Master Theses & Projects (FSSH)

Permanent URI for this collectionhttps://hdl.handle.net/10155/530

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Detecting deception in second-language speakers
(2011-04-01) Da Silva, Cayla S.; Leach, Amy-May
It is currently unknown how lie detection accuracy is affected when someone is speaking in his or her second language. We examined whether language proficiency had an impact on lie detection. We hypothesized that when judging the veracity of second-language speakers, participants would be better able to discriminate between truth- and lie-tellers and would have bias toward picking ‘lying’ since they may display cues associated with lying when communicating.We collected video footage of native- and second-language English speakers who lied or told the truth about a transgression. Undergraduate students (N = 51) then judged the veracity of these clips and indicated how confident they were in their ratings. Participants were most accurate and confident when judging native-language truth-tellers. In addition, participants were more likely to exhibit a truth-bias when observing native-language speakers, whereas they were more likely to exhibit a lie-bias when viewing second-language speakers. Implications for the justice system will be discussed.
Showup identifications: the effects of presence of stolen property and suspect’s denial on identification performance
(2011-04-01) Smith, Andrew; Cutler, Brian
A showup identification is the presentation of a single suspect to an eyewitness. I used a simulated theft paradigm and subsequent showup identification to examine the effects of stolen property, suspects’ verbal behaviour, and target-presence on eyewitness identification performance. I used a 2 (suspect: innocent, guilty) X 2 (stolen property: present, hidden) X 3 (verbal behaviour: denial with explanation, denial, silence) between-subjects factorial design. Binary logistic regression analysis indicated that both the target and stolen property, independently, and significantly predicted the accuracy of identification decisions. Surprisingly, the presence of stolen property facilitated more accurate identification decisions from eyewitnesses.
Experiences of partners of male prisoners
(2011-04-01) Bruynson, Kathryn Jane; Cesaroni, Carla
The consequences of imprisonment are felt not only by prisoners themselves but also their family members. Prisoners may be alone in a cell or on trial but most have families and friends that often feel as though they are imprisoned along with their loved ones. There is a limited body of research conducted on partners of incarcerated men and the far-reaching effects of imprisonment on these secondary victims within the Canadian context. However, the research that is available suggests that families face many difficulties when one of its members is incarcerated. This study explores the experiences of female partners of incarcerated men. Crisis Theory directs qualitative data collected from in-depth interviews with ten women. The results indicate that women whose male partners are incarcerated experience many difficulties including stigmatization, financial barriers and emotional stresses. The findings not only highlight the difficulties female partners of male prisoners face but suggest some effective coping mechanisms that the women use to endure such difficulties. This research serves as an exploratory work for larger works that can provide basic policy recommendations.
The effects of labeling and stereotype threat on offender reintegration
(2011-05-01) Breen, Amanda Hilary; Cesaroni, Carla
After their release from prison, offenders are faced with many hardships that hinder their reintegration efforts. Often, offenders are stereotyped and face community exclusion due to their criminal record. Much of the literature on reintegration has focused on the way in which society stereotypes offenders, but not how offenders interpret and internalize these stereotypes. This study examines the way offenders internalize the stereotypes associated with having a criminal record, and how this affects their reintegration. Data was gathered by conducting 18 in-depth interviews with offenders at the John Howard Society in Toronto. The interviews showed that all participants felt that they had been negatively labeled by others based on the fact that they have a criminal record and/or spent time in prison. Additionally, five participants indicated experiencing stereotype threat, and believed this phenomenon to have had a negative impact on their ability to reintegrate back into society.
Restorative justice programs in Ontario: views of offenders
(2011-06-01) MacDiarmid, Laura; Ammar, Nawal
Restorative justice has grown within the criminal justice system over the last 30 years. The current academic literature suggests that restorative justice programs provide many positive benefits for the offenders who participate in them; however, there is a lack of research to account for the subjective experiences of program participants. Using qualitative inquiry, the current thesis sought to understand better the meaning, purpose, and impact of restorative justice programs from ten adult offenders participating in one of two restorative justice programs in Southern Ontario: restorative conferencing and victim-offender mediation. Results highlight how offenders report gaining access to the programs, how they describe the programs, significant features of the programs, and long-term impacts of the programs. Recommendations to enhance the meaningfulness for the offenders as well as policy recommendations and areas for future research are discussed.
Individual factors predicting mental health court diversion outcome
(2011-06-01) Verhaaff, Ashley; Scott, Hannah
Little research has examined which individual factors may predict mental health court diversion outcome. Using data provided by a non-profit mental health services agency operating in the Durham Region in Ontario, this study examined 419 persons with mental illness participating in a post-charge diversion program. Socio-demographic and clinical characteristics were employed to investigate the relationship between clientspecific factors and level of program completion. Logistic regression results revealed that unemployment was a significant predictor of program completion. Employment and symptom severity were predictive of partial completion of court diversion. Additionally, participants who did not complete programming were more likely to have a concurrent disorder and were more likely to be residentially unstable than participants who did complete programming. These findings are discussed with respect to their implications for practice and future research.
A criminology of catastrophe: a critical analysis of imperialistic state crime and the Haiti earthquake
(2011-07-01) San Antonio, Jaclyn Tricia; Perry, Barbara; Ammar, Nawal; Alvi, Shahid
Despite the devastation caused by environmental catastrophes, these phenomena have yet to garner significant attention as a subject of criminological inquiry. This thesis is framed by the following question: How can we problematize the notion of “natural” disaster to arrive at a criminological understanding of human culpability in the production of harm? I argue that the degree of human suffering caused by natural disasters is aggravated by imperialistic state crimes, which predispose populations to conditions of vulnerability and dependency. I substantiate this argument with an analysis of Haiti and demonstrate how its history of imperialistic exploitation by the US amounted to a pattern of state crime victimization that marginalized Haitians and, consequently, shaped their suffering from the 2010 earthquake. The story of Haiti exemplifies the relationship between the contemporary hardships of a natural disaster and the historical injustices of state crime, thus illuminating the relevance of a criminology of catastrophe.
A lot of these things nobody talks about: South Asian Muslims' perceptions of dating behaviours and abuse
(2011-07-01) Couture, Amanda; Alvi, Shahid
The unique meanings people of varying cultures and religions assign to dating behaviours/abuse along with the context in which these meanings are created are largely neglected in dating abuse research. Applying intersectionality, I examine understandings of dating behaviours/abuse from the perspective of South Asian Muslims in Canada. To unravel the context in which these perceptions are formed, I use intersecting characteristics that emerged as themes in 11 qualitative interviews, which include: individual identities, influences of South Asian Muslim and mainstream Western cultures, and personal perceptions of dating. The majority of participants used religion, cultures, and nations as identifiers, perceived their communities to be opposed to dating, and felt pressure to date stemming from Western society. I argue that these intersect to shape their personal perceptions of dating and the meanings and significance of dating behaviours/abuse, which revolved around: significance of exposure and sexual behaviours, control, relationship attachment, and psychological behaviours/abuse.
An analysis of the representation of internet child luring and the fear of cyberspace in four Canadian newspapers
(2011-08-01) Roberts, Steven; Slane, Andrea; Downing, Steven; Olsson, Patrik
Due to the popularization of Internet technologies in the last two decades, public attention has been directed to issues surrounding online sexual exploitation of minors in Canadian Newspapers. Specifically, newspaper articles have assisted in shaping public perceptions of the nature and scope of Internet child luring. A mixed quantitative/qualitative content analysis methodology is applied to the study’s four Canadian-based newspapers to examine how Internet child luring is constructed between the 1st of January, 2002 and December 31st, 2010. The study highlights the possible influences Canadian print media might have on the perceptions of parents and legal guardians regarding crime prevention and the dangers associated with Internet use by minors. Canadian print media has been instrumental in constructing the perception of Internet technology and its use by minors as harmful, intrusive, and unavoidable while designating parents and legal guardians as primary watchdogs of their children’s online behaviours.
Exploring anomie in a special life-stage: adolescent anomie and aggression
(2011-08-01) Polgar-Matthews, Marie; Cao, Liqun
Adolescence is a critical biological and social transitional period, resulting in a variety of new emotions in teenagers. Feelings of normlessness, purposelessness and meaninglessness are among these emotions. These feelings of normlessness, purposelessness, and meaninglessness are often referred to as „anomie‟ by criminologists and sociologists. This study attempts to utilize Durkheim‟s theoretical model and framework of anomie to explain adolescents‟ aggression. Data from the “National Longitudinal Survey of Children and Youth, 1998-1999, Self Reporting Cycle 3” with a sub-sample of 5500 of adolescents [ages ranged from10-15years] are used to explore if the anomic condition in adolescence is linked to increased aggression. Results from the multivariate analysis support the hypothesis that indeed the anomic condition during adolescence is positively related to their levels of aggression.
Police officers' perceptions of gender-motivated violence in Canada
(2011-09-01) Scrivens, Ryan; Perry, Barbara
Police officers‟ perceptions of gender-motivated violence against women have been overlooked in hate crime research. In an attempt to fill a gap in the hate crime, violence against women, and policing hate crime literature, I examine how nine police officers understand gender-motivated violence in Canada using vignettes, sentence-competition tasks, and an interview guide. Here, participants are asked about their perceptions of and experience with hate crime and gender-motivated hate crime against women. Results indicate that the majority of participants do not perceive hypothetical instance of violence against women as hate crime, all of which is a product of: victim-perpetrator relationships, ambiguous motives and alternative motives, and definitional constraints with legal terms. Equally, factors and conditions that influence police officers‟ perceptions relate to: the typical victims of hate notion, police routine and experience with hate crime and gender-motivated violence, hate crime legislation, hate crime policies and procedures for police, and hate crime training for police.
Mean girls in the press: a content analysis of two Toronto newspapers
(2011-10-01) Fyfe, Alison; DeKeseredy, Walter
Recent criminological scholarship characterizes media attention to aggressive girls, or “mean girls,” as a moral panic, which is correlated with the creation of increasingly punitive antibullying policies in North America. Content analysis was used to uncover how news attention to youth aggression around the time of Reena Virk’s murder contributed to this moral panic in Toronto newspapers. Results indicate that Virk’s murder helped change the frequency and nature of news coverage of girls’ bullying. Reporting on girls’ bullying significantly increased and the dominant news frame falsely presented girls’ bullying as a major and rising problem in schools. The news coverage coincided with the development of more punitive Canadian youth policies. Recommendations for future research, theoretical development, and media practice are provided.
The news coverage of honour killings in Canadian newspapers
(2012-05-01) Vatandoost, Negin; Ammar, Nawal
The issue of honour killings has become a prominent topic of discussion in the Western discourse of violence against immigrant women. In Canada, particularly, the recent high-profile cases of honour killings have drawn increased attention from the media, academics and the public. The prevalent discussion links these murders to the broader issues of immigration, multiculturalism, and violence against immigrant women. In this thesis, I examine the nature of honour killings, their components, and the discourse of honour killings in its Canadian context. In doing so, I conduct a textual analysis of the representation of three recent honour killings in two major Canadian newspapers; The Toronto Star and The Globe and Mail. Results suggest that honour killings touched a nerve in Canadian media leading to the use of culturalist approaches to understand and represent these killings. This culturalist approach to the debate created serious obstacles for clarifying or explaining this form of violence against women. It further hindered any constructive public debate about ending these killings. The consequences of the culturalist approach to honour killings as well as recommendations for future research and theoretical developments in this area of violence against women are suggested.
Benefits of apology for offenders: the effects of victim presence and coercion on apologies
(2012-05-01) Saulnier, Alana; Sivasubramaniam, Diane
Offenders in some restorative justice programs are required to offer an apology as a condition of successful completion of the restorative justice procedure, or else return to court. Apologies can be required even when victims do not attend the restorative justice procedure. Apologising can result in several benefits for apologisers, but previous research suggests that coercion and lack of victim presence in restorative justice procedures may reduce those benefits. Participants (n = 120) took part in a deceptive live study designed to elicit confessions for a transgression and subsequent apologies. In this study, I manipulated coercion (Coerced, Not coerced) and victim presence (Direct, Surrogate, Ambiguous), to test their effects on the outcome benefits that offenders derived from offering an apology. Findings indicated that victim presence and coercion significantly impact outcome benefits for apologisers, including: perceptions of personal responsibility, accountability for consequences, transgression exaggeration and procedural fairness judgments. Implications for restorative justice programs are discussed.
The female family annihilator, restructuring traditional typologies: an exploratory study
(2012-06-01) Fleming, Katie; Scott, Hannah
Although both female and male mass murderers have been studied, less attention has been paid to women who commit mass murder. Current literature suggests mass murders committed by women, regardless of offender choice, are well planned, predisposing factors and precipitating events prior to the offence have been noted. This study explored the patterns among the crimes of female family annihilators. This study focuses on an exploratory sample of North American cases, occurring between 1970 and 2010, where females were identified as killing four or more family members during what has been described as a single homicidal event. Using a North American database of newspaper accounts, patterns are uncovered by comparing variables including, but not limited to: motive, number of victims, method of murder, age of offender and victim age. The findings suggest that a clearer profile and set of definitions need to be adopted in discussions of female family annihilators. Practical and theoretical implications will be discussed.
Societal perceptions of wrongful convictions
(2012-07-01) Blandisi, Isabella; Clow, Kimberley
In recent years wrongful convictions have received a considerable amount of research attention. This flourishing interest has resulted in a growing body of literature that aims to investigate this criminal justice phenomenon. Specifically, the current academic literature suggests that exonerees have reported feeling stigmatized; however, public perception research suggests that the public is actually supportive of exonerees. As very little research has been conducted on public perceptions of wrongful conviction—and on the views of community members, in particular—this thesis sought to further explore this topic using open-ended, structured interviews. In addition, the literature has been criticized for its lack of theory integration. Therefore, the results of this study have been interpreted in the context of Giddens‘ Structuration Theory. Indeed, public perception and support are important as they may influence policy changes and encourage the government to be more forthcoming when it comes to preventing wrongful convictions and helping exonerees post-conviction. Overall, results indicated that community members defined wrongful conviction as cases of factual innocence. They also had limited knowledge of wrongful conviction, leading some participants to believe that wrongful convictions were infrequent. Community members were also able to identify several factors that lead to wrongful convictions (e.g., mistaken eyewitnesses), felt that the criminal justice system did a fair job in light of wrongful convictions, and generally held positive views toward exonerees (e.g., believing that they should receive supportive services, such as financial compensation, job training, and apologies). Furthermore, results highlight that while community members acknowledge that exonerees likely experience stigmatization, the majority of participants did not personally express stigmatizing views.
Provocation, intent and harm: factors affecting public support for restorative justice processes
(2012-08-01) Lutchman, Kiri; Clow, Kimberley
This study tested whether observers’ support for restorative justice is contingent on the perception that an offender deserves respectful treatment. In a 2 (Intent: High, Low) x 2 (Harm: High, Low) x 2 (Provocation: High, Low) between-subjects experimental vignette study, we manipulated circumstances surrounding an assault. Results showed that participants judged the restorative justice procedure to be more respectful than court and whether the offender intended to harm the victim, the amount of harm the victim suffered, and the level of provocation from the victim before the assault impacted participants’ views of how deserving the offender was of respectful treatment. Although there were interactions among the predictors on perceived deservingness of respectful treatment of the offender, perceived deservingness did not predict participants’ choice of restorative justice versus court for deciding the offence. The implications of public support for restorative justice procedures are discussed.
Are they right or wrong? Investigating the ability to judge the accuracy of eyewitnesses in same-and -other race identifications
(2012-08-01) Riess, Katherine E.L.; Cutler, Brian
Past research has investigated the cross-race effect in the context of eyewitnesses and jury decision-making. The main goal of my thesis was to gain further insight into participants’ knowledge of the cross-race effect and how this impacted participants’ discrimination of same- and cross-race identifications. One hundred fifty-nine undergraduate students from UOIT viewed a series of showup identification videos. I found that participants were better able to discriminate accurate from inaccurate same-race identifications than cross-race identifications. However, participants believed White witnesses more and found them more credible than South Asian witnesses. Further research should investigate other conditions that influence people’s abilities to discriminate accurate from inaccurate eyewitness identifications.
A content analysis of women's safety websites: rape myths and the internet
(2012-09-01) Tzotzes, Kamille; Alvi, Shahid
Women’s sexual victimization is perceived as a one sided problem that emphasizes women’s choices and neglect men’s accountability. Rape myths support an explanation of rape that allows women to remain fearful of sexual victimization. This thesis questions whether contemporary websites regarding women’s safety reinforce rape myths. Components of rape myths include the idea that women’s safety is her responsibility alone, echo traditional gender role expectations, perpetuate dependence on others and security products, and suggest that women’s fear of victimization is normal. A content analysis of thirteen websites regarding women’s safety is the subject of this study. Findings suggest that websites regarding women’s safety are perpetuating components of rape myths through safety suggestions. Key
Pre- and post-offence behaviours of healthcare serial killers as a confidence game
(2012-10-01) Lubaszka, Christine Katherine; Shon, Phillip
Extant literature, while plentiful on the topic of serial homicide in general, does not adequately examine the phenomena of healthcare professionals who serially murder their patients. Using a sample of 58 healthcare serial killers located within North America, South America and Europe between the years of 1970-2010, this study examines notable pre- and post-offence behaviours of healthcare serial killers. Patterns related to offender etiology, victim cultivation, crime scene behaviour and techniques of evasion were explored. The findings from this study suggest that the pre- and post-offence behaviours of healthcare serial killers can be examined from the theoretical framework of confidence men or ‘con men.’ The findings from this study also suggest that healthcare serial killings and offenders who perpetrate them continue to be elusive and warrant additional scholarly attention to reduce their likelihood of engaging in homicide undetected for extended periods of time. Policy implications are also discussed.

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