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Tennessee Felon Population Update, August 2020, Tennessee. Department Of Correction.

Felon Population Reports

No abstract provided.

(Non-Consensual) Sex, Drugs & Rock N’ Roll: Sexual Harassment And Violence At Live Music Events, Miliaikeala Sj. Heen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Music concerts and festivals draw millions of attendees in the United States and internationally annually. Half of the U.S. population goes to live music events each year, with 33% going to concerts and 18% going to festivals (Nielsen Music 360, 2017). Despite the fact that these events provide security for the safety of both performers and attendees, the context of these events may facilitate various forms of sexual violence. Research has revealed high levels of harassment, groping, and other forms of unwanted sexual behavior at music festivals and concerts. The current study will utilize a national survey to examine unwanted …

Method Development For Identifying Counterfeit Cigarettes Using Environmental Pollen Analysis, Tiffany Chan

Student Theses

Cigarette counterfeiting negatively impacts government revenue and undermines tobacco control policies. Tracking geographical origins and potential trade routes of counterfeit cigarettes is important for investigation illegal trade in tobacco products. Traditional pollen extraction techniques provide clear residues of pollen trapped on tobacco leaves and used for geographical identification; however, such methods are time-consuming and utilize concentrated chemicals. This study developed a simple, fast and environmentally friendly method for extraction of pollen grains used in differentiating genuine and counterfeit cigarettes. Experimental factors that may affect pollen recovery including number of cigarettes, extraction solution, and extraction temperature, were optimized. The optimum parameters …

Developing A Maceration Method For Isolation Of Dna From Cancellous Bones, Bryan Bernal

Student Theses

Prior to isolating DNA, it is necessary to remove any biological materials that may be present on commingled remains. Manual maceration of the outer surface is time-consuming. This study will address this issue by developing a simple method for processing bone samples prior to DNA isolation. A liquid-based technique was applied to macerate bone fragments by incubating bone fragments in an enzyme solution, removing potential contaminants, followed by a bone tissue disruption. Swine (Sus scrofa) bones were used to simulate human bones. Microscopic analysis suggested this method was effective for surface material removal. The methods effect on the …

Hostile Attributions To Ambiguous Situations: A Vignette Study Of The Mediating Role Of Hostile Attributions In The Relationship Between Community Violence Exposure And Youths’ Aggressive Behaviors, Hyun Kim

Student Theses

The effect of exposure to community violence has received increasing attention in recent years, given its prevalence and negative psychological and behavioral consequences on adolescents, including aggression (Lambert et al., 2018). The existing literature links violence exposure to hostile interpretation of situations (Dodge et al., 1990; Huesmann, 1988), and hostile interpretations to aggressive responses (Bradshaw et al., 2009; Crick & Dodge, 1994; Dodge et al., 1990). However, most studies have focused on parenting practices and within home violence. Few studies have examined the possible mediating role of hostile attribution bias in the relationship between community violence exposure and youth aggression, …

Science Fiction And The Law: A New Wigmorian Bibliography, Jorge L. Contreras

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

In 1908, Dean John Henry Wigmore compiled a list of novels that no lawyer could “afford to ignore”. Wigmore’s list, taken up by Professor Richard Weisberg in the 1970s, catalogs one hundred novels, stories and dramatic works from Antigone to The Merchant of Venice to Native Son, each of which portrays or offers insight into the legal system or the practice of law. Weisberg’s updated list also includes a compilation of critical studies in the then-emerging law and literature movement. This article undertakes a similar bibliographic exercise with respect to law and the literature of science fiction. While science fiction, …

Covid, Crisis And Courts, Anna E. Carpenter, Colleen F. Shanahan, Alyx Mark, Jessica Steinberg

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

Our country is in crisis. The inequality and oppression that lies deep in the roots and is woven in the branches of our lives has been laid bare by a virus. Relentless state violence against Black people has pushed protestors to the streets. We hope that the legislative and executive branches will respond with policy change for those who struggle the most among us: rental assistance, affordable housing, quality public education, comprehensive health and mental health care. We fear that the crisis will fade, and we will return to more of the same. Whatever lies on the other side of …

The 23: Racial And Other Demographic Differences In The Assignment Of Risk Factors For Individuals Found Not Guilty By Reason Of Insanity In Virginia, Dominique Raquel Blanchette

Psychology Theses & Dissertations

Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGRI) acquittees uniquely walk the line of involvement in both the criminal justice and mental health systems, both of which have literature indicating the presence of underlying racial biases related to practices and outcomes. The current study examined 366 forensic charts from an inpatient psychiatric hospital in Virginia to examine potential differences in the number of risk factors assigned for NGRI acquittees based on a variety of demographic variables. Information about demographic characteristics, psychiatric history, and criminal history was recorded and analyzed. It was hypothesized that younger age, male gender, a psychotic diagnosis, violent …

Theories Of Prosecution, Jeffrey Bellin

Faculty Publications

For decades, legal commentators sounded the alarm about the tremendous power wielded by prosecutors. Scholars went so far as to identify uncurbed prosecutorial discretion as the primary source of the criminal justice system’s many flaws. Over the past two years, however, the conversation shifted. With the emergence of a new wave of “progressive prosecutors,” scholars increasingly hail broad prosecutorial discretion as a promising mechanism for criminal justice reform.

The abrupt shift from decrying to embracing prosecutorial power highlights a curious void at the center of criminal justice thought. There is no widely accepted normative theory of the prosecutorial role. As …

From Simple To Sophisticated: The Organization Of Terrorist Groups, Michael K. Logan

Student Work

This dissertation draws on gang organization research and organizational theory to assess the underlying dimensions of organization in terrorist groups. Using the Leadership for the Extreme and Dangerous for Innovative Results (LEADIR) dataset, findings suggest that organization is a multidimensional construct in terrorist groups, including the structuring of activities dimension and the concentration of authority dimension. In relation to violence, terrorist groups high on the structuring of activities dimension were significantly more lethal in general and more lethal when attacking hard targets, whereas terrorist groups high on the concentration of authority dimension attacked hard targets at a significantly higher rate. …

Impact Of A Diversion Program On Mentally Ill Inmates In A County Jail System, Janet Lawler

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

ABSTRACT The United States incarcerates more people in correctional facilities than any other country in the world. Studies show 15% of the prison populations have a mental illness diagnosis and 20% of local jail populations have a mental illness diagnosis. These individuals are often arrested because of a misdemeanor crime committed as a direct result of their diagnosis; however, instead of receiving mental health services they are taken into custody, further damaging an already tenuous existence. Traditionally, correctional facilities are geared toward punishment and protection of society, not treatment of mental illness and rehabilitation. Recent trends see a combination of …

Does Race Matter? An Examination Of Defendant Race On Legal Decision Making In The Context Of Actuarial Risk Assessments, Riley Davis

Master's Theses

Numerous examples show how consideration of extra-legal factors, like defendant race, in legal decision-making are contributing to the overrepresentation of minorities in the legal system. Because triers of fact may be less familiar with risk assessment results presented by expert witnesses, there is a need to examine how legal decision-making is being affected by race in this context. This study aimed to examine whether individuals are in fact relying on race as a factor above empirically supported expert opinions of actual violence risk predictions. The sample consisted of 280 participants recruited from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk. To test the primary hypothesis …

Intraminority Intergroup Support: An Application Of The Common In Group Identity Model Versus The Social Reconnection Hypothesis, Lasheka D. Allen

All Dissertations

Historically, the focus of intergroup relations research evaluated relations between majority and minority group members. With the increased number of minorities, researchers must begin to explore intraminority intergroup relations. Prior research demonstrated support for the common ingroup identity model (CIIM) such that people who experience racial discrimination associate with other disadvantaged minorities and create a superordinate “disadvantaged racial minority group,” which elicits more positive attitudes toward other racial minorities.

Alternatively, studies on perceived discrimination with the need to belong theory (NTB) and the social reconnection hypothesis (SRH) concluded the possibility of an alternative explanation, which is the need to reconnect …

The Power Of Mercy: An Examination Of Presidential Pardon Patterns, Stewart Ulrich

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

The Constitution gives the president the power of clemency, the ability to forgive crimes and release individuals from prison. There are no checks on this power, giving the president unilateral power. Are there any factors that constrain this power or affect it? I claim that the electoral manner in which a president comes into office helps determine how they will use the power. Presidents coming into power with enthusiasm and confidence of the people will issue more clemency, while those who come into power with less will have decreased levels of clemency. Additionally, with more media outlets to scrutinize their …

College Prescription Opioid Misuse: An Exploration Of Social Learning, Social Control, And Strain Theories, Julie Murray

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Prescription opioids, when used as medically intended, can be effective in pain management. However, the consequences and costs of widespread misuse of prescription opioids in the United States are cause for concern. Prescription opioids are related to increased risk of death and injury. Young adults, between the ages of 18 and 25, have the highest rates of misuse nationally and within this age group, college students may be particularly at risk. In order to effectively curb the growing misuse of prescription opioids within college populations, we must have a better understanding of the factors that potentially lead to misuse.

This …

Social Justice Mathematical Modeling For Teacher Preparation, Patrick L. Seegmiller

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

Today's math teachers face significant social and political challenges for which they receive little preparation. Mathematics content courses can potentially provide additional preparation in this regard by providing future teachers with experiences to mathematically explore social justice issues. This provides them with opportunities to increase their awareness and sensitivity to social justice issues, develop greater empathy for their future students, and serve as examples for high quality instruction that they can emulate in their future careers. This dissertation recounts the development and revision of three social justice mathematical modeling projects, and shares evidence from student work samples of the ways …

New Jersey Overdose Prevention Act: Police Officers’ Experiences At A Drug Overdose Scene, Michael Ziarnowski

All Theses And Dissertations

The number of drug overdose deaths in the United States from opioids has led to national attention about the problem commonly described as the “opioid epidemic.” Federal and state policymakers have shifted from a hardline punitive approach to a rehabilitative approach in an attempt to save lives. Good Samaritan Laws (GSLs) and advances in medicine have been implemented differently in different states. For example, the enactment of the New Jersey Overdose Prevention Act (NJOPA) and the use of naloxone by first responders are ways that state officials try to save lives. However, there is limited research on the first responders’ …

Children’S Perceptions Of Ambiguous Interracial Interactions : Behavior And Size Judgments, Julia Wefferling

Theses, Dissertations and Culminating Projects

Classic work in social psychology found that children’s perceptions of ambiguously aggressive events are biased by race (Sagar and Schofield, 1980). The present research is an attempt to extend upon that work by including an examination of perceptions of the physical size of vignette actors, based on more recent work by Wilson et al. (2017). In this study, 41 children aged 9-13 were recruited to watch cartoon clips of vignettes of Black and White characters in ambiguously aggressive interactions. Participant watched one clip of each target-actor race combination and rated many characteristics (e.g. mean, friendly) of the targets and actors. …

Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Clinical Supervision In The Care Coordination Workforce, Nadjete Natchaba

Education Doctoral

Clinical supervision is noted in other fields as instrumental to attaining better outcomes for people who receive care. This study which occurred in New York State during the COVID-19 pandemic, explored using the Manchester Clinical Supervision Scale (MCSS-26) alignments between the perceptions of care coordinators and care coordinators’ supervisors of the effectiveness of clinical supervision in the health home context, the impact of COVID-19 on clinical supervision sessions, increased remote care coordination, and best practices of clinical supervision in the health home. Findings revealed differences in perceptions of the effectiveness of clinical supervision and of the impact of COVID-19 on …

Learning From The Past: Distributed Cognition And Crisis Management Capabilities For Tackling Covid-19, Seulki Lee, Jungwon Yeo, Chongmin Na

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has presented an unprecedented public health crisis across the globe. Governments have developed different approaches to tackle the complex and intractable challenge, showing variations in their effectiveness and results. South Korea has achieved exceptional performance thus far: It has flattened the curve of new infections and brought the outbreak under control without imposing forceful measures such as lockdowns and travel ban. This commentary addresses the South Korean government’s response to COVID-19 and highlights distributed cognition and crisis management capabilities as critical factors. The authors discuss how the South Korean government has cultivated distributed …

Punishment In Prison: Constituting The "Normal" And The "Atypical" In Solitary And Other Forms Of Confinement, Judith Resnik, Hirsa Amin, Sophie Angelis, Megan Hauptman, Laura Kokotailo, Aseem Mehta, Madeline Silva, Tor Tarantola, Meredith Wheeler

Northwestern University Law Review

What aspects of human liberty does incarceration impinge? A remarkable group of Black and white prisoners, most of whom had little formal education and no resources, raised that question in the 1960s and 1970s. Incarcerated individuals asked judges for relief from corporal punishment; radical food deprivations; strip cells; solitary confinement in dark cells; prohibitions on bringing these claims to courts, on religious observance, and on receiving reading materials; and from transfers to long- term isolation and to higher security levels.

Judges concluded that some facets of prison that were once ordinary features of incarceration, such as racial segregation, rampant violence, …

Prostitution During The Pandemic: Findings Show Need For Nordic Model, Debra K. Boyer

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

The impact of COVID-19 on sexually exploited individuals provides an opportunity to advance the Nordic Model approach and create lasting change. Although subject to gender-based violence and denied safety net services, commercially sexually exploited women are seldom seen as a “vulnerable” group in the pandemic. Interviews from social service agencies in Seattle, Washington show women are experiencing more physical and sexual violence from sex buyers and women who have exited prostitution are finding their stability and security in jeopardy. Advocates can make the case to address disparities with safety net guarantees and structural change with the adoption of the Nordic …

On Exiting From Commercial Sexual Exploitation: Insights From Sex Trade Experienced Persons, Andrea Heinz

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

As a woman who exited after seven years in licensed commercial sexual exploitation in Canada, I share my reflections on my experience, which led to the development of the Insights from Sex Trade Experienced Persons (InSTEP) Model. The model was constructed based on interviews with “service providers” in the sex trade. Twelve exited women share their experiences inclusively. InSTEP is geared toward a population of quasi-autonomous providers who have alternate economic options. Three levels are introduced in the InSTEP model to describe the continuum of agency among service providers; Level 1: trafficked/controlled; Level 2: quasi-autonomous; Level 3: autonomous. The InSTEP …

Talk This Way: A Look At The Historical Conversation Between Hip-Hop And Christianity, Joshua Swanson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Christianity and Hip-Hop culture are often said to be at odds with one another. One is said to promote a lifestyle of righteousness and love, while the other is said to promote drugs, violence, and pride. As a result, the public has portrayed these two institutions as conflicting with no willingness to resolve their perceived differences. This paper will argue that there has always been a healthy conversation between Hip-Hop and Christianity since Hip-Hop’s inception. Using sources like Hip-Hop lyrics, theologians, historians, autobiographies, sermons, and articles that range from Ma$e to Tipper Gore, this paper will look at the conversation …

Identification Of Human Trafficking Victims In The Health Care Setting: An Integrative Review, Jami Leigh Castellucci

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Most victims who have escaped trafficking report that during their captivity they were taken to health care facilities. Though health care–based trafficking reporting has increased over the last few years, studies show that private practices and most hospitals within the country do not have a human trafficking protocol, policy, nor educational intervention for their frontline staff to be able to identify and refer victims for short- and long-term support. The United States health care system is poised to play a large role in the fight against human trafficking. This integrative review describes the current status of human trafficking victim identification …

Group Treatment Effectiveness For Substance Use Disorders: Abstinence Vs. Harm Reduction, Jill D. Parramore

Counseling & Human Services Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this systematic review and meta-analysis was to compare group treatment effectiveness for substance use disorders within the U.S. across treatment philosophies as it relates to the primary research question, Is there a significant difference of group treatment effectiveness between Abstinence and Harm Reduction treatment philosophies? It was hypothesized that group treatment will remain an effective intervention to treat substance use disorders between treatment philosophies and that no significant differences exist between-group comparisons. The aim of this study is to provide evidence of treatment effectiveness that will ultimately improve treatment outcomes for substance use disorders, provide guidance for …

Foreword, David M. Shapiro, Emily Mccormick, Annie Prossnitz

Northwestern University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Incrementalist Vs. Maximalist Reform: Solitary Confinement Case Studies, Margo Schlanger

Northwestern University Law Review

Among criminal justice reformers, it has long been hotly contested whether moderate reform helps or harms more efforts to achieve more thoroughgoing change. With respect to solitary confinement, do partial and ameliorative measures undermine the goal of solitary confinement abolition? Or do reformist campaigns advance—albeit incrementally—that ultimate goal? Call this a debate between “incrementalists” and “maximalists.” I offer this Essay as an appeal for empirical rather than aesthetic inquiry into the question. After summarizing nationwide reform litigation efforts that began in the 1970s, I try to shed some factual light by examining solitary reform efforts in two states, Massachusetts and …

Mass Solitary And Mass Incarceration: Explaining The Dramatic Rise In Prolonged Solitary In America's Prisons, Jules Lobel

Northwestern University Law Review

In the last two decades of the twentieth century, prisons throughout the United States witnessed a dramatic rise in the use of solitary confinement, and the practice continues to be widespread. From the latter part of the nineteenth century until the 1970s and ’80s, prolonged solitary confinement in the United States had fallen into disuse, as numerous observers and the United States Supreme Court recognized that the practice caused profound mental harm to prisoners. The reasons for this dramatic rise in the nationwide use of solitary confinement and the development of new supermax prisons have not been explored in depth. …

The Science Of Solitary: Expanding The Harmfulness Narrative, Craig Haney

Northwestern University Law Review

The harmful effects of solitary confinement have been established in a variety of direct observations and empirical studies that date back to the nineteenth century, conducted in many different countries by researchers with diverse disciplinary backgrounds. This Essay argues that these effects should be situated and understood in the context of a much larger scientific literature that documents the adverse and sometimes life- threatening psychological and physical consequences of social isolation, social exclusion, loneliness, and the deprivation of caring human touch as they occur in free society. These dangerous conditions are the hallmarks of solitary confinement. Yet they are imposed …