Date of Award
Fall 12-2021
Degree Type
Dissertation
Degree Name
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
School
Criminal Justice, Forensic Science, and Security
Committee Chair
Dr. Josh Hill
Committee Chair School
Criminal Justice, Forensic Science, and Security
Committee Member 2
Dr. Wes Johnson
Committee Member 2 School
Criminal Justice, Forensic Science, and Security
Committee Member 3
Dr. Charlie Scheer
Committee Member 3 School
Criminal Justice, Forensic Science, and Security
Committee Member 4
Dr. Iliyan Iliev
Committee Member 4 School
Social Science and Global Studies
Abstract
Mass incarceration or overincarceration has gained significant attention over the last two decades, and criminal justice reform seeks to address it. This study uses constructivist grounded theory to examine the implementation of criminal justice reform legislation in Mississippi. Mississippi was chosen as the study setting because the state has been recognized as a national leader in enacting reform legislation and it has one of the nation’s highest incarceration rates. It is well established that policy implementation affects outcomes. Therefore, if the policies Mississippi is implementing are effective and they are implemented correctly, it stands to reason the state could benefit substantially from successful implementation. In other words, implementation should very much matter in Mississippi. The purpose of this dissertation was to build a set of theories that identify and explain obstacles to the implementation of criminal justice reform. The researcher applied Charmaz’s (2014) constructivist grounded theory to do so, and the result was seven theories that best explained the primary obstacles to the implementation of reform legislation in Mississippi. These seven theories were: 1) failure to convince, (2) failure to hit targets, (3) failure to exercise fidelity to statutory language, (4) failure to make data accessible, (5) failure to reinvest, (6) failure to make programs affordable, and (7) failure to address pre-trial problems. Failure to exercise fidelity to statutory language was identified as the one theory that best explained, overall, blockades to implementation in Mississippi. These theories should be transferrable to other jurisdictions.
ORCID ID
https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0834-3214
Copyright
Matthew Wade Allen
Recommended Citation
Allen, Matt, "Obstacles to the Implementation of Criminal Justice Reform" (2021). Dissertations. 1961.
https://aquila.usm.edu/dissertations/1961