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Marsy’S Law In Georgia: Are Domestic Violence Victims Actually Being Protected By The Law?, Victoria Hannes

Honors College Theses

Marsy's Law, or the Victims Bill of Rights legislation, was first passed in California in 2008 and has been adopted by 13 states. In 2019, Georgia was added to the list of states that adopted the policy. While an important step for the victims' rights movement, little is known about how Marsy's Law impacts the landscape of victims’ rights at the local level. Therefore, the current study endeavored to explore how Marsy's Law is shaping the landscape of victims’ rights for domestic violence victims in Coastal Georgia. Guided by the zero-sum conceptualization of victims' rights, the study investigated the law's …

Defund The Police: Snappy Slogan Or A Viable Solution? A Case Study Of Savannah, Georgia, Michayla F. Knox

Honors College Theses

The notion of defunding the police remains a hot-button political topic since the protests of Summer 2020. The forefront of the debate concerns how defunding the police will impact crime rates. Still, the topic has scarcely been investigated empirically. This thesis provides an early examination into the relationship between "defunding the police", reallocating funding, and crime rates in Savannah, Ga. Several experiments are performed to answer three research questions that involve comparing and manipulating the budget provided for policing and the budgets for neighborhood vitality and poverty reduction. The findings show that Savannah allocates significantly more money to the policing …

Using Data To Improve Public Safety With Kris Henning, Kris Henning

PDXPLORES Podcast

Professor Kris Henning's research focuses on helping criminal justice agencies improve decision-making through data analysis and the implementation of evidence-based practices. In this episode of PDXPLORES, Henning discusses efforts to help law enforcement agencies improve the systems and practices used to report crimes via online portals.

Click on the "Download" button to access the audio transcript.

Print News Media And Prisoner Reentry: An Exploratory Study Of Local Newspapers In 2018, Sydney Gaughan

Sociology and Criminology Undergraduate Honors Theses

In hopes to fill gaps on this subject, the current study uses ethnographic content analysis on newspaper articles while investigating the following research questions: (1) How does local news media portray recidivism by reentering prisoners? and in turn, (2) What are some characteristics of those news articles associated with the likelihood of local media using specific portrayals or “frames”?

There are several reasons to examine these research questions. First, this research aims to convey how local news media might use their positions to create narratives for public consumption that foster worry and panic. This study can shed light on the …

The Frames And Tactics Of The Women's Representation Movement, Desiree Alvarez

Sociology & Anthropology Theses - Archive

Studies of social movements have yet to examine the modern women’s political representation movement, a social movement industry made up of nonprofit organizations, foundations, activist groups, and political action committees aiming to create gender parity within U.S. political systems. Using in-depth interviews with fifteen leaders of organizations within the women’s representation movement, this study reveals multi-faceted dynamics at play when tactics and frames are developed within organizations of this social movement industry. Findings reveal that frame and tactical development are influenced by several key factors, such as: cohort collaboration, funders, an established hierarchy of old versus new social movement organizations …

Alternative-To-Incarceration Programs : An In-Depth Review Of State And Federal Drug Courts, Allison Kropf

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The United States’ recent shift toward rehabilitative justice has aided in the creation of alternatives to incarceration; among these alternatives is drug treatment court. This paper studies the similarities and differences between both state and federal drug treatment courts. Using three federal programs and nine state programs – located in three states: Florida, New York, and California – as proxies, rules, regulations, and criteria are examined in order to gauge the comprehensiveness and compatibility of drug treatment courts across the U.S. It is found that drug treatment courts across both the state and federal circuits are similar to one another, …

An Iterative Theory Of The Legislative Process : A Case Study Of The New York State Commission On Prosecutorial Conduct, Kimberly M. Bernstein

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Prosecutors wield the power of the criminal justice system (Medwed, 2014) and the ability to deprive a person of their constitutional rights (Imbler v. Pachtman, 1976). With such power, it is unsurprising that a leading cause of miscarriages of justice is prosecutorial misconduct (e.g., Joy, 2006; Ridolfi & Possley, 2010). New York State became the first state in the country to respond to this issue with a specialized Commission on Prosecutorial Conduct (CPC). The goal of the CPC is to serve as an official mechanism for holding District Attorneys and Assistant District Attorneys accountable by challenging convictions and handing down …

Divided We Fall: Gender-Based Occupational Segregation In Kentucky’S Executive Branch 2012-2020., Hillary Mcgoodwin Abbott

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Fifty-eight years have passed since the Title VII of the Civil Rights Bill of 1964 was signed into law, yet discrimination in employment still occurs; the Kentucky Executive Branch is no exception. This paper will use Theodore Lowi’s agency typology and EEOC categorical data from the 2012 and 2020 Kentucky Office of Diversity and Employment Training Semi-Annual Report on Female and Minority Employment (SAR) to identify gendered occupational segregation in three distinct Executive Branch agencies, address potential contributing factors and areas of change (Alkadry & Tower, 2006; Lowi, 1985; Newman, 1994; Escriche, 2007). Addressing any underlying discriminatory practices that may …

Tribal Identity And The Rise Of The American Indian/Alaskan Native Population, Angel M. Stevens

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Today, most tribal nations in the United States identify by federal recognition, yet on the American Community Survey, American Indian/Alaskan Native respondents can self-identify as a member of a specific tribal nation. Most researchers argues that this tribal identification fortifies the reflection of the American Indian/Alaskan Native identity. There are 574 federally recognized tribes in the United States today. Between 2000-2020, the US Census Bureau and the American Community Survey noted a significant surge in the American Indian/Alaskan Native population. This population growth went from a mere 2 million to almost 10 million in a 20-year time span. In this …

Factors Influencing The Credibility And Believability Of Victims Of Sexual Assault, Stephanie Carlson

Political Science Theses and Capstones

The purpose of this research is to answer the question of which factors that influence the believability of a woman who comes forward to disclose a sexual assault are the most impactful. My methodology consisted of conducting interviews with attorneys who have participated in both the defense and prosecution of criminal sexual conduct cases to evaluate whether the trends revealed in the literature on a macro scale apply to the micro-scale in northern Minnesota. Findings showed that the majority of patterns revealed in the literature did in fact influence the credibility of victims of sexual assault in Beltrami County, Minnesota …

Measuring Perceptions Of Safety Among Staff And Women Clients In A Prison Substance Abuse Program, Jaclyn Parker Keen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Women who are involved in the criminal justice system have unique pathways to criminality. Prevailing themes of dysfunctional and traumatic relationships, addiction, mental illness, poverty, and having limited human and social capital dominate the women’s pathways perspective. A large body of existing research focuses on how these unique risk factors require unique treatment options for women while they are incarcerated in jail or prison settings. Entering prison can be an overwhelming experience and prison is an environment that has a high potential for conflict and violence. In order to be safe in prison it requires that women both feel protected …

Determining Earthquake Impacts On Arkansas' Roadway Network: An Application Of Hazus., Simon Rothwell

Civil Engineering Undergraduate Honors Theses

Natural hazards are a dangerous and unpredictable aspect of life on earth. They can cause devastating damage to our surroundings that makes movement of people, goods, and emergency services difficult. There is a need to plan for these disasters to ensure that damages to our infrastructure and people are minimized. It can be difficult for planners to determine which parts of a roadway network are most vulnerable to a specific disaster and what their impact on the rest of the network may be. This thesis uses a nationally available natural disaster estimation tool developed by FEMA called “Hazus” (FEMA, 2020). …

Looking At Latino Communities: Legal Cynicism, Acculturation, And Their Willingness To Cooperate With Police, Shayla Salais

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Numerous studies have examined how acculturation affects Latino neighborhoods and how legal cynicism affects Latino neighborhoods. Acculturation has been linked with low crime levels, meanwhile legal cynicism is attributed to high crime levels. This study aims to address this contradiction in the literature. Based on 1059 surveys, 46 neighborhood clusters were used to examine how legal cynicism and acculturation to Mexico impact a neighborhoods willingness to cooperate with police. A multivariate ordinary least squares (OLS) regression found that acculturation to Mexico results in higher levels of legal cynicism and less willingness to cooperate with police. The OLS regression also found …

Public Libraries In Rural Arkansas: An Oasis In An Information Desert, Britt Graves

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Public libraries in Arkansas are welcome, but those found in rural Arkansas are almost a necessity. The public uses the library for more than just checking out books or their email: it’s become a community gathering place for all walks of life, regardless of age or economic status. When the Covid-19 pandemic hit the state, libraries also became essential for education, medicine, news, and employment, nearly overloading their resources and shining a spotlight on technology, or the lack thereof, that so many public libraries are needing. With the Arkansas governor planning an upgrade on broadband technology and the federal government …

The Vigilante Identity And Organizations, Fan Xuan Chen, Maja Graso, Karl Aquino, Lily Lin, Joey T. Cheng, Katherine Decelles, Abhijeet K. Vadera

Research Collection Lee Kong Chian School Of Business

We test the theoretical and practical utility of the vigilante identity, a self-perception of being the kind of person who monitors their environment for signs of norm violations, and who punishes the perceived norm violator, without formal authority. We develop and validate a measure of the vigilante identity scale (VIS) and demonstrate the scale’s incremental predictive validity above and beyond seemingly related constructs (Studies 1 – 2e). We show that the VIS predicts hypervigilance towards organizational wrongdoing (Studies 2 and 4), punishment intentions and behavior in and of organizations (Studies 3 and 4) as well as in the wider community …

Exploring The Workplace Climate At Police Agencies During Civil Unrest And The Factors Influencing Officers' Participation In Black Lives Matter Protesting, Joshua R. Ruffin

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

Scholars have long documented the negative relationship between police and communities of color. While these findings are of great importance, research remains limited on how connected police officers are to social justice movements (e.g., Black Lives Matter, or BLM for short) and the purposes behind why they exist. Furthermore, many studies focusing on police officer experiences tend to examine officer experiences with protesters, with limited studies focusing on their experiences with other officers during civil unrest and on the factors that influence their participation in protest movements when off duty. To help fill this gap, this study utilized semi-structured interviews …

Crime Pays: How Black Americans Became Central To The Carceral State, Will Brooks

Honors Theses

Over the course of American history, Black Americans have been intentionally criminalized at moments of ostensible social progress. This legacy of intentional criminalization of minority communities has both created the perception that African Americans are innately criminal and given rise to a prison-industrial complex that now depends on Black bodies. Now, predictive policing technology reinforces perceptions of Black criminality necessary for the justification of the carceral state and the survival and expansion of the prison-industrial complex.

The Ethics Of Care And The U.S. Covid-19 Pandemic Response, Samantha Treveline Barrett

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

Throughout the pandemic, many conservatives like President Donald Trump lacked emotional sensitivity in regards to the millions of lives affected by COVID-19. They believed themselves to be too strong for the virus to take them down, and viewed those who wore masks as weak and afraid. Unlike Democrats, Republican governors entrusted their constituents to take necessary safety precautions and avoided statewide mask mandates, vaccine requirements, and lockdowns. Their policies and rhetoric demonstrated the overlap in harmful masculine traits and the conservative values of self-sufficiency and independence. Using a case study method, this paper analyzes the role of gender in a …

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.

Youth Empowerment: Case Study And Learning Strategy, Andrew Blum, Nohelia Ramos

Kroc IPJ Research and Resources

The U.S. Department of Justice’s Project Safe Neighborhoods (PSN) is invested in preventing violence and reducing recidivism. To achieve these objectives, PSN has committed to supporting lived experience mentoring, often called credible messenger mentoring, through grants made to community organizations in San Diego and Imperial Counties.

This document consists of two separate research products that align with these two objectives. The first is a case study of Youth Empowerment. The case study has several goals: first, to document the work of Youth Empowerment and allow others to learn in a detailed way about lived experience programming; second, to place the …

Parental Incarceration As A Predictor Of Legal Cynicism, Mackenzie Joy Heim

Theses and Dissertations

Researchers have established that legal cynicism is linked to violence, deviant behavior, and crime. In response to the potentially dangerous implications of a legally cynical society, research in recent years has attempted to identify experiences and conditions that play a role in the development of legal attitudes. Given that youths' familial and social conditions appear to be influential predictors, this study tests the relationship between parental incarceration and legal cynicism. Data from the Fragile Families and Child Wellbeing Study were used for this analysis. Results from three OLS regression models indicate that parental incarceration is not a significant predictor of …

Albuquerque Public School’S Vision Zero For Youth Initiative: Engaging Student Youth In Designing A School District Transportation Safety Program, Cordell S. Bock

Architecture and Planning ETDs

The APS (Albuquerque Public Schools) Vision Zero for Youth Initiative adopts the global Vision Zero traffic safety movement’s goal of eliminating traffic fatalities and injuries to pedestrians and cyclists from vehicular crashes. The APS Vision Zero for Youth Initiative is comprised of a traffic-safety curriculum for K-8 students, an action plan that sets traffic-safety goals and progress evaluation frameworks for the school district, and a campaign to build a new culture of traffic safety for students, families, and local communities.

This project employs participatory methods that build the capacity of students enrolled in local public schools to produce and share …

A Street-Based Simulation Approach To Evaluating Crime Theories And Deterrence Efficacy In Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Shaun Edward Williams

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

Criminology of place and deterrence strategy evaluations share separate yet similar paths towards incorporating microgeographic units of analysis within deterrence strategies. These transitions have been underway since Weisburd’s 2015 criminology of place work and Kennedy’s 1997 Ceasefire publication for deterrence strategy evaluation. Rather than purely theoretical or practical challenges serving as agents of change, scale appropriateness can arguably be pinpointed as the foundation for change in both areas. Microplace offers improved insight into the study of crime and place dominated by areal designs. This status quo has hampered evaluation but has not slowed the flow of resources to support strategy …

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

The Compass

No abstract provided.

This Fence Makes No Sense: Developing A Community Engagement Curriculum For Swampscott, Ma, Elana Zabar

Community Engagement Student Work

This project sought to understand the best way to integrate non-exclusionary community engagement into Swampscott, Massachusetts. A curriculum that would encourage municipal officials of Swampscott, MA to develop a more inclusive community engagement process was built and presented to local community engagement practitioners, both affiliated and not affiliated with the municipality, for their feedback. The curriculum suggests creative engagement solutions the town can offer to community members throughout a project's timeline, from idea generation to problem definition, to project development, to post-implementation feedback. These methods of engagement, written under the lens of the Transformative Paradigm, were specifically designed to reduce …

Substance Use Awareness: A Unique Look At Social Policy For Children And Families, Malik Hamm

Community Engagement Student Work

This work is a collection of substance use and addiction research gathered in order to assess substance abuse treatment and services in regard to equity and inclusion. The history of the U.S. government’s approach to substance use policy has led to stigma, criminality, and marginalization between groups in our community. Youth and families of all demographics are looking for ethical, informed mental health and substance use services to provide the best outcomes. Stigmatizing language, overly marketed tobacco and alcohol products, restrictive policy, and rigid law-enforcement tactics promoting the criminality of both adults and juveniles for possession, trafficking, and operating under …

The Secret Struggles Of Law Enforcement: Ending The Stigma Through Counseling, Kelsey Daly

Criminology Student Work

Law enforcement are on the frontlines everyday and see the best and worst society has to offer. They encounter scenes of violence and tragedy and have to learn how to compartmentalize what they see and feel. But what if they struggle to deal with those emotions? Suicide is the second leading cause of death among law enforcement, following behind Covid-19. While there are many reasons including both personal and professional factors that influence suicide ideation in police officers, there are also protective factors that can limit these ideations. Counseling is found to be a protective factor against suicide ideation in …

Lights, (Body) Camera, Action!: Reviewing Empirical Research On Body-Worn Cameras, Richard Glynn

Criminology Student Work

There has been an ongoing uproar for police accountability in America throughout history. Tensions between citizens and police have worsened over the last few years. Many citizens have pushed to reform the police through the use of body-worn cameras. Departments began to implement body-worn cameras on their officers to document their day to day encounters. After discussing the policing profession and steps to become a police officer, this paper examines empirical research that shows the different impacts body-worn cameras have made. Studies suggest there are significant benefits to using body cameras, including less complaints against officers and less cases of …

Career Path Of A Police Officer, Alex Gildea

Criminology Student Work

According to recent studies, the effectiveness of higher education on police officer performance and salary benefits has been evident. Researchers have concluded that police departments that encourage police officers to receive their college education, or pursue a higher degree than an associates degree, have a higher chance at performing their duties to a higher standard in addition to receiving a higher salary. The purpose of this research is to identify the importance of college education on police officers, and how the additional education is significant to their presence in the community they protect. Police officers can benefit from the research …

The Social Boot: Recollections From Another Side A Study On The Health And Belongingness Experiences Of Louisiana Residents That Have Either Served In The Us Military Or Been In The Us Prison System In Some Capacity., Ugonna Njoku

Honors Capstones

No abstract provided.