As a result of the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization decision that overturned Roe v. Wade, state lawmakers can and have enacted abortion restrictions, including criminal penalties targeting those who seek, provide, or assist with abortion. Given the current legal landscape, it is imperative to assess public opinion regarding the endorsement of punishments for illegal abortion. We conducted multivariate analyses to assess factors associated with punishment endorsements for an illegal abortion for the pregnant woman and healthcare provider. We also evaluated whether individual beliefs (i.e., abortion legality) and contextual factors (i.e., living in an abortion-restrictive state) may influence punishment endorsements. Using quota-based sampling with poststratification weights, we administered an online survey to English- and Spanish-speaking (n = 2224) U.S. adults before the Dobbs v. Jackson decision. Our findings suggest that punishment endorsements are shaped by individual and contextual factors. Living in an abortion-restrictive state and punishment endorsement were moderated by attitudes toward abortion legality in a few specific scenarios for the pregnant person. The probability of endorsing no punishment was significantly lower in abortion-restrictive states compared with non-abortion-restrictive states for those who believed abortion should be illegal in all (5.91% vs. 16.63%) and legal in all cases (27.85% vs. 41.89%). Additionally, for those who believed abortion should be illegal in all cases, the probability of endorsing fines was significantly higher in abortion-restrictive states (35.62%) compared with non-abortion-restrictive states (18.77%).
Findings point to a disconnect between public opinion and punitive abortion policies. Post-Dobbs, as state legislators further restrict and criminalize abortion, our findings suggest that policies involving punishments beyond therapy or education, or some fines, lack broad public support. This misalignment—potentially rooted in elite influence and divergent moral frameworks—calls for abortion policy grounded in public health, democratic accountability, and moral pluralism.
We use novel, fine-grained data that covers the entire penal process from arrest to final case disposition, spanning various agencies, including the police department, prosecutor's office, and courts. We exploit sharp changes in practices generated by the adoption of two sets of policies in Philadelphia: one instructing prosecutors to decline low-level offenses, and the other aimed at reducing supervision length at sentencing. We investigate racial disparities using both racial gaps and the scale of criminal justice involvement as outcomes. Our findings offer nuanced perspectives on how policy influences racial disparities. We find that both policies successfully reduced the scale of criminal justice involvement. However, they did not reduce racial gaps in charging or sentencing. Nevertheless, given the higher frequency of arrests and subsequent criminal justice involvement for Black individuals in Philadelphia, a larger number of Black people benefited from these policies.
In recent years, several jurisdictions in the United States have elected prosecutors who advocate for reducing the scope of criminal justice involvement and addressing racial disparities within it. This paper examines whether specific policy reforms implemented by one such office—in Philadelphia—have effectively reduced widespread racial disparities in the penal system. This study contributes significantly to the growing literature on the impact that scaling back criminal justice can have on racial disparities. Much of the existing research primarily centers on legislative changes. Our work studies the impact of changes in practices within a prosecutor's office—a domain that has generally received less attention. Our research provides valuable insights for both academics and policymakers, as we underscore the importance of considering both racial gaps and the differential number of individuals impacted by the system to fully understand the effects of policies designed to reduce criminal justice interactions.
Digital inequality is a barrier for returning citizens. Yet, much remains unknown about the specific issues they encounter. As the world continues to advance technologically, it is important that we understand returning citizens’ access to and use of technology and how it impacts their ability to reintegrate into society. Framed in the Digital Rehabilitation Model, the current study uses qualitative data from 28 returning citizens to explore their experiences with digital exclusion. Findings show that returning citizens have challenges accessing and using technology in several reentry areas.
The study's results reflect returning citizens’ need for support to access and use technology for reentry purposes. Specifically, they need assistance with accessing computers and using technology for online job searching, education, and other personal needs. In addition, they also need education on how to maintain online safety. Policy recommendations are given for how correctional facilities can work with existing organizations and frameworks to increase returning citizens’ access to technology, the Internet, and digital skills programming prior to and after release from prison. In addition, concerns about how to maintain prison safety and security while increasing access to technology devices and the Internet are addressed.
On January 31, 2023, British Columbia (BC) launched a 3-year pilot initiative decriminalizing the possession of up to 2.5 g of select illegal drugs. The policy aims to reduce stigma, address racial disparities in drug law enforcement, and improve police relations with people who use drugs (PWUD). As part of a national evaluation, we conducted qualitative interviews with 100 PWUD who reported using drugs at least three times a week across BC between October 2023 and February 2024. Participants, diverse in sociodemographics, drug use patterns, and police interaction histories, largely reported an adversarial relationship with police, marked by historical mistreatment and the targeting of individuals based on aspects of their social identity, such as ethnicity, housing status, and other visible markers. Despite police generally adhering to the policy, some participants reported unlawful drug seizures, reinforcing mistrust. Although some noted reduced fear of police, most felt their negative perceptions persisted post-decriminalization, highlighting a need for further police education and training to address stigma and inconsistent enforcement.
Our findings underscore the need for improved police education and training through better standardization, with an emphasis on promoting consistency and increased transparency, particularly in the use of discretion. Training should also address the impact of systemic racism and discriminatory policing practices to foster equitable interactions with PWUD. Further consideration of alternative nonpunitive legal approaches, alongside expanded harm reduction services, treatment options, social supports (such as housing), and community-based initiatives, could be highly beneficial. Continued monitoring and evaluation of the policy's impact on PWUD is essential.
In the latter decades of the 20th century, criminology was dominated by models emphasizing the top-down management of crime. Police departments used their expertise to design policies and relied on their capacity to deploy force to implement them to deter crime. During the early 21st century, the field of criminology recognized the need to pay attention to community views about the legitimacy of policing and police practices. Efforts to address these concerns initially drew upon the social psychological literature for a theoretically based and empirically supported model of legitimacy. That literature both demonstrates that legitimacy impacts upon law-related behavior and shows that the justice of the procedures through which authority is created and implemented shapes legitimacy. Criminologists have now tested and found support for these ideas in studies of the courts, the police, and correctional institutions.
Today, legitimacy-based legal authority is an important area in criminology and provides an alternative to coercive models. Legal authorities can gain compliance with the law and with their decisions by relying upon the public's feelings of obligation and responsibility to defer to legitimate authorities. This model is effective and minimizes the resistance and hostility that is often generated by coercive commands. The legitimacy-based model has the further advantage of better encouraging cooperation from people in the community, aiding efforts to identify and prosecute criminals. Finally, it supports long-term development by promoting residents’ social, economic, and political engagement in their communities.
U.S. police agencies are currently facing a serious recruiting and staffing crisis. As a result, many scholars and police leaders are re-examining police recruiting methods. This study draws on the field of intergroup communication to examine the effects of how police are portrayed in police recruitment materials. Using a randomized survey experiment, we tested the effects of humanizing how officers are portrayed in a recruiting video relative to a more traditional, action-oriented portrayal. We showed police recruiting videos to a sample of 325 university students. Within the videos, we varied how a female police officer described her career and her personal life. We then measured the extent to which the treatment influenced participants’ general attitudes toward police and specific attitudes toward working in policing. The treatment had significant effects on the two general attitudinal outcomes (shared identity and institutional trust), but did not have a significant direct effect on respondents’ interest in working in policing. Notably, the treatment had significant indirect effects on respondents’ interest in a career in policing via shared identity, but not via institutional trust.
Applying principles from the study of intergroup communication can help police agencies develop recruiting materials that humanize the police and promote a shared identity with police officers, thereby attracting a larger and more potentially diverse pool of candidates.
A long-standing critique of place-based crime prevention interventions has been that any reductions in crime are often short-lived. If researchers do not carry out longer-duration follow-ups, we cannot know for sure if the effects of these interventions will persist, decay, or even strengthen. Using a rigorous microsynthetic control design, we evaluated the long-term impacts of a large-scale, public-area closed-circuit television (CCTV) surveillance project in Newark, New Jersey. Results show that the CCTV project was associated with a statistically significant reduction of auto theft in the intermediate term (3–4 years). The reduction of auto theft approached statistical significance (p = 0.08) during the short term (1–2 years). The analysis also observed potential displacement effects, with displacement of robbery (p = 0.09) in the short term (1–2 years) and theft from auto (p = 0.06) in the long term (9–11 years) approaching statistical significance.
The results of this study may suggest the potential for a slightly modified view of deterrence decay. The CCTV project's effect on auto theft grew from approaching significant to statistically significant between the short-term and intermediate-term periods. Such “sleeper effects” suggest that an extended period was necessary for CCTV to generate deterrence. The deterrence decay during the long-term period did not occur until after these sleeper effects emerged, which may be understood as deterrence attenuation. Although only approaching statistical significance—and not as pronounced as the reduction of auto theft—the potential displacement of robbery and theft from auto indicates that static CCTV target areas may facilitate offenders taking advantage of nearby crime opportunities while appearing inconspicuous within CCTV viewsheds. In sum, policymakers should be mindful that research evidence limited to short-term impacts may fail to detect nuanced effects relevant for policy and public guidance.
To address firearm-related harms in the context of domestic violence (DV), federal law prohibits firearm purchase or possession for respondents in qualifying civil domestic violence protection order (DVPO) cases. Washington state further authorizes courts to order a DVPO respondent (i.e., the person who perpetrated DV) to relinquish firearms in their possession while a DVPO is in effect. Despite statutory guidelines about when to order firearm relinquishment, judicial biases or other structural factors may influence which DVPO cases include firearm relinquishment. Historically, U.S. laws and institutions have privileged White men with firearm access over minoritized individuals, but little is known about whether racial disparities exist in DVPO firearm relinquishment orders. We investigated racialized disparities in DVPO firearm relinquishment orders using a sample of 6290 granted DVPO cases from King County, Washington (2014–2020). Using logistic regression analyses, we found that White respondents had 30–50% times lower odds of being ordered to relinquish firearms compared with respondents who were Black (aOR: 0.7, 95% CI: 0.6, 0.9) or Latine (aOR: 0.5, 95% CI: 0.4, 0.7). Disparities were attenuated in situations when it was statutorily mandatory for the DVPO to include a firearm relinquishment order, compared with situations when the order was discretionary, although disparities remained.
Courts may privilege and protect firearm rights for White DVPO respondents compared with respondents who were Black or Latine. Considering that people who perpetrate DV pose a substantial risk for enacting violence in the home and in the community, DVPO firearm relinquishment should be ordered equitably and thoroughly, regardless of respondent race or ethnicity. Removing judicial discretion may improve the rate at which firearm relinquishment is ordered and mitigate disparities in firearm relinquishment based on respondent race or ethnicity, however, statutory mandates alone are not sufficient to address these problems.
Implementation science (IS) is an emerging field that is infrequently used in criminology and criminal justice. IS offers criminology and criminal justice new methods to describe and measure innovations, and new and rigorous research designs that include measuring the implementation of innovations, examining implementation or change strategies, and pursuing a myriad of implementation outcomes. Most important is that the emphasis is on the organizations and/or systems themselves, instead of a focus on individuals. A science of implementation will help to advance reform efforts in justice/legal organizations, whether the reforms are at the policy or practice level. Criminologists’ use of IS methods and techniques should enlarge our knowledge about “what works” to include answers to contextual questions regarding “what works under what circumstances” or “how does it works.” Further, IS can help identify the processes needed to ensure reform efforts are successful and to build capacity for long-term change.
IS is a field that is growing in importance in medicine and health-related disciplines and is relevant to criminology/criminal justice. Receptivity to reforming police, judicial, prosecutorial, institutional corrections, and community corrections organizations is typically met with a bit of a cold shoulder, often because researchers do not understand or address the operational issues that affect reform. Of particular importance is understanding which change procedures are useful for what types of reforms—an understudied and underappreciated feature of the implementation conundrum. Policy makers and practitioners will benefit from more information on effective change procedures. IS can be used to understand strategies to define innovations, to master change processes, to study implementation, and to expand outcomes to include organizational and system measures to benefit all stakeholders.
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