Scholars and policymakers alike have recognized mass incarceration and criminal recidivism as two of the most profound challenges American society faces. For more than half a century, the United States has been the world’s most prominent incarcerator, boasting the highest incarceration rate and the third-highest recidivism rate, with analysts projecting that U.S. incarceration will grow exponentially in the near future. The U.S. has more instances of lethal crime than any of its developed peers. Violent crime makes up a more significant percentage of criminal activity than property, drug, and public order crimes combined. Thus, individual states’ social, judicial, and policing policies have a greater impact on U.S. incarceration rates than the actions or challenges faced by any of its federal entities. Both localized and national efforts to reduce incarceration and re-offense rates through literacy initiatives, education pipelines, harsher sentencing, and the development of reentry programs have rendered statistically insignificant results. Despite the resources afforded by the nation’s wealth; decades of scholarship and activism dedicated to exposing its inherent racial inequities; and its proven inability to act as a catalyst to social reform; the American carceral system remains a threat to the social welfare and economic health of the United States. This qualitative study provides an adult learning perspective on the process by which a sample of previously violent offenders arrived at criminal desistance despite a statistical likelihood of re-offense. The participants consisted of thirty individuals (males, ages 22 to 49) previously convicted of and self-identifying as having committed violent felonies in New York State after being previously incarcerated for other violent crimes. This research’s primary data collection method was semi-structured interviews. Supportive methods included a pre-interview survey and interview participants’ use of an illustrative timeline tool as an interview discussion aid. This research applies transformative learning and self-efficacy theories as a lens through which to examine four main points of inquiry as they occurred within participants’ recollection of their learning and desistance process: what experiences were fundamental to desistance; the role of self-perception and self-assessment in desistance; supports and hindrances to desistance; and supported recommendations for desistance education design. Analysis of the findings revealed an emergent and substantiated four-phase process of desistance: (1) success separate from desistance as leading to new identity; (2) new identity as a catalyst to reappraisal and revision of needs and perspectives; (3) excavation and re-evaluation of formative experiences; and (4) conscious navigation of somatic responses.

In his article, "Cycles of Deviance" (1996), Hawdon demonstrates how varying rates of social mobility correspond to cyclical patterns of drug use in the United States between 1880 and 1990. He proposes that social mobility alters the "deviance structure" of a society by changing the rate at which certain behaviors are labeled deviant, and thus, the rate at which people engage in those behaviors. This study provides an updated assessment of the cycles of deviance model to determine whether it can account for rates of violent and economic crime. I use social mobility to predict homicide, burglary, and overall rates of drug use from 1970 through 2010 using a time-series analysis. Crime data are obtained from the FBI\'s Uniform Crime Reports and Monitoring the Future. Social mobility data are obtained from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Bureau of Justice Statistics, and the U.S. Census Bureau. I also control for several well- established correlates of crime -- namely, economic and demographic factors, police size, illicit drug market activity, and firearm availability. Results show moderate support for the cycles of deviance model in predicting rates of homicide and burglary. However, social mobility\'s influence with respect to drug use appears to vary with the size of the youth population. / Master of Science

Restorative justice (RJ) is an emerging concept of justice in the American penal system that seeks equality for all stakeholders involved. While RJ is vastly under researched--especially concerning RJ and violent offenses--current studies have only focused on determining victims' motivations for participating in RJ. Determining and evaluating offender motivations for participating in RJ remains unexplored. The purpose of this study was to explore the possible motivations of criminal offenders and their willingness to participate in RJ. The social construction framework and the narrative policy framework were employed to understand the social context. A mixed-method approach was used that began with a semistructured interview of 12 ex-offenders and concluded with all the participants completing a brief questionnaire capturing their demographical information. Participants were previously convicted criminal offenders (i.e., 7 nonviolent and 5 violent) who were no longer under the authority of the judiciary system. The semistructured interviews were analyzed qualitatively and identified six motivations: (a) concern for their reputation, (b) understanding the impact of their crime, (c) explanation of actions, (d) making the victim whole, (e) apologizing to the victim, and (f) apathy towards the victim. MANOVA analysis revealed no significance difference between the groups, except with Motive 3 (explanation of actions) and whether the participant had siblings. However, observed power for this analysis varied at low intervals where only 12 participants were involved. Regardless, the results of this study could have a significant impact on positive social change in RJ because the data informs practitioners how to facilitate RJ interventions better, bringing about efficacy with offenders.

The main purpose of this essay is to investigate the role of teachers of religious education in the proactive work against violent extremism and radicalization. Furthermore, the ambition is to raise awareness of how these five teachers of religious education in the Swedish upper secondary schools and primary schools in the subject of religious studies work with and implement the school's democratic mission, and to find structures to teach about radicalization, fundamentalism, pro-violence extremism and terrorism. To obtain a result, five semi-structured interviews with active religious education teachers in the upper secondary schools and the primary schools were conducted.To show the extent to which the school's democratic mission in the proactive work against radicalization and violent extremism is carried out, the collected empirical material has been analyzed based on Paulo Freire's awareness-raising pedagogy as a theoretical framework which indicates whether the interviewed teachers of religious education work according to what Freire calls the bank view or the liberating teaching. The study shows that all interviewed teachers work according to both these models. The teachers believe that it is inevitable to ignore the teaching of facts but prefer the liberating teaching. This is because all interviewed teachers believe that through dialogues and discussions, a critical thinking is created in the students. Furthermore, it appears that all teachers find it essential to create a good and open classroom climate where there is mutual acceptance of dissent. Thus, a long-term effort to create students as source-critical thinkers is fundamental.

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) / In this study, narrative analysis, informed by the perspective of standpoint feminism, is applied to movies featuring female protagonists throughout the past five decades of the “rape and revenge” genre of filmmaking to understand the extent to which probability and fidelity function in these five films to create empathy for the victims of sexual violence. Narrative criticism is used to assess motives behind stories told in media texts, while standpoint feminism illuminates epistemological implications to cultivate intersectional viewpoints. This study provides a narrative analysis through standpoint feminism of five films that each consider female portrayals of violence as a central part of its plot. Each film represents their respective time frames over the past five decades, falls under the criteria of what constitutes a “rape and revenge” film, have been viewed overall by mainstream audiences as films that are relatively well known, and portrays women as protagonists in the plot lines. Using the theoretical insights of narrative criticism, this study investigates the common themes observed in the films that fit these specific criteria to illuminate violent female portrayals in film and identify the extent to which probability and fidelity function in these five films to create empathy for the victims of sexual violence. Standpoint feminism provides the framework to reveal the broader cultural implications of violent rhetoric in gendered media portrayals of films from the past five decades featuring female protagonists.

No description available.

No description available.

No description available.

I denna kvantitativa studie så granskas relationen mellan rörligheten och våldsbrottsligheten på Hötorget, som är ett torg beläget i det centrala Stockholm. Genom att utföra univariata och bivariata analyser på sekundärdata från polisen och Storstockholms lokaltrafik, så undersöktes det under vilka tidpunkter på dygnet som det rör sig flest människor i området och det begås flest brott. Resultatet av dessa analyser var att det fanns ett tydligt samband mellan de två variablerna samt att vid variationer i en variabel så noterades variationer i den andra. När det rör sig färre människor i området så inträffar det fler våldsbrott och detta mönstret har noterats gälla både under vardagar och helger. / In this quantitative study, the relationship between the level of mobility and the amount of violent crimes in Hötorget is studied. Through univariate and bivariate analyses of secondary data, the times in which the crimes were committed along with the amount of people moving in the area were studied. It was revealed that there was indeed a correlation between the two variables and that changes in one variable also led to changes in the other. Lastly, the results showed that the amount of violent crimes reached its peak when there were few people moving in the neighborhood and this occurred both during the weekdays and the weekend.

Recent years’ terrorist attacks in Europe and the flow of foreign fighters joining the terrorist organisation Daesh, has made the understanding of radicalisation evermore crucial. This thesis investigates if push and pull factors leading into violent Islamic extremism differentiate between men and women. Furthermore, it assesses how preventive measures from The United Kingdom, Sweden and Denmark targets push and pull factors and if these are sensitive to sex. To fulfil this objective an exploratory thematic analysis was used to synthesise secondary qualitative research surrounding push and pull factors. The push and pull factor analysis revealed three trends: there were limited variation in the overall categories describing the push and pull factors present for men and women; what caused push and pull factors to manifest differed according to sex; and, there were differences in how much men and women were affected by these factors. The assessment of prevention measures showed that none of the measures explicitly mentioned push and pull factors, yet they all had the potential of targeting these. Sex was included in some aspects of the measures, but was not a consideration in relation to the targeting of push and pull factors. The thesis ends with a discussion of what implications the found results have for practice and offers suggestions to how prevention measures can be improved.