Journal of Criminal Justice最新文献

Purpose

Researchers have offered several reasons for the mixed minority threat-sentencing literature including diverse dependent variables, heterogenous threat conceptualizations, and incongruent threat measurements. An overlooked potential explanation, however, is the heavy reliance on cross-sectional snapshots. If minority threat effects vary over time, then past works showing differing results may not “contradict,” but rather reflect substantive temporal shifts in minority threat effects. Against this backdrop, the current study “zooms out” and considers the evidence for minority threat theory in sentencing throughout the 21st century.

Methods

Using data spanning nearly 20 years, we examine the effects of minority population size (static threat) and change (dynamic threat) on federal sentence length outcomes at multiple time points – both overall and specifically for minority defendants. In doing so, we produce 40 tests of minority threat theory ranging from 2000 to 2018.

Results

Findings indicate that support for minority threat theory in sentencing is meager, but conclusions about the theory's predictive validity often depend on the time point, racial/ethnic group, and threat measurement examined.

Conclusions

Results suggest that inquiries into whether support for minority threat exists may be too simplistic. Instead, researchers may be better off asking “when does support for minority threat theory exist?”

Background

Justice systems globally face challenges due to pervasive engagement in antisocial behaviours, suggesting that further research on the causes of antisociality is needed. Life history (LH) influences the development of the Five-Factor Model (FFM) of personality, and both variables are strong predictors of antisociality. However, no research has yet assessed their joint impact.

Objective

This study aimed to explore the direct and indirect effects of LH and the FFM on adult engagement in antisocial behaviours.

Methods

An international sample of 490 adults (310 women, 173 men, 7 non-binary; M age = 41.19 years, SD = 1.13) responded to measurements of LH, FFM placements, and frequency of antisocial activity. Bootstrapped parallel mediation was employed to analyse the data.

Results

The findings indicated that the FFM domains of conscientiousness, extraversion, agreeableness, and neuroticism fully mediated the relationship between LH and antisociality, suggesting the effect of LH is completely indirect.

Conclusion

This study provides novel insights into an extended LH-FFM-antisociality model, which has important implications for upcoming LH research and development of programs rehabilitating adult antisociality, including the assessment and alteration of antisocial cognitive distortions and behaviour.

Purpose

Probation revocations and associated incarceration can have detrimental impacts on individuals, their families, and local jails and prisons. Yet, few studies have examined the potential long-term criminogenic effects of revocation. To address this gap, we conducted a retrospective observational study examining whether probation revocation predicted future criminal justice contact.

Methods

The sample included 1873 probation clients who exited probation between 2014 and 2016 in Monroe County, Indiana. We used hierarchical logistic regression models to examine whether probation revocation predicted future criminal justice outcomes including any jail return, any felony charges, any violent charges, any prison return, and any probation return over a five-year follow-up.

Results

After controlling for relevant covariates, probation revocation did not predict any of the five outcomes. However, low-risk clients experienced a criminogenic effect of technical violation revocations on the likelihood of returning to jail in the five-year follow-up period.

Conclusions

Revocation broadly does not appear to influence future criminal justice contact. Instead, revocation seems to indicate that an individual is already following a trajectory of misconduct. Among low-risk probation clients however, technical violations are particularly harmful. Caution may be warranted when responding to technical violations committed by low-risk clients.

As opioid-related deaths have increased nationally, so too has policy attention toward addressing the problem. However, there are questions concerning public perceptions of the latest proposals to address opioid misuse and more generally, current regulatory practices. To what extent do Americans support these new reforms: safe consumption sites, greater availability of Narcan, and expanding addiction treatment services? Relatedly, how does the public view the present level of oversight toward the pharmaceutical industry? What factors—concern about drug addiction and associated problems, direct experiences with opioids, trust in the pharmaceutical industry, and personal health indicators—affect policy preferences and views of current regulation efforts? Drawing on a 2023 nationally representative survey, this study examines these research questions. Anxiety about crime-related social disorder, direct experiences with opioid addiction, the extent of confidence in the drug industry, and other factors are tied to policy views among the public. Implications of these findings are discussed.

Male domestic violence and abuse (DVA) victims experience great levels of stigma, and as such, research that explores public perceptions of this group is needed to reduce barriers to reporting and attract gender-sensitive support. Across two studies, this paper investigates public perceptions of male victims of DVA through a mixed methods approach. In study one, 202 participants provided judgements of vignettes depicting a scenario of DVA, which differed as a function of victim sex and whether a ‘justification’ (i.e., infidelity) for DVA was present. After controlling for participant age, sex, and own victimisation, vignettes featuring male victims and victim infidelity were viewed more harshly. In study two, comparative deductive thematic analysis was used to explore qualitative perceptions of male DVA victims between men who did and did not identify as being a victim of DVA. Results indicated a lack of knowledge and awareness surrounding male DVA victims' experiences and support available, in addition to doubt in the support services’ and Criminal Justice System’s (CJS) ability to effectively respond to male victims. This paper highlights the need for gender-sensitive support, in addition to improvements across educational pathways, support services, and the CJS to end the stigmas attached to male DVA victims.

Purpose

This study compared the effectiveness of two different in-hand handgun retention tactics (HRTs). HRTs are used when a suspect grabs the officer's weapon to avoid shooting.

Methods

During mandatory training, 30 Brazilian police recruits engaged in a HRT simulated exercise. For 30 s, an opponent tried to disarm the recruit. In each round, recruits' performances were coded as success or failure. Recruits were randomly assigned to two groups that used both tactics across sessions in a crossover design. During Phase 1, the opponent tried to pull the gun from the officer. In Phase 2, the opponent could also strike or submit the officer.

Results

1029 trials were recorded, 546 for Phase 1 and 483 for Phase 2. No significant difference between techniques' effectiveness was found in Phase 1. Considering only Phase 2, the model revealed a significant difference in favor of T2. Multilevel regression models assessed the influence of individual variables on the probability of success.

Conclusions

The results suggest that T2 seems safer for the officers in scenarios where the attacker tries to hit the officer while attempting to disarm them. This research project has contributed to developing evidence-based decision-making within the department.

Objectives

This randomized experiment investigated the “contagious fire” thesis, which was first empirically investigated by White and Klinger (2012). They were the first to empirically investigate the notion, which had been widely discussed in and around Policing. The thesis posits that in deadly force scenarios, police officers are prone to use their firearms and discharge more rounds following the catalyst of peer officer gunfire.

Methods

Officers were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: a treatment group, where the officers were exposed to simulated gunfire from fellow officers (confederates), and a control group, which did not have this stimulus. One hundred and sixty-nine officers from police departments in Arizona, Colorado, Nevada, and New Mexico participated in the experiment.

Results

Peer officer gunfire significantly and substantially influenced participant shooting behaviors— participants were over 11 times more likely to fire their weapons and discharged approximately 72% more rounds in the presence of gunfire.

Conclusions

This experiment supports the contagious thesis of the use of deadly force by officers and offers the first experimental evidence of its existence. The study has implications for understanding multiple officer-involved shootings.

This project explores whether military service is correlated with the use of force required to gain compliance by law enforcement officers (LEOs), asking whether military-affiliated LEOs are more likely to (1) use force, (2) engage in higher levels of officer presence, verbal, physical, weapon display, or nonlethal force, and (3) have higher rates of force per incident. Using the Dallas Police Department's 2020 Police Response to Resistance data, the researchers measure force usage collectively and by specific category and consider LEO military background both dichotomously and by branch. Compared to those without military experience, military-affiliated LEOs do not have statistically higher odds of using force overall, but Army-affiliated LEOs have statistically higher odds of using force. Furthermore, military-affiliated LEOs were at a greater risk (approximately 35%) of using any form of force, but Army-affiliated LEOs were at nearly twice the risk of using all categories of force. However, when considering counts of force per incident, Army-affiliated LEOs required significantly lower rates of force to gain compliance across all use of force categories, and Marine Corps-affiliated LEOs had significantly lower incident rates for displaying their weapon.

This study examines the relationship between mental illness and sentencing in US state courts applying a focal concerns theory framework and incorporating intersectionality. Using ordinary least squares (OLS) modeling and data from the 2016 Survey of Prison Inmates (SPI), our findings support that neglecting the intersectionality of race and gender obscures important variations in the relationship between mental illness and sentence length. We also find important differences in this relationship based on the type of mental illness, with some types of mental illness associated only with longer sentences, others associated only with shorter sentences, and some with both longer and shorter sentences. When examining types of crime, we find longer sentences for individuals with mental illness only in the sentencing of violent crime, but not in sentencing of property, drug, or public order/other crimes. We use the lens of focal concerns theory to advise these findings.

The special sensitivity hypothesis asserts that the atypical background and personal characteristics of white-collar offenders may make them particularly susceptible to the “pains of imprisonment” while incarcerated. Using a national data set of U.S. prisoners, we evaluated symptoms of negative affect, misconduct, and various institutional outcomes among two distinct groups of white-collar offenders: those defined by their crime of exploiting specialized access for profit and those further defined by their status (i.e., employment, finances, and education). Findings indicated that the status-based offenders reported feeling significantly less worthless and that they were significantly more likely to have held a work assignment. However, the offense-based group was significantly less likely to have participated in educational programming and exhibited significantly worse negative affect—specifically nervousness, restlessness, and depression—suggesting they had greater difficulty adapting to prison life compared to others. We conclude by examining the implications for criminological theory and criminal justice policy.