Youth Offending In Denver: The Increasing Trend And Essential Elements To Successful Intervention, Olivia Crimaldi

Undergraduate Theses, Capstones, and Recitals

Recent years have witnessed an alarming increase in youth offending across Denver, necessitating a thorough analysis of factors influencing the surge, as well as areas of improvement for current intervention methods. Juvenile delinquency is largely affected by complications associated with the transition to adulthood, such as the development of personal identity or a decrease in parental supervision. A full understanding of at-risk individuals must consider risk, promotive and protective factors, as well as the interaction between these three components. Past successful prevention and intervention methods have included relationship-building implementation, therapeutic strategies, and consistent measures of quality and accountability. Despite many …

Rethinking Culpability And Wrongdoing (In The Criminal Law—And Everyday Life), T. Markus Funk

University of Cincinnati Law Review

Determining an offender’s “culpability” is fundamental to justice systems worldwide. However, this crucial concept, built on a blending of moral responsibility with legal guilt, remains significantly diluted, including in the U.S. Model Penal Code, for instance, uses an offender’s moral culpability merely to “grade” offenses and determine sentences. This approach, which is mirrored in U.S. state and federal laws and academic discourse, not only affects individual cases but also has far-reaching societal implications.

Under this prevailing perpetrator-centric approach, “harm” narrowly refers to the concrete damage (or the “injury”), such as physical pain and damage or loss of property, the perpetrator …

Considering Caretakers: An Explicit Argument For Downward Departures During Federal Sentencing Mitigation For Caretakers Of Children, Danielle Sparber Bukacheski

University of Miami Law Review

The sentencing stage of the federal legal system provides defendants with an opportunity to articulate why the sentencing judge is justified in imposing less severe sentences. Yet, under the Federal Sentencing Guidelines, sentencing judges have been restricted in the characteristics and background information that can be utilized when imposing a downward departure from the recommended Guidelines sentence. More specifically, there is great variability regarding the extent to which family-related circumstances can be utilized as justification for a downward departure due to the Sentencing Commission’s ambiguous language. Considering the damaging effects of incarceration on children when a caretaker is physically removed …

The Unconstitutionality Of Underfunded Public Defender Systems, Braden Daniels

Senior Honors Theses

When a defendant is ineffectively represented by a public defender due to an underfunded public defender system, a defendant whose public defender provides him only cursory representation is entitled to a new trial only if blatantly innocent. The U.S. Supreme Court should follow its precedent and declare systemically underfunded public defender systems unconstitutional, with cases meriting reversal when the underfunding is to blame for unreasonable attorney errors, regardless of prejudice. This stems logically from the Court’s holdings in Gideon v. Wainwright, Strickland v. Washington, and United States v. Cronic. Many have argued for the reversal or modification …

An Exploration Of The Available Services For Offenders With Mental Illness (Omi), Kaliah Moulton

Honors Projects

The study is an exploration of services available for offenders with mental illness (OMI) and obstacles to providing treatment. It aims to identify services and obstacles to delivering treatment for offenders with mental health and substance use disorders in Augusta and Rockingham Counties. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with representatives of local agencies. Based on the agencies interviewed, services for OMI vary across the Sequential Intercept Model, with services like Crisis Intervention Teams, Medication-Assisted Treatment, and supervisory housing. Participants reported that despite the variation in services, barriers in infrastructure due to poor funding, low staffing, and lack of housing were present. …

Advocacy And Amendments For Jillian's Law, Julie Hanse, Jalen All, Ashton Jones, Taylor D. Sanderson, Megan Stephens

Belmont University Research Symposium (BURS)

In response to the fatal shooting of 18-year-old Jillian Ludwig, Tennessee lawmakers have advanced HB 1640 and SB 1769 through the legislature, garnering wide-reaching bipartisan and public support. The bill, dubbed Jillian’s Law, would prohibit the purchase or possession of a firearm by individuals deemed incompetent to stand trial, providing a much-needed piece of gun reform in a state with little to no restrictions. However, Jillian’s Law has raised concerns among disability advocates due to its punitive effect on people with disabilities. If passed, the law would streamline the process of involuntarily committing an individual who has been convicted of …

An Exploration Of The Available Services For Offenders With Mental Illness (Omi), Kaliah Moulton

ASPIRE 2024

The study is an exploration of services available for offenders with mental illness (OMI) and obstacles to providing treatment. It aims to identify services and obstacles to delivering treatment for offenders with mental health and substance use disorders in Augusta and Rockingham Counties. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with representatives of local agencies. Based on the agencies interviewed, services for OMI vary across the Sequential Intercept Model, with services like Crisis Intervention Teams, Medication-Assisted Treatment, and supervisory housing. Participants reported that despite the variation in services, barriers in infrastructure due to poor funding, low staffing, and lack of housing were present. …

Police Officers’ Perceptions Regarding Their Interactions With The Disabled In Kankakee County, Jilliann M. English

ELAIA

Background Previous research shows the rate of crime against people with disabilities is significantly higher than the general population. Despite this, gaps in the training and resources for officers to assist those with disabilities may exist. Eadens et al. (2008) explored this issue by evaluating officer attitudes towards intellectual disabilities. Kankakee County has a significant disabled population, and Illinois is ranked very low in the improvement of related policies, making this a valuable area of interest. Methods This study utilized the modified version of the Social Distance Questionnaire (SDQ) used by Eadens et al. (2008), which is both qualitative and …

Social Ecology, Preventive Intervention, And The Administrative Transformation Of The Criminal Legal System, Mark R. Fondacaro

Georgia State University Law Review

This Article outlines an administrative model of criminal justice that provides a conceptual framework and empirical justification for transforming our criminal legal system from a backward-looking, adjudicative model grounded in principles of retribution toward a forward-looking model grounded in consequentialist principles of justice aimed at crime prevention and recidivism reduction. The Article reviews the historical roots and justifications for our current system, along with recent advances in the behavioral, social, and biological sciences that inform why and how the system fuels injustice. The concept of social ecology is introduced as an organizing framework for: (1) understanding why individuals do or …

Assessing The Types Of Juvenile Detention Medical Issues: A Focus On Florida, De’Angelo Dean

MUSC Theses and Dissertations

The justice system for young people in the United States has been a source of worry as more people acknowledge the possible adverse outcomes of involvement in the justice system during adolescence. Involvement with law enforcement can lead to various difficulties for young people, such as heightened susceptibility to psychological problems, interruptions in their education, and reduced prospects for achievement in the future. Hence, it is crucial to understand the interplays between the health care for juveniles referred by courts or law enforcement for hospital care to identify opportunities for process and outcome improvements. The interaction between juveniles and the …

Juvenile Hate Crimes And Identity-Based Bullying: A Comprehensive Analysis, Peter Efon Elad

Master of Arts in Criminal Justice Leadership

Abstract

This paper examines juvenile hate crimes and identity-based bullying within the criminal justice system (CJS), proposing leadership strategies and an administrative action plan to address these issues. The analysis includes the impact on peers, community, and justice entities, focusing on accountability, diversity, and inclusivity to foster a positive organizational culture and ensure effective implementation. This paper examines the ethical considerations necessary to address juvenile hate crimes and identity-based bullying within the juvenile justice system and related workplaces. It explores the impact of these crimes on victims and communities, the balance between accountability and rehabilitation for offenders, and the role …

Reforming Criminal Justice Book Claims Top Honor, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

Matthew T. Martens, a 1993 graduate of Cedarville University, won The Gospel Coalition’s 2023 First-Time Author Award for his new book, “Reforming Criminal Justice: A Christian Proposal.”

Beyond Textbooks: Students Analyze Criminal Cold Cases, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

In Steve Meacham’s criminal investigation class at Cedarville University, the former New York State Police senior investigator introduced a cold case for his students to study and learn the principles of criminal investigations.

The Experiences Of Formerly Incarcerated Black Male Students At A Northeast Community College, Ashtian C. Holmes

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this phenomenological inquiry is to understand the experiences of formerly incarcerated Black male students who attend a Northeast urban community college and the unique barriers they encounter while navigating the institution. The United States imprisons more people than any country in the world, and Black men are disproportionately overrepresented in the United States criminal legal system. At the same time, Black men, are severely underrepresented in higher education and lag behind their White and female counterparts in nearly all indicators of collegiate success, including enrollment, retention, and graduation rates. Formerly incarcerated individuals face unique and substantial barriers …

The Procedural Justice Industrial Complex, Shawn E. Fields

Faculty Scholarship

The singular focus on procedural justice police reform is dangerous. Procedurally just law enforcement encounters provide an empirically proven subjective sense of fairness and legitimacy, while obscuring substantively unjust outcomes emanating from a fundamentally unjust system. The deceptive simplicity of procedural justice – that a polite cop is a lawful cop – promotes a false consciousness among would-be reformers that progress has been made, evokes a false sense of legitimacy divorced from objective indicia of lawfulness or morality, and claims the mantle of “reform” in the process. It is not just that procedural justice is a suboptimal type of reform; …

U.S. Judiciary Syllabus: True True Crime Zines, Jason Leggett

Open Educational Resources

An experimental, open education syllabus for a pilot zero textbook cost course, U.S. Judiciary using zines and true crime.

Chaotic Childhoods, Stephanos Bibas

Articles

Rob Henderson’s breakout memoir, Troubled, gives us a window on troubled youth. Henderson, a brilliant young psychologist, illumines how harmful childhood instability is by reflecting on his own experience. He never knew his father, was abandoned by his drug-addicted mother, and bounced around foster care. After squandering much of his early education and drowning his rage in alcohol, drugs, fights, and vandalism, he made his way through the Air Force to Yale and now Cambridge. But few of his friends escaped the wounds from their childhoods; many wound up unemployed, in prison, or dead. As an outsider to the elites …

Juvenile Curfews In Metro Atlanta: A Case Study And Content Analysis Of Laws, Arrests, And Victimizations, Olivia Berry

Political Science Theses

This thesis aims to analyze how juvenile curfew laws in Metro Atlanta affect juveniles compared to case studies in the literature. The research focuses on 11 Metro Atlanta counties with and without these laws. This study is primarily qualitative and designed to draw attention to the makeup of juvenile curfew laws, potential consequences, and how the situation in Metro Atlanta may differ from other regions. By utilizing data on juvenile crime and victimization sourced from the Georgia Bureau of Investigations Crime Statistics Database, in tandem with the language of each curfew law, this study explores the potential impacts of these …

Making A Difference Is Focus Of New Police Officer, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

Kaley Aurand, a 2023 criminal justice graduate of Cedarville University, was sponsored by the Xenia Police Department (XPD) in the completion of her training at the police academy. Today, Aurand, who graduated from the five-month Ohio Peace Officer Basic Training Academy at Sinclair Community College in November, is now a full-time police officer for the Xenia Police Department. She was sworn in on Monday, Nov. 27.

Bailing On The Bondsman: An Argument For Abolishing Monetary Bail, Sean Freeland M.S., J.D.

Lincoln Memorial University Law Review Archive

Money bail as a condition for pretrial release has existed throughout American history. Two out of every three inmates held in jails across the United States have not been tried for a crime and are only held because they cannot afford to pay the cost of their bail. The longer a defendant awaits trial in detention, the higher the chance they will be convicted of a crime and sentenced to a longer term than a defendant who is awarded pretrial release. The prolonged time awaiting trial in detention contributes to recidivism and increased criminalization for individuals and their communities. For …

Implementation Of A Screening, Brief Intervention, And Referral To Treatment Protocol For Treatment Of Opioid Use Disorder In Post-Carceral Populations, Adaora Ede, Mary Johnson

Graduate Publications and Other Selected Works - Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP)

BACKGROUND: Opioid use disorder (OUD) is a pressing public health issue in the US affecting marginalized populations the most. Within the correctional setting, 65% of inmates are affected with OUD, worsening health outcomes when untreated.

LOCAL PROBLEM: This evidence-based practice (EBP) project targeted justice-involved individuals with co-occurring OUD at a behavioral health clinic in Johnson City, Tennessee. This project aimed to improve outcomes related to recidivism and relapse through clinician education and the implementation of a Screening, Brief Intervention, and Referral to Treatment (SBIRT) protocol.

METHODS: Johns Hopkins Nursing Evidence-Based Practice Model (JHNEBP) was the guiding EBP model for the …

Faith: The Foundation Of Law Enforcement, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

Derek Zelenka, a 2005 graduate of Cedarville University, works as a detective for the City of Brunswick Police in the suburbs of Cleveland, Ohio, and as a hostage negotiator for the Southwest Enforcement Bureau SWAT team in greater Cleveland. Zelenka has worked as a school resource officer for the last eight years, and he also works in youth ministry at his local church.

Insanity And Incompetency: Courts, Communities, And The Intersections Of Mental Illness And Criminal Justice In The Wake Of Kahler And Trueblood, Gwendolyn West

Golden Gate University Law Review

Today, people with mental illnesses in the United States are ten times more likely to be incarcerated than hospitalized. About 20 percent of the United States population experiences some kind of mental illness each year, and about 3 to 5 percent of the population experiences a severe and persistent mental illness. By contrast, more than 60 percent of jail inmates and at least 45 percent of prison inmates in the United States have a diagnosed mental illness. Studies have found that anywhere from 25 percent to 71 percent of people with serious mental illness in a given community have a …

After The Criminal Justice System, Benjamin Levin

Washington Law Review

Since the 1960s, the “criminal justice system” has operated as the common label for a vast web of actors and institutions. But as critiques of mass incarceration have entered the mainstream, academics, activists, and advocates increasingly have stopped referring to the “criminal justice system.” Instead, they have opted for critical labels—the “criminal legal system,” the “criminal punishment system,” the “prison industrial complex,” and so on. What does this re-labeling accomplish? Does this change in language matter to broader efforts at criminal justice reform or abolition? Or does an emphasis on labels and language distract from substantive engagement with the injustices …

Unreliable Forensic Science, Sarah Ciuffetelli

Quest

The Effectiveness of Forensic Science

Research in progress for CRIJ 1301: Introduction to Criminal Justice

Faculty Mentor: Stefanie LeMaire

Sarah Ciuffetelli uses critical thinking to examine the effectiveness of forensic sciences during criminal investigations. The assignment requires students to find the most prominent scholarly research in forensic sciences and discuss its efficacy. Further, the research leads students to discuss the potential limitations investigators must consider when examining forensic evidence. Lastly, students find at least six scholarly sources to provide an in-depth analysis of the research.

Sarah begins by discussing the history of forensic science and the ever-increasing technology used in …

Bargaining In The Shadow Of The Truth: How Client Assertion, Perception Of Guilt, And Predictive Inaccuracy Influence Plea Recommendations, Anna D. Vaynman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Over the past few decades, the largely hidden, secretive, and widely used system of plea bargaining has caught the fervent attention of scholars. The Shadow of the Trial model has been central to much of the plea-bargaining literature, despite significant critiques about its oversimplification. The model posits that defendants and their attorneys make plea decisions based largely on the estimated probability of conviction and the severity of the sentence to which the defendant could be exposed at trial.

The model, however, assumes that all actors are rational, equally risk averse, have no competing interests, and possess high predictive accuracy. It …

Carl Vinson Institute Presentation, Holly Lynde

Georgia Criminal Law Review

No abstract provided.

Carceral Data: The Limits Of Transparency-As-Accountability In Prison Risk Data, Becka Hudson, Tomas Percival

Secrecy and Society

Prison data collection is a labyrinthine infrastructure. This article engages with debates around the political potentials and limitations of transparency as a form of “accountability,” specifically as it relates to carceral management and data gathering. We examine the use of OASys, a widely used risk assessment tool in the British prison system, in order to demonstrate how transparency operates as a means of legitimating prison data collection and ensuing penal management. Prisoner options to resist their file, or “data double,” in this context are considered and the decisive role of OASys as an immediately operationalized technical structure is outlined. We …

Meet Our New Faculty: Yvette Butler, James Owsley Boyd

Keep Up With the Latest News from the Law School (blog)

Associate Professor Yvette T. Butler joined the Indiana Law faculty this summer. She earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota, Morris, and her law degree from The George Washington University Law School.

Syringe Service Programs In Indiana: Moving Past The “Moral” Concerns Of Harm Reduction Towards Effective Legislation, Steven Nisi

Indiana Journal of Law and Social Equality

No abstract provided.