Criminal Justice
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Item Open Access Prison Overcrowding in America: Could the Decriminalization of Marijuana be a Possible Solution?(2014) Hicks, Jacob, M.; Sorensen, Jon; Criminal JusticeThe adoption of sentencing guidelines in recent decades accompanying a "get tough" mentality of many judges has helped to push along a consistent increase in prison populations on a state level over the past 30 years. Such an increase has been analyzed as both a beneficial removal of criminals from society as well as a detrimental hemorrhage of taxpayers' dollars. It also usurps the time of law enforcement and correctional officials. Countless variations of crimes as well as variables such as race, socioeconomic status, employment opportunities, geographic location, level of education, etc., all affect the level of crime and incarceration in the United States, and the dispersion between different demographics are only driving these levels up. Studies are being conducted however to attempt to find ways to lower the issue of prison overcrowding, many focusing on reverting to indeterminate sentencing methods of decades past. However there is still little research being conducted on how changing drug laws, and the decriminalization of certain substances might affect the level of overcrowding and stress on the American Penile System. In the following case study I intend to look into the question of whether or not the growth based affects of the War on Drugs declared in the 1980s and the subsequent sentencing reform acts on the prison population of the United States, can be reversed or positively affected by changing drug laws and/or by the decriminalization of marijuana.Item Open Access The moderating effects of religiosity on the relationship between stressful life events and delinquent behavior(East Carolina University, 2008) Johnson, Matthew C.; Morris, Robert G.Previous research has shown that many forms of strain are positively related to delinquency. Evidence also suggests that religiosity buffers the effects of strain on offending, but this issue requires further research. Using data from a national sample of adolescents, this study examined whether or not religiosity conditioned the relationship between strain and delinquency. This study also looked at the ability of social support, self-esteem, and depression to moderate the influence of strain on delinquent behavior. The findings here lend support to general strain theory in that strain had a direct positive effect on delinquency, yet there was little evidence that the relationship was moderated by religiosity or other conditioning variables. The roles of moderating variables on strain across genders were also considered. Originally published in Journal of Criminal Justice Vol. 36, No. 6 2008.