Digital Commons Network^™

Is Solitary Confinement A Punishment?, John F. Stinneford

Northwestern University Law Review

The United States Constitution imposes a variety of constraints on the imposition of punishment, including the requirements that the punishment be authorized by a preexisting penal statute and ordered by a lawful judicial sentence. Today, prison administrators impose solitary confinement on thousands of prisoners despite the fact that neither of these requirements has been met. Is this imposition a “punishment without law,” or is it a mere exercise of administrative discretion? In an 1890 case called In re Medley, the Supreme Court held that solitary confinement is a separate punishment subject to constitutional restraints, but it has ignored this …

A Wrong Without A Right? Overcoming The Prison Litigation Reform Act's Physical Injury Requirement In Solitary Confinement Cases, Maggie Filler, Daniel Greenfield

Northwestern University Law Review

This Essay argues against applying the so-called “physical injury” requirement of the Prison Litigation Reform Act (PLRA) to deny monetary compensation to solitary confinement survivors. The Essay identifies three ways in which misapplication of the PLRA’s physical injury requirement limits the ability of solitary confinement survivors to receive monetary compensation for psychological harm suffered. First, some courts applying the PLRA wrongly dismiss damages claims for alleging “de minimis” physical injury. Second, some courts have been reluctant to find that physical injury caused by psychological trauma satisfies the PLRA’s physical injury requirement. Third, courts do not distinguish between “garden …

Consensus Statement From The Santa Cruz Summit On Solitary Confinement And Health

Northwestern University Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Application Of A Simple Tissue-Disruption Method To Dna Extraction For Species Identification, Jordana R. Fox

Student Theses

The TissueLyser II was used to disrupt animal bones and plant tissue without dry ice or liquid nitrogen for species identification. Bone fragments of fresh swine (Sus scrofa) ribs were used. A 521bp fragment of the cyt b locus was analyzed, and the BLASTn results confirmed that the origin of all the samples was swine (E-value = 0.0). Bone fragments of bovine, chicken, duck, fish, sheep, and swine were also used to test the procedure. An approximately 600bp fragment of the COI locus was analyzed, and the BLASTn results confirmed the origin of all the samples (E-value = …

Archaeology Or Crime Scene? Teeth Micro And Macro Structure Analysis As Dating Variable, Jessica A. Vincenty

Student Theses

Simple methods to aid in the determination of forensic or archaeologic relevancy of skeletonized remains have been researched since the 1950s. With advances in microscopic imaging techniques and machine learning computer data analysis methods the relevancy of decontextualized, comingled remains has room for improvement. This thesis is a study done to pioneer a new approach to analyzing dental skeletal remains to determine forensic relevancy.

Archaeological dental samples collected from the ancient city of Ur in modern day southern Iraq in addition to modern dental extractions were processed for scanning electron microscopy imaging. Archaeological and modern samples displayed different surface and …

Social Vulnerability And Hurricane Evacuation Behavior In Hampton Roads, Va: Emergency Management Stakeholders’ Perceptions Of Low-To-Moderate Income Households In A Social Construction Paradigm, Mechelle Bonit Smith

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

The purpose of this research is to examine current emergency management (EM) evacuation policies and practices with respect to vulnerable populations’ hurricane evacuation behaviors. The response of vulnerable households and local and state governments’ implementation of emergency evacuation policies and practices provide possible linkages to continual problems faced by local governments in addressing its most vulnerable residents. Using social construction as a theoretical foundation provides context for the consideration of vulnerable populations in emergency management policy and hurricane evacuation.

This research is a qualitative case study of emergency management policies, practices, and perceived household evacuation behaviors in several cities of …

“Racist, Sexist, Profane, And Violent”: Reinterpreting Wwe’S Portrayals Of Samoans Across Generations, John Honey

All Graduate Plan B and other Reports, Spring 1920 to Spring 2023

This paper examines the shifting portrayals of Pacific Islanders in World Wrestling Entertainment (WWE) across three generations. As both a popular and historically racially problematic venue, WWE’s politically incorrect programming has played an underappreciated and under examined role in representing the USA. Although many different groups have been portrayed by gross stereotypes in WWE, this paper uses the family of Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson—the Samoan Dynasty—as a case study. The WWE originally presented Pacific Islanders using the most offensive stereotypes, and the first two generations of the Samoan Dynasty had to “play Indian” or cosign onto gross representations of their …

Child Abuse And Cannabis Use: How A Prima Facie Standard Mischaracterizes Parental Cannabis Consumption As Child Neglect, Jasmine Harris

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reducing Out-Of-School Suspension In Title I Middle Schools: An Applied Study, William Thomas Hatten

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Out-of-school suspension is a growing concern in the United States education system and affects students at the three Title I schools in the Central School System at a particularly high frequency. The purpose of this applied study was to solve the problem of high-frequency out-of-school suspension for three Title I middle schools in the Central School system and to formulate a solution to address the problem. A multi-method design was used, consisting of both qualitative and quantitative approaches. The first approach was structured interviews with two administrators from each school. The second approach was the analysis of archival data using …

Same Wheel, New Direction: Toward A Sex Trafficking-Specific Framework Of Care, Danielle Joy Dimuzio

All Theses

In 2016, an estimated 3.8 million adults and children were victims of sex trafficking worldwide. Even with so many people affected, and with the mental health effects of sex trafficking victimization being so serious and long-lasting, very little exists on how to most effectively treat this population after they are rescued or escape. The current study contributes to this body of research by obtaining the perspectives of clinical service providers working with sex trafficking survivors, with particular attention paid to their experiences and views on mental health treatment methods for survivors. This study used a systems perspective and qualitative research …

Eyewitness Recall And Identification Accuracy: Effects Of Stress In An Extreme Haunt And A Haunted House, William Blake Ridgway

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The impact of stress on eyewitness recall and identification accuracy has been studied extensively but with somewhat inconsistent results. Understanding the effects of stress are important if they are to be generalized to victims or witnesses of real crimes. This study consisted of two experiments that used an extreme haunt and a haunted house to examine attendees’ ability to recall details of and identify actors encountered, as a function of state anxiety and in the context of Deffenbacher’s (1994) catastrophe model of memory performance under anxiety. The results showed that physiological (i.e., heart rate) and psychological (i.e., State Anxiety Inventory) …

Resilience And The Mental Health Of Bullying Victims: The Role Of Peer Relationships On The Relation Between Bullying Victimization And Social Anxiety, Michelle Catherine Zochowski

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Bullying is a pervasive issue in today’s schools that has a significant impact on the mental health of students. Resilience has a positive impact on the outcomes related to facing adversity including bullying. The following dissertation study asks whether the relation between bullying victimization and social anxiety differs as a function of resilience and gender. It was hypothesized that bullying victims with increased resilience would show lower levels of social anxiety, as would students that report their gender as female. Chapter one discusses the significance of the problem, defines relevant constructs, and introduces the problem statement. Chapter two outlines the …

Belief In Pure Evil As A Trait Predictor Of Harsh Judgments Of Perpetrator Attributes, Victoria Charlotte Mary-Rose Pocknell

Theses and Dissertations

Humans look for a quick and comforting explanation for why bad things happen. One popular explanation is to believe good and evil are active forces affecting people and events. Past research suggests belief in evil is associated with harsher judgments and less prosocial behavior. However, little research has explored what factors influence the development of a belief in evil or its effects in an experimental setting. Using a national sample of Amazon MTurk respondents (N = 511), participants completed a series of potential developmental antecedent measures (e.g. personality domains, religiosity, etc.) and viewed a video vignette of a crime with …

Inspiring Mathematical Creativity Through Juggling, Ceire Monahan, Mika Munakata, Ashwin Vaidya, Sean Gandini

Journal of Humanistic Mathematics

The goal of the Creativity in Mathematics and Science project, funded by the National Science Foundation’s [NSF’s] Improving Undergraduate STEM Educa- tion program, is to reconsider how we teach mathematics at the collegiate level. Over the last three years, we have developed interdisciplinary modules that seek to encourage students, including non-STEM majors, to see mathematics in unexpected places, make connections to their own interests and disciplines, and explore creativity in mathematics. Relying on traits of creativity such as the ability to connect ideas, be inquisitive, question norms, and have flexibility [1], we encouraged students to participate and understand mathematics in …

The Multigenerational Transmission Process Of Healing Social Cultural Wounds Within The Black Community: A Comprehensive Analysis, Adeola Quintero

Counseling and Family Therapy Scholarship Review

This article examines the multigenerational transmission process of healing social cultural wounds within the black community. A comprehensive research analysis of slavery, racial trauma and racism along with the events surrounding their existence in our contemporary society are explored. Revealed throughout this framework are the theories literature has posited as solutions to racial wounds such as the ‘black self-concept’, ‘Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome,’ ‘Bowen’s Multigenerational Transmission Process,’ ‘racialized disease narrative’ and the introduction of the “social cultural wounds’ concept. 15 recommendations are suggested for addressing the racial healing work within individual, institutional, and systemic healing. Current theory, models, scales assessment …

Covid-19 - Revealing Unaddressed Systemic Barriers In The 45th Anniversary Of The Southeast Asian American Experience, Quyen T. Dinh, Katrina D. Mariategue, Anna H. Byon

Journal of Southeast Asian American Education and Advancement

2020 marks the 45th year anniversary of the Southeast Asian American (SEAA) experience, starting with the first wave of refugees who fled Cambodia, Laos, and Viet Nam as a result of American occupation and wars throughout the region. Collectively, this community is the largest community of refugees ever to be resettled in America. Yet despite four decades in this country, Southeast Asian Americans continue to face disparate challenges like other low-income, immigrant, refugee, communities of color — ranging from poverty, to educational inequity, health disparities, and harsh immigration policies. COVID-19 pandemic has also revealed and exacerbated systemic barriers that have …

Study On The Implementation Of The Regulations Of Terrorism Activities In Social Media, Angga Dewanto Basari, Muhammad Syauqillah, Asep Usman Ismail

Journal of Strategic and Global Studies

The legal scope of the Terrorism Law and the Information and Electronic Transactions Law in Indonesia is considered as lacking to cover the problem of cybercrime in social media. Aside from literature review, this paper is also supported by data from direct interview with the Head of Counterterrorism Special Detachment 88 (Densus 88 AT) of Indonesian National Police. The data found out that the Terrorism Law is a repressive response towards terrorism crimes that have already occured, but less preventive to future crimes. The existence of laws in Indonesia is often one step behind its crime. The difference of perception …

Pretrial Detention In The Time Of Covid-19, Jenny E. Carroll

NULR Online

No abstract provided.

Winks, Whispers, And Prosecutorial Discretion In Rural Iowa, 1925-1928, Emily Prifogle

Articles

Through the eyes of Charles Pendleton’s memoirs, this article walks through a rural community with a county attorney to consider how race, religion, gender, and sexuality influenced rural prosecutorial discretion in the early twentieth century. Rural communities like those in Buena Vista County, Iowa, where the article is centered, experienced “the law” through distinctly isolated geographies and social networks that lacked anonymity and thus shaped available methods of conflict resolution. But anonymity did not mean homogeneity. Ethnic, racial, and religious diversity created divisions within a community where social distance between individuals was small. Both onymity and diversity shaped who should …

"Buy One Get One Free": How Reindictment Policies Permit Excessive Searches, Katie Carroll

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

When the government decides to stop prosecuting a case, it files a nolle prosequi with the court. Nolle prosequis are slightly different from motions to dismiss. Unlike a motion to dismiss with prejudice, a prosecutor may later reindict a defendant with the same crime without a double jeopardy issue arising after dropping the same case through nolle prosequi. Furthermore, many states do not require judicial approval for a nolle prosequi. Therefore, prosecutors can gain a number of advantages by using nolle prosequi, like avoiding speedy trial deadlines or having a second chance to win important evidentiary hearings.

The advantages of …

Preventing Parkland: A Workable Fourth Amendment Standard For Searching Juveniles' Smartphones Amid School Threats In A Post-Parkland World, Andrew Mueller

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

On February 14, 2018, Nikolas Cruz, age nineteen, went to the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School campus in Parkland, Florida, armed with an AR-15 rifle. He opened fire, killing seventeen students. His unspeakable actions culminated in an attack, which eclipsed the 1999 Columbine High School Massacre to become the deadliest school shooting at a high school in American history. In the immediate months following this still-recent tragedy, schools across the United States were flooded with “copycat” threats of violence. Terroristic threat charges levied against juveniles have likewise skyrocketed.

These recent events have resulted in new and burdensome pressures for schools …

Tasing The Constitution: Conducted Electrical Weapons, Other Forceful Arrest Means, And The Validity Of Subsequent Constitutional Rights Waivers, Andreas Kuersten

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

Conducted electrical weapons (CEWs)—the most famous and widely used of which are offered under the TASER brand—are ubiquitous tools of law enforcement, carried by the vast majority of law enforcement officers and routinely deployed. These devices subdue targets by coursing electric current through their bodies, thereby causing individuals to collapse as their muscles involuntarily contract. Yet this method of operation has raised concerns—voiced by researchers, advocates, and criminal defendants alike—that CEWs influence cognitive capacity in addition to muscle function as electric current potentially transits through the brain via the central nervous system. In the context of an arrest, this implicates …

Promote Healing And Restore Lives: Clinicians’ Reflections On Their Experiences In Working With Survivors Of Trafficking, Brittany Burch

McNair Scholars Research

Humans are shaped by their personal beliefs, values, and individual philosophies of life. Personal ideologies of humanitarian aid can root a deep desire to provide help and assistance to the vulnerable within our community. This desire often manifests itself specifically in clinicians seeking to provide healing, hope, and restoration in the lives of women and men. (Thullesen, 2019). Human trafficking is a prominent human rights and social justice issue that is embedded within our society. This study focused on clinicians’ experiences and perspectives in working with victims of human trafficking.

The data was collected through interviews of clinicians working directly …

A Mother's Touch: The Comprehensive Addiction And Recovery Act And Its Impact On Prenatally Substance-Exposed Newborns And Their Families As Observed By Family Service Workers, Raissa Ames

McNair Scholars Research

No abstract provided.

Structurally Vulnerable Neighbourhood Environments And Racial/Ethnic Covid-19 Inequities, Rachel L. Berkowitz, Xing Gao, Eli K. Michaels, Mahasin S. Mujahid

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Preliminary evidence indicates that the experience of the novel coronavirus is not shared equally across geographic areas. Findings in the United States suggest that the burden of COVID-19 morbidity and mortality may be hardest felt in disadvantaged and racially segregated places. Deprived neighbourhoods are disproportionately populated by people of colour, the same populations that are becoming sicker and dying more often from COVID-19. This commentary examines how structurally vulnerable neighbourhoods contribute to racial/ethnic inequities in SARS-COV-2 exposure and COVID-19 morbidity and mortality and considers opportunities to intervene through place-based initiatives and the implementation of a Health in All Policies strategy.

A Delphi Study Of Actions Needed For Active Shooter Preparedness To Lower The Number Of Casualties And Injuries During Active Shooter Incidents At K-12 Schools, Michael Maley

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this Delphi study was to identify specific actions that experts perceive are needed for active shooter preparedness for educational facilities, to lower the active shooter incident casualties and injuries in the U.S. K-12 schools. The study also examined the degree of importance for the identified specific actions needed for active shooter preparedness at educational facilities and those actions most likely to be implemented.

Methodology: The research design for this study is utilizing the Delphi technique that provides a systematic process in collecting data of opinions from a panel of experts. The Delphi study includes collecting …

On The Challenges Associated With The Study Of Police Use Of Deadly Force In The United States: A Response To Schwartz & Jahn, Justin Nix

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

In response to Gabriel Schwartz and Jaquelyn Jahn’s descriptive study, “Mapping fatal police violence across U.S. metropolitan areas: Overall rates and racial/ethnic inequalities, 2013–2017,” I provide three reflections. First, the framing of this issue is vitally important. Second, police-involved fatalities represent a nonrandom sample of all incidents involving police use of deadly force (i.e., physical force that causes or is likely to cause death), and unfortunately, we lack comprehensive data on use of deadly force that does not result in fatalities. Finally, to make sense of who is killed by the police, researchers must also identify who was exposed to …

State V. Sprague Appellant's Brief Dckt. 47706

Not Reported

No abstract provided.

Intimate Partner Violence Risk Assessment: The Additive Value Of Victim Reported Risk, Jennifer Joanne Johnson

Dissertations and Theses

Intimate partner violence (IPV) affects millions of people in the United States, causing negative generational consequences to the victim and the community. The criminal justice system has increased its preventative strategies to combat this issue through mandatory arrest laws and the use of risk assessment tools for determining the likelihood of offender recidivism. Risk factors included in standardized and actuarial risk assessment tools have been found to be relatively good predictors for violent recidivism.

This study assesses the predictive accuracy of risk factors through bivariate correlations and multiple logistic regression analysis. The risk factors analyzed include demographic information, mental health …

The Public Health Crisis Of Law Enforcement’S Over-Use Of Force, Mary E. Helander, Austin Mcneill Brown

Population Health Research Brief Series

The overuse of police force has public health implications. The rates of injury and death sustained while in law enforcement custody should be collected as a part of the public health strategy to minimize the over-use of force.