criminology research projects

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Criminology articles from across Nature Portfolio

Latest research and reviews.

An empirical investigation of emotion and the criminal law: towards a “criminalization bias”?

• Jozef N. Coppelmans
• Fieke M. A. Wagemans
• Lotte F. van Dillen

Assessing Korean children’s comprehension of legal terms and roles across age groups

• Jaekyung Ahn

The prevalence and risk factors of conduct disorder among juvenile delinquents in China

• Qinhong Xie

Utilising the communication for development approach to prevent online child trafficking in Thailand

• Naparat Kranrattanasuit

Sex differences in the mediation role of political mobilization between the search for status and risk-taking behaviors in adolescents

• Natalia del Pino-Brunet
• Javier Salas-Rodríguez
• Luis Gómez-Jacinto

Unraveling the influence of income-based ambient population heterogeneity on theft spatial patterns: insights from mobile phone big data analysis

News and Comment

Workplaces must respond better to the bullied boss

Bullying comes in many forms, including when subordinates bully a manager. Sara Branch argues that workplaces should implement policies to combat all types of bullying.

• Sara Branch

The perils of military policing

Many policymakers turn to the military to reduce crime. Yet, evidence describing the effects of military policing is nearly nonexistent. Blair and Weintraub evaluate the effects of military policing on crime and human rights violations in Cali, Colombia. Their results suggest crime incidence and insecurity perceptions did not decrease, which leaves lessons for the design and implementation of security policies.

• Santiago Tobon

The promises and perils of crime prediction

A new algorithmic tool developed by Rotaru and colleagues can more accurately predict crime events in US cities. Predictive crime modelling can produce powerful statistical tools, but there are important considerations for researchers to take into account to avoid their findings being misused and doing more harm than good.

• Andrew V. Papachristos

Russia’s invasion of Ukraine: a test for international law

Russia’s ongoing invasion of Ukraine showcases substantial challenges, especially to international humanitarian and criminal law and human rights. It also calls for an urgent revisiting of the role of the United Nations Security Council in the maintenance of international peace and security, and of the security architecture in Europe and worldwide.

• Sergey Sayapin

Global crime trends during COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has provided a natural experiment capable of answering a vital question: have stay-at-home orders impacted global crime trends? A new study by Nivette and colleagues demonstrates that crime largely decreased around the globe during COVID-19 stay-at-home orders—a finding which likely carries international implications for crime policy.

• John H. Boman IV
• Thomas J. Mowen

A healing-centered approach to preventing urban gun violence: The Advance Peace Model

• Jason Corburn
• DeVone Boggan
• Brian Muhammad

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Statistical Methods & Data Analysis

From its urban roots at the University of Chicago in the early part of the twentieth century, American criminology is going through a sea change in terms of subject matter, methods and data. CCJS at the University of Maryland wants to play a role in terms of shaping the emerging Criminology of the 21 st Century. The video clips in this series focus on newly emerging areas of interest, cutting edge research methods and innovative sources of data.

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Our faculty members are engaged in expanding and testing established criminological theories, offering new theoretical perspectives, and using multidisciplinary approaches to study theoretically-relevant issues that cut across various topics in the field. These include a focus on peer influence and co-offending, communities and crime, developmental and life-course perspectives, and research related to offender and victim decision-making.

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The problem with criminal records: Discrepancies between state reports and private‐sector background checks.

Lageson, S., & Stewart, R. (2024). in Criminology.

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Digital Commons @ USF > College of Behavioral and Community Sciences > Criminology > Theses and Dissertations

Criminology Theses and Dissertations

Theses/dissertations from 2023 2023.

Efficacy of Online Social Movements for Sparking Change: The Case of the Missing Murdered and Indigenous Women Movement (#MMIW) , Kacy A. Bleeker

An Examination of Racial Disparities in Arrest Across Florida Counties, 1998-2018: A Test of the Racial Threat and Political Representation Hypotheses , Xavier D. Burch

The Invisible Victims of Commercial Sexual Exploitation: Boys and Their Barriers to Access to Services , Amanda L. Connella

Damned & Damned: Examining Vexatious Litigation and the Vexatious Litigant Statute in Florida Courts , Sarah L. Harper

The Contributions of Mental Health Issues, Traumatic Brain Injury, and Adverse Childhood Experiences to Recidivism Among Rural Jail Incarcerees , Lauren N. Miley

Assessing the Relationship Between True Crime Documentary and Podcast Consumption, Fear of Crime, and Protective Behaviors , Lauren A. Tremblay

Police Officers’ Perceptions of Gunshot Detection Technology , Courtney L. Weber

Theses/Dissertations from 2022 2022

A Macro Social Examination of the Relationship Between Disabilities and Crime Using Neighborhood and County Level Data , Natasha A. Baloch

Racial Differences in Perceptions of Sanction Severity , Sarah L. Franklin

Juvenile Homicide Offenders: A Life-Course Perspective , Norair Khachatryan

Exploring the Effectiveness of a Life-Skills Program in a Florida Prison Through a Social Bond and General Strain Theory Perspective , Danielle M. Thomas

Theses/Dissertations from 2021 2021

Clean Water for All: Examining Safe Drinking Water Act Violations of Water Systems and Community Characteristics , Junghwan Bae

Morality and Offender Decision-Making: Testing the Empirical Relationship and Examining Methodological Implications , Jacquelyn Burckley

The Ring of Gyges 2.0: How Anonymity Providing Behaviors Affect Willingness to Participate in Online Deviance , Cassandra E. Dodge

A Macro Analysis of Illegal Hunting and Fishing Across Texas Counties: Using an Economic Structural Approach , Leo J. Genco Jr.

Self-Protection in Cyberspace: Assessing the Processual Relationship Between Thoughtfully Reflective Decision Making, Protection Motivation Theory, Cyber Hygiene, and Victimization , C. Jordan Howell

Racial Threat Theory: A Test of the Economic Threat Hypothesis , Carl L. Reeds

Online Perceptions of Panamanian Prisons and Incarcerated persons: An analysis of YouTube user comments , Mahaleth J. Sotelo

Theses/Dissertations from 2020 2020

Toxic Colonialism and Green Victimization of Native Americans: An Examination of the Genocidal Impacts of Uranium Mining , Averi R. Fegadel

Cross-National Incarceration Rates as Behavior of Law , Christopher J. Marier

The Effects of Perceived Motivations and Mental Distress on the Likelihood of Reporting and Engaging in Self-Protective Measures Among Victims of Stalking , Daniela Oramas Mora

Mental Health and In-Prison Experiences: Examining Socioeconomic and Sex Differences in the Effect of Mental Illness on Institutional Misconduct and Disciplinary Segregation , Rachel E. Severson

Theses/Dissertations from 2019 2019

Dating Application Facilitated Victimization: An Examination of Lifestyle-Routine Activities, Self-Control, and Self-Efficacy , Vanessa Centelles

Social Constructionism and Cultivation Theory in Development of the Juvenile “Super-Predator” , Elizabeth R. Jackson-Cruz

Bystander Intervention, Victimization, and Routine Activities Theory: An Examination of Feminist Routine Activities Theory in Cyber Space , Jennifer A. Leili

Sexual Assault and Robbery Disclosure: An Examination of Black’s Theory of the Behavior of Law , Caitlyn N. Muniz

Mass Shootings and Gun Sales: A Study on the Influence of Red and Blue Power , Maria Jose Rozo Osuna

A Multi-dimensional Macrolevel Study of Drug Enforcement Strategies, Heroin Prices, and Heroin Consumption Rates , Alexander G. Toth

Theses/Dissertations from 2018 2018

The Impact of a Religious/Spiritual Turning Point on Desistance: A Lifecourse Assessment of Racial/Ethnic Differences , Rhissa Briones Robinson

Political Decisions on Police Expenditures: Examining the Potential Relationship Between Political Structure, Police Expenditures and the Volume of Crime Across US States , Xavier D. Burch

Identifying the Personal and Perceived Organizational Characteristics Associated with Job Satisfaction Among Juvenile Probation Staff , Julie M. Krupa

The Role of Organizational Justice in Predicting Attitudes Toward Body-Worn Cameras in Police Officers , Nathaniel L. Lawshe

Yet Another Ferguson Effect: An Exploratory Content Analysis of News Stories on Police Brutality and Deadly Force Before and After the Killing of Michael Brown , Carl Root

The Role of Race/Ethnicity and Risk Assessment on Juvenile Case Outcomes , Tayler N. Shreve

Theses/Dissertations from 2017 2017

Intimate Partner Violence and the Capacity and Desire for Self-Control , Krista Taralynne Brewer

School Shootings in the United States from 1997 to 2012: A Content Analysis of Media Coverage , Victoria N. Iannuzzi

Chronic Runaway Youth: A Gender-Based Analysis , Michelle N. Jeanis

A Test of Wikström’s Situational Action Theory Using Self-Report Data on Intimate Partner Violence , Lauren Nicole Miley

An Exploratory Study of Macro-Social Correlates of Online Property Crime , Hyojong Song

Female Incarceration and Prison Social Order: An Examination of Gender Differences in Prison Misconduct and In-Prison Punishments , Elisa L. Toman

Adverse Childhood Experiences and Their Role as Mitigators for Youthful and Non-Youthful Offenders in Capital Sentencing Cases , Jessica R. Trapassi

Theses/Dissertations from 2016 2016

Disinhibition, Violence Exposure, and Delinquency: A Test of How Self-Control Affects the Impact of Exposure to Violence , Wyatt Brown

The Guilty But Mentally Ill Verdict: Assessing the Impact of Informing Jurors of Verdict Consequences , Erin Elizabeth Cotrone

The Relationship between Psychopathic Personality Traits and Lying , Jason A. Dobrow

Delving into the Heart of Victimization Risk: Examining the Interactive Relationship between Demographic Factors and Context , Amy Sheena Eggers

A Power Conflict Approach to Animal Cruelty: Examining How Economic Power Influences the Creation of Animal Cruelty Laws , Leonard J. Genco

The Role of Gender in Self-Control and Intimate Partner Violence , Laura Marie Gulledge

The Restrictive Deterrent Effect of Warning Banners in a Compromised Computer System , Christian Jordan-Michael Howell

Tactics of Sexual Control and Negative Health Outcomes , Anna Elizabeth Kleppe

The Applicability of Criminology to Terrorism Studies: An Exploratory Study of ISIS Supporters in the United States , Amanda Marie Sharp Parker

The Path to Violent Behavior: The Harmful Aftermath of Childhood Trauma , Nicholas Michael Perez

The Effects of Racial Bias on Perceptions of Intimate Partner Violence Scenarios , Batya Yisraela Rubenstein

Theses/Dissertations from 2015 2015

Reel or Reality? The Portrayal of Prostitution in Major Motion Pictures , Raleigh Blasdell

Psychopathy and Perception of Vulnerability , Barbara Joyce Dinkins

Effect of Empathy on Death Penalty Support in Relation to the Racial Divide and Gender Gap , Brian Godcharles

Exploring the Interactive Effects of Social Learning Theory and Psychopathy on Serious Juvenile Delinquency , Brandy Barenna Henderson

Tampa Electric Company's Big Bend Utility Plant in Hillsborough County, Florida: A Case Study , Lynne M. Hodalski-Champagne

Thirty Year Follow-Up of Juvenile Homicide Offenders , Norair Khachatryan

Organized Crime in Insurance Fraud: An Empirical Analysis of Staged Automobile Accident Rings , Chris Longino

The Role of Social Support in the Disclosure and Recovery Process of Rape Victims , Jessica Nicole Mitchell

Evaluating the Social Control of Banking Crimes: An Examination of Anti-Money Laundering Deficiencies and Industry Success , Erin M. Mulligan

Elite Deviance, Organized Crime, and Homicide: A Cross-National Quantitative Analysis , Carol L.s. Trent

An Evaluation of the Utah First District Mental Health Court: Gauging the Efficacy of Diverting Offenders Suffering With Serious Mental Illness , Stephen Guy VanGeem

Rape, Race, and Capital Punishment in North Carolina: A Qualitative Approach to Examining an Enduring Cultural Legacy , Douglas Wholl

Theses/Dissertations from 2014 2014

The Tattoo: A Mark of Subversion, Deviance, or Mainstream Self-Expression? , Jocelyn Camacho

Juvenile and Adult Involvement in Double Parricide and Familicide in the U.S.: An Empirical Analysis of 20 Years of Data , Averi Rebekah Fegadel

Predicting Successful Drug Court Graduation: Exploring Demographic and Psychosocial Factors among Medication-Assisted Drug Court Treatment Clients , Autumn Michelle Frei

Experimentally Evaluating Statistical Patterns of Offending Typology For Burglary: A Replication Study , Lance Edwin Gilmore

Developmental Trajectories of Physical Aggression and Nonaggressive Rule-Breaking among At-risk Males and Females during Late Childhood and Early Adolescence , Eugena Givens

Predicting Fear of Crime using a Multilevel and Multi-Model Approach: A Study in Hillsborough County , Jonathan Maskaly

Public Knowledge and Sentiments about Elite Deviance , Cedric Michel

The Influence of Community Context on Social Control: A Multi-Level Examination of the Relationship between Race/Ethnicity, Drug Offending, and Juvenile Court Outcomes , Jennifer Peck

Theses/Dissertations from 2013 2013

Assessing the Relationship Between Hotspots of Lead and Hotspots of Crime , Kimberly L. Barrett

A Life-Course Approach to Sexual Offending: Examining the Continuity of Juvenile Sexual Offending into Adulthood and Subsequent Patterns of Recidivism , Maude Beaudry-Cyr

Examining the link between self-control and misconduct in a multi-agency sample of police supervisors: A test of two theories , Christopher Matthew Donner

The Impact of Hyperfemininity on Explicit and Implicit Blame Assignment and Police Reporting of Alcohol Facilitated Rape in a Sample of College Women , Sarah Ehlke

Rurality and Intimate Partner Homicide: Exploring the Relationship between Place, Social Structure, and Femicide in North Carolina , Amelia Kirkland

Self-Control, Attitudinal Beliefs, and White-Collar Crime Intentions , Melissa Anne Lugo

Zero Tolerance for Marginal Populations: Examining Neoliberal Social Controls in American Schools , Brian Gregory Sellers

State-Corporate Crime in the Democratic Republic of Congo , Veronica Jane Winters

Theses/Dissertations from 2012 2012

The Walls Are Closing In: Comparing Property Crime Victimization Risk In Gated And Non-Gated Communities , Nicholas Branic

What Propels Sexual Homicide Offenders? Testing an Integrated Theory of Social Learning and Routine Activities Theories , Heng Choon Chan

A Deadly Way of Doing Business: A Case Study of Corporate Crime in the Coal Mining Industry , Charles Nickolas Stickeler

Deconstructing the "Power and Control Motive": Developing and Assessing the Measurability of Internal Power , Shelly Marie Wagers

Theses/Dissertations from 2011 2011

Assessing racial differences in offending trajectories: A life-course view of the race-crime relationship , Michael S. Caudy

Mental Health Courts Effectiveness in Reducing Recidivism and Improving Clinical Outcomes: A Meta-Analysis , Brittany Cross

General Strain Theory and Juvenile Delinquency: A Cross-Cultural Study , Wen-Hsu Lin

General Strain Theory, Race, and Delinquency , Jennifer Peck

Developmental Trajectories of Self-Control: Assessing the Stability Hypothesis , James Vance Ray

Explaining the "Female Victim Effect" in Capital Sentencing Decisions: A Case for Sex-Specific Models of Capital Sentencing Research , Tara N. Richards

A Multilevel Model of Police Corruption: Anomie, Decoupling, and Moral Disengagement , Ruth Zschoche

Theses/Dissertations from 2010 2010

The Emotional Guardianship of Foreign-Born and Native-Born Hispanic Youth and Its Effect on Violent Victimization , Amy Sheena Eggers

The Influence of Narcissism and Self-Control on Reactive Aggression , Melissa L. Harrison

Is There an "Innocent Female Victim" Effect in Capital Punishment Sentencing? , Amelia Lane Kirkland

An Analysis of the Influence of Sampling Methods on Estimation of Drug Use Prevalence and Patterns Among Arrestees in the United States: Implications for Research and Policy , Janine Kremling

A Pathway to Child Sex Trafficking in Prostitution: The Impact of Strain and Risk-Inflating Responses , Joan A. Reid

Victimization Among Individuals With Low Self-Control: Effects on Fear Versus Perceived Risk of Crime , Casey Williams

Theses/Dissertations from 2009 2009

Domestic Violence Within Law Enforcement Families: The Link Between Traditional Police Subculture and Domestic Violence Among Police , Lindsey Blumenstein

Rape Attitudes and Beliefs: A Replication Study , Rhissa Emily Briones

Reel Images: Representations of Adult Male Prisons by the Film Industry , Melissa E. Fenwick

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Criminology - Research Guide: Getting started

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The Penn Libraries criminology collection began with modern criminology itself, guided by Professor Thorsten Sellin and his successor Professor Marvin Wolfgang. Generously supported by the Lipman Criminology Library Fund since 1985 and benefiting from the 1996 donation of Dr Sellin's books and journals , the criminology collection continues as a strength of the Penn Libraries social sciences collections.

A good historical overview of the Penn's academic program is provided in "Criminology at the University of Pennsylvania" , in The Origins of American Criminology / Francis T Cullen et al., eds. (A dvances in Criminological Theory vol. 16 (2011): 159-220.

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Newbooks+ @ penn libraries: criminology, reference works.

Reference works make excellent starting points for research; they provide concise articles on key topics by scholars of the field, often accompanied by suggestions for further reading. The sources listed below are print volumes shelved in the Van Pelt Library Reference Stacks , on the first floor of Van Pelt, unless otherwise noted.

• Compendium of Research on violence against women, 1993-2016. (National Institute of Justice, 2017) Annually-updated reference work describing every NIJ-funded research project on violence against women since 1993.

• ASC Division on Corrections & Sentencing Handbook Series Ebook series sponsored by the American Society of Criminology.

• Elsevier's dictionary of criminal science, in eight languages : English/American, French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, and German. Call Number: Available online Publication Date: Elsevier, 1960

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Students in the School of Criminology and Criminal Justice conduct cutting-edge research alongside our faculty experts in topics including bias victimization, urban violence, homicide and suicide, human trafficking, juvenile justice, mass incarceration, and racial equity. The School houses several centers and labs that align closely with topics covered in the criminal justice curriculum. Students of all class years in our bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral programs are always welcomed and encouraged to engage in research opportunities with us.

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Featured Research Project

Understanding and measuring bias victimization against latinos.

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Department of   Sociology and Criminology

Criminology faculty research, research projects we are currently investigating, eric baumer.

My current research is focused on two general questions. First, why have levels of crime fallen significantly over the past several decades? I am currently engaged in a series of studies with colleagues at Penn State and elsewhere that are directed at different dimensions of this issue, including whether recent shifts in concentrated poverty are associated with crime trends, and whether repeated cross-sectional individual-level data on youth and young adults can yield new insights about the factors associated with contemporary crime reductions. Second, in what ways do selected individual- and community-level conditions affect exposure to crime and decisions to notify the police? This research encompasses several studies, supported by funding from the Bureau of Justice Statistics (BJS), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Russell Sage Foundation (RSF). It integrates restricted-use household- and person-level data from the National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS) with neighborhood, city, and county data from a variety of sources to evaluate differences in crime risk and police notification between English and non-English speakers in America, and to assess the impact of a wide variety of community attributes, including neighborhood immigration context and local policing and imprisonment patterns. 

Richard Felson

My current research projects address the following questions: Why are offenders more likely to experience victimization than nonviolent offenders? For example, are offenders more likely to be victimized because they behave more aggressively during their verbal disputes? What are the risk factors for childhood sexual abuse and how do children respond when it occurs? Are rape victims assigned more blame than other victims? How have the characteristics of state inmates changed with the advent of mass incarceration? Does alcohol have a causal effect on adolescent sexual behavior or is the relationship spurious? Why did homicide increase during the Gold Rush in California?

Corina Graif

My current projects focus on two major themes. First, I study the mechanisms underlying neighborhood effects on children and youth’s exposures and involvement in risky behavior and violence, focusing among others on the role of immigration, non-cognitive skills, and institutional network infrastructure. Second, I study how individuals, opportunities, and criminogenic risks move across geographic space and transportation network channels to impact neighborhood social capital and affect inequalities in exposures to poverty, health problems, and violence. I am also working on combining natural experiments (e.g., Hurricane Katrina and the Great Recession) with big data science to inform these topics. These projects include work with Census data and ACS, Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics, LAFANS, the Moving to Opportunity (MTO) Experiment, and Vital records. My research has been supported by funding from the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, and National Science Foundation.

Derek Kreager

I have ongoing projects in two principal research areas. First, I have several projects focused on the experiences of incarceration and community re-entry. Funded by the National Science Foundation and National Institutes of Health, these studies examine topics such as

• inmate social networks
• family visitation
• community social integration
• prison substance use treatment.

Second, I collaborate as part of the PROSPER Peers (PI: Osgood, funded by NIH) team to examine adolescent social networks and health-risk behaviors. In particular, my research here focuses on adolescent romantic relationships and sexual development.

Holly Nguyen

I am currently engaged in several collaborative research projects. My colleagues and I are conducting surveys with inmates in a Pennsylvania State Correctional Facility to further understand how experiences with, rewards from and perceptions of various income generating activities are related to successful reentry. In another collaborative project (funded by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council), my colleagues and I are conducting randomized experiments to disentangle the mechanisms of deviant modeling on subsequent deviant behavior. I am also using various sources of secondary data to investigate my three general areas of interest, rewards to crime, groups and crime and illicit drug markets.

Wayne Osgood

My main current research endeavor is the PROSPER Peers Project, which is a study of adolescents’ friendship networks in relation to delinquency and substance use, which is embedded in an evaluation of prevention programs, to which communities were randomly assigned. The study is especially large and long-term, following over 10,000 students from 6th through 9th grades in 27 small school districts in Pennsylvania and Iowa. I lead a large research team that includes faculty members and students here at Penn State and former students and collaborators at several other universities. At last count, the study had yielded 25 published articles (most in leading journals and many with student co-authors), plus several doctoral dissertations.

David Ramey

I am involved in multiple research projects spanning a broad range of topics. I am currently working on a funding proposal for a project examining the diffusion of school accountability, disability, and disciplinary policies over the last half-century. The goals of this project include answering how school and district disciplinary/disability practices responded to changes in legislation over time and across states, whether state legislation and/or district policies influence the use of punishment or the diagnoses of behavior disorders in elementary and middle school children and whether state legislation and school/district policies contribute to racial and socioeconomic disparities in behavior and academic performance. In addition to work on school punishment and medicalization, I am also involved in one other project examining factors associated with the “militarization” of law enforcement using a large dataset containing information on every piece of equipment provided by the U.S. Department of Defense to local law enforcement agencies through the 1033 Program, including firearms, uniforms, and vehicles. Moving forward, I hope to examine how police militarization influences police use of force, including responses to protests or civil unrest, widespread violence or perceived violence, and instances of police-involved shootings.

Eric Silver

Currently, I’m working on papers examining the relationship between people’s moral values and their willingness to engage in deviant acts, as well as their endorsement of punitive criminal justice policies and practices.

Jeremy Staff

Darrell steffensmeier.

Current research projects include: patterns and correlates of white collar & corporate crime; international assessment of the relation between age and crime; variation in organization of crime by type of crime or illegal market; effects of gender, race, ethnicity, and age on criminal sentencing; and impact of place (neighborhood, community, country) on patterns and levels of crime.

Jeffrey Ulmer

I have several ongoing projects, including:

• a long-range research agenda focusing on differences between social contexts in court processes and punishment, and inequalities in criminal sentencing at the state and federal levels (partly funded by the National Science Foundation)
• a study of racial and ethnic disparity in Pennsylvania’s death penalty, including prosecutorial discretion to seek it and court decisions to impose it (funded by state and private foundation grants)
• a study of criminal victimization affecting religious congregations (funded by the National Science Foundation)
• studies of how local religious contexts affect local crime rates and criminal punishment.

Florida State University

FSU | College of Criminology & Criminal Justice

College of Criminology & Criminal Justice

FSU’s College of Criminology and Criminal Justice is home to the nation’s number one criminology faculty in the world. Our team of experts is ranked number one in the nation for research productivity and are among the top 10 for grant acquisition, as demonstrated below. Many of our faculty are industry experts and offer extensive research on topics like gun control, biosocial criminology and social control, to name a few.

The list below contains nearly 1,000 peer-reviewed journal articles published by our faculty, many of which are co-authored with former and current graduate students. To the left is our one-of-a-kind filter box, which allows you to filter articles by topic and leverage our expertise for your personal interests and research endeavors. We hope you enjoy learning about criminology as much as we enjoy expanding the field of research.

Lastest Research

• Kevin M. Beaver
• Thomas G. Blomberg
• William D. Bales
• Brendan Lantz
• Sonja E. Siennick
• Jennifer Copp

BSC Research

This page contains examples of research by BSC members and links to other sites containing criminological material.

• Innovation Fund Project Reports
• How Criminology is Taught and Researched Today
• British Society of Criminology Statement of Ethics 2015
• QAA Criminology Benchmarks

Useful Links

BSC research

• BSC Challenging Behaviour Report 2022

‘Challenging Behaviour? Findings from a British Society of Criminology member survey on sexual violence and harassment in higher education’, May 2022. This report was compiled for the BSC by Dr Marian Duggan, University of Kent, and Natalie Walton, Greenwich University. 

Click to here to read.

Member research

• Misogyny as Hate Crime. 1st Edition.   Edited By Irene Zempi, Jo Smith. 2021. Routledge. 

Misogyny as Hate Crime explores the background, nature and consequences of misogyny as well as the legal framework and UK policy responses associated with misogyny as a form of hate crime. Taking an intersectional approach, the book looks at how experiences of misogyny may intersect with other forms of hate crime such as disablism, Islamophobia, antisemitism and transphobia.

• Victims and Victimology

In recent decades, a growing emphasis on meeting the needs and rights of victims of crime in criminal justice policy and practice has fuelled the development of research, theory, policy and practice outcomes stretching across the globe. This growth of interest in the victim of crime has seen victimology move from being a distinct subset of criminology in academia to a specialist area of study and research in its own right.

The work of BSC members on victimological research includes some of the highest quality research in the field which has helped to shape the field.

Coming soon from BSC members publishing with Palgrave

• 2019 Revisiting the Yorkshire Ripper Murders Interrogating Histories of Violence, Gender and Victimhood -L. Wattis
• Victimology Research, Policy and Activism -J. Tapley and P. Davies
• A Victim Community? Collective Stigma and the Legacy of the Media in High Profile Crime -N. O’Leary

For further information please email Josephine Taylor, Commissioning Editor for Criminology:

[email protected]

• Race, Racialisation and the Death Penalty in England and Wales, 1900-65 – Principal Investigator: Lizzie Seal, University of Sussex; Research Fellow: Alexa Neale, University of Sussex

Though case studies have previously analysed the significance of racism and racist discourse in individual trials, including in relation to miscarriage of justice (Minkes and Vanstone, 2006; D’Cruze, 2007), there have been no larger, more thoroughgoing studies of race and the death penalty. This omission leaves a gap in scholarship regarding the history of racialized punishment – the ways in which punishment was part of the maintenance of racial inequality, particularly in relation to the ‘importance of colonialism in structuring ideas about crime and punishment’ (Cuneen, 2014: 390).

By examining, as far as possible, all cases of BME individuals sentenced to death in England and Wales 1900-65, the project will explore issues of racial discrimination in relation to capital punishment, including the ways in which prosecutions for murder were in practice made racist. Narratives and stereotypes of racial difference and racialized interpretations of defendant’s behaviour will be explored through critical readings of archival material and newspaper reporting on individual cases.

The project launched in April 2017, initially focusing on identifying capital cases in England and Wales with black and other minority ethnic defendants, and copying the files on those cases at The National Archives.

More information can be found here: https://raceanddeathpenalty.wordpress.com

• ESRC Secondary Data Analysis Initiative project on Anti-Social Behaviour

This 18-month project officially started on 17 th July 2017. Identifying those most vulnerable to anti-social behaviour is the aim of the study at Nottingham Trent University.

The project, which also seeks to develop a better understanding of the harm these individuals face, is being led by criminologists in the university’s School of Social Sciences. Funded by the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) it is set to be one of the most comprehensive studies of anti-social behaviour to date.

It is hoped that the findings will impact upon policing policy and practice such as police patrolling strategies, housing planning policy and victim support services. The 18-month study will examine the different ways in which the police across England and Wales can manage anti-social behaviour and crime in the context of diminishing budgets and the growing number of calls for public safety and welfare.

The study will build a detailed picture of the individuals and areas most likely to experience high levels of anti-social behaviour. Data will be collected from crime surveys, statistics on deprived areas and the UK census. The experts will work in collaboration with a range of stakeholders including the Nottingham Crime and Drugs Partnership; East Midlands Policing Academic Collaboration (EMPAC); police forces; local authorities and third sector organisations.

Dr Rebecca Thompson, a senior lecturer in criminology at the university, said the project was vital because reducing anti-social behaviour could have a positive impact on society. She said: “The study will enable us to work alongside a variety of organisations to undertake what is likely to be one of the most comprehensive studies of victimisation, harm and vulnerability linked to anti-social behaviour. Becoming a victim of anti-social behaviour can have very serious financial, physical and psychological consequences. Its persistent, and often targeted nature intensifies these negative consequences. The research should be of benefit to victims and their communities; the police; local authorities; landlords; third sector organisations; businesses; the NHS; and wider society as a whole”.

The research team includes Nottingham Trent University’s Dr Rebecca Thompson, Professor Andromachi Tseloni and Dr James Hunter, as well as Professor Nick Tilley of University College London.

• East Midlands Policing Academic Collaboration (EMPAC)

This is an exciting, partnership of seven universities, five regional police forces and their Police and Crime Commissioners. In 2015, the collaboration was awarded funding from the College of Policing, HEFCE and Home Office Police Knowledge Fund . This grant funded an extensive, innovative programme of collaborative activity (see https://www.empac.org.uk/ for more detail). Nottingham Trent University was involved in four of the collaborative research projects as well as hosting events and developing a new Postgraduate Certificate in Policing Research.

• ‘ Good’ police custody: theorizing the ‘is’ and the ‘ought’ – Layla Skinns, Andrew Wooff and Amy Sprawson at the University of Sheffield

Project start date: September 2013 Project end date: August 2017 Funding awarded by the ESRC: £518, 508

This study examines what ‘good’ police custody is, taking into account recent shifts towards civilianisation and privatisation in how police custody is delivered.   The data from the study,  including a survey of all police forces in England and Wales followed by follow up interviews and observation in four areas, will be used to create a set of benchmarks and a survey tool for police organisations to measure their performance.

More information can be found at:   www.shef.ac.uk/law/research/projects/police

British Society of Criminology joint crime impact booklet with Academy of Social Sciences

Making the Case – Crime

The fourth in a succesful series published by the AcSS to demonstrate the impact of the social sciences, was launched on June 29 2011 to a packed audience of politicians, policy officials and academics at the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills conference centre at Westminster with an introduction by  Lord McNally, Minister of State for Justice and Deputy Leader of the House of Lords.

The BSC worked with colleagues from the AcSS to produce the booklet.  Contributors included David Farrington, Shadd Maruna, Fergus McNeill, Stephen Reicher,  Clifford Stott,  John Drury, Fiona Brookman,  Mike Levi, Peter Squires, Mike Hough, Paul Turnbull, Alex Hirschfield, Andrew Millie, Jessica Jacobson,  Martin Innes, Andromachi Tseloni, Ken Pease, Amanda Robinson, Kevin Haines, Stephen Case, Jane Ireland, Colin Aitken, Graham Pike, Nicola Brace, Richard Kemp and Tim Valentine.

The ‘Making the Case’ series is designed to showcase the policy impact of social science research.  Previous editions have focused on Wellbeing, Ageing and Sustainability, the Environment and Climate Change.  The publication and launch of Making the Case – Crime were supported by the British Psychological Society and SAGE publishers.

Making the Case: Crime (opens as a pdf)

Please read our Statement of Ethics here.

QAA revised benchmarks for Criminology

The subject benchmark statement establishes academic standards for criminology. The revison benchmarking working group included six members of the BSC Executive Committee:

Chaired by Dr Helen Jones Professor Loraine Gelsthorpe Dr Nic Groombridge Professor Andrew Millie Dr Mark Simpson Professor Azrini Wahidin

NOTE: The BSC are not responsible for the content or reliability of websites to which we link, nor should a link be taken as endorsement of any kind. We cannot guarantee that these links will work all of the time and we have no control over the availability of linked pages.

Links are grouped as follows:

UK Government Departments and Criminal Justice Agencies UK Criminal Justice Related Organisations Some European links Policing/Criminal Justice/Law Enforcement Ethics Journals Funding Bodies Statistics University Centres (with extensive links to other resources) Some North American sites (many with extensive links to other resources) Some Australian sites (many with extensive links to other resources) International Organizations

UK Government Departments and Criminal Justice Agencies

• Commission for Racial Equality  (now superseded by the Equality and Human Rights Commission )
• Crown Prosecution Service
• Equality and Human Rights Commission
• Department of Constitutional Affairs  (now defunct)
• Forensic Science Service  (now defunct)
• HM Inspectorate of Constabulary
• HM Inspectorate of Prisons
• HM Prison Service
• Home Office
• National Crime Agency
• National Criminal Intelligence Service (now defunct and part of the National Crime Agency )
• National Probation Service
• Scottish Prison Service
• UK Police Service
• Youth Justice Board for England and Wales

UK Criminal Justice Related Organisations

• Drugscope  (closed 31 March 2015)
• Focus Prisoner Education
• The Howard League for Penal Reform
• The Law Society
• The Magistrates Association
• Prison Reform Trust
• Rehab Recovery
• Restorative Justice Council

Some European links

• The Court of Justice
• European Institute for Crime Prevention and Control affiliated with the United Nations (HEUNI)
• European Union Home Page  (EUROPA)
• European Forum for Restorative Justice
• International Victimology Website  (INTERVICT)
• European Criminology Oral History Project
• European Society of Criminology

Policing/Criminal Justice/Law Enforcement Ethics

• Council of Europe – National Codes of Police Ethics
• EthicsinPolicing
• Institute for Criminal Justice Ethics – John Jay College
• International Association of Chiefs of Police – Ethics Toolkit
• British Journal of Community Justice
• British Journal of Criminology
• Contemporary Justice Review
• Criminal Justice Ethics
• Criminology and Criminal Justice
• Journal of Forensic Psychiatry
• Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology and Crime Prevention
• Policing and Society
• Police Practice and Research
• Psychology Crime and Law
• The Justice Professional
• Web Journal of Current Legal Issues

Funding Bodies

• Economic and Social Research Council
• Joseph Rowntree Foundation
• Nuffield Foundation
• Home Office: Statistics

University Centres (with extensive links to other resources)

• The Scottish Centre for Crime and Justice Research
• Institute of Criminology, University of Cambridge
• Centre for Crime & Justice Studies
• Sheffield Hallam University: The Community Justice Portal
• University of Leeds: Centre for Criminal Justice Studies

Some North American sites (many with extensive links to other resources)

• Academy Of Criminal Justice Sciences
• American Society of Criminology – Video Archive
• Centre for the Study and Prevention of Violence Databases
• The American Society of Criminology
• Midwestern Criminal Justice Association
• Western Society of Criminology
• Corrections Connection
• Talk Justice
• US Bureau of Justice Statistics Data to Download
• US Central Intelligence Agency
• US Customs and Border Protection
• US Department of Justice
• US Bureau Of Justice Statistics: International Justice Statistics
• Justice Research and Statistics Association
• FIPS – Fingerprints Identification
• US National Institute of Justice

Some Australian sites (many with extensive links to other resources)

• Australian Institute of Criminology
• Crime Research Centre, University of Western Australia
• Department of Justice Government of Western Australia
• The Australian Research Council (ARC)

International Organizations

• United Nations

If you have a favourite site which you think we may want to include in this list, please email your suggestion to us.

Steven J. Green School of International and Public Affairs

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Current grant projects.

Gang Resistence Education and Training Evaluation of Results (GREATER) : Dr. Ryan Meldrum of CCJ, Dr. Ana Carazo (CAJ), and Dr. Jose Miguel Cruz (LACC) have been awarded a 3-year grant by the US Dept. of State’s Bureau of International Narcotics & Law Enforcement Affairs (INL) to co-lead (with Notre Dame researchers) an evaluation of the Gang Resistance Education and Training (GREAT) Program in El Salvador, Honduras, Costa Rica & Panama. The award will allow FIU researchers to conduct the first systematic evaluation of GREAT programs implemented in Central America.

Prosecutorial Performance Indicators : Dr. Kutateladze, in partnership with Loyola University Chicago, is implementing an ongoing project with several prosecutor’s offices across the U.S. The project will help prosecutors improve data and analytical capacity, develop and implement new performance indicators to assess progress over time, and respond to the need to ameliorate racial and ethnic disparities in the justice system. The project is funded by the MacArthur Foundation, Microsoft, and the Schusterman Foundation.

Cybersecurity Capacity Building in Ukraine : Dr. Peacock directs the higher education component of USAID's Cybersecurity Critical Infrastructure in Ukraine program. FIU leads a coalition of cybersecurity programs in U.S. universities supporting Ukrainian higher education institutions committed to converting their coursework and degree programs to advance the key knowledge, skills, and abilities outlined in the Ukrainian framework in line with the US National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education (NICE). In 2022, the project will deliver training and simulation-based learning to more than 200 Ukrainian cybersecurity instructors and 2,000 university students.

Improving Strategies for Investigating and Prosecuting Hate Crimes : Dr. Kutateladze and senior fellow Melba Pearson, in conjunction with CUNY's Institute for State and Local Goverance, are leading a multi-year effort funded by the National Institute of Justice. The aim of the grant is to coordinate with prosecutorial offices and elected prosectors from across the country to improve the process of flagging, investigating, and prsoecuting hate crimes. The work will involve a review of state laws on hate crime, data collection from nearly 100 elected/appoint prosecutors, a review of administrative case file data, the development of a hate crimes database, and interviews with prosecutors, investigators, and victim service providers.

Correctional Officer (CO) Wellness: Examining Stress Reduction and Suicide Prevention: Dr. Zgoba, along with Dr. Laura Salerno from the New Jersey Department of Corrections, has been awarded funding from the Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) to examine trauma and stress among COs in New Jersey.  The researchers will implement an evidence-supported CO wellness training curriculum that prioritizes trauma, stress and suicide risk, a peer-to-peer mentor support program, and a family outreach program. Changes in officer sick time, overtime, disciplinary charges, criminal charges, medical leave requests, CO suicides, CO suicide attempts and overall stress levels will be examined. Five hundred officers will participate in the multi-year study.

Criminology and Criminal Justice Department

Featured Research

Drs. Arynn A. Infante, Xia Wang, and Dustin Pardini, published " The Development and Validation of a Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Latino Threat " in the Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. 

Abstract: Perceived threat is a central feature of theories of intergroup behaviour, such as the minority threat perspective. Studies have linked perceptions of Latinos as threatening the interests of Whites to Whites’ support for more punitive policies in the U.S., especially in areas experiencing a recent growth in the Latino population. This research, however, is limited in that researchers rarely measure perceptions of Latino threat directly and have yet to expand on the limitations of existing measures. To this end, this study was designed to develop a 20-item Perceived Latino Threat Scale (PLTS) and assess its association with relevant external criteria, including several vehicles for the social control of Latinos. The scale was administered to students attending a Southwestern university during the Republican Party presidential primaries (Study 1: N = 332) and just prior to the 2016 election (Study 2: N = 259). Bifactor analyses indicated that perceptions of Latino threat can be subdivided into four dimensions: economic, political, criminal, and opportunity threat. Higher perceptions of Latino threat, especially economic threat, were associated with support for Donald Trump, being a Republican and politically conservative, and harbouring punitive attitudes toward crime and border control. Implications for theory and research are discussed.

Drs. Lisa Anne Zilney, Danielle McGurrin and Sammy Zahran, published " Environmental Justice and the Role of Criminology: an Analytical Review of 33 Years of Environmental Justice Research " in Criminal Justice Review.   

Abstract: An increasing number of scholars and activists have begun to tackle a variety of issues relevant to environmental justice studies. This study attempts to address the role of criminologists in this domain. The authors examine 425 environmental justice articles in 204 academic journals, representing 18 programs/departments between 1970 and 2003. First, they measure the environmental justice contributions in the literature by academic department or activist affiliation. Second, they identify the major themes in the literature as they have developed and reveal the current and future directions of environmental justice studies. Such themes include the spatial distribution of hazards, social movements, law and public policy, and environmental discrimination. Finally, the authors seek to call attention to the evident linkages between accepted areas of criminological scholarship and environmental justice. From this latter objective, the authors seek to demonstrate how criminology and criminal justice can advance this critical dialogue and social movement.

Drs. Adam Vaughan, Kathryn E. Wuschke, Ashley N. Hewitt, Tarah Hodgkinson, Martin A. Andresen, Patricia Brantingham, and Simon Verdun-Jones published "Variations in Mental Health Act Calls to Police: an Analysis of Hourly and Intra-week Patterns" in Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies and Management.  

Abstract: Purpose – Investigating the day of week and hour of day temporal patterns of crime typically show that (late) nights and weekends are the prime time for criminal activity. Though instructive, mental-health-related calls for service are a significant component of police service to the community that have not been a part of this research. The purpose of this paper is to analyze calls for police service that relate to mental health, using intimate partner/domestic related calls for police service for context. Design/methodology/approach – Approximately 20,000 mental health related and 20,000 intimate partner/domestic related calls for police service are analyzed. Intra-week and intra-day temporal patterns are analyzed using circular statistics. Findings – Mental-health-related calls for police service have a distinct temporal pattern for both days of the week and hours of the day. Specifically, these calls for police service peak during the middle of the week and in the mid-afternoon. Originality/value – This is the first analysis regarding the temporal patterns of police calls for service for mental health-related calls. The results have implications for police resourcing and scheduling, especially in the context of special teams for addressing mental health-related calls for police service.

Drs. Arynn A. Infante, Stephanie J. Morse, Chatal Famy and Kevin A. Wright published "Racial Politics in the Contemporary Prison Society: The Importance of Race and Ethnicity to Prison Social Organization" in Criminal Justice Behavior. 

Abstract: Prior research documents race and ethnicity as central to how individuals navigate the social and physical space of prisons. Racial segregation persists as a feature of prison life, and in navigating this racialized structure, racial groups construct and enforce a set of racialized norms to govern behavior (i.e., the “racial code”) that reinforce and reify prison racial politics. These processes, however, have remained largely descriptive in nature. Using data from a sample of incarcerated men in Arizona prisons (N = 251), this article extends prior work by operationalizing the concept of the racial code, assessing its dimensionality, distinguishing it from the prison code, and differentiating how features of prison social organization influence racial code adherence and mobilization. Results suggest that the racial code is distinct from the prison code and that racial differences exist in the extent of adhering to versus mobilizing the racial code, net of gang status.

Dr. Brian Renauer published " Reducing fear of crime: citizen, police or government responsibility? " in Police Quarterly. 

Abstract: This study addresses whether residents' perceptions of informal neighborhood social control or police and government activities in their neighborhood provides a stronger explanation of their emotional fear of crime. Survey data from 505 residents from 10 diverse neighborhoods are used to test the relationship between informal and formal social control and individual fear of crime. The results indicate both informal control, especially social cohesion, and formal social control—a fear of police encounters and police effectiveness—explain emotional fear of crime. Discussion of citizen, police, and government responsibilities for reducing fear of crime is undertaken.

Drs. Matsuda, Thornberry, Loughran, and Krohn published " Are Late Bloomers Real? Identification and Comparison of Late-Onset Offending Patterns from Ages 14-20 " in The Journal of Developmental and Life-Course Criminology.   

Abstract: Numerous studies have identified a late-onset pattern of offending, yet debate remains over whether this pattern is real or attributable to measurement error. The goal of the present study is to identify whether this late-onset trajectory exists. We used prospective longitudinal data from the Rochester Youth Development Study and group-based trajectory modeling to identify distinct developmental patterns in self-reported incidence of general delinquency from approximately ages 14 to 31. We then examined and compared the means of general, violent, street, and property offending for individuals belonging to late bloomer, chronic, and low-level offending trajectories across three periods: (1) pre-onset (ages 14–17), (2) post-onset (ages 29–31), and (3) for a subset of participants participating in a follow-up study, post-trajectory (ages 32–40). Results confirmed the existence of a distinct late bloomers offending trajectory characterized by low rates of delinquency throughout adolescence and high levels throughout adulthood. Furthermore, late bloomers had similar mean levels of delinquency as low-level offenders and they were considerably lower than chronic offenders in the pre-onset period and similar means of offending as chronic offenders that were considerably higher than low-level offenders in the post-onset and post-trajectory periods. Comparisons of these three groups on adolescent risk and protective factors indicated that late bloomers were more similar to individuals in the low-level trajectory and had fewer risk and more protective factors than individuals following a chronic trajectory. Contrary to prior work which attributes late-onset offending to reliance on official data which fails to detect adolescent offending, late bloomer offending appears to be a genuine phenomenon. These results lend greater support to dynamic theories of crime.

Drs. J.R. Estes, Chris Carey, Debra Tavares, and David Peterson Del Mar published " Begin It Now: Critical Service Learning in the First Year of College " in the Journal of General Education.  

Abstract: While there is a rich array of community-based learning activities and approaches across the Portland State University campus, the authors assert that integrating a critical service learning (CSL), rather than traditional service learning (TSL), model in the first-year curriculum benefits both students and community partners. They advocate for scaffolding CSL throughout the college curriculum beginning in the first year so that as students move through their courses they repeatedly practice the dynamic skill set CSL develops. To that end, they utilize a CSL Process Framework of five essential steps to consider when scaffolding it within the first year: The Plan, Etiquette of Collaboration, Critical Reflection, Engaging Student Agency, and Civic Professionalism (Estes, 2018). The authors describe how each element manifests in three very different examples of CSL within their respective Freshman Inquiry courses. Although this article focuses upon CSL in the first year of college, the CSL Process Framework is applicable across course levels. After presenting examples of how each element manifests as they integrate CSL into their courses and careers, the authors discuss the challenges and implications of this work within their courses, University Studies, and general education.

Dr. Kelsey S. Henderson, of Portland State University and Reveka Shteynberg of California State University -San Bernardino published " Plea Decision-making: the influence of Attorney Expertise, Trustworthiness, and Recommendation " in Psychology, Crime & Law. . 

Abstract: Attorney recommendations influence defendant plea decisions (Henderson & Levett, 2018; Viljoen, Klaver, & Roesch, 2005). The degree of influence likely rests on the perceived trustworthiness and level of expertise of the attorney (factors of source credibility). We explored attorney source credibility factors and how these characteristics influence defendants’ plea decision-making. MTurk participants read a hypothetical plea scenario and were asked to imagine themselves as the defendant in a DWI/DUI case making a plea decision; in the scenario, we manipulated the defense attorney’s level of trustworthiness, expertise, and plea recommendation. There was a significant interaction between attorney recommendation and trustworthiness on defendants’ plea decisions; participants who were advised to accept the guilty plea were more likely to plead guilty when the attorney was high in trustworthiness compared to low in trustworthiness. Attorney trustworthiness did not affect plea decisions for defendants advised to reject the guilty plea. Importantly, attorney trustworthiness affected defendants’ decision to follow the attorney’s recommendation and ultimate plea decision (regardless of expertise), and attorney expertise affected defendants’ confidence in their decision (regardless of trustworthiness). Results suggest individual-level characteristics of defense attorneys affect the influence of the attorney and their recommendation, and ultimately defendants’ plea decision-making.

Dr. Kathryn Wuschke, Dr. Martin A. Andresen, and Patricia L. Brantingham published " Pathways of Crime: Measuring Crime Concentration Along Urban Roadways " in The Canadian Geographer. 

Abstract: Some urban spaces are associated with disproportionate numbers of criminal events, while other areas are relatively free from disorder and crime. The relationship between urban space and crime concentration has received increased attention in recent years, with the location quotient frequently presented as a tool to identify and quantify such concentration. This measure has several limitations, with one significant concern surrounding the choice of denominator with which to standardize local and global rate calculations. In response, we present a new methodological adaptation to the location quotient, improving the measurement of crime concentration along linear features. To test this adaptation, we measure how crime concentrates by road classification at both a macro and micro level within two Canadian suburban municipalities. Using transportation network data, we identify the road types that are associated with a disproportionate concentration of criminal events, and illustrate how these relationships change alongside the level of aggregation. Results support the use of the adapted location quotient, finding that criminal events concentrate along specific road types, and emphasize the importance of spatial scale in understanding local relationships between crime and the built urban landscape.

Dr. Laura J. Hickman, Dr. Lisa H. Jaycox, and Dr. Jessica Aronoff published " Dating Violence Among Adolescents: Prevalence, Gender Distribution, Prevention Program Effectiveness " in Trauma, Violence and Abuse.   

Description: Relative to violence among adult intimate partners, violence among adolescent dating partners remains an understudied phenomenon. In this review, we assess the state of the research literature on teen dating violence. Our review reveals that the broad range of estimates produced by major national data sources and single studies make conclusions about the prevalence of teen dating violence premature. Similarly, our review of what is known about risk factors reveals inconsistency among studies. We assess published evaluations of adolescent dating violence prevention programs and discuss their findings and limitations. Finally, we discuss challenges to researchers in this area and suggest that additional investment in high-quality basic research is needed to inform the development of sound theory and effective prevention and intervention programs.

Student Io Nicholls, advised by Dr. Kris Henning authored this comprehensive " Analysis of Motor Vehicle Theft, Portland, OR 2000-2021 "

Student Josh Carmony, advised by Dr. Kris Henning authored this comprehensive " Analysis of Homicides and Shootings in Portland, OR 2000-2022 ." 

Dr. Kris Henning, Dr. Mauri Matsuda, and Dr. Greg Stewart published " Dazed and Confused: Difficulties for Law Enforcement During Oregon's Transition to a Legal Marijuana Market " in Police Quarterly. 

Abstract: As more states legalize recreational cannabis, questions remain about the impact of this transition for police who continue to be responsible for enforcing laws governing illicit production and distribution of the drug, use of the substance in prohibited settings, and possession by juveniles. Legalization may also lead to additional responsibilities, including policing homegrown cannabis and licensed businesses involved in cultivating, processing, and selling the drug. Documenting the experience of law enforcement officers in states that have already transitioned to a legal market may provide important insights into the implementation of cannabis policies in other jurisdictions. The present study surveyed 301 law enforcement officers in Oregon three years after the state legalized recreational marijuana. Results indicate that officers perceive increases in many marijuana-related problems following legalization and most officers report that the state’s revised statutes are confusing and difficult to enforce. Implications for public policy are discussed.

Dr. Mauri Matsuda of Portland State University, along with Dr. Thomas A. Loughran of Pennsylvania State University, Dr. Megan Augustryn of the University of Texas at San Antonio, and Dr. Kimberly L. Henry of Colorado State University published " Prognosticating Offending in Early Adulthood: How Early Can We Predict? " in the Journal of Quantitative Criminology. 

Abstract Introduction/Aim: Extant tests of developmental theories have largely refrained from moving past testing models of association to building models of prediction, as have other fields with an intervention focus. With this in mind, we test the prognostic capacity to predict offending outcomes in early adulthood derived from various developmental theories.

Methods: Using 734 subjects from the Rochester Youth Development Study (RYDS), we use out-of-sample predictions based on 5-fold cross-validation and compare the sensitivity, specifcity and positive predictive value of three different prognostic models to predict arrest and serious, persistent offending in early adulthood. The first uses only predictors measures in early adolescence, the second uses dynamic trajectories of delinquency from ages 14–22, and the third uses a combination of the two. We further consider how early in adolescence the trajectory models calibrate prediction.

Results: Both the early adolescent risk factor only model and the dynamic trajectory model were poor at prognosticating both arrest and persistent offending in early adulthood, which is manifest in the large rate of false positive cases.

Conclusion: Furthermore, existing developmental theories would be well served to move beyond cataloging risk factors and draw more heavily on refinements, including a greater focus on human agency in life course patterns of offending.

Dr. Christopher Campbell, Dr. Kelsey Henderson, and Dr. Brian Renauer of Portland State University presented their research to the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission on " Examining Pretrial Detention in Oregon: A Qualitative Analysis of Decision Making. "  

Executive Summary: Many jurisdictions in Oregon have been reevaluating their pretrial release system in an effort to reduce pretrial detention rates and costs, reduce crimes committed while on pretrial supervision, and increase court appearance rates. Within the context of statutorily prescribed criteria of pretrial release, jurisdictions continue to weigh the utility of risk assessment-based release as opposed to financial-based release, and aim to decrease jail populations. In an effort to address these and other issues, we build from prior research in Oregon (Campbell et al., 2020) to examine how release decisions  are  made,  paying  attention  to  the  legal  actors  involved,  the  factors  that  influence decisions, and the role of risk assessment tools in formulating release decisions. Via a sub-grant from Arnold Ventures, National Criminal Justice Association, and the National Criminal Justice Reform Project,  researchers  from Portland  State University (PSU)  aimed  to gain  insight into multiple areas. Over five months (June through October of 2020), our team collected 21 surveys and interviewed 71 justice officials associated with pretrial processes across 31 counties in Oregon. 

Dr. Kelsey Henderson, along with co-authors Erika Fountain, Allison Redlich and Jason Cantone published their research titled " Judicial involvement in plea-bargaining " in Psychology, Public Policy and Law. 

Abstract: The topic of judicial involvement in plea negotiations is a controversial issue, with potential benefits (e.g., ensuring that the process is fairer) and risks (e.g., inducing an innocent defendant to plead guilty). Currently, 20 jurisdictions explicitly prohibit judicial involvement in plea negotiations, whereas eight permit some type of involvement. We surveyed state court judges about judicial involvement in plea bargaining (colloquy and negotiations) and their perceptions on judicial participation. We expected judges in states that prohibit judicial involvement in negotiations to have a more negative view of judicial participation compared with judges in states that permit involvement or those in states that have no explicit laws permitting or prohibiting it. Our sample consisted of 233 state court judges, in states that permit, prohibit, or make no mention in their state policies regarding judicial involvement in plea negotiations. Our survey addressed components of standard involvement (judges’ expectations of the parties’ responsibilities and judges’ experiences with plea colloquies) and expanded involvement (judges’ experiences with and perceptions of participation in plea negotiations). Judges in  permit  states were more likely to endorse the benefits of increased judicial participation in plea negotiations compared with judges in  no mention  and  prohibit  states. Conversely, judges in  prohibit  states were more likely to acknowledge the existence of risks of increased judicial participation in plea negotiations compared with judges in  no mention  and  permit  states. These data suggest policies and procedures are not only associated with judges’ behavior in plea-bargaining but also their perceptions of this controversial practice. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)

Drs. Kathryn Wuschke, Kris Henning, and Gregory Stewart published their research titled " Dots Versus Density: the Impact of Crime Mapping Techniques on Perception of Safety, Police Performance and Neighbourhood Quality" in Policing and Society.

Abstract: President Obama’s Task Force on 21st Century Policing advised law enforcement agencies to ‘[e]stablish a culture of transparency and accountability in order to build public trust and legitimacy’ (2015, p. 12). Such transparency and accountability may be promoted through increased public access to crime data and measures of police activity. The inherently geographic nature of crime has made online maps one of the more popular strategies for disseminating this information to the public. As more agencies deliver crime maps on their own, or hosted websites, it becomes important for social scientists to evaluate how these communications affect public perceptions. Crime mapping is a complex process requiring many decisions. This includes choices about the type of crime to include or exclude, the type of map used, and numerous design features for the map itself. The field of critical cartography argues that all of these decisions have the potential to shape perceptions about a given geographic location, the people living there, and, in the present context, the people charged with maintaining public safety in the area. This study investigates whether different types of maps (i.e. dot vs. density) affect individual perceptions of safety, police performance and neighbourhood quality. Results indicate that the type of crime map viewed does alter perceptions, illustrating a need for careful and consistent decision-making when preparing crime maps for public access.

Drs. Mauri Matsuda, Mark Leymon, Chris Campbell, and Brian Renauer were awarded a grant titled “Justice Reinvestment Return on Investment Project” from Oregon’s Criminal Justice Commission.   

The project will analyze the state- and county-level impact of overall and program-specific JRI funding in Oregon’s Justice Reinvestment Initiative on prison use, recidivism rates, and other outcomes related to program goals, and develop/pilot a survey on victim perspectives on JRI.

Drs. Chris Campbell, Brian Renauer, and Kelsey Henderson presented to the Oregon Advisory Committee to the US Commission on Civil Rights on November 12, 2020.  The focus of their presentation was titled, “Examining Pretrial Practices in Oregon”.   The report is part of a grant project funded by Oregon’s Criminal Justice Commission.  The project involved a survey and interviews with criminal justice practitioners representing all the judicial districts in the state to discussion their bail practices pre-covid and thoughts on pretrial reform for the state. 

Drs. Mark Leymon, Chris Campbell, and Kris Henning were awarded a grant titled  “Recidivism Phase II and STTL” from Oregon’s Criminal Justice Commission.  The grant entails a study examining the effectiveness of the Short-Term Transitional Leave (STTL) and alternative incarceration program for the State of Oregon.

Drs. Chris Campbell, Kelsey Henderson, and Brian Renauer were awarded a grant from Oregon’s Criminal Justice Commission to study pretrial practices throughout Oregon .  

Drs. Brian Renauer, Mark Leymon, Chris Campbell, and Ann Leymon are wrapping up a two-year research project funded by the National Institute of Justice (DOJ), part of their FY17 W.E.B. Du Bois Program of Research on Race and Crime.

The project examines how the integration of a pre-adjudication risk assessment (PAA) has impacted sentencing outcomes in two Oregon counties. Particular attention is given to whether the us of a PAA creates disparate outcomes for persons of color.

Drs. Mark Leymon, Chris Campbell, Kris Henning, and Brian Renauer presented findings from their report “Effect of Prison Length of Stay in Oregon” to the Senate and House Committees on Judiciary at the Oregon Legislature in Salem. 

The project was funded by the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission. 

Drs. Chris Campbell and Ryan Labrecque presented findings from their report “Effect of Pretrial Detention in Oregon” to the Senate and House Committees on Judiciary at the Oregon Legislature in Salem. 

The project was funded by the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission.

Dr. Ryan Labrecque did a presentation entitled "Security Threat Management Re-Alignment Initiative" at the Oregon Department of Corrections Office of the Inspector General Annual CORE Retreat and Training in Woodburn, OR.

Dr. Joel Garner, CJPRI Senior Research Fellow, co-wrote a journal article with with Ronald Malega (Missouri State University) entitled "Sworn Volunteers in American Policing, 1999 - 2013" published in the journal Police Quarterly.

This study describes changes in the use of sworn volunteers among the nation’s local law enforcement agencies and identifies those state-level certification, community, and agency characteristics associated with agencies using such volunteers in 2013. Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics data from 1999 through 2013 were analyzed to document trends in both the number of sworn volunteers and the prevalence of agencies using sworn volunteers. While there has been a modest decline in the use of sworn volunteers since 1999, in 2013, about 36% of all local law enforcement agencies used sworn volunteers; furthermore, these volunteers comprised 7% of all local sworn personnel having arrest authority nationwide in 2013. A survey of peace officer standards and training agencies found that approximately two thirds of states required state-level certification of sworn volunteers. Multivariate analyses of state-level certification standards, census data, and agency characteristics found that agencies were more likely to use sworn volunteers if they (a) are a sheriff’s office, (b) serve jurisdictions with larger populations, (c) have greater levels of social disadvantage, (d) do not require recruits to have more than a high school education, or (e) are located within states offering graduated levels of sworn volunteer certifications. Agencies were less likely to use volunteer officers if they (a) hire part-time sworn officers, (b) have a greater entry-level salary, or (c) are accredited.

Dr. Kris Henning gave an invited presentation at the Association of Prosecuting Attorneys' Safety & Justice Challenge Leadership Institute in Portland, OR.

The presentation detailed how actuarial risk assessment scales are created and used in a variety of criminal justice settings.

Dr. Mauri Matsuda did a poster presentation with Karen Chan Osilla and David Kennedy (both at RAND Corporation) at the Research Society on Alcoholism conference in San Diego, CA.

This poster presented initial results from a research study examining the social network characteristics of a subsample of participants in Project Rethinking Avenues for Change (REACH), a study comparing effects of cognitive behavioral therapy with usual care for individuals convicted of a first-time DUI and screened for alcohol use disorders. The main objectives of this study were to describe the overall social network characteristics of the sample at baseline, assess whether social network characteristics differ by participant gender, age, and race/ethnicity, and to examine whether social network characteristics change between baseline and follow-up.

Greg Stewart (Portland Police Bureau; CCJ adjunct faculty) helped organize and run the second annual American Society of Evidence-Based Policing Conference, held at Temple University, Philadelphia, PA.

Dr. Kelsey Henderson’s article entitled “Investigating Predictors of True and False Guilty Pleas”, co-authored with Dr. Lora Levett (University of Florida), has been accepted for publication by the journal Law and Human Behavior.

Attorney recommendations affected innocent and guilty individuals’ plea decisions, however the effect was stronger for innocent individuals. Main findings indicate that innocent individuals were less likely to falsely plead guilty if the advocate recommended to go to trial compared to if the advocate made other recommendations (recommended accepting the guilty plea; gave neutral, educational information) or was absent.

Dr. Mark Leymon was part of a team that was awarded the 2018 Bruce Baer Award for their series entitled, “Unequal Justice”. The Bruce Baer Award, now in its 41th year, is Oregon's most prestigious prize for investigative reporting.

The investigative series documented and analyzed racial and ethnic disparities in justice outcomes in Oregon. The series assessed 8.4 million court records from 2005 to 2015. The findings show people of color remain unfairly treated in the criminal justice system. This series introduces the statistics that define the problem, examines life inside those numbers, and explores the policies and practices that perpetuate them. Unequal Justice is a joint project of InvestigateWest and the Pamplin Media Group, made possible in part by a grant from the Fund for Investigative Journalism. The journalists included Lee Van Der Voo, Nick Budnick, and Kate Wilson. Professor Mark Leymon (Harmon) from the Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice at Portland State University provided statistical review and analysis. The series produced over 30 separate news articles investigating multiple areas of the justice system . The Bruce Baer Award has been presented annually and honors the late Bruce Baer, a political reporter for the Portland Reporter and worked for 13 years with Portland’s KATU (2). The award focuses on in-depth coverage of Oregon politics and public affairs. Articles are judged on the quality of investigative reporting of political and public affairs topics related to Oregon, the effort and enterprise of the nominee, and the courage reflected in the work.

Dr. Mauri Matsuda received the PSU Faculty Enhancement Grant for her project “An exploration of correlates and trajectories of delinquency involvement and justice-system contact among sexual minority youth”.

The goal of this project is to examine trajectories of delinquency involvement and justice system contact experienced by sexual minority youth, as well as risk and protective factors that are associated with these outcomes, using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health.

Dr. Kris Henning gave a community presentation to the Portland Pearl Rotary Club entitled "Crime in Portland: Patterns, trends, and community perceptions."

Dr. Kris Henning took part in a discussion panel on gun violence and gun control at The Northwest Academy, a high school in Portland, Oregon.

Dr. Christopher Carey gave a presentation for the Multnomah County Sex Trafficking Network entitled "The Intersections between Foster Care and Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children".

Dr. Christopher Campbell gave an invited presentation on the importance of client satisfaction and procedural justice at the Mississippi Spring Public Defenders Seminar in Biloxi, MS.

This presentation emphasized the importance and utility of client-centered representation for public defenders. Specifically, I discussed how focusing on the client can increase perceptions of procedural justice, strengthen the legitimacy of public defenders and the system, as well as improve the quality of representation provided to indigent clients. The presentation had two parts - one focusing on adult criminal defense, and the other focusing on juveniles.

Dr. Christopher Carey testified in front of the Oregon Advisory Committee to the U.S. Commission on Civil Rights regarding sex trafficking in Oregon.

Kelli Russell, Criminology and Criminal Justice adjunct instructor and graduate of the CCJ Masters degree program, received the Randy Nunnecamp Award from the Child Abuse and Family Violence Summit.

This award recognizes those who go above and beyond in the fight against family violence and child abuse. Kelli is the Operations Manager for Safety Compass, a culturally specific, community-based, confidential advocacy agency serving Marion and Clackamas Counties that offers support for survivors of commercial sexual exploitation and sex-trafficking.

Dr. Ryan Labrecque wrote an article for the The London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) United States Politics and Policy (USAPP) Blog entitled " How a new inmate triage system could reduce the use of solitary confinement and improve prison safety "

Across the political spectrum in the United States, there are growing concerns regarding the effectiveness and utility of solitary confinement – a practice also referred to as restrictive housing. However, for a country that has grown reliant on the use of solitary confinement in its prisons, there are still more questions than answers about how to reduce its use while also ensuring institutional safety and security. Ryan M. Labrecque created a new tool for use by corrections staff to triage inmates by risk. He argues that this tool can be effective in reducing the use of restrictive housing and increasing prison safety by proactively targeting high-risk inmates for treatment services upon their entry into the prison system.

Dr. Ryan Labrecque was interviewed for an Associated Press article entitled "Inmate death shines light on cellmate pairings at US prisons".  

Dr. Kelsey Henderson and Lora M. Levett (Univ. of Florida gave a presentation at the American Psychology-Law Society (APLS) annual conference in Memphis, TN entitled "Evaluating the Totality of Confession Evidence."

The authors examined if jurors were sensitive to the source (i.e., interrogation or suspect) and consistency of information in evaluating confession evidence. Confession evidence is a product of the interrogation; the accuracy of a confession partially depends on the interrogation methods used and the content of that confession. Research suggests confronting suspects up-front with evidence (a common interrogation tactic) gives suspects knowledge of non-public details, increasing the likelihood of a false confession (Gudjonsson & Pearse, 2011; Leo, 2009). By sharing information during the interrogation, it's possible to taint a suspect's confession, making it harder to judge as more or less accurate. Overall, results suggest jurors weigh a confession that is consistent with crime details more heavily than a confession that is inconsistent with crime details when rendering a verdict. However, the type of interrogation method used (i.e., best practices versus traditional practices) did not influence juror decisions.

Dr. Ryan Labrecque published a journal article entitled "Taking Stock: A Meta-Analysis of the Predictors of Restrictive Housing" in the Victims & Offenders, An International Journal of Evidence-based Research, Policy, and Practice.

Two competing views on the use of restrictive housing have emerged in the literature. The first position has argued that restrictive housing helps make correctional institutions safer and more secure environments, largely by incapacitating violent and dangerous inmates. In contrast, a second perspective has maintained that restrictive housing not only causes serious psychological damage and increases criminal coping, but also that it has served as a mechanism for officials to punish certain groups of inmates unfairly. This study tests these competing hypotheses by meta-analyzing the literature on the predictors of placement in restrictive housing. The results of this investigation provide support for both perspectives. The implications of the study's findings are discussed.

Dr. Mark Leymon (publishes under Harmon) testified at an informational hearing at the Oregon Senate Committee on the Judiciary about the impacts of Measure 11 on youth.

Between 1995 and 2012 nearly 4000 Oregon 15, 16, and 17-year-olds were referred to adult court under Measure 11. According to Pew Charitable Trust Oregon has the second highest rate of youth transferred to adult court after Florida. Though youth of color and white youth received about the same average sentence, youth of color are significantly more likely to receive a measure 11 referral. Black youth make up about 16% of all measure 11 referrals, yet account for only about 2% of the total population of Oregon. Across all 21 measure 11 offenses, black youth were 13.6 times more likely than a white youth to be referred.

Ron Louie, CCJ adjunct instructor and retired Chief of Hillsboro Police Department, co-presented at the Oregon Law & Mental Health Conference with retired Chief of Eugene PD Pete Kerns.

In this session, two veteran police chiefs identified those factors that contribute and influence police officer impairment such as: misuse of force, domestic violence, suicide, citizen complaints, career self-sabotage, absenteeism and failed relationships. They also discussed what they view as the best strategies to impact and reduce these impairment factors.

Dr. Joel Garner, CJPRI Senior Research Fellow, co-authored an article with Matthew Hickman (Seattle University), Ronald Malega (Missouri State University) and Christopher Maxwell (Michigan State University) that was published in the journal PLOS One.

This research builds on three decades of effort to produce national estimates of the amount and rate of force used by law enforcement officers in the United States. Prior efforts to produce national estimates have suffered from poor and inconsistent measurements of force, small and unrepresentative samples, low survey and/or item response rates, and disparate reporting of rates of force. The present study employs data from a nationally representative survey of state and local law enforcement agencies that has a high survey response rate as well as a relatively high rate of reporting uses of force. Using data on arrests for violent offenses and the number of sworn officers to impute missing data on uses of force, we estimate a total of 337,590 use of physical force incidents among State and local law enforcement agencies during 2012 with a 95 percent confidence interval of +/- 10,470 incidents or +/- 3.1 percent. This article reports the extent to which the number and rate of force incidents vary by the type and size of law enforcement agencies. Our findings demonstrate the willingness of a large proportion of law enforcement agencies to voluntarily report the amount of force used by their officers and the relative strengths and weaknesses of the Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) program to produce nationally representative information about police behavior.

Dr. Christopher M. Campbell had an article entitled "Rethinking conditional release as an assumption-based test of offender readiness" published in Criminal Justice Review Journal.

While many great strides have been made in supervision generally toward more evidence-based practices, the primary tenets of conditional release have remained unchanged, untested, and assumption based. This essay examines the fundamental tenets of conditional release and how they have been widely overlooked in spite of the evidence-based movement. By laying out the problems in practice, recording, and definition, as well as gaps in the literature, this essay displays several areas where future research can progress both knowledge and policy. The author argues that the crux of issues surrounding conditional release is the notion that it is a test of readiness and should be regarded as such. By viewing the practice from this perspective, the inadequacies of state systems to address criminogenic needs become glaringly apparent. Following this explication, it is consequently clear as to why the released person may not be ready and how successful reentry may have less to do with individual accountability and more to do with a rehabilitative ideal.

Dr. Debra Lindberg presented "Allowing for Internship Experiences in an Online Degree Program" at the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences annual conference in New Orleans, LA.

The criminology and criminal justice department at Portland State University offers four-year degrees both through the traditional on-campus, face-to-face mode and through an entirely on-line mode (i.e., students may live anywhere and complete their degrees online, without ever setting foot on campus). Students have several options for completing the eight credit hour internship requirement: through internships with field agencies in their local vicinities; through an online alternative for those who may not need "real world" experiences (e.g., a person who has worked in law enforcement for many years, desires to earn a degree, and intends to remain in the same field); or a combination of both. Regardless of the scenario a student chooses, he/she will fulfill the requirement through “real” work, as well as reading and writing activities.

Molly Harvis, graduate student in the Criminology and Criminal Justice Masters of Science degree program, presented on the preliminary findings from a study entitled "Fairness and Respect in Institutional Corrections: Examining the Role of Procedural Justice in Reducing Harm and Disorder in Prison" conducted by Drs. Christopher Campbell, Ryan Labrecque, Roger Schaefer (Central Washington University), and a group of CCJ graduate students (Leah Reddy, Kayla LaBranche, Karma Rose Macias) at the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences annual conference in New Orleans, LA.

Recent scholarship suggests that disciplinary protocols and humanistic approaches of correctional officers may be important factors in influencing inmate behavior and prison order. These factors nod to the possibility such influence might be rooted in inmate perceptions of procedural justice, however, extant research has not yet examined this. To fill this gap, surveys of over 140 minimum and medium security inmates in Maine were coupled with administrative data to answer the question: To what extent does procedural justice perceptions correlate and potentially influence patterns of misconduct? Findings are discussed in the context of institutional policy involving officers and disciplinary procedure.

Dr. Brian Renauer presented "Impact of Pre-Adjudication Risk Assessment on Court Outcomes and Racial/Ethnic Disparity" at the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences annual conference in New Orleans, LA.

The use of risk assessment instruments has received increasing attention as a potential tool to reduce incarceration without harming public safety. However, the use of risk assessment in the pre-adjudication or sentencing phase of the court process brings with it controversy regarding social justice costs, particularly disparate racial/ethnic sentencing outcomes. This paper examines the impact of utilizing a pre-adjudication risk assessment (PAA) in a judicial conference on court sentencing outcomes over time. Propensity score matching is used to compare samples from pre and post implementation of the PAA in an Oregon county that only differ regarding defendant’s race.

Drs. Mark Leymon (publishes under Harmon), Brian Renauer, and Christopher Campbell presented "I Can Measure That: Recommendations for the Measurement of Disparities in the Age of the RRI" at the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences annual conference in New Orleans, LA.

In recent years, the use of the Relative Rate Index (RRI), as a measure of disparity, has grown exponentially, especially among policymakers and program evaluators. Typically, the RRI is used to compare the rates of justice contact experienced by people of color to whites. While the RRI has utility and relative ease of interpretation, it does have limitations that are often overlooked, misunderstood, or downplayed. We discuss the RRI’s evolution, make recommendations for applying it, discuss other measures, propose modified RRIs, and illustrate that multimeasure approaches will likely lead to more robust and nuanced understandings of racial and ethnic disparities.

Drs. Ryan Labrecque and Paula Smith (Univ. of Cincinnati) presented "Creation and Validation of the Inmate Risk Assessment for Segregation Placement (RASP)" at the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences annual conference in New Orleans, LA.

Administrative segregation is one of the most severe punishments that can be imposed upon inmates. Recently, however, this practice has been the subject of increased legal, ethical, and academic scrutiny. In response, several justice officials have called upon the academic community to help aid correctional systems in reforming its use. One area in need of more research involves the development of strategies to identify inmates at risk for being placed in segregation. This study addresses this need by constructing and validating a risk scale that predicts segregation placement in a five-year admission cohort of inmates in a large Midwestern state.

Dr. Kathryn Wuschke co-authored a journal article entitled "Variations in Mental Health Act calls to police: an analysis of hourly and intra-week patterns" published in Policing: An International Journal of Police Strategies.

Investigating the day of week and hour of day temporal patterns of crime typically show that (late) nights and weekends are the prime time for criminal activity. Though instructive, mental-health-related calls for service are a significant component of police service to the community that have not been a part of this research. The purpose of this paper is to analyze calls for police service that relate to mental health, using intimate partner/domestic related calls for police service for context. Approximately 20,000 mental health related and 20,000 intimate partner/domestic related calls for police service are analyzed in this study. Intra-week and intra-day temporal patterns are analyzed using circular statistics. The findings show that mental-health-related calls for police service have a distinct temporal pattern for both days of the week and hours of the day. Specifically, these calls for police service peak during the middle of the week and in the mid-afternoon. This is the first analysis regarding the temporal patterns of police calls for service for mental health-related calls. The results have implications for police resourcing and scheduling, especially in the context of special teams for addressing mental health-related calls for police service.

Dr. Mark Leymon (publishes under Harmon) and Tanika Siscoe, graduate student in the CCJ Masters of Science program, contributed to the "Youth and Measure 11" report recently published by the Oregon Council on Civil Rights in collaboration with the Oregon Justice Resource Center.

The report outlines the impact or Oregon's ballot Measure 11, which was enacted in Oregon in 1994. It created lengthier, mandatory minimum prison sentences for many person-on-person crimes, for which youth 15 years or older are tried in adult court and subject to the same penalties as adults. Dr. Leymon supplied data analysis, which included cleaning, analyzing, and generating tables and figures for the report. Tanika Siscoe assisted in research, youth interviews and transcription. The report finds that youth of color are substantially more likely to be charged and convicted of a Measure 11 offense.

Drs. Kathryn Wuschke and J. Bryan Kinney (Simon Fraser Univ.) co-authored a book chapter entitled "Built Environment, Land Use, and Crime" published in the Oxford Handbook of Environmental Criminology

Grounded within environmental criminology, several theoretical frameworks have emphasized the important connection between land use and concentrations of urban crime. Guided by these approaches, this chapter provides an overview of existing research, exploring the varied connections between urban land use and crime. These concepts are illustrated through the use of a multiscale research example centered on Coquitlam, British Columbia, Canada. The results highlight the importance of locally based studies, and emphasize that the relationship between land use and crime varies according to both crime type and scale of analysis. Among the findings is that both property crimes and crimes against persons occur in highest numbers on residential properties; but in disproportionately highest rates on addresses classified as commercial and civic, institutional, and recreational.

Drs. Mark Leymon (publishes under Harmon), Brian Renauer, Christopher Campbell and Kris Henning were awarded a $181,164 grant from the Oregon Criminal Justice Commission.

This project is a replication of a quasi-experimental study examining the connection between length of stay and recidivism. In 2011, Snodgrass et al. published a study examining how length of prison stay impacts recidivism, accounting for criminal history, criminal trajectory, severity of current crime, and relevant demographics. They found no consistent and significant relationship between time served and offending. We cannot assume that the results apply to Oregon, however, since this examined Netherlands data. The Snodgrass study is one of a few rigorous research studies on this topic, with varying and conflicting results. The relationship between imprisonment and recidivism is clearly complex, and it is likely that the overall influence depends on the specific context of the criminal justice system in question. Because of this, we must replicate this study in Oregon to get an answer. Replicating this method in a different context provides an important contribution to the small but important collection of studies of the relationship between length of prison and recidivism. It will provide useful information for Oregon on the effectiveness and efficiency of our criminal justice system.

Drs. Brian Renauer and Lisa Bates (Urban Studies and Planning) were interviewed for a recent KATU piece on real estate development and its effect on Portland's neighborhoods. Watch the interview here.

Ron Louie, CCJ adjunct instructor and retired Chief of Hillsboro PD, was interviewed for The Skanner's article on a new bill to be introduced in the Oregon legislature targeting police mental health. Read the article here.

Drs. Ryan M. Labrecque and Paula Smith (Univ. of Cincinnati) trained a group of case managers and clinicians from the North Dakota Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (NDDOCR) in Bismarck on their two new Free Your Mind cognitive-behavioral treatment curricula: (1) a prevention program (Free Your Mind in Prison), and (2) a segregation intervention (Free Your Mind in Segregation). 

The segregation program is being implemented in the North Dakota State Penitentiary’s (NDSP) Behavioral Intervention Unit (BIU), and the prevention program is being implemented in three separate state facilities.

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Drugs and Crime Research Projects

The following table — Drugs and Crime Research Awards — shows awards made by NIJ for drugs and crime research projects.

Both ongoing and completed projects are included. Project titles for completed awards are linked to the substantive report submitted to NIJ at the completion of the project if available.

• Drug Markets
• Epidemiology
• Market Disruption
• Prevention and Intervention
• Technology and Forensics

Cite this Article

Read more about:.

Updated with fiscal year 2022 awards. 

CJRC Criminal Justice Research Center

Completed cjrc projects.

The following are research studies and other projects that were run out of the CJRC and/or that involved substantial collaboration by core CJRC faculty or researchers and are now completed.  Most were externally funded. 

Prison Inmate Networks Study (PINS)

This study examines the social networks of prison inmates in a state correctional institution.

Project Team

• Principal Investigator: Derek Kreager, Ph.D., Department of Sociology & Criminology ( [email protected] )
• Co-Principal Investigator: Gary Zajac
• Co-Investigators: Martin Bouchard (SFU), Dana Haynie (OSU), David Schaefer (ASU), Michaela Soyer (Hunter), Jacob Young (ASU), Sara Wakefield (Rutgers)

About the Project

• The National Science Foundation made an award of $323,814 to Penn State to support this project, for the period April 15, 2015 – March 31, 2017.
• Seed funding was provided by the Justice Center to support development of this project, including collection of pilot data.
• This study is related to the TC-PINS project discussed in the next section and the R-PINS project under development, discussed under the Justice Center Supported Projects section.

Research Questions

• What is the structure and implications of inmate network ties for in-prison health and rehabilitation and post-release recidivism?
• How does an inmate’s position within the unit’s informal network structure relate to his out-of-prison ties and community reentry?

Project Details

• Project focuses on inmate social networks in a minimum security general population unit at a medium security Pennsylvania State Correctional Institution.
• All inmates within a single unit were recruited for participation in computer assisted personal interviews, with a response rate of approximately 70% across two waves of data collection during summer and fall of 2015.
• Project has full support from the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.

Public Data

• The PINS team has made available two networks collected during Wave 1 of the study. The “get along with network” and the “power/influence network” are available as edgelists in .csv format. Use of either data set are subject to the PINS acknowledgement and citation as described below.
• PINS Network Descriptions (MS Word)
• PINS Power and Influence Edgelist
• PINS Get Along With Edgelist
• How do I acknowledge the use of the PINS data in an analysis?  Please use the following text when acknowledging the use of the data: This research uses data from The Prison Inmate Network Study (PINS), a program project directed and designed Derek Kreager Martin Bouchard, Dana Haynie, David Schaefer, Michaela Soyer, Sara Wakefield, Jacob Young, and Gary Zajac, and is funded by grant LSS-1457193 from the National Science Foundation. Special acknowledgment is due to Corey Whichard, Ed Hayes, Gerardo Cuevas, Wade Jacobsen, and Kim Davidson for interview and coding assistance, and to Bret Bucklen and the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections for their valuable support of this project. No direct support was received from grant LSS-1457193 for this analysis.
• How do I cite PINS data in a manuscript?  Please use the following text when citing the use of the data: Kreager, Derek, Martin Bouchard, Dana Haynie, David Schaefer, Michaela Soyer, Sara Wakefield, Jacob Young, and Gary Zajac. 2015. The Prison Inmate Network Study (PINS), Wave I, 1995. State College, PA: Justice Center for Research, Penn State University.

Implications

• This study will have important implications for understanding how inmate social networks influence inmates’ lives and wellbeing in prison, as well as their reentry prospects.

View the Project Abstract  (.docx file)

Final Report

• Final Report (.pdf file)
• Final Report (.docx file)

Reentry Prison Inmate Networks Study (R-PINS)

• Investigators: Derek Kreager, Department of Sociology & Criminology ( [email protected] ), Corey Whichard (PSU Criminology doctoral student), Sara Wakefield (Rutgers), Michaela Soyer (Hunter)
• This project in development extends the current PINS study (see summary of this under Active Funded Research Projects) with intensive interviews of parole-eligible inmates prior to and after prison release.
• Seed funding was provided by the Justice Center to support development of this project and interview costs.
• External funding is currently being sought to further the development of this work.

Research Questions and Project Details

• This project will explore post-release experiences of inmates enrolled in PINS, examining the impact of prison-based and community network ties on post release outcomes including employment, housing, community social ties, health and recidivism.
• A subset of inmates who participated in the PINS study were recruited to participate in interviews after their release, with over 100 surveyed inmates  agreeing to do so.
• Exploratory interviews are presently being conducted throughout the state with inmates who have since been released to test methods and elucidate questions in support of a larger research agenda around inmate social networks and reentry experiences and outcomes.  Released inmates will be interviewed in several waves.
• This line of inquiry can lend important policy insight into how social capital and ties before, during and after prison impact reentry outcomes and promote successful offender reintegration.

Therapeutic Community Prison Inmate Networks Study (TC-PINS)

This developmental study investigates the incarceration and re-entry experiences of female inmates and their children.

• Investigators: Derek Kreager, Department of Sociology & Criminology ( [email protected] ), Gary Zajac, Sara Wakefield (Rutgers University), Dana Haynie (Ohio State University), and Michaela Soyer (Hunter College)
• This project will fill three critical knowledge gaps identified by the National Research Council in their report on the causes and consequences of mass incarceration in the United States: (1) the absence of even basic information on modern conditions of confinement, (2) the potential heterogeneity in incarceration effects across individual and institutional contexts, and (3) the limited understanding of any association between maternal incarceration and child well-being.
• The proposed project will leverage strong relationships with the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections to explore the prison and re-entry experiences of female inmates incarcerated in two Pennsylvania prison units.
• In Phase 1, investigators will reveal each units’ informal organization and culture using innovative social network data that maps the unit’s friendship network, status hierarchy, and romantic ties. Network analyses will test hypotheses for the sources of prison status and the associations between inmate social position and outcomes such as prison victimization, mental health, official misconduct, and family visitation.
• In Phase 2, parole-eligible inmate respondents in the two Pennsylvania prisons will be administered semi-structured qualitative and network interviews to garner their future expectations, social capital, and preparations for community re-entry. Women’s expected social networks provide a unique glimpse into the re-entry process that can later be compared to actual networks upon release. This phase of the project has clear implications for family reintegration, employment, post-release program participation, and relapse/recidivism. Contemporaneously, child and caregiver interviews will be conducted for inmate respondents who are mothers. These interviews will capture the well-being, fears, aspirations, and preparations of inmates’ families and surrogate parents prior to prison release.
• During Phase 3, investigators will conduct two post-release community interviews of Phase 2 respondents to understand how the previously imprisoned women, their children, and caregivers have adjusted to life after prison and if their envisioned plans came to fruition. The goals of this phase will be to identify and drill down on the mechanisms underlying successful prison re-entry and criminal desistance.

Project Products

• Aided by an advisory board of social scientists, correctional practitioners, and child advocates, the project’s data and products will test theoretically-driven hypotheses while also informing prison-based and community programs aimed at smoothing the inmate re-entry experience and reducing negative child and inmate health and behavioral outcomes.
• NIJ award for $685,857 over 3 years.

Understanding Incarceration and Re-Entry Experiences of Female Inmates and their Children: The Women’s Prison Inmate Networks Study (WO-PINS)

Identifying and informing strategies for disrupting drug distribution networks: an application of community policing to opiate flows in pennsylvania.

This project seeks to understand, describe, and disrupt networks of illicit sales of opiates from a public safety perspective in partnership with Pennsylvania State Police, Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, The Center for Rural Pennsylvania, and local treatment facilities. This project will help to understand hotspots of drug distribution and access, while addressing the utility of community based policing in addressing this complex issue.

Prior research emphasizes the disruption of the supply of prescription opioids from healthcare sources and increased first-provider access to the opiate overdose reversal drug, naloxone. Additional efforts emphasize combating demand by increasing treatment options for users. Within this context, however, there has been less emphasis on understanding, describing, and disrupting networks of illicit sales of opiates from a public safety perspective. We aim to fill a gap in these efforts by partnering with law enforcement, state agencies, and community organizations to identify and describe opiate distribution of opiates in PA and the geographic hotspots of sales within urban and rural PA communities to inform recommendations aimed at disrupting the supply of illegal opiates (including heroin, fentanyl, and diverted prescription opioids). We will develop tools to identify and describe opiate distribution networks and geographic hotspots of opiate activity from administrative data and community input that will be of broad interest to public safety and health experts in other communities in PA and other states.

• Principal Investigators:  Glenn Sterner , Post-Doctoral Scholar, Justice Center for Research, Department of Sociology and Criminology,  [email protected] ; Ashton Verdery, Assistant Professor of Sociology and Demography, Department of Sociology and Criminology, [email protected] ; Shannon Monnat, Associate Professor, Sociology, Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs, Syracuse University,  [email protected]
• Co-Investigators: Pete Forster, Associate Dean, College of Information Sciences and Technology,  [email protected] ; Gary Zajac, Managing Director, Justice Center for Research,  [email protected] ; Scott Yabiku, Department of Sociology and Criminology,  [email protected]
• The National Institute of Justice made an award of $990,002 to Penn State to support this project, for the period  January 1, 2018 – December, 31, 2019.
• The Pilot Study for this project was supported by the College of the Liberal Arts.
• What are the characteristics of heroin and fentanyl distribution networks? We will focus on their hierarchical structure, number and strength of connections, clusters of distribution possibly associated with different organizations, susceptibility of distribution networks to disruption, and geographic spread.
• What are the characteristics (same as #1) of prescription opioid distribution networks?
• How do the distribution networks of heroin, fentanyl, and prescription opiates compare?
• How do residents’ perceptions of the geographic locations of opiate distribution compare to police collected data on opiate arrests, opiate seizures, and distribution locations?
• What are the differences in demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and major highway access between neighborhoods with high versus low opiate distribution as defined by arrest data?
• What are the differences in demographic and socioeconomic characteristics and major highway access between neighborhoods with high versus low opiate distribution as defined by participatory mapping?

Project Objectives

• Identify and document the structure of heroin and fentanyl distribution networks in PA.
• Identify and document the structure of diverted prescription opioid networks in PA.
• Compare heroin, fentanyl, and prescription opioid distribution networks in PA and their connections to each other.
• Develop and apply tools to record resident identified locations of local opiate distribution in 6 Pennsylvania Counties.
• Compare resident identified locations of local opiate distribution to relevant arrest locations.
• Describe the demographic and socioeconomic characteristics of neighborhoods with high vs. low distribution (as measured by arrest records and respondent reporting).
• Provide recommendations for law enforcement to better target heroin, fentanyl, and prescription opioid distribution networks in ways that increase network disruption.
• Provide recommendations for improving intelligence gathering activities related to documenting and disrupting opiate distribution networks.
• Create stronger community and law enforcement connections.
• Disseminate information for opiate treatment and reporting of illicit activity at study sites.
• Create a portable data fusion model that other jurisdictions can employ to document, detect, and disrupt opiate distribution networks.

Looking more broadly at the value and impact of a geo-spatial approach to understanding opiate markets and avenues for their disruption, opiate abuse has tremendous consequences for the welfare of drug users, affecting their long term involvement in the criminal justice system, as well as their health, employment and employability, family relations, and other outcomes. Drug use and the criminal justice system involvement that often follows have consequences for the wellbeing not only of addicts and dealers themselves, but also for their families and more broadly their communities. Improved interdiction approaches that can result from our proposed study has benefits not only for the criminal justice and public health systems that are responding to the opiate crisis, but also for the communities that are harmed by widespread use of these substances, where such harm includes public health impacts, violence and social disorder. Our project will also encourage broader collaboration between researchers and law enforcement, especially in rural communities, and will set the stage for further applications of research and analysis to the study of opiate and other drug abuse in other communities beyond PA, demonstrating the importance of this approach and testing methods and innovations that can be diffused across many law enforcement settings nationally. We have an extensive plan to disseminate this information to a broad audience, including local and state criminal justice organizations, local, state, and national government officials, academic organizations, non-profit organizations, treatment and addiction centers, and task forces.

Although this study is limited to six counties in PA, the analyses and results from this study will have the ability to inform policy and practice across the Commonwealth and the United States. First, our innovative approach to data fusion will be of interest to law enforcement agencies to use as a model for addressing complex criminal justice issues. We are utilizing datasets from multiple units within the PA State Police to develop understandings of drug distributions. Similarly, we are utilizing community-based data gathering and existing data to gain clearer understandings of drug sales in neighborhoods. By tackling this issue from multiple perspectives, we are able to provide recommendations for police enforcement policy and practice to ensure efforts are maximized to disrupt the distribution of opiates. Integration across inter-departmental agencies and across jurisdictions is a model that could be applied to the opiate epidemic and other criminal justice concerns. Second, by identifying the common characteristics of communities where significant distribution occurs, we can inform criminal justice agencies on potential areas for concentrating officer targeting.

Project Partners

Criminal Justice Research Center, Penn State College of the Liberal Arts, Pennsylvania State Police, Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs, and The Center for Rural Pennsylvania.

• Final Report  
• Estimated Costs to the Pennsylvania Criminal Justice System Resulting From the Opioid Crisis

This project examines the costs of the opioid crisis related to the criminal justice system (CJS) in Pennsylvania.

• Principal Investigator: Gary Zajac, Ph.D., Managing Director Criminal Justice Research Center ( [email protected] )
• Co-Investigator: Derek Kreager, Ph.D., Department of Sociology & Criminology and Glenn Sterner, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice at Penn State Abington
• Researcher: Sam Nur, BA
• This project was requested by the Office of the Pennsylvania Attorney General (POAG) in support of a lawsuit that involves the POAG and numerous other states against the pharmaceutical industry to recoup damages to state governments caused by the opiate crisis and related over use of prescription pharmaceuticals.
• This project engaged multiple subject matter teams throughout the university, in areas including public health, insurance, child welfare, education, and criminal justice.  The latter was led by the Criminal Justice Research Center.
• The opioid crisis has made financial impacts across all levels of the public sector. This project focuses on costs related to the criminal justice system (CJS) in Pennsylvania. Costs impacting 3 principal areas of the CJS are examined: opioid-related arrests, court costs, and incarceration. Analysis of the state-level CJS is our main focus; no local-level costs are included.
• Through this examination, costs of the opioid crisis for the period of 2007 to 2016 were estimated using opioid costs for 2006 as a baseline. Total costs to the Pennsylvania CJS during this period were over $526 million, with most of that accounted for by state corrections.
• What is the estimate of the financial impact of the opioid crisis on the criminal justice system in Pennsylvania (state policing, courts and corrections) over the past several decades?
• Submitted report on criminal justice system costs to Dennis Scanlon, the overall project lead at Health Policy and Administration. Overall report (on costs in all policy domains) submitted to the POAG in early April of 2018.
• This project may lead to expanded efforts in the future to estimate costs nationally.

The Administration of the Death Penalty in Pennsylvania

Researchers are investigating racial disparity in death penalty sentencing in all death-eligible cases in Pennsylvania during the time period 1998-2010.

• Principal Investigator: Jeffrey Ulmer, Ph.D., Department of Sociology & Criminology ( [email protected] )
• Co-Investigator: Gary Zajac, Ph.D.
• Project Consultant: John Kramer, Ph.D., Department of Sociology & Criminology- Emeritus
• Research Assistant: Edward Hayes, M.A., Robert Hutchison, M.A.
• Funded by the PA Supreme Court’s Interbranch Commission on Gender, Racial, and Ethnic Fairness and the Falk Foundation.
• Is there racial disparity in death penalty sentencing in PA?
• Identify all death eligible cases in PA during the time period 1998-2010.
• Analyze the role that race plays relative to other variables in determining death penalty sentencing.
• Currently in the data analysis phase.
• Results will inform public debate on the controversial topic of the death penalty.
• The Administration of the Death Penalty in Pennsylvania  (.pdf file)
• The Administration of the Death Penalty in Pennsylvania  (.docx file)
• Pennsylvania Senate Resolution 6 – Capital Punishment

The Justice Center was named as the advisor to this agenda of research into the state of capital punishment within Pennsylvania. Justice Center researchers are involved in several research topics from the resolution including fairness, public opinion, secondary trauma, and role of mental disorder in capital punishment.

• Project Consultant: Gary Zajac, Ph.D. ( [email protected] )
• Project Consultant: Derek Kreager, Ph.D., Department of Sociology & Criminology
• In 2011, the Pennsylvania Senate passed Senate Resolution Number 6 calling for an agenda of research into the state of capital punishment within Pennsylvania.
• The Pennsylvania Joint State Government Commission has primary responsibility for the management of this resolution, but the Justice Center for Research was named in the resolution as the advisor to this effort.
• The resolution identifies 17 specific research topics surrounding the death penalty in Pennsylvania, including issues of cost, fairness, public opinion, alternatives, juror selection, penological intent, and related issues.
• The Justice Center is directly participating in several of these topics, including fairness (see summary of death penalty project), public opinion, secondary trauma, and role of mental disorder.
• This work will directly inform deliberations in the PA Senate on policy surrounding capital punishment.

Desistance from Crime Over the Life Course

For this project, researchers are examining the situational factors that impact offenders’ desistance from crime and violence. Offenders released from prison in 2004 will be interviewed and DOC data will be collected to form a complete picture of offenders’ backgrounds.

• Co-Investigator: Julie Horney, Ph.D., Department of Sociology & Criminology ( [email protected] )
• Co-Investigator: Doris MacKenzie, Ph.D., Adjunct Senior Scientist in Criminology- Retired
• 3 year NIJ-funded study in collaboration with RTI.
• Tracking offenders released from prison in 2004 who were studied in a previous RTI project.
• What situational factors impact offenders’ desistance from crime and violence? (marriage, divorce, employment, education, etc.)
• How do rehabilitation programs help offenders? How does cognitive transformation affect desistance?
• Obtain data from Indiana and South Carolina Departments of Corrections for record of life time incarcerations.
• In-person interviews to collect information on demographics, attitudes, life events, and criminal activity.
• Results will increase knowledge about factors associated with desistance from crime.
• Long-term outcomes will help researchers better understand whether cognitive transformation is necessary as a prerequisite to desistance.

Indiana Workload Evaluation: A Multi-Methods Investigation of Probation Supervision

The Justice Center evaluated two dozen probation departments in Indiana to learn more about officer workload. The results of this study will inform probation departments about how to best distribute their caseload assignments based on the different risk and needs levels of offenders.

• Principal Investigator: Matthew DeMichele, Ph.D.
• The Indiana Judicial Conference provided funding for the Justice Center to conduct a workload evaluation of two dozen probation departments.
• Many probation departments currently use a one-size fits all approach to offender case assignments.
• Some departments are now moving toward using a workload approach that recognizes differences in criminogenic needs and risk of recidivism.

Research Question

• How can probation departments distribute caseload assignments in a way that maximizes officer time availability, skill level, and knowledge?
• The Justice Center conducted a survey of probation officers, a time study of officer practices over a 5-week period, and conducted interviews with probation chiefs.
• These data collection methods led to preliminary results that demonstrated the amount of time officers spend each month supervising offenders of different risk and needs levels.
• Final Report  (.pdf file)
• Final Report  (.docx file)

Incentives and Money Generating Activities

This is a pilot project that seeks to understand the relationship between legal employment, informal employment and money generating criminal activities. Specifically, we are interested in how various sources of income overlap and the incentive structures associated with these sources.

• Principal Investigator: Holly Nguyen, Ph.D., Department of Sociology & Criminology ( [email protected] )
• Co-Investigators: Jeremy Staff, Ph.D., Gary Zajac, Ph.D. Derek Kreager, Ph.D., Thomas Loughran, Ph.D. (University of Maryland)
• Seed funding was provided by the Justice Center to support the collection of pilot data.
• External funding will be sought to expand the scope of this work.

The project is driven by three main research questions:

• What are the patterns associated with participation in legal employment, informal employment and money generating crimes?
• How are earnings from legal, informal and crime related to participation in each?
• How are perceptions of rewards (monetary, intrinsic and social) associated with participation in legal, informal, and money generating criminal activities?
• This project will focus on interviewing selected inmates within a State Correctional Institution in the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.
• Inmates within the selected institution will be recruited for participation in the summer of 2016.
• This project has the support of the Pennsylvania Department of Corrections.
• Results from this project have the potential to inform 1) theories on decision making and desistance from crime 2) the design of policies that increases the efficacy of custodial and noncustodial employment programs, and 3) improve the general understanding of offenders’ conceptualizations of “work”.

An Examination of Rural Prisoner Reentry Challenges

For this project, Justice Center researchers analyzed the key needs and challenges facing prisoners returning to rural areas. Very few programs address the skills that are most strongly associated with recidivism reduction.

• Principal Investigator: Gary Zajac, Ph.D. ( [email protected] )
• Research Assistant: Courtney Meyer, M.A.
• Graduate Assistant: Robert Hutchison, M.A.
• Funded by Center for Rural Pennsylvania’s 2012 Research Grant Projects initiative.
• One of the first studies to focus on rural reentry (previous research examined reentry to urban areas).
• What are the key needs and challenges facing prisoners returning to rural PA?
• How do corrections agencies respond to these challenges and what kinds of services are available to inmates upon their release?
• Surveyed 44 rural county jail wardens.
• Collected data from PADOC and PA Board of Probation and Parole.
• Most critical reentry needs for returning rural inmates include assistance with employment, housing, and transportation.
• Very few programs address ex-offenders’ thinking, decision making skills, and problem solving skills; all of which are strongly associated with recidivism reduction.
• CRPA Final Report  (.pdf file)
• CRPA Final Report  (.docx file)
• Justice Center Final Report  (.pdf file)
• Justice Center Final Report  (.docx file)

Criminal Justice Drug and Alcohol Treatment Study (CJDATS)

This study is focused on the implementation of evidence-based practices in the area of substance abuse treatment. Researchers are investigating which organizational change strategies are most effective in promoting the implementation of evidence-based practices.

• Principal Investigator: Steve Belenko, Ph.D., Temple University
• Investigator: Gary Zajac, Ph.D. ( [email protected] )
• NIDA-funded, multi-center, multi-site, multi-year study focused upon the implementation of evidence-based practices in corrections, with specific focus on substance abuse treatment.
• Three primary research protocols – (1) implementation of medically assisted therapies in drug treatment (e.g. methadone); (2) utilization of rigorous assessment practices in the development of treatment plans in the transition from prison to the community; (3) implementation of strategies to manage care of HIV positive inmates.
• Emphasis with CJDATS is not on evaluating outcomes of specific treatment practices, but studying the implementation of evidence-based practices and testing strategies to enhance such implementation.
• How are evidence-based treatment practices disseminated within corrections agencies?
• What organizational change strategies (e.g. local change teams) are most effective in promoting the implementation of evidence based practices?
• Nine research centers testing organizational change strategies in the three research protocol areas in dozens of criminal justice agencies across the U.S.
• Results will inform development and dissemination of organizational strategies to promote high fidelity implementation of evidence-based practices in correctional substance abuse treatment and will contribute to the growing body of literature on implementation science.

Mifflin County Adult Treatment Court (MCATC) Evaluation

This research study is examining current treatment practices being delivered by the MCATC and determining whether these services correspond to best practices in corrections. Researchers are also investigating whether the MCATC is structured to support future outcome evaluation activities.

• Research Assistant: Laura Winger, M.S.
• Funded by the Bureau of Justice Assistance, this project involves a process evaluation of the drug court operated by Mifflin County, PA, which is immediately south of the University Park campus.
• Mifflin County received funding to start and operate its drug court, and also to support initial evaluation activity which was conducted by the Justice Center.
• Do the treatment services offered by the MCATC correspond to best practices in corrections and the principles of effective offender intervention?
• Is the MCATC structured in such a way as to support future outcome evaluation activities, for example, are the data systems for MCATC sufficient for information needed by evaluators?
• Research activities include review of data systems and examination of treatment practices being delivered by the MCATC.
• Results from the program evaluation include key recommendations to MCATC that will increase the likelihood of reducing recidivism.
• The final report can be accessed  here . (.pdf file)
• The final report can be accessed  here . (.docx file)

Evaluability Assessment of Circles of Support and Accountability (COSA)

COSA is a community-based reentry program aimed at sex offenders with a high risk of reconviction. Justice Center researchers conducted evaluability assessments of 5 COSA programs across the U.S. to determine which sites are prepared for more extensive evaluations.

• Principal Investigator: Ian Elliot, Ph.D. ( [email protected] )
• Co-Principal Investigator: Gary Zajac, Ph.D.
• NIJ-funded evaluability assessment of COSA prison reentry programs in U.S.
• COSA is a community-based program aimed predominantly at sex offenders with the highest risk of reconviction.
• Offenders are provided with 4-5 community volunteers who provide social support while challenging risky behaviors and modeling pro-social behavior, overseen by related professionals.
• Do U.S. COSA providers implement comparable programs?
• Can U.S. COSA programs contribute to a rigorous multi-site outcome, cost, and customer satisfaction evaluation?
• Assess implementation at 5 COSA providers across the U.S. for intended application of the COSA model, actual program operations, data management, and challenges to evaluation.
• Vermont’s COSA program demonstrated high program fidelity; Fresno and Lancaster programs showed adequate fidelity.
• 5 potential obstacles to conduct a successful experimental evaluation of COSA were identified (choice of outcomes; significant differences in program implementation; core member selection issues; sample size, site capacity, and low baselines of recidivism; and ownership of data).
• 3 recommendations for future evaluative activity include: conduct an experimental evaluation of Vermont’s COSA program; conduct an experimental evaluation that combines Vermont and Fresno programs; or allow fledgling sites to develop and conduct a multi-site evaluation of COSA in the future.

Feasibility Study into Use of Offender Management Software for PA Sex Offenders

The Justice Center is investigating whether offender management software that monitors and enforces acceptable internet use for sex offenders can be successfully implemented alongside the PA Board of Probation and Parole’s current supervision procedures.

• Principal Investigator: Ian Elliott, Ph.D. ( [email protected] )
• Restrictions on release for sex offenders can include limiting or revoking access to communications technologies, such as the internet, which can diminish their ability to develop an offense-free life.
• There is a need for a system that allows sex offenders full access to communications technologies, but with adequate monitoring in place that eliminates the perception of anonymity and provides guardianship and accountability.
• Securus offender management software (OMS), when installed on a machine, allows agents to enforce acceptable use policies through real-time monitoring of the user’s PC for prohibited words and phrases, both online and offline.
• Can OMS be successfully implemented alongside current PA Board of Probation and Parole (PABPP) supervision procedures?
• Do agents and offenders find OMS a user-friendly method by which to provide internet access?
• Is there capacity for adequate data organization in support of further implementation and evaluation?
• 20 – 30 adult sex offenders from the caseloads of 2 or 3 suitable PABBP agents will have OMS installed on a computer for their use. Agents will remotely monitor those machines via OMS for serious and minor violations of acceptable use.
• Results will provide conclusions about whether or not OMS has ongoing benefit for the PABPP, and provide further information for the design of a larger scale evaluation.

An Examination of Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) Coverage of Municipalities

This study explored issues surrounding the provision of police services by the Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) to municipalities in Pennsylvania that either have no police department at all, or that have only a part-time police department. Justice Center researchers investigated the level of PSP service provided to municipalities as well as the amount and types of revenue that the Commonwealth received from the municipalities.

• Research Associate: Lindsay Kowalski, M.A.
• Funded by Center for Rural Pennsylvania to analyze PSP service provision to municipalities over the period of Jan. 2006 – Dec. 2010.
• How many municipalities did PSP serve and what level of service was provided?
• How much and what types of revenue has the Commonwealth received from the municipalities? (fines)
• Collected existing administrative data from PSP Bureau of Research & Development
• Administrative Office of the PA Courts provided data on fines.
• PSP provided full- or part-time coverage to 67% of all municipalities in PA (92% of all rural municipalities).
• 72% of PSP incidents occur in municipalities that rely on PSP for full- or part-time law enforcement services.
• Half of traffic fine revenue is returned to municipalities; Commonwealth retains revenue from all non-traffic fines with 64% coming from rural areas.

An Examination of Pennsylvania Rural County Jails

Justice Center researchers conducted a survey of county jail wardens to learn more about treatment services and programs. They also analyzed jail population trends, demographics, and capacity. Most notably, very few jails offered programs that address criminal thinking and decision making skills.

• Funded by Center for Rural Pennsylvania to examine the operation of PA’s 44 rural county jails.
• Investigated jail population, demographics, capacity, and treatment programs and services over the period 2004-2011.
• What are the population trends for PA’s rural county jails?
• What are the key factors involved in the jail infrastructure and specifically, what treatment/rehabilitative services are offered?
• Utilized existing administrative data from PADOC.
• Conducted survey of county jail wardens/sheriffs.
• Rural county jail system operated at 84% capacity and jail population grew by 17% from 2004-2010.
• 27% of jails offered programs that aren’t related to goal of recidivism reduction.
• Only 16% of jails had programs that target criminal thinking and decision making skills.
• CRPA Final Report   (.pdf file)

Improving the Pennsylvania Youth Survey (PAYS)

The Justice Center was sought out to make updates and improvements to this survey of school students conducted by the PA Commission on Crime and Delinquency. The survey layout was improved and a three-form survey design was incorporated to boost the response rate.

• Principal Investigator: Rose Baker, Ph.D., College of Education ( [email protected] )
• Doris MacKenzie, Ph.D.
• Survey of school students in 6th, 8th, 10th, and 12th grades conducted every 2 years by PA Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD).
• Justice Center was sought out to make updates and improvements to survey.
• How can response rate be improved for certain questions?
• What changes can be made to help students complete the survey faster?
• Changes include using a three-form survey design so that all questions will be answered by a more even number of respondents.
• Survey layout was changed to improve readability and speed of completion. Also, new questions have been added to help local organizations meet the requirements of funding agencies.
• Rose Baker was asked to oversee the next implementation of the survey.

Marcellus Shale Drilling Activity and Crime Trends in Pennsylvania

In response to recent concerns about the potential negative impacts of Marcellus Shale drilling in rural PA, the Justice Center analyzed crime reports and state police incidents to address whether a relationship exists between drilling activity and increased crime in Marcellus Shale counties. Results indicated that there was no clear association during recent years.

• Investigated crime in rural PA counties in response to concerns regarding negative impacts of Marcellus Shale drilling.
• Is there a relationship between drilling activity and increased crime in Marcellus Shale counties?
• How do Marcellus regions compare to other rural PA counties in terms of crime?
• Identified 7 counties with most Marcellus drilling activity.
• Analyzed Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) incidents/calls for service and Uniform Crime Reports.
• No clear association between Marcellus Shale drilling and criminal activity.
• Non-Marcellus areas have seen a decrease in PSP incidents during recent years.

Process Evaluation of PADOC Integrated Co-Occurring Disorder Treatment for Female Offenders in PA

Justice Center researchers examined a training curriculum for PADOC staff to be used with female offenders with co-occurring disorders. Treatment activities were evaluated to determine the readiness for future program evaluations.

• Co-Principal Investigator: Deirdre O’Sullivan, Ph.D., College of Education
• Research Assistant: Edward Hayes, M.A.
• Second Chance Grant project through contract with PA Department of Corrections.
• Process evaluation of co-occurring disorder treatment program for female offenders.

Research Objectives

• Examined training curriculum developed and delivered to PADOC staff.
• Examined integrated treatment activities.
• Identified intended program activities; document actual program activities.
• Discovered program strengths and weaknesses related to implementation fidelity.
• Results from this process evaluation will establish the readiness of the treatment program for future evaluation activities, including outcome evaluations.

Developing a Sentencing Risk Assessment Tool: Identifying Recidivism Predictors for Level 5 Offenders

The Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing is working with the Justice Center to conduct a recidivism study of the most severe offenders. The goal is to learn more about which offender characteristics best predict future recidivism, especially for violent crimes.

• Graduate Assistant: Julia Laskorunsky, M.A. ( [email protected] )
• The Pennsylvania Commission on Sentencing (PCS) was mandated by the Pennsylvanian Legislature to develop a risk assessment tool to guide sentencing decisions.
• In response to this mandate, the PCS is working with the Justice Center for Research to conduct a recidivism study of individuals sentenced as level 5 offenders (most severe; pose greatest threat to public safety).
• Which offender characteristics best predict future recidivism?
• Specifically, which characteristics predict recidivism for a violent crime?
• The Justice Center is using sentencing data and several offender characteristics from the Department of Corrections’ database to analyze offender characteristics.
• The findings from this project will contribute to criminological theory and methods, and have direct policy-relevance by informing judges of the risks of recidivism.

Preventable Precursors of Adult Crime

This research project examines the preventable precursors of adult crime such as youth drug use, academic failure, delinquency, and youth mental health problems. The data will be used to help identify the profiles of at-risk youth.

• Results will provide an empirical basis to inform the investment and re-investment in prevention and intervention strategies targeting the most prevalent precursors of adult crime.

Victim-Offender Overlap

In this study, researchers are examining the relationship between offending and victimization. Situational factors will be assessed through 3 different interview designs with recently admitted male prison inmates.

• Results will provide valuable information to help explain why offenders are more likely to be victimized in disputes.

2015 Pennsylvania Youth Survey (PAYS) Administration

The Pennsylvania Youth Survey (PAYS) was designed to measure the need for prevention services among youth in grades 6, 8, 10, and 12 in the areas of substance abuse, delinquency, antisocial behavior, violence, and mental health issues. The questions on the survey ask youth about the factors that place them at risk for substance use and other problem behaviors along with the factors that offer them protection from problem behaviors. The survey also inquires about the use of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs (ATODs), participation in various antisocial behaviors, school climate and safety issues, and thoughts regarding suicide and students’ own mental health. The survey is conducted in public, private, parochial, and cyber schools. In 2013, over 350 school districts comprised of more than 800 schools participated in the survey administration. Funding for the survey was provided by the Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD), the Pennsylvania Department of Drug and Alcohol Programs (DDAP), and the Pennsylvania Department of Education (PDE).

• Survey results inform and help evaluate prevention strategies.

Pennsylvania Child Support Enforcement Training Institute (PACSETI) Evaluation

The Justice Center is working with Penn State’s Justice and Safety Institute (JASI) on the ongoing evaluation of the Pennsylvania Child Support Enforcement Training Institute (PACSETI). PACSETI is a major, long term project of JASI, which is an original partner of the Center. PACSETI provides all of the training for the child support enforcement caseworkers throughout Pennsylvania. The Center is serving as the evaluation partner for PACSETI, and Diana Samardzic’s position is funded through this partnership. Dr. Zajac is part of the PACSETI management team, and is working with Diana on an ongoing program evaluation around PACSETI.

• Principal Investigator: Gary Zajac, Ph.D.
• Research Assistant: Diana Samardzic, M.A
• PACSETI is funded through a multi-year contract from the PA Department of Human Services, Bureau of Child Support Enforcement, to JASI.
• Training targets are caseworkers employed by the Domestic Relations Sections within Pennsylvania’s county courts.
• Diana is based out of the School of Public Affairs at Penn State Harrisburg, pursuant to the nascent linkage between the School, JASI, and the Center.
• What are the impacts of PACSETI on caseworker training satisfaction, knowledge gain, job behavior and ultimately more distal performance outcomes of the county Domestic Relations Sections.
• Evaluation plans are now being developed.
• Strong implications for the operations of the county DRS offices and the success of the child support enforcement mission.

Child Sexual Abuse Conference: Traumatic Impact, Prevention, and Intervention

On October 29-30, 2012, the Justice Center held this conference which featured informative lectures about the impact, prevention, and intervention of child sexual abuse. Keynote speakers included Sugar Ray Leonard and Elizabeth Smart, survivors of child sexual abuse.

Project Status: Held on October 29-30, 2012

Conference organizers.

• Doris Mackenzie, Ph.D. ( [email protected] )
• Kate Staley, Ph.D.
• The Justice Center, in collaboration with the College of the Liberal Arts and Penn State Outreach, organized this conference which was attended by nearly 500 people.
• The conference appealed to various groups of people such as researchers, practitioners, advocates, and survivors.
• Keynote speakers included Sugar Ray Leonard and Elizabeth Smart, survivors of child sexual abuse.
• A community discussion panel held the night before the conference featured an open-dialogue conversation between survivors and the audience.
• This conference served as an important event in Penn State’s efforts to become a leader in the research, prevention, and treatment of child sexual abuse.

Child Sexual Abuse Conference Follow-up: TED-ED Talks

Justice Center researchers have created six TED-ED lessons based on the talks given at the Child Sexual Abuse Conference. Data from the lessons will be gathered to analyze the interest in the material and determine the need for continued development.

Project Status: Completed

• Lead Investigator: Ian Elliot, Ph.D. ( [email protected] )
• Co-Investigator: Kate Staley, Ph.D.
• Co-Investigator: Courtney Meyer, M.A.
• Following up on the six-month anniversary of the Child Sexual Abuse Conference, the Justice Center aims to re-engage with conference attendees and the general public by disseminating conference material through TED-ED, an online learning system.
• Using TED-ED, a series of online lessons were created based on the six pre-recorded Conference talks that are currently linked to the Conference website.
• Each TED-ED lesson includes a 15-item quiz, additional resources related to the specific content of the lesson, and discussion topics.
• Lessons were made available to conference attendees and the public via the Conference website and the Justice Center twitter account.
• Data from the lessons was gathered to analyze the number of visitors to the site, responses to quizzes, and discussions.
• This information will be used to gauge interest in the material and determine whether there is a need for continued development of the online lessons.

Campus Sexual Assault Education Conference

Courtney Meyer organized a one-day conference to educate college students about sexual assault with a unique focus on masculinity and rape. The conference was available to students and took place at Penn State on October 15, 2013.

Project Status: Held on October 15, 2013

• Courtney Meyer, M.A. ( [email protected] )
• One-day conference in collaboration with the Center for Women Students and the Commission for Women held at Penn State University on October 15, 2013. (Conference was free and available to students to register).
• The purpose of the conference is to educate college students about sexual assault in general, along with a special focus on masculinity and rape.
• Specific topics include: characteristics of the perpetrator, rape myths, dating violence, sex as a weapon, rape in the LGBT community, what to do after rape, reporting a rape, bystander intervention, and methods of preventing rape.
• The keynote speaker was Laura Dunn. Students attended a variety of different small workshops.
• With the conference’s unique focus on masculinity and rape, attendees were educated on campus sexual assault from an innovative point of view that is not usually represented in these types of programs.

International Police Education and Training Program

The Justice Center is working with the Justice and Safety Institute to train several police executives from Morocco on evidence-based practices in policing. Topics include principles of democratic policing and the scientific basis of police forensics.

• Co-Project Director: Don Zettlemoyer ( [email protected] )
• Co-Project Director: John Kramer, Ph.D., CLJ
• Project Consultant: Gary Zajac, Ph.D.
• Funded by U.S. Department of State through the International Association of Chiefs of Police.
• Goal is to convey evidence-based practices in policing to selected police executives from other countries.
• Initial focus is on several police executives from Morocco who have been selected by the national police force there to participate in this executive development program.
• Specific topical areas selected in consultation with Morocco, but include principles of democratic policing and the scientific basis of police forensics.
• Selected Moroccan police executives will visit Penn State during May-June 2013 to participate in this project. Project is being led by the Justice and Safety Institute, with cooperation from the Justice Center for Research and other centers on campus.
• Project is intended to promote the expansion of evidence-based policing trans-nationally, and to build partnerships with police agencies in other nations.

Pennsylvania Criminal Justice Roundtable

Riseuptown: a comprehensive community collaboration to reduce the adverse effects of poverty on urban adolescents.

This project will implement and assess the impact of an evidence-based multicomponent program designed to improve educational and mental health outcomes and reduce delinquent and risk-taking behaviors in early adolescents living in neighborhoods characterized by concentrated poverty and high levels of crime and violence. The RISEUP (Resilience Intervention for Social Empowerment in Underserved Places) program integrates a school-embedded youth coping and empowerment intervention (BaSICS) with a community-driven neighborhood crime and blight reduction initiative (CPTED) to synergistically reduce exposure to risk factors, increase protective factors, and reduce unequal youth health, behavior, and education outcomes.

· Principal Investigators: Martha Wadsworth, Ph.D., Department of Psychology, Penn State-UPark ([email protected]); Jonathan Lee, Ph.D., Penn State Harrisburg; Julie Walter, Tri-county Community Action, Harrisburg

· Co-Investigators:, Jarl Ahlkvist, Ph.D. (PSU-UPark), Siyu Liu, Penn State Harrisburg

· The Pennsylvania Commission on Crime and Delinquency (PCCD) awarded a subcontract to Penn State in the amount of $234,334 to support this project for the period May 2019 – April 2021.

· Testing the efficacy of the RISEUP program in reducing youth crime and violence in Uptown Harrisburg.

· Faculty release time funding was provided by the Justice Center.

· Does collaborative youth-adult RISEUP reduce crime and improve the public spaces where crime takes place in the Camp Curtin neighborhood?

· Does RISEUP improve youth deviancy and mental health outcomes?

· Does RISEUP increase collective efficacy and community cohesion?

· Deliver BaSICS portion of RISEUP intervention to two consecutive cohorts of 6th graders at Camp Curtin Academy.

· Conduct CPTED portion of RISEUP with youth involvement from each cohort of youth as well as community members.

· Conduct baseline-pre-post-follow-up assessments via community surveys, youth surveys, and official police and school records.

· Analyze deviation from expected/predicted trajectories on adult and youth violent and non-violent crime, youth mental health and school problems such as truancy, community engagement, and collective efficacy.

· Equip middle school youth with effective skills and practices for coping with poverty-related stress (PRS) and trauma, including both individual and collective approaches.

· Reduction in youth and adult violent crimes and youth-police contacts.

· Engage the community in coordinated social action to identify, redesign, and revitalize public spaces where crime takes place.

· Increase collective efficacy and community cohesion via youth-integrated community social action.

Building a Strong Identity and Coping Skills (BaSICS) Program

This is a randomized control trial to study BaSICS, a program designed to teach low-income and racial/ethnic minority youth healthy ways of coping with stress, develop positive personal and cultural identities and engage in efforts to strengthen their communities.

• Principal Investigator: Martha Wadsworth, Ph.D., Department of Psychology ( [email protected] )
• Co-Investigators: Mark Feinberg, Ph.D. (PSU), Jarl Ahlkvist, Ph.D. (PSU), Gina Brelsford, Ph.D. (Penn State Harrisburg), and Damon Jones, Ph.D. (PSU)
• The National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH) awarded Penn State $2,800,000 to support this project for the period May 2016 – April 2018 and May 2018-April 2021 pending successful completion of the first two years’ goals.
• Testing the efficacy of BaSICS for promoting adaptation among at-risk preadolescents.
• Seed funding was provided by the Justice Center to support the development of the funding application.
• Does BaSICS lead to acquisition and use of adaptive individual and collective coping strategies?
• Do children who complete BaSICS show improved physiologic stress regulation in the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) in comparison to children who do not receive the intervention (control)?
• Do children who complete BaSICS show lower levels of anxiety, PTSD, and depression than control children at post-test and follow-up?  Are improved coping skills and HPA regulation mechanisms of these differences?
• Conduct pre- and post-intervention and follow-up assessments measuring proposed mechanisms that contribute to maladaptation in youth facing adversity, including regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis (HPA) and acquisition of adaptive ways to cope with chronic, uncontrollable stress (SAM).
• Implement and evaluate BaSICS using a randomized control trial.
• Findings will elucidate how psychosocial interventions can improve preadolescents’ physiologic regulation, how long-lasting such changes are, and the extent to which physiologic change is necessary and/or sufficient to prevent anxiety and depression in at-risk youths.
• There are important implications of this work for eradication of income- and race-based health disparities.

428 Criminology Research Topics & Questions for Students

As you might already know, criminology is the study of crime. To be more precise, criminology studies crime as a social trend, including its origin, various manifestations, and its impact on society.

Criminology research influences how the police work, how society treats criminals, and how the community maintains law and order. In this article, you’ll find top criminology research topics for your inspiration. We’ll also look into the main criminology theories and research methods and explain the difference between criminology and criminal justice.

🔝 Top-10 Criminology Research Topics

🔤 what is criminology.

• 🔎 Criminology Research Methods
• 📝 Research Topics for Assignments

🦹‍♂️ Crime Research Topics

• 🚔 Topics in Law Enforcement
• 🕵️ Criminal Investigation Topics

⚖️ Criminal Law Research Topics

• 🔒 Topics to Research in Crime Prevention

🧑‍⚖️ Criminal Justice Research Topics

• 🆚 Criminology Vs Criminal Justice

❓ Criminology Topics: FAQ

🔗 references.

• Criminology as a science: criminology theories.
• The importance of eyewitness evidence.
• The issue of racial bias in the investigation.
• Crime propaganda on social media.
• The leading causes of college violence.
• The benefits of private prisons.
• The debate around gun control.
• The analysis of power abuse among police officers.
• Drunk driving and how to prevent it.
• The importance of forensic psychology in the investigation.

Criminology is the study of crime and criminal behavior, supported by the principles of sociology and other sciences, including economics, statistics, and psychology.

Criminologists study a variety of related areas, including:

• Characteristics of people who commit crimes.
• Reasons behind committing different crimes.
• Impact of crime on individuals and communities.
• Measures for preventing crimes.

Criminology Theories

Criminology theories have appeared as an attempt to answer the question, “What is criminal behavior, and what causes it?” The answer to this question affects how society responds to and prevents crime. Proposing new theories and testing existing ones is essential for criminologists to continue working toward understanding the causes of criminal behavior.

Let’s consider the most relevant criminology theories.

🔎 Research Methods Used in Criminology

There are many research methods used within criminology. Usually, they are divided into two groups: primary and secondary research methods.

Primary Research Methods in Criminology

Primary research in criminology is any type of research that you collect yourself rather than based on secondary sources, such as articles or books. Examples of primary research methods in criminology include the following:

• Surveys and questionnaires. Survey research collects information from individuals through their responses to questions. It is considered one of the most widely used research tools in criminology.
• Experiments. For experiments , researchers take large samples of people who might become or have already been involved in crimes as victims or offenders. Then, they divide these samples into two groups, each receiving a different treatment.
• Interviews. An interview requires participants to answer a set of open-ended questions, often on sensitive topics, such as victimization or criminal behaviors. This method allows criminologists to gain more valuable insights into the research topic.
• Focus groups. A focus group is a small number of demographically similar people gathered to discuss a particular crime-related topic. This method allows criminologists to analyze people’s views, attitudes, and perceptions concerning crime.
• Observations. Observations involve a researcher studying groups or individuals in their natural setting without interfering. It is a common research method within the social learning theory.

Secondary Criminology Research Methods

Secondary research methods use information that was collected by someone else so that you can analyze it and identify the trends. Here are the two leading types of secondary research in criminology:

• Secondary analysis of data. A secondary analysis occurs when a researcher uses data collected by other researchers. You can obtain secondary data from surveys, official crime statistics, or official records.
• Literature review. A literature review involves reading, analyzing, evaluating, and summarizing literature about a specific criminology topic. It helps scholars identify research gaps and problems that need to be addressed.

📝 Criminology Research Topics for Assignments

To write an outstanding research paper on criminology, choose a topic that will spark your interest. Below you’ll find excellent criminology topic ideas for college students.

Criminology Research Paper Topics

• Criminology theory and its main elements.
• Criminology discipline and theories .
• American crime trends and criminological theories.
• The significance of criminological studies in the US.
• Criminology: legal rights afforded to the accused .
• The impact of violence and crime on the tourism industry.
• How did US crime rates change over the last 20 years?
• Classical and positivist schools of criminology .
• Should abortion be treated as a crime?
• Official and unofficial instruments within the criminal investigation.
• Criminology: femininity and the upsurge of ladettes .
• Criminal rehabilitation programs and their significance.
• Shoplifting and how to prevent it.
• Emerging technologies in criminology .
• The effects of illegal immigrants on crime rates.
• Drug trafficking by organized crime groups.
• Criminology and victimology: victim stereotypes in criminal justice .
• Can genetics lead to crime?
• The procedures of crime scene investigation.
• Labeling theory and critical criminology: sociological research .
• Hate crimes in modern society.
• The phenomenon of white-collar crime and its causes.
• How to prevent crimes in the workplace?
• Criminology: the social control theory .
• Stereotypes that surround serial killers and their crimes.
• The comparison of organized crime in New York and Chicago.
• Prevention strategies for small business crimes.
• Criminology: four types of evidence .
• Relations between crime, justice, and the media.

Criminology Research Proposal Topics

• How to prevent intellectual property crimes in cyberspace?
• Identity theft and cybercrime in modern society.
• Contemporary theories in criminology .
• The problem of racial profiling in the US.
• How has criminology contributed to the study of terrorism ?
• Possible solutions to the issue of street harassment .
• Postmodern criminology: the violence of the language .
• Gender bias in the investigation: pink-collar criminals.
• The phenomenon of digital terrorism and how to prevent it.
• How do immigration services help fight against terrorism?
• Green criminology: environmental harm in the Niger Delta .
• How has marijuana legalization influenced crime rates?
• Tools for collecting and analyzing crime evidence.
• How does international law manage war crimes ?
• The due process: criminology .
• What are victimless crimes ?
• The relation between crime rates and poverty.
• National system for missing and unidentified persons.
• Three case briefs in criminology .
• The impact of mental illness on criminal behavior.
• The effectiveness of rehabilitation programs in reducing crime rates.
• The use of AI technology in crime prevention and investigation.
• Sexual assault: criminology .
• The role of media coverage in public perception of crime.
• The impact of community policing on reducing crime rates.
• The impact of mass shootings on gun control laws.
• The impact of automation technology on criminology .

Criminology Thesis Topics

• The role of juvenile justice in preventing future criminal behavior.
• Feminism and criminology in the modern justice system .
• The effectiveness of mandatory minimum sentencing in the US.
• Drug laws : fighting crime or fueling it?
• Police brutality : a systemic problem in criminal justice.
• Criminology: USA Patriot Act overview .
• The impact of hate crimes on marginalized communities.
• How does organized crime affect the global economy?
• The significance of DNA evidence for criminal investigations.
• Use of statistics in criminal justice and criminology .
• The ethics of plea bargaining in criminal cases.
• Mental illness and criminal behavior: breaking the stigma.
• The impact of social media on cyberbullying and harassment.
• Robert Merton’s strain theory in criminology .
• Causes and consequences of police corruption .
• The role of restorative justice in repairing harm caused by crime.
• The effectiveness of treatment programs in reducing drug-related crimes.
• Hernando Washington case: criminology .
• The negative effects of human trafficking on global communities.
• The role of forensic science in crimes investigation.
• The effectiveness of community-based alternatives to imprisonment.
• Integrity as a key value: criminology and war .
• The relationship between poverty, education, and crime rates.
• Cybercrime : the dark side of the digital age.
• Hate crimes: motivations and impact on modern society.
• Feminist perspectives’ contribution to criminology .
• The impact of incarceration on families and communities.

Criminology Research Questions for Dissertation

• Can criminal profiling accurately predict offender behavior?
• How do hate crimes affect individuals and communities?
• How were the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights influenced by the classical school of criminology ?
• What are the psychological effects of cyberbullying on victims?
• What factors contribute to domestic violence , and how can it be prevented?
• How have organized crime groups evolved over time?
• How is statistics used in criminology and criminal justice ?
• Is the death penalty an effective crime deterrent?
• What motivates individuals to engage in white-collar crime?
• What are the consequences of police corruption for society?
• What is variance analysis in criminal justice and criminology ?
• How does drug addiction contribute to criminal behavior?
• How does gender influence criminal behavior and justice outcomes?
• What drives individuals to commit mass shootings?
• What is the broken window theory in criminology ?
• What are the biggest challenges facing criminal justice reform efforts?
• How do urban gangs perpetuate violence and criminal activity?
• How do criminal law and procedures protect individual rights and liberties?
• What is the impact of corporate fraud ?
• What challenges do individuals with mental health issues face in the criminal justice system?
• How can society combat human trafficking and exploitation?
• What measures can be taken to enhance cybersecurity and protect against cybercrime?
• What is the aboriginal crisis from a criminology perspective ?
• How can victimology help us better understand the experience of crime victims?
• What are effective crime prevention strategies for different types of crime?
• What is legal insanity in criminology ?
• How does environmental crime impact communities and the environment?
• How is the peace-making model applied in criminology ?

A significant part of criminology research is dedicated to various types of crimes and their reasons. Consider our crime topic ideas that will spark instant interest in your readers:

• The psychological impact of kidnapping on victims and their families.
• The racialization of crime and cultural panic .
• The ethical considerations surrounding ransom payments in kidnapping cases.
• The effect of burglary on small businesses and their ability to recover.
• The impact of race, ethnicity, and socioeconomic status on homicide rates and patterns.
• Shoplifting: a crime of convenience .
• The effectiveness of different types of anti-theft devices in preventing motor vehicle theft.
• The role of forensic science in investigating arson cases, including the use of accelerant detection dogs.
• The concept of natural legal crime .
• The psychological profiles of white-collar criminals and their motivations.
• The psychological effects of burglary on victims and their sense of security.
• The concept of juvenile crime .
• The role of social media in facilitating and preventing kidnappings.
• The use of forensic evidence in homicide investigations and the challenges of prosecuting homicide cases.
• Sex crime recidivism rates.
• Illegal immigrantion and its effects on crime .
• The effectiveness of international efforts to combat money laundering .
• The efficacy of community watch programs in reducing burglary rates.
• The role of corporate culture in facilitating or preventing white-collar crime.
• Crimes in America: the 9/11/01 terrorist attacks .
• Technology in motor vehicle theft: GPS tracking and remote disabling systems.
• Human trafficking and the exploitation of vulnerable populations.
• Crime and criminals: general characteristics .
• The ethical and moral implications of capital punishment as a response to homicide.
• The effectiveness of fire prevention and education programs in reducing instances of arson.
• US gun control measures and crime rates reduction .
• The use of cryptocurrency in money laundering and illegal activities.
• White-collar crime and the abuse of power in corporate and financial settings.
• Cargo crimes and threats: government accountability office .
• The rise of cyberstalking and its impact on victims’ mental health.
• The effects of pollution on communities and the legal response to environmental crimes.
• Cyber-bullying and cyber-stalking as crimes .
• The effects of society’s reaction to crime.
• The use of technology in financial fraud schemes .
• Crimes against property and their characteristics .
• The intersection of racism and hate crimes against Asian Americans.
• The impact of deforestation on indigenous communities and wildlife.
• Crime types and their harm to society .
• The prevalence of domestic violence and the legal response to it.
• The exploitation of child labor in the fashion industry .
• Race and crime among minorities in the US .
• The ethical implications of using artificial intelligence in law enforcement.
• The psychological effects of hate crimes on victims and their communities.
• How does local television news viewing relate to fear of crime ?
• The evolution of cybercrime and its most common types.
• Parental responsibility for children’s crimes.
• The sex crime: influence of childhood experiences .
• Prostitution : a victimless crime.
• Sociology and media representation of crime.
• The profile of a crime victim .
• A theory of gendered criminology: women’s crime.

🚔 Research Topics in Law Enforcement

Another exciting area within criminology to investigate is law enforcement and police jobs. Have a look at the list of burning and controversial topics we came up with:

• The impact of community policing on crime rates and public trust.
• Law enforcement: online crimes and social media .
• Do body-worn cameras reduce police misconduct?
• The effects of implicit bias on the police use of force.
• Law enforcement cameras as an invasion of privacy .
• The impact of police militarization on community relations.
• Why is mental health training essential for police officers in crisis situations?
• Law enforcement officers’ attitudes regarding body-worn cameras .
• The role of police in addressing hate crimes and bias incidents.
• The effectiveness of community-based alternatives to traditional policing.
• Organizational changes in law enforcement agencies .
• The efficacy of police-community partnership in addressing gang violence.
• The impact of police officer diversity on community relations and trust.
• Local, state, and federal law enforcement in the US .
• The role of police in addressing cybercrime and online harassment.
• The effects of police body language and nonverbal cues on public perceptions.
• Cumulative career traumatic stress in law enforcement .
• Social media and its role in shaping public perceptions of police behavior.
• The role of police discretion in enforcing drug laws and addressing addiction.
• Mindfulness practice in law enforcement .
• The effectiveness of hot spot policing in reducing crime rates.
• Organizational culture in the police department.
• Stress in law enforcement officers and available programs .
• The role of police leadership in promoting ethical behavior and accountability.
• The effectiveness of community-based justice programs for juvenile offenders.
• Law enforcement in colonial America .
• Police-community partnerships for addressing domestic violence.
• The role of police in addressing human trafficking and exploitation.
• Misrepresentation of law enforcement by media .
• School safety and the police.
• How does stress affect the performance of law enforcement officers?
• The law enforcement: verbal communication as the best form of interaction .
• The significance of federal and state law enforcement mechanisms.
• The adverse effects of toxic leadership in quality law enforcement.
• Balance between effective law enforcement and personal liberty .
• The importance of discipline in public services.
• The connection between police salary and rates of police brutality.
• Role of police agencies in law enforcement .
• Police investigative questioning and techniques.
• The issue of corruption in law enforcement.
• Significance of computer forensics to law enforcement .
• Case study: police response to the Ningbo protest.
• Police actions to stop school bullying .
• Law enforcement position in society .
• New technological advances within the police department.
• Do law enforcement cameras violate privacy right?
• Different types of evaluation designs in law enforcement .
• Recognition of women’s right to work as police officers.
• The effectiveness of foot and bike patrols of the streets.
• Firearms types and usage in law enforcement .
• The competencies of international law enforcement authorities.
• Comparison of police brutality statistics for different genders.
• Ethical theories in law enforcement practice .

🕵️ Criminal Investigation Research Topics

The criminal investigation process is another criminology area worth discussing in your research paper. Below you’ll find the most intriguing criminal investigation topics:

• The history and evolution of criminal investigation techniques.
• Crime scene investigation in media and real life .
• The role of forensic science in criminal investigations.
• How does technology impact modern criminal investigations?
• The importance of preserving crime scenes and evidence.
• Crime scene investigation effect in the justice system .
• The ethics of interrogation techniques used in criminal investigations.
• Eyewitness testimony in criminal investigations.
• The role of criminal profiling in solving crimes.
• Organized business crime prosecution and investigation .
• How does media coverage affect criminal investigations?
• The use of informants in criminal investigations.
• The main challenges of investigating white-collar crimes.
• Undercover police investigations in drug-related crimes .
• The role of private investigators in criminal investigations.
• The impact of false confessions on criminal investigations.
• How is DNA evidence collected in criminal investigations?
• Importance of toxicology in crime investigation .
• The role of the FBI in national criminal investigations.
• The use of undercover operations in criminal investigations.
• The main challenges of investigating organized crime.
• Crime level investigation in the United States .
• Witness protection programs in criminal investigations.
• The impact of plea bargaining on criminal investigations.
• Surveillance techniques in criminal investigations.
• Investigating crime with age and mental illnesses factors .
• How are cybercrimes investigated?
• The role of international cooperation in criminal investigations.
• How do racial biases influence criminal investigations?
• Drug trafficking: investigation on Frank Lucas .
• Polygraph tests in criminal investigations.
• The main challenges of investigating terrorism-related crimes.
• Homicide investigations and forensic evidence .
• The role of victim advocacy in criminal investigations.
• Lie detector tests in criminal investigations.
• The role of forensic psychology in the investigation .
• The effects of community involvement on criminal investigations.
• The problem of false accusations in criminal investigations.
• Approaches in criminal investigation .
• The use of forensic accounting in financial crime investigations.
• How does the media shape public perception of criminal investigations?
• Key rulings on the conduct of investigators at the scene of a fire .
• The impact of political pressure on criminal investigations.
• The main challenges of investigating human trafficking.
• The Breonna Taylor case and criminal investigation .
• The role of victim compensation in criminal investigations.
• Behavioral analysis in criminal investigations.
• Procedures within crime scene investigation .
• Crime scene reconstruction in criminal investigations.

Criminology goes hand-in-hand with legal studies. If you’re interested in both areas, you should definitely write a research paper on one of the criminal law research topics:

• The evolution of criminal law in the US .
• Criminal law: stolen valor .
• The difference between criminal and civil law.
• Human trafficking and criminal law.
• Types of criminal offenses and the elements of crime.
• International criminal law and measures .
• The role of the burden of proof in criminal cases.
• Criminal defenses and their validity.
• The insanity defense in criminal law.
• Actus reus in English criminal law .
• The controversies around the death penalty.
• Juvenile delinquency and criminal law.
• Cybercrime and its legal implications.
• Criminal law – is graffiti a crime or not ?
• Domestic violence and criminal law.
• Hate crimes and their legal consequences.
• Restitution for victims in criminal law.
• Civil vs. criminal law and differences between them .
• Forensic evidence and its admissibility in court.
• Sexual assault and criminal law.
• The rights of the accused in criminal cases.
• Regulatory criminal laws in the criminal justice system .
• Receiving immunity for testimony in a criminal law case.
• The legal classification of criminal offenses.
• Self-defense in criminal law cases.
• How Canadian criminal law regulates deviant conduct .
• Sentencing guidelines and their impact on society.
• The use of DNA evidence in criminal cases.
• Eyewitness testimony and its reliability in court.
• Fundamental aspects of Canadian criminal law .
• The role of the media in criminal trials.
• The impact of social inequality on criminal justice outcomes.
• The future of criminal law and its impact on society.
• Criminal law in India and access to justice .
• International criminal law and its enforcement.
• Extradition and its legal implications.
• The impact of globalization on criminal law.
• Juvenile vs. adult criminal law .
• The importance of victim rights in criminal cases.
• Restorative justice and its benefits for society.
• Alternatives to incarceration for non-violent offenders.
• Automatism as a defence in criminal law .
• The role of defense attorneys in criminal trials.
• The role of prosecutors in criminal trials.
• The right to a public trial in a criminal law case.
• Civil and criminal law penalties and differences .
• Car searches in criminal investigations by law enforcement.

🔒 Criminology Topics for Research in Crime Prevention

Researching crime prevention allows you to learn more about the strategies for reducing criminal behavior. Have a look at our outstanding crime prevention topic ideas:

• Understanding and explaining crime prevention.
• Theories that explain criminal activities and criminology .
• The effectiveness of community policing in preventing crime.
• The benefits and drawbacks of crime prevention in the US.
• How can education reduce crime rates?
• Crime prevention programs and criminal rehabilitation .
• Technological innovations and their impact on crime prevention.
• The importance of early childhood interventions in preventing criminal behavior.
• The relationship between poverty and crime prevention strategies.
• Youth crime prevention and needs assessment .
• The use of restorative justice in reducing recidivism.
• The effectiveness of gun control laws in preventing gun-related crimes.
• The impact of social media on crime prevention and awareness.
• Crime prevention program in Australia .
• The use of CCTV cameras in preventing crime.
• Evidence for crime prevention programs in developing countries.
• The role of mental health services in preventing criminal behavior.
• Crime prevention practices: overview .
• The effectiveness of community-based programs in reducing juvenile delinquency.
• The use of environmental design in preventing crime by shaping space and behavior.
• Victim support programs for lowering crime rates.
• Situational and social crime prevention approaches .
• The effectiveness of after-school programs in preventing juvenile offenses.
• Techniques for preventing situational and social crime.
• The impact of citizen participation in crime prevention.
• Computer crime prevention measures .
• The efficacy of community watch programs in preventing neighborhood crimes.
• The use of community centers for preventing gang-related crimes.
• The impact of sentencing policies on crime prevention.
• Biometrics recognition and crime prevention .
• The relationship between video game violence and youth crime .
• Social media and cybercrime prevention.
• The role of social workers in crime prevention.
• Three-strikes law for preventing violent crimes .
• Decreasing crime rates through education and medicine.
• The use of animal-assisted therapy for reducing criminal behavior.
• The effectiveness of aftercare programs in reducing recidivism.
• Capital punishment as ineffective crime deterrence .
• The main strategies for proactive crime prevention.
• The impact of domestic violence prevention programs on crime rates.
• The use of probation and parole in preventing criminal behavior.
• Juvenile weapon crimes and strategies to address .
• The role of faith-based organizations in crime prevention.
• The use of diversion programs in juvenile crime prevention.
• The distinctions between crime prevention and community safety.
• Preventing crime victimization in international students .
• The impact of agriculture and rural development on crime prevention.

Criminal justice might be a challenging research topic, but it is worth the time and effort. Consider our unique topic ideas for your successful research:

• The effectiveness of community policing.
• The use of statistics in criminal justice and criminology .
• Rehabilitation programs offered in prisons and their efficacy.
• The importance of defense attorneys in the criminal justice system.
• The code of ethics in the Texas Department of Criminal Justice .
• The significance of restorative justice programs.
• The impact of mandatory minimum sentencing laws.
• Criminal justice process: felony criminal charge .
• The role of judges in the criminal justice system.
• Probation and parole in the criminal justice system.
• Veterans in the criminal justice system .
• The comparison of prison privatization in the US and UK.
• The main issues women experience in the prison system.
• US terrorism and criminal justice decision-making model .
• The prison system in a democratic society.
• The role of psychologists in the criminal justice system.
• Transgender offenders in the criminal justice system .
• The impact of private prisons on crime rates.
• The effectiveness of victim compensation programs.
• The successes and failures to reform punishment in the criminal justice system .
• Community involvement in the criminal justice system.
• The main challenges of long-term prisoner rehabilitation.
• Technology application in criminal justice .
• The role of victim-offender mediation in the criminal justice system.
• Gender disparity in the criminal justice system.
• Recidivism in criminal justice: the American prison system .
• How does solitary confinement impact people in prisons?
• Legal and ethical issues in international intervention.
• Racial and ethnic disparities in the criminal justice system .
• Do mandatory minimum sentences help or hurt?
• The effects of prison on children of incarcerated individuals.
• Psychopathy in the criminal justice system .
• The importance of mental health professionals in the criminal justice system.
• Techniques for influencing criminal justice system change.
• Non-inclusiveness of the criminal justice system .
• The impact of racial profiling on the criminal justice system.
• The effectiveness of diversion programs for veterans.
• False confessions in the US criminal justice system .
• Racism in the criminal justice system of the US.
• People with disabilities and criminal justice.
• Ethical dilemmas in the criminal justice system .
• Forensic psychology guidelines for criminal justice.
• The impact of technology on jury selection .
• Effective writing and criminal justice .
• The effectiveness of mandatory drug testing for probationers and parolees.
• The effect of wrongful executions on the criminal justice system.
• Discontinuity of care in the criminal justice system .
• The influence of media on criminal justice and community.
• The impact of cybercrime on the global criminal justice system.
• Criminal justice: coerced confessions .
• The role of private prisons in the criminal justice system.
• The effectiveness of diversion programs for people without housing.
• Criminal justice system and the problem of racism .
• What can be learned from the history of criminal courts?
• Comparison between American and British legislative frameworks.
• Criminal justice case: types of sentences, probation, and final decision .
• The overview of the modern justice system.
• The ethical issue of unwarranted arrests.
• Civil liability in criminal justice .
• The risk groups of juvenile recidivism .

🆚 Difference between Criminology and Criminal Justice

Students often confuse criminology with criminal justice because both areas study crime and criminal behavior. Understanding their main differences is essential before conducting research in any of these areas.

Is Criminology a Science?

Criminology can be considered as a science because it uses the scientific method. The scientific method involves five steps: stating the problem, forming the hypothesis, collecting the data, interpreting these data, and drawing conclusions. Within criminology, scientists use standard research methods, such as surveys, experiments, interviews, etc.

What Does Criminology Study?

Criminology studies crime, including its causes, methods of prevention, and responses from law enforcement. It relies on other non-legal studies, such as sociology, psychology, and statistics, to examine the characteristics of people who commit crimes and the effects of criminality on individuals and society.

What Are the Principal Areas of Criminology Research?

Four significant criminology areas include:

• The history of criminology . This area focuses on criminology founders and theories of crime and punishment development.
• Theory of crime causation . This aspect explores if a criminal’s behavior is determined by their social environment.
• Typologies of crime . This field describes different types of crimes and the reasons for committing them.
• Crime prevention efforts . This area studies crime measures that can curb crimes before they occur.

What Are the Principal Types of Research Methods in Criminology?

Criminology uses quantitative (analyzing measurements and statistics) and qualitative (analyzing non-numerical data) research methods to gain valuable insights. The most common scientific methods in criminology are surveys, experiments, secondary data analysis, interviews, historical/comparative research, and ethnography.

• Criminology and Criminal Justice: Pick a Topic | Marquette University
• Criminology Questions & Topics | David H. Kessel
• Topics | Ghent University
• Emergent Issues in Crime & Justice | University of Maryland
• Qualitative Research in Criminal Justice | University of North Texas
• Criminology, Law & Society | UCI Libraries
• What the Data Says (and Doesn’t Say) about Crime in the United States | Pew Research Center
• Types of Criminal Offenses | Justia
• Criminal Justice and Criminology Theses | East Tennessee State University
• Research Overview | The University of Alabama
• Criminology Research | University of Portsmouth
• Research | Arizona State University
• Research Themes | University of Surrey, Centre for Criminology
• Advanced Criminology & Criminal Justice Research Guide | Mardigian Library
• Criminology – Research Guide: Getting Started | PennLibraries
• Law and Criminology | University of Plymouth
• Topics for a Criminology Research Paper | Classroom
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256 Research Topics on Criminal Justice & Criminology

Are you a law school student studying criminal behavior or forensic science? Or maybe just looking for good criminal justice topics, questions, and hypotheses? Look no further! Custom-writing.org experts offer a load of criminology research topics and titles for every occasion. Criminological theories, types of crime, the role of media in criminology, and more. Our topics will help you prepare for a college-level assignment, debate, or essay writing.

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• ⚖️ Criminology vs. Criminal Justice
• 🔬 120 Criminology Research Topics
• 💂 116 Criminal Justice Research Topics

🔥 Hot Criminology Research Topics

• The role of media in criminology.
• Cultural explanation of crime.
• Benefits of convict criminology.
• Main issues of postmodern criminology.
• Is criminal behavior affected by the politics?
• How does DAWN collect data?
• The limitations of crime mapping.
• Personality traits that trigger criminal behavior.
• Community deterioration and crime rates.
• Does experimental criminology affect social policy?

🔬 120 Criminology Research Topics & Ideas

Here are 100 criminology research topics ideas organized by themes.

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General Criminology Research Paper Topics

• Criminology as a social science.
• Criminology and its public policies.
• History of criminology.
• Crime commission: legal and social perspectives .

Criminal Psychology Research Topics

• What is the nature of criminal behavior ?
• How does the lack of education affect the incarceration rates?
• Childhood aggression and the impact of divorce
• The effect of the upbringing on antisocial adult behavior
• How do gender and cultural background affect one’s attitude towards drug abuse ?
• Forensic psychology and its impact on the legal system
• What is the role of criminal psychologists?
• Different types of forensic psychological evaluations
• What’s the difference between therapeutic and forensic evaluation?
• Does socioeconomic status impact one’s criminal behavior ?

Criminology Research Topics: Theories

• What crimes are typical for what ages?
• How does the type of crime correspond with the level of exerted aggression ?
• What is the connection between citizenship (or lack thereof) and law violation?
• How does education (or lack thereof) correspond with crime level?
• Does employment (or lack thereof) correspond with law violation?
• What is the connection between family status and law violation?
• Does gender affect on the type of law violation?
• How does ownership of firearms correspond with law violation?
• Does immigrant status correlate with law violation?

• Is there a connection between mental health and law violation?
• What are the causes of violence in the society?
• Does the crime rate depend on the neighborhood ?
• How does race correspond with the type of crime?
• Do religious beliefs correspond with law violation?
• How does social class correlate with crime rate?
• What are the reasons for the homeless’ improsonment?
• How does weather correspond with law violation?

Criminology Topics on Victimization

• Biological theories of crime: how do biological factors correspond with law violation?
• Classical criminology: the contemporary take on crime, economics, deterrence, and the rational choice perspective.
• Convict criminology: what do ex-convicts have to say on the subject?
• Criminal justice theories: punishment as a deterrent to crime.
• Critical criminology : debunking false ideas about crime and criminal justice.
• Cultural criminology: criminality as the product of culture.
• Cultural transmission theory: how criminal norms are transmitted in social interaction.
• Deterrence theory: how people don’t commit crimes out of fear of punishment.
• Rational choice theory : how crime doing is aligned with personal objectives of the perpetrator.
• Feminist Criminology: how the dominant crime theories exclude women.
• Labeling and symbolic interaction theories: how minorities and those deviating from social norms tend to be negatively labeled.
• Life course criminology : how life events affect the actions that humans perform.
• Psychological theories of crime: criminal behavior through the lense of an individual’s personality.
• Routine activities theory : how normal everyday activities affect the tendency to commit a crime.
• The concept of natural legal crime.
• Self-control theory : how the lack of individual self-control results in criminal behavior.
• Social construction of crime: crime doing as social response.
• Social control theory : how positive socialization corresponds with reduction of criminal violation.
• Social disorganization theory : how neighborhood ecological characteristics correspond with crime rates.
• Social learning theory : how (non)criminal behavior can be acquired by observing and imitating others.
• Strain theories : how social structures within society pressure citizens to commit crime.
• Theoretical integration: how two theories are better than one.

Criminology Research and Measurement Topics

• Citation content analysis (CCA): a framework for gaining knowledge from a variety of media.
• Crime classification systems: classification of crime according to the severity of punishment.
• Crime mapping as a way to map, visualize, and analyze crime incident patterns.
• Reports and statistics of crime: the estimated rate of crime over time. Public surveys.
• Drug abuse warning network (DAWN): predicting trends in drug misuse.
• Arrestee drug abuse monitoring (ADAM): drug use among arrestees.
• Edge ethnography: collecting data undercover in typically closed research settings and groups through rapport development or covert undercover strategy.
• Experimental criminology: experimental and quasi-experimental research in the advancement of criminological theory.
• Fieldwork in criminology: street ethnographers and their dilemmas in the field concerning process and outcomes.
• Program evaluation: collecting and analyzing information to assess the efficiency of projects, policies and programs.
• Quantitative criminology: how exploratory research questions, inductive reasoning , and an orientation to social context help recognize human subjectivity.

Criminology Topics on Types of Crime

• Campus crime: the most common crimes on college campuses and ways of preventing them.
• Child abuse : types, prevalence, risk groups, ways of detection and prevention.
• Cybercrime : cyber fraud, defamation, hacking, bullying, phishing.
• Domestic violence : gender, ways of detection and prevention, activism.
• Domestic violence with disabilities .
• Elder abuse : types, prevalence, risk groups, ways of detection and prevention.
• Environmental crime. Natural resource theft: illegal trade in wildlife and timber, poaching, illegal fishing.
• Environmental crime. Illegal trade in ozone-depleting substances, hazardous waste; pollution of air, water, and soil.
• Environmental crime: local, regional, national, and transnational level.
• Environmental crime: climate change crime and corruption.
• Environmental crime: wildlife harming and exploitation.
• Hate crime : how prejudice motivates violence.

• Homicide : what motivates one person to kill another.
• Human trafficking : methods of deception, risk groups, ways of detection and prevention.
• Identity theft : methods, risk groups, ways of detection and prevention.
• Gambling in America .
• Juvenile delinquency : risk groups, prevention policies, prosecution and punishment.
• Juvenile Delinquency: Causes and Effects
• Organizational crime: transnational, national, and local levels. Ways of disrupting the activity of a group.
• Prostitution : risk groups, different takes on prevention policies, activism.
• Robbery : risk groups, ways of prevention, prosecution and punishment.
• Sex offenses: risk groups, types, prevalence, ways of detection and prevention.
• Terrorism: definition, history, countermeasures .
• Terrorism : individual and group activity, ways of detection and prevention.
• Theft and shoplifting : risk groups, ways of detection, prevention policies, prosecution and punishment.
• Counter-terrorism: constitutional and legislative issues .
• White-collar crime : types, ways of detection, prevention policies, prosecution and punishment.

Criminology Topics on Racism and Discrimination

• How systemic bias affects criminal justice?
• How discriminatory portrayal of minority groups in the media affects criminal justice?
• Racial profiling : targeting minority groups on the basis of race and ethnicity.
• Racism and discrimination towards African-Americans .
• Racial profiling : what are the cons? Are there any pros?
• How discriminatory is the UK Court System?
• How discriminatory is the US Court System?

Other Criminology Research Topics

• Corporate crime : the ruling class criminals.
• Genetics: illegal research and its dangers.
• Hate crime : the implications in criminal justice.
• Serial killers : risk groups, ways of detection and prevention.
• Serial killers: portrayal in media.
• Organized crime : how does it affect criminal justice?
• Crime prevention programs.
• Street lighting: does it reduce crime?
• Terrorism prevention technology.
• Identity theft : risk groups, ways of deception, prevention policies.
• Due process model: procedural and substantive aspects.
• Crime control in criminal justice administration.
• Types of drugs: how do they affect the users?
• Smart handheld devices: their function for security personnel.
• Social media : its impact on crime rate.
• Public health: how does criminal justice affect it?
• Psychometric examinations: what is their role in criminal justice?
• National defense in the US.
• National defense in the UK.
• Sexual harassment : the role of activism, ways of responding, prevention and prosecution.
• Substance abuse : military.
• Criminology and criminal justice jobs: a full list.

🌶️ Hot Criminal Justice Topics

• The history of modern police.
• Different types of prison systems.
• Is situational crime prevention effective?
• How to prevent wrongful convictions.
• Challenges faced by crime victims.
• The advantages of community corrections.
• How do ethics influence criminal justice?
• Disadvantages of felony disenfranchisement.
• Does correctional system in the USA really work?
• Possible problems of prisoner reentry process.

💂 116 Criminal Justice Research Topics & Questions

Here are some of the most typical and interesting criminal justice issues to dazzle your professor.

• Prison system : the main problems and the hidden pitfalls.
• The question of gender: why are there more men who receive capital punishment than women?
• Kidnapping and ransom: common features, motifs, behavior patterns.
• Crime prevention : key principles.
• Firing a gun: what helps professionals understand whether it was deliberate or happened by accident?
• Cybercrime : the legal perspective.
• Internet vigilantism: revenge leaks.
• Hate crime on the Internet: revenge leaks, trolling, defamation.
• Crime and justice in mass media .
• Parental abduction laws.
• Sex offender registry: pros and cons.
• The deterrence theory and the theory of rational choice : are they relevant in the modern world?
• Sexual assault in schools and workplaces.
• Jury selection: how is it performed?
• Experimental criminology: the latest innovations.

• Wildlife crime: areas of prevalence, ways of prevention.
• Felony disenfranchisement laws: when do they apply?
• The relation between organized crime and corruption .
• Victim services: what help can a victim of a crime get?
• Prison rape and violence: the psychological aspect, ways of prevention.
• Juvenile recidivism : what are the risk groups?
• Forensic science : role and functions in modern criminal justice.
• Shoplifting: how to prevent theft?
• Witness Protection Program: who is eligible and how to protect them.
• Date rape : what are the ways for the victims to seek legal assistance?
• Substance abuse and crime: correlation or causation?
• Identity theft: dangers and consequences in the modern world.
• Online predators: what laws can be introduced to protect kids? Real-life examples.
• Civil and criminal cases: how to differentiate?
• Domestic abuse victims: what laws protect them?
• Elder abuse : what can be done to prevent it?
• The strain theory : the unachievable American dream.
• Concepts of law enforcement: pursuing criminal justice .
• Ethics and criminal justice: the unethical sides of law enforcement.
• The top problems to be solved by law enforcement today.
• Information sharing technology: how has it helped in the fight against terrorism ?
• Terrorism in perspective: characteristics, causes, control .
• Serial killers : types.
• Drug use and youth arrests.
• Aggressive behavior : how does it correlate with criminal tendencies?
• Community corrections : are they effective?
• Sentencing: how does it take place?
• Punishment types and the established terms.
• Unwarranted arrest: when is it acceptable?
• Human trafficking in the modern world.
• Human trafficking: current state and counteracts .
• The role of technology in modern forensics .
• Similarities and differences between homicide , murder, and manslaughter.
• Types of offenders: classification.
• Effects of gun control measures in the United States .
• The role of crime mapping in modern criminal justice.
• Male crimes vs female crimes: are they different?
• Prisons : the problems of bad living conditions.
• Victimization : causes and ways of prevention.
• Victimology and traditional justice system alternatives .
• Rape victims: what are their rights?
• Problem-solving courts: what underlying problems do they address?
• Mandatory sentencing and the three-strike rule.
• Have “three-strikes” laws been effective and should they be continued?
• Criminal courts : what can be learned from their history?
• Hate crimes : what motivates people to commit them?
• Youth gangs: what is their danger?
• Fieldwork: how is it done in criminology?
• Distributive justice : its place in criminal justice.
• Capital punishment : what can be learned from history?
• Humanities and justice in Britain during 18th century .
• Abolition of capital punishment .
• Criminals and prisoners’ rights .
• Crime prevention programs and criminal rehabilitation .
• Campus crime: what laws and precautions are there against it?
• Criminal trial process: how does it go?
• Crimes committed on a religious basis: how are they punished?
• The code of ethics in the Texas department of criminal justice .
• Comparison between Florida and Maryland’s legislative frameworks .
• Fraud in the scientific field: how can copyright protect the discoveries of researchers?
• Prosecution laws: how are they applied in practice?
• The classification of crime systems.
• Cyberbullying and cyberstalking: what can parents do to protect their children?
• Forgery cases in educational institutions, offices, and governmental organizations.
• Drug courts : how do they work?

Controversial Topics in Criminal Justice

Want your work to be unconventional? Consider choosing one of the controversial topics. You will need to present a number of opposite points of view. Of course, it’s acceptable to choose and promote an opinion that you think stands the best. Just make sure to provide a thorough analysis of all of the viewpoints.

You can also stay impartial and let the reader make up their own mind on the subject. If you decide to support one of the viewpoints, your decision should be objective. Back it up with plenty of evidence, too. Here are some examples of controversial topics that you can explore.

• Reform vs. punishment: which one offers more benefits?
• Restorative justice model : is it the best criminal justice tool?
• The war on drugs : does it really solve the drug problem?
• Criminal insanity: is it a reason enough for exemption from liability?
• Juvenile justice system : should it be eliminated?
• Drug testing on the school ground.
• Police brutality in the United States .
• How to better gun control ? 
• Why Gun Control Laws Should be Scrapped .
• Pornography: is it a type of sexual violence?
• Whether death penalty can be applied fairly?
• Jack the Ripper: who was he?
• The modern justice system: is it racist?
• A false accusation: how can one protect themselves from it?
• Concealed weapons: what are the criminal codes of various states?
• Race and crime: is there a correlation?
• Registering sex offenders: should this information be in public records?
• Juvenile delinquency and bad parenting: is there a relation?
• Assessing juveniles for psychopathy or conduct disorder .
• Should all new employees be checked for a criminal background ?
• Are delinquency cases higher among immigrant children?
• Restrictive housing: can it help decongest prisons?
• Homegrown crimes: is there an effective program against them?
• Prostitution: the controversy around legalization .
• Eyewitness testimony : is it really helpful in an investigation?
• Youthful offenders in boot camps: is this strategy effective?
• Predictive policing : is it effective?
• Selective incapacitation: is it an effective policy for reducing crime?
• Social class and crime: is there a relation?
• Death penalty: is it effective in crime deterrence?
• Extradition law: is it fair?
• Devious interrogations: is deceit acceptable during investigations?
• Supermax prisons: are they effective or just cruel?
• Zero tolerance: is it the best policy for crime reduction?
• Marijuana decriminalization: pros and cons.
• Marijuana legalization in the US .

Now that you have looked through the full list of topics, choose wisely. Remember that sometimes it’s best to avoid sensitive topics. Other times, a clever choice of a topic will win you extra points. It doesn’t depend on just the tastes of your professor, of course. You should also take into account how much relevant information there is on the subject. Anyway, the choice of the topic of your research is up to you. Try to find the latest materials and conduct an in-depth analysis of them. Don’t forget to draw a satisfactory conclusion. Writing may take a lot of your time and energy, so plan ahead. Remember to stay hydrated and good luck!

Now, after we looked through the topic collections on criminology and criminal justice, it is time to turn to the specifics in each of the fields. First, let’s talk more extensively about criminology. If you are training to be a criminologist, you will study some things more deeply. They include the behavior patterns of criminals, their backgrounds, and the latest sociological trends in crime.

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In the field of criminology, the specialties are numerous. That’s why it’s difficult to pinpoint one career that represents a typical member of the profession. It all depends on the background of a criminologist, their education, and experience.

A criminologist may have a number of responsibilities at their position. For example, they might be called forth to investigate a crime scene. Participation in autopsies is unpleasant yet necessary. Interrogation of suspects and subsequent criminal profiling is another essential duty.

Some professionals work solely in research. Others consult government agencies or private security companies. Courts and law firms also cooperate with criminologists. Their job is to provide expert opinion in criminal proceedings. Some of them work in the prison systems in order to oversee the rehabilitation of the convicted.

Regardless of the career specialty , most criminologists are working on profiling and data collection. A criminologist is another word for an analyst. They collect, study, and analyze data on crimes. After conducting the analysis, they provide recommendations and actionable information.

A criminologist seeks to find out the identity of the person who committed the crime. The time point of a crime is also important, as well as the reason for it. There are several areas covered by the analysis of a criminologist. The psychological behavior of the criminal or criminals is closely studied. The socio-economic indicators are taken into account. There are also, of course, the environmental factors that may have facilitated the crime.

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Some high-profile cases require a criminologist to correspond with media and PR managers extensively. Sometimes criminologists write articles and even books about their findings. However, it should be noted that the daily routine of a professional in the field is not so glamorous. Most criminologists do their work alone, without the attention of the public.

The research a criminologist accumulates during their work is extensive. It doesn’t just sit there in a folder on their desk, of course. The collected statistics are used for developing active criminal profiles that are shared with law enforcement agencies. It helps to understand criminal behavior better and to predict it. That’s why a criminologist’s work must be precise and accurate for it to be practical and useful. Also, criminology professionals must have a good grasp of math and statistics.

Thinking of a career in criminology? You will need to, at the very least, graduate from college. There, you’ll master mathematics, statistics, and, of course, criminology. An associate’s degree may get you an entry-level position. But the minimum entry-level requirement is usually the bachelor’s degree. The best positions, though, are left for the professionals with a master’s degree or a PhD.

Just having a degree is not enough. To succeed as a criminologist, you will require all your intelligence, commitment, and the skill of analyzing intricate situations. An aspiration to better the society will go a long way. You will need to exercise your creative, written, and verbal communication skills, too. An analytical mind will land you at an advantage.

Criminology: Research Areas

Times change and the world of crime never ceases to adapt. The nature of criminal transgression is evolving, and so do the ways of prosecution. Criminal detection, investigation, and prevention are constantly advancing. Criminology studies aim to improve the practices implemented in the field.

There are six unified, coordinated, and interrelated areas of expertise. Within each, the professionals are busy turning their mastery into knowledge and action.

The first research area is the newest worry of criminology – cybercrime. The impact of this type of crime is escalating with every passing day. That’s why it’s crucial for the law enforcement professionals to keep up to date with the evolving technology. Cybercrime research is exploring the growing threat of its subject at all levels of society. Cybercrime may impact people on both personal and governmental levels. Cybercrime research investigates the motivation and methodology behind the offenses and finds new ways to react.

The second research area is counter fraud. Crimes that fall under this category include fraud and corruption. The questions that counter fraud research deals with are many. How widely a crime is spread, what method is best to fight it, and the optimal courses of action to protect people and organizations.

The third research area is that of forensics. The contemporary face of justice has been changed by forensic science beyond recognition. Nowadays, it’s much harder for criminals to conceal their activity due to evolved technologies. The research in forensics is utilizing science in the identification of the crime and in its reconstruction. It employs such techniques as DNA recovery, fingerprinting, and forensic interviewing.

What is forensic interviewing? It helps find new ways to gather quality information from witnesses and crime scenes. It also works on developing protocols that ensure the protection of this human data and its correct interpretation by police.

The fourth research area is policing. Police service is facing a lot of pressing issues nowadays due to budget cuts. At the same time, police officers still need to learn, and there are also individual factors that may influence their work.

The fifth research area is penology. It’s tasked with exploring the role of punishment in the criminal justice system. Does punishment aid the rehabilitation of perpetrators, and to what extent? The answer will help link theory to practice and thus shape how criminal justice practitioners work.

The sixth research area is that of missing persons. Before a person goes missing, they may display a certain pattern of behavior. The study of missing persons helps to identify it. The results will determine the handling of such cases.

Now that we know what criminology is, it’s time to talk about criminal justice.

While criminology focuses on the analysis of crime, criminal justice concentrates on societal systems. Its primary concern is with the criminal behavior of the perpetrators. For example, in the USA, there are three branches of the criminal justice system. They are police (aka law enforcement), courts, and corrections. These branches all work together to punish and prevent unlawful behavior. If you take up a career in criminal justice, expect to work in one of these fields.

The most well-known branch of criminal justice is law enforcement. The police force is at the forefront of defense against crime and misdemeanor. They stand against the criminal element in many ways. For instance, they patrol the streets, investigate crimes, and detain suspects. It’s not just the police officers who take these responsibilities upon themselves. There are also US Marshals, ICE, FBI Agents, DEA, and border patrol. Only after the arrest has been made, the perpetrator enters the court system.

The court system is less visible to the public, but still crucial to the criminal justice system. Its main purpose is to determine the suspect’s innocence or guilt. You can work as an attorney, lawyer, bailiff, judge, or another professional of the field. In the court, if you are a suspect, you are innocent until proven guilty. You are also entitled to a fair trial. However, if they do find you guilty, you will receive a sentence. Your punishment will be the job of the corrections system.

The courts determine the nature of the punishment, and the corrections system enforces it. There are three elements of the corrections system: incarceration, probation, and parole. They either punish or rehabilitate the convicts. Want to uptake a career in corrections? You may work as, including, but not limited to: a parole officer, a prison warden, a probation officer, and a guard.

📈 Criminal Justice: Research Areas

The research areas in criminal justice are similar, if not identical, to those of criminology. After all, those are two very closely related fields. The one difference is that criminal justice research has more practical than theoretical applications. But it’s fair to say that theory is the building blocks that practice bases itself on. One is impossible without the other unless the result you want is complete chaos.

So, the question is – what topic to choose for the research paper? Remember that the world of criminal justice is constantly changing. Choosing a subject for research in criminal justice, consider a relevant topic. There are many pressing issues in the field. Exploring them will undoubtedly win you points from your professor. Just make sure to choose a direction that will give you the opportunity to show off both your knowledge and your analytical skills.

Not sure that your original research direction will be appreciated? Then choose one of the standard topics. Something that is widely discussed in the media. And, of course, make sure that you are truly interested in the subject. Otherwise, your disinterest will translate into your writing, which may negatively affect the overall impression. Also, it’s just more enjoyable to work on something that resonates with you.

What can you do with your research paper? Literally anything. Explore the background of the issue. Make predictions. Compare the different takes on the matter. Maybe there are some fresh new discoveries that have been made recently. What does science say about that?

Also, remember to backup all your arguments with quotes and examples from real life. The Internet is the best library and research ground a student could hope for. The main idea of the paper, aka the thesis, must be proven by enough factual material. Otherwise, it’s best to change your research direction.

And, of course, don’t put it all off till the last minute. Make a plan and stick to it. Consistency and clever distribution of effort will take you a long way. Good luck!

🤔 Criminal Justice Research FAQs

Criminological and criminal justice research are the scientific studies of the causes and consequences, extent and control, nature, management, and prevention of criminal behavior, both on the social and individual levels.

Criminal justice and criminology are sciences that analyze the occurrence and explore the ways of prevention of illegal acts. Any conducted personal research and investigation should be supported by the implemented analytical methods from academic works that describe the given subject.

There are six interrelated areas of criminology research:

• Cybercrime research makes law enforcement professionals keep up to date with the evolving technology.
• Counter fraud research investigates cases of fraud and corruption.
• Forensics research utilizes science: DNA recovery, fingerprinting, and forensic interviewing.
• Research in policing investigates individual factors that may influence the work of police officers.
• Penology explores the role of punishment in the criminal justice system.
• The study of missing persons helps to identify patterns of victims’ behavior.

There are seven research methods in criminology:

• Quantitative research methods measure criminological and criminal justice reality by assigning numerical values to concepts to find patterns of correlation, cause and effect.
• Survey research collects information from a number of persons via their responses to questions.
• Experimental research assesses cause and effect in two comparison groups.
• Cross-sectional research studies one group at one point in time.
• Longitudinal research studies the same group over a period of time.
• Time-series designs study the same group at successive points in time.
• Meta-analysis employs quantitative analysis of findings from multiple studies.

The basis of criminological theory is criminological research. It influences the development of social policies and defines criminal justice practice.

Criminological research doesn’t just enable law students to develop analytical and presentational skills. The works of criminal justice professionals, scholars, and government policymakers dictate the way law enforcement operates. The newest ideas born out of research identify corrections and crime prevention, too.

Here is a step-by-step instruction on how to write a criminal justice research paper:

• Choose a topic
• Read the materials and take notes
• Come up with a thesis
• Create an outline for your work
• Draft the body
• Start with a cover page, an abstract, and an intro
• List the methods you used, and the results you got
• Include a discussion
• Sum it up with a conclusion
• Don’t forget a literature review and appendices
• Revise, proofread, and edit

The most common types of methodologies in criminal justice research include:

• Observation of participants.
• Surveys and interviews.
• Observation of focus groups.
• Conducting experiments.
• Analysis of secondary data and archival study.
• Mixed (a combination of the above methods).

Learn more on this topic:

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• A List of Research Topics for Students. Unique and Interesting
• Good Research Topics, Titles and Ideas for Your Paper
• The Differences Between Criminal Justice and Criminology: Which Degree Is Right for You? (Concordia St. Paul)
• Corporate Crime: Britannica
• The Development of Delinquency: NAP
• Databases for Research & Education: Gale
• A CS Research Topic Generator: Purdue University
• A Introduction To The Federal Court System: US Department of Justice
• Criminal Justice Research Topics: Broward College
• Research Topics in Criminology: Cambridge Institute of Criminology
• CRIMINOLOGY: University of Portsmouth
• Research: Department of Criminology & Criminal Justice, University of Maryland
• Criminal Justice: RAND
• Research Methods in Criminal Justice: Penn State University Libraries
• Research: School of Criminology and Criminal Justice, Arizona State University
• Criminology – Research Guide: Getting started (Penn Libraries)
• Criminology Research Papers: Academia
• The History & Development of the U.S. Criminal Justice System: Study.com
• CRIMINAL JUSTICE & CRIMINOLOGY: Marshall University
• Criminal Justice: Temple University
• Criminal Justice: University of North Georgia
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Criminology Research Grants

The principal objectives of the Criminology Research Grants Program are to undertake and provide funding for criminological research which is relevant to public policy and to promote the value and use of such research.

Latest Reports

Latest news.

New Criminology Research Grants awarded by the Australian Institute of Criminology

The Australian Institute of Criminology (AIC) has announced important new funding that will support Australian academics to undertake cutting edge crime and justice research.

Prof. Luke MARSH and Prof. Mike McCONVILLE have published a book, Research Handbook on Plea Bargaining and Criminal Justice (Edward Elgar, 2024).

About the book: This book provides an authoritative account of legal innovations designed to address guilty pleas in the criminal process including trial-avoidance mechanisms and abbreviated trial procedures. Comprising 31 Chapters, the Research Handbook on Plea Bargaining and Criminal Justice brings together established and emerging scholars from around the world to examine the histories of plea bargaining, its spread through the common law world and its rapidly increasing intrusion into inquisitorial settings. Throughout, plea bargaining’s impact upon and interaction with existing authority and institutional structures – including policymakers, the judiciary and other courtroom actors, systems of criminal law, procedure and evidence – as well as those directly affected such as victims and defendants, is interrogated utilising a variety of methodologies and conceptualizations drawn not only from conventional legal frames but also from criminology, psychology, political science and sociology.

This cutting-edge research volume (published by Edward Elgar as part of a new series on Criminal Law and Justice) was co-edited with Máximo Langer, the David G. Price and Dallas P. Price Professor of Law at University of California Los Angeles (UCLA).

For details please click here .