Jeffrey W. Rosky’s research while affiliated with University of Central Florida and other places

In the USA, civil protection orders, commonly known as restraining orders, have been underutilized as a means of protecting victims of intimate partner violence. It has been proposed that part of the reason for this underutilization is victim apprehension over treatment by the courts. To improve the experience of accessing legal relief, Court Watch programs have been implemented in various jurisdictions across the country. Court Watch programs monitor judicial behavior on several dimensions, including whether interactions with victims are informational, explanatory, participatory, and respectful. Using secondary data obtained from a Florida Court Watch program, this study examines judicial behavior in 500 civil protection order hearings for intimate partner violence. Applying quantitative and qualitative analytic strategies, we examine Court Watch perceptions of judicial behavior, the association between Court Watch perceptions of judicial behavior and civil protection order outcomes, and factors that might account for judicial behavior.

This study expands on previous research on adolescent problem behaviors by examining whether different constellations of problem behavior in adolescence differentially impact outcomes during emerging adulthood. Data from the in-home interviews of waves 2 and 3 of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent Health (Add Health) were used to examine these relationships. Latent class analysis, using nineteen problem behaviors measured at wave 2, identified three classes of adolescents representing "low risk, abstainers," "sexually-active, experimenters," and a "high risk, diverse behavior" group. Multivariate logistic regression analyses were then used to identify class differences (measured at wave 3) in social stability, general health and service utilization, and criminal justice system involvement during emerging adulthood. Important class differences in the likelihood of negative outcomes during early adulthood were identified. The implications of these findings and suggestions for future research are discussed.

This article takes a critical look at the recent Jensen, Shafer, Roby, and Roby study that found that juveniles and adults have no statistically significant different rates of passing sexual history polygraph examinations. Numerous research and statistical issues are identified, including lack of independence, no adjustment for differing rates of opportunity across ages, poor construct validity of deceit, failure to adjust for base rates of deceit in subsequent analyses, and failure to include recidivism as an outcome. In addition, three arguments made by Jensen et al. against using recidivism as an outcome to judge post-conviction polygraph are discussed along with critical assessments of two recent studies examining the relationship between recidivism and sexual history polygraph examinations. It ends with a discussion of the current state of post-conviction polygraph testing research and way forward to find solid, replicable evidence that assesses its utility as a correctional intervention.

A modest body of research has examined judicial decision making in civil protection order (CPO) cases. A major finding of this prior research is that the factors expected to shape judicial responses to CPO requests are often found to be insignificant. Because such decisions are often rendered in an environment of vast judicial discretion and competing allegations, the question of “what matters?” assumes added importance. This study examines permanent/final restraining order (PRO) outcomes for intimate partner violence on a number of variables. Specifically, chi-square analyses were performed examining the associations between granting/denying a PRO and demographic, relationship, hearing, and allegation characteristics associated with the petitioner and respondent. These tests helped to reveal relationships at the bivariate level and aided in further model-building using logistic regression and decision-tree analysis. The findings show that the factors most associated with PRO outcomes, namely, the denial of a PRO, are those reflecting the licit rather than illicit behavior of the respondent.

The presence of mental illness within criminal sentencing can be conceptualized both as a mitigating factor based on the diminished capacity argument and as an aggravating factor stemming from the perceived dangerousness stigma associated with mental illness. The current study tests these hypotheses for violent offenses using data from the 2004 Survey of Inmates in State Correctional Facilities within a weighted negative binomial regression framework. Separate analyses were conducted for male and female offenders to isolate gender effects in relation to the sentence length of offenders with a mental illness. The findings reveal that the presence of a mental illness tended to increase violent conviction sentence length reported by male offenders and decrease sentence length reported by female offenders, suggesting mental illness in the context of a violent conviction may be interpreted as evidence of diminished capacity for females and future dangerousness for males.

Each year many offenders are released homeless putting them at great risk of being returned to prison. To reduce the likelihood of recidivism, Washington State implemented the Reentry Housing Pilot Program (RHPP) to provide housing assistance for high risk/high need offenders leaving prison without a viable place to live. This study provides a longitudinal (2008-2011), multisite outcome evaluation that considers how ex-offenders in the RHPP program (n = 208), who were provided housing and wraparound services, compared with similar offenders released with an elevated risk of homelessness while being traditionally supervised (n = 208). Findings show that the RHPP program was successful in significantly reducing new convictions and readmission to prison for new crimes, but had no significant effect on revocations. In addition, results showed that periods of homelessness significantly elevated the risk of recidivism for new convictions, revocations, and readmission to prison. The authors recommend that subsidized housing for high risk offenders become a central part of coordinated responses to reentry.

The apparent utility of the polygraph to work both as a treatment and supervision aid and as a deterrent for future offending is cited as ample justification for its use. This article examines these claims to demonstrate that although post-conviction polygraph testing may have some utility by increasing disclosures of prior offending and, within specific cases, admissions of treatment and supervision violations, the limited evidence accumulated thus far does not adequately ascertain its accuracy nor support its efficacy or effectiveness as a deterrent. The article concludes with recommendations for creating a real evidentiary base beyond polygraph testing's apparent ability to elicit more information from offenders to evidence that can determine whether it is efficacious and effective in reducing criminality and deviance.

The intersection of public health and criminal justice involves reducing negative human outcomes, disease and crime, respectively. In this article, we examine the public health approach in detail and how it relates to criminal justice research and practice and how each discipline achieves legitimacy. We demonstrate the public duties of the criminal justice system and how it already performs some public health duties and how we can better integrate public health approaches at the academic, bureaucratic, and street levels.