rates after its implementation, as the juvenile drug arrest rates increased after its implementation. However, participants in this study perceived NSAN as positive, with positive impact in increasing cooperation between other agencies, thus resulting in more arrests. Interview answers received from participants of the study confirmed Markwood's CTSAP. Overall, mixed results came out of this study, and further research is needed with wider scope of data analysis to fully evaluate the effects of this strategy. NSAN itself did not have desired impact in reducing juvenile drug arrests in Kosovo, but analysis of this strategy brought attention of increasing juvenile drug issues in Kosovo.

Secondary victims of traumatic violent crimes are subject to continuing the process of fighting for the loved ones they have lost. Once the offender is incarcerated, such victims may still have to face the process of parole if the offender has been granted a possibility of parole after years served. There is a gap in the literature and a need for research in the area of lived experiences for secondary victims as they progress through the parole process. For this study, a phenomenological study was utilized with 10 secondary victim participants. Participants were interviewed questions via telephone and the data were clustered and then thematically analyzed, revealing that participants had feelings of fear, depression, and being forgotten. The participants also stated a lack of aid and knowledge during the parole process and expressed their experiences of difficulty during the parole process. The study found a need for victim aid and resources. The study has positive social implication through research examining the need for victim aid and education for the criminal justice system.

No system-wide diversity training exists at Immigration and Customs Enforcement Intergovernmental Service Agreement (IGSA) facilities. This study was conducted to determine if diversity training has a short-term effect on cultural awareness of staff in these facilities in the midwestern United States. This information is important to administrations in IGSA facilities when deciding to include diversity training in the annual required training of staff, as the efficacy and relevance have been unknowns. The theoretical foundation of this study is Smircich's organizational culture theory. A nonequivalent control group research design was utilized to collect survey data from 48 participants at 2 midwestern facilities. The survey, adapted from Underwood, was used for each group before and after treatment, as applicable. A repeated-measures ANCOVA was used for data analysis. There was no statistically significant difference between training and control groups in the final survey cultural awareness scores (F(1, 31) = 2.27, p = .17). These results indicate no statistically significant short-term benefit to staff in the IGSA facilities in completing diversity training to increase cultural awareness. It is recommended that this study be interpreted as a limited study, as the participating facilities represented less than 2% of such facilities in the United States. A recommendation for future research is to include more facilities and longitudinal data. Despite the statistically nonsignificant finding, there were implications for positive social change. Individual participants showed changes in cultural awareness. While not statistically significant, the acquired knowledge may prove significant in their lives, and the lives of those they encounter.