Thesis
The Geography of System Navigation Problems
Washington State University
Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
12/2024
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.7273/000007179
Abstract
Despite a decline in overall crime rates, recent decades have seen a larger increase in pretrial detention rates across rural areas compared to their nonrural counterparts. Prior studies have recognized system navigation problems (SNPs) as a major contributor to high rural pretrial detention rates. SNPs describe minor offenses related to the inability of defendants to meet the procedural and financial requirements necessary for the resolution of their cases. This study expanded on extant literature by going beyond individual-level assessments of a single type of SNP offense (e.g., failure to appear) to determine the variation in SNPs across the rural-urban divide and identify the macro-level contributors to this potential spatial variation. It was hypothesized that (1) conservatism, a decline in non-Hispanic whites, low lawyer availability, limited access to transportation, homelessness, and concentrated disadvantage would correlate to more SNP-related jail bookings across counties, and (2) because most of these place-based
characteristics are more prevalent in rural areas, rural counties would have a higher likelihood than urban counties of booking defendants for SNPs. Quantitative analyses of jail booking data (2020-2022) from 36 counties in Washington State provided mixed support for these hypotheses. Findings from multiple regression analyses did not indicate a significant difference in SNP jail bookings between rural and urban counties. Further, only two predictors of SNP-related jail bookings emerged as significant in the regression models: conservatism and lawyer availability. The implications of these findings for efforts to reduce pretrial detention rates are discussed, specifically as they relate to the access to justice crisis.
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Details
- Title
- The Geography of System Navigation Problems
- Creators
- Emma C. Deneau
- Contributors
- Jennifer Schwartz (Chair)Monica Johnson (Committee Member)Thomas Rotolo (Committee Member)
- Awarding Institution
- Washington State University
- Academic Unit
- Department of Sociology
- Theses and Dissertations
- Master of Arts (MA), Washington State University
- Publisher
- Washington State University
- Number of pages
- 66
- Identifiers
- 99901195201101842
- Language
- English
- Resource Type
- Thesis