Digital Commons Network^™

Can We Do It? : The Feasibility Of Youth Restorative Justice Implementation In Worcester, April M. Hooper

Sustainability and Social Justice

This paper addresses the feasibility of implementing a restorative justice process in the juvenile justice system in Worcester, Massachusetts from a community stakeholder perspective. Strengths, barriers, process, and collective will in Worcester were explored. Findings of this research include that while Worcester has many strengths, the barriers and lack of collective will may interfere with any immediate attempts to implement restorative justice processes within the local juvenile justice system. It concludes that while restorative justice approaches may be feasible in the longer term, current implementation is unlikely.

Childhood Trauma, A Cycle Of Violence: Worcester, Ma, Samantha Arsenault

Sustainability and Social Justice

This research examines the relationship between childhood trauma, indicated by early police contact, and the probability of later negative life experiences, including involvement in and perpetration of violence, criminal activity and gang involvement for men age 0-27 in Worcester, MA. This research was conducted using probit and tobit regression analysis using the Worcester Police Dataset. This study shows a positive and highly statistically significant correlation between childhood trauma and gang involvement as well as involvement in violence, perpetration of violence, and the number of incidents of violence. This suggests that a crisis intervention for childhood trauma, including witness-based childhood trauma, …

A Partnership's Capacity For Community Impact Understood Through Neoliberal Technologies Of Risk And Responsibilization: A Look At Worcester Massachusetts Senator Charles E. Shannon Jr. Community Safety Initative Partnership Worcester Massachusetts’ Senator Charles E. Shannon Jr. Community Safety Initiative Partnership, Katie Byrne

Sustainability and Social Justice

Since 2006, the Charles E. Shannon Jr. Community Safety Initiative has sought to reduce youth and gang violence in multiple Massachusetts cities through partnerships of community organizations, research institutions and police departments. Worcester, Massachusetts was an original recipient of Shannon funding due to its historic and increasing problem of youth and gang violence. Using a framework of governmentality, one of the ways crime is problematized and controlled is through the use of neoliberal technologies of risk and responsibilization, underscoring neoliberalism’s emphasis on personal responsibility. When risk is used to govern and assigned to individuals and groups of people living in …

The Effects Of Stress On False Memory, Claire Van Vranken

Undergraduate Psychology Research Methods Journal

This study looks at the impact of stress on the creation of these false memories, using the Deese-Roediger-McDermott paradigm (DRM). A false memory is a memory of an event that never really occurred, but is believed that it occurred by the person remembering it. In a typical DRM study, participants are given a list of words that fall under the same category. When the participants are later asked to recall the words on the list, 40% of the participants recall a word that was not on the list with a high rate of confidence (Roediger & McDermott, 1995). Stress has …

New Irish Research In Criminology, Law, Childhood, Family And The Community, Matt Bowden, Carmel Gallagher, Ann Marie Halpenny, Mairéad Seymour

DIT Publications

No abstract provided.

Isu Today- May 31, 2016, Indiana State University, Communications And Marketing

University Announcements - ISU Today

No abstract provided.

Isu Today- May 20, 2016, Indiana State University, Communications And Marketing

University Announcements - ISU Today

No abstract provided.

Isu Today- May 23, 2016, Indiana State University, Communications And Marketing

University Announcements - ISU Today

No abstract provided.

Isu Today- May 25, 2016, Indiana State University, Communications And Marketing

University Announcements - ISU Today

No abstract provided.

Does Crime Correlate With Fear?: Analyzing The Spatial Relationship Between Perceptions Of Safety And Crime Using Sketch Maps And Geographic Information Systems (Gis) In The Main South Neighborhood Of Worcester, Ma, Marina Khananayev

Sustainability and Social Justice

The relationship between reported crime and residential perceptions of safety is understudied and inconclusive due to its highly complicated nature. This study seeks to narrow this gap by using sketch maps collected from residents about their safety and crime data. Two methods, one visual, the other statistical (Bivariate LISA), were tested using data from sketch maps drawn by about 95 survey respondents and crime data spanning three years (2011-2014). Data was disaggregated by gender, age, and length of residency. Visual analysis of results show that perceptions of safety occur at a fine scale. Respondents marked sketch maps at varying scales …

Ensuring Compensation For Wrongful Imprisonment And Wrongful Detention In Afghanistan, Hijratullah Safi

California Western International Law Journal

No abstract provided.

51st International Congress On Medieval Studies, Medieval Institute, Western Michigan University

International Congress on Medieval Studies Archive

The printed program of the 51st International Congress on Medieval Studies (May 12-15, 2016), including the Corrigenda.

Isu Today- May 24, 2016, Indiana State University, Communications And Marketing

University Announcements - ISU Today

No abstract provided.

Academics: The Newsletter Of The Swosu College Of Arts And Sciences, Peter Grant

aCAdemicS: The Newsletter of the SWOSU College of Arts & Sciences

No abstract provided.

College Of Arts And Sciences E-News Issue 37: May 2016, College Of Arts And Sciences

College of Arts and Sciences news

• 2016 Faculty and Staff Awards
• CAS staff members “make a difference” for WMU
• First Annual High School Model UN Conference Held at WMU
• Communication prof receives Professor of the Year award
• Historical novelist snags Light Center research grant
• WMU student wins honorable mention for documentary
• Doug Clifford ’16 political science, interns for 60th District Service Office
• ARC students hold panel discussion on Syrian refugees in crisis

University Magazine Spring 2016, University News Service, Office Of Alumni Relations

University Publications

This is the official magazine for RIT Alumni. Issued thrice a year in spring, fall and winter. Printing began in 1999.

Public Defenders, Local Control, And Brown V. Board Of Education, Russell C. Gabriel

Mercer Law Review

The topics the Mercer Law Review Symposium addresses-race, history, criminal law, and the South-have a long reach across time, place, and the spectrum of justice. It is both temptingly easy and distressfully complicated to disentangle the strands of the Southern tapestry, woven from past to present. The theory of this Essay is the easy part. Evaluating the correctness of the theory is more complicated. I am indebted to Mercer Law Review for inviting the effort.

When the United States Supreme Court decided Gideon v. Wainright' and told the states that they were required to provide lawyers to poor defendants accused …

The Priorities And Accomplishments Of Kentucky Legislators : Is There A Gender Difference?, Amanda Allen

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

This thesis uses Kentucky as a case study of gender differences in the policy priorities and perceptions of accomplishments of state legislators. The research question is, “are there gender differences in the legislative priorities and perceptions of accomplishments of Kentucky legislators?” The legislative priorities of the legislators seemed to be similar, along with their own classification of women’s issues. The perceptions of success demonstrated that male legislators were not necessarily more likely to attribute success to themselves, whereas women would attribute success to collaboration efforts. The research was completed through confidential interviews with Kentucky legislators and analysis of the 2015 …

America Is Slowly Awakening To The Structural Unfairness In Our Criminal Justice System, Mary Kelly Tate

Richmond Journal of Law and the Public Interest

Book review of Just Mercy: A Story of Justice and Redemption by Bryan Stevenson.

Cleveland’S Greater University Circle Initiative: An Anchor-Based Strategy For Change, Walter Wright, Kathryn W. Hexter, Nick Downer

All Maxine Goodman Levin School of Urban Affairs Publications

Cities are increasingly turning to their “anchor” institutions as drivers of economic development, harnessing the power of these major economic players to benefit the neighborhoods where they are rooted. This is especially true for cities that are struggling with widespread poverty and disinvestment. Urban anchors— typically hospitals and universities—have sometimes isolated themselves from the poor and struggling neighborhoods that surround them. But this is changing. Since the late 1990s, as population, jobs, and investment have migrated outward, these “rooted in place” institutions are becoming a key to the long, hard work of revitalization. In Cleveland, the Greater University Circle Initiative …

Mandatory Minimum Sentences: Examining The Unfair Consequences Of Establishing Fairness, Sami Ghubril

2016 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

America’s war on drugs caused a significant increase in federal mandatory minimum sentencing laws. These laws were designed to serve as a deterrent to crime, carrying excessively punitive sentences for basic drug offenses, often without the possibility of parole. These laws are problematic because they skew the balance of power in the criminal justice system and treat medical problems as legal ones. This work will examine the history of America’s mandatory minimum sentencing laws, explain their expansion during America’s war on drugs, and outline the impact these laws have on society. This paper will demonstrate that mandatory minimum sentencing laws …

The Relationship Between State Sponsored Terrorism And Failed States: A Case Study Of Syria, Jacob Smith

2016 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Terrorism is not a new phenomenon, but over the past ten years it has taken a dangerous turn. Terrorist groups have become more powerful than ever before, appropriating enough resources to gain regional influence on a scale traditionally only seen by states. This can be largely attributed to the failing of traditional governments to maintain control of their territory and people. The resulting chaos creates an environment in which terrorists thrive. My research focused on Syria and its fall to determine whether the terrorist practices tolerated or endorsed by the al-Assad regime are to blame. Historical terrorist actions linked to …

A Narrative Inquiry Of Protest Songs: Comparing The Anti-War Music Of Vietnam And Iraq, Sophia K. Yanik

Sociology and Criminology Undergraduate Honors Theses

This research examines the social role of protest music in wartime eras through lyrical content analysis. By analyzing songs across the Vietnam War era and the Iraq War era, the shifting role of protest music across generations reveals not only how this music influences and encourages different social aggregates, but also how it adapts to remain relevant in a continuously modernizing American society. This research thus serves to demonstrate the impact of narratives in social movements and the sway narratives have in shaping public perspectives through their encouragement of solidarity between diverse social groups. Methodology includes narrative analysis of two …

Aging American Prisons: Length Of Stay, Dying Behind Bars, And Implications For Public Health, Stephanie G. Barger

Sociology and Criminology Undergraduate Honors Theses

One notable consequence of mass incarceration is the growing population of elderly prison inmates in the U.S. This growth raises questions concerning the causes and implications of such a change, as housing older prisoners places a financial strain on state and federal correctional systems. Because this added cost is largely a result of medical needs, the growing elderly inmate population has raised questions about the impact of incarceration on health. This study investigates the causes of this “graying” of American prisons and its potential effects on correctional and community health. Using National Corrections Reporting Program data from 1990 to 2009, …

Commencement Program 2016 May: College Of Liberal Arts, The University Of Texas At Arlington

Commencement Programs, Photos, and Video

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Intimate Partner Violence On Mental Health Well-Being Among Women Seeking Help From A Police Station, Cecilia Mengo

Social Work Dissertations - Archive

Studies have examined the relationship between IPV and mental health. However, there is limited knowledge on women who seek help from police stations because many studies have used samples of women residing in domestic violence shelters and medical clinics. The purpose of this dissertation is to understand self-reported mental health symptoms among women seeking help from a police station. Evidence shows that there are many variables that affect the link between IPV and mental health. This dissertation specifically explores the impact of demographic risk factors, type and number of IPV incidents, victim referral needs, and protective factors (social support, coping …

Qualities That Influence Guardian Ad Litem Effectiveness, Ilana Kornfeld

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

The use of Guardians ad Litem (GALs) in child abuse and neglect cases has become increasingly common throughout the world. It has, in fact, become standard procedure in child welfare proceedings in the United States. GALs are charged with presenting children's best interests in court and ensuring that each child has a voice in the process. Ideally, GALs are consistently effective in doing so. However, GALs have extremely high caseloads that potentially limit the time they can spend with their children. In addition, little research has been done on what qualities make an effective GAL. Knowing what qualities increase GAL …

Diversity-Related Experiences And Academic Performance Among Ethnic Minority College Students, Amanda K. Blume

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Students of color experience numerous educational disadvantages compared to White students. These disadvantages begin in elementary school and continue into college and adulthood. Ethnic minority students typically have less resources available to them than White students and are typically less prepared for college—academically and financially. Once students of color enroll in college, they face additional barriers due to discrimination and negative attitudes towards diversity. These factors play a key role in student engagement and persistence. The campus racial climate of a university, defined as the overall racial environment of the campus, has been shown to strongly influence students’ feelings of …

Exceptionally Cleared Cases In Intimate Partner Violence: A Comparison Of Same-Sex Couples Versus Heterosexual Couples, Clarice Ambler

Undergraduate Honors Capstone Projects

Most of the literature regarding intimate partner violence (IPV) focuses on heterosexual couples, with little emphasis on how same-sex couples are specifically and uniquely affected by IPV, especially in terms of how such cases are treated by the criminal justice system. The purpose of this study is to identify factors that influence the odds of intimate partner violence (IPV) cases being exceptionally cleared. This study analyzed 207,008 incidents of IPV that occurred in 2013. Using logistic regression, this study determined how weapon use, injury severity, and drug use affected the likelihood of a case being exceptionally cleared across heterosexual and …

Exploring Differences Between The Health And Wellness Of State Police Officers And Community Corrections Professionals., Rodney Allen Copenhaver

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation is a comparison study of health and wellness outcomes for a sample of law enforcement officers and a sample of community corrections professionals within the same state. As such, it is the first attempt to determine and compare the independent variables which are significant predictors of law enforcement officer and community corrections professionals’ health and wellness for criminal justice employees working in the same context. Data used in the research was gathered from nearly identical health and wellness surveys distributed to the sample of law enforcement officers and the sample of community corrections professionals. Logistic, negative binomial, and …