Digital Commons Network^™

Examining Harm Reduction In Housing First For Youth Experiencing Homelessness And Concurrent Mental Health And Substance Use Issues, Victoria Rozycki

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Purpose: Housing First for Youth (HF4Y) is a youth-focused adaptation of the well-established Housing First (HF) program model to housing and service provision for individuals experiencing homelessness. Given that the experience of youth homelessness is associated with an increased likelihood of substance use issues, a central tenet of the HF4Y framework is the use of a harm reduction approach to substance use and addictions. However, research on HF4Y programming has yet to examine how harm reduction is specifically being implemented in these settings. The purpose of this thesis was to examine how the principles and philosophies of harm reduction are …

The Torch: Suffolk University College Of Arts & Sciences Honors Program Newsletter, No. 11, Winter 2022, College Of Arts & Sciences Honors Program

Torch Newsletter

No abstract provided.

The Torch: Suffolk University College Of Arts & Sciences Honors Program Newsletter, No. 12, Summer 2022, College Of Arts & Sciences Honors Program

Torch Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Cas Honors Symposium Program, Spring 2023, College Of Arts & Sciences Honors Program

College of Arts & Sciences Honors in the Major Symposium

No abstract provided.

Cas Honors Symposium Program, Spring 2022, College Of Arts & Sciences Honors Program

College of Arts & Sciences Honors in the Major Symposium

No abstract provided.

The Evolution Of Life Sentences For Second-Degree Murder: Parole Ineligibility And Time Spent In Prison, Debra Parkes, Jane Sprott, Isabel Grant

All Faculty Publications

Canada's murder sentencing regime has been in effect since 1976, and yet very little data has examined what these sentences actually mean for those convicted. This paper begins to fill this gap by examining the meaning of a life sentence for those convicted of second degree murder in Canada. Using data provided by the Correctional Investigator, we examine both the parole ineligibility periods imposed by sentencing judges, and how long people are serving before a grant of full parole over time from 1977 to 2020. We found statistically significant increases over time in both judicial parole ineligibility periods, and in …

Reclaiming Our Humanity: Redemption, Reimagining, And Restorying Of The Foundations For Success Of Formerly Incarcerated African American Males, Robert Mossi Alexander Iii

Doctoral Dissertations

Reclaiming Our Humanity: Redemption, Reimagining, and Restorying of the Foundations for Success of Formerly Incarcerated African American Males African American men represent the highest population found in the criminal justice system. Systemic racism contributes to the high recidivism rates of formerly incarcerated Black men. Additional barriers to affordable education, job training, and other services exist for the formerly incarcerated. The purpose of this study was to interview formerly incarcerated African American men and provide a counter-narrative of the foundations for success post-incarceration. This research project explored the narratives of the lived experiences of formerly incarcerated Black men through the lenses …

Rainbow Research: Challenges And Recommendations For Sexual Orientation And Gender Identity And Expression (Sogie) Survey Design, Seth J. Meyer, Nicole M. Elias

Publications and Research

A growing number of people around the world identify, in some way, as Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, and Queer (LGBTQ+); yet, these voices are noticeably absent from nonprofit research. To address issues of equity and the historic marginalization of LGBTQ+ people both societally and in the nonprofit sector, this manuscript seeks to answer the following questions: Why is it important to include sexual orientation and gender identity and expression (SOGIE) survey questions in nonprofit surveys? What are best practices for including SOGIE survey questions in nonprofit research? We present LGBTQ+ inclusive research strategies and suggested questions for inclusive SOGIE survey …

Organizational Practices And Second-Generation Gender Bias: A Qualitative Inquiry Into The Career Progression Of Us State-Level Managers, Maria J. D’Agostino, Helisse Levine, Meghna Sabharwal, Ai C. Johnson-Manning

Publications and Research

Ely and Meyerson’s gendered organizations framework reconceptualizes traditional gender differences defined by biology and lack of structural opportunities, to a complex set of social relations in the workplace. We apply this framework to second-generation gender bias to further understand impediments to women’s career progression in the public sector workplace. In-depth interviews of state-level administrators in U.S. public sector agencies indicate that “narratives” perpetuate second-generation gender bias that is deeply ingrained in organizational practices and policies, especially for women and women of color. This framework can be applied to future studies examining the gendered nature of organizations in different workplace settings. …

Enhancing Police Accountability And Legitimacy, Daniel L. Stageman

Publications and Research

As the institution responsible for exercising the state monopoly on violence within U.S. borders, the legitimacy of policing depends on its accountability through the democratic process. Ideally, police in a democracy are authorized by the voting public to use force in a manner that is limited, justifiable, and clearly in service of the aims of public safety and law enforcement - in other words to prevent the social harms associated with criminal behavior. A combination of factors including structural inequality, historical associations with white supremacy, and hyperlocal oversight structures present significant challenges to police legitimacy, especially in highly policed communities …

Religion As A Micro And Macro Property: Investigating The Multilevel Relationship Between Religion And Abortion Attitudes Across The Globe, Amy Adamczyk

Publications and Research

In many countries abortion is the most contested issue being publicly discussed, in part, because it has implications for gender equality, health, family formation, and politics. Personal religious beliefs are often seen as having an important role in shaping disapproving attitudes. However, little attention has been given to the country religious context for understanding public opinion about abortion. Drawing on ideas from cultural sociology, the anti-ascetic hypothesis, and moral communities hypothesis, this study investigates the individual and country religious associations with abortion attitudes. Using hierarchical modeling techniques and survey data from over 70 nations, representing the majority of the world’s …

Using Internet-Derived Data To Measure Religion: Understanding How Google Can Provide Insight Into Cross-National Religious Differences, Amy Adamczyk, Jacqueline Scott, Steven Hitlin

Publications and Research

Internet and social media data provide new sources of information for examining social issues, but their potential for scholars interested in religion remains unclear. Focusing on cross-national religion data, we test the validity of measures drawn from Google and Twitter against well-known existing data. We find that Google Trend (GT) searches for the dominant religions’ major holidays, along with “Buddhism,” can be validated against traditional sources. We also find that GT and traditional measures account for similar amounts of variation, and the GT measures do not differ substantially from established ones for explaining several cross-national outcomes (e.g., fertility, circumcision, and …

Assessing The Benefits Of College Internships At A Hispanic Serving Institution, Amy Adamczyk, Katheryn Crawford, Yuna Kim

Publications and Research

Few studies have investigated the usefulness of internships at Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSI). Focusing on a 4-year public university (HSI), this study examined differences between the internship and the non-internship students, and changes across the semester for development. A structured internship appears to have some value; including increased interaction with faculty outside the classroom, confidence in verbally expressing ideas, and class presentations.

Assessing Variation And Change In Newspaper Portrayals Of Muslims: The Influence Of The Trump Election And Differences Across The United States In Local And National Papers, Amy Adamczyk, Emily Greene-Colozzi, Senahan Kiyal Keles, Aida Murati

Publications and Research

Since Donald Trump’s political campaign, Americans have appeared increasingly divided over public opinion issues and US policies with the media seemingly reflecting these divisions. One of Trump’s early initiatives was the “Muslim ban,” which restricted visitors from seven Muslim-majority countries. Focusing on the portrayal of Muslims in over 900 hand coded articles, our study uses multilevel modeling techniques to examine how newspapers changed their frames and claimsmakers in discussions about Muslims before and after Trump was elected. After the election, newspapers were more likely to include government claimsmakers and an immigration frame, and were less likely to mention a radical …

Unpacking The Influence Of Islamic Religious Culture And Individual Religious Affiliation On Testing Hiv-Positive, Brittany Hayes, Amy Adamczyk

Publications and Research

The distribution of HIV cases varies cross-nationally. We separate the influences of Islam at the macro-and micro-levels to understand the role of religion in shaping the spread of HIV. Drawing on biomarker data from the Demographic and Health Surveys, we construct a multilevel database (Individual N= 568,476; Country N= 30). We examine a series of national-and individual-level predictors that may mediate the relationship between Islam and testing HIV-positive. Individual religious affiliation and proportion Muslim retained their risk-reducing effects even when accounting for a range of mediators and suppressors. Islam has a sui generis effect on testing HIV-positive.

When And How Does Anti-Semitism Occur? The Different Trigger Mechanisms Associated With Different Types Of Criminal And Non-Criminal Hate Incidents, Matteo Vergani, Dan Goodhard, Rouven Link, Amy Adamczyk, Joshua D. Freilich, Steven Chermak

Publications and Research

We used data from an Australian community register to build a database containing 673 incidents, including both criminal and non-criminal anti-Semitic acts that occurred between October 2013 and September 2017. We conducted bivariate and multivariate analyses to explore the differences in the types of incidents associated with different trigger events. Using time series methods, we found a significant increase in criminal (but not in non-criminal) incidents during the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict. During Jewish religious festivals, we found a significant decrease in criminal incidents, and a significant increase in non-criminal incidents. After the establishment of the neo-nazi group Antipodean Resistance, we …

Which Libraries Are Open?: How To Quickly Map Library Reopening Statuses And Service Updates Using Carto, Karen Okamoto

Publications and Research

This article outlines how libraries can quickly map library information such as location and service updates using the free version of CARTO, an online mapping platform that provides both free and subscription-based accounts. Institutions with multiple library locations and different COVID-19 site reopening statuses can quickly map which library locations are open, partially opened, or closed and indicate what services are currently available. Mapping this data requires minimal technical expertise and time. The map itself can be helpful for patrons, librarians, and staff .

The Invisible Us Fire Problem, Danielle Antonellis, Sandra Vaiciulyte, Brian Meacham, Charles R. Jennings

Publications and Research

The report addresses the problem of fire safety across various housing types and the market dynamics of housing quality, regulation, and availability. The report also addresses the issue of substandard housing, ranging from rough sleeping through poorly maintained housing, including illicit and informal housing arrangements.

Statistics on the magnitude of the problem are difficult to acquire, but anecdotal evidence appears across many settings. The report explores the relationship between regulatory blind spots, ambiguous application of existing fire safety regimes, and informality.

These conditions create a population at high risk of fire -- insecurely and vulnerably sheltered population -- the invisible …

Perceptions Of Case Complexity And Pre-Trial Publicity Through The Lens Of Information Processing, Cassandra Flick, Judith Platania

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

In the current study we examined the influence of case complexity and pretrial publicity (PTP) through an information processing framework. Dual process models suggest that individuals can process information in a systematic or heuristic manner. We explored the effects of defendant PTP (negative v. positive), language complexity (moderate v. high), and image complexity (moderate v. high) on participant-jurors’ verdicts, damages, and information processing style. Results indicated participants exposed to highly complex language utilized PTP as a heuristic to determine damages. Language and image complexity interacted to predict jurors’ understanding of trial information.

Domestic Violence Blame Attributions Of Police Officers And College Students, Kyle Gamache

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

This student explores domestic violence blame attributions of police officers and college students. A total of 387 college students from two institutions and 92 police officers were given the Domestic Violence Blame Attribution Scale (Petretic-Jackson et al., 1994). The results suggest that police officers and college students had significantly different ratings on the DVBS subscale scores, specifically that police officers had lower ratings of societal and perpetrator blame than college students. Continued exploration of the data showed that there were further differences within the samples. College students who had experienced domestic violence had different subscale scores than those that had …

"Youth Matters": Why Demanding The Same Heightened Level Of Mitigation In Juvenile Life Without Parole Sentencing Proceedings As Is Required In Capital Sentencing Proceedings Is The Only Constitutional Option, Margaret Helein

American University Law Review

Donnell Wilson was only sixteen years old when he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole (JLWOP). Wilson appealed his life sentence, claiming that his defense counsel was ineffective for failing to investigate and present mitigation evidence pertaining to his youth and background when he was facing the possibility of a life sentence. While the state appellate court agreed, the state supreme court did not. The court in Wilson’s case concluded that the standards for presentation of mitigation evidence at sentencing as laid out by the American Bar Association’s Criminal Justice Standards for the Defense Function …

The War In Ukraine And The Legitimacy Of The International Criminal Court, Yvonne Dutton, Milena Sterio

American University Law Review

The news of the many atrocities being committed as the war in Ukraine rages on has prompted a chorus of calls seeking to hold perpetrators accountable. Heralded as a critical player is the International Criminal Court (the ICC or “Court”). Unlike in the past where states have decried requests to increase the Court’s budget or refused to cooperate with the Office of the Prosecutor’s (“OTP”) efforts to gather evidence or arrest suspects, states are generously donating funding and other resources to bolster the Court’s likelihood of bringing successful prosecutions.

This Article argues that the unique situation surrounding state support for …

The Racial Justice Imperative To Reimagine Immigrant Children's Rights: Special Immigrant Juveniles As A Case Study, Dalia Castillo-Granados, Rachel Leya Davidson, Laila L. Hlass, Rebecca Scholtz

American University Law Review

The immigration legal system has codified and perpetuated racial violence in many ways, yet the experiences of young people of color in this system have yet to be deeply examined. This Article surfaces the distinct and varied racialized harms that children experience in the immigration system through the example of Special Immigrant Juveniles. Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (SIJS) is the only immigration status created for and limited to children. A child—defined in immigration law as someone who is under twenty-one years of age and unmarried—is eligible to seek SIJS with U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) if a state court …

The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly: Black Lives Matter Protests, The January 6th Insurrection, And Facial Recognition Technology As Admissible Evidence, Laura C. Powell

American University Law Review

The debate surrounding law enforcement’s use of facial recognition technology (FRT) continues to raise concerns about accuracy, reliability, and equity. Nonetheless, law enforcement agencies continue to purchase, implement, and use FRT as an investigative tool to identify suspects and make arrests. Yet, its ability to enter the courtroom remains untested. Consequently, this Comment seeks to answer the question if FRT was presented as evidence, would it be admissible? To answer that question, this Comment uses the arrests following Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests and the January 6th insurrection. These two events provide contrasting FRT software algorithms, racial compositions, and law …

The Constitutional Costs Of School Policing, Maryam Ahranjani, Natalie Saing

American University Law Review

Responding to fears of violence and liability on K-12 campuses, local school boards and superintendents have made on-site or embedded school police omnipresent in American public schools. Yet, very little attention is paid to the many costs associated with their presence. When situating law enforcement’s presence squarely in the racist history of policing and school policing, the juxtaposition with the civic purpose of public education reveals significant constitutional costs. This Article builds on existing scholarship by bringing attention to the conflict between the First, Fourth, Fifth, Eighth, and Fourteenth Amendments and the dimensions of embedded school police. Ultimately, schools must …

Human Trafficking Of People With A Disability: An Analysis Of State And Federal Cases, Andrea Nichols, Erin Heil

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

The current academic discourse examining human trafficking is lacking in focus on survivors with a disability. The increased likelihood of abuse experienced by people with a disability is well documented in the research literature, and a small body of research indicates heightened sex trafficking victimization of minor girls with a disability. Yet, very little research specifically examines sex and/or labor trafficking of people with a disability, and no systematic research analyzes prosecuted cases of trafficking with disability as the focal point of analysis. Drawing from a content analysis of 18 federal and 17 state cases of human trafficking, the current …

Sorority Women’S Perceptions Of Survivors’ Services And Justice On An Urban Campus, Andrea Giuffre, Elaine Gunnison

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

While researchers have attempted to estimate the prevalence of and identify risk factors for sexual assault, less is understood about the relationship among populations at high risk for sexual assault and their perceptions of survivors’ services organizations and justice. The purpose of this investigation is to contribute to existing research through exploratory qualitative analyses of 43 undergraduate sorority women’s perceptions of survivors’ services and justice on a large, urban campus in the Pacific Northwest in the United States. Results of these exploratory analyses revealed that the sorority women had preferences for informal confidants and services whom they could trust concerning …

The Implementation Of Conversation-Help-Activity-Movement-Participation-Success Procedures To Improve Behavior And Academic Performance, Henreta Jarrett

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation was designed to examine the fidelity level of implementation of Conversation-Help-Activity-Movement-Participation-Success (CHAMPS) classroom management strategies designed to reduce students’ behavior problems and boost academic performance at a large Title I elementary school in the southeastern United States. The participants included 10 teachers with experience teaching Grades 3 to 5 who had 3 years of experience implementing the CHAMPS classroom-management plan.

The researcher implemented bracketing, intuition, open-ended coding, and Axial coding to examine the implementation of the CHAMPS classroom-management plan in reducing behavior problems and boosting academic performance. The evaluation intended to address the central research question: How is …

Does Most-To-Least Prompt Fading Lead To Independence In Tooth Brushing In Children With Intellectual Disability?, John W. Byrd

Theses and Dissertations

The problem identified in this research was that the most-to-least (MTL) prompting strategies used for individuals with intellectual disability (ID) had not been consistently demonstrated in research for personal hygiene, specifically tooth brushing. It has been well known that people with ID acquire skills differently than typically developing individuals (Cengher et al., 2018). Difficulty with developing hygiene skills such as brushing teeth is not limited only to those with physical disabilities because individuals with ID can struggle with hygiene skills as well. MTL prompt fading procedures have been used to teach many skills to individuals with ID (Drummond, 2018).

The …

Autoeficacia Del Docente De Educación Física General Y La Inclusión De Estudiantes Con Necesidades Especiales [Self-Efficacy Of The General Physical Education Teacher And The Inclusion Of Students With Special Needs], Raul Berrios

Theses and Dissertations

El propósito de este estudio fue determinar el nivel de autoeficacia de los docentes de educación física general, sobre la inclusión de estudiantes con necesidades especiales en las áreas de estrategias de instrucción, manejo de la sala de clases y cómo lograr la participación de los estudiantes.

El diseño utilizado fue uno no experimental con un enfoque transeccional o transversal descriptivo. El marco teórico seleccionado fue la teoría social cognitiva de Bandura, de la cual se desprende el componente de la teoría de autoeficacia.

La muestra estuvo conformada por los 37 docentes de educación física general de un municipio del …