Digital Commons Network^™

Social Work And Artificial Intelligence: Into The Matrix, Lauri Goldkind

Social Service Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Workshop Outcomes Report: 1st International Workshop On Seismic Resilience Of Arctic Infrastructure And Social Systems, Majid Ghayoomi, Katharine Duderstadt, Alexander Kholodov, Alexander Shiklomanov, Matthew Turner, Elham Ajorlou

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Modern Black Codes: Presidential Crime Control Rhetoric And Black Criminalization, Earnest Ujaama

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The rate of Black imprisonment in the United States is nearly 6 times that of Whites. Wholesale criminalization of Black Americans denote institutional racism within America’s criminal justice system. Limited research is available examining crime control rhetoric of U.S. presidents to determine if Blacks are constructed as criminals through carefully coded crime control discourse. The purpose of this qualitative, case study was to investigate whether presidents used language that construct Black criminality. A social construction theoretical framework and critical discourse analysis was applied. The data used for this study included scripted speeches. The collection of data began with 54 speeches …

Bio-Spatial Policing In Theory And Practice: Examining Impacts And Resistance Through Mobilities And Children's Everyday Life, Emily Kaufman

Theses and Dissertations--Geography

Despite decades of reforms and technological innovations, increasing evidence shows that state securitization disproportionately harms already racially, spatially, and socio-economically marginalized communities. My research investigates uneven impacts of state securitization, from punitive welfare programs to school surveillance to policing. Across sites, I focus on scales, voices and the everyday lived experiences often left out of scholarly discourse and sensational media. In the current climate of growing awareness and scholarship on police violence, my dissertation addresses three less-studied areas: 1) the interplay between racial, gendered, spatial, and technified police practices; 2) how these practices impact the everyday lives of those racially …

Supporting Shrinkage: Planning And Decision Making For Legacy Cities, Michael P. Johnson Jr., Justin Hollander, Eliza Whiteman Kinsey, George Chichirau, Charla Burnett

Public Policy and Public Affairs Faculty Publication Series

Supporting Shrinkage describes a new approach to citizen-engaged, community-focused planning methods and technologies for cities and regions facing decline, disinvestment, shrinkage, and social and physical distress. The volume evaluates the benefits and costs of a wide range of analytic approaches for designing policy and planning interventions for shrinking cities and distressed communities. These include collaborative planning, social media, civic technology, game design, analytics, decision modeling and decision support, and spatial analysis. The authors present case studies of three US cities addressing shrinkage and decline, with a focus on issues of social justice, democratization of knowledge, and local empowerment. Proposed as …

The City's Second Amendment, David Fagundes, Darrell A.H. Miller

Faculty Articles

Cities are increasingly common sites of contestation over the scope and meaning of the Second Amendment. Some municipalities have announced their opposition to firearm restrictions by declaring themselves Second Amendment sanctuaries. Others have sought to curtail gun violence by passing restrictive local regulations. Still others have responded to police violence by moving to demilitarize, disarm, or even disband their police forces. The burgeoning post-Heller legal literature, though, has largely overlooked the relationship between cities, collective arms bearing, and the Second Amendment. In sum, to what extent do cities themselves have a right to keep and bear arms? This Article …

Making Deflection The New Diversion For Drug Offenders, Kay L. Levine, Joshua C. Hinkle, Elizabeth Griffiths

Faculty Articles

The argument unfolds as follows. In Part I, we describe the origins and operation of deflection programs that currently exist in the United States and present the published empirical evidence about their effect on recidivism rates, as well as police and user population responses to them. We specifically discuss the LEAD template from Seattle, in addition to other models in Massachusetts and Texas. In Part II, we take a closer look at how conventional policing differs from the pre-arrest diversion program that was recently instituted in Atlanta. Using data from an original dataset of all 2012 felony drug arrests in …

Local Fiscal Adjustments From Depopulation: Evidence From The Post–Cold War Defense Contraction, Timothy M. Komarek, Gary A. Wagner

Economics Faculty Publications

In this paper, we estimate the long-term causal effect of population losses on local government revenue, expenditure, and debt by exploiting a quasi-exogenous change that reduced the number of US military personnel by about 40 percent between the late 1980s and 2000. Aggregating across governmental units within commuting zones, we find that real per capita total revenues and expenditures remained unchanged for remaining citizens. At the same time, however, we note several important compositional effects. First, local governments appear to have offset reductions in state intergovernmental aid by increasing property tax revenues. Second, they significantly shifted the composition of expenditures …

Intelligence Readiness And Operational Capability Of The National Guard Within The U.S., Jose Felipe Perez

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

The National Guard has a highly specialized and operable intelligence force that can be useful to the communities it serves, and how that intelligence can be best used has been the focus of scholars in recent years. Researchers have demonstrated, however, that such integration of intelligence is a daunting task due to many barriers and misconceptions. Researchers have as yet been unable to establish how this might best be accomplished and those barriers diminished. The purpose of this qualitative case study was to define the National Guard’s potential roles and examine their possible integration into the domestic Intelligence Community. Theories …

Exploring The Employability Of Ex-Offenders: Employer Perspectives, Carolyn Diane Smith

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Due to an increase in the number of convictions for minor crimes in Tennessee, a larger number of people are reentering society with the ex-offender label; there is a general lack of awareness among employers regarding their role in enhancing employability of ex-offenders with minor offenses, which limits employment opportunities for this population. Three main theories that explain the integration of ex-offenders into society underpinned this study: avoidance theory, social control theory, and labelling theory. The purpose of this general qualitative study was to explore the perceptions and practices of 10 human resource managers of middle-to-large companies in Tennessee related …

The Impact Of Personal Income Tax On State Government Revenues, Christianah Odubena

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

There are competing theories on the impact of tax policy on the economy. Many policymakers believe that cutting income taxes stimulates the economy, while others believe that tax cuts adversely affect the economy. Income taxes face the most opposition from governors and legislators, despite generating huge amounts of revenue. However, whether policymakers decide on cutting or raising personal income taxes, this can significantly affect state government revenues—either negatively or positively, most especially states whose primary source of revenue is personal income tax. Recently, Tennessee and Kentucky passed major tax reforms in 2017 and 2018 respectively, with broadly different policy goals. …

A Gender And Race Theoretical And Probabilistic Analysis Of The Recent Title Ix Policy Changes, Jordan Wellington

Scripps Senior Theses

On May 6th, 2020, after extensive public comment and review, the Department of Education published the final rule for the new Title IX regulations, which took effect in schools on August 14th. Title IX is the nearly fifty year old piece of the Education Amendments that prohibits sexual discrimination in federally funded schools. Several of these changes, such as the inclusion of live hearings and cross examination of witnesses, have been widely criticized by victims’ rights advocates for potentially retraumatizing victims of sexual assault and discouraging students from pursuing a Title IX claim. While the impact of the new regulations …

From The Legal Literature: Covid And The Criminal Law, Francesca Laguardia

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

No abstract provided.

Parents’ Perceptions On The Impact That Sros Have On School Safety, John Mayfield

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

School Resource Officers (SROs) are an essential element in school safety and an even more critical component in the field of community-orientated policing. While numerous research studies have examined SROs from many different lenses, none have examined the impact that SROs have on school safety through a parents' lens. The purpose of this quantitative nonexperimental study was to examine parents’ perceptions on the impact that SROs have on school safety through an online survey accessible to parents through SurveyMonkey. The research question's goal was to answer two fundamental questions, to examine the degree that parents support the presence of SROs …

The Role Of Organizational Socialization On The Ethical Orientation Of Male Police Officers, Megan Marie Bessey

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A gap in literature exists surrounding years of service, training, and ethical attitudes within the law enforcement industry. The proposed hypothesis was that years of service in law enforcement and hours of in-service training were interactively related to an officer's ethical attitudes as related to ethical orientation. The purpose of this study was to examine organizational socialization within the law enforcement profession, specifically as demonstrated through the interaction effects of factors relating to ethical orientation and scores measured by the Ethics Position Questionnaire of male Northern Kentucky and Southern Oregon police officers. The major theoretical propositions for this study came …

California’S Prisoner Rehabilitation Effort: Ex-Lifers’ Perceptions On Achieving Sustainable Social Reintegration, Kimberly L. Martin

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Prisoners sentenced to a life term in California’s state prisons are being found suitable for parole at record-high rates. Although macro-level policy guides California’s prisoner rehabilitation process, a specific policy does not exist to guide the rehabilitation of the lifer population. Research shows a compelling relationship between public safety resulting from reduced recidivism and an inmate’s participation in rehabilitative programming during incarceration. There is a gap in the literature about ex-lifers and their ability to achieve sustainable social reintegration upon release from incarceration. Ostrom’s institutional analysis and development framework guided this study’s examination of the gap in literature and the …

Deterrence And Response Improvements For A Large-Scale Cyberterrorism Attack, Harrison Cunningham

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

A successful large-scale cyberterrorism attack has never been conducted against the United States, yet cyberterrorism is a real and evolving threat. The United States assumes a largely defensive posture toward the thousands of daily cyberattacks conducted against the country, allowing cyberterrorists to probe and execute cyberattacks with broad impunity. The United States would most likely respond to a successful large-scale cyberterrorism attack within a framework of regulations concerning physical acts of terrorism since no policy exists on how to respond to major cyberterrorism attacks. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the perceptions of U.S. terrorism and cybersecurity …

Group Level Cues And The Use Of Force In Domestic And Foreign Policy Contexts, Zlatin Mitkov

Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2020-2023

To what extent do elite and social group cues affect the public's willingness to embrace their leader's actions during domestic and international security crises? Studies traditionally have focused on top-down elite cue-driven models to study how the public's attitudes are influenced during international and domestic security crises, largely disregarding the bottom-up effects social peer groups can have on individuals' attitudes. This is problematic as the public is regularly exposed to cue messages from elites and social peer groups, both of which are expected to help determine how successful leaders will be in mobilizing public support on a tactical level. To …

“Insurance Doesn’T Care About The Patient”: An Institutional Ethnography Of The Influence Of Professional Autonomy On The Provision Care For Medicaid Dental Patients With Disabilities, Stephanie Lau

Theses and Dissertations

In terms of unmet needs for people with disabilities (PWD), dental care is number three behind residential care and employment (Fisher, 2012). Regardless of disability, oral healthcare traverses all disability diagnoses and can be a significant factor in quality of life (Deckler, 2011; Griffin et al., 2007; Norwood & Slayton, 2013). When attempting to secure oral healthcare, people with disabilities face many challenges, including lack of access, lack of provider education on proper care of PWD, and difficulty finding a willing dental provider (Deckler, 2011; Fisher, 2012; Kennedy, 2009).

The purpose of this study was to investigate professional practices and …

Narratives In Sex Offender Management Laws: How Stories About A Label Shape Policymaking, Mauricio P. Yabar

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Serious scholarly inquiry regarding the role of social constructions and narratives in sex offender management laws is relatively a new undertaking. In the last two decades, a myriad of studies exploring the negative effects of Sex Offender Registration and Notification (SORN) policies were added to the literature, a trend that appears to be slowing down today. The purpose of this paper is to recommend the integration of the narrative policy framework (NPF) with Schneider and Ingram’s (1993) theory of social construction of target populations in the analysis of SORN policies. The author provides a critical review of SORN policies while …

Black Citizens Experiences And Interactions With Police In Coffee County, Brittany Nicole Palmer

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Media attention directed towards the relationship between law enforcement officers and communities of color has increased in recent years, specifically regarding the treatment of African Americans. In some cases, contact between police and African Americans had resulted in excessive and unjustified use of force. These types of occurrences have resulted in a divide between African Americans and police officers. The purpose of this phenomenological research study was to understand African Americans’ experiences and interactions with police in communities with less-than-optimal working relations in Coffee County, Georgia. The theoretical framework for this study is the normative sponsorship theory. Data were collected …

Reentry Services For Individuals Wrongfully Convicted And Exonerated, Karlene Patsy Blackman

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Despite research summarizing the causes of wrongful convictions, there are limited works on factors influencing exonerees’ reintegration into society. Although reentry services are provided to ex-offenders, the problem is that reentry services are not provided to individuals who are wrongfully convicted and exonerated. This study used state harm as a theoretical foundation. The general qualitative study determined if support or reentry services, if any, would have enhanced or increased the chances of a successful transition into society for individuals wrongfully convicted and exonerated. Specifically, it was an investigation of how a lack of reentry services associated with life, employment, shelter, …

Canadian Policymaker Experiences On Reducing Syndemic Stigma For Hiv And Substance Use Disorder, Nickolas James Cherwinski

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

People living with HIV (PLWH) and substance use disorder (SUD) experience highly stigmatized lives fraught by influences such as criminal law and stigmatizing public policies. Despite free access to antiretroviral therapy (ART) and mental health services for all Canadian citizens, suboptimal adherence to ART and administratively cumbersome mental health interventions still exist. Many researchers have found the health services for both HIV and SUD to be dynamic, costly, and difficult to maintain; as such, the purpose of this study was to explore the knowledge gap related to the policy implications of syndemic stigma experienced by PLWH and SUD in Canada. …

Transnational Threats To Maritime Systems And Seaport Security, Eric L. Hampton

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

An assessment of a 16-year period since the 9/11 attacks indicated that more than 14,000 security breaches in which security measures at seaports were circumvented due to vulnerabilities occurred and more than 24,000 suspicious activity reports were made. The susceptibility of United States’ seaports to groups engaged in criminal activities, including drug trafficking, cargo theft, and smuggling of contraband and people undermines security practices and renders the nation vulnerable to acts of terrorism. The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore seaport security measures to identify and understand internal and external factors that may impact protection practices at U.S. …

Delinquent Behavior And Recidivism Among Juveniles In The Southeastern United States, Anthony Bernard Essix Jr.

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the United States, juvenile delinquent behavior has continued to rise despite attempts by the legal system and policymakers. Much of the research contributing to the understanding of juvenile delinquency and recidivism has been focused on risk factors believed to push an individual to show signs of delinquency. Limited research has been conducted to explain how policies affect juvenile behaviors. The current study examined risk factors that contribute to juvenile delinquency to determine if a factor may have been overlooked in prior juvenile studies. Based on anomie and strain theory, a qualitative method of general inquiry was used to gain …

Corruption In Togo's Land Registration And Its Impact On Real Estate Development, Gbati Kakaye

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Abstract:Researchers have asserted that following malaria and AIDS, land-related conflict, exacerbated by rampant real estate corruption, is the third-largest problem and leading cause of death in Togo. The current study provided a means of gaining better understanding of the impact of corruption on real estate development in Togo by addressing the following research questions: How is corruption manifested in Togo’s land registration process and how has corruption in land registration process impacted real estate development? Theoretically, the study was underpinned by the cultural and neo-institutional economics framework. Data were collected through individual interviews and a focus group discussion with 15 …

Exploring Citizen Security In The Nigeria Federated State: Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Agency In Perspective, Adesoji Olaitan Ogunsanya

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

AbstractThe research problem of this study was centered on the state of insecurity in Lagos State and the intervention of the Lagos State Neighbourhood Safety Agency. Evidence from previous studies supported the use of community policing, police reform, training of security personnel, and collaboration amongst security agencies as measures to address issues of insecurity in Lagos State. The purpose of this qualitative research was to examine the impact of the Lagos Neighbourhood Safety Agency on the security challenges of the state and generate additional discourse. Institutional theory was used as the theoretical foundation for this research with a purposive sampling …

Exploring Probation Clients’ Perception Of The Officer-Client Relationship, Robert Lee Ausby

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Community supervision, commonly referred to as probation, is an alternative to jail and prison sentences which allow offenders to serve court-imposed sanctions in the community. The present study stemmed from Klockars’s theory of probation supervision which contains two concepts, (a) the organizational structure of probation, which has been studied repeatedly, and (b) the exchange strategy between the officer and client. The second concept has not been adequately explored. Previous literature has explored the perception that probation officers have of their clients. However, no study has explored the perception that clients have of their probation officers. The purpose of this study …

Emergency Managers' Perspectives On Social Media Use For Situational Awareness During Disasters, Teresa Anne Scott Hoggard

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Emergency managers are responsible for protecting lives, property, and the environment. Decisions are made based on the availability of information provided to emergency managers from the disaster site. Communication between first responders and emergency managers is crucial for obtaining situational awareness for decision-making purposes during disasters. The purpose of this qualitative explanatory case study was to understand the perspectives of emergency managers regarding the use of social media in obtaining situational awareness and providing disaster-specific information necessary for emergency managers to make informed decisions during disasters. The theoretical framework for this study was based on Endsley’s situational awareness model and …

Young Adults’ Community Trust And Participation In A Community Service Center In Indonesia, Adhytiawarman Gautama Putra

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

In the field of national security, Indonesia has community service centers known as the community police communication forum, or FKPM, an informal institution formed by community members to assist the police in implementing community policing (CP). FKPM can be found in various regions of Indonesia. The purpose of this study was to obtain the opinions of young adult members about FKPM regarding their trust and participation in FKPM activities. Fifteen active FKPM members participated in telephone interviews. The results showed that the young adults in this study believed in FKPM but lacked information about FKPM programs and activities in their …