Sentencing systems throughout the United States have experienced great change over the past 30 years. Sentencing policy is often the target of reform as policymakers, judges, and other judicial decision makers grapple with the issues of discretion, sentencing disparity, and sentence severity. Determinate sentencing systems, which regularly entail the use of sentencing guidelines, are commonly employed in an effort to address a number of policy goals. Among the objectives of sentencing reforms are the reduction or elimination of unwarranted sentencing disparity based on extra-legal factors such as an offender's race, gender, or location. Previous research reports mixed findings regarding the level and existence of unwarranted sentencing disparity. Little is known about the effect of policy transformations on the determinants of sentencing outcomes. The present study examines the influence of legal and extra-legal factors on sentencing outcomes in Florida under three distinct sentencing policies. The analysis indicates that legally prescribed factors are the primary determinants of sentencing across all three policies, but extra-legal influences operate to impact outcomes as well. Important differences across policies in the effects of both legal and extra-legal factors are also revealed. The evidence presented here suggests that highly deterministic sentencing policies are not necessarily more successful at reducing unwarranted sentencing disparity. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2005. / April 1, 2005. / Sentencing Guidelines, Sentencing / Includes bibliographical references. / Marc Gertz, Professor Directing Dissertation; Charles Barrilleaux, Outside Committee Member; William Doerner, Committee Member; William Bales, Committee Member.

The primary goals of this research were (1) to test the tenability of null associations between perception and reality of punishment and (2) to determine whether the effects of actual risks of punishment on perception of punishment are conditioned by socio-economic characteristics of an area. The importance of the first goal is fundamentally theoretical in that general deterrence mechanism is based on the assumption that perception at least roughly correspond with the reality of punishment. The significance of the second goal is quite practical since maximizing the deterrent effect of law enforcement activities is a major concern from a policy standpoint. The current study basically replicates what Kleck et al (2004) found using multilevel data. That is, I found no evidence indicative of suppression effects that could have nullified a presumably positive APL and PPL association. Even after excluding potential suppression effects originating from three county-level variables, I failed to identify any significant and positive relationship between APL and PPL. Whether for homicide, robbery, aggravated assault, or burglary, there was no evidence indicating a close correspondence between reality and perception across different punishment types. Moreover, as shown in results of individual-level interaction effects by respondents' past experience of arrest, HLM estimates among criminals and non-criminals were not significantly different. Criminals, who would be the most attentive to any changes in law enforcement activities in their areas, seemed not to be aware of the overall risks of punishment in their immediate environment. Tests of county-level interaction between APL and socio-economic conditions of counties such as the percentage of minorities, the unemployment or poverty rates depict a similar picture. Most of the county-level interactions were neither statistically significant nor theoretically consequential, regardless of the types of crime and punishment. Sizes of the interactions were close to zero as well. In short, residents' perceptions about actual levels of punishment were invariant regarding the conditions of the area in which they lived whether they were high minority, high unemployment or high poverty communities. / A Dissertation submitted to the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Spring Semester, 2005. / April 12, 2005. / Deterrence, Rational Decision Making, Punishment / Includes bibliographical references. / Gary Kleck, Professor Directing Dissertation; James Orcutt, Outside Committee Member; Theodore Chiricos, Committee Member; Spencer Li, Committee Member.

Decades of research from numerous academic fields has provided unequivocal support that both genes and the environment are critically involved in shaping human behavior. More recently, researchers have begun to explore the manner in which genetic and environmental factors intertwine to sculpt behavioral outcomes. A growing body of evidence suggests that the expression of certain genetic tendencies may be directly moderated by exposure to certain environmental conditions. Research on the interaction between genes and the environment is helping to shed light on the developmental origins of a number of pathological outcomes including mental illness, aggression, violence, and criminality. To this point, researchers have tended to focus almost exclusively on the capability of early-life environments to condition the effects of genes on behavior. While this line of inquiry has greatly increased the knowledge base concerning the development of deviant tendencies, there remains a need to examine whether alternative environmental pathogens condition genetic predispositions for deviance. Schools represent one type of environment that has been exhaustively examined by criminologists, and that has been consistently linked with the deviant behavior of adolescents. Currently, however, almost no evidence exists related to whether school conditions moderate genetic influences on adolescent misbehavior. Using data drawn from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health, the current dissertation addresses this question by examining the moderating effects of school environments on a range of antisocial outcomes. The results of the analysis revealed partial evidence that school-level factors condition the effects of genes on a range of antisocial behaviors. The implications of these findings for the field of criminology are discussed in detail. / A Dissertation submitted to the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2010. / June 4, 2010. / Behavior genetics, Schools, Antisocial Behavior / Includes bibliographical references. / Kevin M. Beaver, Professor Directing Dissertation; Lisa Eckel, University Representative; Eric A. Stewart, Committee Member.

Within the field of criminology, there is no shortage of theoretical perspectives. While these theoretical perspectives are quite diverse, they do share a common thread: an exclusive focus on social factors that contribute to criminal behavior. Despite the limited explanatory power of both classic and more recent criminological theories, an overt sociological focus persists within criminological theory. In direct contrast, the biosocial perspective offers a more comprehensive explanation of behavior, with a focus on both biological and environmental influences. Despite the contributions of the biosocial perspective in elucidating the underlying etiology of antisocial behavior, there is currently a paucity of theories which can be effectively situated within the biosocial perspective. In an effort to spark theoretical development within the biosocial perspective, this dissertation proposes a biosocial integration model which allows for various forms of theoretical development and integration. In addition, four mainstream criminological theories--rational choice theory, social learning theory, classic strain theory, and social bonding theory--were empirically examined using genetically sensitive research designs in an attempt to fit such theories within the biosocial perspective. The results revealed three key findings. First, nearly all (more than 80 percent) of the measures examined in this dissertation were significantly influenced by genes. Second, while multivariate regression models identified a large number of significant associations between key theoretical concepts and antisocial behavior, many of these associations fell from statistical significance after controlling for genetic and shared environmental influences. Third, even after controlling for genetic influences, some theoretical concepts were significantly associated with antisocial behavior and substance use. Additional models revealed that several theoretical concepts also significantly moderated genetic influences on the examined outcomes. The findings are contextualized within the extant literature and suggestions for future research and theoretical development are discussed. / A Dissertation submitted to the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2014. / May 22, 2014. / Behavior Genetics, Criminological Theory, Gene-Environment Interplay, Theoretical Integration / Includes bibliographical references. / Kevin M. Beaver, Professor Directing Dissertation; Stephen J. Tripodi, University Representative; William B. Bales, Committee Member; Thomas G. Blomberg, Committee Member.

Prior empirical research has shown that a large proportion of a city's total crime arises from a relatively small number of locations within its jurisdiction. Drawing from results of research on the distribution of crime in a handful of cities, scholars have suggested that this dramatic "concentration" of crime is likely to be comparable in cities across the U.S. Although evidence from existing research is compelling, there are theoretical reasons to believe that the concentration of crime may not be as invariant as suggested in the past. Additionally, the traditional measures of concentration utilized in prior research fail to account for how tightly clustered these high-crime places are within space, leading to a relatively ambiguous definition of the term concentration. Finally, there are theoretical reasons to believe that accounting for the concentration of crime may add to our knowledge on the factors which contribute to the between-city difference in crime. To date, this possibility has not been explored in prior research. Thus, our knowledge of the concentration of criminal activity and its consequences remains relatively limited. To expand our knowledge on the concentration of crime, this dissertation addresses two primary research questions: (1) Does the concentration of crime vary across cities?, (2) Does variation in the concentration of crime have a significant impact on between-city differences in crime? These questions are answered by first exploring the variation revealed from two measures that reflect slightly different dimensions of concentration (i.e. evenness and clustering), disaggregated by crime-type, for a relatively large sample of American cities. Subsequently, the study assesses the effects of these measures on between-city difference in city crime rates. Tract-level crime data drawn from the National Neighborhood Crime Survey, a multicity database on crime in 91 cities from across the country, provided the information from which the measures of concentration and clustering were created. In combination with city-level data on socioeconomic and demographic characteristics drawn from a number of sources, the impact of crime's concentration on city crime rates was then examined in an empirical context. Results indicate that the concentration of crime is not as invariant as suggested in prior research. Additionally, multivariate analyses indicate that greater concentration of homicide is associated with lower homicide rates. Similar findings are observed for robbery, though in this instance conclusions are sensitive to model specification and sample composition. No significant link is found between concentration and crime rates for assault and burglary. The implications of the results of this dissertation for theory and research on the concentration of crime and aggregate crime rates are discussed. / A Dissertation submitted to the College of Criminology and Criminal Justice in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. / Summer Semester, 2014. / June 19, 2013. / Clustering, Concentration, Crime, Criminological Theory / Includes bibliographical references. / Eric Baumer, Professor Directing Dissertation; Mark Horner, University Representative; Eric Stewart, Committee Member; Brian Stults, Committee Member.

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The results of a survey of Tennessee legislators, prosecutors, and public defenders were compared to the results of a general citizen survey to analyze attitudes toward capital punishment in the two groups. The study is a replication of McGarrell and Sandys's study of Indiana legislators, which found some degree of pluralistic ignorance: both legislators and citizens had misperceptions of the other's attitudes. Results suggested that, similar to their Indiana counterparts, Tennessee legislators overestimate the degree of citizen support for the death penalty.

Sources of probation and parole officer professional orientation (attitudes toward offenders and toward interaction with offenders) were analyzed using a recently developed instrument: the Klofas-Toch measure. A review of the literature suggested that certain individual-characteristic and organizational-condition variables might be considered as determinants of orientation. Although regression analysis showed that little of the variation was explained, participation in decisionmaking appeared to be an important determinant of officer orientation, and officers were high on rehabilitation orientation and low on punishment.

Few studies exist indicating how correctional personnel perceive the seriousness of prison violence. This study surveyed sixty-six correctional employees regarding their perceptions of the seriousness of prison violence, the need for outside police intervention, and the role of news reporting of prison violence incidents. The results supported the hypothesis that correctional employees perceived inmate-induced violence in which inmates were victims as less serious than violence directed against correctional staff.

In light of the increasing interest in research on correctional officers, data are presented concerning the validity, reliability, and factor structure of the Klofas-Toch professional orientation inventory of correctional officer attitudes toward inmates. This 17-item instrument was administered to a heterogeneous sample of southern correctional officers and to a heterogeneous sample of probation/parole officers. The same four factor structure emerged in the correctional officer data as has been reported by Klofas and Toch (1982); however, separate analyses showed differential factor ordering and loading for black and white officers. The factor structure that emerged in the probation officer data differed from the structure found in the correctional officer data. Finally, the professional orientation inventory, while found to be a valid and reliable measure, did not explain much of the variance in correctional officer job burnout.