Criminal Justice & Political Science

Permanent URI for this communityhdl:10365/32483

Research from the Department of Criminal Justice & Political Science. The department website may be found at https://www.ndsu.edu/cjps/

Browse

Browsing Criminal Justice & Political Science by browse.metadata.program "Criminal Justice and Political Science"

Filter results by typing the first few letters
Now showing 1 - 6 of 6
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    An Examination of the Relationship Between Individual Risk Factors and Drug Court Success: An Application of the Risk, Needs, Responsivity Model
    (North Dakota State University, 2010) Richardson, Katie Ann
    Research has documented that drug courts can and do work; however, recent attention has focused on how individual characteristics may be related to program success and post program recidivism. It was the purpose of this study to further examine how participant characteristics may impact post program recidivism by applying the Risk, Needs and Responsivity framework. A sample of 104 drug court participants and a matched sample of similar offenders who received treatment as usual was used to test the hypotheses that those who possess certain risk factors may be less likely to recidivate post program because they have been appropriately matched to drug courts-a high intensity treatment experience. Gender and group membership were also explored as potential moderators of the relationships between individual risks and post program recidivism. Results found no support for the hypotheses, and no evidence was found suggesting an interaction effect. Among the entire sample of drug court participants and comparison group members, only the control variable age was significantly related to post program recidivism; those who were older were less likely to recidivate. Among only a subsample of completers, group membership was the only variable significantly related to post program recidivism; those who were drug court participants were less likely to recidivate.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    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.  
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    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.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    NDSU's Back on TRAC Program: Policy Recommendations
    (North Dakota State University, 2010) Gonzales, Carmen Caitlin
    Alcohol and other drug use by college students has been considered by college administrators to be problematic for many years, but strategies in place were not effective or were being under-utilized. Data taken from both the NDSU CORE Survey on Alcohol and Other Drug Use as well as the national CORE survey indicate that many students use alcohol as their drug of choice; 71 % of those surveyed reported using alcohol within the 30 days prior to survey administration. In 2006, North Dakota State University was selected as a pilot institution for the Back on TRAC program. Back on TRAC utilizes a holistic approach based on the drug court model and public health and combines this approach with rewards and sanctions for compliance with program requirements to provide treatment for substance abuse to college students. The program was implemented in 2008, and since then, 8 students have participated in Back on TRAC at NDSU. Based on the Back on TRAC program used at NDSU, three recommendations have been made to increase the provision of services to program participants. These recommendations were developed using information collected about the program currently in place at NDSU, as well as information collected about the Back on TRAC program at Colorado State University, Oklahoma State University, and Texas A&M.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    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.
  • No Thumbnail Available
    Item
    Voter Disenfranchisement
    (North Dakota State University, 2010) Peterson, Timothy Walter
    This paper examines the policy of voter disenfranchisement and how it disproportionately affects minorities. Voter disenfranchisement is the denial of voting rights to the criminally convicted. The research indicates African Americans are significantly disproportionally affected by this policy when compared to white Americans. Currently, the United States Supreme Court has allowed states to incorporate their own policy for disenfranchising felons residing in their state. The recommendation of this paper is to create a uniform policy for voter disenfranchisement among the fifty states, which would allow for any eligible voter living in the community to vote. The policy would only deny voting to those that are incarcerated. This recommendation is based on the belief that voting is a fundamental right and that the current policy disproportionately affects minorities. Also, implementation of this policy would be cost effective for states because tracking disenfranchised community members would no longer be needed. 111