Thesis (M.P.A.)--Kutztown University of Pennsylvania, 2000. / Source: Masters Abstracts International, Volume: 45-06, page: 2939. Typescript. Abstract precedes thesis title page as 2 preliminary leaves. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 89-92).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2000. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 218-249). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

The purpose of this study was to examine control beliefs and their role in the different ways victims cope with burglary. Two studies were conducted. In the first study, participants were college students who had been burglarized within the previous year. The volunteers were men and women between the ages of 19 and 37 (N=61). The participants completed Levenson's (1981) locus of control scale. The following week, in order to assist recall, the participants viewed a 2-minute video that depicted a residential burglary in progress. Immediately following the video, they completed a coping measure, situational appraisals of control measure, and importance of outcome measure. The second study was a conceptual replication of the first study and therefore followed the same procedures. However, in order to assess locus of control prior to victimization, participants were male and female college students (N=102) who had never been burglarized (experimentally induced victims). Zero-order correlations, discriminant analysis, and hierarchical multiple regression were used to examine the main, mediating, and moderating effects of locus of control, importance of outcome, situational appraisals of control, and gender on coping functions. Because previous research has found gender differences in reaction to criminal victimization, i t was hypothesized that the influence that gender has on coping results from an individual's locus of control orientation. It was also expected that the direction or strength of the locus of control and coping relation would be influenced by an individual's gender and by how much importance he or she attached to the victimization experience. In both the victim group and experimentally induced victim group, emotion-focused coping was significantly predicted by gender, locus of control, importance of outcome, and situational appraisals of control. However, problem-focused coping was significantly predicted by gender, locus of control, importance of outcome, and situational appraisals of control for the victim group only. Locus of control did not influence the gender and coping relation. The results indicated that in both groups men who held strong powerful others locus of control beliefs used less emotion-focused coping. In contrast, in the burglary victim group, women who held strong powerful others locus of control beliefs used more emotion-focused coping. However, there was no relationship between powerful others locus of control beliefs and emotion-focused coping for women in the experimentally induced victim group. For experimentally induced victims, both men and women with high chance locus of control beliefs used more emotion-focused coping. In both groups, importance of outcome did not moderate the locus of control and coping relation. Implications of these results and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Georgia State University, 2007. / Title from file title page. Sarah L. Cook, committee chair; Jim Emshoff, Lisa Armistead, Julia Perilla, committee members. Electronic text (122 p. : ill.) : digital, PDF file. Description based on contents viewed Nov. 14, 2007. Includes bibliographical references (p. 90-107).

Thesis (M.A.)--University of North Carolina Wilmington, 2009. / Title from PDF title page (January 15, 2010) Includes bibliographical references (p. 51-56)

Thesis (M.A.)--Carleton University, 1998. / Also available in electronic format on the Internet.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2005. / Advisor: Dr. Gary Kleck, Florida State University, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 27, 2005). Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 138 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Doctor Legum - LLD / The thesis draws on the author's own contribution to a co-authored text Wolhuter, et al, 2009), which was aimed at introducing students to the legal landscape pertaining to victims' rights in England and Wales. All the arguments presented and issues addressed in this contribution constitute the author's own work, and were developed without any form of collaboration with the co-authors. While the thesis incorporates the basic issues that arose for consideration in the author's contribution to this text, it goes beyond this contribution to develop a systematic framework for the recognition of enforceable victims' rights flowing from the overarching rules of EU law. The thesis explores the extent to which the entrenchment in English law of enforceable rights for victims of crime in general, and socially unequal victims in particular, will reduce secondary victimisation at the hands of criminal justice agencies. The absence of such rights in English law constitutes a significant lacuna in the state’s responses to victims, particularly in light of the recent recognition of enforceable victims’ rights in EU law. The thesis accordingly seeks to contribute to the generation of a victims' rights discourse in the UK, with the aim of encouraging the introduction of enforceable rights for victims. To this end, it engages in a comparative analysis of victims' rights in EU law, European human rights law and American law. It contends that the United Kingdom ought to agree to be bound by the Draft Directive of the European Parliament and of the Council establishing minimum standards on the rights, support and protection of victims of crime (2011, the "Victims' Directive"), which will render the victims' rights enshrined therein directly enforceable in national courts. In addition, it considers each of the rights in the Framework Decision on the standing of victims in criminal proceedings (2001/220/JHA), and its prospective successor, the Victims' Directive, including the rights to information, respect and recognition, protection, participation and compensation, pointing to ways in which these rights may be given full effect in English law. In particular, the thesis advocates the recognition of active victim participation to empower victims in the pre-trial and trial processes. It maintains that the models of active victim participation in German and Swedish law, namely auxiliary prosecution and victims’ lawyers, reduce secondary victimisation, particularly for vulnerable victims of serious offences, and ought to be introduced in English law. The thesis also evaluates the position of socially unequal victims, namely women victims of gender-based violence, minority ethnic victims of racially and religiously motivated crime, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender ("LGBT") victims of homophobic and transphobic crime, and victims of elder abuse. It locates these victims within the framework of international and European human rights law, and recommends reforms to English law that would facilitate and enhance their exercise of the victims' rights that it advocates. The thesis concludes by delineating the contours of a victims' rights' model, which encompasses the recognition of victims' rights as enforceable human rights, the correlation of these rights with the right to freedom from discrimination, and the introduction of active procedural rights in the pre-trial and trial processes.

In this dissertation, I examined the construction, function, and consequences of causal attributions in all British Columbia sexual assault trial judgements available through Quicklaw from 1986-1994. Most judgements contained causal attributions, that is, the judge discursively constructed an explanation of the assault. These attributions were analyzable as internalizing versus externalizing (i.e., under the individual's control or not); situating or saturating (i.e., situated in a particular time and place versus abstracted and pervasive), and as violent or nonviolent (i.e., caused by a choice or tendency to be violent versus a choice or tendency to use alcohol, to be sexually inappropriate, etc.). The preponderance of attributions for persons guilty of sexual assault cast the cause as something other than violence. This suggests that, despite laws which defined sexual assault as violent per se, judges are not treating these offenses as violent. These attributions along with two other sets of factors (case parameters identified by Ruby, 1994, and stranger versus nonstranger status) were then tested to determine which factors were related to sentencing. Causal attributions were significantly correlated with sentence. In particular, nonviolent attributions were significantly related to lower sentences. Only the relatively rare violent and internalizing attributions (e.g., "he chose to be violent") were significantly correlated with higher sentences. Most case parameters were either not associated with sentence or were actually correlated in the opposite direction. For example, breach of trust was negatively associated with sentence: judges gave offenders who assaulted children in their care systematically lower sentences. Stranger status was significantly correlated with the offender receiving a higher sentence, even when the stranger had not physically touched the victim. Overall, these findings illustrate the usefulness of examining judges' discourse as well as the facts of the case. When judges discursively constructed an assault as nonviolent, the sentence was lower. When they attributed the assault to violent causes and cast the offender as responsible, the sentence was higher. Moreover, the results suggest that the judges are not dealing with sexual assault and other sexualized offenses in the way that is consistent with the relevant legislative laws and sentencing principles. In particular, the legal system fails to protect children from those charged with their care and protection. / Graduate

M.A. / Restorative justice is a new way of thinking about crime. Restorative justice ensures that the needs of the victims are not forgotten and it sets about repairing the harm caused to victims. In restorative justice, victims of crime are placed in the centre of the criminal court. It was of great importance to find out how the victims of crime perceive restorative justice. Eight victims of crime committed by juvenile offenders in Malamulele were selected to participate in the study. An exploratory study was conducted to gain insight into the feelings of the victims of crime towards restorative justice. To find out what meaning victims of crime attach to restorative justice, qualitative research methodology was utilized. Information was collected through a semi-structured interview to obtain a detailed picture of the victims’ perceptions on restorative justice by using an interview schedule. Non-probability purpose sampling was used to select the easily available victims of crime. It was discovered that the respondents perceived restorative justice as a relevant way and tool of settling the dispute face to face through reconciliation, peace and forgiveness. Recommendations are based on the findings to implement a restorative justice programme and to involve the victims of crime in the justice system. Recommendations for further research are presented. / Ms. H. Ellis