Browsing by Author "Rodney L. Engen, Committee Member"

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The Effects of Prior Stages of Criminal Justice Decision-Making on Criminal Sentencing: A Test of Three Models
(2002-11-15) Godwin, Melissa Hunt; William R. Smith, Committee Chair; Patricia L. McCall, Committee Member; Rodney L. Engen, Committee Member
Previous research has analyzed the effects of legal and extralegal factors on criminal justice decision-making. Most of this research analyzes discrete stages, rather than multiple stages of the criminal justice process. Using data on felony convictions in a New Jersey State Court, this study compares the utility of a legal model of decision-making, an organizational model of decision-making and Black's (1976) theory of law in predicting several criminal justice outcomes. Providing some support for both the legal model and Black's theory of law, the results indicate the influence of both legal case characteristics and extralegal factors during initial stages of criminal justice processing. However, the influence of extralegal factors on later sentencing decisions through their effects on initial outcomes indicates the operation of organizational factors in criminal justice processing. While offenders are directly penalized by extralegal factors during initial criminal justice processing, they are penalized indirectly at sentencing stages by these same factors. Overall, the results of this analysis provide overwhelming support for an organizational model of criminal justice processing, in which later criminal justice outcomes are greatly a function of outcomes at previous stages. Previous research fails to systematically include prior outcomes in analyses of criminal sentencing. Criminal sentencing research that fails to consider the impact of initial criminal justice outcomes may falsely conclude that extralegal factors have no affect on decision-making.
Examining the Empirical Status of Akers' Social Learning Theory: A Review of Literature on Human Reinforcement Learning
(2007-04-06) Brauer, Jonathan Richard; Charles R. Tittle, Committee Chair; Stacy M. De Coster, Committee Member; Rodney L. Engen, Committee Member
Proponents of social learning theory suggest that decades of empirical criminological research have validated the core propositions of social learning theory, and that future efforts should be directed toward further theoretical elaboration and integration (see Akers 1998; Akers and Jensen 2006). In response, some critics have suggested that empirical research has failed to isolate the causal mechanisms underlying the correlates of crime and deviance, and, as a result, existing "data are seemingly consistent with several theories at once" (Sampson 1999:443). In this paper, I outline the causal importance of differential reinforcement in Akers' social learning theory, and I provide a systematic review of a sample of psychological and criminological literature on human reinforcement learning in an attempt to evaluate the current empirical status of Akers' social learning theory. I find that the empirical evidence supporting human reinforcement learning processes found in the behavioral psychology literature may not be directly generalizable to social learning theory, and that measurement difficulties have led criminology researchers to use indirect measures or to simply leave the concept of differential reinforcement out of empirical analyses altogether. As a result, many of social learning theory's hypothesized causal linkages remain unexamined. I conclude that future research should be directed toward testing social learning theory's central hypotheses regarding differential reinforcement before moving on to expand and test the theory's macro-level implications.
Fear of Crime and Social Networks: A Community Study of Two Local Public Housing Complexes
(2003-04-17) Bissler, Denise L.; Stacy M. De Coster, Committee Member; Rodney L. Engen, Committee Member; Patricia L. McCall, Committee Member; William R. Smith, Committee Chair
This dissertation is an exploration of fear of crime and the impact of social networks on fear among residents of two local public housing complexes. Fear of crime is operationalized as perceived risk of victimization in which interviewees assessed their likelihood of victimization. Several theories of fear will be tested including direct victimization theory, physical vulnerability theory, incivilities theory, social vulnerability theory, and a social network theory. In addition, an exploratory study of the differences among the two complexes is conducted. The two public housing complexes studied here are similar in sociological characteristics such as demographic composition and size, but differ in management, tenure limitations, and perceptions of incivilities. Support is found for direct victimization theory and the empowerment effect of networks. No support for incivilities theory, physical vulnerability theory, or social vulnerability theory was found. Policy implications point toward increasing community cohesion.
The Influence of Situational Factors and Domestic Assault Laws on Juvenile Arrests for Assault
(2008-09-16) Tichavsky, Lisa; Maxine S. Thompson, Committee Member; Margaret A. Zahn, Committee Chair; Rodney L. Engen, Committee Member
The Other Side of the Track: Curriculum Tracking and the Pathway to Delinquency
(2003-04-30) Febbo-Hunt, Maria; Catherine Zimmer, Committee Chair; L. Richard Della Fave, Committee Member; Rodney L. Engen, Committee Member; William R. Smith, Committee Member
This dissertation examines whether school track location contributes to involvement in juvenile delinquency. First, I hypothesized both a direct and an indirect effect of track location on involvement in juvenile delinquency. Second, I hypothesized grade point average (GPA) would be negatively related to involvement in delinquency. Lastly, I hypothesized peer exposure would affect involvement in delinquency. Specifically, youth located in a non-academic track, with lower grades, and higher levels of negative peer exposure will be more likely to engage in delinquency. Using the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 and employing Poisson and Negative Binomial regression techniques, I found the following. There are no significant direct effects of tracking on delinquency for the multivariate models. Further analyses show there are indirect, negative effects, via GPA, of being in the general/college-prep and the combination track versus the vocational track on rates of committing additional types of property offending. Youth in the general/college-prep track earn higher grades relative to students in the vocational track, who, in turn, have lower rates of engaging in additional property offenses. For the remaining three delinquency models, there appear to be no indirect effects of tracking via grade point average. For status, violent and overall offending, exposure to negative peers results in higher rates of committing additional types of offending. For property offending, there is only an indirect effect of negative peers on offending. What does this study have to say about schooling and delinquency? First, academic achievement matters with respect to involvement in delinquency. Second, there is evidence that track location has an indirect effect on the commission of additional types of property offenses. Combined other research findings illustrating other undesirable outcomes of tracking, we must ask, "Is this structuring of students worth the cost relative to the pedagogical benefits?" Further research is warranted to fully answer this question, thus I advocate bringing tracking 'back in' to comprehensive studies of juvenile delinquency.