Criminal Justice Review

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Latest documents

• Book Review: Why hackers Win: power and disruption in the network society
• Sex Offender Recidivism: Some Lessons Learned From Over 70 Years of Research

  Sex offender recidivism (SOR) has been the subject of research for over 70 years. Myths, misconceptions, and erroneous conclusions about SOR, however, remain widespread, impeding the development of evidence-based policies aimed at preventing sexual offenses. To address the rich but uneven literature, a comprehensive review was conducted making it possible to provide a contextualized overview of scientific knowledge against the backdrop of methodological issues, challenges, and shortcomings. Over the years, researchers have been asked to provide a simple answer to a seemingly simple question: what are the recidivism rates for sexual offending? In response, the field has produced a wide range of findings making it difficult to draw firm conclusions, leaving room for interpretation and personal biases. The variations in recidivism rates are attributable to offender and methodological characteristics, both of which are embedded in a particular sociolegal context. As a result, the base rate of SOR is more effectively considered in terms of a series of questions that should include the type of recidivism, with whom, over what period, and in what context. Issues and debates that have marked the field and fueled its growth are highlighted. Research innovations and important areas of research are also discussed.

• Barriers and Motivators to Seeking Mental Health Support: An Assessment of a Southeastern Sheriff's Office

  Limited research has examined what factors serve as potential barriers and motivators for law enforcement personnel in seeking mental health support. The current study presents findings from a survey of 158 sworn and civilian personnel from a large Southeastern Sheriff's office to shed light on these potential barriers/motivators. We drew on previous literature to create measures related to mental health stigma, confidentiality, burnout, various stressors, and organizational support, among others. The main effects OLS regression models suggest that increased perceptions of stigma and personal stressors significantly lowered employees’ willingness to seek mental health support. However, increased burnout and job satisfaction were associated with employees seeking mental health support. Multiplicative models show that as job satisfaction increased within nonwhite respondents, those respondents were significantly more likely to seek mental health assistance. However, as personal stressors increased among nonwhite respondents, those respondents were significantly less likely to seek help. Finally, as overall health increased among white respondents, those respondents were significantly more likely to seek help. Findings indicate that mental health issues experienced by employees vary based on group membership. We discuss several future research directions and policy implications derived from these findings.

• Book Review: Shots fired: Gun violence in the United States
• Exploring Perceptions of Police Legitimacy: The Role of Family, Friends, and Procedural Justice

  Since its inception in 1990, Tyler's process-based model of regulation has provided a fundamental framework for understanding why people obey the law. Numerous studies have found support for Tyler's process-based model of regulation, with the majority of research reporting an association between procedural justice and legitimacy. The research is limited, however, in its ability to explain the correlates of legitimacy outside of procedural justice, which is surprising considering research indicates that the development of behaviors and attitudes toward legal institutions and actors is complex. Based on the legal socialization literature, the current study explores how perceptions of police legitimacy may be impacted by family and/or peer views of the police. In order to investigate this relationship, the current exploratory study relies on data from students located at two universities in the United States. The results suggest that family views, peer views, and procedural justice are all significantly related to perceived police legitimacy. These findings are explored and contextualized in the broader literature on police legitimacy.

• Book Review: Police-Related Deaths in the United States
• Criminal Justice Review Publications Received List (May–July 2024)
• Book Review: Blind injustice: A former prosecutor exposes the psychology and politics of wrongful convictions
• Development and Validation of Multidimensional Scales of Public Confidence in Criminal Justice

  Despite growing interest in public confidence in criminal justice, robust confidence measures have not yet been established. Two studies were conducted to develop multidimensional measures of public confidence in criminal justice. Study 1 involved two-phased construction of scales in which a preliminary inventory was generated and then finalized after psychometric evaluations. Six multidimensional scales (62 items) were constructed for measuring efficiency-, finality-, fairness-, lawfulness-, accuracy-, and transparency-oriented confidence. Study 2 tested the predictive ability of the scale scores for cooperation with criminal justice institutions. Results highlight that higher confidence in authorities’ accurate fact-finding and fair treatment predicted greater willingness to assist institutions. Higher confidence in authorities’ lawfulness predicted greater compliance with the law. The six scales developed are a reliable and valid tool for measuring confidence in criminal justice and predicting cooperation with criminal institutions.

• Book Review: Debating the drug war: race, politics, and the media

Featured documents

• LGBTQ Student Victimization and Its Relationship to School Discipline and Justice System Involvement

  Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) students experience higher rates of school-based victimization than their peers, and this victimization contributes to higher risk of suicide, substance misuse, mental disorder, and unsafe sexual experiences. In addition, these experiences may...

• Examining the Gap Between Prosecutor Attitudes and Decisions: Case Prioritization Through Case Elimination Mechanisms in Driving With a Suspended License Cases

  Prosecutors are granted considerable discretion, particularly for misdemeanors. The current study assesses the processing of misdemeanor driving with suspended license (DWSL) cases. Using interview and administrative data from a Florida jurisdiction, the study first examines prosecutorial attitudes ...

• Youth Gang Desistance

  Following a noticeable absence, studies of gang desistance have begun to appear in the literature. Spurred by results from panel studies that gang membership is a transitory stage for the majority of gang-involved youth, researchers have begun to examine motivations, methods, and consequences...

• The Effects of Private Prison Confinement on Offender Recidivism

  Evidence has been mixed as to whether private prisons are more effective than state-operated facilities in reducing recidivism. This study analyzes whether private prison confinement in Minnesota has had an impact on recidivism by examining 3,532 offenders released from prison between 2007 and 2009....

• The Effect of Socioeconomic Status on Delinquency Across Urban and Rural Contexts

  An extensive line of research has demonstrated that low socioeconomic status (SES) is a risk factor for adolescent delinquent behavior. The possibility that low SES affects adolescent’s risk for engaging in delinquent behavior has garnered a significant amount of empirical and public attention,...

• Recent Legal Developments

  In this article, we review and analyze the criminal justice–related decisions of the 2015 term of the U.S. Supreme Court. We also provide a summary of the Court’s voting patterns and opine authorship. Twenty-two of the Court’s 76 decisions touched on criminal justice. There were significant...

• Beccaria and Situational Crime Prevention

  This article compares Beccaria’s and Situational Crime Prevention’s (SCP) claims across six dimensions. Both perspectives question harsh penalties, embrace crime reduction as a goal, and view some individuals as possessing agency and rationality. The latter two points distinguish them from most...

• Situational, Community, and State Policy-Level Factors Associated with Arrest in Incidents of Intimate Partner Violence

  This study explored situational-, community-, and state policy-level factors associated with arrest in incidents involving violence among heterosexual couples. We employed 3-level regression models with Bayesian estimation to determine factors that influence female-only arrest, male-only arrest,...

• MAOA, Drug Selling, and Violent Victimization

  Involvement in drug markets is a significant risk factor for criminal victimization. Separately, the monoamine oxidase A (MAOA) gene has been identified as correlating with risky and antisocial behaviors and moderating the effects of environmental risk factors on antisocial behaviors. Using a...