Melinda Tasca
Biographic Data
| ID | 4895871 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Melinda Tasca |
| GIVEN NAMES | Melinda |
| FAMILY NAME | Tasca |
| SIGNATURE | TASCA M |
| AFFILIATIONS | Sam Houston State University |
| ORCID | 0009-0005-1346-7907 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 11 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 46 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 11 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 0 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2012 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 3 |
Navigating Authority: Role Responses and Correctional Officer Victimization
Correctional officers (COs) face high rates of workplace violence compared to other professions. Yet, research remains limited about how COs’ responses to working in unpredictable carceral environments relate to victimization. Using self-report data from COs working in male facilities in a Southern state prison system ( N = 253), we examine the relationship between role responses and threats and physical assaults. Results showed that depersonaliz…
Under Watchful Eyes: Gendered Surveillance and Control in Correctional Officers’ Disciplinary Narratives of Incarcerated Women
Disciplinary practices in women’s prisons are thought to extend beyond institutional rule enforcement to regulate gender performance, yet how officers frame and document these practices remains understudied. Accordingly, this study examines the language officers use to characterize women’s behavior in disciplinary report narratives. Thematic analysis of all disciplinary reports issued to women in a northeastern state prison system during 2019 ( N…
Assessing Gender Differences in Prison Rule Enforcement: A Focus on Defiance
This study focuses on gender disparities in defiance prison infractions—an understudied and highly discretionary type of rule violation—which have important implications for individuals’ prison experiences and outcomes. Using administrative data on a release population in a large western state (N = 23,818), we employed multilevel modeling techniques to test whether (1) women were more likely than men to receive defiance infractions; (2) whether …
Conditions of Contact: Reexamining the Relationship between Prison Visitation and Recidivism
While in prison, incarcerated persons can be subjected to qualitatively different conditions of confinement ranging from minimum to maximum security settings. In this study, we use data on 17,542 incarcerated men to assess whether the relationship between visitation and recidivism varies across the types of settings (i.e. minimum, medium, close, and maximum custody units) in which individuals are housed and receive their visits. We find that the …
Getting High After Getting Out: Understanding the Relationship Between Support, Stressors, and Drug Use Among Men and Women in Early Reentry
This study uses data from the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) to examine the effects of social support and stressors on self-reported illicit drug use among 1,074 recently released individuals (men = 874; women = 200). Three broad conclusions can be drawn from these findings: (a) Men were more likely than women to use drugs in the first 3 months following release from prison; (b) mental health and neighborhood quality were…
Inmates’ Experiences with Prison Visitation
Prison visitation is an important tool used to strengthen inmates’ social ties and incentivize good behavior in prison. Nevertheless, prison visits do not always go well for inmates, and we know little about why that is. Accordingly, in the current study we examined inmates’ varied experiences with prison visitation. We used data collected from 228 visited inmates who reported on 701 of their adult visitors, and identified whether visits typicall…
A systematic and meta-analytic review of the literature on correctional officers: Identifying new avenues for research
Disparities in Women’s Prison Sentences: Exploring the Nexus Between Motherhood, Drug Offense, and Sentence Length
Drawing upon focal concerns and familial paternalism frameworks, we explore the effects of motherhood, various maternal indicators, and type of offense on prison sentences using official and self-report data on 419 incarcerated women in the United States. Results revealed that drug offenders were sentenced more leniently than other offenders, whereas mothers were not sentenced differently from women without children. Mothers who lived with their …
Social support from outside the walls: Examining the role of relationship dynamics among inmates and visitors
Families coming together in prison: An examination of visitation encounters
Despite great strides in research on the collateral consequences of incarceration, we know relatively little about family life during imprisonment. In an effort to extend prior work, the current study examines family processes among caregivers, prisoners, and children during prison visitation. Drawing from in-depth interviews with 52 caregivers of children of incarcerated parents, we use open and axial coding techniques to identify the interactio…
Girls’ Experiences With Violence: An Analysis of Violence Against and by At-Risk Girls
A growing body of work has emerged that examines crime and delinquency as gendered events. Given the prevalence of violence in the lives of women and girls, scholars have used various theoretical perspectives, including feminist pathways and "doing gender," to investigate the victimization-offending overlap. The authors contribute to this literature through an analysis of juvenile court records using a sample of at-risk girls. The authors identif…
Families coming together in prison: An examination of visitation encounters
Despite great strides in research on the collateral consequences of incarceration, we know relatively little about family life during imprisonment. In an effort to extend prior work, the current study examines family processes among caregivers, prisoners, and children during prison visitation. Drawing from in-depth interviews with 52 caregivers of children of incarcerated parents, we use open and axial coding techniques to identify the interactio…
A systematic and meta-analytic review of the literature on correctional officers: Identifying new avenues for research
Social support from outside the walls: Examining the role of relationship dynamics among inmates and visitors
Disparities in Women’s Prison Sentences: Exploring the Nexus Between Motherhood, Drug Offense, and Sentence Length
Drawing upon focal concerns and familial paternalism frameworks, we explore the effects of motherhood, various maternal indicators, and type of offense on prison sentences using official and self-report data on 419 incarcerated women in the United States. Results revealed that drug offenders were sentenced more leniently than other offenders, whereas mothers were not sentenced differently from women without children. Mothers who lived with their …
Girls’ Experiences With Violence: An Analysis of Violence Against and by At-Risk Girls
A growing body of work has emerged that examines crime and delinquency as gendered events. Given the prevalence of violence in the lives of women and girls, scholars have used various theoretical perspectives, including feminist pathways and "doing gender," to investigate the victimization-offending overlap. The authors contribute to this literature through an analysis of juvenile court records using a sample of at-risk girls. The authors identif…
Families coming together in prison: An examination of visitation encounters
Despite great strides in research on the collateral consequences of incarceration, we know relatively little about family life during imprisonment. In an effort to extend prior work, the current study examines family processes among caregivers, prisoners, and children during prison visitation. Drawing from in-depth interviews with 52 caregivers of children of incarcerated parents, we use open and axial coding techniques to identify the interactio…
Social support from outside the walls: Examining the role of relationship dynamics among inmates and visitors
Disparities in Women’s Prison Sentences: Exploring the Nexus Between Motherhood, Drug Offense, and Sentence Length
Drawing upon focal concerns and familial paternalism frameworks, we explore the effects of motherhood, various maternal indicators, and type of offense on prison sentences using official and self-report data on 419 incarcerated women in the United States. Results revealed that drug offenders were sentenced more leniently than other offenders, whereas mothers were not sentenced differently from women without children. Mothers who lived with their …
Inmates’ Experiences with Prison Visitation
Prison visitation is an important tool used to strengthen inmates’ social ties and incentivize good behavior in prison. Nevertheless, prison visits do not always go well for inmates, and we know little about why that is. Accordingly, in the current study we examined inmates’ varied experiences with prison visitation. We used data collected from 228 visited inmates who reported on 701 of their adult visitors, and identified whether visits typicall…
A systematic and meta-analytic review of the literature on correctional officers: Identifying new avenues for research
Getting High After Getting Out: Understanding the Relationship Between Support, Stressors, and Drug Use Among Men and Women in Early Reentry
This study uses data from the Serious and Violent Offender Reentry Initiative (SVORI) to examine the effects of social support and stressors on self-reported illicit drug use among 1,074 recently released individuals (men = 874; women = 200). Three broad conclusions can be drawn from these findings: (a) Men were more likely than women to use drugs in the first 3 months following release from prison; (b) mental health and neighborhood quality were…
Conditions of Contact: Reexamining the Relationship between Prison Visitation and Recidivism
While in prison, incarcerated persons can be subjected to qualitatively different conditions of confinement ranging from minimum to maximum security settings. In this study, we use data on 17,542 incarcerated men to assess whether the relationship between visitation and recidivism varies across the types of settings (i.e. minimum, medium, close, and maximum custody units) in which individuals are housed and receive their visits. We find that the …
Assessing Gender Differences in Prison Rule Enforcement: A Focus on Defiance
This study focuses on gender disparities in defiance prison infractions—an understudied and highly discretionary type of rule violation—which have important implications for individuals’ prison experiences and outcomes. Using administrative data on a release population in a large western state (N = 23,818), we employed multilevel modeling techniques to test whether (1) women were more likely than men to receive defiance infractions; (2) whether …
Navigating Authority: Role Responses and Correctional Officer Victimization
Correctional officers (COs) face high rates of workplace violence compared to other professions. Yet, research remains limited about how COs’ responses to working in unpredictable carceral environments relate to victimization. Using self-report data from COs working in male facilities in a Southern state prison system ( N = 253), we examine the relationship between role responses and threats and physical assaults. Results showed that depersonaliz…
Under Watchful Eyes: Gendered Surveillance and Control in Correctional Officers’ Disciplinary Narratives of Incarcerated Women
Disciplinary practices in women’s prisons are thought to extend beyond institutional rule enforcement to regulate gender performance, yet how officers frame and document these practices remains understudied. Accordingly, this study examines the language officers use to characterize women’s behavior in disciplinary report narratives. Thematic analysis of all disciplinary reports issued to women in a northeastern state prison system during 2019 ( N…
Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis (11 works) · Prison (10 works) · Criminology (9 works) · Psychology (9 works) · Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending (6 works) · Social Psychology (6 works) · Child Abuse and Trauma (4 works) · Political science (4 works) · Crime Patterns and Interventions (3 works) · Law (3 works)