Project Director

Dierenfeldt, Rick

Department Examiner

Garland, Tammy S.

Department

Dept. of Criminal Justice and Legal Assistant Studies

Publisher

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

Place of Publication

Chattanooga (Tenn.)

Abstract

Prior literature has highlighted several factors that contribute to wrongful convictions and described the frequency in which these factors influence wrongful convictions; they include mistaken eyewitness identification, mishandling of forensic evidence, and misconduct among criminal justice professionals. The literature concerning perceptions of the influence of these factors on wrongful convictions is limited, however, by its failure to consider the impact of respondent characteristics on their perceptions. In this study, I extend this line of research by examining the influence of respondent characteristics on perceptions of the culpability of criminal justice actors, contamination of forensic evidence, and mistaken eyewitness identification in the frequency of wrongful convictions. Results of Pearson’s correlation suggest that perceptions are shaped by sex, political affiliation, college major, having a friend or close friend or family member employed in criminal justice, perceptions of race-based sentencing disparities, and perceptions of the frequency of wrongful convictions.

Acknowledgments

Dr. Rick Dierenfeldt Assistant Professor Social, Cultural, and Justice Studies Thesis Director Dr. Tammy Garland Professor Social, Cultural, and Justice Studies Department Examiner

IRB Number

19-045

Degree

B. S.; An honors thesis submitted to the faculty of the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the degree of Bachelor of Science.

Date

5-2020

Subject

Administrative responsibility; College students -- attitudes; Judicial error

Keyword

College Student Perceptions; Criminal Justice Actor Culpability; Frequency of Wrongful Convictions; Wrongful Convictions

Discipline

Criminology and Criminal Justice

Document Type

Theses

Extent

56 leaves.

DCMI Type

Text

Language

English

Rights

http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

License

http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/

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