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In this study, cybersecurity faculty and academic advisors from community colleges and 4-year universities in the southeast region of the United States completed a survey assessing attitudes about and support for articulation agreements and related transfer policies. Hypothesizing that professional structures shape attitudes and experiences, the researchers conducted an exploratory quantitative study with primarily descriptive analyses. The results reveal differences in attitudes between community college and 4-year stakeholders and between faculty and academic advisors. The results of this study are discussed in relation to faculty and advisor training and communication.

Few studies have considered the impact of technology on white-collar crime. This study examines the use of technology in white-collar cybercrimes and compares them to other varieties of white-collar crime using a sample of convicted offenders from Utah’s white-collar criminal registry. The results show that white-collar crimes that were not committed through computer technology were more likely to be incidents such as securities fraud while the white-collar cybercrimes were more likely to be committed by younger offenders and target small businesses and business owners. In addition, few of the white-collar cybercrimes involved the more serious types of cybercrimes (data breaches/hacking, etc.) identified by cyber criminologists. Consistent with past research, the level of technical skills needed among white-collar cybercriminals appeared minimal.

Electronic portfolios have been hailed as a useful pedological tool on numerous grounds. One commonly cited justification is that portfolios deepen student learning and help students develop a prof...

Cybersecurity education has grown exponentially over the past decade. This growth occurred at all levels of education – from high schools to community colleges to four-year universities. At the sam...

To counter tuition and textbook costs for degree-seeking students, a specific pathway to a bachelor’s degree in Leadership was developed. The pathway, comprised of partnerships with the high school...

This paper uses the public health framework to address the apparent impact of the coronavirus on the victimization experiences with a specific focus given to those over the age of 50. The bulk of attention is given to fraud victimization, with consideration also given to parent abuse, partner violence, and patient abuse. A review of data from the Federal Trade Commission shows that reports of most types of fraud grew significantly in the first three months of 2020 in comparison to the same time period in 2019. Differences between fraud experiences based on age are considered. Older persons lost much more to fraud than younger persons, and far more in 2020 than 2019. In addition, they reported being targeted more often for certain types of cybercrime (i.e., tech support scams). While devastating to everyone, it is concluded that the coronavirus will potentially have a more significant impact on the financial health of older persons than younger persons. It is concluded that minimizing the consequences of all forms of crimes targeting older adults will be best achieved by using a public health approach.

In 2020, Old Dominion University was awarded a State Council for Higher Education for Virginia grant in order to re-imagine the future of experiential learning at the institution. This campus-wide effort is led by a taskforce to create a vision, framework, and plan for the future of experiential learning at Old Dominion University. The taskforce is composed of stakeholders that include students, faculty, administrators, and community and business partners. In this chapter, the authors report on process and progress, with particular attention to the first three phases of the design thinking process. In the empathy phase, they have engaged in design thinking sprints, hosted monthly taskforce meetings, engaged in an exhaustive review of current experiential learning activities, and deployed surveys of relevant stakeholders. During the defining phase, they analyzed initial data, synthesized their collective empathy work, and identified root issues to craft their “How might we” questions to inform the ideation work. In this chapter, they also share the results of the ideation phase.

This study explores the characteristics of international cyber offenders prosecuted in the U.S. Our findings to a large extent correspond with general studies about cyber offenders with a few important exceptions. First, the average age of the offenders in our study is slightly higher than others that do not focus exclusively on international offenders. Second, while this research confirms that China is among the leading country in committing cybercrimes when it comes to committing particular types of cybercrimes, the offenders come from other countries as well such as Romania, Estonia, Ukraine, South Africa, and Nigeria. Third, our results show that in each of the cases from the sample, the international offenders received prison sentences alone, or complemented with a fine or restitution. In addition, the sentence length of citizens of African countries is significantly higher than the ones of citizens of other geographic regions. Prison sentences for cyber frauds and identity thefts were also found to be much lengthier than sentences for other types of cybercrimes. Implications are provided.

Compared to other topics, cybercrime is a relatively new addition to the criminological literature. Interest in the topic has grown over the past decade, with a handful of scholars leading efforts to generate empirical understanding about the topic. Common conclusions reached in these studies are that more research is needed, cybercrime is interdisciplinary in nature, and cybercrime should be addressed as an international problem. In this study, we examine a sample of 593 prior cybercrime scholarly articles to identify the types of research strategies used in them, the patterns guiding those strategies, whether the research is interdisciplinary, and the degree to which scholars engage in international cybercrime studies. Attention is also given to co-authorship as well citation patterns. Implications for future research are provided.

Probation offices are organizational units that provide the structure necessary to develop shared meaning systems that influence individual level attitudes, values, and beliefs. We analyze survey responses (n = 252) from county-level probation departments (n = 19) in a single state. The dependent variables are three-factor scales combining items to measure enforcement, reentry, and protection scales. Our central goal is to determine if the authoritarian (i.e. law enforcement) and assistance (i.e. social worker) typologies predict supervision goals. The robust regression analyses show that department (e.g. caseload size, number of officers) and county-level measures of poverty and percent black in the population are significant factors for enforcement and reentry. The article concludes with policy implications.

Over the past decade, reports of cybercrime have soared across the globe. Criminologists agree that the increase in cybercrime stems from technological advancements that have changed all facets of societal interactions. While it is agreed that technology has shaped cybercrime, there is less understanding about the dynamics of cybercrime. In particular, some researchers have explored whether these offenses are simply traditional types of crime that are now carried out through different strategies, while others have argued that cybercrimes are, in fact, new types of crime. This ambiguity potentially limits prevention and intervention strategies. In an effort to build our understanding about cybercrime within a criminological framework, in this study we use labeling theory as a guide to examine the patterns, characteristics, and sanctions associated with a sample of cybercrimes with an aim towards identifying how these offenses are socially constructed in comparison to traditional crimes, white-collar crimes, and international crimes. In doing so, our hope is to further determine how cybercrime can be understood within current criminological thinking.

Reports of cybercrime have escalated over the past decade. While these crimes have increased, our understanding about the dynamics surrounding cyber offenders has not kept pace. Few studies have co...

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to use exchange rate theory to compare how white-collar offenders and property offenders rank the severity of various correctional sanctions. Design/methodology/approach The authors use survey data from 160 inmates incarcerated for white-collar and property crimes in a Midwestern state to compare how white-collar inmates differed from property inmates in ranking the goals of prison and the punitiveness of prison as compared to other alternatives. Findings White-collar offenders were no different than property offenders in terms of their assessment of the punitiveness of prison compared to the punitiveness of the four sanctions under consideration here. White-collar offenders were significantly more likely than property offenders to believe that the goal of prison is to rehabilitate rather than deter individuals from further crime. Research limitations/implications Because the authors defined white-collar offenders by their crime of incarceration, they may have captured offenders who are not truly white-collar offenders. Focusing on offenders who were in prison did not allow them to fully examine whether similarities between white-collar and property offenders can be attributed to adjustment to prison or some other variable. Practical implications Alternative sanctions may be useful in punishing white-collar offenders in a less expensive manner than prison. Results suggest white-collar offenders may be more amenable to rehabilitation than property offenders and may not experience prison much differently than other types of offenders. Originality value This research is important because it is the first of its kind to compare white-collar offenders’ views about the punitiveness of prison and the goals of incarceration with those of property offenders.

We use a time and motion study to understand how probation officers spend their time. What officers spend their time doing and whom they spend their time with demonstrates a deeper symbolic meaning of how the convicted should be treated, what is believed effective to change behavior, and informs the community about definitions of public safety. Explicitly studying officer time is a neglected area of research. We model a count variable of minutes per task as a function of offender, offense, and task characteristics using zero-truncated negative binomial regressions. Results show that officers spend significantly more time with higher-risk offenders, mixed results regarding domestic violence and sex offenders, and significantly less time with older and black probationers. Our intentions are to delve deeper into how officers spend their time to contribute to the development of an evidence-based model of corrections.

The study of cyber security is an interdisciplinary pursuit that includes STEM disciplines as well as the social sciences. While research on cyber security appears to be central in STEM disciplines, it is not yet clear how central cyber security and cyber crime is to criminal justice scholarship. In order to examine the connections between cyber security and criminal justice, in this study attention is given to the way that criminal justice scholars have embraced cyber crime research and coursework. Results show that while there are a number of cyber crime courses included in criminal justice majors there are not a large number of cyber crime research studies incorporated in mainstream criminal justice journals.

The supervision of driving while intoxicated/impaired (DWI) offenders composes a large share of probation officer’s caseloads. Crime and justice researchers have made tremendous advances in the ability to classify offenders according to general recidivism, with the Level of Service Inventory–Revised (LSI-R) being one of the most tested instruments used by community corrections officers. There has yet to emerge a risk assessment tool designed to classify DWI offenders according to their likelihood to be arrested for multiple DWIs. This article estimates a series of multinomial logistic regression models to identify differences between one-time DWI offenders and chronic DWI offenders. The central independent variables are the items on the LSI-R and a popular alcohol and substance abuse screener (Adult Substance Use Survey [ASUS]), while controlling for age, race, gender, and marital status. These instruments are important tools to classify DWI offenders, and the results suggest that the community corrections field (including the offenders supervised) would benefit from a risk assessment tool to classify DWI offenders.

People use the word “violent” to describe a wide range of behaviors. When referring to acts of force, however, past research indicates that people often reserve the word “violent” to refer to acts of force that they define as “bad.” In the current study we use vignettes to explore variation in people’s definitions of a particular instance of the use of force. The findings indicate support for the idea that people reserve the word “violent” to refer to acts of force they view as “bad.” Findings indicate there is variation in perceptions of the level of violence, and whether the incident was even violent. Characteristics of the incident as well as the gender of those involved account for the majority of the variance explained.

In this manuscript, the perils and pitfalls of academic administration are discussed. The move to the “dark side” of academe is one that many choose not to take, and many who do take it do so with little understanding of the opportunities and challenges that await them. The author uses his career progression from faculty member to vice provost as a case study.

At its very core, the phrase “criminal justice sciences” points to the interdisciplinary nature of our field. However, efforts to promote and support interdisciplinary teaching and research face significant barriers. In this paper, I address how interdisciplinarity is conceptualized, the history of criminal justice as an interdisciplinary field, why we should promote interdisicplinarity, barriers we confront in interdisciplinary efforts, the degree to which ACJS members engage in interdisciplinary practices, factors related to interdisciplinarity, and opportunities for increased interdisciplinary research in criminal justice. To grow as an academic field, I conclude that we must look to other disciplines such as biology, computer science, policy, and women’s studies as we expand our disciplinary boundaries.

The incarceration experiences of white-collar offenders have received relatively little attention among criminological researchers, and the research that has been conducted has focused on offenders’ experiences in prisons rather than jails. The purpose of this study was to fill this gap by examining approximately 6500 inmates incarcerated in local jails, comparing those classified as white-collar offenders to violent and other non-violent offenders. The differences between offender types based on demographics, psychological adjustment (i.e., mental health issues since arrival to jail), and behavioral adjustment (i.e., institutional misconduct) are examined to see whether white-collar inmates have more difficulty than others adjusting to the jail environment (consistent with the special sensitivity hypothesis). Findings suggest that white-collar jail inmates do not appear to experience symptoms indicative of poor psychological or behavioral adjustment to the jail environment. Implications for policy and fu...

According to broken windows theory, neighborhood physical and social disorder cause residents to be fearful and retreat from their neighborhoods. Broken windows theory has influenced policy, most notably in the policing arena. This chapter aims to investigate the relationship between broken windows or neighborhood disorder, and subjective quality of life. In so doing, it extends broken windows theory and examines whether one key assumption of the theory is empirically supported. To assess the impact of disorder on quality of life, a telephone survey of residents living in two large southeastern cities was conducted. The survey included several sections including demographic questions and questions about quality of life issues, social networks, neighborhood disorder, health, and interpersonal relationships. Utilizing ordinary least-squares (OLS) regression, the chapter explores differences in reported quality of life for a basic model that included demographic variables, an expanded model with composite predictor measures included, and a series of full models with disorder variables added.

Researchers have used lifestyle theory to delineate patterns surrounding various forms of victimization. Much of this research focuses on conventional crimes and demonstrates a seemingly consistent pattern in terms of victim age: older victim’s lifestyles reduce their risk for conventional victimization, but may increase their risk for other forms of victimization. Using lifestyle/routine activity theory as a guide, this study explores whether the lifestyles and activities of older persons are tied to their risk of being targeted for telemarketing fraud. Our findings suggest that victimization risk for telemarketing fraud does not vary across the life-course, and that lifestyles of older persons are not tied to telemarketing fraud victimization. Factors tied to victimization include neighborhood disorder and being employed part-time. Implications are provided.

Despite widespread media attention, research efforts, and political support, there is relatively little known about how individuals who are employed in the criminal justice system perceive the fairness, efficacy, and scope of policies aimed at sex offenders. The present study considers the attitudes and beliefs toward sex offenders and sex offender laws, including registration, community notification, and residency restrictions, held by a diverse sample of criminal justice officials who represent all three major components of the criminal justice system. Findings reveal that variation exists among types of criminal justice officials with respect to their perspectives on sex offenders, and most criminal justice officials endorse the implementation and enforcement of current sex offender laws, despite having doubts about their efficacy.

Researchers generally accept that victims may experience revictimization in the criminal justice system when they relive victimization experiences while recounting the victimization to criminal justice officials. In addition, scholars have drawn attention to the need to be sensitive in victimology courses and other courses focusing on victimization. In this study, the authors examine whether victims experience forms of revictimization when learning about victimization in college courses. Attention is also given to whether learning about victimization promotes self-identification as a victim. Our findings suggest that minor forms of revictimization may occur. A sizeable portion of the students reported learning that they were victimized in the past as a result of the course material. Implications for teaching victimology are provided.

As the elderly population grows, cases of elder abuse are expected to increase. Two service agencies that will be responsible for handling elder abuse cases are adult protective services (APS) and law enforcement. This study surveyed members of both groups on their perception of knowledge needed and possessed by their colleagues related to processing elder abuse cases. Law enforcement officers reported a significant lack of knowledge on elements related to legal reporting requirements, collecting evidence, and obtaining services for elderly victims, and APS workers reported a significant lack of knowledge on several elements. In addition, APS workers reported significantly more knowledge than law enforcement officers on all elements. This suggests that increased, yet tailored training is needed for both groups and that APS can assist law enforcement agents in improving their ability to handle elder abuse cases.

Numerous studies have considered how witnessing violence early in the life course influences subsequent behavioral outcomes. Few, however, have considered whether witnessing violence influences emotional outcomes, outside of specific psychological dimensions. This study considers the ties between witnessing abuse as a child and emotionality as an adult. The authors used data from a random sample of telephone interviews. In all, 375 adults participated in the survey and 67 of the respondents reported witnessing some form of physical violence between their parents. Findings revealed no differences between individual levels of emotionality for those who witnessed domestic violence as a child as compared to those who did not. Higher levels of emotionality were found for females. Theoretical implications for patriarchal theory and life-course criminology are presented. Suggestions for future research are also presented.

The purpose of this research is to examine whether inmates that have served electronic monitoring (EM) find it more punitive than offenders that have not served electronic monitoring. We asked a sample of 1194 inmates currently incarcerated in a Midwestern state to estimate exchange rates of electronic monitoring over prison by rating how many months of EM they would serve to avoid 12 months in prison. The results indicate that inmates view EM as less punitive than prison and that monitored offenders find EM more punitive than unmonitored offenders. Additionally, black inmates were more likely to have served EM than white inmates and older inmates find EM more punitive than younger inmates. Previously monitored offenders report that they will be less likely to rely on family and friends upon release from prison. These results suggest that EM is perceived as a punitive sanction by those that have experienced it. Furthermore, racial differences uncovered here may help explain why minorities view alternative...

The use of community corrections continues to grow across the globe as alternatives to incarceration are sought. Little research attention, however, has been directed at correctional alternatives from a global orientation. The purpose of this research study is to compare the way that a sample of criminal justice students from the United States ( n = 118) and Bosnia and Herzegovina ( n = 133) perceive electronic monitoring. Because electronic monitoring is a newer sentencing alternative and it is used differently in Bosnia and Herzegovina than it is in the United States, it is predicted that Bosnian students will view electronic monitoring differently than will students from the United States. This study finds that while students are largely supportive of electronic monitoring sentences, support is affected by offender type and student nationality. For example, Bosnian students are more supportive of electronic monitoring sentences for drug offenders while American students are more supportive of electronic monitoring sentences for juvenile offenders. Differences were also found across student groups when attitudes toward electronic monitoring and the costs and pains associated with electronic monitoring were assessed. Specifically, American students were less likely to view electronic monitoring as meeting the goals of rehabilitation and more likely to view the conditions and restrictions associated with electronic monitoring as being punitive than Bosnian students were. Implications from these findings, as well as limitations and suggestions for further research are discussed.

The purpose of this paper is to use criminological theories to explain chronic drunk driving. There is little criminological research explaining recidivist drunk driving with criminological theories. Instead, most researchers posit that repeat drunk driving is explained as a byproduct of substance abuse. Although substance abuse is likely correlated to chronic drunk driving, theoretical explanations need to go further to understand a broader set of social and psychological predictors. Factor analysis and linear regression techniques are used to estimate the relationship between items from two assessment instruments with a number of drunken driving offenses. The sample consists of nearly 3,500 individuals on probation and parole in a Southwestern state. The findings support our contention that criminological frameworks are helpful to understand chronic DUI. We found significant results for volatility, antisocial friends, teenage deviance, and negative views of the law, while controlling for age, gender, marital status, and race. DUIs are a serious problem for the criminal justice system and understanding the individual level correlates of repetitive DUI is crucial for policy development. Further, chronic DUI offers criminologists an opportunity to determine the ability of criminological theories to explain this type of behavior.

Prior research shows that individual perceptions of victims play an integral role in the societal response to domestic violence, as well as victims' responses to their own victimization. However, little research has specifically examined individual perceptions of domestic violence victims who remain in abusive relationships. This study begins to fill the void in the literature by examining college students' attitudes toward battered women. Specifically, the study considers whether students adhere to common myths associated with battering and if myths lead college students to view domestic violence victims as “blameworthy.” The study relies on a sample of 370 university students attending a large Southern metropolitan university. Findings indicate that students moderately support domestic violence myths and that myth promotion is associated with support for increased criminal justice penalties such as prosecution of mothers and approval of delayed police response in cases of repeat victimization. Implicati...

Moving past descriptions of the amount and nature of domestic violence, researchers in the area of childhood violence now explore a variety of outcomes of experiences of domestic violence as a child. This includes the effects on various outcomes in adulthood though little research so far has explored career choice. In the current study, we examine whether experiencing domestic violence as a child increases the chance that an individual will choose a human services profession as a career and if individuals in the human services professions who report experiences of domestic violence as a child have lower rates of being a victim of domestic violence as adults than those who do not. The findings suggest that experiences of violence as a child do not significantly affect the choice of human services as a career. Those who choose human services as a career, however, are less likely to experience domestic violence as an adult.

Past research does not differentiate between the types of crimes committed against the elderly. This study examines the similarities and differences between the multiple types of offenses committed against older persons. The current study uses data drawn from 294 abuse, neglect, and exploitation cases with an aim toward differentiating between elder abuse, elder domestic violence, elder white-collar crime, and general crime. Cross tabulations were used to examine the relationship between offense type and victim, as well as situational characteristics. A series of multivariate logistic regression models were employed to examine which characteristics were associated with the different offense types. Results show that victim characteristics vary in the different offense categories, and specific offense types are tied to the offense categories. The results also show that caregiver burden is more common in elder abuse cases involving daughters as offenders. Although white-collar crimes targeting older victims ...

Over the past two decades, a number of different types of policies have been developed to govern sex offenders. Sex offender residence restriction policies have proliferated as part of this growth in sex offender policies. Several studies have focused on how different types of respondents perceive these policies. These studies show that individuals have mixed perceptions about the policies. Less attention has been given to the factors that influence professionals’ attitudes about sex offender residence restriction. In this study, 716 community corrections professionals were surveyed in an effort to identify how they framed their perceptions about residence restriction. Specific attention was given to the impact of demographic factors, education, and perceptions of the fairness and efficacy of sex offender policies. Results show that support for the policies is tied to gender, education, and perceptions of fairness and effectiveness. Implications are discussed.

The literature indicates Medicaid fraud is pervasive and comprises a substantial portion of health care spending. One type of Medicaid fraud that has not been explored is durable medical equipment fraud. This study seeks to fill this gap in the literature by examining the characteristics of durable medical equipment fraud cases investigated by Medicaid Fraud Control Units. Content analysis was used to review 258 reported cases of durable medical equipment fraud. The findings indicate that providers engage in a range of offenses and are subject to a variety of sanctions. Policy implications and recommendations for future research are provided.

The criminal justice system has experienced changes related to correctional population growth over the past 30years. This article applies general systems theory to assess differences between directors’ and nondirectors’ perceptions of community corrections goals of supervision, importance of officer tasks, and the time required to complete such tasks. Policy implications are drawn from the results of a web-based survey of the American Probation and Parole Association.

While research on elder maltreatment has increased dramatically over the past three decades, few studies have considered elder neglect. Even fewer studies have addressed cases of patient neglect committed while older adults are receiving long-term care. In this study, we analyzed 252 cases of elder maltreatment to increase understanding about elder patient neglect and the way that patient neglect can be distinguished from patient abuse. The criminal justice system’s response to these crimes is also addressed. The results show that offenders in elder patient abuse and patient neglect cases receive similar sentences. However, the dynamics surrounding the offenses are different in important ways. Patient neglect cases are more likely than patient abuse cases to (1) involve multiple victims, (2) be committed in groups, (3) be white-collar crimes rather than occupational crimes, and (4) result in more serious consequences for victims. Implications for policy, theory, and research are provided.

Studying attitudes toward capital punishment has been a topic of interest for decades. Indeed, it is often the subject of Gallup polls, political commentary, and social science research. Research i...

Little is known about how criminal justice officials perceive fairness, efficacy or scope of sex offender registration, community notification procedures, residency restrictions, and beliefs about sex offenders. The present study examines the utility of assessing community corrections professionals’ views of sex offenders using the community attitudes toward sex offenders scale. Evaluation of the applicability of this standardized scale for understanding community corrections professionals’ views reveals problems with the scale’s application.

Criminal justice has long been recognized as an interdisciplinary field of study. When cross disciplines are considered, attention is often given to closely related social science disciplines such as sociology and political science. A closer look, however, reveals that criminal justice overlaps with numerous arts-oriented disciplines including art and music. This article highlights the overlap between criminal justice and these disciplines and makes a case for greater collaboration between these disciplines. Barriers to cross-disciplinary work are addressed along with strategies to promote collaboration.

Research indicates that effective advising has important ramifications for students’ coursework as well as future careers, yet, very few studies have assessed how college graduates define their advising experiences, and whether the experience of “bad advising” truly results in negative outcomes for students and departments. To fill this void, attention is given to the way that graduates from one department defined their advising experiences. Results show that ineffective advising influenced learning outcomes and perceptions of the department. Implications for improving advising practices are suggested.

Past research has considered factors that contribute to students’ attitudes about group projects. Much of this research has focused on the influence of demographic characteristics such as gender, race, and age. This study extends that past research and considers whether participating in group projects potentially changes students’ attitudes about group projects. Surveys were conducted with 85 students, 48 of whom had just completed a group project. Results showed that students who just completed a group project had slightly different attitudes about group projects than those who did not. Attention was also given to the total number of group projects to which students were exposed. Analyses showed that those who were exposed to more group projects held different attitudes about group projects than those who had fewer group projects. Implications are provided.