Digital Commons Network^™

Exploring The Complexities Of Latino Immigration To The United States: "I'M So Much Smarter In Spanish.", Michael Santana

Honors Theses

The goal of this thesis is to first provide a greater understanding of the barriers Latino immigrants face in the United States and whether these barriers differ based on factors such as biological sex, age, education and employment statuses, country of origin, and length of residency in the United States. Second, this thesis will highlight Latino immigrants’ resiliency and how they attempt to overcome these barriers in hopes of achieving success and well-being. Third, this thesis will discuss what types of assistance, if any, Latino immigrants have found most helpful in contributing to those areas of success and well-being they …

The Unconstitutional Backlog In The Commonwealth Of Massachusetts Criminal Justice System: A Three Step Plan To Decrease The Delay, Cassidy Louise Elliott

Honors Theses

Currently, within the Massachusetts Criminal Justice System, defendants are forced to wait up to 12 months for a trial. These pre-trial delays have significantly detrimental effects on defendants. For example, there are economic implications, strains on personal relationships, and physical and mental health risks associated with incarceration. There are several other criminal justice systems that can provide criminal defendants trials in a timelier manner than Massachusetts. This thesis explores the right to a speedy and fair trial under the U.S. Constitution, the reasons for the potentially unconstitutional delays in Massachusetts, and proposes reforms to ensure individuals accused of a crime …

An Exploration Into Health Equity Discourse In Mississippi: Organizational Commitments And Practitioner Perspectives, Thuy-Vy Lillian Pham

Honors Theses

This thesis takes a sociological approach to examine healthcare workers' beliefs and medical organizations’ solidarity statements related to diversity and equity and how these discourses aligned and/or diverged. Through interviews with healthcare providers in Mississippi and content analysis of solidarity statements, the study finds that discussions on health disparities more frequently addressed socioeconomic inequality rather than systemic racism, diverging from organizational statements. This emphasis may partly stem from the demographics of the study participants, who were predominantly White—which also reflected the staff where they worked. Additionally, while healthcare workers recognized structural issues related to health disparities, they often showed hesitancy …

The Evolving Role Of Women In The Sinaloa Cartel: An Analysis Of The Relationship Between Drug Trafficking Organizations, Female Agency, And Economic Mobility, Catherine Page, Kennady Leigh Hertz

Honors Theses

Exploring the role of women in Mexican drug trafficking organizations is a topic that has gained significant traction in the past 30 years. Despite the increase of literature on the topic, few papers theorize as to why women participate. This product sought to explore the various reasons why women participate in Mexican drug trafficking organizations, either willingly, or against their wishes. We hypothesized that women join drug trafficking organizations for two primary reasons: a) they are coerced by male figures in their life, and b.) they participate willingly in an effort to gain economic mobility. To test our hypothesis, we …

The Past Close Behind Us: A Comparison Of Anti-Integrationists’ Rhetoric From The 1960’S With Anti-Critical Race Theory Rhetoric Today, Te'keyra Shelton

Honors Theses

The purpose of this research study is to analyze whether there are similarities and differences between how conservative organizations and leaders against integration in the 1960’s and Critical Race Theory today discussed and reacted to these advances for civil rights. While there are drastic differences in the context of both eras, arguments used to justify segregation are still used to justify banning Critical Race Theory. Through research on social movements, rhetorical framing, and white racial and conservative ideology, I was able to understand how these movements are structured to best gain success. And, through a comparative, content analysis of rhetorical …

With Liberty And Justice For The Wealthy: The Criminalization Of The American Poor, Ashlyn Dickmeyer

Honors Theses

The last phrase of the Pledge of Allegiance states “with liberty and justice for all”. However, not everyone has access to this liberty and justice. Liberty and justice can be bought in this country for a price, and those who can’t afford to pay it are often left in the hands of those who can. One of the most prominent ways to see this is by analyzing the criminal justice system. Despite clauses in the Fourteenth Amendment and court cases like Gideon v. Wainwright (1963) establishing and upholding that the poor are entitled to equal treatment within the criminal justice …

The Factors Affecting Racial Disparities In The Juvenile Justice System, Julia Martin

Honors Theses

The neglect of the best interests of minority youth is a problem running rampant in the United States juvenile justice system. In order to address this problem, the factors influencing why racial disparities exist within the juvenile justice system must be known, so that they can eventually be diminished. This thesis will first evaluate prior research on the factors influencing such racial disparities. Once previously discovered factors have been identified and discussed, additional research will be conducted to examine what attempts are currently being made in jurisdictions throughout the country to reduce the influence of these factors in how youth …

Justice In The American Legal System: Challenges To The Confrontation Clause In Criminal Child Sexual Abuse Cases, Kelsey Savoy

Honors Theses

The following thesis will look at the original intent of the Founders when the Sixth Amendment was written. It will then examine the challenges presented to justice both substantively and procedurally in cases of criminal child sexual abuse specifically, including the challenges faced by victims forced to testify during trial long after the trial is over. After establishing these challenges, this thesis will then examine legal precedent set by the courts that illustrates how exceptions have been made to traditional courtroom procedures over time, such as exceptions to the hearsay rule and in-person testimony on the witness stand, to allow …

Implicit Racial Bias In Healthcare: A Concept Analysis And Call To Action, Rachel Ferguson

Honors Theses

For students pursuing a nursing degree, exposure to implicit bias during their educational program is as concerning as the lack of training to acknowledge and conquer the development of implicit bias. Both facets can root negative attitudes and behaviors in the student nurse that will be carried into their practice throughout the healthcare system. It is a professional obligation for the registered nurse to be aware of implicit bias and understand its strong connection to increased risk of mortality, health complications, and other adverse health outcomes, especially in racial minority patient populations (Maina et al., 2018). This thesis contains a …

“Have You Seen Me?”: Forensic Art For Human Identification, Mckenzie Stommen

Honors Theses

Forensic art for human identification is used to identify victims, suspects, and unidentified decedents. The field is highly interdisciplinary, and forensic artists draw on a broad range of skills, knowledge, and relationships with colleagues to complete this work. This paper will focus mainly on age progression and forensic facial reconstruction, although more applications of forensic art do exist. The case study in forensic art discussed here took the form of an age progression.

New developments in artificial intelligence, facial recognition, computed tomography, and DNA have implications for forensic art, and have already begun to find a place in the field. …

On The Intersections Of Childhood Maltreatment, Self-Control, And Behavioral Outcomes Across The Life-Course, Ameleigh Bippen

Honors Theses

Childhood abuse and neglect are highly deleterious experiences that a number of children continue to encounter. The purpose of the current discussion is to examine the impact of childhood abuse and neglect on the growth and development of self-control in early childhood. In service of this goal, several methods were employed, including a review of the historical and current research on the development of self-control. In addition to this, specific scientific theories and their advancements were analyzed to provide further insight into the connection between poor impulse regulation (and decision-making) and downstream linkages with criminal offending. Perhaps not surprisingly, evidence …

Why No Rallying Force? Factors Of Rassemblement National Underperformance In 2021 French Regional Elections, Amy Rhodes

Honors Theses

Marine Le Pen remains popular within national French politics. However, following the June 2021 French regional elections, her far-right party, Rassemblement National (RN), failed to win a single region. This thesis seeks to explore the factors behind the RN’s surprising lack of success through a comparative historical approach. This thesis also evaluates the applicability of the second-order model on these elections. Two regions, Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes (ARA) and Provence-Alpes-Côte-d'Azur (PACA) serve as case studies for this research based upon their diverse electoral results. Regional newspaper articles, national newspaper articles, and candidates’ social media posts from the election cycles serve as the data …

Lies In The Headlines: How Media Coverage Painted The Police Violence Against Philando Castile And George Floyd, Bailey Malvueax

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Crime Pays: How Black Americans Became Central To The Carceral State, Will Brooks

Honors Theses

Over the course of American history, Black Americans have been intentionally criminalized at moments of ostensible social progress. This legacy of intentional criminalization of minority communities has both created the perception that African Americans are innately criminal and given rise to a prison-industrial complex that now depends on Black bodies. Now, predictive policing technology reinforces perceptions of Black criminality necessary for the justification of the carceral state and the survival and expansion of the prison-industrial complex.

An Analysis Of Post-Ferguson Black Law Enforcement Work Experiences, Abigail Bowers

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Furthering Women In Policing: How A Police Department's Duty Firearm Selection Process May Mitigate The Gender Disparity In Marksmanship, Jenna Prochnau

Honors Theses

Previous research has revealed that there are several benefits to increasing the representation of women in law enforcement, including less use of force, increased community trust, and better outcomes for domestic violence and sexual assault victims. While many police departments now recognize these benefits and are aiming to recruit more women, a problem persists because women are less likely to graduate from police academies than their male counterparts. A significant difference has been observed in the area of marksmanship, particularly, with more female recruits failing to meet firearm scoring standards. Currently, very little is known about how police departments select …

Eyewitness Identification, Alley Chan

Honors Theses

Eyewitness identification often plays a crucial role in the criminal justice system. It can be used to make an arrest, both exonerate and convict suspects, fuel police interrogation, and influence a plea bargaining decision. In the meantime, eyewitness misidentification has contributed to approximately 69% of the wrongful convictions, making it the leading factor in wrongful convictions nationwide. Hence, the central question that will be explored in this thesis is: Why eyewitness testimony is so powerful despite it is prone to error? To answer this question, this thesis will examine the role of eyewitness identification played in the criminal justice system …

Reforming United States Prisons: A Cross-Cultural Analysis, Alex Henkel

Honors Theses

This paper examines the United States prison system and its standing among peer countries, as well as potential reforms to improve this system and its effectiveness. The incarceration statistics of many different countries show that the United States incarcerates significantly more of its population than similar countries. I turn to an examination of how penal policies are formed across the world to evaluate their impact on the U.S. prison rate compared to other countries. Additionally, I look at recidivism to determine the effectiveness of United States incarceration. This analysis aims to highlight the differences between the U.S. and other countries …

Childhood Trauma And Substance Use: Differences By Race And Sex In Juvenile Justice Prevention Programs In Nebraska, Sophie Holtz

Honors Theses

This study seeks to analyze whether demographic factors such as gender and race have a relationship to the reporting of trauma symptoms in juveniles. This study also examines whether higher substance use has a relationship to higher reports of trauma symptoms. To gather this data, surveys were administered to juveniles involved in juvenile justice prevention programs across the state of Nebraska. Overall, we found that juvenile girls reported significantly higher amounts of trauma symptoms than boys do. There was also a significant difference in how much juvenile girls report using cannabis compared to juvenile boys. Furthermore, there was not a …

Anti-Police Movement Survey, Julia Peisker

Honors Theses

Due to many highly publicized instances of excessive use of force by the police, namely those associated with George Floyd and Breonna Taylor, law enforcement agencies have recently come under much public watch and criticism. Although anti-police movements have existed since long ago, there has been a new wind of them since these events. This backlash and outrage that have come as a result from these instances of police excessive use of force have led to many changes within police departments across the country, which has likely had far-reaching effects on police officers. Through the use of an online, anonymous …

The State Of The Asylum: Assessing Institutional Legitimacy Through An Examination Of Its Clientele, Peter Dranow

Honors Theses

While mental asylums have long been a point of intrigue and folklore in Western culture, they have also been the subject of bitter debate in academic and medical circles. Brought to the forefront of sociology with Erving Goffman’s benchmark work, Asylums; Essays on the Social Situation of Mental Patients and Other Inmates (1961), the question of whether mental institutions in America were–and are–fundamentally curative or custodial institutions has yielded a dualistic interpretation of the past, present, and future. Whereas the psychiatrist and liberal historian might characterize America’s failed asylums as externalities of progress and, in some cases, poor policy, social …

Ptsd And Ipv: Pre- And Post- 9/11 War Veterans' Risks For Perpetrating Violence, Alison Joanis

Honors Theses

Throughout this thesis, past research will be outlined regarding the relationship between PTSD and IPV among war veterans. This research will display why people with PTSD from war are more likely to perpetrate intimate partner violence than are civilians. Then, I will present more evidence as to why veterans post-9/11 veterans may be more likely to perpetrate intimate partner violence than pre-9/11 veterans. Post-9/11 veterans are less likely to get help for their mental health problems, leading them to face a host of life difficulties including disconnectedness from family and friends, unemployment, and substance abuse problems, all of which are …

Twelve Angry Men: A Twenty-First Century Reflection Of Race, Art, And Incarceration, Mackenzie A. Gross

Honors Theses

Twelve Angry Men: A Twenty-First Century Reflection of Race, Art and Incarceration is a Comparative and Digital Humanities Honors Thesis concentrating on Africana Studies, theatre, sociology and legal studies to demonstrate the importance of investing in incarcerated communities through theatre and education.

In Chapter I, I critique the loss of identity attached to incarceration, and introduce the foundation for Black bodies individuals being discriminated against in the prosecution system. I analyze the “Punishment vs Progress” mentality, and introduce current educational programs in place in prisons. I elaborate on the details of our production, as well as the makeup of actors. …

From Injury To Imprisonment: How Traumatic Brain Injury Can Lead To Violent Criminal Behavior, Kennedy O'Hara

Honors Theses

The United States currently has over 2 million people residing in prisons and jails across the country (Bronson & Carson, 2019; Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 2009). The current literature review aims to study the prevalence of brain injuries across these imprisoned populations. The results of this review can have serious implications in law, medicine, and rehabilitation services. A traumatic brain injury can have significant influence over criminal justice procedures including ability to stand trial and proper sentencing depending on the timing and intensity of the offense. In addition, TBI prison prevalence could be implicated with the future …

The Effect Of Closeness On Belief In Innocence, Kerri Kingsley

Honors Theses

Many people question how family and friends can stay loyal to convicted criminals or lie to throw off a police investigation; this study proposes that this belief in an accused criminal’s innocence has to do with how close a person is to the offender. Using the Unidimensional Relationship Closeness Scale (URCS) and a series of scenarios, this study compares how participants’ closeness to someone interacts with the participant’s belief in that person’s innocence when faced with a hypothetical criminal accusation. The study was administered as an online survey using the URCS and a series of questions about participants relationships to …

Racial Threat, Economic Resources, And Politics: How Local Structural Conditions Influence The Adoption Of Restrictionist Immigration Policy, Mario Marset Ehrle

Honors Theses

ICE has used their 287(g) program to target immigration enforcement at the county level. This program authorizes local police officers to carry out federal immigration work to meet arrest and deportation quotas. This has eroded civil rights and led to the criminalization of minorities, particularly Latinos. While previous research has examined the theories behind local anti-immigration work and the social factors affecting anti-immigrant policy adoption more generally, no large-scale quantitative analyses have been conducted as to why some counties adopted 287(g) while others chose not to do so. Addressing this gap in the literature, the following study uses a newly …

Why Families Flee: A Study Of Family Migration Patterns From The Northern Triangle Of Central America, Claire Williams

Honors Theses

The past decade has witnessed an unprecedented increase in migrant families from the Northern Triangle, the region of Central America comprised of El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. The mass influx in family migration has important consequences for destination countries like the United States and Mexico as well as the countries which they leave behind. This study aims to answer the question of how family migration patterns in the Northern Triangle of Central America have changed in the past decade and why. I outline the migration decisions of families through a qualitative and quantitative lens. I use newspapers and NGO reports …

A Behavioral Analysis Of Intimate Partner Violence Victims, Maryssa Presbitero

Honors Theses

This study derived from the stories of eight women from varying backgrounds who have experienced intimate partner abuse. My analysis focuses on identifying themes across the transcripts of their qualitative open-ended interviews. I was specifically interested in how intimate partner abuse impacted the women’s behavior in terms of surviving the relationships and navigating escape. Given that the interviews included life histories, I was able to also examine themes related to childhood victimization as well. Patterns that arose from their experiences include exposure to violence in the home as children, escalation of abuse in their adult intimate relationships, various struggles to …

Transformation As Desistance Inside: Temporality And Identity Reconstruction Among Men With Life Sentences, Richard Stover

Honors Theses

This thesis is an investigation of destistance strategies among men sentenced to life in prison in a medium security prison in Pennsylvania. Desistance here is defined as the process leading to the cessation of formally deviant behavior. Drawing from life narrative interviews conducted among 22 men, I argue that desistance is intrinsically tied to how inmates conceptualize themselves within the institutional context of the prison and can be expanded to include people who are still incarcerated. I build off of Peggy Giordano and colleagues symbolic interactionist perspective on desistance and expand it to chart how men with life sentences order …

The Regime Of Sex Trafficking Of Women In The United States, Julia Wilson

Honors Theses

Sex trafficking is a vicious crime and has been denoted as a form of modern-day slavery, accumulating nearly 21 million victims worldwide. Women and girls make up 95% of victims of trafficking for sexual exploitation, which reflects the dominance of patriarchy operating in the U.S. and across the globe. When it comes to the sex trafficking of women, it is often seen as a problem that happens elsewhere, never close to us. This hegemonic narrative that exoticizes sex trafficking contributes to keeping the problem in the dark. Yet an estimated 200,000 people are forced into the sex trade in the …