<p> The "Breath of Fresh Air" project explores the potential for a "Circle of the Word" ministry model to spiritually empower incarcerated men and women while deepening the discipleship of local church members through relationship with imprisoned persons. Circle of the Word is a biblical storytelling workshop structured by peacemaking circle processes. The model was implemented with men at a state prison and women at a county jail. Volunteers from a local church assisted with the jail program. Data results affirm the model's potential. As a spiritual intervention, Circle of the Word joins the restorative justice movement to end mass incarceration.</p>

<p> Historically, juveniles have been viewed by society as less mature and less blameworthy than adults (Scott &amp; Grisso, 1997). Since its inception, the juvenile justice system has taken on a parenting role for juveniles and has attempted to rehabilitate juvenile offenders instead of punishing them. However, during the 1980s and 1990s, as a result of a perceived increase in violent juvenile offending, American society began to treat juveniles as adults based on the severity of their crimes (Grisso, 1997). The current study examined whether evidence regarding a juvenile&rsquo;s competence to stand trial and crime committed have an effect on potential jurors&rsquo; verdicts of guilty or not guilty. This study also examined the participants&rsquo; perceptions of a juvenile&rsquo;s level of responsibility based on evidence regarding competency and crime outcome. Participants consisted of members of the general public who were jury-eligible. Participants received one of four randomly assigned vignettes varying only by competency to stand trial (not mentioned, incompetent and restored, or competent) and outcome of crime (death or serious injury). After reading a given vignette, participants were asked whether they would find the juvenile guilty or not guilty. They were also asked to rate the juvenile&rsquo;s level of responsibility on a scale of 1 (<i>not at all responsible</i>) to 5 (<i>very responsible</i>). This study found that a juvenile&rsquo;s competence to stand trial and the results of the crime committed (injury versus death) have no effect on potential jurors&rsquo; verdicts of guilty or not guilty. The results did suggest that the participants&rsquo; perceptions of a juvenile&rsquo;s level of responsibility based on evidence impacts a verdict of guilty versus not guilty. Further, a competent juvenile who was found guilty of an offense resulting in death was found highly responsible for the act. In contrast, a juvenile who was not competent and was found not guilty of an offense resulting in death was perceived to be less responsible.</p>

No description available.

<p> Homicides linked to serial killers comprise a small percentage of the total number of murders committed in the United States, as well as overseas; however, there has always been an immense interest in these type of killings due to the mysterious nature of their perpetrators and their motives for killing. This small percentage could be due to the decreased incidence of the mental illnesses usually associated with serial killers (i.e., Antisocial Personality Disorder and Psychopathy), and advances in police investigative methods such as DNA matching that have resulted in a higher rate of solved murders, and consequently fewer serial killers still at large. Many theories have been proposed to try to explain why serial killers murder their victims. The most popular of these theories is the organized and disorganized dichotomy of serial killers&rsquo; methods. By using this theory and linking it with both Alfred Adler&rsquo;s (1928) theory of birth order and Michael Kirton&rsquo;s (1976) adaptor and innovator theory the relationship between a serial killer&rsquo;s birth order and the types of victims he chooses can be explored. </p>

The intent of this dissertation is to examine crime among the homeless, focusing on social context. Most research on homelessness and crime focuses on differences between rates of crime among the homeless and the domiciled. Researchers pay less attention to aspects of homeless life increasing probabilities of crime commission or police contact. The first issue examined was whether need is the primary motivator for crimes of the homeless. Given that most homeless people lack resources and yet only a minority commit crime, the key question became, "Why do some commit crime while others do not?" Information regarding a wide range of "survival" behaviors was collected by administering structured interviews to 399 homeless people in Philadelphia, Detroit, and Tucson. With these data, the relations among a variety of aspects of homeless life were examined. While alternative survival behaviors were predicted by barriers to regular work, crime was not predicted, casting serious doubt on need as the major motivator for crime in this population. This finding raised the second issue of the dissertation, "Do accepted theories of crime predict homeless crime?". Two of the theories examined (social learning and self-control theory) predicted crime in this population. Several factors are significant across the range of crimes discussed: cocaine and alcohol use, work history, staying in shelters, deviant acquaintances, non-conventional beliefs, and drug (or alcohol) abuse in the family. The third issue is the way in which the routine activities of the homeless interact with policing practices. The most significant change in patterns of homelessness is the decrease in accommodations for the extremely poor, and the related decline of space available to the homeless. The major consequence of this change is that the homeless are dislodged from areas traditionally available for use. This, combined with increases in the homeless population, compels the homeless to spend more time in prime space, or space valued by the community. This is significant, because as the numbers of homeless in prime space increases, their daily routines are more likely to bring them into contact with the police.

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.

Eftersom människor använder stereotyper som tumregler i sociala situationer, är det möjligt att de förekommer i rättsprocessen när bedömningar görs. Forskning har funnit bedömningsskillnader relaterade till gärningspersonens utseendemässiga karaktäristika. Syftet med studien var att undersöka om gärningspersonens kön, attraktivitet och ålder påverkar graden av klandervärdhet och längd på fängelsestraff samt om de påverkar motiveringarna till fängelsestraffets längd. Utifrån en fallbeskrivning om ett dråp med varierad ansiktsbild på gärningspersonen fick 192 deltagare svara på frågor om klandervärdhet och straff. Resultaten visade att männen tilldelades ett längre fängelsestraff än kvinnorna. Även de oattraktiva yngre tilldelades ett längre fängelsestraff. De yngre gärningspersonernas beteende förklarades med flest interna orsaker.   Att fler skillnader inte erhölls kan bero på att attraktivitet och ålder är subjektiva och därmed svårbedömda samt att flera faktorer än de som avsågs varierade i gärningspersonsbilden. De erhållna skillnaderna beror troligtvis på faktiska bedömningsskillnader till följd av stereotyper utifrån en gärningspersons utseendemässiga karaktäristika.