Homicide, Bereavement, and the Criminal Justice System in Texas, 2000 (ICPSR 3263)

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Study Purpose View help for Study Purpose

Researchers consistently have found that those bereaved as a result of a homicidal event experience psychological difficulties, traumatic imaginings of the death, and frustrations with the criminal justice system. General sociological research on the criminal justice system has shown that criminal justice professionals play a key role in system outcomes and individual experiences. However, the specific effects of the criminal justice system on the bereavement process of people who have lost loved ones to murder has never been fully researched. This study sought to assess the influence of the criminal justice system on bereavement as a result of homicide. The primary question motivating this research was: Can the criminal justice system help to heal the harm of the bereaved's loss? The three main goals of this study were to examine: (1) bereaveds' perceptions of and experiences with the criminal justice system and its professionals, (2) the ways criminal justice professionals perceive and manage the bereaved, and (3) the nature of the association between the criminal justice system and bereaveds' psychological well-being.

Study Design View help for Study Design

Data were obtained from in-depth interviews conducted June through December 2000 with two different groups of people. The first group represented individuals who had lost loved ones to murder between 1994 and 1998 in one county in Texas (Parts 1-33). The second group (Parts 34-55) was comprised of county criminal justice professionals (murder detectives, prosecutors, criminal court judges, victim's service counselors, and victim's rights advocates). Names and contact information for the bereaved interviews were obtained from: (1) death certificate records furnished by the Texas Department of Health, (2) local newspaper articles, and (3) victim/witness counselors with the county District Attorney's Office. Individuals were asked to participate in the study via letters or telephone calls. The interviews allowed interviewees to talk about their experiences in their own words. Each interview lasted, on average, two-and-a-half hours. When the interview continued for more than two hours, the interviewer scheduled a second meeting. Those interviewees living out of state were interviewed via the telephone, while in-person interviews took place at the bereaved respondent's place of residence, local restaurants, or in the office of the interviewer. There was one non-English speaking bereaved, whose interview was conducted with the help of a Spanish-English interpreter who also transcribed the interview. For Parts 34-55, interviews were conducted with county criminal justice professionals. These interviews took approximately an hour to complete and took place in the professional's office, place of residence, or at local restaurants. All interviews (Parts 1-55) were tape-recorded and later transcribed by the interviewer, who replaced actual names of individuals, neighborhoods, cities, counties, or any other identifiable names with pseudonyms.

Sample View help for Sample

Parts 1-33: Convenience sampling. Parts 34-55: Purposive sampling.

Universe View help for Universe

Parts 1-33: Individuals who had lost loved ones to murder between 1994 and 1998 in one county in Texas. Parts 34-55: Criminal justice professional working in the same county in Texas with at least two years of experience with cases of murder.

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Response Rates View help for Response Rates

Not applicable.

Presence of Common Scales View help for Presence of Common Scales

Not applicable.

Original Release Date View help for Original Release Date

2001-12-14

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