Criminal Justice & Political Science Masters Theses

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Browsing Criminal Justice & Political Science Masters Theses by browse.metadata.department "Criminal Justice"

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    Differences in DUI Punishments and Recidivism Between Transfers Among Municipal and District Court
    (North Dakota State University, 2021) Menke, Alexander
    The relationship between court transfers and punishment differences, as well as changes in recidivism, have been seldomly researched. This paper adds to the body of research by comparing punishments from DUI cases heard in municipal court and DUI cases heard in district court. The differences in recidivism between the defendants whose cases were heard in municipal and district court are also compared. A systematic sample of DUI offenders from Fargo and West Fargo, North Dakota make up the experimental and control groups. The 511 non-transfer cases are analyzed against the 402 transfer cases using crosstabulations and logistic regression techniques. The results of the analyses suggest mild support for transferring to district court and no support for any change in recidivism. Specific details of the results are discussed below, as well as the limitations of the study.
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    Exploratory Analysis of Mass Shooting Offenders in U.S. Journalism
    (North Dakota State University, 2022) Davis, Dominic
    Mass shootings are commonplace in media. The media reports as to why the events happened, often within days or hours. These reasons attributed often lead to political debates on how to deter future mass casualty events. The portrayal by the media is important because their perceptions influence the perceptions of their audience. As of beginning this thesis, there is a lack of research utilizing qualitative analysis to analyze the offender reports using large datasets from the media. This thesis is an exploratory analysis and examines the number of times the offender's name is mentioned to determine whether there are sufficient conditions for the copycat effect. This thesis also explores the attributed wording used in the media articles of mass shooting offenders within the initial 30 days of the shooting. Finally, coverage between the newspapers and events is discussed as well to explore whether certain shootings were provided significantly more coverage.  
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    An Exploratory Study of the Perceptions of Effectiveness for Brazilian Jiu Jitsu Training for Law Enforcement
    (North Dakota State University, 2022) Harmon, Natalie
    This study is designed to explore a possible solution to a variety of the current issues in the law enforcement field. The purpose of this study is to assess the views through purposive sampling of ten key informants in the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and law enforcement field on the potential impact that routine Jiu Jitsu style training for officers would have. The current study outlines personal experiences for officers with prior Jiu Jitsu style training. This assessment also discusses the key informant's thoughts on benefits, limitations, and recommendations of the theoretical implementation of Brazilian Jiu Jitsu training for law enforcement officers. Overall, each participant provided a unique perspective through the series of twelve questions. There was unanimous support for the idea with the central themes of ‘adding another tool’ for officers to use and increasing officer confidence.
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    An Outcome Evaluation of Centre Incorporated’s Responsive Risk Reduction for Women Program
    (North Dakota State University, 2022) Ursino, John
    Research on gender-responsive correctional programming has yielded mixed results. Contemporary literature proposes practices aimed at increasing the efficacy of gender-responsive programming. Prior research has highlighted differential characteristics between female and male offenders, leading some scholars to suggest that correctional programming that is constructed to respond to needs and risks that disproportionately affect female offenders is needed to address the growing female incarcerated population. The current study seeks to expand upon the literature of such programs by conducting an outcome evaluation of a gender-responsive community-corrections program in Fargo, North Dakota that serves biological female offenders. The study provides contextual information about the current issue, reviews the literature regarding the current state of the incarcerated female population, and discusses the theoretical bases for gender-responsive programming. The study then provides an overview of the methods used for the outcome evaluation and discusses the findings and possible implications of the study.