Digital Commons Network^™

Relational Spirituality And Maternal Coping In Carceral Contexts: A Participatory Action Study Of Meaning-Making And Mental Health Among Formerly Incarcerated Mothers, Jessica Peters

Dissertations and Theses

Maternal incarceration carries significant psychological, familial, and community consequences, yet limited research centers the mental health experiences of mothers themselves. This study explored how religious and spiritual engagement shape mental health and coping among formerly incarcerated mothers using a participatory action research framework. Guided by this, small groups and semi-structured interviews were conducted with 10 mothers in collaboration with a community-based organization. This approach prioritized lived experience and aimed to reduce barriers to participation among a population often mistrustful of research institutions. Data were analyzed thematically to identify patterns in psychological distress, coping strategies, and meaning-making. Findings revealed pervasive and …

Developing Your Research Project: Writing An Annotated Bibliography, Fabiola Ceballos-Durham

Open Educational Resources

Students build the foundation for a criminal justice research project by evaluating and summarizing scholarly articles and websites in an APA-style annotated bibliography.

Creating A Social Media Campaign, Alexa Capeloto

Open Educational Resources

Students research an issue related to social good and apply visual, news, and digital literacy skills to design an original image and a proposed social media campaign.

Writing To Different Audiences For Different Purposes, Kim Liao

Open Educational Resources

Students research a recent technology and write three pieces for different audiences: an informational guide for nonexperts, an analytical memo for professionals, and a public-facing op-ed. They revise these pieces into a portfolio and reflect on how their writing choices serve each audience and purpose.

Toxicology Case Study Model, Ana Pego

Open Educational Resources

Graduate students apply laboratory skills to an authentic forensic toxicology case by interpreting evidence, recommending analytical methods, and presenting a critical group assessment.

Analyzing An Ai Summary Of An Executive Order, Natalie D. Ebolum

Open Educational Resources

This assignment asks students to critically analyze the Executive Order on Incarceration in Private Prisons by producing an independent summary of its intent, purpose, and implementation, along with best-practice recommendations for improving its effectiveness. Students then use the Grammarly AI Summary Tool to generate an alternative summary and compare it with their own analysis. Through structured self-assessment and revision, students evaluate differences in interpretation, identify gaps or insights, and reflect on the strengths and limitations of AI-assisted analysis. The assignment emphasizes critical policy analysis, ethical use of AI tools, and student-centered judgment.

Ma 250 – Evaluating & Creating With Genai, Mohamed Ben Zid

Open Educational Resources

In this assignment, students use Excel and ChatGPT to design, analyze, and interpret a regression model. They create visualizations, calculate the regression equation manually, and make predictions before consulting AI-generated feedback on their model’s strengths and limitations. Students then compare their own interpretation with ChatGPT’s insights, summarize their findings, and critically assess the model’s accuracy and real-world usefulness. The exercise develops quantitative reasoning, practical AI application, and reflective evaluation skills.

Method Development And Optimization For The Detection Of Synthetic Cannabinoids In Hair Using Lc-Msms, Linda K. Obeng

Student Theses

Synthetic cannabinoids represent one of the most prevalent and high-risk classes of New Psychoactive Substances (NPS), continuously evolving in structure and potency. Their widespread presence in seized materials and toxicology casework underscores the growing need for reliable analytical methods capable of detecting these compounds in biological matrices. Hair offers several advantages for drug testing, including a long detection window, minimal invasiveness, and resistance to adulteration; however, detecting synthetic cannabinoids in hair remains challenging due to their low incorporation levels and structural diversity. This study focuses on the method development and optimization of an LC-MS/MS technique for the detection of selected …

Assessing The Relationship Between Treatment Quality, Matching And Dosage And Juvenile Justice Outcomes Among Youth With Co-Occurring Substance Abuse And Mental Health Disorders, Kevin T. Wolff, Michael T. Baglivio, Joshua A. Lang

Publications and Research

This study examined differences among youth in deep-end juvenile justice residential placement who did, and did not, present with co-occurring disorders. The prevalence of cooccurring mental health and substance use/abuse issues was found to be 19%, far lower than that of prior work. Researchers demonstrated more similarities than differences between youth with and without co-occurring disorders, both in terms of their criminal histories and the prevalence of their criminogenic needs. Additionally, the residential programs across Florida appear to provide treatment at similarly high levels of integrity, as measured by 1) matching treatment services to the highest three dynamic risk assessed …

Halt Under Threat Why Legislators Must Demand Compliance Before Change A Playbook For Action, Vanda Seward

Capstones

This playbook examines the implementation of New York State’s Humane Alternatives to Long-Term Solitary Confinement (HALT) Act and presents evidence demonstrating that the law has not been fully or consistently enforced by the New York State Department of Corrections and Community Supervision (NYSDOCCS). Drawing on findings from the New York State Inspector General, the Correctional Association of New York, the Justice Center, court rulings, and community testimony, the analysis documents persistent violations, including excessive and illegal use of solitary confinement, inadequate documentation, failures to protect vulnerable populations, and insufficient accountability for staff misconduct. The playbook critically evaluates the recommendations of …

Fast & Forensic: Rapid Detection & Quantitation Of 30 + Emerging Novel Psychoactive Substances In Hair Using Lc-Ms/Ms, Seokjin Hwang

Student Theses

The continuous emergence of novel psychoactive substances (NPS) poses a significant challenge for forensic and clinical toxicologists, due to their structural diversity, rapid turnover on the illicit drug market, and limited toxicological information. Hair is a powerful matrix for retrospective drug exposure assessment and monitoring NPS worldwide. Not only does it provide a broad window of detection but also a simple sample exchange amongst laboratories. However, the extraction of multi-class NPS in a single method remains an analytical challenge. Therefore, there is an urgent need for extraction techniques and analytical methods that are both rapid and capable of multi-class quantitation …

Understanding Mental Health Crisis Response Through The Lens Of First Responders, Ella Gibson

Student Theses

Responses to mental health crises are becoming an increasingly contentious topic as cases of extreme police violence or fatality during a crisis are publicized in the media. Although first responders’ experiences with mental health crisis response have been explored in prior literature, there remains a lack of research that gathers data from multiple first responder roles and compares their experiences across groups. There is also a significant gap in research examining the perspectives of co-response teams. This study sought to gather qualitative data on the experiences of police officers, EMTs/paramedics, and co-response team members, and to explore their perceptions of …

Eyewitness Consent To Be Video Recorded: Implications For Identification Accuracy And Confidence, Sarah Argüelles

Student Theses

Recently, a recommendation has emerged for law enforcement to record the full eyewitness identification procedure, recognizing the critical role eyewitness testimony plays in the justice system (Wells et al., 2020). However, in some states, such as New York, law enforcement is required to seek consent from witnesses before recording (Municipal Police Training Council & Division of Criminal Justice Services, 2017). Since this practice is relatively new, there has been limited research on how obtaining consent may affect eyewitness accuracy. It was hypothesized that obtaining consent to video record could be linked to a witness’s confidence in their identification, with higher …

A Protectorate Divided: The Otjimbingue Petition And Settler Contestations Of Railway Construction In German Southwest Africa, 1897–1902, Marta Millar

Publications and Research

Supporters of the State Railway in German Southwest Africa heralded its construction as ‘the dawn of a new era for the protectorate’ (Windhoeker Anzeiger, 27 October 1898). While railways did enable the expansion of colonial communities, not all settlers wrote as optimistically about this change as did the Anzeiger’s editor. Between 1897 and 1902, familial correspondence and debates in the protectorate’s first newspaper, the Windhoeker Anzeiger, reveal how various settlers negotiated the railroad’s transformative impact on colonial society and their everyday lives. Opposition voices argued that the railroad would harm the fragile colonial economy, serving only …

Writing Workshop Journal: A Student-Centered Guide For College Composition, Tanya Zhelezcheva

Open Educational Resources

This comprehensive OER workbook supports ENGL 101 (Composition) students through a structured journal-based writing system. The resource combines Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles with post-process pedagogy to offer diverse pathways for student learning and writing development.

The workbook features:

- 4-component journal entry structure (exercises, reflection, next steps)

- 40+ writing exercises across four categories (Foundation Skills, Reading Logs, Drafting, Growth Mindset)

- Extensive planning and organizational tools (weekly/monthly calendars, goal-setting frameworks)

- Metacognitive reflection exercises that build writing awareness - Backward planning and time management strategies

- Evidence-based approaches to developing thesis statements, integrating sources, and crafting arguments …

Rape Myth Acceptance, Pretrial Publicity, And Decision-Making: An Examination Of Perceptions Of Victim Credibility And Perpetrator Guilt In A Real-World Sexual Assault Case, Lindsey Strouse

Student Theses

This study explores how the media narratives and political perspective of pretrial publicity (PTP) can influence jurors’ perceptions in sexual assault cases, raising significant concerns about justice in courtrooms. Specifically, it examines whether media framing of a real-life sexual assault case — through varying media narratives, with media that either challenges or endorses rape myths, and media source (liberal vs. conservative) — affects mock jurors’ rape myth acceptance (RMA), views of victim credibility, and judgements of perpetrator guilt. Participants first completed a RMA scale, then read mock news articles varying in media narrative and political affiliations (media source), followed by …

The Case For Racial Literacy, Joni Schwartz

Publications and Research

Racial literacy is widespread in America, and as adult literacy educators our mission is to address illiteracy in all its manifestations. We teach literacies in reading and writing, numeracy, computer, speaking, listening, visual, health, and media, each vital to making sense of our world and functioning effectively in it. Racial literacy is just as vital and should be taught as well. I argue that racial literacy is critical to a meaningful civic and community life. Some scholars believe it is critical to the perseverance of democracy. At the very least, many adult learners do not possess an understanding of what …

Cross-Cultural Validity Of The Ppi-R In U.S. College Students, Cassidy Liang

Student Theses

Psychopathy has traditionally been studied using Hare's Psychopathy Checklist-Revised (PCL-R) but self-report measures like the Psychopathic Personality Inventory-Revised (PPI-R) have gained popularity due to comparative ease, speed of administration, and its broader applicability to the general population. However, the validity of the PPI-R across cultures has produced mixed results, particularly in non-Western and non-English speaking participants. This study examined racial/ethnic and gender differences in the PPI-R in a diverse sample of 536 college students. The internal and external validity of the PPI-R was good. The PPI-R correlated with the Triarchic Psychopathy Measure (TriPM), as well as trait anxiety, and empathy …

Syllabus: Gen140 Gender, Activism, And Social Change, Ellie Bell

Open Educational Resources

This course introduces students to general topics in activism, gender studies, and justice. The course will draw connections between gender, race, sexuality and grassroots, community and organizational activism and social justice and change. Students will be expected to apply the knowledge gained in the classroom to observational and documentation projects focusing on the activism occurring on the college campus and in the larger community. The course will introduce key terms in the interdisciplinary fields of gender and activist studies and some of the important debates in these fields. It will then focus on a specific form of activism toward social …

A Few Millimeters Of Bone: How Male Supremacists Leverage Scientific Sexism To Reinforce Misogynistic Ideologies, Robin O'Hanlon

Publications and Research

In recent years, male supremacist actors have reinforced their misogynistic worldviews by using narrative strategies centered on authoritative “common sense” and scientific “fact.” This paper presents a thematic narrative analysis of The Incel Wiki and the Wiki4Men, representing the first formal analysis of the wiki for the men’s rights organization A Voice for Men. The analysis indicates male supremacists use techniques including misappropriation of scientific information, manipulation of statistics, and leveraging pseudoscientific information to develop their narrative strategies of supremacy. The most consistent narrative strategies of scientific sexism on the wikis are male victimhood, denial of inequality between men and …

Mediating Role Of Defense Mechanisms Between Parenting Styles And The Development Of Pathological Narcissism, Jared C. Cordero

Student Theses

The present study examines the relationship between perceived parental styles, grandiose narcissism, vulnerable narcissism, and defense mechanisms with the aim of replicating the Imamgolu & Batigun (2020) research findings. A cross-sectional design was used. Covariates such as sex, age, parental dynamics in youth, and household dynamics in youth. To do this, 150 participants between the ages of 18-65 and residing in the United States were recruited via Prolific. Regarding sex, 66.7% of the participants were female, 32.7% were male, and 0.7% were intersex. Upon recruitment, participants completed a battery consisting of the Pathological Narcissism Inventory, Narcissistic Personality Inventory-16, Perceived Parental …

An Exploration Of Temporally Differentiated Associations Between Alcohol Outlets, Social Disorganization, And Assaults: A Multilevel Approach, Jinuk Jeong, Yunho Yeom

Publications and Research

A substantial body of research consistently shows that the concentration of alcohol outlets is positively associated with violent crimes, such as assaults. While recent studies have incorporated both spatial and temporal dimensions of this relationship, particularly within-day variations, how this temporally differentiated association of alcohol outlets with violent crimes varies depending on the broader context, such as social disorganization, remains underexplored. This study addresses this research gap by investigating whether the relationship between alcohol outlets and assaults in New York City from 2017 to 2019 differs by time of the day, while accounting for neighborhood structures in terms of their …

Receptions Of Mental Health Emergency Services In New York City, Daniel R. Samost

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Mental health emergency response has become a highly scrutinized topic following the Black Lives Matter movement and several notable incidents of mental health emergency service users being killed by police responders. Qualitative interviews were conducted with mental health emergency service users to better understand the experience of using mental health emergency services, garner critical feedback of the service, and explore recommendations to improve future response. A total of 23 participants conducted interviews and detailed 40 incidents of mental health emergency service utilization. These interviews were then coded and analyzed. There were a few major findings from the data. Just over …

Giving Voice To The Frames Of War: A Digital Humanities Framework For Evaluating War Crimes Databases, Leila Markosian

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Developments in digital technologies have complicated existing debates around the ethics of cataloging war crimes and human rights violations. Digital humanities methods of evaluating digital scholarship can help to construct a framework for evaluating war crimes databases, a process which requires a fine-tuned critical analysis aimed towards understanding the purpose of compiling the database, the platform or media template through which the database is presented, and the communicative potentials of the database. The following paper presents a survey of the existing literature on war crime databases and the politics of memory; a model of how war crimes database analyses may …

Interspecies Responsivity In Early Modern Drama And Animal Performances, Taylor C. Culbert

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation proposes an expansive, interspecies definition of performance that uses behavior rather than cognition as the decisive feature and illustrates how such a definition can reshape our approach to theatre and performance history. Using the concept of responsivity, which refers to the embodied and affective ways that humans and non-human animals acknowledge and react to one another, I trace human–animal interactions across a variety of sixteenth- and seventeenth-century performance genres, from the aristocratic stag hunt and entertainments involving trained animals to the plays of Molière and Shakespeare. Drawing on my experience training animals, I offer a new perspective on …

Scripted For Surveillance: Parole Revocation Hearings And The Performance Of Procedure In New York, Kelsey G. Greeff

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This thesis examines parole revocation hearings in New York as complex performances that extend carceral control beyond prison walls. Drawing on a composite vignette from the Bronx parole court, it analyzes the interplay between procedural reform, constitutional due process, and neoliberal governance. Using a dramaturgical framework informed by Michel Foucault’s discourse analysis and Judith Butler’s theory of performativity, the study identifies four interrelated processes: the judge as director, who orchestrates hearings according to institutional priorities; normalization, where repetition embeds structural inequality as routine; type-marking, the classification of parolees into predefined roles through accumulated records and cues; and the extension of …

Machine Learning And Crime Prevention, Emily Lizewski

Student Theses

Predictive policing uses machine learning to analyze crime patterns and help law enforcement better efficient use their resources. These tools can improve accuracy by highlighting complex trends in large sets of data. While this technology has its advantages, it also raises important ethical and social questions. Within this paper we looks at how predictive policing works, focusing on the machine learning models often used such as decision trees, random forests, gradient boosting, and models that factor in both time and location. It also explores how these tools might unintentionally reinforce biases already present in historical crime data. In reviewing the …

Minor Role Iv: Violent Crime More Of An Adult Problem Today, Jeffrey A. Butts, Gina Moreno

Publications and Research

Using national and New York City arrest data, the John Jay College Research and Evaluation Center presents a report that shows juvenile arrests for violent crimes have significantly decreased since the 1990s, while adult crime rates have fallen at a slower pace. Despite these trends, some continue to blame youth for crime spikes, often disregarding research that supports the effectiveness of juvenile justice reforms. The findings suggest that, rather than contributing to crime, these reforms align with adolescent development science and have not led to an increase in violent offenses.

The Impact Of Mental Health Courts On Public Attitudes Held Toward Justice-Involved Individuals With Mental Illness, Maeve Porter

Student Theses

Prior research has established that mental health court programs play an important role in reducing recidivism and mental health symptoms of defendants. However, there is a lack of understanding of the stigma that justice-involved individuals may encounter upon release from mental health court into the community, and the extent to which the general public is aware of mental health court programs. The present study sought to address public perceptions regarding mental health courts, their efficacy, and their participants based on the awareness and availability of these specialized courts in two similar states (New York and New Jersey), one in which …

Effects Of Rapid Shearing Depending On Environmental Factors: Acrylic, Modacrylic, And Polypropylene Fibers, Charles K. Jin

Student Theses

Textiles can often be found damaged in forensic casework, and analysis of these defects can yield valuable information. Different methods of fiber fracture leave behind varying alterations in structure on individual fiber ends, leading to their possible identification and connection to a case. Interactions between high-speed impacts and synthetic fabrics composed of thermoplastic fibers are classified as rapid shear or high-speed tensile breaks. In these situations, unique fiber end characteristics can form due to excessive heat generation that is unable to dissipate quickly enough to prevent fiber end morphology from changing.

This study aimed to explore how different external conditions …