Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Freedom Isn’T Free: Why Washington State Needs To Move Beyond A Cash Bail System, Andre Jimenez

Global Honors Theses

Despite the belief that our justice system holds people “innocent until proven guilty,” for those who are unable to pay for their freedom from pretrial detention, they find the opposite to be true. The cash bail system in this country allows people to pay a court-determined fee to be released from jail after arrest while they wait for their trial. But as this paper demonstrates, the cash bail system as it currently stands in Washington State criminalizes poverty and simultaneously exacerbates racial inequities. Under this system, accused individuals who cannot afford bail, as well as their families, face extreme social …

The Normalization Of The Exception: The Nexus Of Emergency Powers And Criminal Justice In Colonial And Postcolonial Jamaica, Jermaine Ar Young

FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Since the antiquity, the study of emergency powers has tended to revolve around the dichotomy between norm and exception, suggesting that governments follow established rules of law in ordinary circumstances and resort to extraordinary measures only in times of genuine emergency. My dissertation challenges this dichotomy by analyzing Jamaica’s colonial and post-colonial experiences with emergency powers in order to provide a different story about the norm-exception binary. In fact, Jamaica’s case shows there are no neat partitions between both spheres. Instead, what we see unfolding is the technical application of emergency provisions as legality, rule by law, rooted in continual …

Utilizing Organizational Theory To Improve Education Opportunities In Correctional Facilities, Kelly Sullenberger

The Scholarship Without Borders Journal

With 2.3 million people incarcerated, the United States is one of the most highly concentrated prison systems in the world (Sawyer & Wagner, 2020). In order to be in a position to improve that, the system of incarceration needs to genuinely care and invest in the lives of the inmates living in these facilities. The opportunity to receive an education is one way that allows for true rehabilitation and often can give an inmate a greater sense of purpose. This paper examines current programs in California that allow inmates to work towards and/or receive a bachelor’s degree while serving their …

Rigsby Chosen To Lead Ouachita's New Criminal Justice Degree Program, Felley Lawson, Ouachita News Bureau

Press Releases

Dr. Malcolm L. Rigsby has been named professor of criminology and criminal justice and coordinator of the criminal justice program at Ouachita Baptist University. He brings more than 20 years’ teaching and research experience in higher education to the post, as well as a background in banking, private law practice and private-owned business.

The Risk Of Adolescent Victimization: Assessing Elements Of The Social Bond Theory, Jaime Antonio Negrete

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Travis Hirschi’s social bond theory holds that the social bonds (attachment, commitment, involvement, and belief) individuals have with parents, friends, extracurricular activities, work, and school can affect an individual’s life choices. When social bonds are weakened, broken, or nonexistent, the lack of these bonds can explain why crime and delinquency occur. Therefore, Hirschi believed that asking why offenders “do it” when it comes to crime is irrelevant. Rather, we should be asking “why don’t we do it” when it comes to crime and delinquency, which lead Hirschi to believe that the answer to that question could be answered by the …

The American Prosecutor And The Carceral State: An Analysis To Address Prosecutorial Power And Discretion In An Effort To Reduce Overincarceration In The United States, Olivia Jordan

Honors Theses

There is perhaps no other actor within our legal system that shares more power and control over the carceral state than the American prosecutor. This thesis examines the powers of the prosecutor at every stage of criminal procedure, how these powers contribute to the carceral state, and how prioritizing prosecutorial policy reform can effectively reduce persistent mass incarceration in the United States. This thesis uses three criteria- effectiveness at reducing overincarceration, feasibility of implementation, and ethical impact- to critically evaluate several proposals for addressing prosecutorial power and discretion. Ultimately, the thesis recommends a combination of three proposals for a more …

Justice Involvement During Covid-19 And The Possibility Of Transitional Justice, Rachel A. Ponder

Doctoral Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic introduced numerous unprecedented political, social, and economic challenges that resulted in unprecedented responses by policy makers. As result, existing inequalities and injustices rooted in a dense history of structural and institutional violence were uncovered and exacerbated. As of June 2021, at least 398,627 people in prison tested positive for COVID-19 and at least 2,715 had died (The Marshall Project 2021). In the United States, the inmate population is disproportionately made up of poor, people of color. This is a pattern that is rooted in the country’s long history of racism and white supremacy. This cycle continues as …

The 1994 Federal Crime Bill: An Evaluation Of The Past, Present, And Future Of Its Impact On The Criminal Justice System, Jade R. Philpot

Honors College Theses

The 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act was signed into law in response to the crack cocaine and crime epidemic of the 1980s. In this thesis I address the major elements of this bill, the racial, financial, and ethical conflicts that arose thereafter, and the reforms that should be implemented today to correct said conflicts.

Racialized Mass Incarceration In The United States: Exposing The Facade Of “Liberty And Justice For All”, Emily Wingfield

The Compass

No abstract provided.

Reformation Within The Nation: Adapting The Nordic Rehabilitation And Reintegration Model To Positively Recondition The United States Criminal Justice System, Jessica Cornell

Helm's School of Government Conference - American Revival: Citizenship & Virtue

An analytical and statistical based comparison of criminal sentencing, incarceration, rehabilitation and reintegration in the United States of America to those of the five countries which follows those of the Nordic Criminal Justice System.

Examining Legal Financial Obligations In Washington State, Bryan Lewis

PPPA Paper Prize

After criminal offenders are convicted of a crime, they must return to the court where a judge will determine their sentence. Sentencing often includes jail time, but it always includes monetary penalties, or Legal Financial Obligations (LFOs). There are many reasons these penalties are given, from restitution for the victims of criminal offenses, to providing government revenue and funding the court, to punishment for the offender. However, these fines, and the interest rates that come with them, often leave offenders with an enormous amount of debt. There are a lot of interests at stake when it comes to LFO sentencing …

How Do Arts Programs Facilitate Emotion Regulation In The Prison Setting?, Dana Parker

Senior Theses and Projects

Reentry and prison arts programs provide an opportunity for rehabilitation that facilitates healthier emotion regulation (ER), relationship building, and self-esteem. To measure the effects of arts-based interventions on ER, formerly incarcerated people completed a questionnaire that included three different measures: the Cognitive Emotion Regulation Questionnaire Short-Form (CERQ-Short), the Emotion Regulation Strategies for Artistic Creative Activities (ERS-ACA), and the Self-expression and Emotion Regulation in Art Therapy Scale (SERATS). Results showed that there were significant differences between males and females on their scores on ER subscales, where women more often than men employed positive ER strategies. In support of my hypotheses, higher …

Introduction To Corrections Ccj 290, Karen Morse

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Introduction To The Courts And Criminal Procedure Ccj 285, Karen Morse

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Interrogating Criminal Justice Reform Ccj 381, Karen Morse

Library Impact Statements

No abstract provided.

Ohio's Pathway From College To Law Enforcement Opens With 11 Students, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

The state of Ohio is piloting a new criminal justice program unlike anything the United States has ever seen, and Cedarville University is at the core of this historic development.

Andragogy: The Common Thread In The Teaching Of Adults In Colleges Of Education, Criminal Justice, And Health Management, Grant J. Shostak, Larry Acker, Vanessa Vandergraaf

Faculty Scholarship

The Covid-19 pandemic has brought dramatic changes to higher education. Students and educators face challenges never anticipated, including switching classes from on-ground to online and back again, mental fatigue, stress, and burnout. Faculty across disciplines may turn to Andragogy to best teach college students to inform their teaching practices. This paper demonstrates how professors from education, criminal justice, and healthcare management have used andragogical techniques in their classrooms.

Investigating A Higher Purpose: Former New York State Trooper Equipping Students, Mark D. Weinstein

News Releases

In a broken world, to act justly and constantly do what is right is a challenging endeavor. For Steve Meacham, associate professor of criminal justice at Cedarville University, in spite of the ongoing challenge, he strives to live according to this biblical principle.

Schoolhouse Rap, Andrea L. Dennis

Scholarly Works

Rap on Trial, the treatment of rap music as evidence in the American criminal legal process, is well-documented and increasingly scrutinised. Research has shown that – with little restraint – police, prosecutors, probation officers and judges use rap lyrics to investigate, prosecute and punish individuals. Less noticed is that a similar phenomenon is occurring in the American K–12 educational system, which disciplines school-age youth who participate in rap culture and sometimes refers them to the juvenile or criminal legal systems for additional punishment. This article describes and analyses a small set of identified cases of this scenario, demonstrating that rap …

Authenticity, Care, And Relationships: Ethical Decision-Making In Criminal Justice Education, Robert B. Lehmann

Theses and Dissertations

Many events in recent history have demonstrated the need for addressing the training of law enforcement and other public servants commonly referred to as criminal justice professionals in the United States. Reckoning with the imperfect history of the criminal justice system, specifically the history of problematic relations with marginalized people, and developing a system that is better equipped to meet the needs of an equitable and just society is at the forefront of many discussions of criminal justice reform. Improving ethical decision-making training in criminal justice education is one avenue to addressing these needs for current and future professionals. Conceptually, …

Perception Of Racial Minorities And Police Officers Involving Use Of Force, Linda L. Hester

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Although police training, codes of ethics, and use of force policies are in place at police departments, the problem is there is a lack of standardization involving use of force by police officers, which is triggering community concerns between police officers and racial minorities. The present study built on the work of Riter by exploring perceptions and lived experiences of racial minorities involving police officers’ use of force based on fear, trust, and confidence. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore whether lived experiences of racial minority citizens differ from police officers regarding use of force in a …

The Racial And Partisan Underpinnings Of Attitudes Toward Police In A Time Of Protest, Andrew Thompson

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Racial and ethnic differences in policing attitudes have generally been examined through the group position or other conflict perspectives. This perspective contains a limitation, especially when considering recent trends in racial and policing attitudes. Racial attitudes have been liberalizing for over a decade among White political liberals and moderates, while Republicans’ racial attitudes have been relatively stagnant. These divergent trends may have accelerated since the murder of George Floyd. While racial attitudes (including attitudes about the police) have been polarizing along political lines, the group position model suggests that racial attitudes and policy preferences among dominant group members, regardless of …

A Call To Dismantle Systemic Racism In Criminal Legal Systems, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Margaret C. Stevenson

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Objectives: In October 2021, APA passed a resolution addressing ways psychologists could work to dismantle systemic racism in criminal legal systems. The present report, developed to inform APA’s policy resolution, details the scope of the problem and offers recommendations for policy and psychologists to address the issue by advancing related science and practice. Specifically, it acknowledges the roots of modern-day racial and ethnic disparities in rates of criminalization and punishment for people of color as compared to White people. Next, the report reviews existing theory and research that helps explain the underlying psychological mechanisms driving racial and ethnic disparities …

From Negative To Positive Algorithm Rights, Cary Coglianese, Kat Hefter

All Faculty Scholarship

Artificial intelligence, or “AI,” is raising alarm bells. Advocates and scholars propose policies to constrain or even prohibit certain AI uses by governmental entities. These efforts to establish a negative right to be free from AI stem from an understandable motivation to protect the public from arbitrary, biased, or unjust applications of algorithms. This movement to enshrine protective rights follows a familiar pattern of suspicion that has accompanied the introduction of other technologies into governmental processes. Sometimes this initial suspicion of a new technology later transforms into widespread acceptance and even a demand for its use. In this paper, we …

The Understanding Of Digital And Multimedia Evidence (Dme) By Attorneys And Digital Forensic Examiners (Dfe) Within The United States Criminal Justice System, Joseph Levi White

Dissertations

One goal of this research was to determine potential themes that may influence the understanding of Digital and Multimedia Evidence (DME) by attorneys and Digital Forensic Examiners (DFE) within the United States Criminal Justice System. Qualitative semi-structured interviews were conducted to gather information from experienced criminal attorneys and DFEs regarding potential influences on their understanding of DME. The results of these interviews were transcribed, and the data coded to allow for qualitative analysis. Five themes were developed from this data and are thought to play a role in understanding of DME by attorneys and DFEs: motivation for involvement in the …

Ouachita To Add Undergraduate Degree Program In Criminal Justice, Felley Lawson, Ouachita News Bureau

Press Releases

Ouachita Baptist University has established a residential undergraduate degree program in criminal justice, to be offered beginning in Fall 2022.

The innovative program is distinctive among criminal justice degree programs in Arkansas and is designed to equip graduates for careers in the criminal justice system at every level. Housed in Ouachita’s Department of Sociology, the Bachelor of Arts degree track will offer a multidimensional approach that includes classes exploring the intersection of criminal justice, sociology, political science and psychology. It will add 30 new credit hours – or new 10 courses – to Ouachita’s catalog as part of the 120 …

Program Review: Criminal Justice Department, Timbre Wulf, Julie Campbell, Jessica Peterson, Kyle Harshbarger

Academic Program Reviews

No abstract provided.

An Analysis Of Effects Of Vicarious Trauma Among Attorneys: A Descriptive Qualitative Approach To Develop Training Programs Focused On Reducing Vicarious Trauma Among Attorneys, Kyla Eileen Gray

Masters Theses

Vicarious trauma refers to exposure to another person's traumatic experience. Professionals working within the criminal justice system, policing, courts, or mental health are regularly exposed to traumatic events. The idea or expectation that a person can be exposed to this every day and not be affected is unrealistic. A new approach to mitigating and preventing exposure to adverse impacts of vicarious trauma is vital to these employees' mental health. This article focuses on attorneys who work with vulnerable populations and how vicarious trauma affects their everyday professional and personal lives. This paper will discuss the Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs), what …

Proportionality, Constraint, And Culpability, Mitchell N. Berman

All Faculty Scholarship

Philosophers of criminal punishment widely agree that criminal punishment should be “proportional” to the “seriousness” of the offense. But this apparent consensus is only superficial, masking significant dissensus below the surface. Proposed proportionality principles differ on several distinct dimensions, including: (1) regarding which offense or offender properties determine offense “seriousness” and thus constitute a proportionality relatum; (2) regarding whether punishment is objectionably disproportionate only when excessively severe, or also when excessively lenient; and (3) regarding whether the principle can deliver absolute (“cardinal”) judgments, or only comparative (“ordinal”) ones. This essay proposes that these differences cannot be successfully adjudicated, and one …

Career Preparedness: Perspectives From C&Cj Alumni At An Scu, Tracey Woodard, Courtney Mcdonald

Teacher-Scholar: The Journal of the State Comprehensive University

State comprehensive universities (SCUs) feature degree programs designed to help graduates achieve their career aspirations. Criminology and Criminal Justice (C&CJ) programs have become popular at SCUs, in part because students are inspired by media portrayals of law enforcement to work in the criminal justice field. Yet little is known about how C&CJ alumni of SCUs perceive their educational experiences. For this exploratory study, an online survey was distributed to alumni of a Southern SCU C&CJ program. Alumni were asked about their perceptions of their own career preparedness following graduation and their satisfaction with the C&CJ program. Overall, alumni were satisfied …