Howard Henderson

Evaluating the Measurement Properties of Procedural Justice in a Correctional Setting

Research and theory on the effects of fair procedures has gained popularity over the past decade. This is understandable given the inherent appeal of these ideas and the supporting evidence. Research suggests that authorities are able to secure compliance from subordinates when they use fair procedures and when they are viewed as legitimate. Unfortunately, empirical studies of procedural justice and legitimacy are hampered by weak measures of key theoretical constructs. The purpose of this study is to examine the measurement properties of procedural justice in a sample of inmates. Results show that a one-factor model of procedural justice fits the data well, though the authors find evidence of a method effect. Results also demonstrate important differences between the use of a summated procedural justice scale and a scale derived from a factor analysis. These findings illustrate the importance of paying careful attention to construct validity in measures of procedural justice.

Differential racial/ethnic predictive validity

Recent findings indicate that including White offenders in the sample biases the predictability of risk and needs assessment instruments. As a result, this study examines the predictability of the Los Angeles County Needs Assessment Instrument (LAC) on a sample of African American and Hispanic juvenile probationers. Given that the extant literature focuses on regression analysis, to the curtailment of error analysis, this study also provides a unique examination of predictive error. The results suggest that the instrument under examination predicts better for Hispanics than African Americans. Of the two minority groups, the needs assessment instrument demonstrated the greatest effect size for Hispanic probationers. The LAC performed 16% better than chance predictions when classifying Hispanic juveniles. The area under the curve value was nonsignificant for African American juvenile probationers. The situating of our research findings, their limitations, suggestions for future research, and policy implications are discussed.

The Criminological Cultivation of African American Municipal Police Officers Sambo or Sellout

African American municipal police officers have been historically underrepresented and often face a double marginalization, arguably due to fellow officer and public perceptions. This study represents a first-step criminological cultivation analysis of the quantity and quality of African American municipal police officer depictions in the core cop film genre (1971–2011). Utilizing the unified film population identification methodology, 112 films were identified and examined to determine the overarching messages conveyed through the genre. Findings revealed that White officers were depicted in the lead or joint leading role in 89% (n = 100) and African Americans in 19% (n = 21) of films. However, White officers were predominantly depicted in a serious light unless sharing the lead with a minority, while African American officers were predominantly depicted in a comedic light. Further, the issue of double marginalization was rarely depicted. The potential implications of these portrayals on officer recruitment, retention, and perceived law enforcement legitimacy are discussed and second-step criminological cultivation studies to determine if a cultivation effect exists are proposed.

The (Twice) Failure of the Wisconsin Risk Need Assessment in a Sample of Probationers

Despite being created and validated in the 1970s and 1980s, and widely adopted by many agencies in the United States, including Texas, the Wisconsin Risk Need Assessment Instrument has yet to be examined with a contemporaneous Texas probationer sample. Due to the majority of previous research reporting poor utility, the instrument’s authors proposed a new scoring system for the risk portion of the instrument in 2009 in an attempt to increase the predictive utility. This study examines the original instrument and is the first to examine the proposed reweighted risk scale’s relationship to recidivism with an independent sample of 194 male probationers. Findings revealed that the original risk/need sections and proposed reweighted risk items failed to explain significant variance in recidivism with very few items relating to reoffense. The current results provide further evidence that the Wisconsin Risk Need Assessment should be replaced by other empirically validated risk/need instruments.

On the Precipice of Intersectionality The Influence of Race, Gender, and Offense Severity Interactions on Probation Outcomes

This analysis examines the impact of established predictors on probation failure utilizing a large randomly selected sample of adult probationers. Initial findings suggest that race, gender, location, offense severity as well as risk assessment scores significantly predict probation failure. This study then examines interaction effects between race and gender as well as race and offense severity. Results indicate such interactions may matter in studying probation failure, despite reason to be cautious about their interpretation. Importantly, the results of the interaction model suggest that the interaction between being an African American and male is a significant predictor of probation failure. Additionally, being a Hispanic felon was also statistically significant. Theoretical, practical, and research implications are discussed alongside study limitations.

Inequality on probation: An examination of differential probation outcomes

ABSTRACT The effect of race, gender, offense type, location, assessment scores, as well as key interaction terms based on race were examined on multiple probation outcomes. Extending the racial equity research to offenders supervised within the community, results suggest that African American males fare worse on multiple supervision outcomes. In addition, the research found that women were less likely to receive alternative probation outcomes. Suggestions are put forth for the continuance of research on racial inequities for offenders sentenced to a term of community supervision. The study ends with a call for increased attention to various inequality issues confronting criminal justice.

Predicting Staff Assault in Juvenile Correctional Facilities

ABSTRACT This study examines the predictive utility of the community-based Positive Achievement Change Tool–Prescreen (PACT-PS) for staff assault in a sample of 787 state-committed male youth. Bivariate and multivariate analyses indicated the PACT-PS failed to predict staff assault across racial/ethnic groups. Notably, this study also found youth with serious delinquent histories and prior commitments improved the PACT-PS’s ability to predict staff assault. Limitations of this study, suggestions for future research, and practical implications are discussed.

Psychometric Racial and Ethnic Predictive Inequities

Recent findings have held that offender behavioral assessments unfairly predict the probation outcomes of racial/ethnic minorities. To that end, this study examines the extent and degree to which a commonly used offender risk needs assessment instrument equitably predicts probationer success and distributes predictive error. Findings suggest that the risk needs instrument predicts most equitably for “higher risked” probationers and that error is more likely for under-classified Blacks and over-classified Whites. The discussion presents issues for consideration by policy makers, practitioners, and future researchers motivated by the minimization of predictive bias.

Correctional Officer Excessive Use of Force: Civil Liability Under Section 1983

Despite recent research demonstrating the impact of inmate perceptions of correctional legitimacy on order maintenance, the extant literature has failed to examine the contextual reality of correctional excessive use of force claims. Utilizing legal cases from the U.S. Court of Appeals and U.S. District Courts, this article examines correctional officer excessive use of non-deadly force and identifies recurring themes in these claims. Findings highlight the common occurrence of retaliatory violence, negative attitudes, failure to listen to inmate concerns, inadequate training, and an inability to decipher reliable threat cues consistently present in correctional officer use of non-deadly force claims. Suggestions for future research and policy implications are offered.

Service-Learning Outcomes Research: The Role and Scarcity of Replication Studies

The effect of service-learning on college and university students has attracted considerable scholarly attention in the last decade. However, few attempts to replicate studies are conducted. The purpose of the research reported in this article is threefold: (1) to assess the reliability of a modified version of Kelly, Chase, and Tuckers (1979) taxonomy to discriminate accurately between sub-categories of replication in studies of service-learning outcomes; (2) to determine the extent of replications in the service-learning outcomes literature; and (3) to make recommendations based on the studys results. The research sample consists of data-based articles published in peer-reviewed journals between[space] 1993 and 2004. The taxonomys ability to discriminate [between] types of replications yields an inter-rater reliability of 88 percent. The results indicated that 31 (70.4 percent) of the studies were classified as either operational or constructive replications. Many of the studies were “within-study” replications, meaning that researchers are replicating their own research. Several recommendations for improving the quality of service-learning outcomes research are proposed.