Since the start of the war on drugs, studies have found racial and ethnic disparities in sentencing outcomes among defendants convicted of drug offenses; however, several gaps in the drug literature remain regarding disparity-producing mechanisms, the role of drug offense characteristics, disparities in understudied groups, and possible solutions to unwarranted disparities in drug case outcomes. Using felony case-level data from the state of Florida (n = 3,058 felony drug cases), this dissertation examines three interrelated studies. Study 1 examines bail and pretrial detention practices as disparity-producing mechanisms in drug offense cases. The results of Study 1 suggest that significant variations in bail schedules in Florida’s 20 judicial circuits result in jurisdictional variation in the likelihood of pretrial detention, which subsequently, results in jurisdictional variation in pretrial and sentencing outcomes among drug offenders, given the direct effect of pretrial detention on case outcomes. Study 2 examines racial, ethnic, and immigration status disparities in pretrial and sentencing outcomes across various types of drug offenses and drug substances. The results of Study 2 suggest the presence of racial and ethnic disparities in drug case outcomes in Florida’s circuit courts, as well as the moderating role of drug offense characteristics on the effects of race and ethnicity on pretrial and sentencing outcomes. Study 3 examines whether progressive chief prosecutors, who campaign on a platform to reduce and, in some cases, refuse to prosecute low-level drug offenses, handle drug offenses differently than traditional prosecutors. The results of Study 3 indicate support that progressive chief prosecutors in Florida reduce mass incarceration and unwarranted racial and ethnic disparities in case processing and sentencing outcomes in drug offenses; however, there is still room for improvement in the progressive prosecution movement in Florida. The results of each study have direct implications for theory and policies aimed at creating a more effective and fair criminal justice system.

Prior research on sentencing and case processing has primarily focused on post-conviction outcomes and the relationship between sentencing outcomes and defendant- related characteristics such as race and gender. The research on pre-conviction outcomes not only is much smaller than the sentencing literature, but also largely neglects victim characteristics, especially in samples that include non-violent offenses. Drawing on the blameworthiness attribution theoretical perspective, the current study examines how certain victim characteristics, including race, gender, and criminal history, may influence certain stages of the judicial process. Additionally, the current study tests whether cases with person victims as opposed to business as victims are handled differently. Four court decisions were examined in this study: the filing decision, the decision to transfer the case to a lower court, the decision to find a defendant guilty, and the decision to sentence a defendant to prison. While legal characteristics were the most prominent predictors in these analyses, the study found that when victims were Black or Hispanic, cases were less likely to be filed and end in a guilty adjudication.

Intimate partner homicide (IPH) is the most serious consequence of intimate partner violence (IPV). Current research on IPH focuses primarily on relationships in a heterosexual binary when men perpetrate violence against female partners or vice versa. Those in same-sex relationships that fall outside of this lens have not received much attention in criminological research. The current study utilizes data from the Preventing and Assessing Intimate Partner Homicide Risk (PAIR) Studies, on three same-sex IPHs to examine the characteristics and contexts of these homicides, as well as the perceptions of others. In order, to understand characteristics that are specific to those in same-sex relationships, a case study was conducted utilizing thematic analysis to identify recurring themes or patterns in the cases. Five themes became evident through analysis including: power and control, undertreated mental illness, cultural lag, overkill, and repeat offending. The results from this study indicate that same-sex intimate partner homicides share similar characteristics and contexts with opposite-sex IPH, regardless of the relationship dyad. However, based on the relationship dyad the manifestations and context of IPV leading to IPH differ. Future research must be conducted to determine the motivations leading to, and the impact gender roles have on same-sex IPH.

Academic deviance is a potentially detrimental behavior for students and universities alike in that it causes credit to be given to individuals where it is not due. Furthermore, it is a common occurrence, with around half of college students admitting to engaging in this behavior at least once. Therefore, the purpose of this study is to investigate the relationship between perfectionism, strain, and academic deviance. In doing this, this study uses data from a primary data collection effort in Arizona State University, with a final sample of 696 students, to answer three research questions: Are there differences in the likelihood of engaging in academic deviance by maladaptive perfectionists, adaptive perfectionists, and non-perfectionists? Are there differences in the perceptions of the wrongness of academic deviance between maladaptive perfectionists, adaptive perfectionists, and non-perfectionists? Are there differences in how context dependent maladaptive perfectionists, adaptive perfectionists, and non-perfectionists view academic deviance the wrongness of academic deviance? Ordered logistic regression are used to access these research questions. Results suggest that neither perfectionism nor strain were a significant factor in determining the likelihood that a participant would engage in an academically deviant behavior, or how wrong they believed that behavior to be. However, perfectionism did seem to have a mild impact on how context dependent individuals felt the wrongness of their behaviors, meaning that if the cause of the strain was due to the professor’s actions, students viewed academic deviance as less wrong, and self-control explained at least part of this effect. Strain, on the other hand, did not have a significant effect. Overall, the results suggest some legitimacy to the use of general strain theory to explain the potential relationships, given the relationship between perfectionism and context dependency. Additionally, the results support policy implications designed to reduce maladaptive thoughts and subsequently academic deviance, such as cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT). Future research should examine the link between perfectionism and other types of academic strain.

Highly publicized cases involving citizen fatalities due to police use of force raise questions about perceptions of danger. Arrest-related deaths due to weapons, accidental injuries, and natural causes remain high year after year. Communities are greatly affected, and mistrust with the police continues to increase when these situations happen. There seem to be inaccurate perceptions that may stem from implicit associations, stereotypes, and social learning. These psychological concepts may provide theoretical explanations of how decisions are made when police officers are faced with danger. Some elements of this decision-making process may include suspect characteristics, officer experience, and police sub-culture. In this review, race/ethnicity and socio-economic status are examined as factors that contribute to police use of force. Disparities in use of force data often involve young, Black males living in low-income neighborhoods. The stereotype that this group is more dangerous than others stems from underlying prejudices and previous situations where Black people are targeted more in certain areas. Training, education, and community outreach programs can assist in mending relations between police and affected communities. Acknowledging these inaccurate perceptions, making the adjustments to police training and community relations, and being open to exploration in future research of other minority groups will assist in eliminating prejudices and creating better connections between law enforcement and the community.

The question of how to reduce the recidivism rates among IPV offenders is one that plagues criminologists to this day. Though a difficult issue to address, educational treatment programs have started to gain popularity as one idea to achieve this reduction. By examining the dataset from the “Domestic Violence Experiment in King's County (Brooklyn), New York, 1995-1997,” conducted by Robert C. Davis et al. (2000), it was found that the results of the educational program showed a great promise in reducing recidivism rates. Though it is important to focus on and analyze the results from this study, it is also important to extrapolate from them by running and examining specific models and variables with the dataset. Focusing on specific variables within the dataset allows researchers to find different themes and results in smaller ideologies of research, versus trying to find one overall answer on how to reduce recidivism.

By examining specific variables such as length of relationship, I wonder how length of relationship between an IPV offender and victim impact recidivism rates? This thesis will discuss IPV history and theoretical perspectives, history of educational programs, length of relationship, and the dataset conducted by Davis et al. (2000).

This thesis examines how the likelihood of IPV recidivism is effected by length of relationship, the different length of treatment programs (overall, eight-week, or twenty-six-weeks), and the interaction between length of relationship and the different treatment programs. The results show overall that length of relationship slightly decreases the rate of recidivism for IPV. When length of relationship is ran in the models with the separate treatment programs, it is found that the overall treatment and twenty-six-week programs have drastic and significant reduction results on recidivism, but that the eight-week program actually increases recidivism rates slightly. The results also indicate that when examining the interaction between length of relationship and the different treatment programs, length of relationship slightly moderates the reduction of the recidivism rates for the individuals enrolled in the overall treatment and eight-week programs, but slightly increases the rates for those in the twenty-six-week program.