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Early into the COVID-19 pandemic, MillerBlumstein (2020) outlined a theoretical research program (TRP) oriented around themes of contagion control and containment, legal amnesty, system leniency, nonenforcement, and tele-justice. Here, two and a half years later, these lingering themes are revisited to advocate for empirical research informing criminal justice system reform. The pandemic created rare natural experiment research conditions that enable unique and potentially valuable insights on necessitated innovations that may indicate future justice practices and policies. Given the sweeping effects of the shutdown, examples are numerous ranging from staffing analyses to estimate agencies' personnel needs to ensure that basic public safety functions can be met after early retirements and resignations from virus risk and anti-police sentiment, the use of virtual communication in various legal proceedings at arrest, incarceration, and release junctures, and, especially, the risks versus benefits of early release. In addition to better identifying who should be jailed pre-trial, prioritization of calls for service, triaging of court cases, and hygiene and sanitation issues within facilities are other important examples central to a COVID and crime TRP. Attending research could demonstrate the utility of normative operations and identify shortfalls to be addressed during anomic conditions prior to another shutdown or similar event and present, through comparison of innovative and traditional derived outcomes, system reform and improvement opportunities. By seizing upon rare data made possible by natural experimental COVID generated conditions, researchers can meaningfully investigate the ongoing applicability of justice system adaptations mandated by the pandemic in terms of effectiveness and efficiency toward the interrelated goals of evidence-based practice discovery and justice reform.

PurposePolice misconduct is a grave matter undermining public trust in law enforcement and police professionalism. While research has specified major forms and causal theories of police misconduct, especially regarding corruption and excessive force, scientific attention to police sexual misconduct (PSM) has been more limited and is addressed here. The purpose of this paper is to address this issue.Design/methodology/approachThe current study was commissioned to examine PSM incidents (n = 50) between 2000 and 2009 in a large, metropolitan, police department in the USA. Data were extracted from agency internal affairs case files, personnel records and disciplinary histories for involved officers.FindingsAnalyses identified common factors and trends across officers, complainants and sexual misconduct events that were dichotomized per case substantiation and observed on a severity continuum from unobtrusive to criminal conduct.Originality/valueThough findings did not evidence a deviant subculture often implicated in the police literature, specific opportunities to reduce officer misconduct, including intensifying administrative sanctioning and other perceptual deterrence measures, were identified.

Purpose This study examined the effectiveness of Second Chance Act Grant funded reentry program for dually diagnosed female offenders involved in opioid and opiate use. Methods A mixed methods design utilizing qualitative interviews and a quasi-experimental design was used to both determine program effectiveness and explore women's narratives regarding their addiction and incarceration. Results Findings from a quasi-experimental design indicate that program participation significantly reduced recidivism as did marital status. Qualitative interview findings suggest that the licit use of prescription opioid medication preceded heroin dependency in many cases which resulted in related criminality. Focus group interviews also indicated that participants responded positively to programming but had variable levels of self-efficacy. Conclusions Reentry programs designed for male offenders can also reduce recidivism among female offenders. America's burgeoning heroin epidemic has the potential for significant costs for local criminal justice systems as more lower level drug offenders are sentenced to jails instead of state prisons.

As drug control policy reform trends toward marijuana decriminalization, focus will shift to opiate enforcement which, in turn, accentuates substance abuse treatment. While the national offender reentry movement has effected widespread implementation of programming for co-occurring substance abuse and mental health disorders, the practice of Medicated Assisted Treatment (MAT) is nonstandard throughout the criminal justice system despite its evidence based status. This paper observes MAT delivered within and by the criminal justice system as indicated by evidence rated programs and practices listed in the national criminal justice evidence based registry crimesolutions.gov. Observation of these programs’ treatment orientation, client populations, delivery settings, and operational status inform discussion for additional MAT implementation and program registry augmentation.

Reentry programming for offenders has increased considerably since the passage of the Second Chance Act in 2008. This study presents findings from the implementation and process phases of a multi-stage program evaluation of two Second Chance Act funded initiatives in Delaware County, Ohio. Two distinct programs, one for offenders diagnosed with co-occurring mental health and substance abuse disorders and another for substance dependent offenders with minor children, were examined using a mixed-methodological research design incorporating process and outcome phases. Process findings focus on determinations of program fidelity and adherence to evidence-based practices. Discussion centers on the role of process evaluation in assessments of intervention effectiveness and the importance of establishing program fidelity prior to outcome analysis.

The national offender reentry movement, Second Chance Act, and the widespread transfer of offender programming to community corrections have coalesced to substantially increase treatment for mental health and substance disorders within the criminal justice system. Intervention commonly entails program evaluation for accountability and empirical evidence by which to specify what works. Though mixed methods evaluation is preferable to a singular qualitative or quantitative approach, process steps are commonly overlooked. This paper relates an implementation and process design and evaluation midpoint findings for the Louisiana 22nd Judicial District’s Behavioral Health Court program, a post-conviction treatment initiative for mental health offenders. Interview guides and a fidelity instrument facilitated site visit data collection. Findings inform program implementation intensity, performance, improvement opportunities, and related fidelity research.

Criminal justice program evaluation has long been oriented around reduction objectives determined through quasi-experimental and related variable analytic designs (Petrosino and Soydan, 2005; Shover, 1979). Such purely quantitative approaches relate program impacts considered indicative of program effectiveness but neglect nonmeasured program drivers informing why or how outcomes are realized. More often than not, outcome evaluation in criminal justice imprudently assumes that program results are a function of treatment or intervention sans empirical confirmation. Helpfully, mixed-methods approaches coupling process and outcome phases have migrated from other disciplines and offer a more rigorous and scientific strategy for determining program efficacy. Mixed-methods research in the milieu of applied criminology and criminal justice science, unfortunately, is generally underutilized as the objectives and design requirements of the process phase are poorly articulated and blurred with the functions of pure qualitative research. Although applied fieldwork enables an exploration of phenomena and contextualization of quantitative findings, process evaluation uses qualitative techniques to capture data for confirmatory as well as ethnographic purposes. Accordingly, the foremost objective of process evaluation is to ascertain program fidelity, a concept informing whether treatment services are delivered consistent with program theory and design.

Prisoner reentry remains a significant challenge for the criminal justice system with millions of offenders returning to society each year from the nation’s prisons and jails. Employment, housing, and access to substance abuse and mental health treatment are common, often unmet, challenges for the returning offender. In response, state and local jurisdictions have implemented reentry programming designed to assist in the transition from incarceration to the community. While most of these programs have targeted offenders in prisons, a growing number of local jurisdictions have implemented reentry initiatives through federal funding. This study examines the second cohort (2011–2013) of the Auglaize County (OH) transition program (ACT), a BJA-designated ‘promising’ reentry program. This evaluation sought to determine if the program maintained its positive impact on participant recidivism. Findings indicate that the treatment group had significantly lower rates of rearrest and probation violations at the biva...

This article addresses what many observers of Texas’ prison gangs perceive as significant changes in the hierarchical structure of various Latino groups. Focusing on the state’s central and eastern regions, we provide a brief historical context and overview of contemporaneous gang factions. We attempt to understand gang dynamics as a function of emerging demographic patterns in the prison population. Examining prison admissions trends for males from Texas’ four largest counties, we illustrate ongoing changes in race-age composition for these metropolitan areas that reinforce depictions of changing gang structure in unofficial reports, print media, and prison documentaries. We emphasize the need for multimethod approaches and analyses of the United States–Mexico Border region for a more complete view of the Texas gang landscape.

Though a large body of research has found that peer social network characteristics influence both offending and victimization, relatively little is known about the influence of social network characteristics on adolescent sexual victimization. Attractiveness and sociability largely indicate popularity for teenage females, which in turn leads to earlier onset of dating, greater dating options, and potential risk of sexual victimization—an observation not tested in the criminological and criminal justice literature. We suggest and evaluate 2 competing hypotheses: that popularity within a network insulates females from sexual victimization and that popularity may increase exposure to delinquent others and facilitate sexual victimization. Results suggest that popularity does not have a consistent effect but instead that its role is conditioned by the deviance of the network. Popularity is associated with an increase in the likelihood of victimization when peer deviance is high but with a decrease when peer de...

Purpose This article provides a critical review of the state of research on the gang membership-violent victimization relationship. Methods This study examines a comprehensive list of published quantitative studies that have assessed the relationship between gang membership and violent victimization. Results By examining strengths and weaknesses of the design features of various studies, this article identifies theoretical, conceptual, methodological, and statistical issues that should be considered when interpreting the causal effect of gang membership on violent victimization. Some of the methodological and design issues discussed include, but are not limited to, consequences of failing to establish temporal order, failure to conduct sensitivity analyses to determine treatment effects, use of bootstrapping methods with propensity score analysis, measurement of violent victimization, and corrections for dependence in matched samples of gang and non-gang members. Conclusion Suggestions for future research are provided that will help advance the empirical study of the gang membership-violent victimization nexus.

This article analyses the Israeli state’s attempts to control the images employed during the reporting of the Israeli navy’s interception of a flotilla of ships carrying humanitarian aid to Palestine on 31 May 2010. In the ensuing 48 hours, widespread use of footage released by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) ensured that the Israeli state’s narrative dominated western reporting of the event. The authors coin the term ‘full-spectacle dominance’ to describe the Israeli state’s strategy in media-managing this event. Drawing on the work of Tagg, Cottle and de Certeau, the article reviews the efficacy of Israel’s attempts to prevent the circulation of images that challenge their narrative of events, and the promotion of images which substantiate these narratives. The article argues that mainstream media programmes, such as BBC Panorama’s Death in the Med, embedded these images within a biased,pro-Israeli interpretative framework, in contrast to an interpretative framework more sympathetic to the flot...

Previous research has documented several correlates of criminal victimization, but less is known about the factors related to victim injury during criminal events. Using environmental criminology to understand offender decision making during the criminal event, victim injury is explored with data from the National Incident Based Reporting System. Incident-level logistic and multinomial regression analyses were conducted to estimate the environmental and situational correlates of victim injury risk and severity in nonfatal violent events. Findings indicate that environmental and situational factors influence the likelihood and severity of victim injury, suggesting the utility of an environmental criminological approach for understanding not just the decision to offend but also offender behavior during criminal events.

Though widely acknowledged as vital to law enforcement, social scientists have largely ignored the practice of confidential informing. The extant literature on the topic is primarily comprised of experientially based practical guides to informant management and a handful of field studies drawing information from informants in the study of other undercover practices. This study features data obtained from in‐depth interviews with eighty‐four former informants drawn from five southern states identified through a purposive‐snowball sampling strategy. Informant accounts suggest that the practice of confidential informing is an institutionalized component of a general narcotics enforcement pattern characterized by duplicity and social control irony. Confidential informant work is observed as a moral career entailing deviant identity maintenance through neutralizations and insider perspective. Narratives confirmed a motivational typology accounting for role assumption and informant–agent dynamics and orient dis...

Immigration, particularly the illegal immigration of Mexicans, has emerged as one of the nation’s foremost social problems. This study explores attitudes toward illegal immigrants among a sample of Hispanic college students of primarily Mexican decent ( N = 216). Through an intrarace inquiry strategy, we examine whether illegal immigrants (a) are a growing problem in the United States, (b) contribute to the decline of society, and (c) are more likely than other groups in the United States to break the law. Findings reveal that college students with positive attitudes toward Mexico and the Mexican culture were more likely to hold negative attitudes toward illegal immigrants. Gender, annual household income, and college major were also found to be statistically significant predictors of attitude toward illegal immigrants. As Hispanics constitute the largest voting minority group, the impact of the findings on public policy, including implications for the criminal justice system, are discussed.

The social problem of juvenile delinquency continues to place resource strain on the juvenile justice system and related institutions. Given the disproportionate representation of minorities in the justice system, generally, and the pronounced increase regarding system contact with Hispanics, specifically, there is a dire need for culturally competent prevention and early intervention efforts in terms of individual rehabilitation, public safety, and system relief. This study examined a cultural arts program, Prodigy, delivered in south Florida to participant groups including heavy Hispanic representation to explore the efficacy of prosocial programming, especially self-regulation skills, in offsetting delinquency risk factors. Results suggest that cultural arts programming is effective for allieviating depression, anxiety, and related mental health issues as well as bolstering positive familial relations. Discussion is oriented around the need for further research on cultural arts programming configured for Hispanic delinquency prevention.

Whereas the teaching of qualitative research has long been sacrificed for instruction on quantitative approaches, alternative fieldwork orientations are rarely professed. Edge ethnography represents a strain of qualitative inquiry employing atypical qualitative fieldwork strategies characterized by: (1) the conduct of research within the context of the immediacy of social action, (2) atypical researcher involvement in research settings and activities intentionally maximizing the value of deep involvement, and (3) potential risk to researchers and subjects, as well as related ethical issues raised by close association with active criminals and knowledge of ongoing criminal activity. Despite the strategic value of unconventional qualitative strategies based in full immersion into fieldwork environments, such as entree to closed and esoteric study settings and contact with otherwise inaccessible subjects, they are seldom employed. Ostensibly, limited application is a function of a lack of coverage in graduat...

Since 2001, the federal Project Safe Neighborhoods initiative has instituted a comprehensive effort to reduce gun crimes in local communities across the United States. In South Carolina, the United States Attorney's Office for the District of South Carolina established Project CeaseFire, a localized response to reduce the prevalence of gun crime through targeted prosecution and increased public education. One element of Project CeaseFire was carried out by the South Carolina Department of Probation, Parole, and Pardon Services. The current study utilized a quasi-experimental design to compare firearm-related incidents among a random sample of offenders under community supervision prior to and after the implementation of the SCDPPPS CeaseFire program. Although incidents involving a firearm were rare, the current results did not indicate a reduction in firearm-related incidents among offenders entering supervision after the SCDPPPS CeaseFire program was implemented. Instead, an increase in firearm incidents was observed after CeaseFire implementation. Possible explanations for the observed results are offered along with limitations to the study and policy implications. (C) 2010 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Military enlistment programs offer offenders opportunities to serve in the armed forces as alternatives to traditional criminal sanctioning both prior and post adjudication. Offender enlistment as a form of diversion embodies a rehabilitative ideal but faces formidable cultural and institutional implementation barriers, including recruiting regulations, security clearance requirements, public relations considerations, and military distrust. This study explored the utility of offender enlistment as an emotionally intelligent justice system intervention. It is argued that offender enlistment addresses internal and external offender control deficits while avoiding the expense and stigma of incarceration. The policy implications of offender enlistment as normative practice are considered.

Offenders face a number of significant challenges upon reentry into the community, including securing employment, locating housing, and accessing adequate substance abuse and mental health treatment. These and related issues, if neglected, only bolster rising recidivism rates which have prompted renewed interest in rehabilitation initiatives such as inmate reentry. Many jurisdictions have implemented programs designed to improve offenders' success after prison, but jail reentry programs are far less common. This study examined the effectiveness of one such program, the Auglaize County (OH) Transition (ACT) Program. Using a quasiexperimental design, recidivism was measured a year after release to determine if participation in the ACT Program was predictive of successful reentry. Findings suggest that program participation is strongly related to outcome success as was criminal history. Implications for correctional policy and suggestions for additional jail reentry research are considered.

Due to methodological limitations, such as unmatched gang samples and a lack of longitudinal investigations, it remains unresolved whether joining a gang leads to future violent victimization or both share a set of common causes. Guided by selection, facilitation, and enhancement perspectives, the current study applied Propensity Score Matching on data from the Gang Resistance Education and Training longitudinal study to investigate the nature of the gang‐violent victimization relationship. Results indicated antecedent differences between those who did and did not join gangs, particularly violent victimization and delinquency. When gang and non‐gang members with similar propensities for joining were matched, the relationship between gang membership and violent victimization dissipated. Findings suggest policy attention to early delinquency and victimization risk factors generally.

Since first appearing in the late 1980s, drug courts have quickly become one of the leading intervention strategies for offenders exhibiting problems with drug abuse. Popular with policy makers for their innovative approach to breaking the drugs-crime nexus, drug courts are now considered one of the hallmarks of both the adult and juvenile justice systems of corrections. Empirical research has indicated that drug courts are one of the most promising contemporary correctional strategies in reducing recidivism among substance abusing offenders. This study examined a juvenile drug court in an effort to answer some recent research questions that have been proffered by empiricists. Results suggested that clients with a history of mental health problems had greater odds of being admitted to the drug court. No client characteristics, however, were predictive of client success in the drug court. Policy implications are also considered.

In 2008, Maddan, Walker and Miller promoted the use of the Body Mass Index (BMI) as a viable alternative to Sheldon's technique of somatotyping. Utilizing the BMI, Maddan Walker and Miller re-analyzed the original data from the Sheldon studies. This analysis indicated a statistically significant relationship between the two measures of somatotyping. Genovese wrote a response to this work suggesting the BMI is not a useful proxy for somatotyping individuals. We respond to Genovese's critique by providing a full explication of the Sheldon somatoype measure and an analysis of Sheldon's original data accounting for all of the different somatotypes identified. Analyses here indicate that the original somatotype measure was very subjective. Although not without flaws, the BMI provides an objective somatotype measure that is comparable, if not superior, to the measure promulgated by Sheldon.

Few crime topics elicit as much fear and concern as child abduction, evident, in part, by the 2006 Uniform Child Abduction Prevention Act that provides courts with guidelines to identify children at risk and supporting intervention options. Media hype and sensationalism have, in the absence of reliable offense‐specific statistics, fueled both popular culture and sociolegal constructions of offender and victim stereotypes, most notably the stranger–pedophile abductor. This study examined original state police case files of all abductions that occurred in South Carolina between 1991 and 1996 (N = 671). Descriptive and multivariate analyses identified: (1) differences between stereotypical and actual abductions, (2) distinct abduction types, (3) offender/victim characteristics, and (4) abduction environment contexts. The results orient discussion around the responsiveness of recent policy initiatives and call attention to the need for further inquiry utilizing more comprehensive abduction data.

The influence of demeanor in criminal justice research has predominantly centered on arrest and sanctioning outcomes. This study examines demeanor at the juncture of juvenile drug court admission by attributing behavior perceived to be favorable or unfavorable to program compliance and success to either juveniles or their parents/guardians. Analysis of 76 juvenile drug court case files enabled examination of how parent and child demeanor impacts specialty court admission. Findings suggest that program admittance (i.e., system leniency through diversion) is largely a function of projected attitude and behavior during screening interviews, but selection decisions are made irrespective of demeanor source. Implications of the findings for drug court processes and continued system involvement are discussed.

Background: Both epilepsy and depressive symptoms are more prevalent in older individuals than in any other age group. Furthermore, depressive symptoms are among the most common interictal psychiatric co-morbid disorders in people with epilepsy. For these reasons, pharmacological treatment of epilepsy that might also confer antidepressant effects may be particularly beneficial in older patients. In this respect, lamotrigine is of considerable interest amongst antiepileptic drugs (AEDs) because it has proven thymoleptic activity. Objective: These analyses, conducted on a data set drawn from a previously reported, open-label, multicentre, prospective study, examined the effect of lamotrigine on mood in adults aged ≥50 years with epilepsy and co-morbid depressive symptoms. All subjects were receiving background AED therapy at baseline. Methods: Of the 158 subjects enrolled in the initial study, 40 adults (24 women, 16 men) met the age criterion for these analyses. The study consisted of a screening/baseline phase and four treatment phases over 36 weeks: lamotrigine escalation phase (7 weeks); lamotrigine maintenance or adjunctive therapy phase (12 weeks); concomitant AED withdrawal phase (5 weeks); and lamotrigine monotherapy phase (12 weeks). Psychometric evaluation of mood utilized the Beck Depression Inventory (BDI-II), Center for Epidemiological Studies Depression Scale (CES-D), the Neurological Disorders Depression Inventory in Epilepsy (NDDI-E) and the Profile of Mood States (POMS). Scores at the end of the adjunctive and monotherapy phases were compared with baseline scores. Lower scores on these scales indicate less depressive symptomatology. Results: Mean baseline scores for the BDI-II, CES-D, NDDI-E and POMS were 15.8, 24.3, 13.8 and 57.7, respectively. Change scores were statistically significant (p < 0.01) compared with baseline at the end of the adjunctive and monotherapy phases for all four psychometric measures of mood, with the exceptions of BDI-II and NDDI-E at the end of the adjunctive phase. Conclusions: The older adults in these analyses presented with low to moderate levels of depressive symptoms. Addition of lamotrigine to background AED therapy demonstrated antidepressant activity similar to that for the whole sample in the initial study. Given that the onset and prevalence of epilepsy are higher in older adults than in any other age group, pharmacological treatment for epilepsy in older patients that might also confer antidepressant therapy may be particularly beneficial.

This study reexamines the relationship between acculturation and illicit drug use among a sample of Mexican-American adolescents in South Texas (n=3, 186). Logistic regression was used to test the relationship between marijuana and cocaine use and two acculturation scales while controlling for structural properties and social dynamics characterizing use environment. Findings suggest that acculturation correlates with increased use of both substances when operationalized by language but not when measurement is based in social interaction. Gang membership was found to be a more explanative indicator of drug use than acculturation, suggesting that Mexican-American drug use is better understood through utilization of models factoring delinquent peer effects.

This study examines the cross-cultural efficacy of social learning theory as it relates to substance use among Puerto Rican adolescents. Using data from a self-report survey of high school students attending private and public schools in San Juan, Puerto Rico, we compare the relative effects of personal and peer definitions (differential association) on substance use. Results indicate that statistical differences exist between public and private school respondents on all three outcomes (cigarette, alcohol, and marijuana use) and the two aspects of social learning theory, definitions and differential association. After controlling for demographic factors, peer definitions are shown to have the greatest effect on likelihood of substance use. Students who perceive greater peer approval of substance use are far more likely to report lifetime cigarette, alcohol, and marijuana use regardless of their own personal definitions of such behavior. Sex differences are also discussed.

This article explores the empirical validity of the Social Interactionist (SI) perspective as an explanation of violent victimization. An additional goal is to explain why early puberty among adolescents is connected to violent victimization. Using SI, we theorize that early puberty creates unusually high levels of distress for adolescents (more so for girls than boys), causing them to behave in ways that create grievances with others and provoke victimization. The research hypotheses were tested using the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), a nationally representative data set of teenagers attending school in the United States. We found that measures of distress significantly increase violent victimization among members of the sample. Furthermore, the SI measures partially mediated the relationship between early puberty and violent victimization for boys and fully mediated this relationship for girls.

Research on suspect and defendant demeanor in the juvenile and criminal justice systems has concentrated on arrest and the severity of sanctioning outcomes. This article examines demeanor at an earlier juncture in the system: juvenile drug court admission. Regression analysis of 76 juvenile drug court case files suggests that program admittance (i.e., potential system leniency through diversion) is largely a function of projected attitude and behavior. Those exhibiting favorable demeanor during intake and assessment are significantly more likely to be accepted into drug court as are those with a dual diagnosis. Implications of the findings are considered for continued system involvement.