Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Chicago school of criminology'

The purpose of the study was to examine what role social control, in the context of family, school, and community, played in the participants' decision to join gangs in their adolescent years. The study examined the lives of four male ex-gang members over the age of 18, with extensive criminal records and poor academic histories. Participants were chosen from a Stockton reentry facility where ex-offenders were in the process of improving their lives by breaking the chains of street gang involvement, criminality, and incarceration.

The findings revealed that social control administered by family, school, law enforcement, and community all played a significant role in shaping each participant's decision to join his prospective gang in adolescence. The researcher found that while the family life of the participants was the prime mover in terms of a nudge toward gang life, school was also a place where they were constantly devalued, in large part because educators did not understand them, and the teachers arrived to their classrooms ill equipped for the realities of teaching in schools located in violence-ridden neighborhoods where the youth suffered morbid and multiple exposure to trauma. In fact, the teachers and law enforcement's inept ways of addressing the participant's maladaptive behaviors—with a propensity for handling all issues with punitive measures—ended up creating incentives for the participants to join a gang.

The Latino paradox of crime suggests that relative to other groups with similar rates of economic disadvantage, Latinos fare a lot better in a wide array of social indices, including the propensity to violence and crime. While previous studies tend to overestimate the role of community members in creating the conditions under which violent crime occurs, very few have examined the direct role of the ‘disorganizing’ or ‘organizing’ factors that result from political turf wars. This study will examine the ways in which the mobilization of resources and organizational infrastructures affect the immigration-crime nexus. In an effort to better understand the Latino paradox associated with crime, this study shall critically examine how organization-based resources affect variations in violent crime rate among Latino neighborhoods in the City of Chicago.

With overwhelming public support, pressure has been mounting on police departments to improve accountability and public trust by equipping their officers with body worn cameras (BWCs) to reduce police violence and hold officers responsible for excessive use of force, unjustified shootings, and other forms of misconduct. As police departments have begun to employ BWCs, however, concerns have risen regarding the application of this new technology and its potential to benefit police officers more so than the communities they serve. This study focuses on the city of Chicago’s recently implemented Body Worn Camera Pilot Program. The goals of this study were to determine if racial demographics could predict which of Chicago’s 22 police districts received BWCs during its pilot program, and whether and to what extent BWCs and the racial makeup of those districts influenced the arrest to crime ratios within them. A preliminary analysis revealed crime rates were not a statistically significant predictor for whether a district received BWCs. There was, however, an association between race and BWCs, where majority white police districts were much less likely to receive the technology. Standard multiple regressions indicate that as the white population percentage increases, arrests decrease. This finding was statistically significant at the .05 alpha level while controlling for the crime rate and BWC implementation. Three-way mixed ANOVA models were run to compare arrest to crime ratios pre- and post-BWC implementation for overall crime, serious crime, violent crime, non-index crime, and property crime. Although no significant two- or three-way interactions were found in any of the ANOVA models, when plotting the pre- and posttest arrest ratios there were noticeable differences between control and experimental groups across race.

The school-to-prison pipeline is a phenomenon that is occurring in public schools across the country. This study investigates if the presence of a School Resource Officers (SRO) has an effect on the rate of expulsions experienced in schools. My data is from a secondary data set from the 2009-2010 School Survey on Crime and Safety. I use the presence of an SRO or security personnel, percentage of white student enrollment, school urbanicity, and percentage of students that score below the 15th percentile on standardized tests as independent variables. My dependent variable is expulsion rates for disobedient behavior. I create one model using OLS regression to run the dependent variable against all of the independent variables. The results yielded that the presence of security personnel or an SRO has increased the rate of expulsions due to disciplinary infractions. I also found that race decreased the expulsion rate; this means that as the percentage of white students goes up, the expulsion rate goes down. These findings suggests that the disproportionate amount of African Americans in this country’s prison system could be starting in our school systems.

This thesis examines the Los Angeles School Police Department’s (LASPD) arrest diversion program currently used by the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD). The diversion referral program offers an alternative to arrest and citation for LAUSD students between the ages of 13 and 17 who commit minor law violations on school grounds. The goal for this collaborative program is to offer a “non-punitive” enforcement model that supports strategic problem solving and addresses the behavioral, social, and emotional needs of students and their families. Using a mixed methods approach, combining interview and survey techniques, I assess whether the program was implemented according to intended protocol and procedures. Findings from the survey and interviews suggest a lack of consistency in the assessment of juveniles’ progress along with several obstacles preventing successful outcomes for participants. The majority of officers surveyed did not believe the arrest diversion program strengthened relationships between police and participants or police and the community. This process evaluation revealed barriers to successful implementation including a lack of communication between involved parties and lack of parental involvement and follow through by participants.

School resource officer programs, characterized as a major crime control model and violence prevention program have earned the designation as an effective prevention strategy to mitigate against student misconduct and violations of the law. This study explored school resource officers? perceptions of how arrests decisions influenced order within middle and high schools. The purpose of the study was to determine if a relationship existed between factors, circumstances, and the arrest decisions in middle and high schools. It was assumed the officers? decision to arrest or not arrest were dependent upon factors and circumstances that were interconnected to the functionality of maintaining social order within the school setting. The structural-functionalism theory offered a comprehensive approach to explore the relationship between the social structure of schools, functions of school resource officers and the impact of their arrests decisions in creating balance and stability in the school environment. For this study, the dependent variable was the arrest decisions of school resource officers and the independent variables were factors, circumstances and years of experience. The study hypothesized a correlation between the dependent variable (arrests decisions) and the independent variables, which were collapsed into three facets - factors, circumstances and years of experience. Although, it was presumed years of experience would influence arrests decisions, logistic regression analysis revealed it did not influence the arrest decision as much as the facet factors. The study further revealed females were more likely to arrest than males and more students were arrested at the high school level than at the middle school level. Academic achievement and criminal records were considered at the middle school level with little consideration in high school.

Public reaction after violent incidents in schools have led policymakers and school officials to institute security measures including zero tolerance policies and police officers. Researchers reported an increase in student arrest rates and exclusionary discipline rates for minor offenses after implementing these initiatives.

This study focused on student arrest rates and exclusionary discipline measures in two high schools among School Resource Officers (SRO)/School Based Police Officers (SBPO) and secondary administrators over two school years. Furthermore, the study examined the factors influencing arrest decisions of the School Resource Officers/School Based Police Officers involved. The data collected answered these questions: 1. What factors contribute to the School Resource Officers'/School Based Police Officers' decisions of whether to arrest students in the school setting? 2. How do zero tolerance approaches influence student arrest rates and student exclusionary discipline rates in schools that utilize School Resource Officers/School Based Police Officers? 3. What role do the School Resource Officers/School Based Police Officers have in the school environment?

A descriptive research method, utilizing interviews, surveys and student arrest and discipline information, was used to answer these questions. The participants in this study were selected using purposive sampling based on their assignment in a secondary school.

This study reported that there were similarities among the police officers regarding the factors affecting the arrest decisions. This was reasonably consistent with the research. Most students in the study were arrested at both site locations for minor misconduct in 2014-15 but major offenses in 2015-16. The exclusionary discipline rates were dependent on site location. This appeared to be an indication that it had little to do with the SROs/SBPOs assigned to the schools and much more to do with the administrative leadership within the respective schools.

The findings indicate a need for ongoing collaboration and communication between the supervisors of the schools and law enforcement agencies. Furthermore, the implementation of a positive approach to student behavior rather than a punitive approach may assist in reducing the amount of exclusionary outcomes. Lastly, training for the police officers related to interactions with misbehaving students may assist in changing their arrest decisions.

The ever-changing implementations of assessing our students have driven instruction to focus on measuring academic growth for school improvement. Now that most of our nation has adopted the common core state standards to educate and prepare our students for college and career, the challenges will be even greater for those who are currently struggling such as many of the incarcerated youth.

According to the Juvenile Court Schools (JCS) fact sheet (Los Angeles County Office of Education; LACOE, 2012), many of the incarcerated youth generally "have serious gaps in their education and poor academic skills" (JCS Facts, bullet No. 4). Taking academic assessments can be challenging without external factors, but add in the fact that the student may be facing a life sentence in prison, placement in a group home or foster care facility away from family, or dealing with mental health issues drives the challenge of academic growth sometimes out of reach while incarcerated. Furthermore, the short period of stay in the incarcerated juvenile facility adds an even greater challenge to success or growth in their academic progress.

This study examined the challenges of measuring academic growth of incarcerated youth in a juvenile hall school facility. Through the use of mixed methods, a review of available student assessment data - increased frequent formative assessments, utilizing components of the RISE Educational Services and Total Educational Systems Support (TESS) Focused Adaptable- Structure Teaching (F.A.S.T.) Framework within the teacher's delivery of direct instruction - along with an online survey of the teachers' ability to collaborate in Professional Learning Communities (PLCs), and a focus group with those who spearheaded the implementation of the instructional method, teacher-leads and administrators, resulted in finding that a unique instructional method is needed for those students attending school in an incarcerated juvenile facility to measure academic growth.

The qualitative and quantitative data measured what needed to be continued, what needed to be stopped and what should be implemented regarding the instructional delivery, along with pre/post assessments of students who attended the incarcerated juvenile school facility and the dimensions of PLCs.