This report is a summary of a survey of Tennessee chief prosecutors (district attorneys general), chief public defenders, and state legislators concerning their attitudes toward capital punishment. Global approval was compared with (1) approval when offered the options of life without parole and (2) life without parole and restitution to the victim's family. Additional items probed approval of capital punishment for specific subpopulations: juvenile, mentally ill, and mentally retarded offenders. Consistent with previous research, support for the death penalty declined when respondents were given the option of life without parole. A concluding note is offered calling for more complete research on the issue.

The state of the evidence concerning correctional treatment prompts a vast array of differing opinions. One extreme position posits that “nothing works” while the other end of the continuum claims that some programs have very positive effects. The present study surveyed the professional literature appearing between 1975 and 1984 (inclusive) in order to evaluate the current state of knowledge on juvenile correctional treatment. The impact of treatment on recidivism was the primary consideration in a simple ballot-box analysis of reports published in professional journals. The results indicated that juvenile correctional treatment fared no better than in earlier reviews. In general, at least half of the studies reported negative or no impact on recidivism and many of the positive findings were based on dubious, subjective evaluations.

No description available.

Juvenile delinquency among the nation's youth is an ongoing concern. An essential task of juvenile justice workers is to identify and measure risk factors that impact a youth's likelihood of recidivating. The Florida Department of Juvenile Justice (FDJJ) utilizes the Positive Achievement Change Tool (PACT) to assess the risk for recidivism among all juveniles referred to the system. The current study examined how youths' level and types of risk, as well as the ability of the PACT to predict the odds of reoffending and the time to reoffend, vary across urban and rural communities. This study drew upon theories of social disorganization and collective efficacy (Raudenbush & Sampson, 1999; Shaw & McKay, 1942) and Andrews and Bonta's (2010) Risk-Need-Responsivity (RNR) model. Secondary data was used from 10,229 juvenile probationers in Florida to conduct bivariate analyses including chi-square tests of significance, independent samples t-tests, area under the curve estimations, multivariate logistic regression, and survival analyses. Results indicated that a greater proportion of urban youths than rural youths were rated at higher risk levels for recidivism. Of the eight types of risks examined, only past antisocial behavior, current antisocial peers, and current substance abuse varied significantly across community type. Also, a significant relationship was found between recidivism and community type. Finally, the PACT predicted both the odds of recidivism and time to recidivism more accurately for urban youths than for rural youths. The findings of this study may help guide juvenile justice practitioners in more accurately identifying risk factors and in determining whether one risk assessment instrument is sufficient for assessing juveniles from different types of communities.

Law enforcement agencies across the United States are establishing real-time crime centers (RTCCs) at a rapid rate, yet research exploring the decisions to establish them is lacking. This study therefore attempts to fill that void by using a mixed methods approach to examine whether adaptive organizational theories, consisting of contingency theory (Lawrence & Lorsch, 1967; Woodward, 1965), resource dependency theory (Pfeffer & Salancik, 1978), and institutional theory (DiMaggio & Powell 1991; Meyer & Rowan, 1977), can be used to explain a law enforcement agency's decision to set up an RTCC. This cross-sectional mixed methods design comprised two different studies (Study 1 & Study 2). Study 1 consisted of a content analysis of newspaper articles (N = 235) that listed the terms "real-time crime center" or "real time crime center". The content analysis revealed that both resource dependency theory and contingency theory were likely factors for a law enforcement agency's decision to establish an RTCC. Study 2 included interviews of agency leaders of Florida law enforcement departments that had established an RTCC (N = 11) and those that had not (N = 2). A qualitative analysis of the interviews with agency leaders indicates that traditional organizational theories may not fully explain law enforcement agencies' adoption of RTCCs. The interviews partially confirmed the content analysis of newspaper articles while revealing a theme of front-line and mid-management influence on decision-making. This study found that internal lower-ranking "champions," not external forces, are the primary reason law enforcement agencies are establishing RTCCs, a term known as institutional entrepreneurship (DiMaggio 1988; Eisenstadt, 1980). This study is important because it provides a foundation for explaining why law enforcement agencies choose to set up RTCCs, a law enforcement organizational element whose establishment across the United States does not appear to be slowing anytime soon. This study also highlights an aspect of institutional theory not found in the criminal justice literature. Lastly, limitations and future directions for research are discussed.

Over the years, innovations such as community-oriented policing, problem-oriented policing, and crime analysis have helped police agencies control, reduce, and prevent crime and disorder, and improve police and community relations. However, research shows that some officers are resistant to using these innovations in practice. Few studies have examined the causal mechanisms behind innovation resistance. This doctoral dissertation details a study that utilized a mixed method approach to partially test a framework that encompassed two theories to explain officer resistance to innovation: The Model of Consumer Resistance to Innovation from the consumer psychology and marketing fields (Ram & Sheth, 1989), and the Monolithic Model of Police Occupational Culture (Paoline, 2003) from the police culture literature. The study was conducted at a midsize Central Florida police agency. The department recently introduced two new innovations, a community policing activity called the Community Interaction Project and an in-car computer system called Street Smart. The primary goal of the study was to examine officer attitudes toward these innovations using the theoretical framework. An Internet-based survey was disseminated to sworn staff (N = 263). In depth interviews were conducted with a sample of command staff and patrol officers (n = 19). Ordinary least squares multiple linear regression analysis of the survey results revealed that themes from the police occupational culture predicted innovation resistance barriers to the Community Interaction Project. The interviews revealed several additional themes that explain resistance to the Community Interaction Project and Street Smart. The dissertation concludes with a discussion of theoretical and methodological contributions to social science. Policy implications are provided for police practitioners. Limitations and future directions for study are also discussed.

In the aftermath of school shootings, policymakers presented the expansion of school resource officers (SROs) in the nation's schools as a method for keeping students safe. Recently, policing in the United States has come under increased scrutiny, and several school districts across the country cancelled their SRO contracts with law enforcement agencies. Notably, these contradictory decisions have been made with limited empirical knowledge surrounding, the roles, preparedness, and impact of SROs. A county in Florida substantially expanded its SRO program in the 2016-17 school year creating a new unit within the local sheriff's office and an opportunity to investigate these topics. A convergent parallel mixed methods design was applied to examine this new unit, consisting of a quantitative strand using interrupted time series analysis to assess the new program's effect on school-based arrests and Baker Act apprehensions, and a qualitative strand collecting and analyzing participant observations of training requirements and in-depth interviews with the SROs to explore their responsibilities, roles, and preparation for the position. Qualitative findings demonstrate that the primary role of the SROs is safety and security, while some also engage in a secondary role of engaging in positive interactions with the school community. Ambiguity exists surrounding execution of these roles, with the SROs relying a great deal on other relevant actors during decision-making. SROs identified the importance of careful selection for the position, training requirements are described, and problems with the training are identified. Contrary to this study's hypotheses, quantitative results show that the new unit did not have a statistically significant impact on overall school-based arrests, but disaggregating the data showed a significant impact on felony arrests. Similarly, there was no statistically significant impact on overall Baker Act apprehensions of students, however, there is preliminary evidence of an impact on elementary school-aged students.

The rate of suicidality in jail is estimated to be eight times greater than that of the general population, yet the identification of risk factors for suicidality among people incarcerated in jail has not been explored by researchers (Fazel, Grann, Kling & Hawton, 2011; Hayes, 1999; Noonan & Ginder, 2013). To date, the breadth of the literature on suicidology almost exclusively deals with the prison population or general public, and official data of completed suicides. However, when analyzing suicidality in jail and prison populations, it is evident they are not interchangeable and suicidal behaviors include more than just completed suicides. Identifying correlates of suicidality, the fuller spectrum of suicidal behaviors, allows for prevention and programming to be implemented before fatal self-harm occurs. This study seeks to identify correlates of suicidality, using the importations and deprivations models, of people incarcerated in jail as a means of better understanding this crisis, propose subsequent research, and equipping policymakers with the information they need to take action. Using data from self-reported surveys of jail inmates, this study focuses on predictors of a spectrum of suicidal behaviors other than completed suicide. This is the first such study on suicidality in jail environments and will inform research and policy.

Tax havens are denounced for eroding the sovereignty of states to tax in their jurisdictions. Using a critical interrogative lens of Empire and Imperialism, the aim of this investigation was to understand what the developmental history of the British Virgin Islands reveals about the function of tax havens in global political economy through traditions of state and taxation sovereignty. Drawing chiefly on a combination of tax, sociology and law scholarship anchored in international political economy, along with reviewing the minutes of the British Virgin Islands Legislative Council from 1950-1992, the study adopted a sociolegal perspective in exploring the relationship between tax havens, tax sovereignty and the aspirations of an equitable global tax regime. Beyond sovereign entitlement in allocating jurisdictional rights of states to tax income or capital, or a more expanded conception of tax equity through revenue sharing, the intervention of this thesis established the need to highlight the underpinnings of the international tax system by understanding the structures which maintain tax haven dependency and their development in the first instance. The basic thesis of this study is that dependency continues to the present as a function of unequal integration helping to order and maintain a hierarchical global political economy. This thesis was built on an account of post-colonial dependency through a structural lens of a reconstituting empire and neo-colonial imperialism in the development of the British Virgin Islands in two key phases. First, the political developments of the 1950 independence decade in the legislative council's relationship with sovereignty in a federated imperial structure, which then conditioned the socioeconomic development from 1960 up to 1984. Highlighting the economic apparatus of the colonial state which structurally depended on international investment through political links maintained to Britain, the second phase is demonstrated as neo-colonial imperialism and external reliance evinced through the function of the Executive Council. The thesis traced a consistent line of legislative amendments from the dawn of legislative independence providing tax incentives packages and exemptions aimed at attracting foreign capital through extensive tax holidays. This phase of neo-colonial imperialism reached its apogee in the International Business Companies Act of 1984. The parallels in the financial architecture imposed by the Foreign Commonwealth Office at the twilight of the 20th Century has striking similarities to the more recent initiatives targeted at tax havens, illustrating how the interests of metropolitan powers are maintained. Therefore, I argue and demonstrate that, the development of the British Virgin Islands as a tax haven and its integration in international political economy reveals a tradition of sovereignty in the post-colonial context which shapes neo-colonial imperialism wherein effective sovereignty remains located in the global north.

The purpose of this study is to determine the extent to which workplace efforts and rewards are associated with probation officer stress, overcommitment, health, and productivity. This research uses the effort-reward imbalance model, which is an indicator of job stress, on a group of criminal justice probation officers. The probation officers completed questionnaires regarding their perceptions of health, perceived reward, perceived effort, perceptions of overcommitment, and perceived productivity. Afterward, the responses were collected, and analyses were conducted using correlation and multiple regression to determine the extent to which perceptions of effort, reward, and overcommitment effect probation officer productivity and health. A sample of 207 probation officers from Central Florida selected probation agencies are used in the study, with an individual response rate of approximately 90%. The results suggest that perceptions of reward have a limited effect on perceived productivity. Furthermore, the study found a significant relationship between effort-reward imbalance and perceptions of overcommitment. The study also found a significant relationship between perceptions of overcommitment and perceptions of reduced health. Finally, the study found that the interaction of effort-reward imbalance and overcommitment are correlated with negative perceptions of health. The results of the study demonstrate the ubiquity of perceptions among probation officers that they are overworked and under compensated. The results also suggest the need for improvements in organizational practice, so that efficiency and effectiveness of probation officers can be maximized.