Digital Commons Network^™

The Legal Ethics Of Family Separation, Milan Markovic

Faculty Scholarship

On April 6, 2018, the Trump administration announced a “zero tolerance” policy for individuals who crossed the U.S. border illegally. As part of this policy, the administration prosecuted parents with minor children for unlawful entry; previous administrations generally placed families in civil removal proceedings. Since U.S. law does not allow children to be held in immigration detention facilities pending their parents’ prosecution, the new policy caused thousands of children to be separated from their parents. Hundreds of families have yet to be reunited.

Despite a consensus that the family separation policy was cruel and ineffective, there has been minimal focus …

Justice System Contact And Health: Do Immigrants Fair Better Or Worse Than The Native-Born After Arrest, Probation, Or Incarceration?, Casey T. Harris, Michael Nino, Zhe (Meredith) Zhang, Mia Robert

Sociology and Criminology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Despite decades of both macro- and micro-level studies showing immigration to be unassociated or negatively linked to crime, research examining the consequences of justice system contact among immigrants has been comparatively underdeveloped. The current study examines whether justice system contact (arrest, probation, and incarceration) is linked to poorer health and, in turn, whether there were differences in how justice system contact is related to immigrant versus native-born health. Using data from multiple waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), we construct both ordinal and Poisson regression models predicting poor self-rated health and the prevalence …

Diversity And Disconnection: Does An Online Setting Affect Student’S Understanding Of Privilege, Oppression, And White Guilt?, Shannon Mcqueen

Political Science Faculty Publications

Should educators teach diversity courses in online formats? Courses covering sexism, racism, ethnocentrism, or homophobia are increasingly part of the curriculum requirements for college students. This study compares student surveys from six sections of the author’s introductory Diversity in Politics course; three of these sections are taught asynchronously online, and three are taught in a face-to-face setting. Results reveal no difference between online and face-to-face students’ understandings of privilege and oppression, sense of belonging, or white guilt. However, although all Republican students increased their understanding of privilege and oppression from this course, Republican students uniquely entered the course with less …

Policing Pregnancy "Crimes", Valena Beety, Jennifer Oliva

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization held that there is no right to abortion healthcare under the United States Constitution. This Essay details how states prosecuted pregnant people for pregnancy behaviors and speculative fetal harms prior to the Dobbs decision. In this connection, it also identifies two, related post-Dobbs concerns: (1) that states will ramp up their policing of pregnancy behaviors and (2) that prosecutors will attempt to substantiate these charges by relying on invalid scientific evidence. This Essay examines the faulty forensic science that states have used to support fetal harm allegations and reminds …

Evaluating Congress's Constitutional Basis To Abolish Felony Disenfranchisement, James E. Lauerman

Washington Law Review

In the past three years, members of Congress unsuccessfully introduced a series of federal voting rights legislation, most recently the Freedom to Vote Act. One goal of the legislation is to abolish felony disenfranchisement. Felony disenfranchisement is the practice of revoking a citizen’s right to vote due to a prior felony conviction. The Freedom to Vote Act aims to restore voting rights for every citizen who has completed their prison sentence. A ban on felony disenfranchisement would be historic, as the practice stretches back to ancient Greece and Rome. Moreover, the United States Supreme Court consistently upholds the practice by …

Reforming Prior Conviction Impeachment, Anna Roberts, Julia Simon-Kerr

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Reintegration Of Foreign Terrorist Fighter Families: A Framework Of Best Practices For The U.S., Austin C. Doctor, Haroro J. Ingram, Devorah Margolin, Andrew Mines, Lorenzo Vidino, National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, And Education Center, Program On Extremism, George Washington University

Reports, Projects, and Research

This report outlines a comprehensive framework of best practices in the reintegration of foreign terrorist fighter spouses and children (i.e., “the FTF family”). It collates and synthesizes a suite of interlocking principles to guide reintegration policy and implementation, covering practical challenges and programmatic objectives, the organizational structure and process of reintegration management in the U.S. context, the role of strategic communications and trauma-informed care, and the use of specialized risk assessment tools. Drawing on original work conducted in previous investigative streams, this report combines scholarly analyses from both theory and practice, interviews with practitioners and stakeholders, case study investigations, and …

Vicarious Trauma Via The Observation Of Extremist Atrocities: A Rapid Evidence Assessment, Matthew Crayne, Neil Shortland

Reports, Projects, and Research

Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF): Members of the DHS workforce and terrorism researchers are systematically exposed to the propaganda, ideologies, and psychologies of actors who seek to launch terrorist attacks. This content is inherently value-laden and possibly personally troubling, causing these individuals to confront potential violations of their “sacred” or “protected” values such as the preservation of life (e.g., Tetlock et al., 2000). Here we present the result of a Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) which sought to review research across multiple fields of work in which individuals are exposed to traumatic imagery, or events. This REA found that there is …

Gender Violence Or Tradition?: Media Coverage Of Child/Forced Marriage In Us Newspapers, Manjusha Gupte, Sundari Anitha

Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Faculty Publications and Presentations

The news media play an important role in influencing public perceptions and raising awareness of an issue. This research analyzes media framing of child/forced marriage through an examination of six US national newspapers over a ten-year period. It probes how narratives are constructed based on issue perception, blame attribution, and protagonist perceptions. It finds that print media has afforded increasing coverage to minimum marriage age legislation in the US. Mediated by advocacy organizations and survivors, the discourse surrounding child marriage has used a thematic frame as a legal issue with the onus on the state to amend laws facilitating child …

Reflecting On Fifty Years Of Southern Illinois University School Of Law: Training Lawyers For The Twenty-First Century While Staying True To Its Origin, Camille M. Davidson

Southern Illinois University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

One Step Further: Why Investing In Prison Programming And Treatment Is Key To Passing Criminal Justice Reform, Madeline Todd

Southern Illinois University Law Journal

In 2018, Congress passed the First Step Act ("FSA 2018"), which is considered one of the most applaudable efforts in modern history, aiming to reduce federal prison populations. While the Act has made progress in decreasing incarceration rates over the last few years, the pace of reform to reverse the nearly forty-year-long effect of the "War on Drugs" is slow. Past attempts, such as shortened sentences, provide a temporary solution but ultimately fail to keep the prisoner from reoffending.

A comprehensive evaluation of what produces significant results that would expedite the end of mass incarceration is timely due. This Note …

Error Aversions And Due Process, Brandon L. Garrett, Gregory Mitchell

Michigan Law Review

William Blackstone famously expressed the view that convicting the innocent constitutes a much more serious error than acquitting the guilty. This view is the cornerstone of due process protections for those accused of crimes, giving rise to the presumption of innocence and the high burden of proof required for criminal convictions. While most legal elites share Blackstone’s view, the citizen jurors tasked with making due process protections a reality do not share the law’s preference for false acquittals over false convictions.

Across multiple national surveys sampling more than 12,000 people, we find that a majority of Americans consider false acquittals …

Emerging Technology's Language Wars: Cryptocurrency, Carla L. Reyes

William & Mary Law Review

Work at the intersection of blockchain technology and law suffers from a distinct linguistic disadvantage. As a highly interdisciplinary area of inquiry, legal researchers, lawmakers, researchers in the technical sciences, and the public all talk past each other, using the same words, but as different terms of art. Evidence of these language wars largely derives from anecdote. To better assess the nature and scope of the problem, this Article uses corpus linguistics to reveal the inherent value conflicts embedded in definitional differences and debates related to developing regulation in one specific area of the blockchain technology ecosystem: cryptocurrency. Using cryptocurrency …

Continuing Principled Sentencing Reform And Winding Back Mass Incarceration Against The Backdrop Of America’S Surge In Violent Crime, Mirko Bagaric, Jennifer Svilar, Brienna Bagaric

Nevada Law Journal

Five decades of an unremitting tough on crime policy resulted in the United States having the highest incarceration rate on earth. This approach was in the process of being systematically wound back in recent years. The mood for criminal justice reform was highlighted by the receptiveness of many people to what on their face seemed to be radical proposals, such as defunding the police and abolishing prisons. This resulted in a significant decline in the incarceration levels. The momentum towards proportionate and principled sentencing has stalled as a result of the massive increase in violent crime in the United States …

Rhode Was Right (About Character And Fitness), Leslie C. Levin

Fordham Law Review

In this Essay, Professor Leslie C. Levin revives Professor Deborah L. Rhode’s forty-year-old critique of the character and fitness process and shows that not much has changed. Levin exposes the process’s core problems, including the lack of public information available about character and fitness decisions, the process’s subjectivity, the disconnect between information sought and future lawyer misconduct, and the deterrent effect on individuals considering a legal career. Levin proposes that task forces reexamine problematic application questions, such as those targeting decriminalized conduct and mental health, and push for more transparency and disclosure.

2023 Genz Story Expression Projects: Laszlo Selly, Sindee Kerker

GenZ Story Expression Projects eBooks

On February 13, 2023, Lynn University held its 12th GenZ Story Expression Workshop, and features Holocaust survivor Laszlo Selly.

There were approximately 152 students from 12 different classes with 11 facilitators who participated in this event. The workshop was conducted on Zoom with the technical assistance of Dr. Sanne Unger. Dr. Unger moderated the Q&A after the Holocaust survivor, Mr. Selly, shared his story.

Grandma Got Arrested: Police, Excessive Force, And People With Dementia, Rashmi Goel

University of Richmond Law Review

Recent events have shone a light on the particular vulnerability of people with dementia to police violence. Police are arresting people with dementia and using excessive force to do it—drawing their firearms, deploying tasers, and breaking bones.

To date, little attention has been paid to the burgeoning number of people with dementia, one of society’s most vulnerable populations, and their experiences with the criminal justice system. This Article examines how dementia leads people to engage in activity that appears criminal (shoplifting (forgetting to pay), and trespass (wandering), for instance) and the disproportionate response of police. In several cases where people …

The Legal Ethics Of Family Separation, Milan Markovic

University of Richmond Law Review

On April 6, 2018, the Trump administration announced a “zero tolerance” policy for individuals who crossed the U.S. border illegally. As part of this policy, the administration prosecuted parents with minor children for unlawful entry; previous administrations generally placed families in civil removal proceedings. Since U.S. law does not allow children to be held in immigration detention facilities pending their parents’ prosecution, the new policy caused thousands of children to be separated from their parents. Hundreds of families have yet to be reunited.

Despite a consensus that the family separation policy was cruel and ineffective, there has been minimal focus …

“Fundamental Fairness”: Finding A Civil Right To Counsel In International Human Rights Law, Meredith Elliott Hollman

University of Richmond Law Review

Every other Western democracy now recognizes a right to counsel in at least some kinds of civil cases, typically those involving basic human rights. The World Justice Project’s 2021 Rule of Law Index ranked the United States 126th of 139 countries for “People Can Access and Afford Civil Justice.” Within its regional and income categories, the United States was dead last. The United Nations and other international treaty bodies have urged the United States to improve access to justice by providing civil legal aid. How did we fall behind, and what can we learn from the rest of the world? …

A Tale Of Two Degrees, Justine Newman

Southern Illinois University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Eight Deans, One Mission: Serving The Public Good, Peter C. Alexander

Southern Illinois University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Special Programs That Make Siu Law A Special Place, Cindy G. Buys

Southern Illinois University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Superstition That Enslaves Virgin Girls In Ghana: An Exploration Of The Origins, Evolution, And Practice Of Trokosi, Emmanuel Sarpong Owusu

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

Trokosi is a religious practice in some parts of West Africa where young virgin girls are sent to fetish shrines to become sex slaves as part of rituals meant to prevent a communal calamity supposedly provoked by the transgressions of members of the girls’ family. This study offers additional insight into the concept, origins, evolution, and practice of trokosi, highlighting the cultural, socio-economic, and legal contexts of this practice in Ghana. This goal is achieved by reviewing pertinent literature and interviewing 10 participants: academics; activists; traditional leaders; and ordinary community members. The study establishes that trokosi, which is …

University Band And Philharmonic Orchestra

Bailey School of Music Concert Programs

Program for the University Band and Philharmonic Orchestra performance.

Diamond's Hidden Gems - Special Collections & University Archives, Diamond Williams, Ucf Libraries

Libraries' Documents

If you’re looking for a sixteenth-century book, artifacts from the early days of Walt Disney World, or the history of UCF, the UCF Libraries Special Collections & University Archives has what you need. Special Collections & University Archives (SCUA) houses the library’s rare, unique, and one-of-a-kind materials.

SCUA also provides an opportunity for students to showcase their art and potentially win a monetary prize. To learn more about the department, read on!

Diamond's Hidden Gems - Arc & General Collection, Diamond Williams, Ucf Libraries

Libraries' Documents

If you've been inside the John C. Hitt Library, you'd find it a bit hard to believe that in the north side of the building, there is a room containing nearly 800 thousand volumes of the library’s print collection, placed in bins three stories high, for retrieval by 3 robotic cranes.

Below, I give you everything you need to know about the technology that makes retrieving library materials for student-use quick and easy!

Diamond's Hidden Gems - Study Spaces, Diamond Williams, Ucf Libraries

Libraries' Documents

With the end of the Spring 2023 semester right around the corner, finals are much closer than we like to think they are. Preparing for these exams are half the battle, especially when we can't find peace and quiet at our respective homes, nor can we void ourselves of the distractions of the student union and nearby cafes.

I can help with that!

Being The First: Women And The Memory Of San José Police School 1930–1964, Paul Knepper

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Purpose: Explore the memory of the first collegiate program in the USA for police training, the Police School founded in 1930 at San José State University, to learn about the women students and faculty who were there, why they have been forgotten, and why we should remember them. Methods: Drawing on theory developed by historians who study the history of memory, expand the memory of the Police School to include women, using archival materials, particularly correspondence and newspapers, at the King Library, San José State University, and Bancroft Library, University of California at Berkeley. Results: Our memory of the San …

Predictors Of Probation Outcome And Recidivism Among Nonviolent Drug Offenders In Mandated Treatment, Kira Elisabeth Johnson

Theses and Dissertations

Since the early 1990’s, the criminal justice system has been attempting to address the growing numbers of drug crimes and incarcerations resulting from policy decisions meant to discourage drug use and trade. To address resulting overcrowding in the prison system, drug courts and state mandated drug programs were devised to supervise and treat offenders in the community. Many factors have been identified that affect recidivism and related outcome measures for those mandated to drug treatment programs and probation terms, including age, gender, race, duration of treatment, and dosage of treatment. The current study found that age, gender, treatment duration, and …

Social Identity As A Factor In Bystander Responses To Bias-Based Verbal Aggression Among College Students, Shveta Kumaria, David S. Byers, Katherine M. Mccarthy, Carmen Moedano

School for Social Work: Faculty Publications

Bias-based bullying is a significant problem in the United States, including aggression targeting college students with minoritized social identities. Bystander responsiveness can help to buffer the effects, but social identity factors may influence how students respond to bias-based aggression among peers. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of a subsample (N = 7,291) of the 2018–2019 Healthy Minds Study to test correlations between racial, sexual, and gender identities and self-reported and hypothetical peer interventions. Students who identify with minoritized sexual and gender identities, across racial identities, are most likely to report past or intended interventions while students who identify as straight, …