Criminal Justice Master's Theses

Learning informal interaction: the problem of self-help literature for expression games

Michael Wesley Raphael — Tue, 14 May 2013 10:17:15 PDT

The goal of many self-help books on interpersonal relationships is for the reader to learn how to "just act natural." There are certain processes that interfere with one's ability to follow such advice, namely, the imposition of calculation of what is `natural' will not generate a reality where the "just natural" interaction that is occurring is believed. This thesis examines several implications of this as it relates to the social organization of experience and the limitations of self-help books in aiding in the learning production of that experience of expression games in informal interaction. These implications and limitations are examined...

Prostitution regulation: monitoring strategies and their implications for sex workers

Jamie Lynn Byron — Tue, 18 Dec 2012 12:27:00 PST

With the goal of determining the most appropriate and effective methods of monitoring prostitution, this paper explores current legislation and its effect on prostitutes, clients, and communities. After a brief discussion of proposed justifications for the criminalization of prostitution, and the implications of legislating morality, the lifestyles and difficulties faced by women working in the sex industry will be addressed. These topics will culminate in a discussion of the various law enforcement and non-law enforcement strategies that are used to monitor prostitution, and the effectiveness and moral implications of these methods. This analysis leads the author to conclude that prostitutes,...

Just how far does the apple fall? the effects of parental incarceration on offspring's criminal justice outcomes

Molly Buchanan — Tue, 05 Jun 2012 08:05:42 PDT

Using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health), this study explored arrest outcomes for children whom have known what it is to have a parent behind bars. To better isolate the effects of parental incarceration experiences, offspring and family characteristics potentially associated with increased odds of arrest were controlled and a series of logistic regressions were performed. It was hypothesized that parental incarceration would increase the odds of offspring's arrest and that maternal incarceration experiences would have more of an impact than paternal. A statistically significant model predicting offspring's odds of arrest was achieved with a...

Gender identity: an examination of fears concerning reporting

Jamie Lynn Lepak — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 10:08:46 PST

The study explores qualitatively the fears that transgender and gender non-conforming college students have about reporting victimization to the police. This study uses a reverse social distance ideology to account for the space between transgender individuals and their treatment in society. This distance (often felt through discrimination and victimization) may be a predictor in transgender and gender non-conforming students not reporting victimization to the police or other service agencies. Study participants were recruited from nine colleges in a Northeast city for interviews to discuss reporting and help seeking behaviors. The findings suggest that social distance factors into students' perceptions of...