Theses and Dissertations, Capstones, and Directed Research
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Electronic theses and dissertations, and graduate and undergraduate Capstones and Directed Research.
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Browsing Theses and Dissertations, Capstones, and Directed Research by Department "Criminal Justice and Criminology"
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Item A Comparative Analysis of Self-Control and Psychopathy(2019-05) Ayala, Mykle L.; Jones, Shayne E.; Jennings, Wesley G.; Miller, Josh D.Self-control and psychopathy, despite being dominant conceptualizations from their respective fields, have seldom been compared with one another to assess their similar and unique attributes as well as measured in their ability to predict future offending. Therefore, the focus of this thesis is to observe how various scales of self-control and psychopathy relate with one another at both the total and facet level. The data used for analysis was pulled from the 2000-2003 Pathways to Desistance study, with the Weinberger Adjustment Inventory (WAI; Weinberger & Schwartz, 1990), Psychopathy Checklist: Youth Version (PCL: YV; Forth, Kosson, & Hare, 2003), and Youth Psychopathic Traits Inventory (YPI; Andershed, Kerr, Stattin, & Levander, 2002) scales used for comparison. Results indicate substantial overlap between the two constructs, including between various facets that comprise each scale. This is particularly true in terms of impulsivity and aggression. However, the affective deficits captured in the psychopathy measures are somewhat distinct from the self-control measure. All measures moderately predicted offending, with self-control demonstrating a slight advantage.Item A Comparison of Crisis Negotiator Mental Health Training to CIT Training Received by Police Patrol Officers(2016-07) Jung, Jordan Taylor; Mullins, Wayman C.; McMains, Michael J.; Williams, Howard E.Crisis negotiation training prepares crisis negotiators to handle the mentally ill. However, the question arises whether this training better prepares negotiators than does the crisis intervention training that patrol officers receive. First, background on the mentally ill population and a history of police encounters with this population will be discussed. Next, the need for effective training to target the issues that police agencies experience will be explained, while emphasizing the theoretical framework and criteria for why this issue has significant social importance. Thirdly, issues faced by police officers and the mental health population laid out by past research that are significant to the research question posed will be used to support the need for this study. Next, the methodology including the sample size, target population, and detailed procedure for how to conduct the study will be described. Finally, the findings, ethical, and validity considerations, limitations of this research, and future directions for research in the area of mental health training in police agencies will be acknowledged.Item A Comparison Study of Rural and Urban Residential Burglaries(2007-12) Montague, William Donald; Mullins, WaymanResidential burglaries have long been a problem for rural and urban law enforcement. They are the largest property crime issue facing local law enforcement today. The majority of law enforcement agencies in the United States are small with limited resources. The problem is greater in rural areas due to sparse population, residences’ visibility from roadway, and distance between residences. It is imperative that these agencies make use of crime analysis to identify the time of day and day of the week that residential burglaries occur and apply their limited resources toward proactive operations. The purpose of this study is to identify the day of the week and time of day that residential burglaries occur in the agencies studied. This study can be generalized throughout all law enforcement agencies for better use of existing resources in their fight against crime.Item A Descriptive Analysis of Female Juveniles Admitted to the Texas Youth Commission(2006-12) Nelson, Erin PatriciaNo abstract prepared.Item A Qualitative Pattern Analysis of Suicide Terrorism: From Past to Future Trends(2011-12) Royston, Lisbet B. Ejlersen; Mullins, Wayman C.; Supancic, Michael; Mijares, Tomas C.Continuous effort has been made to profile the suicide bomber and the topic is as relevant as ever. News about suicide attacks in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, and recently Somalia are covered in the news weekly, however, it rarely makes the front page anymore as they have become regular incidents across the world. Research on the topic suggests that there is no clear profile or single formula for a suicide bomber, and an individual engages in such practices because of mixed motivations. The typical suicide bomber is not mentally ill, desperate, poor, or uneducated, but usually healthy, well-educated, in his late teens/early twenties, but most importantly, anyone can become a suicide bomber provided the right condition. Future trends suggest that suicide terrorists use far more advanced methods compared to a decade ago and they are more difficult to spot. There has also been a change in target selection, and at present the main targets are civilians. The purpose of this study is to identify the suicide bomber and to provide a plentiful description of motivational factors in addition to detecting patterns from past behavior to future trends. This study concentrated primarily on Palestinian suicide bombers (Israel, the West Bank and Gaza).Item A Secondary Analysis of Social Disorganization Theory in Urban Neighborhoods of Mexico City(2012-12) Gonzalez, Rodolfo; Bowman, ScottIn recent decades there has been substantive focus on the integrity of public institutions in Mexico. Factors of organizational corruption and growing attention to the activities of criminal subcultures have illuminated pundit inefficiencies in the administration of social controls. This study evaluates 1,965 surveys of perception and victimization in Mexico City during 2008 to determine demographic attributes that are relative to social disorganization theory as revised by Sampson and Grove’s 1989 article. This study examines the association between households who reported an incident of victimization and their demographic composition. The demographic variables consist of employment, education, family head of household, total monthly family income and urban residences. The data was obtained from a non-governmental institute who conducts annual assessment in metropolitan with self-report questionnaires that address perceptions and victimizations. Associations statistically significant between urban residence, education and employment were discovered.Item A Tale of Four Cities: Evaluating the Impact of Assessment Centers on Police Promotion Processes by Rank, Sex, and Race(2019-08) Leverenz, Kevin T.; Sellers, Christine S.; Withrow, Brian L.; Jennings, Wesley G.; Peak, Kenneth J.In an effort to meet the dual interests of developing a diverse cadre of quality police leaders while reducing mean subgroup differences in results, the use of the assessment center has emerged as a capable instrument and has grown in popularity over the last few decades. However, a gap in empirical research has been revealed. So, the current research focuses on how ACs impact outcomes of promotion process participants belonging to federally-protected classifications (race and sex) in four major Texas police departments, and how those outcomes change in the absence of the AC.Item A Test of Self-Control Theory in a Mexican-American Sample(2013-07) Grant, Erin; Sanders, Beth; Vasquez, Bob Edward; Cancino, Jeffrey; Vazsonyi, AlexanderWhile many demographic groups have been used to explore the self-control theory, there has been little research using the Mexican population or those of differing generation. This paper explores the relationship between parenting, self-control, and delinquency in a sample of adolescents from the Project on Human Development in Chicago Neighborhoods, using samples of Mexican-Americans and those of different generational status to test the generalizability of the theory.Item A Varied Spatial and Temporal Examination of Vacation Home Rentals and Crime(2022-05) Reinhard, Daniel; Stafford, Mark C.; Vásquez, Bob E.; Hewitt, Ashley N.; Payne, Troy C.This dissertation examines vacation home rental (VHR) properties in Austin, Texas in relation to residential burglary, substance crimes, and disturbances. The dissertation takes a three-study approach, examining VHRs in Austin with three different units of analysis. The first study uses 2018 data and neighborhoods, operationalized as census block groups (CBGs). CBGs are mutually exclusive regions with non-overlapping boundaries and varied spatial dimensions. The second study assesses result robustness by using CBGs with 2016 data, and by also using egohoods, a method of operationalizing neighborhoods with overlapping boundaries and fixed spatial dimensions. The third study uses months as the unit of analysis with a time-series design to examine VHRs and crime in the city. For the two initial studies, count regression models, social disorganization variables, spatial lag, and geographic analyses are used. For the third study, seasonal autoregressive integrated moving average (ARIMA) models are used to analyze monthly data from November 2014 to December 2019 (n=61). Vacation home rental data are reported and contextualized in different kinds of neighborhoods in the city, and in different manners per study. The most prominent finding is that listing type appears to matter. Room-only rentals were significantly and positively associated with crime, in every model that included them. However, the associations for entire-structure rentals varied by crime type, year, and neighborhood operationalization. Some of the implications are that greater scrutiny should be used to understand renter differences of these properties, as well as the property owners that rent rooms versus entire structures.Item An Analysis of Online Wildlife Trade: A Situational Crime Prevention Approach(2023-08) Rogers, Tiffany Gentry; Summers, Lucia; Jones, Shayne; Pires, Stephen; Roche, Sean PatrickThe illegal trade of wildlife and wildlife products is valued in the billions of U.S. dollars each year. This trade affects biodiversity, local economies, political corruption, and places wildlife law enforcement in harm’s way. Generally, the detection rates of wildlife trade are assumed to be low. Issues of categorization and enforcement inhibit detection efforts. The Internet contributes to low detection rates by removing a human point in the sale chain, as it connects collectors with buyers directly. Online wildlife trade is not well represented in U.S.-based research. This dissertation contributes to the existing evidence base by providing information regarding trade into the United States using both official seizure data and online advertisement data, and by suggesting means by which preventive intervention may be implemented. Seizure data from 2000-2018 provided by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service was used to identify products encountered most often— “hot products.” These hot products were systematically searched in Google, Bing, DuckDuckGo, Etsy, and eBay, with advertisements indexed. An exhaustive descriptive analysis was performed on both the official seizure data and the online advertisements. The online ads were also subjected to a script analysis (Cornish, 1994) of the shipping techniques used by online wildlife traders to deconstruct the process and aid in developing points for potential intervention. The findings from this study present a novel understanding of how the open and deep webs are used to trade wildlife. This study serves as a foundation for further research examining successful points for intervention.Item An analysis of the effect of a baccalaureate requirement on the level of cynicism of law enforcement officers in the Austin Police Department(2002-08) Williams, Howard E.; Pollock, Joycelyn; Mullins, Wayman; Thurman, QuintNo abstract prepared.Item An evaluation of recidivism rates for juveniles admitted to the Hays County boot camp from selected jurisdictions(1999-12) Guerrero, Georgen; Stone, William; Henson, Verna; Perkins, DavidThis study provides a historical review of the literature that surrounds the use of boot camps for juveniles. More specifically this study was designed to provide a quasi-experimental evaluation of the Hays County Boot Camp in San Marcos, Texas. The evaluation is an analyzation of the recidivism rates for individuals that attended the boot camp from a selected group of jurisdictions. They are being compared with a select group of individuals that were placed on intensive supervision probation from the same jurisdictions.Item An Examination of Frame of Reference and Self-Control in Alcohol and Drug Addicts(2013-08) Scott, Sarah; Stafford, Mark C.; Pollock, Joycelyn M.; Chamlin, Mitchell B.; Friedman, StanAlthough the criminal justice system is often responsible for diagnosing and treating substance-use disorders, we have a poor understanding of the complicated processes underlying these issues. The present study was conducted in an attempt to determine what (1) local preferences (2) global preferences and (3) self-control can contribute to explanations of substance use-disorders. Sixty-four participants completed a questionnaire about their drug and alcohol histories, their short and long-term preferences for using these substances, and their levels of self-control. The results indicate that individuals with substance-use disorders generally prefer to use drugs or alcohol at discrete points in time but prefer abstinence over longer periods of time. Self-control also appears to be related to greater levels of substance involvement.Item An Examination of Organized Crime as a Threat to National Security(2009-08) Carreon, Jennifer R.; Stafford, Mark; Jamieson, J. D.The overall growth of organized crime, including the extension of criminal organizations to criminal enterprises and the expansion into more sophisticated criminal avenues ( e.g., cyber crime) has become a cause for concern among federal law enforcement in America. Transnational organizations, such as Asian and Eurasian syndicates are affecting the economic state of the U.S. by embezzling millions of dollars through various fraudulent scams (healthcare fraud, phishing, credit card scams, id theft, insurance fraud, etc.) (Mukasey, 2008). This, in combination with the millions of drugs and weapons, and the hundreds of humans trafficked a year (for purpose of prosecution, slave trade, etc.) are all ways that organized crime could be considered a threat to national security in the U.S. It remains debatable however, as to what exactly constitutes a threat to national security. The purpose of this study is to examine the possibility of organized crime as a threat to national security. By conducting a series of in-depth interviews with Organized Crime Drug Enforcement Task Force Agents, this paper takes a closer look at organized crime as a threat to national security.Item An Examination of Students' Personal Interactions and Rape Perceptions(2013-12) De Leon, Dannette; Vandiver, Donna; Osborne, Randall; Stafford, MarkSocial learning theory states that social behavior of any type is learned primarily by observing and imitating actions of others. Burgess and Akers (1966) developed social learning theory to explain deviancy by combining the variables that encouraged delinquency (e.g., social pressure from delinquent peers) with variables that discouraged delinquency (e.g., the parental response to delinquency in children). This study aims to measure reported levels of peer pressure and exposure to past and recent violence and use the results to analyze levels of rape myth acceptance. The primary research question posed in this research is: What is the relationship between peer pressure, exposure to past or recent violence, and rape myth acceptance? A survey consisting of 91 questions was emailed to 500 male college students. Overall, it was found that those who report higher exposure to peer pressure will have higher reported levels of rape myth acceptance when compared to those who have not been exposed to high levels of peer pressure.Item An Exploration of the Effect of Oil and Natural Gas Activity on Crime Rates in Texas(2022-05) Shaw, Callie D.; Vandiver, Donna M.; Sellers, Christine; Arnio, Ashley N.; Ruddell, Rick; Chamlin, Mitchell B.Texas accounts for 43% of the nation’s crude oil production and 26% of its natural gas production (EIA, 2021). As a top-producing state, Texas has experienced stability in the oil and natural gas (ONG) industry since the turn of the 20th century. With ONG activity, however, comes social change, including a number of social ills, such as an increase in criminal offenses. Although previous research has assessed the effects of ONG production-related changes on the number of crimes through perception and economic studies, few have examined the relationship between ONG activity and crime patterns in Texas. Consequently, the focus of this dissertation is to determine the impact of changes in ONG production on changes in serious crime while considering indicators of sociodemographic change and known crime correlates. Specifically, this study uses residual change scores and multiple linear regression to examine county-level changes between ONG activity and known Part I criminal offenses between 2009 and 2019 among the counties in Texas. This study adds to the existing rural crime and boomtown literature because it is the first to use residual change scores to assess whether ONG activity contributes to any change in the known Part I crimes or social change variables. The results of this study indicate that six dynamic measures of ONG significantly affect change in specific known Part I offenses, thereby supporting the argument that failure to control for processes of change may lead to specification bias issues that are reflected in previous studies exploring the impact of ONG production on crime rates.Item An Exploratory Study of Juvenile Probation Officer Job Stress and Stress-Related Outcomes(2016-11) Greenwood, Lynn M.; Pollock, Joycelyn M.; Vasquez, Bob E.; Stafford, Mark C.; Lambert, Eric G.Job stress in criminal justice occupations has been the subject of research since the mid-1970s. Employees who perceive their jobs as stressful may experience potential negative outcomes related to job stress: higher rates of turnover intent, higher rates of burnout, lower levels of job satisfaction, and lower levels of organizational commitment. These potential negative outcomes can be costly to organizations in terms of budget (salaries and training), productivity, the morale of other employees, and a reduction in terms of the quality of services provided to criminal justice clientele. While all jobs have the potential to be stressful, at least at times, there may be individual characteristics that moderate the relationships between experiencing job stress and the potential negative outcomes that may result from job stress. There is considerable job stress research conducted with police officer and institutional corrections officer populations. Few studies focus on community corrections, particularly juvenile probation officers. This research addresses the lack of job stress research on juvenile probation officers by surveying a population of juvenile probation officers in the state of Texas. In general, juvenile probation officers in this sample identified their organizations as being fair, reported high or very high levels of job satisfaction, have a balance between job demands and job control, and only 33.9% reported high levels of stress. Organizational commitment levels were high and turnover intent was low for this sample. Most of the hypothesized moderating relationships were not supported by the data in this study, with two exceptions: race and ethnicity. Non-white officers reported lower levels of turnover intent when experiencing job stress than white officers. Non-Hispanic officers reported higher levels of job satisfaction when experiencing job stress than Hispanic officers.Item An Isolated Life: An Analysis of Restrictions, Behaviors, And Daily Life For Administrative Segregation Inmates(2020-05) Blinkhorn, Ashley Myrtle; Jones, Shayne; Jones, Angela M.; Vaughan, AdamBetween 80,000 and 100,000 inmates in federal and state correctional facilities are currently housed in solitary confinement. Building on literature by Haney, Pyrooz, and others, this study seeks to describe what daily life looks like for these men and the impact segregation has on their mental state. Secondary data analysis of a self-report survey conducted by mail has permitted a unique window into the daily lives of Texas Department of Criminal Justice adults in custody. Most inmates in segregation nationwide are held in solitary for relatively short terms. However, the average duration of isolation for this sample is in excess of six years. This study analyzed the impact of extended social deprivation has on the mental state of the incarcerated persons, in addition to examining the prevalence of additional restrictions. Abusive staff behavior is discussed. These factors were analyzed to investigate any relationships present with selfharm rates and mental wellness. The typical inmate experienced several symptoms of mental illness and an increase in self-harm behaviors while in segregated housing. Nearly three-quarters of inmates reported experiencing at least one additional restriction, which was found to have a moderate, positive, and significant effect on self-harm rates. Abusive behavior by staff also lead to a significant increase in mental health symptoms experienced and self-harm rates of inmates in solitary confinement.Item An Ounce of Prevention is Worth a Pound of Cure: A Test of Self Control Theory(2006-08) Casey, Veronica J.; Deibert, Gini R.; Henson, Verna J.; Supancic, MichaelNo abstract prepared.Item An Analysis of Factors Related to Drug Court Treatment-Program Completion Rates(2011-05) Smith, Barbara; Pollock, Joycelyn M.; Martinez, Pablo; Sanders, Beth A.Over the past twenty years, drug courts were develop with goals to rehabilitate offenders in terms of criminality and drug dependency. In sending criminal defendants to treatment programs rather than to prison, these courts promise to meet the needs of defendants while reducing recidivism rates and costs. This study evaluates 290 Felony Drug Court participants in a large city in Texas to determine factors that are related to drug court completion. This study examines the drug court program through the lens of strain theory in order to understand its effectiveness as a rehabilitative effort for the substance-abusing participant. The data are analyzed using bivariate analysis and descriptive analysis. Results from the present study indicate that the variables that predict success include employment and marital status. Participants who were employed and married are more likely to complete the program. Limitations of this study and recommendations for future research are discussed.