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Previous research on rural gangs in America has found these groups not only to be relatively transitory in nature but also forming during periods of economic recovery. This qualitative study focuses on a community within the impoverished rural Mississippi Delta with an extended history of institutionalized Black gangs with ties to national gang nations. Through in-depth interviews with incarcerated members of the community, many of whom have/had gang ties, we seek to understand the unique conditions that fostered these non-traditional rural gangs. More specifically, we critically examine the relationship between social and structural factors that affected the origins, processes, and persistence of gangs in the area. Our findings highlight the social dislocations influenced by state-abandoned responsibilities and the corresponding adaptations by gangs and their members.

The nonmedical use of prescription stimulants has been prevalent on college campuses in recent years. Previously, nonmedical prescription stimulant use (NMPSU) has been associated with increased use of other illicit substances, drug abuse, school dropout, and arrest. It is, therefore, imperative to understand the etiology of NMPSU for prevention, intervention, and harm reduction purposes. This study builds upon previous research on the role of academic strain in NMPSU by (a) considering a measure of strain that is more consistent with strain theory and (b) extending the examination to include graduate students. By utilizing an original data set of 1,121 undergraduate and graduate students at a Southern urban university, our overall results are consistent with general strain theory but mixed with respect to the role of academic strain in particular. The implications of our study for academic strain are discussed.

Though synthetic cannabinoid receptor agonists (SCRAs) were controlled after being introduced as a 'legal high,' SCRAs likely remain appealing to individuals subject to routine drug screens as not all testing programs consistently include SCRAs. Military populations have been linked to SCRAs due to the unconfirmed supposition that testing protocols led many to substitute SCRAs for cannabis. This study aimed to explore SCRA use prevalence, correlates, and use motivations among veterans, with a particular focus on whether United States military personnel substituted SCRAs for cannabis to subvert testing protocols.All veterans appearing in one of eight civilian criminal courts in three U.S. states were invited to answer questionnaire items related to military service, court functionality, and substance use. Of the 579 veterans eligible, 54.9% chose to participate, yielding a cross-sectional sample of 318 veterans charged with a criminal offense by civilian authorities.Sixty-five (21.3%) justice-involved veterans reported lifetime SCRA use. Use while within the military was reported by 15.0% of veterans enlisting after 2008. Only eight (12.3%) reported SCRAs were used as a substitute for cannabis. Boredom (36.9%), experimentation (27.7%), and social aspects of SCRA use (32.3%) were more commonly reported motives. Logistic regression models indicated that use of cannabis (aPR=2.06, p.05), hallucinogens (aPR=2.50, p.01), and SCRAs (aPR=2.49, p.05) while in the military were risk factors for SCRA use after leaving the military, whereas older age at time of military exist was a protective factor (aPR=.87, p.01) CONCLUSIONS: Drug testing programs within the military do not appear to have the unintended consequence of routing individuals to more risky drugs; however, SCRAs appear to have been an underappreciated problem within the military. Further, use extends beyond the military with many only initiating use after discharge, suggesting SCRA use may jeopardize the health of veterans post-service.

Domestically and globally females continue to be underrepresented in policing, despite their greater likelihood of advancing themselves through higher education, driving organizational change, and being less likely to use excessive force or be named in civil litigation than their male counterparts. Extant research indicates that women may be effectively gated from policing by a subculture that aggrandizes characteristics consistent with the crime-fighting paradigm. Using qualitative data from in-depth interviews with female officers, this study investigates the female officer experience of police subculture in terms of masculinity, gender disparities, and sexualized activities. To understand the perceived environment of the department and contextualize it within the literature, the dominance of masculine personality traits and gender disparities within the department are first explored to determine whether a hypermasculine subculture was present. Then, female officers’ definitions of sexual harassment, their roles in these activities, and their motivations for participation were examined.

Veterans treatment courts (VTCs) are currently the fastest growing specialized court in the United States. In the wake of this rapid dissemination, the field has begun to empirically resear...

A wealth of scientific evidence supports the effectiveness of HIV prophylaxis and treatment. Homelessness has become one of the strongest predictors of health status and viral suppression among vulnerable populations and can undermine the national plan to eliminate HIV by 2030. This retrospective observational study examined the extent in which homelessness affects HIV treatment in an underserved urban area of Middle Tennessee in 2014-2019. Among 692 HIV-seropositive patients, the proportion of homeless patients increased from 13.5% to 27.7%, thrice the national average for HIV-seropositive people (8.4%) and twice that of Ryan White patients nationwide (12.9%). Our findings suggest that homeless patients were half as likely to achieve viral suppression as compared to those who had a permanent/stable home [OR 0.48 (0.32-0.72), p-value

This paper reviews the distinct nature of the COVID-19 pandemic and examines the resultant court responses and recommendations disseminated by various entities that support courts. Specifically, we contextualize the current environment the present pandemic has created by considering how it compares to the most-recent previous pandemics. We then review guidelines disseminated to the courts and the modifications and innovations implemented by the courts in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Additional challenges related to these recommendations and modifications are identified and discussed.

While the extant research on trust and confidence in the criminal justice system is broad in scope, its individual studies are more limited, leaving much unknown about these relationships. Building on prior research, the current study investigates the relationships between prior contact, victimization, and seven measures of trust and confidence in the police and courts. This study responds to calls for the relationships between trust and confidence in the criminal justice system, race/ethnicity, prior contact, and victimization to be investigated within a single study. Although rare in prior research, outcomes of trust and confidence in local police and courts are individually investigated within the same sample simultaneously. As a first, the current study also separates prior contact by police, courts, community corrections, and institutional corrections and examines four types of victimization (direct violent, vicarious violent, direct non-violent, vicarious non-violent). The latter allows for an examination of potentially more nuanced relationships between victimization and trust and confidence in the police and in the courts.

Problem solving courts have increasingly been adopted by jurisdictions around the country as an alternative to traditional criminal court models of justice. Veterans treatment courts (VTCs) are a type of problem-solving court being established all over the country in response to an increased number of justice-involved veterans with the return of military personnel from the Wars in the Middle East. Despite their rapid expansion, there is a dearth of research evaluating the impact of VTCs on recidivism. The current study conducted an impact evaluation regarding recidivism among participants of a large urban VTC program. Findings from descriptive and multivariate analysis reveal positive results for VTC participants, especially graduates, in comparison with the control group. Implications are discussed in context of three areas: (a) current criminal justice policy and practice implications for VTCs, (b) findings from research on other more established problem-solving courts (i.e., drug courts), and (c) research–practitioner partnerships.

In line with reentry and life course research that has shown increases in desistance for individuals connected with employment, work release programming attempts to achieve desistance from crime by linking criminal offenders to the labor market while in the correctional system. Recent research has speculated that the completion of rigorous employment programming may serve as a signal to employers that criminal careers have ceased and the offenders are employable. Therefore, it is important to understand factors associated with successful program completion. This study utilizes a sample of jail-based work release participants to explore factors correlated with program completion. Consistent with prior research, we find that offenders who are older, Caucasian, and employed at time of arrest are more likely to complete the program and that minority participants and those with prior mental health treatment are less likely to complete the program.

The veterans treatment court (VTC) is a recently developed specialized court that targets the growing population of veterans in contact with the criminal justice system. Using data collected from the first national survey of VTCs in 2012, this study explores who VTC participants are by creating a descriptive portrait of their personal and military characteristics and the legal, extralegal, and programmatic challenges they face. This study also examines the perceived relationships between military service and legal and extralegal issues. This research produces the first early illustration of VTC participants on a national level, finding similarity and variability across VTCs, in comparison with the national veteran population, and between servicemen and servicewomen on a variety of factors. Furthermore, this study identifies recent changes in the VTC participant population. Recommendations for VTC programs and for research on justice-involved veterans and active-duty personnel are provided in light of the fluid VTC population.

Background Though case studies, media reports, and anecdotal evidence point to creative forms of alcohol use such as “eyeballing,” inhalation through vaporizers and other “alcohol without liquid” (AWOL) devices, and “slimming” as a growing trend, no empirical study has assessed the veracity of these claims. The present study attempts to debunk, confirm, or alter the popular perception that young adults are administering alcohol in novel ways. Methods A self-report paper survey was administered to 2349 young adults selected for inclusion using a stratified random sampling technique. Respondents were asked to indicate all of the ways in which they had administered alcohol and presented options ranging from traditional oral consumption from a cup, can, or bottle to innovative techniques referenced by medical reports and news outlets. The prevalence of each form of innovative use was reported and explored. Results Innovative alcohol use was very rare in the sample. Only 25 of 2349 participants (1.1%) had engaged in one or more of the creative methods of alcohol consumption. Among these individuals, most reported either using an AWOL device and/or administering alcohol anally. Vaginal administration and “eyeballing” were only reported by three and one respondents, respectively. Conclusions It appears that innovative alcohol use is more than an urban legend but that innovative use, even among a population with high rates of alcohol and drug use, is rare. Regardless, physicians and emergency medical personnel need to be aware of and prepared for dealing with innovative alcohol use.

Controversy exists regarding whether specialized courts, specifically drug courts, adhere to the restorative justice model. Veterans treatment courts (VTCs) are the newest programmatic innovation in the specialized court arena and have not been widely studied to date. This study utilizes data from the first in-depth case study of a VTC and explores whether it embodies the restorative justice ideal. Using both quantitative and qualitative data, we find that the VTC does not fully embody the restorative justice agenda, but it adheres closer to the ideal than drug courts.

“Peer deviance” is normally measured through one’s perceptions of the deviant behavior of friends. However, recent research suggests that peer deviance perceptions may be inaccurate and unreflective of a peer’s actual deviance. Using dyadic data, the current study addresses the potential for three distinct sources of misperceptions of peer deviance stemming from (a) the actor who generates the perception, (b) the friend about whose deviance is perceived, and (c) the friendship between the actor and the friend. Using multilevel regression alongside analyses of variance (ANOVAs), results demonstrate that misperceptions, overperceptions, and underperceptions of peer deviance occur frequently and systematically covary with the deviant behavior of the perceiver, the friend, and the total amount of deviance within the friendship.

Official statistics indicate that approximately 10% of incarcerated offenders are veterans. Increased attention has been paid to a distinct constellation of issues and needs in relation to military service and/or training (e.g., mental health, post-traumatic stress disorder, reintegration, substance abuse), which may increase the likelihood of contact with the criminal justice system. Individuals facing these challenges require specific services, but barriers to their access exist, including insurance coverage and stigmatization. With the increased awareness of the “invisible wounds of war,” practitioners have called for initiatives to: 1) improve public safety, including the safety of first responders and the veterans they are responding to 2) provide treatment focused responses 3) reduce recidivism (later contact with the criminal justice system).This summary reports the results from the first annual Justice Involved Veterans Stakeholder Summit that took place from November 9th through 11th of 2015 in Huntsville, Texas. The summit was organized by the Texas Veterans Commission, the Department of State Health Services, the Bell/Lampasas County Community Supervision and Corrections Department, and the Meadows Mental Health Policy Institute in partnership with the Law Enforcement Management Institute and Correctional Management Institute of Texas at Sam Houston State University. Participants included of subject matter experts on veterans, mental health, and criminal justice issues and practitioner participants from all stages of the criminal justice system. All participants are listed at the end of this report.The Summit’s goal was to produce recommendations for strategies targeting veterans in contact with the criminal justice system specifically using the GAINS Center Sequential Intercept Model. This model focuses on partnerships between mental health and criminal justice entities and includes the five following intercepts:1) 911/Law Enforcement2) Initial Detention/Initial Court Hearings3) Jails/Specialty Courts4) Jail Reentry/Prison Reentry5) Community SupervisionThe practitioner participants were divided into five groups, one for each intercept, based on their roles in their institutions and agencies. The subject matter experts moved between groups and were called upon by groups to advise as needed.This report presents the problems, needs, barriers, and corresponding solutions collectively identified by the groups and subject matter experts. While the focus was on the State of Texas, these recommendations can be implemented by a wide variety of communities.

Scholars have recently reformulated the moral panic framework (Goode and Ben-Yehuda 1994, 2009). We employ this new framework in an evaluation of Gainesville, Florida's adoption of the anti-rave law. Our findings suggest that both individuals and groups were vital in the construction of an interest group model moral panic that led to the adoption of this law. Although researchers have utilized the moral panic framework in analyzing many social and legal changes over the past 40 years, it has also garnered much criticism. In an effort to further advance the framework, we provide several modifications to Goode and Ben-Yehuda's (2009) most recent reconceptualization and recommendations for future moral panic research.

While there seems to be growing media intrigue over atypical forms of alcohol use, the utilization of the majority of novel consumption methods (e.g., eyeballing, slimming, alcohol without liquid (AWOL)) seems minimal. In 2014, however, several outlets suggested that powdered alcohol would soon surface as a threat to public safety. The impetus of these fears was the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau’s approval for Lipsmark LLC to package a powdered alcohol product named “Palcohol”. Palcohol has yet to reach store shelves, but public outcry has been intense. Despite this reaction, little is known about whether the population will consider Palcohol a suitable alternative to traditional alcohol, particularly given its excessive predicted cost. In an exploratory effort to assess perceptions, use intentions, and fears related to Palcohol, 31 young adults were asked to view a 16-minute video about Palcohol and answer a series of questions about Palcohol, including whether and how they intend to use it. Results suggest that young adults intend to experiment with Palcohol following its release, but they have a number of concerns. While few expect to become habitual users of the product, many believe it will enable people to utilize alcohol in settings where its consumption is prohibited.

Using data from the Rochester Youth Development Study (RYDS), this article compares Hispanic, African American, and White male adolescents to determine if the reasons for joining a gang and participating in delinquent behavior differ among these youths. Vigil’s multiple marginality perspective informed the selection of variables. The age at which the primary caregiver had her first child, parental expectations for educational achievement, and coming from a Spanish-speaking home predict ever being in a gang and are indirectly related to general delinquency, serious delinquency, and drug sales. These findings are interpreted as reflecting the social structural disadvantages that Hispanic families face and the difficulties that arise as the younger generation becomes less tied to the traditional culture.

IntroductionAfter introducing several types of offenses and offenders that typically fell out of the province of official police or court data on crime, Edwin Sutherland stated the following in his 1934 criminology text:The selective nature of arrest and of imprisonment make these statistics an inadequate source of information regarding the characteristics of criminals, but it is difficult to develop statistics regarding criminals who are not recorded in some manner. Apparently, therefore, the best that can be done at present is to recognize the bias in the statistics of arrests or of prisons and attempt to secure statistics in other ways regarding the classes which are not adequately represented. (1934: 39)He further recognized, however, that these "specialized statistical studies" were "still in a primitive stage, the units are not adequately defined and they are confined to the characteristics at a particular time and have little value in showing the process by which crime develops"... Language: en

Born in Glen Ridge, NJ, March 5, 1947. Education: College of Wooster BA 1969, Psychology; University of Maryland MA 1972, Sociology; Florida State University PhD 1974, Criminology. Assistant Professor of Sociology, Western Illinois University, 1974–1975; Assistant Professor of Sociology, University of Iowa, 1975–1979; Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Iowa, 1979–1985; Associate Professor of Sociology, State University of New York at Albany, 1985–1988; Professor of Sociology, State University of New York at Albany, 1988–2005; Chair, Department of Sociology, State University of New York at Albany, 1992–1995; Professor and Associate Dean, School of Criminal Justice, State University of New York at Albany, 2005–2008; Professor and Director of the Division of Criminology, Law and Society, University of Florida, 2008–2011; Professor, Department of Sociology and Criminology & Law, University of Florida, 2011–present. Keywords: Adolescent Development; Anti-Social Behavior; Delinquency; Drugs; Gangs; Network Theory

Background/Aims: Continuous renal replacement therapy (CRRT) is commonly used for critically ill patients with acute kidney injury. During treatment, a slow dialysate flow rate can be applied to enhance diffusive solute removal. However, due to the lack of the rationale of the dialysate flow configuration (countercurrent or concurrent to blood flow), in clinical practice, the connection settings of a hemodiafilter are done depending on nurse preference or at random. Methods: In this study, we investigated the effects of flow configurations in a hemodiafilter during continuous venovenous hemodialysis on solute removal and fluid transport using computational fluid dynamic modeling. We solved the momentum equation coupling solute transport to predict quantitative diffusion and convection phenomena in a simplified hemodiafilter model. Results: Computational modeling results showed superior solute removal (clearance of urea: 67.8 vs. 45.1 ml/min) and convection (filtration volume: 29.0 vs. 25.7 ml/min) performances for the countercurrent flow configuration. Countercurrent flow configuration enhances convection and diffusion compared to concurrent flow configuration by increasing filtration volume and equilibrium concentration in the proximal part of a hemodiafilter and backfiltration of pure dialysate in the distal part. In clinical practice, the countercurrent dialysate flow configuration of a hemodiafilter could increase solute removal in CRRT. Nevertheless, while this configuration may become mandatory for high-efficiency treatments, the impact of differences in solute removal observed in slow continuous therapies may be less important. Under these circumstances, if continuous therapies are prescribed, some of the advantages of the concurrent configuration in terms of simpler circuit layout and simpler machine design may overcome the advantages in terms of solute clearance. Conclusion: Different dialysate flow configurations influence solute clearance and change major solute removal mechanisms in the proximal and distal parts of a hemodiafilter. Advantages of each configuration should be balanced against the overall performance of the treatment and its simplicity in terms of treatment delivery and circuit handling procedures.

This summary reports the major results from the author’s dissertation research using data collected from a national survey administered to 79 Veterans Treatment Courts (VTCs) in 2012. This research produced a comprehensive national overview of VTCs; the complete findings, additional analysis, and an in-depth case study of a VTC can be found in her dissertation titled “Veterans Treatment Courts: Studying Dissemination, Implementation, and Impact of Treatment-Oriented Criminal Courts” (University of Florida).

Purpose The development, implementation, and evaluation of a pharmacist-led, multidisciplinary diabetes management team (DMT) at a 564-bed medical center in Jackson, Mississippi, are described. Summary The overwhelming prevalence of diabetes in Mississippi has a major impact on the state’s health care system. Mississippi Baptist Health Systems (MBHS) developed a consultation-driven DMT in November 2008. The DMT embraced the multidisciplinary approach by uniting pharmacists, physicians, and other health care providers to optimize the care of patients with diabetes. The DMT initially focused on patients undergoing coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) surgery but also manages patients with a variety of causes of hyperglycemia. To evaluate the success of the DMT, postoperative serum blood glucose levels were collected from January 2008 through December 2010 for patients undergoing CABG at MBHS before and after the implementation of the DMT. The primary outcome was the number of patients with serum blood glucose concentrations exceeding 200 mg/dL. Secondary outcomes measured included the rates of sternal surgical-site infection and the frequency of hypoglycemia. Conclusion Implementation of a pharmacist-led, multidisciplinary DMT helped to achieve intensive glycemic control in CABG patients and decrease the rate of infection.

Background This study aims to understand which young adults’ drinking behaviors change in the presence of happy hour specials, the ways in which they change, and whether a link exists between happy hour drinking behavior and negative outcomes. Methods Using data collected from bar-going respondents (n = 1,423) within a print survey administered to a general college sample (n = 2,349), we identify significant differences in changes in happy hour behavior between demographic groups using χ2 tests and determine whether this behavior is related to six negative alcohol-related outcomes using logistical and ordinary least squares regression models with a variety of controls, including age of onset and frequency of use. Results Women, students under 21, non-athletes, members of Greek-affiliated organizations, more affluent and unemployed students, and students living on campus were more likely to change their drinking behavior in the presence of happy hour specials. In general, the most robust predictors of negative events are gender, alcohol use frequency, age of alcohol use onset, and increasing drinking due to happy hours/bar specials. While it was linked to various negative and illegal behaviors, altered happy hour drinking was not associated with an increased likelihood of an alcohol-related arrest. Conclusions This study lends support to the idea that alcohol price specials should be regulated in an effort to reduce high consumption and alcohol-related negative consequences. Future research into the relationship between happy hour drinking and negative outcomes is necessary and should examine the impact of happy hour advertisements, different types of specials, and the timing of happy hours.