Criminal Justice Personnel Research Articles

Of boredom and havoc: Correctional officers and meaning making

Despite early calls to pay attention to the role of emotions in crime and criminal justice, including in prison studies, empirical research focusing on emotions in the administration of criminal justice has been sporadic. With notable exceptions, little attention has been paid to the role of boredom, meaning, and the labour processes of criminal justice personnel more broadly, and correctional officers specifically. We fill the lacuna in knowledge by examining the relationship between boredom, temporality, the labour process of correctional officers, meaning making, and officer wellness. We first offer an overview of boredom as an emotion and its contribution to meaning making. We then outline the labour process of correctional officers, reviewing literature on the structure of their carceral work environments and their experiences of boredom. We draw on 651 interviews with correctional officer recruits (n = 375) and follow-up interviews with correctional officers (n = 276) within federal prisons across Canada to understand the emotional experiences of correctional work, specifically focusing on boredom as a dominant emotion and its effect on officer wellness. Our study uses a phenomenological approach to consider how boredom plays a role in the daily lives of those providing security within prison spaces, how prison officers make sense of their work in relation to temporality and boredom, and how boredom and havoc contributes to poor officer wellness.

Animal abuse recidivism: a narrative review

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to consolidate and evaluate the available research on animal abuse recidivism.Design/methodology/approachA narrative review of the animal abuse literature was conducted. Articles were included if they provided data/estimates of the rates of recidivism, findings regarding the static, dynamic and/or protective factors associated with animal abuse recidivism and available risk assessment tools, specifically for use with individuals who have a history of animal abuse.FindingsThe literature review highlighted high rates of reoffending amongst those who have harmed animals. Many risk and protective factors associated with animal abuse were common to the wider offending behaviour literature (e.g. antisocial attitudes, relationship issues), but more robust research is needed to highlight any distinct characteristics. Lastly, the review reports two risk assessment tools designed specifically for this offending group.Practical implicationsClinicians and criminal justice personnel base their sentencing, detention and treatment decisions, at least in part, on the recidivism literature. This review provides a consolidation of the evidence base as an aide memoire for practitioners.Originality/valueHistory of animal abuse is a risk factor for future animal harm specifically, and interpersonal violence more broadly. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this is the first literature review that presents the key research evidence on risk/protective factors and relevant risk assessment tools that can inform intervention planning to reduce risk of reoffending towards animals and humans alike when practitioners encounter clients who have a history of harming animals.

Racial Threat and Punitive Police Attitudes

Racial Threat Theory posits that punitive attitudes are produced when Whites are alarmed by large or growing Black populations. While research has identified a relationship between Black composition and support from community members for more punitive criminal justice policy, no research has examined whether racial composition influences punitive attitudes among criminal justice personnel—even though they represent a key population that can engage in discrimination. This study advances our understanding of racial threat and police force by examining the relationship between Black population and punitive use-of-force attitudes on the part of police. Using survey and census data for approximately 10,000 police officers in 97 agencies, multilevel analyses reveal that officers report more punitive attitudes in jurisdictions with larger Black populations and that this relationship is concentrated among White police officers. The results provide evidence that racial disparities in police outcomes are at least partly driven by motivational criteria (such as discrimination).

The Study on Illegal Online Gambling Investigation in Taiwan

With the rapid development of information and communication technology, online gambling has flourished in Taiwan and caused severe social problems. Online gambling is often combined with various crimes, such as organized crime, fraud, and money laundering, severely affecting social security. Moreover, as the exponential development of technology has given rise to many high-tech crime tools, the police force has encountered many investigation challenges. This paper intends to understand crime and investigate the patterns of online gambling websites through case studies. It is found that online gambling operators have invented a sophisticated business model to circumvent police investigations and to facilitate their defense in the future. This paper summarizes and analyzes the modus operandi and police investigation model and puts forward recommendations on the current difficulties for the reference of practical criminal justice personnel.

Flipping the “New Penology” Script: Police Misconduct Insurance, Grassroots Activism, and Risk Management–Based Reform

Through a multi-method qualitative case study, I examine the failed 2016 ballot campaign of the Committee for Professional Policing (CfPP), a police accountability group in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In attempting to make Minneapolis the first city nationwide to require police to carry professional liability insurance, the CfPP turned the logic of Malcolm M. Feeley and Jonathan Simon’s “new penology” paradigm onto police. Their thesis argues that a contemporary penal shift occurred away from rehabilitation toward managing aggregates of dangerous criminal categories through risk management approaches. I extend their thesis in a new direction by examining how—in the emerging age of “algorithmic risk governance”—social movement organizations, like the CfPP, are starting to invert the new penology onto criminal justice personnel. In flipping the script, the CfPP called for a new private insurance market using mandatory police misconduct insurance to manage aggregates of dangerous police officers. After highlighting how the CfPP developed new penological objectives, discourses, and technologies, I discuss the implications of grassroots groups adopting and redefining traditional penal logics and propose future research avenues.

Autistic adults and their experiences with police personnel: a qualitative inquiry

This study uses a qualitative methodological approach to investigate the experiences that autistic adults have when encountering police personnel. An anonymous, online, semi-structured survey asking open-ended questions about individual experience was used, and the data were analysed thematically. Although only five participants comprised the final sample, the findings illustrate how – despite differences in types of interaction and police contact – similar experiences were reported. Almost all participants reported experiencing a negative interaction with police, coupled with a limited understanding of the events surrounding their encounter. Four participants experienced some form of being stopped and questioned. This study aims to examine alternative perspectives, as previous research has focused on criminal justice personnel perspectives rather than autistic perspectives. This is one of a few qualitative Australian studies to seek individualised experiences from a community-based sample. Sampling and recruitment strategies need revision to attain a larger number of surveys in future research.

Officer observations and disproportionate minority youth arrest: origins, outcomes, and opportunities

Disproportionate minority confinement (DMC) has been examined in juvenile justice research. However, studies associated with characteristics of criminal and juvenile justice personnel in relation to the high rate of minority youth arrest rates is deficient. Using nearly 100 surveys, the purpose of this study is to identify the opinions of law enforcement personnel in association with official data provided by the Uniform Crime Reports. Chi-square results reveal that race (as well as other characteristics) are significantly linked with opinions related to disproportionate minority youth arrest. This includes reported explanations, impact, and solutions (i.e., ideas related to nonarrest measures, etc.). Areas of further inquiry, limitations, and policy implications are provided.

The Silence of Female Sexual Offending: A Public Health Issue

The idea that females can engage in sexually predatory behavior against children and adolescence is difficult to convey to the lay pubic since most of society believes the notion defies conventional ways of viewing the gendered nature and roles that women traditionally perform. Despite this, scholars and researchers examining child sexual abuse are beginning to report on silent offenders (women and young females) and their victimizations that have been largely ignored by criminal justice personnel who are responsible for holding sex offenders accountable. We argue that female sex offending is more common than believed and is both a criminal justice and a public health issue. We also argue that until society recognizes that sex offending is not a gendered crime, more cases will escape the attention of both criminal justice and public health systems that are in positions to punish and treat where appropriate.

The Association of Family Functions Among Juvenile Delinquent Children in Rehabilitation Centres in Nairobi and Kiambu Counties-Kenya

Background: Juvenile delinquency is a serious problem in Kenya. There is a great concern with the growing numbers of children who are in the rehabilitation centres in Kenya. Previous studies in this field has mostly dwelt on the rehabilitation process of the juvenile delinquent children, and not much on the cause. This study sought to find out if family functions may contribute or lead to juvenile delinquency among children in Nairobi and Kiambu Counties.Objective: To identify the prevalent family functions among juvenile delinquent children in rehabilitation centres in Nairobi and Kiambu counties. Methodology: A cross-sectional descriptive design was used, involving purposive sampling technique. Face to face interview was used to collect data from a total number of 113 participants, 60 from Getathuru rehabilitation centre and 53 from Kirigiti rehabilitation centre. A socio demographic data questionnaire, Family Assessment Device and Brief Family Relationship Scale was used. The study was done for a period of 12 weeks.Results: The study established that among the respondents, the majority (95.6%) were from families which were unstable compared to mere 4.4% who were from families that were functional.Conclusion: The family is a system in which each member has a significant influence on all other members. Hence, family functions may determine if a child will be delinquent or not. A family that is dysfunctional is more likely to lead to juvenile delinquency than a family that is functional. New strategies in the rehabilitation process focusing on the family and its functions is important instead of dealing with the child as the only source of the problem. Involvement of professional counsellors and therapist to facilitate the rehabilitation of the children instead of using criminal justice personnel is highly recommended in order to deal with the root cause of juvenile delinquency. Keywords: Juvenile delinquency, family functions DOI: 10.7176/RHSS/10-21-06 Publication date: November 30 th 2020

‘Giving back and getting on with my life’: Peer mentoring, desistance and recovery of ex-offenders

Peer work and peer mentoring are dynamic social processes that have reciprocal benefits for both mentor and mentee in tackling issues around reoffending and substance misuse. Narratives of peer mentors and desistance were collected from probation peer mentors, Criminal Justice Drugs Team mentors and health trainers, to explore identity transformation and how the criminal justice system supports ex-offenders in desistance. Criminal justice practitioners were also interviewed to explore the importance of relational support networks. Themes that emerged from the research include the transformative potential of peer work and how peer workers can become role models for other offenders. Peer workers are ‘experts by experience’, using personal narratives of desistance to inspire hope in others. Influential criminal justice personnel are key to this process. Peer work can be the start of building a desisting identity, acting as a ‘hook for change’. Peer workers are given spaces within criminal justice organisations to work, which fosters a sense of purpose, belonging, trust and responsibility. Seeing ex-offenders from a strengths-based perspective is integral to supporting ex-offender transition. However, peer workers are inconsistently validated by criminal justice personnel, which can impede their desistance, placing them in a liminal position.

Mental Health Consequences of Sexual Misconduct by Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice Personnel among Black Drug-Involved Women in Community Corrections.

This study examines the prevalence, correlates, and mental health consequences of sexual misconduct by law enforcement and criminal justice (LECJ) personnel. Baseline data for Project E-WORTH (Empowering African-American Women on the Road to Health) were collected between November 2015 and May 2018 from 351 drug-involved Black women from community corrections in New York City. LECJ sexual misconduct was self-reported and we measured mental health outcomes with the CESD-4 and the PTSD Checklist. Univariate and multivariable logistic regression analyses were performed. Approximately 14% of our sample had experienced LECJ sexual misconduct. Participants who reported multiple arrests, recent drug use, and having experienced childhood sexual victimization were more likely to have experienced LECJ sexual misconduct. Further, LECJ sexual misconduct was positively associated with depression and PTSD. These findings suggest that LECJ sexual misconduct is a previously unreported risk factor for adverse mental health outcomes among criminal-legal system-involved women. There is a need for recognition of LECJ sexual victimization among criminal-legal system-involved women. As such, prevention, treatment, and community corrections service delivery for this population should be trauma informed.

“We’ll Take the Tough Ones”

Expertise in multi-door criminal justice enables new forms of intervention within existing criminal justice systems. Expertise provides criminal justice personnel with the rationale and means to use their authority in order to carry out their existing roles for the purpose of doing (what they see as) good. In the first section, we outline theoretical frameworks derived from Gil Eyal’s sociology of expertise and Thomas Haskell’s evolution of moral sensibility. We use professional stakeholder interview data (N = 45) from our studies of three emerging and existing prostitution diversion programs as a case study to illustrate how criminal justice actors use what we define as primary, secondary, and tertiary expertise in multi-agency working groups. Actors make use of the tools at their disposal—in this case, the concept of trauma—to further personal and professional goals. As our case study demonstrates, professionals in specialized diversion programs recognize the inadequacy of criminal justice systems and believe that women who sell sex do so as a response to past harms and a lack of social, emotional, and material resources to cope with their trauma. Trauma shapes the kinds of interventions and expertise that are marshalled in response. Specialized programs create seepage that may reduce solely punitive responses and pave the way for better services. However empathetic, they do nothing to address the societal forces that are the root causes of harm and resultant trauma. This may have more to do with imagined capacities than with the objectively best approaches.

Using Reentry Simulations to Promote Changes in Attitude toward Offenders: Experiential Learning to Promote Successful Reentry

This research examines the viability of using reentry simulations as a tool for influencing changes in participants’ perspectives about the realities of coming back in the community after a period of incarceration. Using both quantitative and qualitative methodologies, we investigated changes in attitudes toward offenders after participants completed a reentry simulation designed to replicate the experience of the first four weeks in the life of a person attempting to reenter society after incarceration. Participants were 27 students enrolled in a community corrections course that was cross listed and co-taught between criminal justice and social work. Participants completed a quantitative pre- and post-test that assessed attitudes toward prisoners as well as a reflection assignment about the simulation experience. Wilcoxon Signed Rank Test was used to analyze scores from pre- and post-tests. Qualitative analysis of the reflection papers identified and analyzed themes. Both quantitative and qualitative analysis indicate that simulations humanize perspectives toward former offenders and develop a better understanding of their situation. This understanding creates empathetic feelings that can reduce discrimination and stigma, thereby creating an environment more conducive to successful reintegration. Based on the results of this study, use of simulation-based training is recommended with audiences including criminal justice personnel, service providers, court practitioners, judges, and legislators as a way to more clearly articulate the realities faced by this vulnerable population.

Social constructions of racial images in introductory criminal justice and criminology textbooks: a content analysis

ABSTRACT Visual images in introductory textbooks play an important role in constructing the concept of race for students entering the field of criminal justice/criminology. Prior studies on race depictions in criminal justice/criminology textbooks have focused on individual images depicting persons as criminal justice personnel, relating to type of crime or criminal justice context, and as victim. By analyzing a total of 2,286 individuals in 1,943 images from 23 textbooks this study expands on this approach by also differentiating exclusive portrayals from social compositions (two or more individuals), analyzing placement of image within substantive area of the text, and by examining interactive depictions (victim/criminal, professional/criminal, and victim/professional) according to race. The results reveal noteworthy racially biased depictions in introductory criminal justice/criminology textbooks.

Protecting victims of intimate partner violence: Swedish prosecutors’ experiences of decision-making regarding restraining orders

ABSTRACTRestraining orders can be used as a risk management strategy to reduce the likelihood of intimate partner violence (IPV) re-victimisation. The aim of this study was to examine how prosecutors work with cases of IPV, with a focus on their collaboration with police, use of violence risk assessment and implementation of restraining orders. A qualitative analysis was conducted based on semi-structured interviews with five prosecutors operating in two northern police districts in Sweden in 2016. Data were analysed using latent content analysis. Three overarching themes arose: The case, Organization of resources and Interpretation of the law. Each theme was discussed in the context of the prosecutors’ work with IPV. Prosecutors pointed to several inadequacies in the legislation and offered potential solutions that would ameliorate their work. Results also showed that prosecutors seldom used violence risk assessments conducted by police as a basis for issuing restraining orders. The primary reason for this was a lack of clear routines governing cooperation between police and prosecutors in the application process. The results from this study can be used when training criminal justice personnel in order to obtain a better understanding of the difficulties that prosecutors face when trying to protect victims of IPV.

Women's Experiences of Social Reactions From Informal and Formal Supports: Using a Modified Administration of the Social Reactions Questionnaire.

A growing literature links social reactions to disclosures of intimate violence to posttraumatic outcomes. The Social Reactions Questionnaire (SRQ), a widely used measure developed to assess social reactions, asks about reactions received from people generally. The ability to examine the impact of social reactions from specific groups of people-such as criminal justice personnel versus community-based providers-has become increasingly more important from both research and practice perspectives. For example, as sexual assault responses nationally have relied on community-coordinated models that involve both criminal justice and community-based systems, tools are lacking to systematically assess the impact of social reactions from criminal justice personnel and community-based providers on survivors. Using the SRQ, the current study asked women to report separately on reactions received from criminal justice personnel, community-based providers, and informal supports. We recruited a diverse community sample of women (N = 228, ages 18-63, 19% lesbian/bisexual, 44% ethnic minority) who experienced a sexual assault in the previous year and disclosed to the criminal justice system and/or a community-based provider. Multilevel analyses revealed considerable variability in the social reactions reported by women across criminal justice personnel, community-based providers, and informal supports. Analyses supported a seven-factor structure for the SRQ when the measure is yoked to particular experiences of disclosure, in this case to criminal justice personnel, community-based providers, or informal supports. The utility of this modified administration and scoring of the SRQ and the importance of considering reactions across different groups are described.

Understanding and Treating Offenders with Serious Mental Illness in Public Sector Mental Health.

This article begins with the history of the rise and fall of the state hospitals and subsequent criminalization of persons with serious mental illness (SMI). Currently, there is a belief among many that incarceration has not been as successful as hoped in reducing crime and drug use, both for those with and those without SMI. Moreover, overcrowding in correctional facilities has become a serious problem necessitating a solution. Consequently, persons with SMI in the criminal justice system are now being released in large numbers to the community and hopefully treated by public sector mental health. The issues to consider when releasing incarcerated persons with SMI into the community are as follows: diversion and mental health courts; the expectation that the mental health system will assume responsibility; providing asylum and sanctuary; the capabilities, limitations, and realistic treatment goals of community outpatient psychiatric treatment for offenders with SMI; the need for structure; the use of involuntary commitments, including assisted outpatient treatment, conservatorship and guardianship; liaison between treatment and criminal justice personnel; appropriately structured, monitored, and supportive housing; management of violence; and 24-hour structured in-patient care. Copyright © 2017 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Race, criminal justice professionals, and intellectual authority in fictional crime dramas

ABSTRACTThe purpose of this research is to extend the existing media and crime literature by discussing how minority criminal justice personnel are granted or not granted intellectual authority in fictional crime dramas by their representation as presenters of crime and non-crime fact-based statements. An analysis of 117 episodes from four fictional crime dramas appearing in the top 20 Nielson ratings from 2003 to 2010 indicate that Black characters are not given the same intellectual authority as White characters, and therefore are imbued with less power and status than their White counterparts. In some cases, Black characters are not even given intellectual authority within their respective intellectual fields.

Policing immigrants: Fear of deportations and perceptions of law enforcement and criminal justice

Summary This study examined the relationship between the fear of deportation and perceptions of law enforcement, the criminal justice system, and the willingness to report crimes among Latinos in the US. Understanding the relationship between increased immigration enforcement and fear of deportation may promote public safety by improving the relationship between the police and Latino communities. Findings Multivariate ordinal logistic regression analyses of the data found that participants who had a greater fear of deportation reported: (1) less confidence that police would not use excessive force (p < .01); (2) less confidence that police would treat Latinos fairly (p < .05); (3) a lower likelihood of reporting crimes (p < .05); and (4) less confidence that the courts would treat Latinos fairly (p < .01). Applications Social work practitioners can help address this issue and improve the relationship between law enforcement, the criminal justice system, and the Latino community by: delivering cultural competence training for police and criminal justice personnel; educating Latinos about how to protect their rights when interacting with police and the criminal justice system; and by advocating for immigration reform that can help improve public safety and reduce fear in Latino communities.

The Stigma of Personality Disorders.

This article reviews the recent literature on the stigma of personality disorders, including an overview of general mental illness stigma and an examination of the personality-specific stigma. Overall, public knowledge of personality disorders is low, and people with personality disorders may be perceived as purposefully misbehaving rather than experiencing an illness. Health provider stigma seems particularly pernicious for those with borderline personality disorder. Most stigma research on personality disorders has been completed outside the USA, and few stigma-change interventions specific to personality disorder have been scientifically tested. Limited evidence suggests that health provider training can improve stigmatizing attitudes and that interventions combining positive messages of recovery potential with biological etiology will be most impactful to reduce stigma. Anti-stigma interventions designed specifically for health providers, family members, criminal justice personnel, and law enforcement seem particularly beneficial, given these sources of stigma.