Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Dignity Takings In Leviathanic Immigration Proceedings, Christopher Mendez

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Current immigration law in the United States is rife with racially motivated biases necessitating immediate correction. Among the many problems with current law, constitutional rights are withheld from a large populace. This article reflects upon the history of immigration law in the United States, noting key decisions which have formed the status quo. This article also proposes remedies such as the cessation of infringement by government agents on the property rights that affected immigrants have on their own bodies and a modern-day amnesty reflective of the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986. This article also introduces Bernadette Atuahene’s concept …

An Examination Of The Use Of Social Media To Improve The Psychological Well-Being Of Saudi Arabia Women, Shoaa Ahmed Dardoum

Dissertations

Social media is used increasingly for different purposes, playing an important role in peoples’ lives. It has been reported that social media is involved with the mental health profession as it offers a way to communicate with mental health providers and peers who share similar concerns. People with mental illnesses who have utilized social media to share and find mental health information have reported positive outcomes related to their mental health status. However, additional research is needed in regard to the mental health status of general populations. As such, this quantitative study was intended to examine the use of shared …

Combatting The Opioid Epidemic In Texas By Holding Big Pharma Manufacturers Liable, Katherine Spiser

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming

Law Enforcement Officers' Romantic Relationships Strengths : A Mixed Methods Analysis, Mary Telisak

Dissertations

This study explores the diversity of personal and interpersonal features associated with relationship quality for law enforcement officers and their romantic partners. A concurrent, embedded, mixed methods design was used to address the central research question, "What interpersonal characteristics and work- and home-based contextual factors are associated with relationship quality for law enforcement officers and their romantic partners?" Specific efforts were made to account for the gaps left by existing literature on the romantic relationships of law enforcement officers. Participants were recruited from four Midwestern communities of similar size and demographic composition in the winter of 2018-2019. One hundred ten …

Factors Influencing Hispanic Soldiers Seeking Treatment For Alcohol Abuse : Secondary Analysis Of The Army Study To Assess Risk And Resilience Of Servicemembers (Starrs), Karina L. Bocanegra

Dissertations

This study examined factors that influenced whether Hispanic soldiers will elect to seek treatment for alcohol abuse. The data for this study were collected using archival data from the Army Study to Assess Risk and Resilience in Servicemembers (STARRS) survey conducted between the years 2011 and 2013. The STARRS dataset consisted over 21,000 surveys but for this study the sample size was specific to Hispanic soldiers wi th alcohol abuse (n= 917). The impact of seven independent variables on the dependent variable of treatment seeking was examined in the final statistical model. The seven independent variables examined were pri mary …

Adjustment Issues Of Saudi Arabian Students And Their Spouses In The U.S., Saleh Saeed Alshihri

Dissertations

A significant proportion of Saudi Arabians seek further studies in western countries, including the United States. The benefits of an international education come with the challenges of relationship stress for Saudi s tudents and their spouses that increase during their stay in the United States. The purpose of this study was to understand the adjustment issues of Saudi Arabian students and their spouses in the U.S. This study u sed a sample of 320 Saudi Arabian students and student spouses, 65 of which could be matched with their spouse, in the U.S. The couples were sampled from different areas in …

The Big Five Inventory, Substance Abuse History, And Academic Success Among Students Majoring In Substance Abuse Counseling, Christi D. Myers

Dissertations

Students pursuing careers in substance abuse counseling may have higher rates of substance abuse histories than the general student body Previous research has shown that substance abuse is negatively correlated with Conscientiousness, yet academic success is positively correlated with Conscientiousness. This may put them at risk for academic difficulties. There is no previous research that has investigated the links betwe en personality traits, substance abuse history, and academic success. This study investigated the correlations between personality, substance abuse history, and academic success with 103 participants from an addict ion counseling program at a community college in South Texas. The Big …

Making Democracy Count: The Seemingly Technical Procedures That Can Make Or Break A Census, Charlotte Schwartz, Jeffrey Zalesin, Rachel Brown

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming

The Remarkable First 50 Women Law Graduates Of St. Mary’S University: Part One, Regina Stone-Harris

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming

Handcuffing The Vote: Diluting Minority Voting Power Through Prison Gerrymandering And Felon Disenfranchisement, Rebecca Harrison Stevens, Meagan Taylor Harding, Joaquin Gonzalez, Emily Eby

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

For the purposes of legislative redistricting, Texas counts prison populations at the address of the prison in which they are incarcerated at the time of the census, rather than their home prior to incarceration—regardless of whether the prisoners themselves maintain a residence in their home communities and intend to return home after incarceration. This deprives those home communities of full representation in the redistricting process. Combined with Texas’s felon disenfranchisement laws, this also results in arbitrarily bolstering the representational power of some Texans on the backs of other Texans who themselves are unable to vote. All of this takes place …

Challenging Voting Rights And Political Participation In State Courts, Irving Joyner

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming

Texas, The Death Penalty, And Intellectual Disability, Megan Green

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming

Population Law And Policy: From Control And Contraception To Equity And Equality, Victoria Mather

St. Mary's Law Journal

Abstract forthcoming

The Fiduciary Obligations Of Public Officials, Vincent R. Johnson

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

At various levels of government, the conduct of public officials is often regulated by ethical standards laid down by legislative enactments, such as federal or state statutes or municipal ordinances. These rules of government ethics are important landmarks in the field of law that defines the legal and ethical obligations of public officials. Such provisions can form the basis for the kinds of government ethics training that helps to minimize wrongful conduct by public servants and reduces the risk that the performance of official duties will be clouded by appearances of impropriety. Codified government ethics rules also frequently provide mechanisms …

Municipal Annexation Reform In Texas: How A Victory For Property Rights Jeopardizes The State’S Financial Health, Julie Polansky Bell

St. Mary's Law Journal

Municipal annexation is the expansion of city boundaries. The greatest motivator behind municipal annexation is maintaining and improving economic prosperity of the annexing authority. The issue of annexation involves a balance of rights between property owners and municipalities of the state. Historically, Texas cities had broad annexation authority under an involuntary annexation scheme. However, in recent years the power has shifted as lawmakers have given property owners greater control over the annexation process. This trend culminated in the passage of the Municipal Annexation Right to Vote Act (MARVA) by the 85th Texas Legislature, which severely limits annexation authority.

Texas municipalities …

An Examination Of Death Anxiety, Psychological Depression, And Adult Attachment Patterns Among Saudi Students In The Usa, Siham Ahmed Alswayel

Dissertations

This study was designed to investigate the relationships between death anxiety, psochological depression, and adult attachment patterns within Saudi students in U.S. universities. The sample of 684 participants was obtained via the Saudi Arabian Cultural Mission (SACM) in the United States. Death anxiety was measured by the ASDA survey, psychological depression was measured by the CESD-R survey, and adult attachment patterns were measured by the RQ survey. All data were self-reported via an online form. There was a significant relationship between death anxiety and adult attachment patterns. Death anxiety and psychological depression were positively correlated. Among the entire sample, adult …

Gold & Blue, Summer 2019, St. Mary's University- San Antonio, Texas

Gold & Blue

No abstract provided.

Reforming Recidivism: Making Prison Practical Through Help, Katelyn Copperud

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

While Texas has long been recognized as “Tough Texas” when it comes to crime, recent efforts have been made to combat that reputation. Efforts such as offering “good time” credit and more liberal parole standards are used to reduce the Texas prison populations. Although effective in reducing prison populations, do these incentives truly reduce a larger issue of prison overpopulation: recidivism?

In both state and federal prison systems, inmate education is proven to reduce recidivism. Texas’s own, Windham School District, provides a broad spectrum of education to Texas Department of Criminal Justice inmates; from General Education Development (GED) classes to …

Skinning The Cat: How Mandatory Psychiatric Evaluations For Animal Cruelty Offenders Can Prevent Future Violence, Ashley Kunz

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

In 2017, the Texas legislature amended Texas Penal Code § 42.092, which governs acts of cruelty against non-livestock animals. The statute in its current form makes torturing, killing, or seriously injuring a non-livestock animal a third degree felony, while less serious offenses carry either a state jail felony or a Class A misdemeanor charge.

While a step in the right direction, Texas law is not comprehensive in that it fails to address a significant aspect of animal cruelty offenses: mental illness. For over fifteen years, Texas Family Code § 54.0407 has required psychiatric counseling for juveniles convicted of cruelty to …

'Race, Racism, And American Law': A Seminar From The Indigenous, Black, And Immigrant Legal Perspectives, Eduardo R.C. Capulong, Andrew King-Ries, Monte Mills

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Flagrant racism has characterized the Trump era from the onset. Beginning with the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump has inflamed long-festering racial wounds and unleashed White supremacist reaction to the nation’s first Black President, in the process destabilizing our sense of the nation’s racial progress and upending core principles of legality, equality, and justice. As law professors, we sought to rise to these challenges and prepare the next generation of lawyers to succeed in a different and more polarized future. Our shared commitment resulted in a new course, “Race, Racism, and American Law,” in which we sought to explore the roots …

Texas Indian Holocaust And Survival: Mcallen Grace Brethren Church V. Salazar, Milo Colton

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

When the first Europeans entered the land that would one day be called Texas, they found a place that contained more Indian tribes than any other would-be American state at the time. At the turn of the twentieth century, the federal government documented that American Indians in Texas were nearly extinct, decreasing in number from 708 people in 1890 to 470 in 1900. A century later, the U.S. census recorded an explosion in the American Indian population living in Texas at 215,599 people. By 2010, that population jumped to 315,264 people.

Part One of this Article chronicles the forces contributing …

Don't Delete That Tweet: Federal And Presidential Records In The Age Of Social Media, Gabriel M. A. Elorreaga

St. Mary's Law Journal

Statutes governing preservation of presidential records must be adapted to accommodate presidents’ evolving use of social media accounts. The Freedom of Information Act is meant to promote government transparency, and subjects governmental agencies to information requests from members of the public. However, as it relates to social media records, the problem is one of volume; are the means of preservation currently in place able to adequately address the vast amount of records created by a President’s use of social media? This Comment argues that they are not, although they do provide a useful basis for how to adapt record preservation …

Gold & Blue, Spring 2019, St. Mary's University- San Antonio, Texas

Gold & Blue

No abstract provided.

Gold & Blue, Fall/Winter 2019, St. Mary's University- San Antonio, Texas

Gold & Blue

No abstract provided.