Digital Commons Network^™

Typologies Of Battering: Uncovering Patterns Of Coercive Tactics Used By Abusive Men In A Mixed Methods Study, Abbie L. Tuller

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Coercive control provides a current day feminist understanding of intimate partner violence (IPV). Recent research has demonstrated the significance of coercive control and suggests it provides a more accurate understanding of IPV than using physical violence alone. Utilizing a feminist lens, this study’s first aim was to explore if typologies based on coercive control could be developed. The second and third aims were to explore if demographic differences and differences in masculinity exist across typologies. The final aim of this study was to continue the feminist understanding of IPV using the moral emotions of shame and guilt as an extension …

“Bending The Law” – Weimar Judiciary And The Political Bias Paradox Of The Legal System, Irit Bloch

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This interdisciplinary, microhistory project which draws on historical, legal and sociological methodologies, examines the relationship between a new and unstable democracy and a hostile judicial system in the Weimar Republic (Germany, 1919-1933). In particular, it asks how Weimar judges who were bound to codes of law and adhered to the rule of law were able to manipulate laws and to produce judgments along ideological lines while keeping a semblance of legality. By analyzing judicial decisions in three non-political, criminal cases, this research explains the mechanism of subversion and offers a nuanced explanation for the judiciary's motivations to abuse the law. …

Nursing Perspectives On Intimate Partner Violence Screening In The Emergency Department, Justin Cabrera

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Using descriptive and quality descriptive (QD) analysis, emergency department nurses from around the country completed a modified version of the Physician Readiness to Manage Intimate Partner Violence Survey (PREMIS) tool to gain insight on their attitudes, knowledge, and preparedness about working with patient survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) regarding their willingness to and comfort in engaging in IPV screening practices. In total, 1,523 responses were received from emergency department nurses currently or formerly in practice.

Findings show that there was no correlation between emergency department nurses’ education and training on IPV and willingness and comfort with IPV screening with …

Doc/U/Ment: Affinities In 20th And 21st-Century Documental Poetics, Katherine Payne

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation presents, analyzes, and builds on the existing literary genealogy of documental poetry. In 2020 Michael Leong proposed the term documental poetry to describe the turn toward source materials in 21^st-century North American poetry, seen in longform research-based poems that explicitly incorporate documentation and seek to intervene in cultural memory. Using Ludwig Wittgenstein’s concept of family resemblance, I argue that there are clear affinities between 21^st-century poets and their 20^th-century literary forerunners, also that an expansion of the scope of documental poetics is needed. The three nodes of connection I examine are works …

Abuse Victimization And Impulsivity In Incarcerated Males: Examining The Roles Of Affective Instability And Trauma Symptoms, Jacqueline K. Douglas

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Incarcerated individuals with a history of physical and/or sexual abuse have been found to exhibit increased levels of impulsivity compared to those with no abuse history (Carli et al., 2014; Davis et al., 2017; Sergentanis et al., 2014). Given that impulsivity is a risk factor for criminal delinquency (Carroll et al., 2006; Kamaluddin et al., 2015; Zimmerman, 2010), it is important to gain a thorough understanding of psychological factors that may contribute to higher levels of impulsivity in incarcerated populations. The present study examined the mechanisms underlying the relationship of physical and/or sexual abuse history to impulsivity in a sample …

Examining The Prevalence And Psychopathological Correlates Of Paraphilic Interests In A Non-Clinical Sample, Dylan H. Abrams

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The paraphilias are among the most contentious diagnoses in contemporary psychological discourse. One of the major debates is over the extent to which paraphilic interests and behaviors should be considered “deviant.” To address this issue, extant research has examined the prevalence of paraphilic interests and their correlation with psychopathology. Though findings suggest that certain paraphilic interests are relatively common, existing data may misrepresent true prevalence rates due to racially and ethnically homogenous sampling. Additionally, though an association between paraphilias and psychopathology has been found in forensic and clinical samples, this relation may not generalize to all individuals with paraphilic interests. …

From Voting Rights To Voter Turnout: Three Papers On The Interplay Of Racial Resentment, Racial Threat, And Politics, Kevin Morris

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Paper 1 begins by exploring the role of white racial anxieties in the formation and furtherance of narratives about election fraud. It argues that white Americans face a psychological dilemma: despite having a strong desire to reject the outcomes of recent elections that disproportionately benefit nonwhite Americans, they nevertheless seek to justify a political system that has long accrued benefits to their own racial group. This tension might be discharged by accusing nonwhite voters of fraud, thus maintaining the legitimacy of electoral politics. The paper uses three tests to show that this process is likely at play. First, public rhetorics …

Evaluating The Effect Of Cctv On Crime Occurrence And Case Clearances In Fayetteville, North Carolina: A Microsynthetic Control Quasi-Experiment, Amanda L. Thomas

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Closed circuit television (CCTV) surveillance cameras have become widely accepted as a traditional crime prevention measure used by law enforcement agencies across the globe. The proliferation of CCTV technology as a crime reduction mechanism has led to a corresponding growth in the evidence base of its effect on crime. While CCTV is generally associated with a moderate reduction in crime, these evaluations have suffered from certain limitations. First, rigorous quasi-experimental designs using advanced matching techniques have not been used enough in CCTV research and second, these evaluations remain largely one-dimensional, as additional outcome measures and other camera-specific features have gone …

Understanding Victim-Offender Overlap Among Youth In Custody In The United States And Taiwan, Tzu-Ying Lo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The issue of the victim-offender overlap was identified more than 60 years ago (Wolfgang, 1958), but it was not until the last decade that research interest in the victim-offender overlap began to flourish. Although the victim-offender overlap is arguably established by a substantial body of research, a closer look at the existing literature will find scant attention paid to the incarcerated population. Recent studies (Daquin & Daigle, 2020; Kuo et al., 2021; Toman, 2017) have begun to discover the victim-offender overlap in adult prisons, but the victim-offender overlap in juvenile facilities remains underexplored. To fill the research gap, this dissertation …

Beyond Punishment: A Critical And Interpretive Phenomenology Of Accountability, Cameron Rasmussen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

State responses to interpersonal violence in the US have long been focused on punishment and prison. While opposition to punitive responses to interpersonal violence has been marginal, there are small but growing efforts to challenge the primacy of punishment and incarceration. In its place, different non-punitive approaches to justice have been practiced and promoted including restorative justice and transformative justice, which see accountability, not punishment, as a primary goal. Accountability has been theorized and researched largely from the perspective of survivors of harm, and there is limited research on the experiences of people who have caused harm and engaged in …

A Blackgirl Artivisionary Mosaic: Art-Based Participatory Refusals To School Punishment, Tyese A. Brown

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The study participants were co-research partners and engaged in a Project Based Learning six-week summer project in an urban northeastern metropolis community-based non-profit where they received stipends for participation. This dissertation explored how Blackgirls (aged 14 -21) express their experiences with disparate school punishment through community-based participatory artmaking. We called the photos, poems, collages, sculptures, storyboards, digital art, visual art, songs, spoken word, and videos Artivisions (art I vision). In the Jam Sessions, a subset of the partners we called curators discussed the pieces, shared their experiences, and offered insight into Blackgirls’ responses, coping skills, and decision-making regarding school punishment. …

Quality Management And Oversight Of Texas Forensic Science Service Providers, Sarah P. Chu

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Forensic science oversight in the U.S. largely relies upon voluntary third-party forensic laboratory accreditation programs. Without a national system of regulation and given the highly fragmented local systems of control, few forensic science service providers (FSSPs) are subject to regulatory oversight beyond their third-party accreditors. Texas is unique in its establishment of a robust statewide oversight system and a strong governmental culture of transparency, permitting this study of forensic quality management. This study consisted of two parts. The first part of this dissertation characterized and analyzed quality incident reports (QIRs) published by the Texas Department of Public Safety Crime Laboratory …

The Relationship Between “Black Lives Matter” Movement Protests And Police Arrests In New York City, Chicago, And Los Angeles: An Empirical Analysis, Lukas Louwagie

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The summer of 2020 marked a boiling point of protest and frustration at long-criticized police behavior in the United States. The events that summer revealed the “Black Lives Matter” (BLM) movement as something that could not be ignored and was capable of drawing national support and attention across many dividing lines (Mitchell 2020). Today, it seems evident that the BLM movement has had a substantial impact on modern political discourse—yet its impact on police behavior and reform, the primary target of the movement, is murky. Police departments across the nation are pushing back against calls to defund and reform their …

Factors Associated With The Life Satisfaction Of Gay And Bisexual Men And Their Variation By Race, Robert G. Considine

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Although the literature is replete with evidence showing that gay and bisexual men experience higher rates of negative outcomes than their heterosexual counterparts, the literature exploring the well-being of this population is limited. Life satisfaction is a key aspect of well-being. There has been little research on the factors influencing life satisfaction for gay and bisexual men. Additionally, how these factors may vary by race for this population remains understudied. This gap in our knowledge impedes the ability of social workers to support gay and bisexual men in increasing life satisfaction. In addition, knowledge of how these factors vary by …

Policing The Borders Of An Empire: A Political History Of Tagging (1960–2008), Maria Heyaca

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Of the nearly 6 million people monitored by the prison and immigration enforcement complex in the US, a little over 4 million, or 70%, are under community supervision. If we narrow in on the nearly 350,000 people being monitored by the immigration system, the figure goes up to 93%. Yet, most studies on criminalization conducted in the US, prioritize confined individuals, neglecting community supervision. In this dissertation, I present the first theoretically driven, historical and sociological analysis that comprehensively targets fundamental questions about the political history of electronic monitoring in the US -- a practice also known as tagging. I …

Ethnic Tensions In The Western Balkans And The Experience Of Ethnic Minorities, Nadina Resulani

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The Western Balkan has experienced a past of ethnic turmoil. From the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo to ethnic tensions in Serbia, Montenegro, and North Macedonia. Understanding that ethnicity itself continues to be a salient factor in Western Balkan, the question remains how Western Balkan states were able to remove themselves from the front light of ethnic tensions considering today these countries are known as being tourist destinations, cultural and academic meccas, and democratic candidates in line to join the European Union. In reviewing and comparing the geopolitical and social environment of three Western Balkan states: Montenegro, …

Examining The Role Of Evidence-Based Suspicion In Racial Disparities In Wrongful Convictions, Jacqueline Katzman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

There are clear racial disparities in the rates of wrongful convictions, with Black exonerees disproportionately represented among the population of those exonerated, in DNA and non-DNA exonerations alike (National Registry of Exonerations, 2022; Innocence Project, 2022). This racial disparity also exists for those exonerees who were wrongfully convicted, at least in part, because an eyewitness mistakenly identified them. For decades, when eyewitness scholars explored racial bias, they focused on the cross-race effect or own-race bias among eyewitnesses, a bias positing that witness performance suffers when a witness is asked to make an identification of a cross-race face (Lee & Penrod, …

The Lived Experience Of Using Opiates Among Young Adults, Catherine Mbewe

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The purpose of this research study is to explore the lived experience of using opiates, as described by young adults aged 18 to 25 years. Over the last 2 decades, opioid use disorders (OUDs) and opiate overdose deaths have increased dramatically in the United States. What used to be a problem primarily contained to minority groups in poor inner-city areas is now increasingly common in all races, genders, ages, and classes. There has also been an alarming increase in opiate use—including fentanyl, both legal and illegal—among young adults. While much of the literature has been focused on the opiate use …

Fighting The Invisibility Of Domestic Violence, Yesenny Fernandez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Analyzing the invisibility of domestic violence in New York City as 32% of women in the city experience intimate partner physical violence. In this project, domestic violence refers to all different kinds of violence that occur in a home between all the members who live there regardless of whether they are intimate partners or not. The data focuses on all the daily calls received by the New York Police Department (NYPD) and NYC Mayor’s Office to End Domestic and Gender-Based Violence (ENDGBV) regarding domestic violence related incidents such as physical, psychological, emotional, and sexual violence, or murder. Even though many …

An Offer You Cannot Refuse: Understanding The Elusive Construct Of "Voluntary" Plea Decisions, Melanie B. Fessinger

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Defendants often plead guilty in exchange for reduced punishments. Some argue that these reduced punishments are necessary for the functioning of the criminal justice system, whereas others argue that they are inherently coercive because they place a burden on the exercise of constitutional rights. This potential coercion is of concern because the constitution requires valid guilty pleas to be made by defendants voluntarily. However, “voluntary” is an elusive construct of which courts, scholars, and laypeople have differing definitions. Although limited research has focused specifically on perceptions of voluntary pleas, decades of research have shown that individuals generally perceive decisions more …

The Punitive Laboratory Of Neoliberalism: A Cross-National Examination, Beth A. Fera

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

A large body of research has been produced to explain global punitive trends in recent decades. Neoliberalism, an economic philosophy expressed by market deregulation, privatization, and the retrenchment of social supports, has been offered as an explanation for increases in cross-national punitiveness. According to neoliberal penality theory, neoliberalism has shifted principles guiding punishment practices and the treatment of offenders, which has resulted in harsher national responses to crime. However, many tenets of this theory have not yet been tested empirically. Drawing heavily on propositions from neoliberal penality, group-threat, and penal populism literature, this dissertation examines the relationship between economic shifts, …

A Multifaceted, Non-Militarized Approach To Security Dynamics In Protected Areas: From Foot Patrols, To Tourism, And Local Communities, Monique Sosnowski

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

A wide range of interventions have been implemented to reduce wildlife poaching incidents across the globe. These include community-based strategies, such as the development of alternative livelihoods; legal strategies, such as the development of legal frameworks at local, regional, and international levels; and wildlife law enforcement efforts, such increasing patrolling efforts. While community-based and legal strategies generally attempt to reduce the motivating factors surrounding the commission of crimes, wildlife law enforcement further attempts to prevent crimes from happening, assuming that someone will always be inclined. Given this inevitability, the question is raised regarding how to best reduce the occurrence of …

From Prostitution To Sex Trafficking: Dilemmas Of Victim Service Workers Helping Chinese Immigrant Women At The Courts, Yen-Chiao Liao

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study aims to explore the policy ambivalence towards commercial sex trade, resulted by prostitution laws and anti-trafficking policies in the United States. It focuses on Chinese immigrant women and those who served them in the Human Trafficking Intervention Courts (the HTICs) in New York City. Specifically, it investigates the process of Chinese immigrant women becoming potential “victims” of sex trafficking from the perspectives of the service workers, the social workers and the public defenders. Though research on human trafficking seems to be exploding for the past decades since the passage of the Trafficking Victims Protection Act (TVPA) in 2000, …

The Impact Of Utilitarian Public Policies On Minority Communities: A Comparison Of New York City And New South Wales, Australia., Nicholas Reyes

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The purpose of this thesis is to highlight and critique the ways in which utilitarianism manifests itself in comparative public policy. While public policy studies tend to focus on national levels, cities, and states can also be major sites of theoretical and policy formulation that are adopted globally. The moral ethics that are involved in public policy are especially important because these policies have a direct impact on society. Utilitarianism encompasses the logic of utility maximization: the ends justify the means and the idea that the moral ethical choice is the one that will produce the greatest good for the …

Bearer Negotiable Instruments: Addressing A Financial Intelligence Gap And Identifying Criminogenic Weaknesses, Hollis B. Kegg

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Bearer Negotiable Instruments (BNI) are a long-standing category of financial instruments used to transfer large amounts of money in ways that may not be subject to regulation, reporting, tracking, review, or oversight. There is limited information available on BNIs, and no evidence that any studies have been undertaken on BNIs alone, much less reported. Increasingly, BNIs are being used for illegal purposes including money laundering. This study gathers information about their characteristics, nature, purpose, legal status, and numbers. It also focuses on the crime risks associated with BNIs, the crime opportunities they facilitate, and the criminal weaknesses in the financial …

Investigating Key Risk Factors Across Violent And Non-Violent Extremists In The United States, Leevia Dillon

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Problem Statement: This study investigated risk factors commonly highlighted by prior studies and risk assessment tools (e.g., Violent Extremism Risk Assessment Version 2 (VERA-2) and Extremism Risk Guidance 22+ (ERG22+)). It compared the risk factors across and within two groups – violent extremists (i.e., jihadists and far-right extremists) and non-violent extremists (i.e., jihadists and far-right financial/material support crime extremists) in the U.S. Jihadists and far-rightists are the two greatest security threats facing the U.S., and the findings can aid counterterrorism efforts on assessment development, identifying effective risk factors across varying groups, and assessing violence risk. Research Questions/Objectives: This study aimed …

Social Identity, Scientific Practice, And The Production Of Social Knowledge: An Ethnographic Investigation Of American Social Psychology Laboratories, Donald V. Brown Jr

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Social identity has the ability to permeate a multitude of domains in everyday life. Therefore, the science of social psychology—influential due to its impact in education, social and public policy, and the law—rightfully foregrounds the presence of social identity categories in the theorizing and empirical work of the discipline. Many researchers consider social identities such as race and gender to be socially constructed categories. This allows researchers to understand these identities in light of their history, complexity, and relationships to each other. However, the practical application and use of social identities as socially constructed “objects of study” is uncommon in …

Extremism In America: Explaining Variations In Ideologically Motivated Fatal Violence, Celinet Duran

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation uses data from the United States Extremist Crime Database (ECDB) to assess the nature of extremist violence between left-wing, far-right and al-Qaeda and associated movements (AQAM) inspired ideological fatal violence. It extends the empirical literature on extremist violence in three significant ways by: (1) expanding an existing database to provide a comparative component that is both timely and policy-relevant and conveys a more complete picture of the nature of domestic extremism in the U.S.; (2) systematically comparing extremist violence across the left-wing, far-right and AQAM ideologies to better assess the nuances of extremist violence; and (3) applying empirical …

David Versus Goliath: The Power Of Weakness In Asymmetric Warfare—Lessons From History, Nicholas K. Petaludis

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Under what conditions do violent nonstate actors (VNA) succeed against states? Why does David sometimes beat Goliath? Since at least the time of Thucydides and the Peloponnesian Wars, the realist narrative in international relations measures power primarily in relative, coercive, and deterrent terms. Strong states should accordingly face fewer constraints and enjoy more options while pursuing their national interests. Unconventional warfare, and its subsets of terrorism and insurgency, should—given these circumstances, end in VNA failure. Sometimes, however, VNAs find success. By comparing the literature on historical and current case studies, I propose that a set of preconditions and two mechanisms …

Unlocking Potential: The School-To-Prison Pipeline For Students With Disabilities, Navena F. Chaitoo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This research uses quasi-experimental, matched sampling to examine the school-to-prison pipeline for students with disabilities using data from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. This study presents novel insights into an at-risk group that has faced disproportionate rates of school discipline and incarceration. The study finds school suspension to be associated with future involvement in the criminal legal system and lower educational attainment. Disability was not found to mediate the relationship between suspension and future involvement in the criminal legal system or the relationship between suspension and academic outcomes. However, disability was found to be a statistically …