Conference Presentations

Below are descriptions and images from selected conferences:

PhD Student, Moana Hafoka presenting at the (WACJ) conference.

Graduate students at the Western Association of Criminal Justice (WACJ) in Spokane, WA.

In the spring of 2017, PhD student Wendy Koslicki presented a paper titled “When No One is Watching: Evaluating the Impact of Body-Worn Cameras on Use of Force Incidents” at the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences 54^th (ACJS) Annual Meeting in Kansas City, MO. Koslicki also presented another paper titled “Situational and Environmental Determinants of Observed Emotional States in Police-Community Interactions” at the Western Association of Criminal Justice (WACJ) in Spokane, WA.

Below you will find the abstracts of Wendy Koslicki’s presentations from the ACJS and WACJ conferences:

Citation: Koslicki, W., Willits, D., & Makin, D. 2017. “When No One is Watching: Evaluating the Impact of Body-Worn Cameras on Use of Force Incidents.” Annual Meeting of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences. Kansas City, MO.

Brief description: This paper examines the impact of body-worn camera implementation in a police agency that was not the subject of a randomized controlled trial. An interrupted time series analysis was conducted on the department’s use of force data three years pre-implementation and three years post-implementation to examine whether body-worn cameras had an effect on police use of force incidents, and whether this effect was sustained over time.

Citation: Koslicki, W., Makin, D., Willits, D., Brooks, R., Bailey, R., & Dietrich, B. 2017. “Situational and Environmental Determinants of Observed Emotional States in Police-Community Interactions.” Annual Meeting of the Western Association of Criminal Justice. Spokane, WA.

Brief description: This paper examines the possible environmental and behavioral predictors of changes in observed emotional states in both police officers and suspects during police-community interactions. Among other findings, officers’ emotional states were found to significantly increase the odds of a suspect’s emotional state escalating, with officer interruptions and statements of body-worn camera recording also increasing the likelihood of increased suspect emotionality. The findings have implications in the evaluation of police trainings and de-escalation techniques.

In the spring of 2017, PhD student Eunsuhk Choi presented a paper titled “Reasons for South Korean Attitudes toward the Death Penalty: Exploring the nexus between strong public support and history of misapplication” at the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences 54^th (ACJS) Annual Meeting in Kansas City, MO.

In the spring of 2017, PhD student Duane Stanton presented a paper titled “The Effect of Marijuana Legalization on Jail Populations in Washington State” at the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences 54^th (ACJS) Annual Meeting in Kansas City, MO and also in the Western Association of Criminal Justice (WACJ) conference in Spokane, WA. The presentation illustrates trends in jail population rates in Washington state pre- and post-marijuana legalization (I-502 in 2012) and at the point of cannabis retail sales (2014).

Citation: Stanton, Duane, Xiaohan Mei, Dale Willits, and Mary Stohr. The Effects of Marijuana Legalization in Washington State on Jail Populations. Presented at the annual meetings of the Western Association of Criminal Justice. Spokane, WA.

In the fall of 2017, PhD student Youngki Woo presented a paper titled “Wages of Sin: The relative risk of alcohol, cannabis, and combination of cannabis and alcohol on fatal crashes” at the Western Association of Criminal Justice (WACJ) conference in Spokane, WA.

Below you will find the abstract of Woo’s presentation from the WACJ conference:

Citation: Woo, Y, W., Willits, D., Stohr, M., Hemmens, C., & Hoff, S. 2017. “Wages of Sin: The relative risk of alcohol, cannabis, and combination of cannabis and alcohol on fatal crashes.” Annual Meeting of the Western Association of Criminal Justice. Spokane, WA.

The pre- and post-effects of recreational marijuana legalization on impaired driving and fatal crashes in the state of Washington are examined using three groups of drivers who consumed either: (1) alcohol, (2) Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinols (THC), or (3) alcohol and delta-9-THC. Data from the Washington State Fatality Analysis Reporting System (WA FARS) for the years 2010-2015 was analyzed and propensity score modeling (PSM) was employed. The results indicate that drivers in all three groups were at much greater risk of being fatally injured or dying at the scene compared to drivers without alcohol or Delta-9-THC in their system.

Keywords: Cannabis, fatal crashes, Washington, FARS data

Alumni, faculty, graduate and undergraduate students attending the Western Association of Criminal Justice (WACJ) conference in Spokane, WA.

The WSU Marijuana Research Team presented five papers at the Western Association of Criminal Justice (WACJ) annual meetings in Spokane, WA in October. These papers reflect ongoing projects funded by the National Institute of Justice and the Washington Traffic Safety Commission.

Ruibin Lu and Guangzhen Wu presented the first pair time series papers from the NIJ grant. Ruibin’s presentation focused on the need for rigorous empirical research to determine the effects of legalization on crime and cautioned against accepting anecdotal evidence. The results from this paper suggest that serious crime has changed very little as a result of the legalization of recreational marijuana, indicating that it might be better to spend time examining other outcomes.

Citation: Lu, Ruibin, Dale Willits, David Makin, Mary Stohr, Guangzhen Wu, Kathryn DuBois, Craig Hemmens, Duane Stanton, John Snyder, and Nicholas Lovrich. 2017. Marijuana Legalization and Crime in Washington: Making the Case for Rigorous Empirical Work Via an Early Analysis of Crime Rates. Presented at the annual meetings of the Western Association of Criminal Justice. Spokane, WA.

Guangzhen’s paper reflected this shift in focus, as he examined changes in crime clearance rates as a result of legalization. Interrupted time-series models indicate that clearance rates have gone up in Washington and Colorado since legalization for certain and, moreover, that they have not done so in the rest of the country. Though this paper could not definitely show that legalization freed up police resources to investigate other crimes, it demonstrates that this is possible.

Citation: Wu, Guangzhen, David Makin, Ruibin Lu, Dale Willits, Kathryn DuBois, Mary Stohr, Wendy Koslicki, Duane Stanton, Craig Hemmens, John Snyder, and Nicholas Lovrich. 2017. Marijuana Legalization and Crime Clearance Rates in Colorado and Washington. Presented at the annual meetings of the Western Association of Criminal Justice. Spokane, WA.

Next, Duane Stanton presented ongoing research examining jail populations in Washington following I-502. His results ran contrary to the prior presentation by Ruibin, as the time-series models in this analysis showed a small, but significant increase in jail population rates following the start of retail sales in Washington. He cautioned us against taking these results too seriously though, as he noted a variety of problems that exist in the jail data and the need for further work.

After this, Youngki Woo presented worked examining the link between marijuana use and driving errors using the Washington State FARS data. Making use of propensity score matching, these results indicate that marijuana increases the risk for driver errors in fatal accidents, though this increase is less than that of alcohol. Lastly, a group of undergraduate students from WSU presented preliminary results of ongoing focus group work.

Thanks team!

By Dale Willits, PhD

Graduate and undergraduate students attending the Western Association of Criminal Justice (WACJ) conference in Spokane, WA.

Titles of presentations from the Western Association of Criminal Justice (WACJ) conference continued:

Featured Panel: Prison Organization and Management in an Era of Evidence Based Practice

**Chair: Dr. Faith E. Lutze, Washington State University
Paper Presentation: The Politics, Paradigms, and Sustainability of Evidence Based Practice in Prison: From Traditional Prison to Right Living to Violence Prevention

**Kay Heinrich, Airway Heights Corrections Center

**Dr. Faith E. Lutze, Washington State University
Paper Presentation: Boundary Violations in the Prison Systems: Female Correctional Officers Who Engage in Sexual Misconduct

**Samantha Tjaden, Washington State University
Poster Presentation: Effects of Fatigue on Officer Performance in Deadly Force Simulations

**Elizabeth Dotson, Washington State University

**Stephen James, Washington State University

**Lois James, Washington State University

**Dr. Bryan Vila, Washington State University
Paper Presentation: Using Data from Body Worn Cameras: Lessons Learned About Police Use of Force, Racial Differences, and Emotionality

**Chair: Rachael Brooks, Washington State University
Paper Presentation: Race, Emotional States, and Police Use of Force: Police Interactions as Complex Social Interactions

**Rachael Brooks, Washington State University

**Samantha Bill, Washington State University

**Dr. David Makin, Washington State University

**Dr. Dale Willits, Washington State University

**Rachel L. Bailey, Washington State University

**Bryce Dietrich, University of Iowa

**Wendy Koslicki, Washington State University
Paper Presentation: Situational and Environmental Determinants of Observed Emotional States in Police-Community Interactions

**Wendy Koslicki, Washington State University

**Dr. David Makin, Washington State University

**Dr. Dale Willits, Washington State University

**Rachael Brooks, Washington State University

**Rachel L. Bailey, Washington State University

**Bryce Dietrich, University of Iowa
Paper Presentation: Marijuana Research in Washington State by Washington State

**Chair: Dale Willits, Washington State University
Paper Presentation: Marijuana Legalization and Crime in Washington: Making the Case for Rigorous Empirical Work Via an Early Analysis of Crime Rates

**Ruibin Lu, Washington State University

**Dr. Dale Willits, Washington State University

**Dr. David Makin, Washington State University

**Dr. Mary Stohr, Washington State University

**Guangzhen Wu, Washington State University

**Dr. Kathryn DuBois, Washington State University

**Dr. Craig Hemmens, Washington State University

**Duane Stanton, Washington State University

**John Snyder, Washington State University

**Nicholas Lovrich, Washington State University
Paper Presentation: Marijuana Legalization and Crime Clearance Rates in Colorado and Washington

**Guangzhen Wu, Washington State University

**Ruibin Lu, Washington State University

**Dr. David Makin, Washington State University

**Dr. Dale Willits, Washington State University

**Kathryn DuBois, Washington State University

**Dr. Mary Stohr, Washington State University

**Wendy Koslicki, Washington State University

**Dr. Duane Stanton, Washington State University

**Dr. Craig Hemmens, Washington State University

**John Snyder, Washington State University

**Nicholas Lovrich, Washington State University
Paper Presentation: The Effects of Marijuana Legalization in Washington State on Jail Populations

**Duane Stanton, Washington State University

**Xiaohan Mei, Washington State University

**Dr. Mary Stohr, Washington State University

**Dr. Dale Willits, Washington State University
Paper Presentation: Wages of Sin: The Relative Risk of Alcohol, Cannabis, and Combination of Cannabis and Alcohol on Fatal Crashes

**Youngki Woo, Washington State University

**Dr. Dale Willits, Washington State University

**Dr. Mary Stohr, Washington State University

**Dr. Craig Hemmens, Washington State University

**Dr. Staci Hoff, Washington State University
Paper Presentation: The Effects of Legalizing Recreational Marijuana on Police Work—A Focus Group Study

**Anna Deighton, Washington State University

**Ruibin Lu, Washington State University

**Kaitlyn Dehmer, Washington State University

**Lindsey Evensen, Washington State University

**Rachel Jones, Washington State University

**Megan Lillis, Washington State University

**William Roberts, Washington State University

**Zoe Robinson, Washington State University

**Jordan Sykes, Washington State University

**Dr. David Makin, Washington State University

**Dr. Mary Stohr, Washington State University

**Nicholas Lovrich, Washington State University
Paper Presentation: The Relationship Between Digital Media Piracy and Legal Alternatives

**Oliver Bowers, Washington State University

**Dr. David Makin, Washington State University
Paper Presentation: Talanoa: In corporating an Indigenous Method in Studying Tongan-American Deportees

**Moana Hafoka, Washington State University
Paper Presentation: Criminal Profiling: A Look into the Public’s Favorite Avenue of Crime Prevention and Whether It Actually Works

**Cortney Dalton, Washington State University