Theses and dissertations published by graduate students in the Department of Sociology ad Criminal Justice, College of Arts & Letters, Old Dominion University, since Fall 2016 are available in this collection. Backfiles of all dissertations (and some theses) have also been added.
In late Fall 2025, all theses will be digitized and available here. In the meantime, consult the Library Catalog to find older items in print.
Theses/Dissertations from 2024
Dissertation: Crisis in the Coalfields: State/Corporate Violence, Historical Trauma, & Concentrated Substance Misuse and Harm, Brooke Baker
Dissertation: A Criminological Analysis of the “White Supremacy to Anti-Immigrant Violence Pathway”, Ida Oesteraas
Dissertation: Innocence Through an Intersectional Lens: An Examination of Women and Wrongful Convictions, Briana Paige
Theses/Dissertations from 2022
Dissertation: Invisibly Inked: An Intersectional Analysis of Tattooed Female Arrest Patterns, Jocelyn N. Camacho
Dissertation: A Tale of Two Gentrifications: Reconceptualizing Gentrification Using Third Places, Demolition and Hierarchical Linear Modeling, Kylil R. Martin
Thesis: Blood Lead Levels in Minority Children: A Case of Environmental Racism, Erick Rivera
Dissertation: Exploring the Workplace Climate at Police Agencies During Civil Unrest and the Factors Influencing Officers' Participation in Black Lives Matter Protesting, Joshua R. Ruffin
Theses/Dissertations from 2021
Thesis: Indian Media Narratives in Gang Rape, Astha Bhandari
Dissertation: Is It Better to Be Tough, or Is Consistency Key? A Multilevel Analysis Examining the Effects of School Disciplinary Procedures on Perceptions of Climate and Safety Among Students and Teachers, Erica Nicole Bower
Dissertation: Courageous Endurance: The Lived Experiences of Trans Folx and the Criminal Legal System, April Carrillo
Thesis: Wrath and Relationships: Homicide Weapon Choice and Victim Offender Relationships, Joseph Gonnella
Dissertation: Abandoned Allies: A Case Study Analysis of the Special Immigrant Visa Program, Sarah Pedigo Kulzer
Thesis: The Impact of Parent and Peer Socialization on Juvenile Delinquency, Ebony I. Pender
Dissertation: The Ideology of the Carceral State: Examining the Prison Through Film, Ryan Phillips
Thesis: The Role of Religiosity in Drug Use: A Social Integration Perspective, Lindsey Dianna Thomas
Dissertation: “Acts of Pure Evil”: The Portrayal of Mass Shooting Events on Online Media Platforms, Elizabeth Twitty
Theses/Dissertations from 2020
Thesis: Effects of Religion on Crime in Hampton Roads, Alaina Yvonne Bierdz
Thesis: Fighting for Power: Class Conflicts in Political Participation, David Foley
Thesis: Cultural Capital, Habitus and Academic Achievement, Tevin Vaughan
Dissertation: Defying the Odds: The Resilience of African American Youth in the Face of Differential Treatment in the Classroom, Frank R. Wood Jr.
Theses/Dissertations from 2019
Thesis: Acculturation: Friend or Foe of the Career Aspirations and Educational Aspirations and Expectations of Hispanic Youth?, Kyhara Nathalia Aguilera
Thesis: Teacher and Child Interaction: The Effects of Familial Distress, Child Behavior, and Teacher Perceptions, Jessekah R. Ennis
Dissertation: Residential Mobility and the Underclass: Impact of Moving in the 'Hood, Michael A. Hollingsworth
Thesis: Effects of Prison Program Participation on Recidivism Outcomes, Jordan Jakobs
Thesis: How Health Problems Affect Children's Anti-Social Behaviors and Their Attitudes Towards School, Prosper Kwame Mensah
Thesis: Disparities in Sentencing: The Impact of Race, Gender and Mental Health, Briana Paige
Dissertation: "...Make Them Disappear With A Piece of Paper": Understanding the Lived Realities of Federally Unrecognized Indigenous Women in the Southeast, Brian A. Pitman
Dissertation: "They Think We’re the Drama-Makers”: Examining Middle-Class African American Girl Perceptions of School Discipline and Mistreatment, Asha M. Ralph
Thesis: The Weight of Words: A Content Analysis of Rhetoric in Online News Articles Reporting on Sex Crimes, Julie Snell
Theses/Dissertations from 2018
Thesis: Exploring the Association Between How Social Media Affects Attitudes Toward Marijuana Legalization, Troy Adam Aubut II
Thesis: Exploring Factors That Enhance Career Advancement for African-Americans Across Various Criminal Justice Occupations: A Qualitative Examination, Antonio Jon Bryer
Thesis: More Than What Meets the Eye: An Examination of Characteristics That Impact Juvenile Justice Detention Decisions, Ashley Maria Buchanan
Thesis: Online Social Capital: Social Networking Sites' Influence on Civic and Political Engagement, Charles L. Bush
Thesis: Predictors of Medical Students’ Attitudes Towards Abortion and Their Changes Overtime, Rebecca Elizabeth Morales
Thesis: When Silence Screams: An Examination of Reporting Behaviors Among Sexual Assault Victims on HBCU Campuses, NaTasha Robinson
Dissertation: Punishment as Pedagogy: An Exploration of the Disciplinary Alternative School, Kaitlyn J. Selman
Dissertation: Policing the Drinking Community: An Assessment of the Criminal Justice Response to Drunk Driving and Alcohol Related Crashes (1985 -2014), Richard James Stringer
Thesis: School Connectedness and Academic Success, Keyondra Michelle Wilson
Theses/Dissertations from 2017
Thesis: Working Together: Examining the Effects of Parental and Community Involvement in Schools on School Delinquency, Erica Nicole Bower
Dissertation: School Resource Officers and the School-to-Prison Pipeline: A Mixed Methods Application of the Behavior of Law in Schools, Caitlin Grace Lynch
Dissertation: The United States Benefit Deficit for Veterans, Leslie-Dawn Quick
Dissertation: The Devil Is in the Details: Representations of the Rural Appalachian Deviant, Stephen T. Young
Theses/Dissertations from 2016
Thesis: “Just Young Dudes Having Fun”?: Social Media Reactions to the ODU Banner Incident, Ashley Marie Giraldi
Thesis: The Strength of Weak Social Ties: Social Activism and Facebook, Nichole Akai Giraldi
Dissertation: Governing the "Alien Threat": A Multilevel Analysis of Punitiveness Toward Non-Citizen Federal Drug Offenders Across Time and Place, Melanie Marie Holland
Dissertation: Bakken Bombs: A Criminological Inquiry into the Lynchburg Train Derailment, Travis W. Milburn
Thesis: United States Interventions: Power Vacuums and the Rise of Extremist Groups, Sarah Nicole Pedigo
Dissertation: Making the Case for Place: An Exploration of Urbanization Measures on a Model of Social Capital and U.K. Crime Rates, Kyshawn K. Smith
Dissertation: Killing The State: The Cultural Afterlife of Edward Byrne, Justin Turner
Dissertation: Care, Control, or Criminalization? Discourses on Homelessness and Social Responses, Lindsey L. Upton
Dissertation: What Can State Talk Tell Us About Punitiveness? A Comparison of Responses to Political Mass Shootings in The United States and Norway, Kimberlee G. Waggoner
Thesis: Education and Post-Release Employment: An Exploratory Study of Offender Perceptions, Frank R. Wood Jr.
Theses/Dissertations from 2015
Thesis: The Strength of Social Bonds in Preventing at Risk Youth from Engaging in Delinquent and Law Violating Behavior, Christopher A. Falcone
Dissertation: Texting While Driving: A Test of Self-Control Theory, Charles R. Gray
Dissertation: Tokin Up in the 5280: Insight Into How Denver Police Officers Make Sense of, and Define, Interpret, and React to the Legalization of Marijuana, Kara K. Hoofnagle
Dissertation: The Influence of Financial Institutions and Residential Lending on Neighborhood Crime, Anne M. Lee
Dissertation: Cultural Influences on Attitudes Toward the Criminal Justice System: A Focus on the Filipino American Community, Moises Osias Mina Jr.
Dissertation: Honor, Courage, Commitment: Understanding Sexual Assault in the United States Navy, Caitlin Veronica Muldoon
Thesis: Predictors of Self-Esteem in Children Exposed to Potentially Traumatic Events, Colleen Michelle Ray
Thesis: Perceptions of Social Control in Disadvantaged Neighborhoods and Adolescent Drug and Alcohol Use: Are They Related?, Kanita Shiquia Sumner
Theses/Dissertations from 2014
Thesis: The Influence of Childhood Maltreatment on Substance Abuse in Adulthood, James Michael Blinco
Thesis: The Effectiveness of Motivational Interviewing on Intimate Partner Violence Clients, Chelsea Drake
Dissertation: Exploring Police Shootings and Officer Survivability: A Case Study, Amanda Leigh Farrell
Dissertation: Crime and Panic: Contextual Factors in Violent and Sex Offender Sentencing, Jessica Huffman
Dissertation: Patriarchal Ideology and Violence Against Women: A Theoretical Contribution Using Longitudinal, Individual-Level Analyses, Jesse Robert McKee
Dissertation: The Darfur Name Game: Use of Realpolitik by the United Nations in Decision-making and Intervention, Angela Overton
Thesis: A Cross-National Analysis of the Impact of Conscription on Crime Rates, Nicolette G. Rose
Dissertation: A Façade of Normalcy: An Exploration into the Serial Murderer's Duplicitous Lifestyle, Maryann Stone White
Theses/Dissertations from 2013
Thesis: An Exploration of Drug Trafficking Among Female Offenders in the Caribbean, Dianne Berger-Hill
Thesis: Bullying Among School-Aged Children, Alfreada Brown-Kelly
Dissertation: A Further Test of Strain Theory: Does Gender Discrimination Contribute to Theft by Employees?, John A. Casten
Dissertation: To Catch a Pirate: Analyzing Processes of Policy Making on Maritime Piracy, Victoria E. Collins
Thesis: Child Emotional Abuse and Its Relationship to Obesity, Kelly Anderson Driscoll
Dissertation: Rez Realities: Exploring the Perceptions of Crime and Justice Among Tribal Police Officers in Indian Country, Favian Alejandro Martin
Thesis: Blaming the Victim: Effects of Victim and Respondent Characteristics on Attribution of Blame to Rape Victims, Richard Allen Measel
Thesis: Reefer Madness to Marijuana and Legalization: Media Exposure and American Attitudes Towards Marijuana (1975-2010), Richard James Stringer
Thesis: Sweeping the Floors of Privilege: The Lived Experiences of University Janitors, Jennifer Laverne Turner
Thesis: There Are No "Innocent Victims": The Influence of Just World Beliefs and Prior Victimization on Rape Myth Acceptance, Rebecca Lynne Vonderhaar
Theses/Dissertations from 2012
Thesis: Satisfaction With Police: Explaining Variation by Race, Megan N. Centeno
Thesis: For the Bible Tells Me So: An Analysis of Religiosity, Attitudes Towards Women, and Intimate Partner Violence, Stephen Cecil Parker
Thesis: Media, Military, Militarism: Media Consumption, Awareness of U.S. Military Foreign Policy, and Support for War, Daniel James Patten
Theses/Dissertations from 2011
Thesis: Prenatal Smoking and Drinking Implications for Subsequent Child Maltreatment, Nicholas Alexander Adams
Thesis: From Victim to Abuser an Analysis of Child Sex Offenders, Ava M. Adinolfi
Dissertation: Collective Efficacy and Intimate Partner Violence: Community Context, Catherine B. Cowling
Thesis: Domestic Violence as a Contributing Factor to Juvenile Substance Use, Victoria Felicitas Sophie Danz
Thesis: The Dynamics of Drug Trafficking/ Smuggling by Female Offenders in the Trinidad and Tobago Prison Service: An Exploratory Mixed-Methods Approach, Le 'Jeane' Iman Ellis
Thesis: Predictors of Pre-Dispositional Juvenile Detention: Race Gender and Intersectionality, Jennifer Lee Gebler
Thesis: Meaning of Hijab According to Urban Egyptian and Yemeni Muslim Women, Kenneth E. Jackson
Thesis: Wrongful Convictions and Punitiveness: Measuring Student's Attitudes on Erroneous Felony Convictions, Shayna Lancaster
Thesis: Exploratory Study of Countries Lacking Data on Female Genital Mutilation in the Middle East and Africa, Nazia Rose Naeem
Thesis: Looking Beyond the Medical Model of Sexuality: Social Factors in Women's Sexual Satisfaction, Cristalle Rae Pronier
Theses/Dissertations from 2010
Thesis: Untangling Fear of Crime: A Multi-Theoretical Approach to Examining the Causes of Crime-Specific Fear, Mariel Alper
Thesis: Religion on Divorce, Erik B. Doherty
Thesis: User-Generated Video Sites Effects on Aggression and Interpersonal Relations of Old Dominion Undergraduate Students, Christopher R. Hodge
Thesis: The Gender Representation of Ph.D. Departments in Sociology: A Comparative Analysis of Top 30 Ranked and Bottom 30 Ranked Departments in 1992 and 2002, Green Kim
Thesis: Domestic Violence and Recidivism: Does Stake in Conformity Matter?, Sara R. Olson
Thesis: Akers' Social Learning Theory: Childhood Victimization, Witnessing Violence, Peer Violence and Later Violent Offending, Pamela Annette Styles
Theses/Dissertations from 2009
Thesis: Retaining Employees The Relationship Between Organizational Loyalty and Commitment and Employee Retention, Sara L. Baker
Thesis: Intimate Partner Violence: Criminal Justice Responses to High Lethality Cases, Victoria E. Collins
Thesis: Investigating Connections: Pornography and Violence Against Women, Stacy Gorman