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Commencement Program, 2025, Cuny John Jay College Of Criminal Justice

Reports and Publications from John Jay College

Commencement Programs are handed out at each graduation. They include information on honorary degrees, awards and prizes and candidates for degree. However, they cannot be considered an official record of conferring of degrees.

Introducing Justice And Rights To Students Of Economics, Mark D. White

Publications and Research

Most economics instruction is focused on outcomes, whether evaluated in terms of individual or collective welfare or well-being. This is consistent with economics’ roots in classical utilitarianism, and no consideration is usually given to the process by which these results obtain, which is a deontological concern of right and wrong. This can seem odd to economics students, especially in the context of trade-offs in which one party is benefited at the expense of another, or aggregate welfare is maximized while some individuals are harmed, with no consideration in either of rights, desert, or justice. This chapter argues for the importance …

The Role Of Social Inequality In The “Feminization” Of Borderline Personality Disorder, Jane Goldie Ekhtman

Dissertations and Theses

Borderline personality disorder (BPD) is a severe and prevalent mental illness that is three times more likely to be diagnosed in women than men. BPD research has attempted to explain this gender disparity, with clinician gender bias emerging as a possible factor. Yet, no research to date has examined the role of social status in the overdiagnosis of women with BPD. There is merit in examining BPD through a class lens as low SES is a risk factor for BPD, poverty and income inequality disproportionately affect women, and low status is associated with stereotypical traits of femininity. Additionally, mental health …

Examining Drug Policy In Portugal And Greece, Collin Fernandes

Dissertations and Theses

This thesis examines the divergent drug policies implemented in Portugal and Greece, analyzing why Portugal's comprehensive decriminalization model has been more successful than Greece's partial approach. Since 2001, Portugal has pioneered a drug policy that decriminalizes all drugs for personal use while investing in harm reduction services, rehabilitation, and social reintegration. In contrast, Greece maintained criminalization while implementing more limited harm reduction measures, particularly through OKANA (the Organization Against Drugs). The research highlights how economic factors, particularly the 2008 financial crisis and austerity measures, negatively affected both countries' programs but hit Greece's initiatives with greater severity. Portugal's programs have remained …

The Role Of Mentorship In The Advancement Of Black Women In Higher Education Administrative Roles, Kimberley Colclough

Publications and Research

This research study focused on the lived experiences of Black women administrators in higher education institutions, the obstacles they face in pursuit of support and career advancement, and how they benefited from a relationship with a mentor. This descriptive phenomenological qualitative study was implemented by conducting in-depth interviews with a small sample of (6) six African American women administrators from various higher education institutions located in the Northeast, West Coast, and Midwest regions of the United States. This phenomenological qualitative study was conducted to understand and describe the lived experiences mentorship for a select group of Black women leaders in …

Active Learning Seminar Assignment: Broken Windows Perusall Activity, Penny Geyer

Open Educational Resources

This collaborative reading assignment created by Professor Penny Geyer was created as part of a seminar on Active Learning using OERs in 2025. The assignment uses the social annotation tool, Perusall, to transform a traditional reading assignment into an active learning exercise that encourages close reading, peer engagement and structured discussion of the foundational text, "Broken Windows" by James Wilson and George Kelling.

Does Performance Change Budgets? Punctuated Equilibrium, Performance, And The Budget For Juvenile Justice In An American State, Elaine Yi Lu, Robert Hines, Katherine Willoughby

Publications and Research

How performance informs budgeting and budgets is contentious and unclear. Applying punctuated equilibrium theory, this research seeks to understand if performance information once placed on the media and macropolitical agendas can lead to long term budgetary shifts. This research highlights how the accumulation of performance information punctuated the funding scheme and created a new equilibrium over time.

This research uses mixed methods to study the impact of performance on Florida’s (USA) Department of Juvenile Justice (DJJ) over a 20-year period. First, we conduct a media review of 400 randomly sampled newspaper articles to characterize the media discourse around the DJJ …

Repressed Memories And The Body Keeps The Score: Public Perceptions And Prevalence, Kris-Ann S. Anderson, Quincy C. Miller, Deryn Strange, Kamala London

Publications and Research

The “memory wars” resurgence has renewed debates over the validity of repressed memories. This revival appears linked to factors such as changing statutes of limitations, confusion about repression, and unchallenged social media content. In a nationally representative online survey of American adults (N = 1581), we examined (a) beliefs in repression and the body keeps the score, (b) the prevalence of recovered memory claims, and (c) the impact of question phrasing on recovered memory reporting. An overwhelming 94% of respondents expressed belief in repressed memory, and 77% endorsed the idea that the body keeps the score. Additionally, 3.6% (n = …

A Battle Of The Chatbots: An Exploratory Comparison Of Chatgpt, Gemini, Copilot, Claude, Perplexity And Huggingchat, Karen Okamoto

Publications and Research

This exploratory study compares the output of the free versions of six generative artificial intelligence (AI) chatbots—ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot, Claude, Perplexity and HuggingChat. Five questions were submitted to all of the chatbots and examined according to the length of the response, tone of the response, and any additional features provided by the chatbots such as citations, web links, and helpful follow-up questions. This comparison found that Perplexity excelled at responding to all of the questions though others provided strong outputs as well, pointing to the possible importance of using multiple chatbot for answers and for continually examining different chatbots given …

Assessing The Predictive Validity Of The Network Inventory Of Risk, Victories, And Needs Assessment (Nirvana) For Youth Receiving Prevention Services., Michael T. Baglivio, Kevin T. Wolff, Katherine Jackowski

Publications and Research

The current study assesses the predictive validity of a newly-developed holistic risk/needs assessment for youth receiving prevention services. Employing a multiyear statewide sample of over 17,000 prevention youth, multivariate and Area Under Curve techniques are used to examine predictive validity in predicting future formal juvenile justice system involvement (new law violations) across sex, race/ethnicity, and multiple youth age ranges. Furthermore, predictive validity across the severity of the subsequent offense type (misdemeanor, non-violent felony, violent felony) was examined. Findings demonstrate large effect sizes for static risk only, dynamic risk only, and total risk plus protective scores on future offending. Sex and …

The Towering Inferno: Art, Policy, And Legacy, Charles R. Jennings

Publications and Research

The Christian Regenhard Center for Emergency Response Studies, leveraging the expertise of its faculty, staff, Advisory Board and colleagues, has consistently programmed activities focused on high-rise fire safety. The upcoming 50^th anniversary of the film The Towering Inferno was an inspiration.

We decided this would be more lighthearted and less purely technical than many of our events. We wanted to consider both the film, and use it to reflect on the state of fire safety in tall buildings in New York City.

Of course it does not escape us that the topic of fire safety is a serious one, …

Understanding Violence In Juvenile Correctional Facilities: A National Study Of Victim-Offender Overlap In The United States, Tzu-Ying Lo, Yu-Hsuan Liu, Amy Adamczyk

Publications and Research

The phenomenon of victim-offender overlap within juvenile correctional facilities is an underexplored area in criminological research. This study examines the prevalence and correlates of victim-offender overlap using data from two collections of the National Survey of Youth in Custody conducted in 2008–2009 and 2012. Our findings reveal that the victim-offender overlap group constitutes a significant proportion of incarcerated youth. Multinomial logistic regression analysis indicates that institutional factors, such as correctional officer legitimacy, in-facility gang membership, fear of inmate assault, experience of filing complaints against staff, and time served, significantly differentiate victim-offenders from the three other groups: victims-only, offenders-only, and those …

Victim-Offender Overlap Among Incarcerated Youth In The United States: A Bivariate Probit Analysis Using National Data, Tzu-Ying Lo, Yu-Hsuan Liu, Amy Adamczyk

Publications and Research

For many crimes, people who are the perpetrators may also be the victims. While several studies have investigated the victim-offender overlap, very few have examined the relationship for incarcerated youth where institutional conditions can exacerbate the overlap. Drawing on ideas from routine activities theory, this study explores the victim-offender overlap among incarcerated American youth using data from the 2008–2009 National Survey of Youth in Custody (NSYC-1, N = 8,625) and the 2012 National Survey of Youth in Custody (NSYC-2, N = 8,125). Findings from a bivariate probit regression indicate that younger age, higher facility populations, negative perceptions of officer legitimacy, …

Testing Routine Activity Theory: Behavioural Pathways Linking Temperature To Crime, Christopher Thomas, Jinuk Jeong, Kevin T. Wolff

Publications and Research

This study examines direct observations of outdoor routine activities to investigate the pathways through which temperatures shape crime. Daily administrative records of crime, weather, and outdoor activity were assembled from 2015 to 2019 in New York City. Mediation analysis (with bootstrapped standard errors) reveals that alterations in routine activities account for a statistically significant, yet modest, proportion of temperature’s relationship with homicides, shootings, assaults, larceny, and public consumption violations. The comparable mediation effects across violent and nonviolent crimes support routine activity theory as an explanatory framework for understanding temperature's impact on crime. The measures introduced here offer a novel approach …

Calls Grow To Give New York's Ccrb More Power, Despite Police Resistance, Stephen Wentzell, Anastasia Tomkin, Moses Bustos, Olivia Graffeo

Capstones

This group capstone project, which was completed in the Criminal Justice Reporting Lab, is an investigative article exploring the current state of New York City’s Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB). Through more than a dozen interviews with complainants, board members, politicians, law enforcement, and others, the article highlights the push for the CCRB to have the authority to enforce disciplinary measures against police who are found to have engaged in misconduct. The article is accompanied by a video, with captions available in English and Spanish, that features bodycam footage from an incident involving police and our central compelling character who …

Always Tracy, Meron Tebeje

Capstones

After defending herself against her abusive husband, Tracy McCarter navigates the complexities of survival, systemic injustice, and the fight for her freedom.

Development Of A Rapid Method For Pfas Detection And Quantitation In Human Hair, Justin M. Allen

Student Theses

In recent years, per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) have emerged as a critical focus in environmental and public health research due to their persistent nature and widespread use in products ranging from non-stick cookware to firefighting foams. These "forever chemicals" resist degradation, posing significant ecological and human health risks. While extensive studies have explored PFAS in environmental matrices, research into their presence in human hair remains limited, with only a handful of studies addressing this biomarker's potential. This thesis aims to develop a robust analytical method for detecting PFAS in human hair, leveraging its unique properties to provide a long-term …

Holiday Chaos To Corporate Crisis: A Lesson From Christmas Vacation In Executive Protection, Rachael A. Zerr

Publications and Research

National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989) may be best known for its holiday humor, but it also inadvertently highlights critical issues in corporate security and executive protection. Through the kidnapping of Clark Griswold's boss, Frank Shirley, the film illustrates the vulnerabilities faced by high-net-worth individuals and executives. This paper draws parallels between the fictional events of the film and real-world cases of executive kidnapping and violence, emphasizing the need for robust security measures. It discusses modern executive protection strategies, including risk assessments, real-time monitoring, and cybersecurity, and highlights the role of technology in mitigating threats. Ultimately, this paper argues that as …

Influential Nature Of Empathy In The Relationship Between Psychopathy And Aggression, Alessia M. Valentino

Student Theses

Past research discusses the development of psychopathy and its association with aggression and empathy. It highlights that while personality traits central to psychopathy are believed to arise early in life, adolescence is a critical period where these traits interact and manifest in behaviors. Some research discusses the role of empathy in moderating aggressive behavior, suggesting that interventions targeting empathy could potentially reduce aggressive and antisocial behaviors in individuals with psychopathic traits. The current study explores the relationship between psychopathic traits, empathy, and aggression in adolescents, aiming to enhance our understanding of these complex constructs and their implications for risk assessment …

Comparison Of Methods For Amphetamine Enantiomer Analysis Using Hplc And 1h-Nmr, Martin Mai

Student Theses

A molecule is chiral if it cannot be superimposed on its mirror image. Chiral drugs exist as these mirror image enantiomers, which can differ in their pharmacological effects. When a drug’s active molecule exists as a pair of enantiomers, the relative ratio of each enantiomer in the final product can provide information about the source of production for this drug, i.e., whether the drug was legally or illegally produced. However, typical detection methods may not differentiate between enantiomers of a chiral molecule. This thesis study compares three different methods for enantiomer detection of amphetamine, which is a drug often prescribed …

Major Crime Trends Differ In New York City And New York State, Jeffrey A. Butts, Gina Moreno

Publications and Research

Researchers at the John Jay College Research and Evaluation Center analyzed police-reported index crimes across New York State from 2010 to 2024, focusing on trends in violent and property offenses across three regional groups: New York City, its surrounding suburbs, and Upstate New York. While violent and property crimes declined statewide through 2020, both surged in NYC and its suburbs during the COVID-19 pandemic. Upstate regions showed continued or renewed declines. Per capita crime rates reveal more modest increases in NYC and notable decreases in other areas, underscoring regional disparities in crime trends post-2020.

Clacls Reportage, Vol. 1, Fall 2024, Pierina Pighi Bel, Phoenix Paz, Ana María Granados Romero

Center for Latin American, Caribbean, and Latino Studies

This publication unites three compelling articles that offer diverse perspectives and a shared dedication to bridging the gap between academic research and public engagement.

Phoenix Paz presents a vivid ethnographic account of recent migrants in New York City, revealing how state inefficiencies marginalize a sector that contributes daily to the city’s economy.

Pierina Pighi Bel explores the growing appeal of the Republican Party among Latino voters in election cycles, delving into the complexities and inherent contradictions within this trend.

Ana María Granados Romero provides profound insights into migration, gender, and domestic work through her exploration of "La Parada"—a corner in …

A Guide To Assignments For Open Pedagogy And The Seven Principles For A Culturally Responsive, Inclusive And Anti-Racist Curriculum, Gina R. Foster, Wynne Ferdinand, Michael Schoch, Bruce Shenitz, Jacob Moses, Florentina Lonati, Atharva Orpe

Open Educational Resources

As we identify and nurture the pedagogies that align our students’ understandings and our own on their learning and pre-professional needs, many of us find ourselves weaving together elements from various teaching models in place of relying on a sole framework, such as problem-based learning (PBL) or Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Our selection and application of these concepts and strategies manifests our current beliefs as well as our experiential lessons to date. These include teaching and learning and also social justice, evidence-based research, and our understandings of who we are as both human beings and instructors. At John Jay …

Synthesizing The Global English-Language Abortion Narrative: A Comparative Analysis Of Media Discourse, Amy L. Adamczyk, Lindsay J. Lerner

Publications and Research

Abortion is one of the most politically divisive topics currently being discussed in the media. No study has yet attempted to make cross-national comparisons assessing the nuances associated with various views on abortion in the English public press. Using an original hand-coded sample of over 800 English-language newspaper articles from 41 countries that mentioned abortion, we examine how country-level influences and newspaper characteristics shape newspaper portrayals of abortion. Our three-level hierarchical models find that democracy and the freedom it engenders increase the likelihood that newspapers discuss laws, policies, and government claimsmakers when abortion is mentioned. When abortion is legal, newspapers …

Mass Exodus? Police Officer Turnover Intention And Organizational Commitment In New York City, Kenneth M. Quick, Kevin T. Wolff

Publications and Research

Purpose – This study assesses the relationship between job satisfaction, perceived organizational support, and workplace factors on officer turnover intention within an urban, municipal police organization.

Design/methodology/approach – Using data from an online survey of New York City Police Officers (n=1,823), both bivariate analysis and logistic regression models were utilized to assess the salience of police officer job satisfaction, perceived organizational support, and perception of six workplace domains, including financial compensation, environmental factors, professional fulfillment, work/quality of life balance, treatment from management, and occupational risk on predicting turnover intention.

Findings – The cross-sectional study finds that job satisfaction, financial factors …

Minor Role Ii: Youth Under Age 18 And New York City Violence, Jeffrey A. Butts, Gina Moreno

Publications and Research

Researchers from John Jay College of Criminal Justice's Research and Evaluation Center analyzed NYPD arrest data from 2006 to 2024 (with 2024 figures estimated) to assess trends in felony assault, felony robbery, and felony weapon offenses across three age groups: under 18, 18–24, and 25 and older. The study examined concerns about youth crime following New York State’s “Raise the Age” law, which shifted most cases involving individuals under 18 to family court by 2019. While arrests rose across all age groups during the COVID-19 pandemic, trends among youth generally paralleled those of adults. Robbery arrests among youth increased more …

Public-Private Partnerships In Fema: Strengthening Communities Nationwide, Rachael A. Zerr

Publications and Research

This paper explores the role of public-private partnerships (PPPs) in strengthening communities through collaboration with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). It defines FEMA’s mission and outlines the concept of PPPs, emphasizing their importance in enhancing disaster response and recovery efforts. The paper provides framework for establishing a PPP with FEMA, including key steps and practices for successful collaboration. Additionally, it highlights several examples of effective PPPs, including a longstanding partnership with Verizon Wireless. Drawing from FEMA reports and private sector publications, the paper demonstrates how these partnerships contribute to resilience and preparedness, illustrating their potential to improve the efficiency …

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 …

“Community Thinking Spaces”: Exploring The Openings And Possibilities Of A School-Based Intergenerational Community Of Practice, Lucy A. Robins

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This exploratory case study examines the possibilities of creating generative, collaborative, intergenerational learning communities within a traditional public 6-12 school in the United States, as an antidote to the ideologies of adultism, systems of whiteness, and settler colonial logics. The study is situated within a single public school site, where I have been a science teacher and teacher leader for the past eight years. The school, which self-identifies as a “progressive” public school, serves to reify the history of schools as sites for control through what I term a “we know best” ideology. This ideology serves to dismiss and devalue …

Brain Injury And Psychosocial Trauma: Outcomes Among Justice-Involved Individuals, Mahathi D. Kosuri

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Justice-involved individuals experience disproportionately high rates of both traumatic brain injuries (TBI) and psychosocial traumas. However, these traumas have yet to be conceptualized together, leaving a chasm of research on how they interact and influence this population. The current study was the first to measure the effects of TBIs as well as psychosocial trauma among justice-involved men, within the context of executive functioning, history of justice involvement, and recidivism. A sample of men (N=95) from a private correctional facility were given the Ohio State University Traumatic Brain Injury Questionnaire (OSU-TBI-ID), the Lifetime Stressor Checklist- Revised (LSC-R), along with …