This project attempts to clarify the relationships between gang membership, crime, and criminality. It begins by introducing the distinction between crime and criminality, and analyzing criminological theory using this distinction. Next, it describes how these same theories view the role of social institutions like family, school, and peers. It also explores more substantive/methodological questions concerning gang membership. Using survey data obtained from gang and non-gang youth, the characteristics that distinguish gang from non-gang youth are discovered, along with the theoretical and policy implications of these distinctions. Measures of crime and criminality, as well as variables relating to family, school, and peers will be used to discover which traits distinguish gang from non-gang youth. Finally, a methodological concern is addressed when the reliability and validity of data provided by gang youth is compared to that provided by non-gang youth.

Understanding the context of crime is key to developing informed policy that will reduce crime in communities. In exploring criminal contexts, this dissertation tests criminal opportunity theory, which integrates social disorganization and routine activity theories. Methodologically, the dissertation presents unique ways of modeling space in crime studies. Analyses are undertaken in three cities, Nashville, TN; Portland, OR; and Tucson, AZ, chosen for their similar crime rates and varied demographic and social characteristics. This dissertation includes three papers submitted for publication. Crime data were collected for nine crimes over the period 1998-2002. Census data, used to create an array of socioeconomic measures, and land use data were also used in the analyses, presented at the census block group level. The first paper attempts to determine whether certain structural associations with violence are generalizable across urban areas. The idea is tested by first developing an Ordinary Least Squares model of crime for all three cities, then replicating the results for each city individually. The models provide support for a general relationship between violence and several structural measures, but suggest that the exploration into geographic variation of crime and its covariates both within urban areas and across urban areas should be undertaken. The second paper explores an alternative to crime rates: location quotients of crime. A comparison of location quotients and rates is provided. The location quotients are then used in a regression modeling framework to determine what influences the crime profile of a place. The results demonstrate the efficacy of simple techniques and how location quotients can be incorporated into statistical models of crime. The models provide modest support for the opportunity framework. The final paper explores possible spatial variation in crime and its covariates through a local analysis of crime using Geographically Weighted Regression (GWR). Those results are compared to the results of a 'base' global OLS model. Parameter estimate reaps confirm the results of the OLS model for the most part and also allow visual inspection of areas where specific measures have a strong influence in the model. This research highlights the importance of considering local context when modeling urban violence.

Meaning construction and its impact on the production of juvenile justice has received a great deal of attention from sociologists and criminologists. Despite an impressive body of research and a great deal of agreement on the factors associated with punishment recommendations and outcomes, few researchers have addressed the underlying process of interpretation and meaning construction that inspires the creation of court reports and recommendations. Even fewer have systematically dealt with the possible social origins of probation officer recommendations to the court. This dissertation addresses these issues by examining the processes by which members of a juvenile probation department manage their caseloads and construct their recommendations to the court. The core of the dissertation involves the application of framing perspective, currently popular among social movement researchers, to the question of probation officer decision-making. Using data derived from a two year ethnographic study of a juvenile court, I found that the forty-eight members of the probation department at West County Juvenile Court routinely negotiated and used eight juvenile frames when talking to each other and other court actors about their cases. Furthermore, I found that the frames employed by these probation officers influenced the recommendations the officers made to the court, and their actions taken in the field. My findings include a typology of the juvenile frames used by probation officers to make sense out of their cases, as well as a typology of probation officer role-identities that appear influential in frame selection. In addition, I highlight the negotiation that occurs between the officers and their peers, other court actors, and the juveniles with whom they work. I demonstrate how the negotiated order of probation serves to create and maintain juvenile frames, and influences how frames are applied. Based on my research, I present a theoretical extension of the framing perspective and offer a series of recommendations for improving probation officer training and practice.

The purpose of this study was to investigate perceptions of the elderly in the southwest with regard to police, crime and safety. A questionnaire was mailed to 2500 elderly adults residing in the southwestern states of California, Nevada, Arizona, Colorado, and New Mexico. Five constructs were developed to measure these perceptions: (1) attitudes toward police, (2) attitudes toward safety, (3) awareness of police, (4) awareness of community policing, and (5) awareness of crime and safety. A t-test and Oneway analysis of variance were conducted to test each of the hypotheses. Results indicated that independent variables of gender, ethnic background, state and area of residence have little effect on the variables of attitudes toward police and attitudes toward safety. However, there was a higher level of significance found for the independent variables toward the awareness of police and awareness of crime and safety variables.

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<p> A scan of online news articles reveals a consistent trend: Missing White women and children are more likely to garner media attention than missing minority women. The glorification of missing White women and children has been dubbed "missing White woman syndrome." This qualitative content analysis of online and traditional print journalism articles examines the differences in how the national media outlets portray missing White women compared to missing minority women. Triangulated analyses validate the existence of the "syndrome" and explore the nuances of ways in which missing girls and women are portrayed in print media. The implications for theory and professional practice in both journalism and criminal justice, as well as those for justice policy, are discussed.</p>

<p> Responses to sex offenders often involve collective campaigns that target political and criminal justice systems rather than individual offenders. Scholars have described these community responses as part of a broader moral panic, but that interpretation generally overlooks differences in the form of responses across places. This dissertation uses data from case studies of three California towns to examine how local political and legal contexts contribute to variation in community responses to violent sex offenders. I argue that communities' orientations to authority shape how they respond to perceived injustices. </p><p> I introduce my main arguments and overarching concepts in chapter one. Then, in chapter two, I explore why communities deploy moral authority in service of their collective goals. Moral authority is an endogenous source of community power, and moral claims emerge within formal institutional contexts that allow for and even encourage morally based arguments. Because these institutions limit the effectiveness of moral claims, communities sometimes turn to other mobilization strategies. Chapter three shows how an orientation to political authority as a source of entitlement contributed to one community rallying around political mobilization. I contrast this case with a second community in which an orientation to political authority as a source of alienation contributed to ambivalence toward political strategies. In chapter four, I argue that the third community's orientation to legal authority as a source of protection contributed to litigation as the centerpiece of their response. I compare this case to the second community in which legal authority was perceived as a source of control, which facilitated indifference toward legal mobilization. </p><p> This research contributes to a new perspective on participation in moral panic as a contemporary form of civic engagement. By illuminating the social processes underlying the relationships between communities and formal institutions, my findings have implications for understanding community responses to crime, legal and political mobilization, collective action, and social control within communities. More practically, this research can inform discussions about how community members should be involved in decision-making about sex offender reintegration.</p>

The modernization of the U.S. Naval fleet along with recent cuts in defense spending, have led to a number of vessels being decommissioned. This, coupled with the need for additional detention facilities, has led to the proposal contained herein, where decommissioned seafaring vessels, specifically aircraft carriers, instead of being broken up, are modified and adapted to serve as correctional facilities.

Canada has seen an uneven temporal and geographical decline in homicide rates since the mid 1970s. In addition, Canada has simultaneously seen a proportionate increase in unsolved homicides. These two trends at first appear incongruent; however, there are a multitude of factors which influence both homicide rate fluctuations and declining clearance rates. This dissertation examines these two separate yet related phenomena in three manuscripts. In the first manuscript homicide clearance is examined at the case level in order to discern which event level features have the strongest affect on clearance outcomes. It compares the differential effects of geo-temporal influences, victim characteristics and offence details on clearance probabilities. Outcomes indicate that offence characteristics play a strong role in clearance probabilities; however, they do not completely explain the temporal decline and the geographical differences. The second manuscript examines homicide clearance rates at the regional level over three decades as a means to better understand how workload, offence and structural issues affect changing levels of homicide clearance. It also examines how certain features interact in their affect on clearance rates. Results indicate that workload factors influence homicide clearance rates, but that they interact with both structural factors and the proportion of young male victims. The final manuscript investigates regional level homicide rates over three decades with the purpose of determining the way in which changes in the size of the young male demographic influence interpersonal violence rate changes, as well as the way in which this segment of the population interacts with socio-economic factors in its influence on these rates. Results indicate that changing demographics have a strong influence on homicide rates, but that the young male segment also interacts with socio-economic influences. Overall, this dissertation adds to both homicide and homicide clearance literatures in Canada by examining multiple influences over time and space which have not previously been researched. / Au Canada, le taux d'homicides depuis le milieu des années 1970 est globalement en baisse, mais variable selon l'espace et le temps. Simultanément à ce déclin, on constate au Canada une augmentation des cas d'homicides non résolus. Ces deux tendances apparaissent incongrues au premier abord, mais il existe une multitude de facteurs qui influence aussi bien la fluctuation que le déclin du taux des cas d'homicides résolus. Cette thèse examine ces deux phénomènes inter-reliés à travers trois articles. Dans le premier, une étude de cas est réalisée afin de déterminer quels sont les facteurs qui ont le plus d'impacts sur la résolution d'homicides. Les différents effets de l'influence spatio-temporelle, les caractéristiques des victimes et le détail des délits seront comparés. Les résultats indiquent que les caractéristiques des délits jouent un rôle important au niveau des probabilités de résolution d'enquête. Toutefois, elles n'expliquent qu'en partie le déclin du taux d'homicides à travers le temps, ainsi que les différences entre les régions. Le second article présente une analyse du taux des cas d'homicides résolus au niveau régional sur trois décennies afin de permettre une meilleure compréhension du rôle de la charge de travail, du type de délit et des facteurs structurels sur les taux de cas d'homicides résolus à travers l'espace et le temps. Un examen de l'interrelation entre certains de ces facteurs sera aussi présenté. Les résultats indiquent que les facteurs liés à la charge de travail influencent les taux de cas d'homicides résolus, mais qu'ils interagissent de pair avec certains facteurs structurels, ainsi que la proportion de jeunes hommes parmi les victimes. Pour ce qui est du troisième article, une analyse des taux d'homicides au niveau régional sur plus de trois décennies est présentée. Le premier objectif est de déterminer la nature du lien entre l'évolution démographique du nombre de jeunes hommes, ainsi que l'évolution des taux de violences enregistrés dans l'espace et le temps. Le deuxième objectif est ensuite de déterminer de quelle manière ce segment de la population (jeunes hommes) interagit avec les facteurs socio-économiques influençant les taux de violences enregistrés. Les résultats indiquent que les changements démographiques ont une forte influence sur le taux d'homicides et que le segment de la population des jeunes hommes est lui-même influencé par les facteurs socio-économiques en place à travers l'espace et le temps. Globalement, cette thèse contribue par un apport scientifique tant au niveau des études sur les homicides, qu'à celui des cas d'homicides résolus au Canada, grâce à la considération de facteurs multiples dans l'espace et le temps, une approche qui n'a jamais été utilisée jusqu'à présent.

Since as long as one can remember, child protection and juvenile delinquency have been included in the same field. And today's centers for readaptation do indeed accommodate, as did the institutions for minors of the 19th century, both the problem children in need of protection and the juvenile offenders. Such institutions always had the same mandate: to lock up recalcitrant youth in order to better discipline them. Now, the evolution of the legal system has been such that the rights of young offenders are much better protected, at least formally, then those of the minors in need of protection.