Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Pets And Problems: Exploring Community Patterns In Calls For Animal Services, Paige Dejarnett

Sociology and Criminology Undergraduate Honors Theses

Pets have historically been viewed as family members, children, property, or economic resources. However, research surrounding animal maltreatment has expressed this issue as an individually-based problem, rather than a community-based phenomenon. Correlations have been found between animal cruelty, antisocial behaviors, and future interpersonal violence, whether this correlation be a predictive relationship, or a resultant relationship. Past research has also found correlations between animal treatment practices and the rural/urban differences of this behavior. However, there are many community-based indicators that have not been explored to understand the distribution of animal maltreatment. This study aims to explore these ideas by analyzing the …

What Predicts How Safe People Feel In Their Neighborhoods And Does It Depend On Functional Status?, Alfredo J. Velasquez, Jason A. Douglas, Fangqi Guo, Jennifer W. Robinette

Health Sciences and Kinesiology Faculty Articles

Feeling unsafe in one's neighborhood is related to poor health. Features of the neighborhood environment have been suggested to inform perceptions of neighborhood safety. Yet, the relative contribution of these features (e.g., uneven sidewalks, crime, perceived neighborhood physical disorder) on perceived neighborhood safety, particularly among people with disabilities who may view themselves as more vulnerable, is not well understood. We examined whether sidewalk quality assessed by third party raters, county-level crime rates, and perceived neighborhood disorder would relate to neighborhood safety concerns, and whether functional limitations would exacerbate these links. Using data from the 2012/2014 waves of the Health and …

Gentrification, Neighborhood Change, And Crime Across Milwaukee, Hannah Smith

Theses and Dissertations

Data from 247 census tracts and 592 block groups in Milwaukee, Wisconsin were analyzed to determine the extent of gentrification across Milwaukee and the effects of neighborhood change on both property and violent crime rates. The data are from 2010 and 2018 and captures the city’s transformation over the majority of the past decade. Using frequency analyses, OLS regression, spatial lag regression and spatial error regression models, the relationships between gentrification, neighborhood change and crime are assessed. Similar to other quantitative research findings, this paper found very little evidence of gentrification in Milwaukee from 2010 to 2018. Regarding the effect …

Black And White Health Disparities: Racial Bias In American Healthcare, Yasmeen Almomani

Bridges: An Undergraduate Journal of Contemporary Connections

This paper explores the historical implications of race in American society that have led to implicit racism in the healthcare system. Racial bias in healthcare against Black people is a factor in the health disparities between Black and white people in America, such as the gap in life expectancy, infant death, and maternal mortality. Black people are more likely to report racial discrimination from healthcare providers, which is a reason for the decreased quality of care received. The past justifications of slavery, the Tuskegee syphilis study, and the medical experimentations on Black women are horrifying but were considered acceptable in …

Community Stakeholders’ Perceptions Of Crime And Victimization: A Mixed-Methods Approach To Understanding Collective Efficacy And Social Cohesion In The Rural Heartland, Ashley Lockwood, April Terry Ph.D.

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Previous criminological literature has mostly neglected rural communities, often treating these places as smaller pieces of urban culture. Literature suggests rural communities operate differently than urban neighborhoods, with distinctive values, norms, and community cohesion. For example, concepts surrounding collective efficacy may work counterproductively in rural areas—further exploiting outed community members within “close-knit” environments. The current study sought to compare perceptions of collective efficacy and social cohesion, crime, and victimization between rural and urban counties across one Midwestern rural state. Using a mixed-methods approach, community stakeholders from a variety of professions were surveyed. Quantitative results suggest similar perceptions of collective efficacy …

The Ideology Of The Carceral State: Examining The Prison Through Film, Ryan Phillips

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Mass incarceration began almost fifty years ago and has proliferated to the point that the United States is the world leader in incarceration. Much work has been done that examines the history and nature of mass incarceration and the carceral state. However, an area that has received far less attention is how people think about prisons. To address this gap, I ground my analysis in the works of Louis Althusser, Slavoj Zizek, and Mark Fisher to formulate “Carceral Realism”, which I argue is the ideology of mass incarceration. To better understand the nature of this ideology, I employ a content …

Community Dynamics And Crime In Rural West Virginia Communities, Holly V. Ryczek, Robert Nicewarner

Mountaineer Undergraduate Research Review

There is a tendency for sociologists and criminologists to study crime in urban contexts rather than in rural areas and places outside small towns. Therefore, some suspect that theories of urban crime do not necessarily fit these rural areas. For example, collective efficacy in urban neighborhoods has been found to be inversely related to crime and fear of crime. In rural areas, this connection has been difficult to study because rural places are structured differently than urban neighborhoods. In this study, we expand the notions of collective efficacy in neighborhoods by introducing community dynamics. We show how latent psychodynamic processes …

Early Survivor Voices And Primary Sources. Modern Slavery: A Documentary And Reference Guide By Laura J. Lederer, Sandra Morgan

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Reducing Crime Through The Theatre: An Analysis Of Foluke Ogunleye’S Jabulile, Nkiruka Jacinta Akaenyi

International Review of Humanities Studies

This study examines the connection between family conditions and the criminal behaviours of children. Over the years, drama has been used to address the socio-political, economic and security challenges in different societies. The goal of these dramatists is to chart the way forward for a harmonious political, economic and social system. It is in this wise that, Foluke Ogunleye used her knowledge of drama to address serious issues affecting the progress and stability of the nation. This study finds that the explosion of crime in the nation is linked to the fragile family system surrounding the children’s upbringing by their …

Urban Neoliberal Debt Peonage: Prisoner Reentry, Work, And The New Jim Crow, Francis B. Prior

Sociology and Criminology Department Faculty Works

In this study, I analyze the experiences of people leaving prison and jail, using the concept of urban neoliberal debt peonage. I define urban neoliberal debt peonage as the push of race-class subjugated (RCS) formerly incarcerated people into the low-wage labor market. I argue that urban neoliberal debt peonage is a social process of economic extraction from and racial control of RCS groups structured by state bureaucracies and corporate employers. I provide evidence for this argument using participant observation and interview methods in a large northeastern U.S. city at an employment-oriented prisoner reentry organization that I call “Afterward.” People came …

The Formation Of Identity Narratives Within Racialized Space, Eva Alphonse

Departmental Honors Projects

Evelyn Alphonse and Dr. Ryan LeCount, Department of Sociology, Hamline University 1536 Hewitt Ave, St Paul, MN, 55104

Previous research has made it clear that neighborhoods shape individuals’ experiences, perceptions, and identities. Past studies on neighborhood stigma focused primarily on the perception that communities of color and their residents are dangerous or disadvantaged. Another smaller body of work explored how living in criminalized spaces affects residents themselves. This research primarily looked at how neighborhood stigma has materially affected residents, such as through decreased job opportunities. The present study expanded on the previous literature by investigating how living in stigmatized spaces …