Dr. Kathrine A Johnson

Scholars and practitioners continue to examine the growing pretrial detainee population. These individuals have not been convicted of a crime, and yet they sit in detention, taxing jail facilities and their limited budgets. Pretrial risk assessment tools have been created to identify individuals who can be released prior to trial, without jeopardizing community safety. The current study revalidates items included in the Florida Pretrial Risk Assessment Instrument. Results suggest that most individuals on pretrial release do not commit new offenses or fail to appear for future court hearings. Similarities and differences between the original study and the revalidation are noted. The inclusion of assessing “community ties” is also explored.

The purpose of this study was to examine diversity training and police service differences on levels of ethnocultural empathy among Florida's public university police officers. Ethnocultural empathy is essential for cultural competence, and cultural competence is vital for campus police officers employed at public universities in Florida. Perceptions of police officers among various minority groups and the relationships officers have with their members have long been strained by a myriad of social, political, and economic issues. During the last decade, minority enrollment at Florida's public universities experienced double-digit growth. As a result, campus police administrators must ensure the police officers they employ maintain the cultural competence needed to promote positive relationships within the diverse academic communities they serve. Believed to be the first study of its kind, it provides an opportunity for important discourse in campus policing and beyond. Of particular value and importance is the sole significant finding that white officers are more likely to have lower levels of ethnocultural empathy compared to non-white officers.

Undergraduate students often struggle to produce clear and concise written assignments. Faculty in criminal justice often struggle with how to help them. The current study describes how a fully online introduction to criminal justice course was modified to be writing intensive. Students completed five writing assignments related to course content along with workbook exercises focused on grammar and syntax, formal writing, APA formatting and citations, and plagiarism. The first and final writing assignments included the same topic choices, but the final paper requirements included additional references and content. Students were encouraged to incorporate the feedback from the first assignment into the final paper. We examined whether students improved their written communication from the first writing assignment to the last. Our findings suggest that incorporating instruction on writing in an introduction to criminal justice course can produce positive outcomes for students, both lower-level and higher-level students.

A unique position of one county correctional facility in northwest Florida raises questions about jail crowding, costs, due process, and judicial discretion. Probationers arrested and held for first appearance may be subject to a violation of probation (VOP) hold by the judge. Even if they can bond out on the new charge, they may remain in jail for 5- to 10 days. In analyzing court documents, this case study found that the use of VOP holds resulted in more than 4,000 additional days of incarceration for probationers, costing the county $209,000. Many of those who were held on a VOP hold never had a violation of probation filed The authors explore these issues and make some suggestions for change.

During the academic year 2015-2016, our department implemented a capstone experience for all criminal justice majors. The contemporary scholarly literature on developing a capstone in a criminology/criminal justice program is limited. Therefore, we focused on developing a capstone experience that would be a high impact practice opportunity, take advantage of the existing Internship option, and be consistent with our program-level learning outcomes. A Senior Seminar course was also developed as an alternative to the Internship and students were provided the option of either. A common assignment was also developed with the goal of assessing program-level outcomes in communication. Preliminary assessment results are discussed along with the challenges and lessons learned in this process.

This purpose of this action research study was to identify another way to promote cultural diversity in a human growth and development course (HGD) at a college located in Northwest Florida. Under the Southern Association for Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) and the Florida Department of Education (FDOE), all courses listed in general education degree plans assess student learning outcomes (SLOs). A class assignment guided by Vygotskian sociocultural theory and integrating a fairy tale was another way to promote diverse cultures. The participants in this study
consisted of 25 students taking an HGD class. Data collection consisted of two in-class presentation/activities, cultural fairy tale “Little Burnt Face,” and reflective journaling of the teacherresearcher. The data obtained were then analyzed for cultural codes, themes, and categories. The teacher-researcher suggests future curriculum and instruction can be modified to identify ways to promote diverse cultures in HGD courses.

Collaborative teaching between two or more geographically distant universities is possible. Informed by global trends, we know that our future professionals and practitioners will increasingly move through different jurisdictions and cultural contexts. Twenty-first century university education can bridge the academic/practitioner divide, by using effective communication to build cross-border communities that refocus learning, teaching and innovation. This paper describes the construction of partnerships and collaboration, considers the importance of quality assurance arrangements and poses challenging questions about how these collaborative partnerships can be developed, maintained and taken further. We wanted to provide students with a stimulating learning opportunity that prepares them to operate in international surroundings in relation to criminal justice agencies. The "Murder @" projects require students to engage in a series of online activities, and to collaborate with each other in the setting of a virtually authentic professional environment. The key focus is on teaching, learning and pedagogy framed around a narrative of how meaningful international collaboration can be achieved.

Although sentencing research has expanded over the past decade, very little has been published in the area of habitual-offender statutes. The current research revisits and updates two of the few studies that focused on these sentencing enhancements. Crawford, Chiricos, and Kleck (1998), and later Crawford (2000), examined the application of the habitual-offender sentence enhancement for offenders in Florida in 1992 and 1993. Consistent with the prior research, this study includes individual-level as well as county-level variables and also updates the analysis by examining more recent data, including a measure of ethnicity, and using hierarchical general linear modeling to simultaneously model individual-level data nested within counties. The racial threat perspective serves as the backdrop to explain racial and ethnic disparity in punishment decisions based on contextual as well as individual threat. The findings indicate that racial and ethnic sentence disparity exists when habitual-offender status is invoked in Florida.

As colleges and universities continue to struggle with decreased funding and increased enrollments, the distance learning format is becoming more common. The research for this article was conducted over three semesters of teaching in a distance classroom via interactive television. The data was drawn from narrative evaluations completed by the students at the end of each semester. The results indicate that issues both practical (e.g., technological glitches, class distractions, discomfort with being on camera) and pedagogical (e.g., availability of instructor, keeping class attention, teaching style) must be addressed in order to improve student satisfaction with the telecourse format.