Police use of excessive force is under constant scrutiny. Recent high-profile killings of unarmed Black individuals have bolstered calls for reform regarding police use of force. De-escalation has been recommended as a solution to help police reduce their use of force and help repair community relations. However, there is much that we still do not know about de-escalation: What is it exactly? What are de-escalation tactics? Which are considered the most effective? By examining a group of peer-nominated top de-escalators in the Tempe (AZ) Police Department, this dissertation serves to uncover the black box of de-escalation. This in-depth case study of top de-escalators is presented in three parts. Part 1 utilized data from an officer perception survey (N=101). The perceptions of the officers were categorized into three groups: 1) the importance of de-escalation tactics, 2) the frequency of these de-escalation tactics, and 3) the perceptions of de-escalation training. The results in Part 1 highlight which tactics top de-escalators view as most important and which tactics they report using more frequently. Additionally, differences between the top de-escalators and their peers were examined. In Part 2, the author utilized data via systematic social observation of body-worn camera footage (N=228 coded interactions). The behaviors of the officers were categorized into three groups: 1) objectively observable de-escalation tactics, 2) “to-do’s” tactics, and 3) “do not’s” tactics. This phase of the study examined what de-escalation tactics top de-escalators were observed using most frequently (or least) and how they differed from their peers. In Part 3, the author utilized data from a social network question that was administered alongside the officer perception survey (N=64). This phase of the research examined if top de-escalators were perceived as more influential than their peers regarding de-escalation. The empirical, methodological, theoretical, and practical implications of these findings are also discussed.

This study tested hypotheses derived from general strain theory, including whether the disposition for crime (e.g., trait anger and low self-control) and prosocial coping moderate the link between state-based negative emotions and maladaptive coping. A 2x2 factorial vignette was embedded in a survey instrument and administered to a university-based sample (N = 503). The results from the regression models support different parts of general strain theory, such as the direct effect of strain on negative emotions, the effect of negative emotions on aggressive coping, and the mediating effect of negative emotions. Finally, the effect of some negative emotions on aggressive coping were moderated by trait anger, low self-control, and prosocial coping. The findings of this study support the argument that dispositions to maladaptive coping amplify the effects of negative emotion and underscore the importance of establishing prosocial coping resources. Keywords: emotions, general strain theory, low self-control, maladaptive coping

People are not expected to do well while in prison. People often do not do well in prison. Prison research is replete with accounts of the harmful psychological, behavioral, and social effects of incarceration, but much less attention or acknowledgment is given to the people who do not experience these negative outcomes and perhaps even flourish while on the inside. This dissertation better understands who is doing well in prison, who is experiencing change for the better in prison, and how the prison experience impacts reflections on well-being in life through three separate studies. The first study uses a negative case framework to identify incarcerated men who are doing well by avoiding negative outcomes across a number of psychosocial and behavioral domains (e.g. mental health, coping strategies), as well as assesses what background and environmental characteristics are associated with those who are doing well behaviorally and psychosocially. The second study identifies individuals who are reporting improvement in their personal circumstances during the first year of incarceration and assesses the processes and events that are associated with reported improvements. Specifically, an equifinality framework is used to highlight the numerous pathways that can lead to a single positive outcome (e.g., reporting improvement in prison). A multifinality framework is also used to highlight the numerous outcomes that can be associated with a single life event (e.g., incarceration). The final study of the dissertation descriptively assesses life satisfaction, psychological flourishing, generativity, and meaning in life among a sample of incarcerated men, as well as assesses the correlates of high well-being during incarceration. Using data from The Arizona Living and Working in Prison project (studies 1 and 2) and the Enhancing the Prison Environment project (study 3), results from this dissertation reveal a sizeable portion of incarcerated people who are doing well while incarcerated via avoiding negative outcomes and experiences, experiencing change for the better, and reporting high levels of well-being.

Calling 911 with the goal of mobilizing a response rarely results in a direct line to the entity one wishes to summon (e.g., police or fire). Rather, individuals connect with call-takers—those who are commonly considered “gatekeepers”—who gather pertinent information from callers and determine whether there is a need to allocate resources accordingly. Importantly, this interaction serves as the first point of contact with the criminal justice system for much of the public. As such, it is particularly troubling to consider how grossly understudied this facet of the criminal justice system is relative to other justice system components. After all, call-takers set the tone and trajectory of an entire incident. For this reason, it is critical to understand their role independently, as well as the impact of their actions on subsequent potential interactions. This dissertation aims to shed light on this matter. Using a mixed model factorial vignette design embedded in online surveys administered to a quasi-representative sample of U.S. adults, this study will assess the impact of call-taker variability in adherence to procedural justice practices on citizens’ willingness to cooperate and the perceived legitimacy of both call-takers and police, as well as the ability of police officers to assuage citizen negative affect via procedurally-just tactics. This work will advance the understanding of how perceptions of one criminal justice actor (e.g., call-takers) impacts the perceptions and deference offered to subsequent criminal justice actors (e.g., police), a process referred to as the “spill-over effect,” as well as the salience of procedural justice tactics.

Whether through scaring incarcerated people straight or encouraging rehabilitation through treatment, most people hope that, one way or another, incarceration will alter an individual’s path towards a better life. Current forms of incarceration are not achieving this goal and instead inflict undue amounts of pain (Crewe, 2011; Sykes 1958). In times of deprivation and isolation, some people have found ways to not only persevere, but to thrive. Though these individuals are not commonly the focus of criminal justice literature, there is much value in shifting attention to people thriving in prison including the opportunity to gain knowledge on the multi-faceted nature of well-being broadly and the rehabilitation of incarcerated people more specifically. The current study uses structured interview data from 386 men serving time in a medium-security prison unit to explore the correlates of life satisfaction among people in prison. To identify contributing factors to well-being during incarceration, logistic and multinomial regressions analyze variation in the life satisfaction scores of these incarcerated men. The results from these analyses suggest that perceptions of life meaning, generativity, flourishing, and age are all positively associated with thriving in prison and frequency of experiences with incarceration are not related, positively or negatively, to life satisfaction. This study provides some support to current well-being literature and also introduces complexities to the existing knowledge regarding the relationships between demographics such as race or relationship status, and well-being.

Recidivism occurs when an individual is released from prison and then, through a violation of parole or a new offense, ends up back in prison. Durose and colleagues (2014) cite that 55.4% of individuals go back to prison after a five-year post release. Considerable attention has been focused on reducing the cycle of these individuals going back to prison. One of the attempts to remedy this issue is through offering pre-release programs for prison inmates. These programs seek to provide individuals skills that will reduce their likelihood of reoffending. But existing research shows that the effectiveness of these programs is limited. Moreover, few attempts have been made to look at differences between individual’s dosage of program participation. This thesis aims to determine if participation in a pre-release program reduces recidivism. Using data from the state’s Department of Corrections, there is a comparison of previously imprisoned individuals who participated in a pre-release employment program and those who declined participation, to understand if participation influences recidivism. Additionally, dosage of the center will be analyzed to determine whether length of program participation influenced recidivism. Participating in the program and a longer dose of the program should allow more time for the individual to learn the material and fully absorb what the program is offering such as skills and training. The results show that participation in the pre-release employment program did not significantly affect recidivism as individuals who went through the program were no less likely to be reincarcerated. In addition, a longer dosage of the program did not significantly influence recidivism among those who went through the program.

The main premise of general strain theory (GST) is that strains and stressors increase negative emotions, such as anger and depression, which ultimately influence coping—criminal and otherwise (Agnew, 1992). Though there is a lot of research in support of the core arguments of GST, gaps in the knowledge base remain. For example, most researchers have focused on particular types of strains, overlooking nontraditional forms. And though the negative impact of deviant peers on delinquency is well documented, the influence of such peers in terms of coping with negative emotionality is not well understood. This dissertation investigates the relationship between unconventional strains—teenage pregnancy and low social support—on negative outcomes. In addition, this project also examines friendship networks to see whether peer victimization increases personal involvement in violent offending. Additionally, the impact of deviant peers within the GST framework is also tested.

This dissertation uses existing data from Waves I (1994-1995) and II (1996) of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health). The Add Health is a longitudinal, nationally representative sample of over 20,000 American adolescents who were in grades 7 through 12 during the 1994-1995 school year. Data were drawn from two sources—the in-home interview data and the social network data. Multivariate regression models are used to examine the effects of strain on a number of outcomes of theoretical interest.

The findings indicate that teenage pregnancy, peer victimization, and low social support were all associated with depressive symptoms and deviant coping. More specifically, the results from study one showed that adolescents who had experienced pregnancy were more likely to experience depressive symptoms and engage in substance use behaviors. Depression failed to mediate the relationship between pregnancy and substance use. Teenage pregnancy, depression, and deviant peers interact to amplify alcohol-related problems and marijuana use. In study two the findings revealed that peer victimization was positively related to depression and violent offending. Furthermore, the relationship between peer victimization was partially mediated by depression. Lastly, the findings from study three showed that low social support was associated with depression and delinquency. Consistent with GST, the relationship between low social support and delinquency was fully mediated by depression. Implications for practice and directions future research are discussed.

The use of restrictive housing in prisons is at the forefront of national discussions on crime and punishment. Civil and human rights activists have argued that its use should be limited due to harmful effects on the physical and psychological health of inmates as well as its limited ability to reduce subsequent offending. Stacked against this is the need for correctional administrators to respond to institutional violence in a manner that ideally curtails future violence while doing no further harm to the well-being of those housed in these environments. The current project explores the effectiveness of a Restrictive Status Housing Program (RSHP) designed for inmates who commit violent assaults within the Arizona Department of Corrections. The program, as designed, moves beyond exclusively punitive approaches to segregation by encouraging behavior modification that is influenced by cognitive behavioral training. This study advances the literature and informs correctional policy by: 1) examining the effects of program participation on future behavioral outcomes, and 2) exploring mechanisms through which the program works (or does not work) by interviewing former RSHP participants and staff. The current research uses a mixed-method research design and was carried out in two phases. For Phase 1, quantitative data on behavioral outcomes of program participants (N = 240), as well as a carefully constructed comparison group (N = 1,687), will be collected and analyzed using official records over a one-year follow-up. Phase 2 will examine qualitative data derived from semi-structured interviews with former RSHP participants (n = 25) and correctional staff who oversee the day-to-day management of the program (n = 10). Results from the current study suggest that placement in the RSHP has null, and at times, an adverse effect on subsequent levels of institutional misconduct. Policy implications and recommendations based on these findings are discussed.

Correctional officers are increasingly being trained in evidence-based practices and the willingness of officers to implement what they have learned is crucial for organizational reform. Most of the literature in this area has examined officer attitudes about rehabilitation and punitiveness. Left out are additional characteristics, such as self-control, that may affect an officer’s receptivity to learn and implement new techniques. The present study examines officer receptiveness to motivational interviewing using 280 surveys administered to correctional officers tasked with both delivering and supervising program delivery to inmates within the Arizona Department of Corrections. Three broad questions are asked: 1) Are officer attitudes about punishment associated with receptivity toward implementing rehabilitative techniques? 2) Are officer levels of self-control associated with receptivity toward implementing rehabilitative techniques? and 3) Is the association between officer attitudes toward punishment and receptivity toward implementing rehabilitation techniques moderated by officer self-control? The results suggest that punitiveness and self-control both have statistically significant direct effects on correctional officer receptivity to training and that self-control does not moderate the relationship between punitiveness and receptivity to training. However, these findings could be due to limitations in the present study’s sampling and statistical methods. Policy implications and future research are discussed.

The victim-offender overlap is a widely accepted empirical fact in criminology. While many methodological strategies have been used to study overlap, prior studies have assumed that it is uniform, taking little consideration into the potential differences within the overlap. The larger body of criminological research on pathways to crime suggests that victim-offenders also have variability in their victimization experiences and offending patterns. Not accounting for variation within the overlap has produced inconsistent findings in terms of establishing theoretical explanations for the victimization and offending relationship.

Several general theories of crime have merit in their assumptions about the relationship between victimization and offending. Routine activity/lifestyle theory, low self-control theory, and general strain theory offer insight into the overlap. Variables derived from these three general theories are assessed to test their ability to explain a more complex conceptualization of the victim-offender overlap.

Using data on 3,341 individuals drawn from four waves of the publically available National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), a latent class analysis establishes unique victim-offender overlap taxonomies. A multinomial logistic regression is conducted to test how well theoretically derived variables from three general theories (e.g., routine activity theory, low self-control theory, and general strain theory) predict membership in the unique victim-offender overlap taxonomies. Additional multinomial logistic regressions are run using a split sample analyses to test the invariance of the findings across different social groupings (e.g., gender and race/ethnicity).

Comparing the more complex operationalization of the victim-offender overlap with the baseline regression models shows notable differences. For example, depression significantly predicts membership in the general victim-offender overlap group, but when taking into consideration variation within the overlap, depression does not consistently predict membership in all taxonomies. Similar results are found for routine activity/lifestyle theory and low self-control theory. Tests of invariance across gender and race/ethnicity highlight the need to consider how theoretical explanations of the victim-offender overlap differ based on social groupings. Males and females have unique risks and needs and these should be reflected in how routines and negative emotions are measured. The findings underscore the need to consider overlap when studying the relationship between victims and offenders. Implications for theory, future research, and policy are also discussed.