Dr. Chrystina Y Hoffman

Objectives : The current study examines how situational context and bystander characteristics influence bystander intervention in scenarios involving a victim experiencing a mental health crisis.

Methods: Using a national demographically matched sample of 850 adults in the United States and a factorial design with audio vignettes (which varied in victim symptomatology, victim/offender sex, event location, and type of victimization), we examined how the context and characteristics of bystanders influence indirect and direct bystander intervention.

Results: Using logistic regression models, results show that all varied situational factors influenced bystander intervention. Several domains of bystander characteristics, including those specific to mental health, biopsychosocial factors, and demographics impacted bystander intervention.

Conclusions: Understanding who intervenes and why is essential for developing strategies that foster sustained engagement. Our findings provide avenues to ensure the durability of intervention effects through targeting individual characteristics and motivations that influence decision-making in behavioral crisis situations.

Research highlights that people with mental illness are significantly more likely to experience victimization events compared with the general population. Generally, studies have noted the importance of guardianship in preventing victimization among this population; however, prior investigations have neglected to examine the role of bystanders’ willingness to intervene in risky scenarios involving a person exhibiting mental illness. To address this gap, this study utilizes data collected from a factorial survey design and audio vignettes to explore how situational and individual-level characteristics influence indirect bystander intervention in scenarios involving a hypothetical victim displaying signs of mental illness. Findings show that participants were significantly less likely to intervene in situations involving a victim exhibiting signs of mental illness. Indirect bystander intervention was also influenced by victim/offenders’ sex, location of the event, severity of aggression, and participants’ personal ties to mental illness, particularly through romantic relationships. Implications for intervention are discussed.

General strain theory posits that individuals commit crimes when they experience negative emotions following various sources of strain. One such source of strain is poverty. In this study, researchers use focus group data and apply a general strain framework to analyze criminal offending during the Missouri Community Action Network's Poverty Simulation© (2022) at a regional comprehensive university in the Southeast region of the United States. A total of 99 undergraduate and graduate students participated in the focus groups at the end of the simulation. Findings support Agnew’s (1992) theory with examples of sources of strain stemming from poverty leading to adverse emotional reactions and, at times, resulting in criminal responses that were economic. Participants noted the poverty simulation was a credible exercise that contributed to participant empathy. Implications within criminal justice and criminology education and future research are discussed.

This study examined whether the social restrictions stemming from COVID-19 impacted the locations of mental health and drug overdose incidents, while controlling for immediate and community contextual indices. Addresses for mental health/overdose calls to law enforcement or emergency medical services between January 1, 2018 and August 13, 2020 were collected from one police department in the Midwestern United States. Businesses and previous victimization/offending were joined with parcels (level-1; N = 20,019), whereas local services and socioeconomic indicators were joined with block groups (level-2; N = 32), to allow for a multi-level (HLM7) examination of context on mental health/overdose incidents. Event Rate Ratios (ERR) revealed the greatest contextual effects took place following social distancing mandates. Findings highlight the importance of allocating to areas with the highest likelihood of reporting incidents and suggest that parcels with a history of sex offenses, drug offenses, and prior mental health calls may benefit the greatest from preventative resources.

There is an extensive history of LGBTQ+ invisibility in the United States military. For instance, although official regulations banning the enlistment of sexual minorities such as lesbian, gay, and bisexual people can be traced back to the 1920s (Bérubé, 2010), the more recent (and notorious) ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ (DADT) policy was implemented in 1993 and later repealed in 2011 (Kerrigan, 2012; Proctor & Krusen, 2017). While the DADT policy prohibited the military from directly asking a service member about their sexual orientation, service personnel were still able to be discharged if their sexual orientation became known through credible information...

The purpose of the current study is to examine the influence tensions over high-profile officer-involved shootings have had on Atlanta police officers’ ability to do their jobs and whether these impacts vary by officer race. Data was collected between August and October of 2016. A total of 241 police officers across six zones completed the self-administered survey. Findings indicate that while white officers, on average, felt the impacts of recent tensions surrounding officer-involved shootings more strongly, non-white officers were more likely to say they would leave policing if offered a better paying job in another field. This study provides insight into racial differences in the impacts of recent tensions and protests over fatal officer-involved shootings.

This conceptual paper describes the efforts to address curriculum deficits related to the preparation of graduates across multiple service fields for their work in high-poverty communities. Faculty members from various programs jointly facilitated a high-impact simulation designed to ascertain its impact on students' perceptions and personal biases toward disadvantaged community members. This mixed methods study used Yun and Weaver's (2010) Short Form of the Attitude Toward Poverty Scale, as well as focus groups. Quantitative data indicated that participants held more positive attitudes towards individuals struggling with poverty after completing the simulation. The overarching themes concerning college students' attitudes about poverty indicated paradigm shifts in their personal thinking and professional behavior in the workforce, as well as empathy regarding the cycle of poverty and the extremely hard decisions that are necessary when experiencing poverty. These findings are important for facilitating learning about the social injustices that can ensue from poverty. The study comes at a time of a pandemic when online learning is at its height and poverty is intensifying.

Most teen dating violence (TDV) victims do not seek help after their victimization experience. While research has identified that victims are more likely to turn to informal versus formal sources, there is a lack of knowledge about what factors are predictive of help-seeking
from formal sources. The current study explored the impact of incident and victim characteristics on help-seeking from formal sources among middle and high school TDV victims (N = 2,174). Findings indicate that the severity and location of the victimization significantly increase the likelihood of help-seeking from formal sources.

Sexual violence is a topic that has received increasing national attention and has been identified as a commonly occurring social issue. In response to the failure of the criminal justice system (and society at large) to adequately respond to the prevalence of sexual victimization, the #MeToo movement (which involves posting the #MeToo hashtag on social media) has acted as a mechanism to expose systemic oppression and abuses of power, while also holding perpetrators of sexual violence accountable for sexual abuse and harassment. There is growing popularity in utilizing the internet to raise awareness about social issues and to generate participation in collective action. While most research investigating factors associated with social movement participation has been primarily confined to collective identity as a precursor to in-person activism, less is known about other predictors (e.g., demographic characteristics) of social and, more specifically, digital activism. Using data collected from 626 undergraduate college students, the current study examines the impact of various demographic
characteristics, collective identity, self-esteem, self-control, and attitudes towards sexual coercion on participation in the #MeToo movement in various forms (i.e., posting the #MeToo hashtag on personal social media accounts; signing a #MeToo petition; attending a #MeToo protest or rally). Results indicate that demographic characteristics, collective identity, Greek membership/collegiate athletics, and sexual violence programming are significantly associated with #MeToo involvement. Policy implications and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Drug overdoses in the United States have been dramatically increasing since the late 1990 s. Research has been successful in identifying individual-level correlates of overdoses, but often fails to examine contextual effects. Using data from one police department, the U.S. Census, and ReferenceUSA, we test the effects of block group (N = 34) and parcel (N = 21,489) variables reflective of social disorganization and availability-proneness theories on drug overdoses taking place in one non-urban jurisdiction over four years (N = 396). Furthermore, we test the ability of mental health and social-community service providers to mitigate the harmful effect of poverty. Because effects may vary across intent or outcome, accidental, intentional,
and fatal overdoses were modeled independently. Based on multilevel analysis (HLM7), several variables were positively associated with overdoses; however, service providers in high poverty areas, as well as bars in general, elicited negative associations. Lastly, contextual effects varied based by type of overdose.