Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Assessing School Psychologists’ Perspective Of Students Entering A School District From Juvenile Detention Facilities, Emily Wuenschell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Adolescents who are involved with the juvenile justice system encounter setbacks, stigma, and other increased risk factors that negatively impact their future life outcomes. Schools, and in turn school psychologists, are in the unique position of being able to provide effective services for these adolescents. Previous research has identified many practices that schools can implement to improve the academic, social, and vocational prospects of adolescents entering their districts from a juvenile justice placement. This study sought to understand the role of school psychologists in this transition by assessing their recommendations for and opinions of students involved with juvenile justice. Results …

Examining The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Violent Crime In The City Of Pittsburgh, Brittany Urban

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The goal of this research is to examine patterns of Part I crimes [including Part I Person/Violent: Homicide, Rape, Aggravated Assault, and Robbery, and Part I Property: Burglary, Larceny-Theft, Motor Vehicle Theft, and Arson, as defined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Standards] in The City of Pittsburgh, framing the COVID-19 pandemic as a major stressor that Robert Agnew’s General Strain Theory suggests may lead to increased opportunity for crime, due to the perceived unjustness of the associated lockdown orders and potential incentive for criminal coping (Agnew 1992). This descriptive analysis is based primarily upon …

The Effects Of The Evidence Preservation System (Eps) On The Storage Of Dna Samples, Devin Doyle

Graduate Student Research Symposium

Storage of collected samples is a concern for all disciplines of forensic science. Without proper storage, especially DNA samples, the DNA will become unusable as it could become degraded, cross contaminated with other samples, etc. Much of the preliminary research revealed that there were very few studies on the storage of forensic samples regarding ideal protocols, let alone those that involved combining as many controlled storage aspects such as temperature, humidity, and UV exposure. This research focuses on the Evidence Preservation System (EPS) by Forensic Solutions, Inc., which is a controlled environment able to be programmed to control temperature and …

Understanding The Sexual Assault Kit Backlog In Pennsylvania, Kallie Crawford, Lyndsie Ferrara

Graduate Student Research Symposium

According to the FBI, to date, there are more than 400,000 untested sexual assault kits nationwide. While this is a huge issue that cannot be solved overnight, continual improvements and changes are needed to reduce and hopefully eliminate the backlog.

This research examines work going on nationwide and aims to better understand the backlog issues specifically in Pennsylvania. Furthermore, the research examines a program utilized by the law enforcement community that garnered necessary resources. First, a comprehensive review of improved practices in proactive jurisdictions of Ohio, Houston, Texas, and Detroit, Michigan was conducted to identify general policies and procedures that …

Tracking The Sexual Assault Kit Backlog, Kallie Crawford, Lyndsie Ferrara

Undergraduate Research and Scholarship Symposium

The backlog of untested sexual assault kits is a national problem. Numerous federal funding opportunities offer the forensic science and law enforcement communities valuable resources needed to test the kits, but issues still remain. The majority of resources are focused on the collection and testing of sexual assault kits, but the tracking of the kits has not been a primary focus. This research highlights improvements that can be made to better understand the current backlog and improve the future processing and tracking of kits. Given the lack of a universal evidence tracking database among agencies, tracking sexual assault kits seems …

Occupational Profiles Of At-Risk Youth: A Multi-Case Study, Abigail Catalano

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Occupational therapy’s work with at-risk and adjudicated youth is a practice area currently possessing a limited base of evidence. One significant need in this body of literature is for examination of evidence-based evaluation practices. This project describes implementation and results of an evaluation protocol, Primary Occupations for Work and Employment Readiness (POWER), designed to elicit comprehensive occupational profiles from participants. POWER consists of five assessment tools, supplemented by clinical observations and program data. The assessments included are the Occupational Self-Assessment (OSA), Model of Human Occupation Screening Tool (MOHOST), Double OT (DOT), Kawa River Model, and Role Checklist Version 3 (RCV3). …

A Review Of Prisoners' Rights Under The First, Fifth, And Eighth Amendments, Judith Ann Mackarey

Duquesne Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Problem Of The Unrepresented, Misrepresented And Rebellious Defendant In Criminal Court, Burton R. Laub

Duquesne Law Review

For upwards of twenty years, the Supreme Court of the United States has wrestled with the question whether an indigent defendant charged with serious crime must, on request, be afforded the assistance of counsel at public expense. In a series of landmark cases it has decided such assistance must be afforded as a matter of constitutional right. Most trial judges are in agreement with these decisions, not so much on constitutional grounds but because they see practical advantages therein, and because they would welcome an even broader rule requiring every party to a lawsuit to have full representation. While trial …