Data Collection Plan

Revise the data collection portion, also known as the Methods

Please place any corrections to existing and new sections in RED

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Be sure to address each of the following:

Methods Outline how you would propose to collect and analyze data for your study. Make sure to address the following items:

Main Concepts to be studied (i.e., your main independent and dependent variables to be studied such as, substance abuse treatment and recidivism);

Conceptual and Operational Definitions for your primary study variables. For example, you might conceptualize recidivism as re-offending following completion of a substance abuse treatment program; and you might operationalize recidivism as any conviction for a crime occurring within one year of program completion;

Research Hypothesis/Question that the applied study would address/answer were it to be conducted;

Sampling Design or Strategy for your study. Explain how you would identify members of the population and how you would select the study sample, including the type of sampling you would use and the rationale for why it is the most appropriate;

Research Design. Would the data be quantitative, qualitative, or both? Explain. Would the study involve experimental design, quasi-experimental design, process evaluation design, outcome evaluation design, cross-sectional or longitudinal design, etc.? Explain the rationale for your selections;

Data Collection. How would you collect the data? Would you use quantitative surveys/questionnaires, qualitative interviews, participant observation, focus groups, and/or secondary data, for example? Discuss any data collection tools you would use, including examples of questions you might ask or data fields that you might collect. If proposing to use more than one form of data collection, explain why each form is necessary for your proposed study and how each would produce different data. Consider if you had to actually collect the data for the study, what would you need to do to schedule and coordinate the data collection? Be specific in your explanation;

Data Analysis Method Explain how you would prepare your data to analyze it, distinguishing quantitative from qualitative data preparation. Discuss how you would code and analyze the data that you propose to collect. What steps would you take to ensure that your data collection and data analyses were both consistent (reliable) and accurate (valid)? What analysis summary tools (charts, figures, tables, and/or graphs) would you use to quickly and effectively report your findings? Would you be theming the data, would you produce summary statistics such as means, medians and/or modes, etc.? Explain how your proposed analyses would accurately and reliably summarize the data collected. What charts, figures, or tables would you use to summarize your results?

Explain your rationale;

Ethical Considerations. Discuss the ethical issues that would need to be addressed before conducting your proposed study. Such issues include but are not limited to honesty, confidentiality, carefulness, objectivity, and respect for intellectual property, openness, and human subject considerations. Describe how you would ensure the protection of any human subjects and confidentiality of data for your proposed study, including how you would ensure “informed consent” of all study participants;

Additional Issues or Questions Do you have any other issues or questions that need to be raised before the study could be started? For example, if you were to actually conduct the study, would you need to formally request access to the data or to the study subjects? If so, highlight these types of issues or questions in this section; and

What additional resources will you need? Are there any additional resources needed to collect the data you want? If conducting a survey online, how will you set-up the online survey, and how will you get people’s e-mail addresses to invite them to participate?

Do you have any other issues or questions that need to be raised before the study would be started? If so, highlight them and serve as the conclusion to the plan.

Include an introductory and concluding paragraph and demonstrate college-level communication through the composition of original materials in Standard American English.

Use examples to support your discussion.

INCARCERATION OF WOMEN OFFENDERS 2

INCARCERATION OF WOMEN OFFENDERS 21

Incarceration of Women Offenders

CJ598.01

Running head: INCARCERATION OF WOMEN OFFENDERS 1

Incarceration of Women Offenders

Proposal Timeline

The approximation of this proposal time covers around 18 weeks starting as from February 3rd, 2020. The time allocated for the different sections of the proposal are as follows:

Identification of the study problem. Feb 3rd to Feb 10th (1 week)

In that period, the problem statement and issues to be researched in the study will be researched in depth and justify the research.

Literature Review. Feb 11th to Feb 18th (1 week)

In this period, previous studies about the problem statement of this study will be examined and formulate questions and suggestions on how and the areas which need more research. Discussions about the differences as well as the similarities between numerous previous studies will be highlighted and discussed in depths.

Data Collection. Feb 19th to 18th March (1 month)

Over the three weeks, quantitative data for this study will be collected. The

data collection

used will be interviews and questionnaires. Data materials from previous studies will also be analyzed. Through the various data collection tools, a fair and average data will be obtained.

Data analysis March 19th to 18th may. (2 Months)

Over this period, all the data collected from the quantitative methods will be critically analyzed, and determine the main reasons for the increase in women committing violent crimes in the U.S.

Summarizing of the Findings. 19th May to 18th June. (1 month)

During this period, all the data collected and then analyzed will be critically and carefully summarized to provide basis for drawing important conclusions of the research. The conclusion of the study will determine the reasons as to why there is an increase in the number of women committing violent crimes.

Introduction

Over the last few decades, the number of women in jail or prison or under the criminal justice department supervision has not decreased at the same rate as males. In the 1990s, only 600,000 women were incarcerated in the United States jails or prisons (James, 2018). However, this number has increased dramatically with recent statistics showing that there are over 1.3 million incarcerated women in the United States (James, 2018). Interestingly, the number of women imprisoned due to violent crimes such as homicide or assaults has increased over the years, while other crimes have decreased (Copp & Bales, 2018). Many of the violent crimes committed by incarcerated women were typically committed against their partner, spouse or ex-spouse. Previous studies have showed that many of them previously reported cases of the partner physically or sexually abusing them (Kang-Brown, Hinds, Heiss, & Lu, 2018).

However, it is important to note that the levels of women getting jailed or imprisoned are still increasing due to some of the changes in the United States crime policy (Swavola, Riley, & Subramanian, 2016). These changes in policies include mandatory punishment for cases of lawbreaking of any individual such as mandatory sentencing and increased response by law enforcement to social problems in the society. In recent years, many activists, as well as scholars, have raised awareness of the problem of increased incarceration of women by the criminal justice system (Swavola, Riley, & Subramanian, 2016). This has seen some effort made to address the problem of women committing violent crimes, incarceration and how they are treated in prisons and jails to attempt and reduce it (Swavola, Riley, & Subramanian, 2016). This study will employ survey research and secondary

data analysis

to determine the causes of the increase of women committing violent crimes and measures taken by the criminal justice systems to culminate the problem.

Problem Statement

Women’s incarceration in the United States due to participation in violent crimes has increased dramatically. For the last 40 years, the number of women being incarcerated has doubled that of men, which is raising concerns and attention in the criminal justice system (Swavola, Riley, & Subramanian, 2016). This rapid rise in the percentage of women imprisoned has resulted in an urgent need to understand the unique needs of such women in prisons and jails. Women imprisoned due to violent crimes usually represent a small but very significant portion of the wider group of women under the observation of the criminal justice system (Swavola, Riley, & Subramanian, 2016). However, the criminal justice system usually lacks programs or interventions that specifically target correcting women offenders and forcing them to use programs and interventions developed for men.

The proposed study will examine the issue of increased women incarceration by collecting data from incarcerated women in the Mecklenburg County Jail Central located in Charlotte, North Carolina, United states States, to examine the main causes of the increased rate of women committing violent crimes which has led to increased women incarceration. The study is anticipated to begin in 19th February 2020 and be completed by 18th march March 2020. Comment by Kristin Early: This is good – but there are some issues here that need to be revised slightly – and also revised later in the

Methods

section. The statement includes some assumptions, which may not be true. It seems to assume that the rate of incarceration for women in Mecklenburg County Jail has increased and that it is due to violent crimes. We don’t know that though until we research and document that, right?
I can see that you want to focus on violent offending, but I also see that your proposed methods later are primarily aimed at talking to the female offenders and surveying staff. That is fine, but that would not be most effective way to study your proposed hypotheses, which you list below as:
1. The study hypothesis that the installation of various programs and interventions by the criminal justice systems such as rehabilitation centers for women in the county will lead to a reduced level of women committing violent crimes through reoffending or recidivism. To test this effectively you would need to collect official data from the jail that would permit you to compare a period of time prior to implementation of new interventions and then after to see if recidivism has gone down. You can either switch your data collection to a plan like that and rewrite it below, or you can change your hypothesis to match your proposed methodology.
2. The second hypothesis is that moving away from prosecuting low-level crimes by women will lead to fewer incarceration rates in the women prisons leading to a reduction in women incarceration. This is a completely separate issue and would require collecting official data from the jail over time to see if changes in prosecution would result in reductions in incarceration – but it is also somewhat of a given that if prosecutors agree to drop low-level charges against women, incarceration would correspondingly go down. Again, this hypothesis does not really match your proposed methods.
I would recommend changing your hypotheses to focus on what you mention here and below, that is – 1. Are women increasingly being incarcerated in Mecklenburg County Jail? This would require official quantitative data from the jail for a period of time to see if the numbers have increased.
2. If so, are they being incarcerated for more violent crimes than in the past? Use same data as for 1.
3. If so, why are they engaging in these crimes? Use qualitative interview data.
You could leave out staff questionnaires – as that is a separate issue beyond the scope of the

study.

Your call – but whatever you decide, please revise the Problem Statement and Methods section accordingly.

Literature review

Sawyer (2018) carried out research that aimed at tracking the growth of women populations in the state prison. The research was aimed to reveal the gender divide that has existed between the story of growth in the women as well as the men prison. The report tracked trends in the prison population since the 70s in all the states in America. Sawyer tried to pinpoint areas where the reforms in prisons have led to the mass incarceration of women in the United States (McKeown & Harvey, 2018). The study showed that the recent reforms have only had a meaningful impact on men with women prisons still largely unaffected by the reforms. In the report, it was clear that many states have undermined any commitment to the criminal justice reforms to transform the women’s prisons and reduce the increased incarcerations of women.

The report indicated that the recent effort by the criminal justice systems to reverse the growth of prison populations has impacted more men than women. From 2009 to 2015, the number of incarcerated men reduced by about 5 percent while that of their women counterparts reduced by only 0.29 percent (Sawyer, 2018). This proved that more need to be done in the women prison to reduce the number of incarcerations. Out of the 50 states, women have led in 35 states in the number of incarcerations compared to only 15 states where men have had more incarceration than men from 2009 to 2015 (Sawyer, 2018). The reasons for the slow reduction rate in women’s prisons are mostly because women are more likely to face disciplinary actions with more severe punishment when charged with a violent crime. Also, fewer rehabilitation centers are available for women as compared to men giving first offenders a no chance for rehabilitation but to face imprisonment punishment. Also, the criminal justice systems have created policies that have led to the over-criminalization of women such as mandatory arrests for women who fight back in domestic violence. This has generally led to the increase of women charged with violent crimes under the supervision of the criminal justice systems.

Swavola, Riley, and Subramanian (2016) conducted research aimed at halting the growing rate of women incarceration in the United States. The study concentrated on analyzing the previous research on women’s incarceration and how the issue came to be a big problem in the criminal justice systems. The study showed that women, more than men, go through many difficulties and experiences in prison that have adverse effects (McKeown & Harvey, 2018). The differences are brought about by the effects of trauma, physical disorders as well as behavioral health illnesses mostly due to single parenting in addition to poverty. The study emphasized that the increased rate of incarcerations for women is due to policies that have led to increased punitive attitudes in the criminal justice systems as well as legislations that mandate sentencing of low-level lawbreaking offenses (Swavola, Riley, & Subramanian, 2016). The study suggested that more rapid measures to redirect women in the criminal justice supervision to reform and help them achieve healthier more productive and stable lives in the society should be adapted to reduce the levels of incarcerations.

Swavola, Riley, and Subramanian (2016) provide various reasons as to why there has been mass incarcerations or women committing violent crimes. The first reason for increased women imprisonment is due to the lack of employment opportunities. The study revealed that 6 out of 10 women in prison did not have a job or employment before committing a crime. The women claimed that lack of employment led to them developing serious mental issues or illnesses such as depression and bipolar disorder. Also, many claimed that they were previously victimized in cases involving crimes, such as, childhood abuse, sexual assaults, and violence from their partner, resulting in PTSD. (Swavola, Riley, & Subramanian, 2016). This led or contributed a lot to the women participating in criminal activities that landed them in prison. To reduce these problems, criminal justice systems need to make policies that reduce the prosecution of low-level wrongdoings. They also need to assign a defense attorney to the suspects in the early stages of these cases and the expansion of the release on recognizance (Swavola, Riley, & Subramanian, 2016).

Kubiak et al (2012) carried out research that was geared towards determining the long-term effects or outcomes of interventions for women involved in violent crimes. The research was to examine how co-existing factors that lead to trauma-related aggressiveness or anger, and violent behaviors of incarcerated women can lead to the reduction of violent cases among women in the prison (King, 2017). Programs such as Beyond Violence experimental condition as well as the treatment-as-usual condition were considered for a long-term objective that reduced reoffending and relapse to violent behaviors after prison release. The research showed that women who received Beyond Violence programs in prison were less likely to re-offend or recidivate than the women who received the treatment-as-usual programs (Kubiak, Kim, Fedock, & Bybee, 2012). This suggests that programs that aim at correcting the short, as well as the long-term behaviors of recidivism and relapse, should be implemented more in women prisons to reduce the high rates of women incarcerations.

Fedock (2018) researched the lives of imprisoned women before they were incarcerated and after they imprisoned to determine their treatment as compared to their male counterparts in the male prisons. The study focused mainly on women incarcerated for committing violent crimes such as murder and assaults. The study showed that many women especially facing life imprisonment generally ha a pre-prison experience that included histories of poverty, both childhood as well as adulthood assault and abuse, parental imprisonment, and parental substance use. These factors contributed significantly to the women committing the crimes that they were sentenced for (Karlsson, Zielinski, & Bridges, 2015). Fedock raised the important issue of developing programs that cater to the needs of such women in society to reduce the chances of them committing crimes or going to prison (Fedock, 2018). The study showed that unlike men, women have less or no programs and interventions that help them reduce their criminal behavior both in and out of the prisons. Additionally, the study showed that the treatment of women in prison, including physically, mentally and health-wise is completely different from that of their male counterparts.

Women need more attention than men as they have unique needs and problems facing them than that of men. However, the research showed that women in prisons are treated the same or worse than their counterparts in male prisons. Considering the uniqueness of their problems both physically and mentally, women necessitate more attention, but this is not the case in many women prisons across the United States (Fedock, 2018). Women in prisons are more emotionally dependent than men thus requiring more connections and support from their families, social workers, and the criminal justice system.

However, this is not the case in many female prisons whereby women have been stripped of their womanhood and left to depend on themselves just like men’s prisons (King, 2017). This has led to the growth of emotionally distinct women in the prisons who faces difficulties of integration in society more than men convicts. This might lead to high recidivism or relapse of such women leading to increased women incarceration due to the increased rate of women committing violent crimes. Future research should attempt to research more on women rehabilitation and treatment programs in prisons and how they can help restore the womanhood and connections of women to society after their release.

Estrada et al (2017) state that the gender gap in committing a crime has reduced over the last three decades. Estrada claims that there is an alarming of women mimicking the criminal behavior of their counterpart males. He notes that the number of males being convicted with violent crimes is reducing while that of the females committing a violent crime is increasing at an alarming rate. Many young women are said to recently be starting their adult lives with a criminal record. These offenses are a major driving force to them participating in criminal behavior later in life including violent crimes. Thus, the current trends in females committing violent crimes showed a sharp increase especially in the United States (Estrada et al., 2017). This can be much attributed to women emulating male behavior to commit crimes. Estrada believes that an increase in criminal behavior in women has been significantly been promoted to the issue of gender equality. This is due to the issue of producing changes in the kind of masculinity that normally encourages criminality.

Campaniello (2019) claims that for the last 50 years, the level of women participating in crimes as well as the labor market has constantly increased. Campaniello states that more women are now participating in violent crime, however, that number has not yet leveled with that of men. Not having children especially for women is a factor that has led to them participating in criminal behavior. This means that women who have kids are less likely to participate in crime as compared to those without children. Also, married women, who are more likely to have children have a low propensity to participate in crime as compared to the counterpart who is not married (Campaniello, 2019). Campaniello also notes that the increase and advancement in technology which has led women to move out the social norms such as staying at home have led them to increase their participation in criminal behaviors.

Today, many women have participated in the labor market and this also acts as a factor to them participating in a crime. Campaniello also states that the changing roles of duties and responsibilities for both men and women have contributed significantly to women committing crimes. Campaniello suggests that the reduction of the wage disparity that exists between women skilled workers and unskilled ones can positively lead to the reduction of the increasing rate of women participation in violent crimes and crime as a whole. Thus, the role of marriage, labor participation and children are contributing factors to women participating in criminal behaviors (Campaniello, 2019). Technological progress and changes in the social roles of women in the community can also be attributed to having contributed to women participating in criminal behavior. Thus, developing support policies that advocate and push for marriage and bearing kids should be encouraged to reduce women’s criminal activities.

Shepherd et al (2019) state that the high rate of females committing violent crimes has largely been contributed to them coping male behaviors such as engaging in substance abuse. Substance abuse among women has increased the rate of mental illnesses as well as sexual and physical ill-treatment. Shepherd et al (2019) note that the prevalence of women’s participation especially in violent crimes can be attributed to the interrelation between several factors in that woman’s life. These factors include physical as well as sexual victimization especially during their childhood, abuse intimate relationships and mental health concerns and coping mechanisms. Shepherd et al (2019) propose several ways in which the criminal justice department can reduce the level of women participation in a crime. These include developing rehabilitation centers especially for young women who are involved in substance use to help them change and promote positive behavior. Also, addressing concerns and cases of mental illness among women is the key to reducing their participation in criminal behaviors. Addressing these issues can help reduce the number of women committing violent crimes. Shepherd et al (2019) offer a good insight into the high-risk factors that lead women to commit crimes.

Cano-Urbina et al (2019) note that there is a relationship that exists between women committing crime and education. The number of incarcerations of women due to committing crimes such as property theft is high among females who dropped out of high school than those who graduated from high school. The level of education attained by a woman is a great determinant of their participation in criminal behaviors. Cano-Urbina et al (2019) state that education usually impacts several aspects of a person living such as increasing their levels of skills hence improving the opportunities of getting a job. Women who are working have a low risk of participating in crime as compared to those who do not have a job. Education also affects a person’s social networks and relationships which play a very important role in crime participation by women.

Having children increases demands that lead a female parent to engage in education for a better job to take care of their children. This aspect reduces their chances of participating in crimes to a low level. Children usually lead to the development of stronger family relations and bonds that reduces the level of such women participating in criminal behaviors. This is because the cost of incarcerations will have much impact on the woman as it will affect their children. Cano-Urbina et al (2019) provide crucial evidence that links education to crime amongst women. The arrests and imprisonment rate for women with a low level of education is higher than that of women who have attained a high level of education. Thus, the school has a positive effect on a woman’s life and reduces the chances of them participating in criminal activities.

Lopez et al (2019) study basis its research on the effects of early exposure to violence, substance use as well as negative emotions that can play a role in a woman participating in violent criminal behaviors in the future. Women exposed to gender-based violence at an early age can lead to mental health issues such as anxiety and depressions. These are some of the factors that lead women to commit violent crimes such as murder or assaults or substance use. Early exposure to violence can lead to a woman developing anger issues later in life. Anger has been positively identified as a factor that prompts women to act violently on other people which can lead to death or injuries to such people (Lopez et al., 2019). Thus, early exposure to violence, substance abuse and sexual victimization among women is related to them committing or participating in violent crimes later in the young and adults.

Methods

This study aims to research and examine the reasons for the recent increase of women in committing violent crimes and how the criminal justice system especially jails and prisons are dealing with the influx. The study also attempts to examine how the women are treated in prisons as compared to their male counterparts charged with the same crimes. The study will conduct interviews and questionnaire observations on incarcerated in Mecklenburg County Jail Central located in Charlotte, North Carolina. The interviews and questionnaires will comprise various questions that are aimed at answering various reasons leading to the increase of women committing violent crimes and whether the criminal justice departments are doing any significant steps towards addressing this particular problem.

In addition, various questionnaires will be issued to members of Mecklenburg County Jail Central staff to help determine whether all the stakeholders involved are doing anything to reduce the problem of women participating in violent crimes. The main objective of the study is to determine the leading causes of the increase of women in violent crimes under the supervision of the criminal justice system. The study will be able to make suggestions on various ways that can help in reducing the problem of increasing women committing violent crimes. Comment by Kristin Early: Please see major feedback above next to the Problem Statement. After you decide on how you will change your hypotheses and/or methods, please fix here and above.
Again, I would recommend focusing on documenting whether increases are occurring, if they are due to violent offending, and why women who did engage in violence did so. Be sure to revise this whole section accordingly. Let me know if you have questions.

Conceptual and operational definitions

The major concepts examined in this study are the increased rate of women committing violent crimes by inmates in the Mecklenburg County Jail Central and how the jail handling the handling the problems of prevent reoffending of released individuals. The concepts also include the prior definition by other researches and how women in prison are treated in comparison to their male counterparts who have committed the same crimes (Sawyer & Wagner, 2019). Previous studies tackling the same subjects have attempted to offer multiple reasons as to why women incarcerations rate is high due to committing violent crimes such as murder and assaults. Also, they have defined what is meant by a “violent crime” about this study. Violent crimes involve the perpetrator threatening to use or actually use force on the victim.

Violent crimes

Violent crimes receive heavy punishments and sentencing in the criminal justice systems. Individuals who have committed violent crimes such as murder and assaults usually receive a time in prison that is not less than 7 years to life sentence depending on the intensity of the crime committed. Violent crimes among the women in the United States have increased over the last few decades leading to a growing population in the women prisons. Different researchers have attempted to research on these subjects and define the root causes of the increase in covering several women prisons across the United States. Violent crimes, especially among women, involve murder or assaults that majorly are against a spouse, an ex-spouse or a partner. These actions according to several studies have been attributed to several coexisting factors such as poverty, substance use, childhood and adulthood sex abuse, and assaults and PTSD. Violent crimes involve the use of violent threats or weapons on someone that leads to causing both physical and mental injuries to that person.

For this study, violent crimes that will be discussed are murder and/or assault and attempted on a partner, a spouse, or an ex-spouse of the woman offender. The study will also include violent crimes committed against persons who have been known to the woman as their own attacker or person of accused sexual assault. Therefore, for this research, violent crimes will be defined as those actions perpetrated on a person by a woman leading to physical injuries to the individuals.

Jails and prisons

The concepts of jails and prisons as the correctional facilities under the criminal justice systems are facilities where women charged with violent crimes are imprisoned. Some examples of these facilities are found in both the state and local governments (Johnson, 2019). In this research, only Mecklenburg County jails will be covered as they are the facilities that contain women who are charged with violent criminals examined in this study such as murder and assaults.

Research hypothesis

The study hypothesis that the installation of various programs and interventions by the criminal justice systems such as rehabilitation centers for women in the county will lead to a reduced level of women committing violent crimes through reoffending or recidivism. The second hypothesis is that moving away from prosecuting low-level crimes by women will lead to fewer incarceration rates in the women prisons leading to a reduction in women incarceration. Comment by Kristin Early: Revise – see feedback above.

Sampling design or strategy

The study will utilize the random probability sampling design where the interviewers for the survey will be selected randomly. This aims to offer a complete representation of the population under study to collect the best possible data for the research. This should also be to avoid cases of biases in the research to minimize any error in the study. The sampling strategy will involve selecting the target population, the accessible population, defining the eligibility criteria, outlining the sampling plan and then recruiting the sample. Comment by Kristin Early: Once you decide on your hypothesis, then revise this section. First major issue is that you are not randomly selecting interviewers, as you would be the only researcher conducting the interviews.
Rather, you should be proposing here how you would select official records from the jail to see if female incarceration has increased and whether it is due to violent offenses. What study sample period would you request? Would you take all cases during that period or a sample? Explain.
For the data about why females are engaging in violent offenses – you need to explain how you would sample female inmates in the Mecklenburg County Jail to participate in your study. You need to go beyond identifying the type of sampling, to clearly explaining what population list you would use and how specifically you would conduct the random selection (see the Unit 4 Seminar slides about the different types of probability sampling and how they are conducted). Be specific here.

Research design

The study will utilize quantitative research design as it will involve issuing questionnaires and interviewing the inmates selected. The research design methods will be attempting to determine the causes of increased incarcerations of women. The research design will be descriptive using questionnaires to determine the main reasons for the increase of women committing violent crimes in the United States for the past few decades. Comment by Kristin Early: Clearly distinguish the proposed quantitative data to be collected from the interview data – which would be qualitative to permit asking women incarcerated for violent crimes why they engaged in those crimes, right?
If you go with the recommendations next to the Problem Statement, then you need to clearly distinguish the separate sampling strategies and research design for the three major questions:
1. Has female incarceration in the jail increased?
2. Has female incarceration for violent crimes increased?
3. Why do women who are incarcerated for violent crimes commit violent acts?
The first two are quantitative and the last one is qualitative.
You should then separate all three in your Data Collection and Data Analysis Method sections to clearly differentiate each and how they would differ in terms of data collection, and how you would analyze the data differently.

Data collection

The study will utilize data collection from quantitative surveys/questionnaires and secondary data. The data tools I will use in the collection of the data include structured questions that are closed-ended such as, ‘where are you abusing drugs when you committed the crime?’’ ‘’ did you have an abusive childhood by either family members or other people?’’ ‘Where you sexually assaulted at any point in your life before committing the crime?’’ from the quantitative data collection method. Data analysis from previous studies will be carried out to offer support on the research question and increase the extent of data collected to cover the full extent of the issue.

Data Analysis

The data collected for the research will be quantitative in the form of interviews and questionnaires from the inmates as well as the staff in the Mecklenburg County Jail Central. The quantitative data collected must be analyzed to discover the useful information collected to make informed conclusions and support the decision-making process (Mertens, Pugliese, & Recker, 2017). The analysis of the quantitative data will follow several stages of data analysis which include;

Data Preparation

The first stage of data analysis involves preparing the data and the main aim is to transform the raw collected data into something understandable, readable and meaningful. Data preparation usually comprise four steps which are;

Data Validation

The first step in data preparation will focus on finding out whether the already collected data was accomplished through the preset criteria and standards eliminating any possibility of biases. The data validation process will also involve four subprocesses which are aimed at refining the data through methods such as;

• Fraud – this will determine whether all the selected respondents were given the chance for an interview or were not interviewed.

• Screening- this will ensure that the participants in the research were chosen following the research criteria established for this research (Mertens, Pugliese, & Recker, 2017).

• Procedure – this step process is aimed at checking whether the scheduled data collection procedures were unquestionably followed.

• Completeness – this process’s main objective is to make sure that the research interviewer asked the participants all the research questions instead of a few questions which they might think were enough.

To accomplish this, I will randomly select a sample of the completed study survey and then validate the data collected by asking the respondents of the sample selected a set of questions to validate the data.

Data Editing

The second step of quantitative data preparation involves data editing. This is important in data analysis as big data sets usually involve many

errors.

A good instance is when the respondents skip or fill the wrong fields of the questionnaire accidentally (Mertens, Pugliese, & Recker, 2017). To ensure that the data does not have any errors, I will conduct as basic data checks, check for outliers as well as edit the research data to categorize and remove any data that might obstruct the correctness of the data results.

Data Coding

This is the third step of data preparation for analysis and is deemed as the most essential step in the data preparation process. In this step, I will group and assign values to the responses of the data collected. The step will help me in making connections and meaning from the data obtained from the respondents and group it in a way that makes a clear meaning. Through this, I will be dealing with simplified data rather than the massive data collected from the respondents.

Data analysis methods

By completing these steps, my research data will be ready for analysis. Therefore, I will move to the next phase which involves the data analysis methods of the quantitative data. There are two data analysis methods that I can apply in analyzing the data and this is descriptive and inferential statistics. Following the nature of my data sets collected, I will apply the descriptive statistics of data analysis. Through the theming method, I will be able to make a summary of the data and establish patterns. Through various descriptive statistics such as mean, median, mode, percentage, frequency, and ratio, I will be able to crates tables to further summarize and analyze the data (Mertens, Pugliese, & Recker, 2017). Data analysis requires tabulations so as to group the data sets in a way that makes sense and more understandable to the researcher and other persons.

Organization

al Behavior Principles

Organizational behavior aims to learn different individual’s perceptions, values, and actions in an organization. There are various principles of organizational behavior that are evident in each organization. In the study setting, a study of the organizational behavior of Mecklenburg County Jail Central will be conducted to how this can have effects on incarcerated women’s behavior. The criminal justice department has a decentralized administration where power is disseminated to a various subdivision under the department and this include the correctional department. Various issues face incarcerated women especially those sentenced due to participating in violent crimes (Sundt, 2016). This is generally due to the organizational behavior issues that are present in such prisons. The correctional facilities usually have a centralized administration such that the prison warden has to allow for any activity that happens in the prison. The centralized administration in my study site gives access to easy data collection.

The organizational behavior principle in my study site is the Autocratic principle of Organizational Behavior. This type of organization behavior puts the prison warden as the boss and the other staff as subordinate. He decides what should be done in the prison and how it should be done making them top controllers of the organization. This leads to the punishment of any slight mistake or wrongdoing for both the staff of the prison and also the prisoners themselves. This is meant to ensure good behavior and conducts between the subordinate staff and the prisoners for the smooth running of the organization (Sundt, 2016). The organizational culture created in this setting usually portrays power as it moves from the prisoners to the top management. This can have negative effects in when collecting data for the study as the warden can instruct their inmates or subordinate staff to give certain answer that will make them and the organization look good will hiding the issues the study is trying to examine.

In jails or prisons, two types of organizational culture are developed, and this includes management and relationship culture. Both cultures are important in the criminal justice system as it encourages change in the systems especially jails and prisons which are the correctional organization of the system. Prison staffs mostly require strong leadership with good structure and police that drives practices leading to positive behavior change of the inmates (Van De Steene, & Knight, 2017). These cultures will change jails from control institutions to a correctional organization that encourages the reduction of recidivism by helping prepare the inmates to go back to society after their prison time. This will help implement some of the recommendations in my study that aims at reducing the number of women participating in violent crimes which increases the number of women incarcerations in the United States.

The organizational culture in the institution will help the study in collecting data that is diverse on how various programs that have impacts in solving the problem of reoffending or recidivism. It will impact the interpretation of data as it will involve both the first time and chronic offenders routinely reincarcerated for violent criminal offenses (Van De Steene, & Knight, 2017). This ultimately will lead to the reduction of cases of women committing violent crimes. The organization culture found in such correctional facilities will help me in making a substantive conclusion about my study that will lead to positive changes in the criminal justice systems. Comment by Kristin Early: Revise to fit the newly revised methodology.

Ethical considerations

There are several ethical considerations that the research will have to adhere especially when dealing with the female prisoners in various jails in the Mecklenburg County area. The first ethical consideration will involve informed consent as well as the refusal of participation (Delgado & Barragan, 2019). The study will ensure that any prisoner taking part in the surveys will do so out of free will without coercion. Second, the study will ensure the privacy of the prisoners is well respected and none will be disclosed without their consent. The last ethical consideration will involve the confidentiality of the interviews which will only be used for the research and not any other purpose. The identity of the participants will also be concealed unless they allow it for the integrity of the research.

To address ethical concerns aspects in my research, I will follow the following steps in a very effective manner and discuss them with the participants in-depth to ensure they understand everything. The first step will involve discussing with the participants about the aspect of voluntary participation in the research. I will ensure that they understand that nobody is forcing them to participate in the research and that anybody is free to withdraw from the research anytime they wish (Davies, & Francis, 2018). The second step will involve discussing with them about the aspect of informed consent in the participation in the research. Through this, I will provide all the information and assurances about the research and its purpose and make sure that they understand why they are participating. I will explain to them the implications of their participation in the research to make a fully informed and deliberate decision with any pressure or coercion whatsoever.

The third step will include making sure that there is no use of any discriminatory or offensive language in the questions they will be answering. This is to avoid making them uncomfortable during the research which will be unethical and unacceptable practice in research. The fourth step will involve explaining and assuring to them that their privacy and anonymity are completely respected, and their name nor identity will be published or used without their say so (Cowburn, Gelsthorpe, & Wahidin, 2016). This is to guarantee them that their privacy and anonymity in the research is important and very well respected. Publishing participant’s name or identity without their consent is unethical as it can lead to victimization. The next step will ensure that the participants understand that the research will use the data they provided just the way they gave it without any exaggeration or deception.

Also, the research will ensure the participants’ confidentiality is respected and that the limits of professionalism are adhered to when it comes to obtaining information from them. The information they give is confidential and that it will not be shared with a third party. The adherence to the professional codes of conduct when it comes to the confidentiality of the participants will be completed followed. For example, the research will be examining the reasons for the increase of women committing violent crimes (Rennison, & Hart, 2018). This might lead to some participants stating some crimes they committed and never got caught or punished. That information will be protected, and confidentiality assured and not to be shared with any third party. The other step will ensure that the participants are protected, and no harm will come to them as a result of their participation in the research.

Through adhering and following all the steps discussed above, the research will ensure honesty, transparency and protect the participants from any harm. This will be following the codes of conduct and professionalism that is very important to ensure ethical considerations when conducting any research involving human participants (Rennison, & Hart, 2018). Ensuring all ethical considerations are adhered to will give the research all the transparency it needs to offer genuine information and suggestions about the problem of an increasing rate of women participating in violent crimes in the united states. This will also ensure the validity of the research conducted and its application to solve the issues or questions of the research through pouring knowledge and promoting the truth. Comment by Kristin Early: Revise this section to address the issues with methodological changes suggested above.

The research does not require any additional resources as it will only be conducting research on women in the Mecklenburg County Jail Central. The study will only involve questionnaires and few interviews of a selected group of inmates. The questionnaires will be issued on the day of the study and respondents can answer the study questions with a yes or no response. This is because the study will have closed ended questions that will not require the respondent to offer much details about the study questions. This is because the study will involve a big number of respondents and open-ended questions might not be thoroughly analyzed within the set time frame.

The study does not have any other questions that need to be raised for now and I believe the study can commence within the stipulated time and schedule. However, if there should be questions raised as the research goes on, I will be quick to point and raise them up.

Conclusion

The studies discussed in this study’s literature review presented some similarities with my hypotheses. The rate of women committing violent crimes has increased over the past few decades increasing the levels of incarcerations of women in the United States. All the studies proved that for the last 40 years, the number of women incarcerations due to committing violent crimes ranging from murder to assaults has almost doubled (Copp & Bales, 2018). The studies suggest that this has been due to pre-prison life experiences which have led to the development of aggressive and violent behaviors. These factors include childhood sexual abuse, adult abuse, poverty, sexual assaults, and substance abuse by the prisoners as well as their parents. Due to such factors, these women have been pushed in criminal behaviors hence ending up participating in violent crimes (Kang-Brown, Hinds, Heiss, & Lu, 2018). Thus, the criminal justice department has installed some measures that help adjust the behavior of such women especially in prison and in society.

Moreover, when compared to their male counterparts in prisons, it is evident that women’s prisons are not given the attention it deserves to help rehabilitate these women. There is no evidence of programs and interventions aimed at correcting the behavior of the women as there are in the men prisons (Delgado & Barragan, 2019). This has led to the correction of emotionally weakened women. When this woman is released back in the society from prison, the chances or recidivism or relapse are very high leading them to committing additional violent crimes and into incarcerations. However, as past researches have showed the absence of rehabilitation or intervention centers for women in the community, the results may be inconsistent. This could be due to the different states and prison centers studied or due to the sampling design and approach used for the studies.

References

Campaniello, N. (2019). Women in crime. IZA World of Labor, (105v2).

Cano-Urbina, J., & Lochner, L. (2019). The effect of education and school quality on female crime. Journal of Human Capital, 13(2), 188-235.

Copp, J. E., & Bales, W. D. (2018). Jails and local justice system reform. The Future of Children, 28(1), 103-124.

Cowburn, M., Gelsthorpe, L., & Wahidin, A. (Eds.). (2016). Research ethics in criminology: Dilemmas, issues and solutions. Taylor & Francis.

Davies, P., & Francis, P. (2018). Doing criminological research. SAGE Publications Limited.

Delgado, J., & Barragan, K. (2019). Empowering the female offender: Barriers and perceptions of inmate success.

Estrada, F., Nilsson, A., & Bäckman, O. (2017). The gender gap in crime is decreasing, but who’s growing equal to whom?. Sociologisk forskning, 54(4), 359-363.

Fedock. G. (2018) Life before “I killed the man that raped me”: Pre-prison life experiences of incarcerated women with life sentences and subsequent treatment needs. Women & Criminal Justice 28:1, 63-

James, A. (2018). Ending the incarceration of women and girls. Yale LJF, 128, 772.

Johnson, D. (2019). Marginalization and divestment: The effects of relocating the Los Angeles women’s jail. UCLA Women’s LJ, 26, 43.

Kang-Brown, J., Hinds, O., Heiss, J., & Lu, O. (2018). The new dynamics of mass incarceration. Vera Institute of Justice.

Karlsson. M. E, Zielinski. J. M, & Bridges. A.J. (2015) Expanding research on a brief exposure-based group treatment with incarcerated women. Journal of Offender Rehabilitation 54:8, 599-617.

King. A. E. (2017) Outcomes of trauma-informed interventions for incarcerated women. International Journal of Offender Therapy and Comparative Criminology 61:6, 6

-688.

Kubiak. S, Kim, J.W, Fedock. G & Bybee. D. (2012) Assessing short-term outcomes of an intervention for women convicted of violent crimes. Journal of the Society for Social Work and Research 3:3, 197-212.

Lopez, V., Kopak, A., & Pasko, L. (2019). Substance use pathways among female adolescent offenders. Crime & Delinquency, 65(3), 375-400.

McKeown. A & Harvey. E. (2018). Violent women: Treatment approaches and psychodynamic considerations. Journal of Criminological Research, Policy and Practice 4:2, 124-135

Mertens, W., Pugliese, A., & Recker, J. (2017). Quantitative data analysis. A companion.

Rennison, C. M., & Hart, T. C. (2018). Research methods in criminal justice and criminology. SAGE Publications.

Sawyer, W. (2018). The gender divide: Tracking women’s state prison growth. Prison Policy Initiative, 9.

Sawyer, W., & Wagner, P. (2019). Mass incarceration: The whole pie 2019. Northampton, MA: Prison Policy Initiative. Retrieved April, 8, 2019.

Shepherd, S. M., Newton, D., Harries, C., Fix, R. L., & Fullam, R. (2019). An analysis of high-risk offending pathways for young females in custody. Psychiatry, Psychology and Law, 26(2), 194-205.

Sundt, J. L. (2016). The effect of administrative segregation on prison order and organizational culture. Restrictive housing in the US: Issues, challenges, and future directions, 297-330.

Swavola, E., Riley, K., & Subramanian, R. (2016). Overlooked: Women and jails in an era of reform. New York, NY: Vera Institute of Justice.

Uprichard, E. (2013). Sampling: Bridging probability and non-probability designs. International Journal of Social Research Methodology, 16(1), 1-11

Van De Steene, S., & Knight, V. (2017). Digital transformation for prisons: Developing a needs-based strategy. Probation Journal, 64(3), 256-268.

Unit 5 Assignment Feedback

Hi Theresa,

The Unit 5 Assignment presented a revised version of the Data Collection Plan. The plan included each of the following: an outline of the type of data you would collect, how you would collect the data, the sampling strategy, data collection tools, types of questions that would be asked, ethical issues that would need to be addressed, and additional resources needed to conduct the study. There were some fundamental issues with the proposed hypotheses not matching the proposed methods. I provided detailed feedback about this next to the Problem Statement and then throughout the methods to assist you in making appropriate changes. Let me know though if you have any questions about the feedback, as I am happy to assist you.

The paper was well-written and clear, with minor grammatical errors. An introduction and conclusion were included, and examples were given to support your discussion. Just a little bit more to go – good luck with the final revisions!

Best,

Dr. Early

Grading

Rubric

Unit 5 Data Collection Plan

Points Possible:

No ProgressIntroductoryEmergentPracticedProficientMasteryGrading ScoreRelative WeightPoints

012345

Overview of Data to be

Collected

Overview of the data

collection process is

not

present.

An incomplete overview of

the data collection process

is provided and the type of

data being collected is

correctly

identified.

An incomplete overview of
the data collection process
is provided and the type of
data being collected is

correctly identified.

An overview of the data

collection process is provided

but the type of data being

collected is incorrectly

identified.
An overview of the data
collection process is provided

and the type of data being

collected is correctly

identified.

A clear and complete overview

of the data collection

process

is provided and the type of
data being collected is
correctly identified.

310%5.6

Collection methods

Description of the

data collection

method is not

present.

An incomplete description

of the data collection

method is

provided.

A description of the data

collection method is provided

but is missing supporting

details.

A description of the data
collection method is provided

with weak of few details.

A description of the data
collection method is provided

with some details.

A detailed description of the

data collection method is

provided with strong

supporting details.

410%6.8

Resource Plan

Did not evaluate the

data collection and

analysis of this

study.

A poor evaluation of either

the data collection or the

analysis of this study was

present with little or no

supporting details.

Evaluation of either the data

collection or the analysis of

this study was present with

supporting details.

Evaluation of both the data

collection and analysis of this

study was weak with no

supporting details.
Evaluation of both the data
collection and analysis of this

study was complete but

supporting detail was weak.

Evaluation of both the data
collection and analysis of this

study was complete with

strong supporting details.

320%11.2

Analysis Procedures

Description of the
data analysis

procedures is not

present.

Data analysis procedures

are identified, but there are

more than two incorrectly

identified.
Data analysis procedures

are mostly identified

correctly, but there are one

or two incorrectly identified.

Data analysis procedures are

correctly identified, but more

supporting details are

needed.

Data analysis procedures are

correctly identified and some

supporting details are
provided.
Data analysis procedures are

correctly identified and a

significant amount of

supporting details are

included.

320%11.2

Research…

Student work

demonstrates no

understanding or

progress towards

achievement of this

outcome.

Student used only the text

material as references.

Student used one resource

beyond the text material from

a source that was not

credible or the credibility

could not be assessed

because of lack of

information related to the

author and sponsor.

Student used one credible

resource beyond the text

material.

Student used at least two

credible sources beyond the

text material.

Student used at least two
credible sources beyond the

text material and discussed

how they evaluated the

credibility of the resources

used.

520%16

Formatting/Layout

The project was not

submitted.

The project was submitted,

but the formatting (e.g.,

spacing, margins, font size,

etc.) contains errors that

are excessive and

distracting. The title page

and reference page are

missing.

The project demonstrates an

attempt to adhere to the

formatting guidelines as

outlined in the instructions

(e.g., spacing, margins, font

size, etc.)–errors are

frequent. The title page

and/or reference page may

be missing, incomplete, or

contain some formatting

errors.
The project demonstrates an
attempt to adhere to the
formatting guidelines as
outlined in the instructions
(e.g., spacing, margins, font

size, etc.)–errors are not

egregious. The title page or

reference page are included

but may contain formatting

errors.

The project adheres to the

formatting guidelines as
outlined in the instructions
(e.g., spacing, margins, font

size, etc.) with minimal

errors. The title page and

reference page (listing all

sources used) are included

but may contain minor or

negligible formatting errors.

The project adheres to the
formatting guidelines as
outlined in the instructions
(e.g., spacing, margins, font

size, etc.). The title page and

reference page (listing all
sources used) are included

and conform to course/

assignment guidelines.

55.0%4

Source Attribution

No attempt was

made to distinguish

between ideas from

sources and those

of the author. Paper

may be plagiarized.

Ideas from sources are

not

clearly distinguishable from

those of the author. The

following are infrequent or

non-existent: Signal

phrases, inclusion of URLs,

author names, publication

titles, in-text citations,

and/or (when appropriate)

quotation marks.

Ideas from sources are

usually distinguishable from

those of the author by the

use of any of the following:

Signal phrases, inclusion of

URLs, author names,

publication titles, and/or in-

text citations. Quotation

marks are rarely used when

appropriate.

Ideas from sources are

generally distinguishable from

those of the author by the use

of two or more of the following:

Signal phrases, inclusion of
URLs, author names,

publication titles, and/or in-text

citations. Quotation marks are

sometimes used when

appropriate.
Ideas from sources are
usually distinguishable from
those of the author by the

use of two or more of the

following: Signal phrases,

inclusion of URLs, author

names, publication titles,

and/or in-text citations.

Quotation marks are used

when appropriate.

Ideas from sources are clearly

distinguishable from those of

the author by the frequent use

of in-text citations. Quotation

marks are always used when

appropriate.

52.5%2

Source Use/Integration

No outside sources

were used.

Quantity and type of

sources do not entirely

adhere to the requirements

the assignment.

There

are > 26% fewer sources

and/or types of sources

than required.

Quantity and type of sources

adhere to the requirements of

the assignment for the most

part. There may be < 25%

fewer sources and/or types of

sources than required.

Quantity and type of sources
adhere to the requirements of
the assignment.
52.5%2

Mechanics

Student work
demonstrates no
understanding or
progress towards
achievement of this
outcome.

Grammatical, punctuation,

and spelling errors

pervasive and distracting.

Grammatical, punctuation,
and spelling errors

significant and distracting.

Frequent grammatical,

punctuation, and spelling

errors.

Minor grammatical,

punctuation, and spelling
errors.

Technically flawless,

mechanically and

grammatically correct.

42.5%1.7

Organization
Student work
demonstrates no
understanding or
progress towards
achievement of this
outcome.

Organization and structure

detract from the analysis.

Analysis is disjointed and

lacks transition of thought.

Organization and structure

are not easy to follow and

interfere with meaning.

Paragraph and sentence

transitions need significant

improvement.

Organization and structure

developing but still some illogic

in flow. Transition of thoughts

needs some improvement.

Organization and structure

are clear but presentation

could be more precise. Minor

flaw(s) in flow of analysis.

Organization and structure of

the paper are clear and easy

to follow. Logical flow of ideas.

55.0%4

Language

Student work
demonstrates no
understanding or
progress towards
achievement of this
outcome.

Language inappropriate,

mundane, and unfocused.

No central theme or thesis

present. Not written for the

appropriate

audience.

Random, choppy, and/or

awkward language

significantly detracts from

analysis. Not written for the

appropriate audience.

Language ordinary, imprecise,

and/or lacks interest or

precision. Central theme or

thesis present but not explicitly

presented. Written for the

appropriate audience.

Language functional,

appropriate, and acceptable.

Written for the appropriate

audience.

Variety of sentence length and

structure. Language rich,

precise, and vivid. Central

theme or thesis clear. Written

for the appropriate audience.

52.5%2

100%

Overall

Grading

Score: