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Prosecutors are powerful actors in the criminal justice system. Scholars make the argument that prosecutors exercise far more control over criminal matters than any other agency (Thomas and Fitch, 1976, p. 509; McDonald, 1979, p. 18-19, Wickersham, 1931) . Over time, various changes have augmented prosecutorial power, ranging from the decision to make the office of the prosecutor an elected one, thereby affording prosecutors independence in carrying out their duties (Misner, 1996, p. 729), to the advent of determinant sentencing, resulting in shifting sentencing discretion away from the courts to the prosecutor (Vorenberg, 1981, p. 1525, 1529). This research hypothesized that community prosecution represents another development that will result in increasing the influence of the office of the prosecutor. Traditionally, prosecutors have been oriented toward successful case disposition. The case-by-case methodology has involved little contact with the community. In addition, the prosecutorial focal point is on felony cases, while lower level offenses generally receive little time or attention. The emergence of community prosecution challenges the traditional prosecution role and its emphasis on the more serious matters and winning cases, and promises positive effects for the "communities" targeted. Through a case study of its application in Kings County, New York, this dissertation explores community prosecution and its impact on the role of the prosecutor and for the community, in the context of a community court implemented in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Focusing on the Red Hook example, the study drew on three principal sources of data to examine the community prosecution innovation, including: a) arrest data, aggregated monthly, for the three police precincts that handle cases originating in Red Hook, covering the years 1998 through 2001 (46 months per precinct, n=138 ); b) precinct level arrest and court case filings for criminal incidents that took place in Red Hook and other Kings County locations for two distinct time periods (the third quarter of 1998, (n = 19,296) and the first quarter of 2001, (n = 22,988)); and c) court case data from the Red Hook Community Justice Center (hereafter, RHCJC) 2000 through 2001 (51 weeks, n=4,088). Several different types of complementary analyses, including HLM, contrasted changes in case types and defendant characteristics in the study locale over time associated with this community-oriented form of prosecution. The analyses also compared these changes to the caseloads from neighboring communities that did not have access to this innovation, where cases were processed in the traditional manner. Specific hypotheses tested about the effects of the community prosecution innovation included the following: 1) Implementation of the community prosecution initiative via the community court will result in an increase in the volume and/or proportion of arrests for minor offenses in precincts operating within the community court's jurisdiction. That increase will not be experienced by precincts not involved with the court. 2) The community prosecution strategy will draw defendants into the Red Hook criminal justice system who would not otherwise have been involved in the system, specifically including greater proportions of young minority males and individuals with no prior criminal histories. This research also involved a limited inquiry into how community members were responding to the community prosecution initiative. Given the purpose of community prosecution, to engage the community in handling its unique crime problems in an effort to make them feel safer, it was of interest to know whether there was any evidence that this happened in Red Hook. To that end, the research drew upon qualitative data, including: a) a series of non-probability based community surveys performed within the Red Hook jurisdiction in 1999 (n=980), 2000 (n=1,744) and 2001 (n=1,169) and b) two focus groups (n=12; n=18) conducted by this researcher in May of 2003. These other data sources provided context, allowing for better understanding the results of the analyses. Findings indicated slight effects of community prosecution in the anticipated direction: The volume of arrests from the Red Hook precincts (Data Set 1) increased slightly after the court was implemented. In addition, findings from the RHCJC caseload (Data Set 3) indicated that post-implementation, misdemeanor cases increased slightly but significantly. Comparisons of the post-implementation caseload filed from Red Hook precinct arrests with the control group (consisting of pre-implementation, Red Hook filings and both pre-and post-implementation filings from the arrests made by the rest of the Kings County precincts (Data Set 2)) indicated that the caseload proportion of misdemeanors in post-implementation Red Hook filings increased significantly when compared with the control group filings. In addition, analysis of Data Set 2 (comparison of caseload characteristics) indicated both a significant increase in the proportion of the post-implementation, Red Hook cases made up of Hispanic defendants, and a significant increase in the caseload proportion consisting of defendants with no prior record of criminal convictions. The primary findings from the qualitative data (Survey and Focus Group Data) indicated that community respondents appeared to be more satisfied with the court system and seemed to feel safer after the RHCJC was implemented. There was also some indication of race based differences in responses: White respondents seemed generally more positive about perceived post-implementation changes in Red Hook than minority respondents. / Criminal Justice

This study is an examination of how delayed transitions to adulthood have influenced the period of active offending for low-level offenders. This research has implications for the criminal justice system, its policies directed toward dealing with low-level offenders, and the branch of criminological research that explores offender taxonomies and the relationship between age and crime. Arnett's (2000) theory argues that emerging adulthood is a new stage of the life course, neither adolescence nor young adulthood, that is the result of several areas of social change. During this stage, despite having reached biological maturity, individuals postpone the achievement of adult commitments and responsibilities. Combined with a lack of traditional social bonds and a failure to meet various life course turning points, these individuals exist in a state of "arrested adolescence." During this state, many have the opportunity to explore their identities in areas such as romantic relationships and work. These explorations have also been theorized to include deviant and criminal behavior. While Arnett's theory has been cited extensively, only a handful of studies have attempted to empirically test its tenets with regard to delinquency or criminality. Prior research in life course criminology has established several different offender typologies linked to the impact of transitions to adult roles as turning points (for most) away from criminality (see for example, Laub & Sampson, 2003; Moffitt, Caspi, Rutter, & Silva, 2001). The present study answered the following research question; "Does the emerging adulthood stage of the life course influence offending trajectories?" Specifically, it predicted that emerging adulthood has delayed transitions to adult roles for those in their early to mid twenties. As a result, there is a higher rate of low-level, non-violent crimes such as vandalism and disorderly conduct for certain (arrested adolescent) offenders. Defined as a low-level criminal offender between the ages of 18 and 25, the arrested adolescent offender has yet to successfully transition to adult social roles (e.g., marriage, parenthood) that inhibit deviance and increase traditional social bonding. If Arnett's theory of emerging adulthood is correct, arrested adolescent offenders will continue to commit low-level offenses at rates typically seen in adolescents. Beyond examining this core question, this dissertation also extends Arnett's theory in three significant ways: by utilizing the theory to explicitly examine crime and deviance, clarifying how emerging adulthood influences offending, and by exploring whether the delay of turning points (e.g., marriage, parenting) and changes in social bonds (e.g., religious participation, bonds with family) influences offending. These questions were addressed using three waves of data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Udry, 1998). At each wave of data, measures of crime, arrested adolescent vs. life course persistent offending (minor vs. serious) and drug use, arrested adolescent vs. life course persistent drug use (minor vs. serious) were examined as dependent variables. These indicators were selected from the crime and delinquency scales available in all three waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health. Arrested adolescent (minor) crimes consist of low-level offenses such as drunken and disorderly conduct and shoplifting. Arrested adolescent (minor) drug use is defined as using "softer" drugs such as alcohol and marijuana. Life course persistent (serious) crime is defined as more severe types of offenses such as burglary and selling drugs. Life course persistent (serious) drug use is defined as the frequent use of "harsher" drugs such as cocaine. These data were analyzed cross-sectionally using both bivariate and multivariate analyses. At waves 1 and 2, bivariate relationships between indicators of arrested adolescence and offending allowed an exploration of how these factors relate to offending during late childhood and adolescence. At wave 3, when members of the sample are in the emerging adulthood stage of the life course, a series of regression models examined how measures of arrested adolescence related to offending. The findings of this dissertation support the idea that many traditional turning points and social bonds do operate effectively during emerging adulthood. Turning points including education and hours worked were found to predict arrested adolescent offending. Social bonds including religious participation, economic stability, and parental attachment also were significant predictors of arrested adolescent offending. However, many of the other turning points, such as having children and military service, and social bonds, such as job satisfaction, that were found to be effective at reducing offending in other samples were not significant. Results suggest that specific turning points and social bonds are relevant factors in reducing offending for emerging adults. These findings, taken as a whole, suggest that emerging adulthood is a factor influencing offending. Emerging adulthood has the potential to alter patterns of offending over the life course, and there is a need for prospective longitudinal studies to examine the long-term influence of emerging adulthood on life course offending. / Criminal Justice

The purpose of this study was to investigate perceptions of African-Americans in the Southwest with regard to police, crime, and safety. As part of a larger study of a 12,500 sample of White, Asian, Hispanic, American Indian, and African-Americans, a questionnaire was mailed to 5,000 randomly sampled African-Americans, stratified by gender, age, State of residence, and area of residence. Frequency analyses, t-test analyses, and ANOVA analyses, were conducted. Results indicated that African-American males had more positive attitudes toward safety than females. Also noted was that the age group of 60+ had more positive attitudes toward police than other age groups (18-25, 26-40, 40-60), as well as a better awareness of community policing than the age group of 18-25.