Digital Commons Network^™

Reimagining Community Safety: Perceptions Of Policy And Practice In Five Cities, Patricia A. Cobar, Kathleen A. Tomberg, Fidel L. Osorio, Jeffrey A. Butts

Publications and Research

The John Jay College Research and Evaluation Center (REC) and the Urban Institute partnered with the National League of Cities to support five U.S. cities in reimagining public safety through the Municipalities Reimagining Community Safety (MRCS) initiative, funded by Wells Fargo. As the research lead, JohnJay REC conducted a three-wave survey to assess local stakeholder perceptions of public safety strategies, focusing on efficacy and equity. Findings provided insight into city-level approaches to crime prevention and community well-being, informing evaluations of MRCS’s impact across diverse urban contexts.

Mind Your Business Or Be Your Brother's Keeper? Managing Vulnerability In The New York City Subway, Maria Barrera-Vilert

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This qualitative study investigates the management of safety and vulnerability in the New York City subway by analyzing public communication campaigns focused on counterterrorism, COVID-19, and deviance awareness. It explores how New Yorkers navigate the tension between adhering to a dominant New York cultural imperative to mind one’s business and being called upon to be their “brother’s keepers” and intervene when something risky happens.

The study is structured around three central elements that align with the three primary processes of public communication campaigns: representation, interpretation, and reaction. This study analyzes visual images associated with public communication campaigns and 43 …

Exploring The Correlation Between Google Trends And Crime Statistics: A Focus On Motor Vehicle Theft In The United States, Yu-Hsuan Liu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation examines the linear relationships between motor vehicle theft (MVT) estimates from Google Trends--a form of digital trace data--and official crime statistics, including the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR), National Crime Victimization Survey (NCVS), National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), and 911 calls for service (CFS 911). It offers a comprehensive analysis of the limitations inherent in current crime statistics, discusses measurement errors, and explores statistical models to mitigate the impact of measurement error, applying these methods to validate Google Trends MVT data and other official MVT statistics. Furthermore, this study incorporates social disorganization theory and …

Ethnoracial Inequality In Egalitarian Sweden: Swedish Exceptionalism And Racial Legacies, Beiyi Hu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Ethnoracial Inequality in Egalitarian Sweden: Swedish Exceptionalism and Racial Legacies investigates the persistence of ethno-racial disparities in Sweden, a country often celebrated for its humanitarianism, egalitarianism, and tolerance. I explore several key questions: How do ethnic and racial minorities, as well as majority Swedes, perceive and understand race and ethno-racial inequalities in a country that does not officially recognize race? What sociohistorical legacies and institutionalized practices have contributed to contemporary ethnoracial inequalities in Sweden? And for ethnic and racial minorities, what are their day-to-day experiences of racism? Combining analysis of governmental data and in-depth interviews as well as exploratory spatial …

Leveraging The Science Of Early Life Predictability To Inform Policies Promoting Child Health, Laura M. Glynn, Sabrina R. Liu, Candice Taylor Lucas, Elysia Poggi Davis

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

Addressing the tremendous burden of early-life adversity requires constructive dialogues between scientists and policy makers to improve population health. Whereas dialogues focused on several aspects of early-life adversity have been initiated, discussion of an underrecognized form of adversity that has been observed across multiple contexts and cultures is only now emerging. Here we provide evidence for “why unpredictability?”, including: 1. Evidence that exposures to unpredictability affect child neurodevelopment, with influences that persist into adulthood. 2. The existence of a translational non-human animal model of exposure to early life unpredictability that can be capitalized upon to causally probe neurobiological mechanisms. 3. …

Exploring Strategy In India, Vinay Kaura

The US Army War College Quarterly: Parameters

This review essay discusses Rajesh Basrur's Subcontinental Drift: Domestic Politics and India’s Foreign Policy and Feroz Hassan Khan's Subcontinent Adrift: Strategic Futures of South Asia and explores Indian strategy, especially concerning domestic issues and the relationship between Pakistan and India. The review concludes by noting that the two books agree on the oversized role of the Pakistani military in India’s national politics, where most security and foreign policy decisions are directed toward Pakistan.

Motivation And Treatment Readiness Of Those Participating In Correctional Educational Programming, Kelly Eileen O'Bryan

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This study examined what motivated male inmates in a private Oklahoma prison to participate in general education diploma or the Microsoft Office Specialist certification program. Research questions explored, what factors motivated program participants to participate in educational programs while incarcerated? Next, whether those who were eligible to participate in the program exhibited treatment readiness? Finally, were those who exhibited higher levels of treatment readiness and motivation were more likely to participate in and complete the program? A survey was used to collect demographic information and assess treatment readiness and motivation through the Corrections Victoria Treatment Readiness Questionnaire for 48 inmates. …

Service Learning During A Global Pandemic: How And Why?, Kiesha Warren-Gordon, Angela Jackson-Brown

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

This case study provides an overview as to how two faculty members co-taught an asynchronous online course with a service-learning component during the COVID-19 global pandemic. Within this paper, the authors recount the adjustments that were made in order to accommodate an online teaching modality while maintaining their commitment to service learning.

Engaging Undergraduates In Co-Curricular Community-Based Research: Strategies For Success, Monica Williams, Pamela B. Payne

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

This paper uses a case study of a co-curricular community-based research (CbR) program for undergraduates at a regional comprehensive university to identify five strategies to success in implementing such a program: prior planning, appropriate projects, student ownership, program structure, and teaching students to find resources. We address the strengths and limitations of CbR programs, provide recommendations for community engagement through research, and address opportunities and challenges of CbR programs for involving students in their communities.

Impact Of Service Learning On Personal, Social, And Academic Development Of Community Nutrition Students, Kritika Gupta, Blake Grove, Georgianna Mann

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

Service learning connects theoretical knowledge to community settings. Reflective journals were used to document student service-learning experiences in a Community Nutrition course component. Reflective journal data obtained from students (n=137) during different semesters were analyzed qualitatively. The service-learning partners included Nutrition Education, Food Provision, and Local Food sites. Positive impacts were noted on personal, social, and academic development of students for all sites. Service-learning assignments can impart transferrable skills and enhance student development.

Conversations For Change: The Impact Of Service-Learning Dialogues With Incarcerated Men On Social Work Students, Yvonne Eaton-Stull, Kathleen Kocherzat, Kerry Edwards

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

This article explores a course-linked service-learning project that facilitated social-problem focused dialogues between students and men who were incarcerated in a prison. Student reflections were life-changing; listening with both their hearts and minds enhanced student learning, increasing empathy, fueling a sense of advocacy, and fostering a plan for action and change. Conversing with the men challenged old assumptions and invited students to solidify goals and infuse their career paths with civic values and social justice concerns.

Voices Of Partnerships Within The Critical Service-Learning Framework, Kiesha Warren-Gordon, Ken Hudson, Frank Scott

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

Over the course of the past three decades, service learning has become a major component in higher education. Heretofore, however, there has been limited published research that focuses on the community partner or that assesses the role of the community partner within the community-servicelearning (CSL) model. This paper fills that gap by focusing on the community partner relationship as delineated by Mitchell (2008), the community partner’s position in CSL, and the authentic relationships between the community partner, class, and instructor. Specifically, we address the following question: How do community partners articulate their voices within the CSL framework? This paper argues …

Leadership Opportunities In Service-Learning: A Pilot Study In A Homeland Security Classroom, Jess Bonnan-White, Emily Lanaras

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

Service-learning opportunities provide students with valuable professional experience beyond training and practical skills. In a pilot study of Criminal Justice students enrolled in an undergraduate Homeland Security class, student volunteers report opportunities for practicing leadership at an after-school program. Responses were also compared to a leadership curriculum prepared by the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Student volunteers collectively focus on providing mentorship, tutoring assistance, and behavioral regulation. Results add to literature documenting service-learning impact on professional development.

A Decade Of Publishing: On Reflection And Our Future, Catherine Stemmans Paterson

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

This article reflects on the tenth anniversary of publishing The Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education. It also describes an upcoming special edition in partnership with Indiana Campus Compact.

Indiana Law Supporting Newly Established Indiana Innocence Project, James Owsley Boyd

Keep Up With the Latest News from the Law School (blog)

Law students from the Indiana University Maurer School of Law will have the opportunity to help exonerate wrongfully convicted Hoosiers through the newly established Indiana Innocence Project, which officially launched Saturday (Aug. 17).

Established in association with the national Innocence Project—which has helped free more than 240 wrongfully convicted prisoners since 1992—the Indiana Innocence Project (INIP) has been made possible through the support of the Herbert Simon Family Foundation, along with the Law School and IU’s Department of Criminal Justice.

The Indiana Innocence Project will screen and investigate cases with meritorious innocence claims, secure DNA testing when biological evidence …

Unpacking The Relationship Between Legitimacy, Procedural Justice, Identity, And Desistance, Qassim Bolaji

Theses and Dissertations

Knowing why people stop offending over time and the criminal justice agencies' role in this process is essential for designing effective crime control interventions. Legal authorities have the core function of ensuring that social norms and laws are obeyed. However, the coercive and punitive tactics that police, judicial, and penal authorities typically resort to have been shown to have only limited impact on controlling and preventing crime while having the unintended consequence of worsening the public's perception of their institutional legitimacy. Specific to policing, the use of coercive policing tactics and their perceived ineffectiveness has, in recent decades, led to …

Past And Present Of The Cvs: Empirical Research And Evidence-Based Policy, Kevin T. Wolff

Publications and Research

In this keynote address, I emphasized the critical role of accurate crime measurement in developing evidence-based policies. I discussed the "dark figure of crime," highlighting how many crimes go unreported, and stressed the importance of victimization surveys in uncovering these hidden crimes to provide a more complete picture of criminal activity.

I also explored how technological advancements, particularly AI, are transforming how we collect and analyze crime data. While AI offers significant benefits in predictive policing and resource allocation, I cautioned about the risks of bias and privacy issues that must be managed carefully.

Regional collaboration, standardization, and inclusivity are …

Strategies For Addressing Substance Abuse And Gambling Among Youth, Kevin T. Wolff

Publications and Research

This keynote address opens with a description of recent trends in substance use and gambling among youth, sharing insights from relevant research. I highlight that while some global trends indicate a decline in adolescent substance use, other areas, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic, have seen increases. I emphasize the importance of comprehensive prevention strategies, such as school-based, community-based, and family-based programs, and effective treatment approaches like behavioral interventions and integrated mental health services.

On the topic of youth gambling, I highlight the rising normalization and accessibility of gambling, particularly through the internet. I describe specific challenges in regions like South …

Never Going To Let You Down: Preventing Predictive Shrinkage Via The Strong-R Assessment Method, Zachary Hamilton, Alex Kigerl, Baylee Allen-Flores, John Ursino, Amber Krushas

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Risk-needs assessments (RNAs) are an evidence-based practice used by practitioners to assign supervision and programming. While foundational to day-to-day practices, these tools are typically applied ‘off-the shelf,’ and are mistakenly assumed to demonstrate equivalent prediction accuracy regardless of location or population. Although researchers and providers are aware these tools experience performance shrinkage, the issue is commonly ignored. In 2016 the Tennessee Department of Correction (TDOC) collaborated with the developers of the Static Risk Offender Needs Guide – Revised (STRONG-R) to create a staged development of a locally developed risk needs assessment. Using propensity score matching, a proxy sample was used …

Impact Of Veteran Treatment Courts On Lived Experiences Of Male Military Veterans With Misdemeanor Criminal Records, Verona Ann Cabbagestalk

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Support for criminal justice reform is growing due to scrutiny of high incarceration rates and recidivism. Military veterans within the criminal justice system are included in correctional populations. Veterans’ unique experiences involving combat trauma require alternative treatments to reduce their involvement with the justice system. The purpose of this phenomenological qualitative study was to explore lived experiences of male military veterans with misdemeanor criminal records. This phenomenological qualitative study involved using the homecoming theory to explore lived experiences of male military veterans with criminal records. Research questions related to understanding lived veteran experiences that led to their involvement with the …

Teaching Shakespeare In Prison, Renford Reese, Rachel Tracie

Journal of Prison Education Research

The Prison Education Project (PEP) offers life skills and academic courses in 30 correctional facilities in California. Founded in 2011, PEP uses university student and faculty volunteers to teach a range of 32 introductory courses during three seven-week semesters: Fall, Spring, Summer. One of PEP’s most popular courses is the “Introduction to Shakespeare” course. This article examines the impact of teaching an “Introduction to Shakespeare” course in prison. This course introduces in-custody students to the literary interpretation of Shakespeare in the context of their own lived experience. Students in this course deconstruct the use of language and analyze the social, …

Fines And The Federal Court System: Exploring The Differences And Intersection For Male And Female Defendants With Dependents, Hali Higgins

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Past research has consistently found that women are treated more leniently compared to men in the criminal justice system. Little research has examined gender and its relation to fine amounts imposed in the federal court system, and almost no research has examined if dependents plays a role in determining fines. This thesis operates under focal concerns theory, and addresses a gap by examining if gender and presence of dependents impacts the likelihood and amount of a fine imposed. Using the Monitoring of Federal Criminal Sentences from 2020-2021 data, this thesis examined if men are more likely to get fines imposed …

Unveiling Emergency Psychiatric Healthcare Disparities: An Analysis Of U.S. Emergency Department Encounters., Anna Elizabeth Kelecy

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis seeks to uncover emergency psychiatric healthcare disparities by examining data of emergency departments from the National Hospital Ambulatory Medical Care Surveys, years 2020 and 2021. The two outcome variables are the length of stay in the emergency department and the urgency with which a patient should be seen. There are multiple independent variables that are analyzed, including age, residence, sex, race/ethnicity, pay type, region, and metropolitan statistical area status. The results indicate that there are disparities, especially in terms of race/ethnicity, region, and metropolitan statistical area status for each dependent variable. These findings indicate that there may be …

Housing Policy And Eviction: An Iterative Process., Oleksandra Maksymivna Belinova

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Previously, eviction has been perceived as a legal problem rather than a social issue. Previous literature examines eviction as a social problem and the role of program administrators in policy implementation. Through a mixed-methods study of in-depth semi structured interviews and secondary descriptive analysis of eviction data, this study serves explores program administrators’ perspectives on housing policy and eviction practices and the impact these perspectives have on policy implementation and eviction prevention. The results indicate that program administrators view eviction as a legal phenomenon influenced by housing market dynamics with eviction prevention efforts limited by data collection and the lack …

Never Going To Let You Down: Preventing Predictive Shrinkage Via The Strong-R Assessment Method, Zachary Hamilton, Alex Kigerl, Andrew Peterson, Grant Duwe, John Ursino

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Widely used sources of crime data, such as the Uniform Crime Reports (UCR) and National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS), provide invaluable information on patterns in reported crime and justice processing. Yet, due to their measurement of crime at the incident level, these data have not been used to determine an individual’s likelihood of justice system involvement. By contrast, in the correctional field, individuals are used as the unit of analysis and common definitions to establish state-level base rates. Used for decades, base rates provide an estimate of justice system involvement, per individual, for a given jurisdiction’s population.

Political Constructions Of People Who Use Drugs In The Philippines: A Qualitative Content Analysis, Gideon Lasco

Development Studies Faculty Publications

Background

This paper examines the political constructions of people who use drugs in the Philippines throughout the presidency of Rodrigo Duterte (2016–2022), during which the government engaged in a ‘war on drugs’ and promoted a punitive drug regime.

Methods

Building on and drawing inspiration from the global drug policy scholarship that has looked at the ways in which drugs are framed and problematised in various domains, this study used qualitative content analysis to review 96 documents from national government agencies - including strategic action plans, directives, memorandums, guidelines, annual reports, and legislative measures.

Results

Foremost, the study finds that various …

The Decline Of Republican Democracy And Rise Of The Techno-Authoritarian State: Reading Dystopian Novels In Hindi Literature, Manindra Nath Thakur

Midwest Social Sciences Journal

In the past few decades, the nature of capitalism has changed fast as it has lost its philosophical justification based on the principle of the common good. There have been many avatars of the idea of the “common good”: “white man’s burden to civilize the world,” “welfarism,” and “neoliberal concept of freedom of choice.” Capitalism now seems to have moved in a new direction, however, and it has failed to produce any further philosophical justification for its existence as a mode of production despite generating unprecedented economic inequality. Consequently, there is a rising tension between capitalism and democracy in societies …

A Qualitative Study On The Role Of Companion Animals For Survivors Of Intimate Partner Violence, Fariha Tabassum

Masters Theses

This research study explores the role that companion animals play in the lives of women who experienced intimate partner violence (IPV). Intimate partner violence has biopsychosocial repercussions. Physical, sexual, and emotional abuse causes trauma, which worsens mental health issues, and cognitive function. A qualitative approach using semi-structured interviews was used for this study. I conducted ten interviews to examine the perspectives of professional advocates working with IPV survivors. Recognizing the crucial role social interactions play in trauma recovery, the study investigates the therapeutic benefits companions may have for survivors who have experienced intimate partner violence. Despite much research has been …

Mental Health Calls For Service During The Covid-19 Pandemic: Examining The Geographic Distribution And Correlates Of Service Requests In Little Rock, Arkansas, Mckayla Bishop

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In response to the Covid-19 global crisis, the United States implemented social interaction restrictions to curb the infection rate amongst citizens, affecting residents' mental health by adding strain from daily routine change. This study examines how mental health has changed during the pandemic by focusing on geospatial differences of volume and concentration within 311 calls in Little Rock, Arkansas in 2018 and 2020. Our data comes from the City of Little Rock’s open database to construct geospatial maps (n= 155 block groups), along with Census survey data logistic regression models to show differences in community characteristics. Overall, mental health worsened …

News Media Coverage And Framing Of Human Trafficking In The United States, Chloe Junkerman

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This study examines what makes mainstream news media representations of human trafficking cases newsworthy, and how news media choose to frame sensationalized human trafficking stories. While there have been several notable studies examining news media framing of human trafficking as a social issue more generally, prior research has yet to empirically investigate how the news media cover specific human trafficking cases, thus overlooking what types of attributes make cases newsworthy. This is an important gap in research as the types of cases that get covered, or ignored, by news media, and how stories frame various aspects of these crimes, informs …