Criminology & Criminal Justice Theses and Dissertations
Permanent URI for this collectionhttp://hdl.handle.net/1903/2758
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Item IMMIGRATION EFFECTS ON FAMILY STRUCTURE AND HOMICIDE VICTIMIZATION FOR GROUPS WITH DIFFERENT RACE AND ETHNICITY STATUS(2019) Luna, Mathew; Xie, Min; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Guided by the immigrant revitalization theory, this paper will argue that improvements in family structure play a role in the immigration-crime relationship. The data used in this study were obtained from the National Vital Statistics System, the American Community Survey, and the decennial census. This paper uses cross-sectional and longitudinal models to investigate whether family structure plays a role in the immigration-crime relationship. The longitudinal models will look at changes in homicide data from 2007 and 2017. Findings from the longitudinal models show no support to indicate that family structure plays a role in the immigration-crime relationship. However, findings from Black and White non-Hispanic cross-sectional models do show some support for the argument that family structure does play a role in the immigration-crime relationship.Item UNDERSTANDING THE PROCEDURAL JUSTICE IMPLICATIONS OF MACRO-LEVEL POLICE POLICIES: EVIDENCE FROM LONGITUDINAL POLICE AND JUVENILE OFFENDER DATA(2016) Collins, Megan Eileen; Loughran, Thomas A; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)In response to a series of high profile conflicts between police and the communities they serve, President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing recommended that law enforcement agencies adopt procedural justice as a guiding principle to inform their policies. While there is general agreement about the importance of procedural justice in shaping an individual’s view of their encounters with police, it remains unclear how the many police policies that are already in place affect citizens’ perceptions of police procedural justice. This dissertation seeks to understand how a common police policy—sending more officers to the areas with the most crime—impacts perceptions of procedural justice, so that policies formed with the goal of enhancing perceptions of procedural justice might be better informed. This study exploits quasi-experimental conditions that resulted from the selective implementation of the Philadelphia Police Department’s 2008 Crime Fighting Strategy (CFS) in only nine of their twenty-three police districts. In doing so, the effect of sending more police officers to high crime areas on perceptions of police procedural justice can be estimated. While many have sought to estimate the impact of more police on offending and delinquency externalities, this particular question has not yet been researched. Further, this research focuses specifically on the perceptions of serious adolescent offenders; this is critical, as offenders were ostensibly the intended target of the CFS, many of whom experience frequent and high stakes interactions with police. Findings indicate that serious adolescent offenders’ perceptions of procedural justice based on personal experiences do not operate in tandem with perceptions based on vicarious experiences, with the two measures displaying opposite signs when correlations with district level crime and socio-economic factors were estimated. The CFS did not appear to influence significant changes in adolescents’ perceptions of procedural justice when the treatment and control districts were compared, or when within-individual changes were estimated. Further, perceptions did not necessarily update as a function of moving from one district to another, as many of the individuals who remained in a single district also updated their perceptions. Implications and limitations of these findings are discussed.Item Patterns of Collective Desistance from Terrorism(2015) Miller, Erin Elizabeth; LaFree, Gary; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)To better understand why perpetrator organizations desist from terrorist violence, we must first understand how perpetrator organizations desist from terrorist violence. With this research I aim to improve our empirical understanding of patterns of collective desistance from terrorism in support of a robust research agenda to advance theory and policy on this topic. First, I review the existing scholarly literature on collective desistance to identify conceptual and practical limitations. Second, I describe several key challenges for empirical analysis of collective desistance from terrorism. Third, I leverage more than 40 years of event data from the Global Terrorism Database to analyze patterns of desistance among 632 organizations that carried out terrorist attacks between 1970 and 2013. In doing so, I use descriptive statistics and brief qualitative case studies to critically evaluate the results of this relatively large-N analysis and illustrate its strengths and limitations. Fourth, I expand the analysis to consider how characteristics of perpetrator organizations’ terrorist activity relate to patterns of desistance. Finally, I conclude with a discussion of the implications of this study for research, theory, and policy, as well as the limitations and opportunities for improvement and expansion upon the current research.Item The utility of NGO interventions: Influences on terrorist activity.(2015) Hodwitz, Omi; Dugan, Laura; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Terrorism studies have increased following the attacks in the United States on September 11, 2001. While a great deal of research has focused on the influence of state-sponsored counterterrorism strategies on terrorist activities, limited attention has been directed towards examining the influence of non-state actors on terrorist organizations (TOs). This dissertation seeks to assess the role that an influential but often overlooked player may have on terrorist activity: the non-governmental organization (NGO). Many TOs and NGOs engage in similar campaigns, primarily providing services or advocating for a shared constituency or minority that experiences suffering at the hands of a majority, usually the state. Both TOs and NGOs require the support of the constituents in order to maintain group legitimacy, fundraise, and recruit. In addition, both vie for media attention in order to publicize the issue, radicalize the larger community, and exert pressure on the state. Public support and attention is limited and difficult to acquire, placing TOs and NGOs in competition. As such, within the rational choice and game theoretic frameworks, when faced with an NGO competitor, TOs are hypothesized to adjust their activities in order to gain constituent support, media attention, and to eliminate the competition. Using data from the Global Terrorism Database (GTD), this dissertation assesses the influence that Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, International Committee of the Red Cross, and local NGOs have on TOs in Algeria, Lebanon, and Turkey between 1987 and 2011. Results from autoregressive Poisson and negative binomial models demonstrate limited support for the hypothesized relationships. NGOs appear to have a marginal influence on TO activities in Algeria, an extremely limited impact in Lebanon, and no relationship in Turkey. Overall findings suggest two conclusions: NGO activities, in general, do not appear to escalate TO violence and NGO campaign activities specifically focused on de-escalating TO violence appear to be ineffective in these three countries. Replication is needed in additional countries to substantiate these findings.Item COLLECTIVE EFFICACY, THREAT, AND URBAN CHANGE: EXAMINING SOCIAL CONTROL FORCES IN AREAS OF GENTRIFICATION(2015) Kozey, Kathryn Noe; Paternoster, Raymond; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Since the term gentrification was first coined in the 1960s, scholars have had an interest in understanding how this process of change can impact neighborhoods. Empirical research focusing on the relationship between gentrification and crime has yielded varying results, with little examination of the contextual mechanisms which may influence the relationship. In addition, little empirical attention has been devoted to the possibility of the spatial displacement of crime due to gentrification. The purpose of this dissertation is to contribute to our understanding of how gentrification impacts levels of crime in three ways. First, using data from the U.S. Census, the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, and the Chicago Transit Authority, I examine whether gentrification is significantly associated with lower levels of crime. Second, I examine levels of crime in gentrifying and adjacent areas to assess the presence of spatial displacement. Third, I incorporate two contextual factors - collective efficacy and perceived neighborhood change - to examine whether or not they modify the relationship between gentrification and crime. Analyses utilize multilevel modeling techniques and difference-in-differences estimation. Results offer preliminary support for the moderating roles of collective efficacy and perceived neighborhood change mechanisms on the relationship between gentrification and crime. While there is an overall negative association between gentrification and crime, this effect is strengthened with collective efficacy, but reversed with rising levels of perceived neighborhood change. Additionally, there is preliminary evidence that the spatial displacement of crime is not occurring as a result of gentrification. I conclude this dissertation with a discussion of the limitations, policy implications, and future directions for this area of research.Item NEIGHBORHOOD CONTEXT AND POLICE BEHAVIOR: AN EXPLORATORY STUDY OF THE FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE POLICE USE OF FORCE BEHAVIOR IN DISADVANTAGED NEIGHBORHOODS(2014) Hudson, Jan Stephen; McGloin, Jean; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Previous empirical research suggests that patrol officers' arrest and use of force behaviors are differentially distributed across neighborhood contexts. Using a qualitative interview approach, this exploratory study elaborates upon earlier findings by investigating if officers' use of force behavior (particularly on the verbal end of the force continuum) in a police-suspect encounter varies by neighborhood context in the small community of Plum Town. Specifically, this study attempts to provide a clearer understanding of the mechanisms through which officers interpret their beat and the extent to which certain neighborhood factors play a role in influencing their actions. In Plum Town, situational and individual level factors -in particular, the need for officer safety and previous police experience-- lead officers to lower their verbal use of force threshold and increasingly threaten arrest. However, the interviews suggest that, to some extent, these variables are rooted in and influenced by place.Item Doing Time: Understanding the Dynamic Effects of Paternal Incarceration on Children's Development of Aggressive and Delinquent Behaviors(2014) Matsuda, Mauri J.; Thornberry, Terence P; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Nearly three million children in the United States are estimated to have a parent incarcerated in a federal or state prison; countless others have experienced a mother's or father's incarceration in a prison or local jail at some point throughout childhood or adolescence. Growing evidence demonstrates that incarceration of a parent is associated with a host of undesirable child outcomes, particularly increased levels of externalizing and antisocial behaviors among boys of incarcerated fathers. Although studies of the effects of parental incarceration on child outcomes have become increasingly more rigorous, there remain several limitations in the literature. Specifically, prior research has tended to address the relationship from a static framework, by conceptualizing and operationalizing parental incarceration as a time-invariant, individual-level characteristic, rather than a time-varying event. Developmental and life-course criminology and the notion of `linked lives' suggests the utility of adopting a dynamic perspective: parent and child trajectories are inextricably intertwined, such that life events and transitions embedded in a parent's life-course have consequences for children's short and long term behavioral trajectories. In the current context, parental incarceration may function as a turning point that leads to elevated levels of children's aggressive and delinquent behaviors. The purpose of this dissertation is to merge this dynamic framework with the literature on parental incarceration by examining whether father's incarceration is associated with either between-individual differences or within-individual changes in children's aggression and delinquency. This is accomplished using both time-invariant and time-varying measures of paternal incarceration and children's maternally rated problem behaviors from ages 2 through 17 with data from the Rochester Youth Development and Intergenerational Studies: prospective, longitudinal studies of two generations growing up in an era of mass incarceration. Multilevel, growth curve and fixed effects models approaches are used to determine whether recent or cumulative prevalence, incidence, duration, or timing of paternal incarceration is associated with children's aggression and delinquency. The results suggest that father's incarceration is associated with large between-individual differences, but few statistically significant within-individual changes, in children's aggressive and delinquent behaviors. Generally speaking, paternal incarceration may be better viewed as a risk factor for, rather than a proximal cause of, children's problem behaviors.Item THE UNDISCOVERED COUNTRY: HOMICIDE, DYNAMIC CHANGE, AND DETERRENCE IN WASHINGTON, D.C. NEIGHBORHOODS, 1998-2006(2014) Goodison, Sean Edmund; Paternoster, Raymond; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)Studies examining homicide rates often have two limitations. First, there is a lack of rich, dynamic data to account for change, and second, no consideration of formal social controls at the neighborhood-level. To address these limitations, longitudinal data from Washington, D.C. was collected at the neighborhood level. This homicide incident and neighborhood demographic data, which spans from 1998-2006, allow for a test of two theoretical perspectives within a classical/social control sphere, namely social disorganization and deterrence. This work poses two main questions: Do dynamic structural factors influence homicide rates across neighborhoods? Does aggregate deterrence influence homicide rates across neighborhoods? Results suggest that dynamic structural factors predict homicide rates better than static factors, though deterrence results are insignificant. Implications and avenues for future research are also discussed.Item Examining General Deterrence Using Data from the National Football League(2014) Greenman, Sarah; Paternoster, Raymond; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)To date, research studies have found only mild support for classic deterrence theory with the greatest support for increased certainty, little support for increased severity, and scant research on the effect of increased celerity. Much of this prior literature has used scenario-based data, relied heavily on student samples, and explored rule breaking behavior over relatively short time periods. Finally, the slow pace of punishment within the criminal justice system potentially reduces any existing deterrent effect of the certainty and severity of punishment. This dissertation seeks to address these limitations of prior deterrence studies by using 13 years of data (2000-2012) from the National Football League consisting of rule breakers who are punished with penalties and monetary fines almost immediately upon discovery of the infraction. The main question driving this research is whether there is evidence of general deterrence. Specifically, this dissertation seeks to determine whether prior punishment reduces current rule-breaking behavior. To address this question, this research explores the effect of on-field penalties and post-game fines on behavior within the National Football League at both the league and team levels. The dataset has several rare characteristics including: large variety and detail in the types of punishment administered, an opportunity to directly observe the effect of punishment, the near immediate imposition of punishment, and the transmission of almost perfect information about punishment. The primary finding is that there is no evidence of general deterrence in the National Football League, independent of control variables. Specifically, penalties and fines do not appear to prevent future rule breaking behavior. In general, when controlling for particular seasons, opponents, or the record of a team, the effects of penalties and fines loose significance and approach zero. The different controls for seasons, opponents, or record are fairly consistent in their statistical significance for all penalties and violent penalties, although it appears that violent penalties vary less according to these outside factors than all types of penalties. In sum, this dissertation finds no evidence that punishment affects future rule-breaking behavior at either the team or league level and thus, does not provide support for general deterrence.Item Examining Time to Rearrest by Drug Treatment Experience of Drug Court Eligible Offenders(2011) Rocha, Carlos; Gottfredson, Denise C; Criminology and Criminal Justice; Digital Repository at the University of Maryland; University of Maryland (College Park, Md.)This study explores the relationship between drug treatment experience and time until rearrest among a sample of drug court eligible offenders. The subjects for this work were randomized into an evaluation of the Baltimore City Drug Treatment Court. Of the 235 subjects who participated in this evaluation, 128 received some form of drug treatment during the three year follow-up period. Treated subject's time until rearrest was compared to the 107 subjects who did not receive drug treatment. Treatment experience was measured two different ways: first modality received and number of treatment episodes experienced. Kaplan-Meier survival estimates showed that the treated groups had longer survival times than the non-treated group. Cox regression analyses were then conducted to determine what explained this finding. Results showed that days of treatment and days of supervision were all significant predictors of time until rearrest, while first treatment modality and number of treatment experiences did not predict this outcome. Implications of these findings for policy makers and researchers are discussed.