Beth M Huebner
Biographic Data
| ID | 5701187 |
|---|---|
| NAME | Beth M Huebner |
| GIVEN NAMES | Beth M |
| FAMILY NAME | Huebner |
| SIGNATURE | HUEBNER B M |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Missouri–St. Louis |
| ORCID | 0000-0003-4783-3889 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 46 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 295 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 45 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 1 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1964 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 10 |
Prosecutorial power in probation
Indirect and Psychological Victimization in Prison
Although victimization in prison has been widely studied, most research emphasizes physical or sexual violence and overlooks subtle, indirect harms. Interactions between correctional staff and incarcerated persons reinforce power hierarchies that contribute to psychological distress and fear of victimization. This study examines how such interactions between staff and incarcerated persons shape experiences of indirect and psychological victimizat…
Determinants of Frequent Jail Admissions
Although individuals incarcerated in jails make up around one third of the total incarcerated population, jail incarceration remains relatively understudied. Individuals frequently admitted to jail face complex challenges that increase the likelihood of their return. However, there is little research on the prevalence of jail readmissions and the role that extralegal factors play over and above legal indicators. Using 9 years of data from St. Lou…
I Wish I Had Better Answers”
Systems of monetary sanctions in US criminal courts present an opportunity for furthering the sociological understanding of complex and consequential organizations. We examine whether and how court actors across eight states understand the organizational processes supporting the fiscal logic of legal financial obligations (LFOs). We engage with scholarship on the sociology of organizations to explore how court organizational structures and proces…
Fines and Fees in Flux
Monetary sanctions are a ubiquitous part of punishment in the criminal legal system. In recent years, highly publicized events have drawn attention to monetary sanctions at the intersection of poverty, race, and legal system contact. The current study uses Autoregressive Integrated Moving Average models to assess monetary sanction reform legislation in St. Louis, Missouri – where the U.S. Department of Justice’s Citation2015 Ferguson Report impli…
The New Age Worker
Correctional institutions have historically faced challenges in hiring and maintaining a workforce, which only increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Considerable turnover in staff in recent years has led some states to lower the age of hiring eligibility, which in turn increases the number of new and younger officers on the job. This study explores the challenges and opportunities that the unprecedented change in the workforce in one Midwestern…
“Cameras Help, but Hurt”
The context of the carceral environment is based on the logic of surveillance and relies on cameras to act as the ever-present eyes of the institution. We explore the investigative roles that cameras play in the institution from the perspective of correctional staff and residents. A qualitative study was conducted in a medium-security institution in the Midwest region of the United States as part of the Prison Research and Innovation Initiative (…
Centering Community in the Conceptualization and Measurement of Safety
Community safety is often conceptualized and measured with crime. There is growing recognition that this approach is narrow in scope and overlooks the perspectives of people in the community. This study uses Group Concept Mapping (GCM), a mixed methods community-engaged methodology, to conceptualize community safety in three U.S. counties. Participants defined 11 components of safety nested in 5 domains. The most cohesive components are aligned w…
Changing Places
The period of reentering society after prison is a critical time in the life-course and presents numerous challenges. With whom and where individuals live can determine aspects of social support, as well as bonds and informal social control that may predict whether a person “succeeds” by abstaining from crime and avoiding technical violations of parole. We use detailed administrative data from a release cohort in Missouri to construct monthly var…
Cyclical Pathways to Probation Violations
Maintaining a stable residence is a primary requirement of probation compliance. Prior research has spoken to the increase in requirements for people on probation and how they are often tied to financial capability. Using data from in-depth interviews with people on probation and probation staff, our analysis extends extant research by highlighting the unique challenges of finding housing during a historic rise in housing and rental prices in the…
Right to counsel? A mixed‐methods evaluation of the St. Louis County initial appearance program
Research summary Legal representation is a critical right in the criminal legal process, yet it is unclear when representation is guaranteed. Further, many individuals find obtaining legal representation difficult and expensive. The current study is an evaluation of an initial appearance program implemented in St. Louis County, Missouri. This mixed‐methods study focuses on understanding if and how providing counsel at initial appearance affects t…
The role of race, gender, and poverty on length of pretrial jail stays
Research Summary The average length of jail stays is increasing despite national efforts to reduce these populations. The current study examines variations in lengths of stay, differentiating between short and long pretrial stays. Using data from two large jails in metropolitan jurisdictions, we take an intersectional perspective and model potential differences among race, gender, and residing in a high‐poverty area. In both locations, we find th…
“Court Can Happen Anywhere”
The COVID-19 pandemic has initiated lasting changes in a traditionally staid and inert court system. This study employs a courtroom communities perspective to examine how courtroom workgroup members perceived COVID-19’s impact on their work, their workgroup relationships, and the future of criminal court procedures. It analyzes data from semi-structured interviews with 22 prosecutors, 17 defense attorneys, and 10 judges in Milwaukee, WI, and St. …
Unpredictable and monetized contact with the police
Exponential growth in order maintenance policing and associated misdemeanor sanctions have led to disproportionate consequences for people of color. Using data from qualitative interviews with individuals in the metropolitan St. Louis, Missouri, region, the current study documents the racialized and monetized nature of police contact. This work extends extant scholarship by considering how minor contact with the police shapes individual avoidance…
Heard Shots – Call the Police? An Examination of Citizen Responses To Gunfire
Many crimes go unreported, making the true scope of crime unknown, and criminal justice reform based on potentially limited data. An acoustic gunfire detection system (AGDS) broadens the data available and provides a unique picture of gun use and violence in communities, separate from crime reported by victims. Using data from an AGDS in the City of St. Louis, this study models variation in community rates of calls to the police for gunshots dete…
“Every Thought and Dream a Nightmare”
Persons involved in gangs disproportionately participate in violence, as both victims and perpetrators. However, much remains unknown about the prevalence and consequences of violence exposure among adult gang members, particularly among those who have been incarcerated. We draw on semi-structured interviews with formerly imprisoned gang members to provide a contextualized account of the continuum of violence before, during, and after prison and …
Reinforcing the Web of Municipal Courts
Investigations in Ferguson, Missouri, revealed that many individuals, particularly Black people, entered the criminal justice system for relatively minor offenses, missed court appearances, or failure to pay fines. Municipal courts were focused on revenue generation, which led to aggressive enforcement of municipal codes. Although subsequent reforms were passed, little is known about whether and how the legislative changes influenced the law-in-a…
Justice by Geography
Monetary sanctions are a ubiquitous part of court systems. Previous studies have focused largely on these sanctions at the state level or solely on large urban jurisdictions. However, court systems differ considerably across communities of varying population size, composition, and density. This article examines how differences in court structure and organizational dynamics in communities across the rural-urban continuum lead to differences in how…
What Is Wrong with Monetary Sanctions? Directions for Policy, Practice, and Research
Monetary sanctions are an integral and increasingly debated feature of the American criminal legal system. Emerging research, including that featured in this volume, offers important insight into the law governing monetary sanctions, how they are levied, and how their imposition affects inequality. Monetary sanctions are assessed for a wide range of contacts with the criminal legal system ranging from felony convictions to alleged traffic violati…
Private Probation Costs, Compliance, and the Proportionality of Punishment
Probation is the most commonly imposed correctional sanction, is often accompanied by supplementary costs, and can be operated by the state or private companies. Private probation is a unique sanction used in lower courts, most often for misdemeanor offenses, and is managed by third-party actors. We focus on documenting the process and unique costs of private probation, including the rituals of compliance and proportionality of punishment. We use…
The price of a sex offense conviction
Monetary sanctions can expand the scope and depth of punishment. Most research on monetary sanctions has centered on fines and fees assessed by the court, but they are also routinely imposed as part of the probation and parole sentence. In this article, we draw on in‐depth interview data from a sample of individuals under correctional supervision to document the often hidden costs of correctional control. We further consider a subsample of partic…
Twice Punished
Legal financial obligations (LFOs) are routinely assessed by the courts and corrections agencies. Yet, little is known about how individuals under correctional supervision experience and perceive legal debt. Understanding perceptions of LFOs is critical as research suggests that individuals who believe that criminal justice sanctions are fair and just are more likely to perceive the system as legitimate and comply. The current study examines in-d…
Access to Health Care and Treatment Among Individuals Convicted of Sexual Offenses Paroled to Urban and Rural Communities
Returning from prison to the community is rife with challenges. For individuals with health care, mental health, or substance abuse treatment needs, the reentry period can be especially vulnerable. Furthermore, these services are not evenly distributed across communities. This study explores barriers to health care and treatment among individuals convicted of sexual offenses who are returning from prison to urban and rural communities. Using data…
Systematic Case Review Strategies
Jails are a critical part of the criminal justice system but, until recently, have been omitted from discussions of reform. The goal of the current study is to describe and evaluate a collaborative, problem-solving initiative designed to reduce the jail population in St. Louis County, Missouri. The initiative was implemented as part of a research-practitioner partnership and is designed around a case review model, deemed the Population Review Tea…
Enforcement trends in the city of St. Louis from 2007 to 2017
The goal of this study is twofold: (a) to describe trends in enforcement activity in the city of St. Louis from 2007 through 2017 and (b) to document community variation in these trends. Five types of enforcement actions are examined: felony, misdemeanor, municipal, and bench warrant arrests and criminal summonses‐in‐lieu of arrest. Results indicate that enforcement activity decreased over the study period, particularly for nonfelony arrests amon…
Fear of crime and criminal victimization
The effect of maternal incarceration on adult offspring involvement in the criminal justice system
Administrative determinants of inmate violence
An Analysis of Parole Decision Making Using a Sample of Sex Offenders
We use data from pre-sentence investigations and official parole board records to study the correlates of parole release among a sample of men incarcerated for sexual offenses. Cox proportional hazard models are used to estimate change in the likelihood of parole over time, and the focal concerns theory provides the theoretical framework for the analyses. The findings suggest a complex interplay of legal and extralegal factors in understanding pa…
African American and White perceptions of police services
The Role of Race and Ethnicity in Parole Decisions
The parole board plays an integral part in the reentry of offenders into the community from prison in most states; yet, little is known about the decision‐making practices of this group. In particular, few studies have used quantitative data to examine parole among a large group of offenders, and less is known about the direct and joint effects of race and ethnicity on this decision point. We extend previous work by considering variation in parol…
Gangs, Guns, and Drugs
Research Summary: The primary goal of this study is to understand the factors that best explain recidivism among a sample of 322 young men aged 17 to 24 years released from prison in a Midwestern state. Specific attention is paid to the predictive validity of gang membership, gun use, and drug dependence on the timing of reconviction and the current research on desistance frames the analyses. Results from a series of proportional hazard models in…
What Is Wrong with Monetary Sanctions? Directions for Policy, Practice, and Research
Monetary sanctions are an integral and increasingly debated feature of the American criminal legal system. Emerging research, including that featured in this volume, offers important insight into the law governing monetary sanctions, how they are levied, and how their imposition affects inequality. Monetary sanctions are assessed for a wide range of contacts with the criminal legal system ranging from felony convictions to alleged traffic violati…
The Effect and Implications of Sex Offender Residence Restrictions
Research Summary We evaluated the efficacy of sex offender residence restrictions in Michigan and Missouri using a quasi‐experimental design with propensity score matching. First, we examined the implementation of the laws and found that sex offenders in both states were less likely to live in restricted areas after the implementation of the laws than the prerestriction sample, but the differences were not statistically significant. In our outcom…
Private Probation Costs, Compliance, and the Proportionality of Punishment
Probation is the most commonly imposed correctional sanction, is often accompanied by supplementary costs, and can be operated by the state or private companies. Private probation is a unique sanction used in lower courts, most often for misdemeanor offenses, and is managed by third-party actors. We focus on documenting the process and unique costs of private probation, including the rituals of compliance and proportionality of punishment. We use…
Structural discrimination and social stigma among individuals incarcerated for sexual offenses
The stigma associated with a felony conviction can impede the reentry process, and emerging research findings indicate that one's community can amplify or temper the mark of a criminal record. Researchers examining criminal stigma have focused on individuals living in urban areas, overlooking the experiences of persons outside these communities. Using qualitative data collected from a sample of men and women paroled for sexual offenses in Missour…
Justice by Geography
Monetary sanctions are a ubiquitous part of court systems. Previous studies have focused largely on these sanctions at the state level or solely on large urban jurisdictions. However, court systems differ considerably across communities of varying population size, composition, and density. This article examines how differences in court structure and organizational dynamics in communities across the rural-urban continuum lead to differences in how…
Correlates and consequences of pre-incarceration gang involvement among incarcerated youthful felons
Unpredictable and monetized contact with the police
Exponential growth in order maintenance policing and associated misdemeanor sanctions have led to disproportionate consequences for people of color. Using data from qualitative interviews with individuals in the metropolitan St. Louis, Missouri, region, the current study documents the racialized and monetized nature of police contact. This work extends extant scholarship by considering how minor contact with the police shapes individual avoidance…
Reinforcing the Web of Municipal Courts
Investigations in Ferguson, Missouri, revealed that many individuals, particularly Black people, entered the criminal justice system for relatively minor offenses, missed court appearances, or failure to pay fines. Municipal courts were focused on revenue generation, which led to aggressive enforcement of municipal codes. Although subsequent reforms were passed, little is known about whether and how the legislative changes influenced the law-in-a…
The price of a sex offense conviction
Monetary sanctions can expand the scope and depth of punishment. Most research on monetary sanctions has centered on fines and fees assessed by the court, but they are also routinely imposed as part of the probation and parole sentence. In this article, we draw on in‐depth interview data from a sample of individuals under correctional supervision to document the often hidden costs of correctional control. We further consider a subsample of partic…
Enforcement trends in the city of St. Louis from 2007 to 2017
The goal of this study is twofold: (a) to describe trends in enforcement activity in the city of St. Louis from 2007 through 2017 and (b) to document community variation in these trends. Five types of enforcement actions are examined: felony, misdemeanor, municipal, and bench warrant arrests and criminal summonses‐in‐lieu of arrest. Results indicate that enforcement activity decreased over the study period, particularly for nonfelony arrests amon…
The role of race, gender, and poverty on length of pretrial jail stays
Research Summary The average length of jail stays is increasing despite national efforts to reduce these populations. The current study examines variations in lengths of stay, differentiating between short and long pretrial stays. Using data from two large jails in metropolitan jurisdictions, we take an intersectional perspective and model potential differences among race, gender, and residing in a high‐poverty area. In both locations, we find th…
Relationships between the parents' concept of the family and family adjustment
The family concepts of two groups of ten families each, of higher and lower adjustment, were compared by means of the Family-Concept Q Sort and several other measures. The findings supported all the specific hypotheses of the study at reasonable levels of significance, as well as the general hypothesis that the actual adjustment of the family is in part a function of the family concepts of the parents
Citizen Perceptions of Police Services
Studies considering perceptions of the police have traditionally focused on very broad outcome measures (e.g., global views of the police). In an era of community policing, it is imperative to consider how the public perceives the police and police services using measures reflecting this alternative paradigm of policing. In addition, recent research suggests that perceptions of the police are formed within the context of respondents’neighborhood …
Juvenile Female Arrests
This paper elaborates on feminist theory using Emerson's (1983) notion of holistic effects. We propose that the processing of juvenile female status offenders may vary systematically with the level of sex crimes in a community. This hypothesis is tested using a time series analysis of monthly status arrests in a Midwestern city. Our models indicate a significant increase in female status arrests at one “intervention” point, but no changes were fo…
Administrative determinants of inmate violence
African American and White perceptions of police services
The Effect of Incarceration on Marriage and Work Over the Life Course
The current study adopts the life course framework to examine the effect of incarceration on the likelihood of becoming married and attaining full‐time employment. It is hypothesized that men who have been incarcerated will be less likely to marry and to gain full‐time employment. Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth are used to test the hypothesis. Results from the growth‐curve models support the life‐course theoretical model. Acr…
Fear of crime and criminal victimization
An Analysis of Parole Decision Making Using a Sample of Sex Offenders
We use data from pre-sentence investigations and official parole board records to study the correlates of parole release among a sample of men incarcerated for sexual offenses. Cox proportional hazard models are used to estimate change in the likelihood of parole over time, and the focal concerns theory provides the theoretical framework for the analyses. The findings suggest a complex interplay of legal and extralegal factors in understanding pa…
Gangs, Guns, and Drugs
Research Summary: The primary goal of this study is to understand the factors that best explain recidivism among a sample of 322 young men aged 17 to 24 years released from prison in a Midwestern state. Specific attention is paid to the predictive validity of gang membership, gun use, and drug dependence on the timing of reconviction and the current research on desistance frames the analyses. Results from a series of proportional hazard models in…
The effect of maternal incarceration on adult offspring involvement in the criminal justice system
The Role of Race and Ethnicity in Parole Decisions
The parole board plays an integral part in the reentry of offenders into the community from prison in most states; yet, little is known about the decision‐making practices of this group. In particular, few studies have used quantitative data to examine parole among a large group of offenders, and less is known about the direct and joint effects of race and ethnicity on this decision point. We extend previous work by considering variation in parol…
Women Coming Home
Drawing on recent scholarship on prisoner reentry and gendered pathways to crime, this research explores how social relationships, incarceration experiences, and community context, and the intersection of these factors with race, influence the occurrence and timing of recidivism. Using a large, modern sample of women released from prison, we find that women who are drug dependent, have less education, or have more extensive criminal histories are…
Reentry and the Ties that Bind
Scholars consistently find that reentering offenders who obtain steady work and maintain social ties to family are less likely to recidivate. Some theorize that familial ties may operate through employment to influence recidivism and that such ties may also serve a moderating role. The current study employs an integrated conceptual framework in order to test hypotheses about the link between familial ties, post‐release employment, and recidivism.…
Good in theory
Correlates and consequences of pre-incarceration gang involvement among incarcerated youthful felons
Men, Women, and Postrelease Offending
Numerous studies have examined the postrelease behaviors of men and women, highlighting the importance of social bonds in understanding positive reentry. However, there is evidence that the effect of social bonds on recidivism may vary by gender. Furthermore, research suggests that an individual’s propensity for criminality, including prior criminal history, may hinder the development and maintenance of positive social bonds and subsequently affe…
Day Reporting Centers
The Effect and Implications of Sex Offender Residence Restrictions
Research Summary We evaluated the efficacy of sex offender residence restrictions in Michigan and Missouri using a quasi‐experimental design with propensity score matching. First, we examined the implementation of the laws and found that sex offenders in both states were less likely to live in restricted areas after the implementation of the laws than the prerestriction sample, but the differences were not statistically significant. In our outcom…
Handbook on the Consequences of Sentencing and Punishment Decisions
"Handbook on the Consequences of Sentencing and Punishment Decisions, the third volume in the Routledge ASC Division on Corrections & Sentencing Series, includes contemporary essays on the consequences of punishment during an era of mass incarceration. The Handbook Series offers state-of-the-art volumes on seminal and topical issues that span the fields of sentencing and corrections. In that spirit, the editors gathered contributions that summari…
Reducing Crime in Public Housing
Structural discrimination and social stigma among individuals incarcerated for sexual offenses
The stigma associated with a felony conviction can impede the reentry process, and emerging research findings indicate that one's community can amplify or temper the mark of a criminal record. Researchers examining criminal stigma have focused on individuals living in urban areas, overlooking the experiences of persons outside these communities. Using qualitative data collected from a sample of men and women paroled for sexual offenses in Missour…
Systematic Case Review Strategies
Jails are a critical part of the criminal justice system but, until recently, have been omitted from discussions of reform. The goal of the current study is to describe and evaluate a collaborative, problem-solving initiative designed to reduce the jail population in St. Louis County, Missouri. The initiative was implemented as part of a research-practitioner partnership and is designed around a case review model, deemed the Population Review Tea…
Enforcement trends in the city of St. Louis from 2007 to 2017
The goal of this study is twofold: (a) to describe trends in enforcement activity in the city of St. Louis from 2007 through 2017 and (b) to document community variation in these trends. Five types of enforcement actions are examined: felony, misdemeanor, municipal, and bench warrant arrests and criminal summonses‐in‐lieu of arrest. Results indicate that enforcement activity decreased over the study period, particularly for nonfelony arrests amon…
Twice Punished
Legal financial obligations (LFOs) are routinely assessed by the courts and corrections agencies. Yet, little is known about how individuals under correctional supervision experience and perceive legal debt. Understanding perceptions of LFOs is critical as research suggests that individuals who believe that criminal justice sanctions are fair and just are more likely to perceive the system as legitimate and comply. The current study examines in-d…
Access to Health Care and Treatment Among Individuals Convicted of Sexual Offenses Paroled to Urban and Rural Communities
Returning from prison to the community is rife with challenges. For individuals with health care, mental health, or substance abuse treatment needs, the reentry period can be especially vulnerable. Furthermore, these services are not evenly distributed across communities. This study explores barriers to health care and treatment among individuals convicted of sexual offenses who are returning from prison to urban and rural communities. Using data…
Crime Patterns and Interventions (39 works) · Criminal Justice and Corrections Analysis (39 works) · Psychology (33 works) · Criminology (31 works) · Political science (28 works) · Law (21 works) · Sociology (21 works) · Psychopathy, Forensic Psychiatry, Sexual Offending (18 works) · Criminal justice (16 works) · Social Psychology (16 works)