Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Seeking Clemency: A Profile On Jacob Rouse, Jocelyn A. Contreras, Sarah Gabrielli

Capstones

Jacob Rouse was 18 years old when he drove the getaway car that would define the rest of his life. He sat in his blue Ford Taurus, waiting to drive his three friends away from the scene of a robbery in Rochester, New York. Jacob was parked about a block away when one of his accomplices shot and killed 22-year-old Herschel Scriven, a local youth pastor and church organist.

He is now seeking clemency.

Racism And Criminal Justice Book Discussion: December 2020, Central Washington University, Roger Schaefer

Brooks Library Events

Monthy book discusion on racism and criminal justice. The book for this month is Black Bodies, White Gazes: The Continuing Significance of Race in America by George Yancy.

Michigan Sex Offender Registry: Implications And Effects, Heather Damuth

Honors Projects

This paper discusses the Michigan Sex Offender Registry Act (SORA) and the ways that it affects offenders, the public, and society. It also discusses the conveniences and the challenges in relation to the SORA including discussions about public safety, and offender rights. The impacts on offenders, victims, and the general public are also discussed. The research was done through the Grand Valley State University Library, the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and Michigan Legislation. Sources were examined and combined to form an integrative research paper about the sex offender registry in Michigan.

Racism And Criminal Justice Book Discussion: November 2020, Central Washington University, Roger Schaefer

Brooks Library Events

Monthy book discusion on racism and criminal justice. The book for this month is The Truly Disadvantaged: The Inner City, The Underclass, and Public Policy by William Julius Wilson.

Racism And Criminal Justice Book Discussion: October 2020, Central Washington University, Roger Schaefer

Brooks Library Events

Monthy book discusion on racism and criminal justice. The book for this month is American Apartheid by Douglas S. Massey & Nancy A. Denton

Exposure To Urbanized Poverty And Attitude Change: A Longitudinal Case Study On Service-Learning With Rural Undergraduate Criminal Justice Students, April Terry Ph.D., Ashley Lockwood

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Criminal justice departments recognize the value of connecting students to real-world problems through service-learning activities. Yet, challenges exist in exposing students to diverse populations. The current study stepped outside the classroom, involving an extra-curricular group of criminal justice students, in a unique service-learning project. Students from a rurally located university traveled to the most poverty-stricken area in Los Angeles, California, known as Skid Row. Students partnered with The Burrito Project, making and serving 950 burritos to people living on the streets. To assess the impact on exposure to poverty, students completed a pre and post-test utilizing the Undergraduate Perceptions of …

Racism And Criminal Justice Book Discussion: September 2020, Central Washington University, Roger Schaefer

Brooks Library Events

Monthy book discusion on racism and criminal justice. The book for this month is Reading Urban Uprising by R. Gooding-Williams

Pol-7200 - Minorities And The Criminal Justice System, Vanda Seward

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

The Criminal Justice Response To The Opioid Crisis In East Baton Rouge Parish, Elizabeth Winchester, Kristina Little, Timothy T. Reling, Gabriele Richardson, Judith F. Rhodes

Reports

This report describes: 1) the history and current state of the opioid crisis in East Baton Rouge Parish; 2) the current and planned efforts of the Innovative Prosecution Solutions for Combating Violent Crime and Illegal Opioids (IPS) grant to respond to the crisis; and 3) recommendations for criminal justice practitioners regarding the opioid crisis in our community. The goal of the IPS grant is to reduce opioid-related deaths by fostering interagency collaboration to disrupt local opioid supply chains, educate the community about the dangers of opioid abuse and addiction, and provide support for individuals with opioid use disorder.

The rising …

Topics In Criminal Justice Reform Ccj 100, Karen Morse

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Justice For All? An In-Depth Look At Sexual Assault Kit Testing In The Carolinas, Jessalynn C. King

Senior Theses

Within the last few decades, technological advancements and an improved understanding of biological materials have led to an increase in evidence that can be submitted for forensic testing in criminal justice investigations. In a sexual assault investigation, a sexual assault kit (SAK) is often collected and contains the evidence found on the victim’s or suspect’s person. While the true total is unknown, it is estimated that several hundred thousand untested SAKs remain in the custody of law enforcement and forensic crime laboratories across the United States. Whether these SAKs were neglected due to law enforcement bias, the prioritization of other …

Making Freedom Free: A Call For Bail Reform In America’S Broken Criminal Justice System, Jordan L. Sharpe

Undergraduate Theses and Capstone Projects

Studies have shown that in the past fifteen years, the number of people jailed in the United States has sharply increased, thereby continuing the upward trend of incarceration that erupted in the 1980s. Jail populations are steadily increasing; yet, in the past fifteen years, the number of people convicted of crimes has stayed the same. The reason for this phenomenon: individuals are forced to remain in jail not because they are deemed a threat to public safety, but because they cannot afford the cost of bail. This system has drastically deviated from its original purposes and now destroys lives by …

Journalism Vs. Activism: How The Social Impact Of Journalism Has Evolved, Kathryn Serrano

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The aim of this study was to question the objectivity norm that arose in journalism in the 20th century, and analyze what objectivity means today in the context of investigative journalism. This study examined the mission statements and objectives of the investigative nonprofits The Marshall Project and Injustice Watch, which are two publications with specific mission statements that cover the United States criminal justice system. The examination of these nonprofits helps explore a question of where the line is drawn between journalism and activism. The researcher interviewed 25 journalists from mainstream media outlets, the nonprofits discussed above, and other investigative …

The Cycle Of Failing Reform: How Mentally Ill Detainees Continue To Suffer Unconstitutional Wait Times In Colorado, Grace Gonzalez, Michael Campbell

DU Undergraduate Research Journal Archive

This research examines the state of Colorado’s failing criminal justice system, particularly as it pertains to mentally ill detainees. For several years, mentally ill detainees in Colorado have been forced to wait for extensive amounts of time to receive court-ordered evaluations to determine mental competency before trial. The state’s continued failure to administer these evaluations in a timely manner has led to a series of complaints and lawsuits against the state. Unfortunately, these lawsuits have ultimately done little to create lasting reform. The state has managed to temporarily mitigate the problem as complaints of unconstitutional wait times arise, but it …

Debt Bondage: How Private Collection Agencies Keep The Formerly Incarcerated Tethered To The Criminal Justice System, Bryan L. Adamson

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

This Article examines the constitutionality of statutes which allow courts to transfer outstanding legal financial obligations to private debt collection agencies. In Washington State, the clerk of courts can transfer the legal financial obligation of a formerly incarcerated person if he or she is only thirty days late making a payment. Upon transfer, the debt collection agencies can assess a “collection fee” of up to 50% of the first $100.000 of the unpaid legal financial obligation, and up to 35% of the unpaid debt over $100,000. This fee becomes part of the LFO debt imposed at sentencing, and like that …

Supported Families Grow Healthy Children: Branching Out Services To Support Children, Families, And Communities Impacted By Punitive Practices In The Criminal Justice System, Patrick Clark, Janet Meegan, Troy Potter, Holly Schmitt, Jesse Valentin

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

The well-being of Minnesota’s children and families is negatively impacted by punitive practices. Investing in programs that divert parents from the criminal justice system ensures parental accountability while contributing to healthy children, families, and communities.

Equity And Justice For People With Traumatic Brain Injury In Minnesota's Criminal Justice System: Achieving Effectiveness, Efficiency And Equity, Megan Bryant, Donica Doran, Karen Lacroix, Beth Winterfeldt

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI) is a silent epidemic in Minnesota’s correctional system. People with TBI in corrections have significant needs related to their TBI that are not being met. These unmet needs threaten their personal safety and the safety of others in correctional settings and society at large; and threaten their ability to maintain their status as productive members of their communities upon release, negatively affecting the well-being of entire communities.

Recognizing The Need For Mental Health Reform In The Texas Department Of Criminal Justice, Kara Mchorse

St. Mary's Law Journal

The ways in which mental health care and the criminal justice system interact are in desperate need of reform in Texas. The rate of mental illness in Texas is higher than the current state of mental health care can provide for. While state hospitals were once the primary care facilities of those with mental illness, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) has taken on that role in the last few decades; and when the criminal justice system becomes entangled with mental health care, it often leads to “unmitigated disaster.” If Texas continues to allow the TDCJ to act as …

Criminal Justice Bias: Fact Or Fiction, Hiba Mobarak

Quest

Objective Analysis

Research in progress for CRIJ 1301: Introduction to Criminal Justice

Faculty Mentor: Stefanie LeMaire

The following paper represents work produced by a student in an Introduction to Criminal Justice course at Collin College. The paper is an objective analysis of prominent research regarding potential police biases and how officers’ decisions may be influenced by a suspect’s race. The topic of racial bias within policing is quite controversial, as evidenced by the community protests, media coverage, and destruction that has ensued after officer-involved shootings. This assignment asks students to objectively review scholarly research on police bias and constructively criticize …

The United States And The International Criminal Court: Why Undermining The Icc Undercuts U.S. Interests, Jane Stromseth

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Teaching About The Dark Web In Criminal Justice Or Related Programs At The Community College And University Levels., Scott H. Belshaw, Brooke Nodeland, Lorrin Underwood, Alexandrea Colaiuta

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

Increasingly, criminal justice practitioners have been called on to help solve breaches in cyber security. However, while the demand for criminal justice participation in cyber investigations increases daily, most universities are lagging in their educational and training opportunities for students entering the criminal justice fields. This article discusses the need to incorporate courses discussing the Dark Web in criminal justice. A review of existing cyber-criminal justice programs in Texas and nationally suggests that most community colleges and 4-year universities have yet to develop courses/programs in understanding and investigating the Dark Web on the internet. The Dark Web serves as the …

Plea Bargaining, Reconciliation And Access To Justice In Zambia: Exploring The Invisible Link, O’Brien Kaaba, Tony Zhou

Zambia Social Science Journal

This article looks at the criminal justice system in Zambia in relation to efficiency and plea bargaining. Using publicly available data, it demonstrates that the institutions under the criminal justice sector are struggling to cope with heavy caseloads. The majority of cases in this context are disposed of through plea bargaining, thereby avoiding full trial. Only a few proceed to full trial. In this respect, it can be seen that plea bargaining serves two ends: it enables deserving cases to have space for trial and it allows the rest of the cases to be disposed of efficiently, without resort to …

Previously Incarcerated Individuals’ Perceptions Of Decision-Making Leading To Their Solitary Confinement, Rita Pavone

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study explored the issue of communication in prison systems in conjunction with an overextended utilization of isolation confinement methods. Using Sexton’s conceptualization of the penal subjective consciousness model as a guide, the purpose of this phenomenological study was to better understand the experiences of confined offenders related to their experiences regarding the perspectives of prison officials based on a variety of factors including criminal background, social status, and programming needs. Data from semi-structured interviews with 25 participants addressed the process of communication between prison personnel and inmates from the time of incarceration through placement in isolation confinement, and then …

Stepping Into The Shoes Of The Department Of Justice: The Unusual, Necessary, And Hopeful Path The Illinois Attorney General Took To Require Police Reform In Chicago, Lisa Madigan, Cara Hendrickson, Karyn L. Bass Ehler

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

No abstract provided.

Reimagining The Death Penalty: Targeting Christians, Conservatives, Spearit

Articles

This Article is an interdisciplinary response to an entrenched legal and cultural problem. It incorporates legal analysis, religious study and the anthropological notion of “culture work” to consider death penalty abolitionism and prospects for abolishing the death penalty in the United States. The Article argues that abolitionists must reimagine their audiences and repackage their message for broader social consumption, particularly for Christian and conservative audiences. Even though abolitionists are characterized by some as “bleeding heart” liberals, this is not an accurate portrayal of how the death penalty maps across the political spectrum. Abolitionists must learn that conservatives are potential allies …

The Opposite Of Punishment: Imagining A Path To Public Redemption, Paul H. Robinson, Muhammad Sarahne

All Faculty Scholarship

The criminal justice system traditionally performs its public functions – condemning prohibited conduct, shaming and stigmatizing violators, promoting societal norms – through the use of negative examples: convicting and punishing violators. One could imagine, however, that the same public functions could also be performed through the use of positive examples: publicly acknowledging and celebrating offenders who have chosen a path of atonement through confession, apology, making amends, acquiescing in just punishment, and promising future law abidingness. An offender who takes this path arguably deserves official public recognition, an update of all records and databases to record the public redemption, and …

Misdemeanors By The Numbers, Sandra G. Mayson, Megan T. Stevenson

All Faculty Scholarship

Recent scholarship has underlined the importance of criminal misdemeanor law enforcement, including the impact of public-order policing on communities of color, the collateral consequences of misdemeanor arrest or conviction, and the use of misdemeanor prosecution to raise municipal revenue. But despite the fact that misdemeanors represent more than three-quarters of all criminal cases filed annually in the United States, our knowledge of misdemeanor case processing is based mostly on anecdote and extremely localized research. This Article represents the most substantial empirical analysis of misdemeanor case processing to date. Using multiple court-record datasets, covering several million cases across eight diverse jurisdictions, …

“Dialogical Offense:” A Postcolonial Womanist Deconstruction Of The Colonial Experience Of African American Women Through U.S. Institutional Apparatus Known As Criminal Justice Policy, April Michelle Woodson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

The Black female experience in the United States is a colonized existence. This project’s analysis is specific to the North American U.S. geographic space and is not a diasporic project. Black women suffered from the greatest increase in the percentage of inmates incarcerated for drug offenses in the 1980’s and 1990’s which is the period of criminal justice policy formation and implementation on which this project is focused.

This project is uniquely situated in the overlap between womanist ethics and postcolonial feminist imagination and extends scholarship in both discourses by showing that there is an interwoven line between the colonial-to-contemporary …

Political Wine In A Judicial Bottle: Justice Sotomayor's Surprising Concurrence In Aurelius, Christina D. Ponsa-Kraus

Faculty Scholarship

For seventy years, Puerto Ricans have been bitterly divided over how to decolonize the island, a U.S. territory. Many favor Puerto Rico’s admission into statehood. But many others support a different kind of relationship with the United States: they believe that in 1952, Puerto Rico entered into a “compact” with the United States that transformed it from a territory into a “commonwealth,” and they insist that “commonwealth” status made Puerto Rico a separate sovereign in permanent union with the United States. Statehood supporters argue that there is no compact, nor should there be: it is neither constitutionally possible, nor desirable …