Publications by authors named "Shelly Wagers"

Background: Pandemics, such as COVID-19, are dangerous and socially disruptive. Though no one is immune to COVID-19, older persons often bear the brunt of its consequences. This is particularly true for older women, as they often face more pronounced health challenges relative to other segments in society, including complex care needs, insufficient care provisions, mental illness, neglect, and increased domestic abuse.

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Domestic violence (DV) continues is an ongoing costly issue for the criminal justice system, Research indicates the prosecutor's filing decision is important to keeping DV victims safe, but there is little research examining prosecutorial filing decisions in DV cases. This study used focal concerns as a theoretical framework to explore which legal and extra-legal factors impact prosecutorial filing decisions in DV cases. The study utilized data collected from 731 misdemeanor and felony DV cases from an urban County in Florida between January 2017 - December 2018.

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Background: Due to COVID-19, domestic violence victims face a range of mental health challenges, possibly resulting in substantial human and economic consequences. However, there is a lack of mental health interventions tailored to domestic violence victims and in the context of COVID-19. In this study, we aim to identify interventions that can improve domestic violence victims' mental health amid the COVID-19 pandemic to address the research gap.

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Adoptive parricide, the killing of adoptive parents by their adoptive children, is a phenomenon that garners much media attention but remains elusive in the extant literature. Previous studies on adoptive parricide have largely consisted of clinical case studies with limited theoretical explanations. The current study uses Bowlby's attachment theory as a theoretical framework to explore adoptive parricide.

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The assertion that the motive behind battering is "power and control" is commonly accepted. Indeed, the most commonly cited "theory" behind Batterer Intervention Programs, a primary criminal justice system response to domestic violence, is that domestic violence offenders are motivated by their need to obtain "power and control." However, this theory has not been fully developed or empirically tested.

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Some argue that training and/or coursework in domestic violence (DV) could impact the beliefs criminal justice (CJ) majors have about DV and, in turn, affect their future job performance in cases involving victims of DV. This study examined the association of previous education and training in DV on the beliefs college students hold about what behaviors qualify as DV. Further, it examined the association between CJ versus non-CJ majors on beliefs about DV behaviors.

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In recent decades, significant effort and money have been spent to change social and legal responses to domestic violence and affect public perceptions. A small body of research has examined individuals' opinions about what behaviors are considered domestic violence. Using a sample of college students, the present study examined a modified version of a somewhat popular instrument used to measure beliefs about domestic violence, extending previous work done by Carlson and Worden.

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