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Prior research has associated Craigslist.com and Backpage.com as sources of victimization, which in part resulted in the closure of the erotic services of each respective website. However, research also claims the introduction of Craigslist was associated with a reduction in female homicide rates across 30 large cities. This research acts as a supplemental analysis to Cunningham et al. by analyzing if Backpage.com, considered to be Craigslist's successor, has similar effects on female homicide rates. When including measures of interest in each respective website, we find that Backpage is associated with a decrease in homicide rates for women. The purpose of this study is to extend the study conducted by Cunningham et al. through supplemental analysis. To determine the effect of online clearinghouses on female homicide rates, interest measures in Backpage along with the female homicide rates from 120 single city metropolitan and micropolitan areas over 14 years (2004–2018) were analyzed using multiple regression analyses. The regression analyses show that there is a statistically significant relationship between interest in Backpage and homicide rates for women. We find that Backpage is associated with a decrease in homicide rates for women. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this study, we examine to what extent availability of a crisis center in a behavioral health district is related to changes in emergency hold petitions and outcomes of those holds as submitted by police officers. Using data from between 2010 and 2020 and a series of interrupted time series analysis, we analyze 22,619 police petitions for involuntary commitment and their outcomes related to crisis center availability. Results show inconsistent and varied effects between availability of a crisis center and emergency hold petitions. Similar results are observed for the emergency hold evaluation process outcome and associated final disposition outcome. The implementation of crisis centers in the study site may not have achieved the immediate goals of reducing the use of the emergency hold petitions nor relevant outcomes. The results vary in direction and magnitude indicating there is more research to be done to understand if, and how, crisis center availability and use are associated with changes in the involuntary emergency hold system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents qualitative findings associated with the experiences of those tasked with enforcing laws within a novel environment of cannabis legalization. Research partner agencies and participants included local, state, and tribal law enforcement agencies in Washington and bordering areas of Idaho. Semi-structured interviews explored the pre- and post-legalization experiences of 92 police professionals (ranging from first-line officers to agency leadership). Findings suggest that law enforcement authorities in Washington felt insufficiently prepared for cannabis legalization, are now concerned about greater exposure of youth to cannabis as a result of legalization, and broadly believe that cannabis-related impaired driving has increased markedly and poses a major public safety problem for them. These issues, alongside pressing needs in the areas of agency staffing, training, and equipment related directly to dealing with cannabis legalization outcomes, necessitate attention by policymakers to mitigate major operational challenges. These same or similar issues are likely to arise in other states moving toward the commercialization and regulation of cannabis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the past years the world has witnessed a myriad of 'viral' policing videos, some showing police officers in a positive light and many others showing officers in a negative light. Whichever direction these viral videos go, civility/incivility can be recognized in all of them. We believe that the proliferation of body-worn cameras (BWCs) offers a unique opportunity to study general (non-viral) police-suspect interactions at an interactional level. The present study documents incivility, as experienced by police officers and as experienced by suspects, using a sample of 152 police-suspect interactions involving one officer and one suspect. Key measures of incivility include interruptions, directed profanity, directed slurs, and proven deception. Results demonstrate that officers experience incivility in about one-third of one-on-one interactions. Interestingly, suspects experienced incivility at a similar rate. For the research site, interactions between officers and suspects of color were more likely to be civilized. Results reveal that officers in this study were significantly more likely to direct profanity and do so at a higher rate when interacting with male suspects. Although this study is inherently exploratory, the research offers practical implications for baselining interactions on key measures of incivility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research has begun to explore to what extent I-502, the initiative authorising the retail distribution of recreational marijuana in Washington State, influenced a range of public safety outcomes. However, despite a growing body of research exploring potential impacts on crime, absent from this research has been a more nuanced analysis of officer workload. Specifically, an analysis into calls for service received and initiated by police. To document to what extent I-502 is associated with changes in the type of calls police agencies respond to, this research uses an interrupted time series, to analyse data provided from two border-straddling cities (Pullman, WA, and Moscow, ID). Findings indicate that recreational sales of marijuana is associated with noteworthy changes in police resourcing in the legalised state setting and the magnitude of those changes vary based on call type. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The War on Drugs resulted in increased arrest rates for women. Most of these arrests have been for low-level offenses, often involving cannabis. As states legalize cannabis, it is important to examine trends in arrests for women in a setting of early cannabis law reform. We examine National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS) monthly cannabis arrest rates in Colorado, one of the first two states to legalize cannabis for recreational purposes, from January 2010 through December 2016 using an interrupted time series approach. The interruption is conceptualized as the legalization of recreational marijuana in December 2012. Our results document an immediate statistically significant and sizable drop in cannabis-related arrests for women following legalization. However, troublesome racial and ethnic disparities persist. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract This paper explores if, and to what extent, shifting instruction modality influenced student learning outcome success in a writing intensive undergraduate course when COVID-19 shifted the method of the course’s delivery. With consistency in the instructor of record and writing prompt, the present study isolated and evaluated variability across student performance as assessed by final research project grades produced by the instructor, and assessment scores by two independent evaluators. Results show that instruction modality is associated with student performance. Students enrolled during the transitioning 2020 period earned lower grades on their final project as assessed by the instructor of record than students did in other course modalities. Additionally, these students performed lower in the areas of comprehension and citation. Students enrolled in 2021 hybrid class performed objectively lower, with lower scores on their final project and in the domains of clarity, comprehension, courtesy, cleverness, and citation in comparison to their pre-COVID-19 2019 face-to-face peers. Writing intensive capstone courses require faculty to work closely with students; students are more focused and attentive to improving the quality of their research papers and perfect their writing when faculty provide individualized attention to students in a face-to-face teaching modality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cannabis legalisation was viewed with great concern by law enforcement personnel. Here we show that police perceptions of the societal effects of legalisation are shaped to a considerable degree by officers' geographic context. Urban communities tend to be relatively prosperous and hold political and social views characterised as progressive. In contrast, rural areas tend to be much less affluent, and their residents tend to share relatively conservative political and social views. Often lacking in resources, rural police agencies experience greater difficulty with the implementation of a broad new social policy such as cannabis legalisation. We investigate how the rural or urban and east/west geographic locus of a police officer tends to shape their perceptions on cannabis-related issues. Our qualitative study involved interviews conducted in 2018 and 2019 of 67 officers from 24 agencies across Washington. Officers were drawn from 11 urban, 1 rural, and 2 tribal police departments in western Washington, and 5 urban and 3 rural police departments in eastern Washington. Both common concerns and some differing perceptions were articulated by these officers from urban and rural agencies. The common circumstance of rural decline is present in Washington as elsewhere in the US; the findings reported here suggest that marijuana legalisation outcomes will likely entail greater challenges of adaptive implementation in rural areas experiencing decline than in urban centres in those states currently reforming their marijuana laws. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]