Digital Commons Network^™

The Weight Of Discretion: Examining Perceptions, Decision-Making, And Overrepresentation In Canada's Youth Criminal Justice System, Adrienne Graham

Dalhousie Journal of Legal Studies

The Youth Criminal Justice Act (YCJA) has changed the way that youth encounter Canada’s criminal justice system. While the reintegration and rehabilitation goals of the YCJA have decreased overall youth custody rates, Black and Indigenous youth continue to be treated differently than other youth. This paper examines the overrepresentation of Black and Indigenous youth in the criminal justice system, the impact of poverty on police oversurveillance, various policing practices, and the role of extrajudicial measures. Through discussing youth perceptions on police legitimacy alongside police perceptions of youth, this paper will demonstrate that in order to further the principles …

Usa V. Manuel Guillermo Carrillo

2026 Decisions

USDC for the Middle District of Pennsylvania

Defining The Opioid Crisis And The Limited Role Of The Criminal Justice System Resolving It, Julie A. Warren

University of Memphis Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Feminist Challenge To Global Justice: How International Law Reproduces And Resists Patriarchy, Shashwati Wagle

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

This article seeks to introduce feminist approaches to international law. It examines how traditional state-centric security concepts in international law reflect masculine ideals of military strength and sovereignty, contrasted with human security approaches addressing intimate violence and displacement. The piece details international law’s recognition of sexualized violence in armed conflict as a war crime and analyzes international institutions, noting their advancements in gender protections alongside failures to fully incorporate intersectionality. Overall, feminist engagement positions international law as a transformative process challenging gendered power structures.

California’S Attempt To Confront Implicit Bias In Jury Selection: A Critique Of Ab 3070, Sarah Bodisco

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

No abstract provided.

School Safety Officials’ Perceptions Of Social Media And School Violence In Rural School Districts, Dwayne Wheeler

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

Why Am I Here? Individual, Organizational, & Societal Influences Of Employee Motives To Attend Voluntary Diversity Training And Their Effects On Training Outcomes, Henri T. Maindidze

Dissertations and Theses

Diversity training is a key part of diversity management efforts, but its effectiveness has repeatedly been called into question in both academic and applied spaces, leading many to question its utility. In the case of voluntary diversity training (VDT), where employees can opt in or out of participation, those motivated to attend might not be the ones who would most benefit from participating, thereby limiting the effectiveness of VDT for the organization. As a result, understanding the predictors and outcomes of employee motives to attend VDT can guide improved implementation and evaluation of VDT. Informed by self-determination theory and training …

The Unexpected Gift: Using Hip-Hop And Autoethnographic Methods To Challenge The “Symbolic Death” Discourse Of A Child’S Autism Diagnosis, Adam Ellis

Ought: The Journal of Autistic Culture

This article explores the social construction of autism through an autoethnographic account of parenting an autistic child in Canada. Drawing on Elisabeth Kübler-Ross’s grief model, neurodiversity scholarship, and post-traumatic growth theory, the paper examines how parents may experience grief, uncertainty, and the collapse of imagined futures following an autism diagnosis, while also arguing that much of this distress is produced by ableist and deficit-oriented social systems rather than autism itself. Using arts-based research, including a rap song and music video, the article explores: (1) what it is like to receive an autism diagnosis as a parent; (2) the grieving process …

Exploring Common Understandings And Bodily Experiences Of Vulnerability In Design Researchers In Sensitive Contexts, Bhakti Moghe, Roberta Antognini, Sofie Dideriksen, Zhuochao Peng, Francesca Toso, Maarten Houben

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Design researchers are increasingly being exposed to stressors while empathizing with their participants such as feeling emotionally charged, leading them to feeling vulnerable. Currently, there is a lack of clear consensus on how this vulnerability arises and manifests, hindering both individual and collective awareness and support. To address this gap, we conducted an empirical investigation into the vulnerability of design researchers. We conducted exploratory workshops with PhD students working in the field of design research in sensitive settings. The workshops consisted of three approaches to understand researcher vulnerability: (1) Reflecting on individual and collective vulnerability, (2) Exploring embodied experiences, and …

Understanding Power At The Doorstep: Examining Interpersonal Power Of Smart Doorbells Through Speculative Design, Sofie-Amalie Torp Dideriksen, Silke Snijder, Nazli Cila

DRS Biennial Conference Series

While Smart Home Surveillance Products (SHSPs), such as smart doorbell cameras, promise safety and convenience, they also reproduce asymmetrical power relations, privileging residents while exposing neighbours, visitors, and service workers to unconsented monitoring. Existing legal and technical responses focus on compliance and system design, yet overlook the interpersonal and affective dimensions of being watched. This paper presents a design-led inquiry into speculative re-imaginings of smart doorbells, aimed at surfacing and reflecting the hidden power dynamics embedded in everyday domestic interactions. We base this inquiry on an understanding of interpersonal power from the feminist theory of Matrix of Domination, allowing us …

Quilt: Designing A Values-Driven Toolkit For Surfacing Participant-Led Impact Assessment Of Participatory Design And Making Experiences, Emma Shercliff, Asha Ward

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Conventional impact assessment tools can overlook subtle sensory, cognitive and interpersonal transformations experienced in participatory design and making interventions by focusing on metrics, often retrospectively, rather than facilitating shared dialogue-based learning. The process of designing the QUILT toolkit discussed in this paper is anchored in a values-based approach that aims to prioritise participant-led narratives of discovery and change. Working with seven researcher-practitioners undertaking active projects in varied interdisciplinary and socially engaged design and making contexts, and their participant groups, we designed and tested questions, presented as a set of cards, for prompting dialogue and co-reflection. Findings highlight a) the significance …

Designing Integrated, Trauma-Informed Care Pathways For Co-Occurring Addiction And Trauma: Insights From Two Interrelated Co-Design Workshops, Troy Mcgee, India Read, Leah Heiss, Sara Daly, Katrin Oliver, Ali Cheetham, Irina Hart, Cathryn Pilcher, Anne-Laure Couineau, Shalini Arunogiri

DRS Biennial Conference Series

Co-occurring trauma and substance use disorder (SUD) are common and clinically consequential. Evidence supports concurrent, integrated responses within trauma-informed systems, yet implementation remains uneven. This study aims to identify design principles for integrated, trauma-informed care pathways by examining current service pathways and workforce capabilities across mental health (MH), alcohol and other drugs (AOD), and community health. We report insights from two interrelated co-design workshops (n>40) that included AOD/MH clinicians, hospital staff, peer and lived-experience practitioners, and community partners. Workshops used personas to surface barriers, enablers, and attributes of an enabling environment. Thematic analysis yielded five themes: Consumer experience; Workforce …

Reframing Narratives: Remedies For Improved Human Trafficking Coverage, Stefanie Henriques

The Pegasus Review: UCF Undergraduate Research Journal

The global rise in human trafficking is not receiving adequate media attention. While newspaper coverage of the topic has increased, current research argues that the issue is framed with a lack of diversity, limiting audience understanding of its complexity. Some researchers also note that coverage disproportionately focuses on sex trafficking, with minimal attention directed to other forms of trafficking such as the labor or organ trade. This paper conducts a narrative literature analysis of media research on human trafficking, drawing on framing theory to identify dominant frames in media messaging and synthesize cross-cultural factors that impact how the issue is …

A Systematic Review Of Restorative Justice In Criminal Contexts, Sigifredo Castell Britton

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

Restorative justice has gained growing attention within criminal justice reform as a practical alternative to approaches centered only on punishment. It emphasizes accountability, dialogue, and community reintegration, offering a different way to understand how change in behavior takes place. This systematic review examined quantitative evidence from 34 studies, selected from an initial pool of 112 records identified through databases such as Google Scholar, ProQuest, JSTOR, and institutional repositories. The studies assessed a range of interventions, including victim-offender mediation, diversion programs, community conferencing, and in-prison initiatives, which allowed comparison across different settings and populations. Across these studies, 79.4% reported statistically significant …

Aid And Assist Cases In Multnomah County: An Exploration Of Ors 161.370, Savannah Jurasek

Dissertations and Theses

Individuals with severe mental illness (SMI) are highly overrepresented in jails. In Oregon, these individuals can be eligible for what is referred to as the aid and assist process (ORS 161.370) which is designed to facilitate restorative care in efforts to ensure that vulnerable individuals can rationally participate in their criminal proceedings. However, continuous escalation in aid and assist orders (109.3% between 2011-2025) has led to strain on the Oregon State Hospital, the primary care facility for this population. As a consequence, defendants with SMI are spending unnecessary time in custody, despite hospitalization admission guidelines governed by previously decided case …

Digital (In)Justice? Evaluating Procedural Justice In Online Crime Reporting, Nazmy Natia

Dissertations and Theses

Online Crime Reporting portals (OCR) have become a routine entry point for non-emergency police services, fundamentally redefining how the public initiates contact with law enforcement. Although these portals are presented as efficient and accessible, little attention has been paid to whether their design and communication serve the people who use them. Prior research on procedural justice (PJ) has largely examined face-to-face police encounters, while latest studies of OCR systems emphasize victim experience and usability. However, the existing literature offers limited guidance on how PJ principles translate from in-person encounters to digital reporting platforms. This prompted the current study, drawing on …

The Death Penalty Between Its Supporters And Opponents, Ihssan Hindi

Revue Marocaine de Droit, d'Economie et de Gestion (Moroccan Journal of Law, Economics and Management)

This article examines the controversy surrounding the death penalty by presenting the main arguments advanced by both its supporters and opponents. It situates capital punishment within the history of penal sanctions and discusses its legal, moral, religious, and social justifications. The article analyzes the four traditional objectives invoked in favor of the death penalty—expiation, deterrence, retribution, and social protection—while also considering abolitionist arguments based on human dignity, judicial error, the evolution of penal policy, and the limits of state power. It offers a balanced legal reflection on whether the death penalty can still be justified in modern criminal justice systems.

No Place For Success Stories: Challenging The Sex Offender Exclusion In New York City's Fair Chance Housing Law, Abby Connell

Brooklyn Law Review

As criminal justice reform gains widespread political appeal, people convicted of sex crimes remain outside of mainstream discourse about who deserves protection from the collateral consequences of criminal system involvement. As one example, New York City’s recently enacted Fair Chance Housing Law prohibits criminal record discrimination in housing but leaves people convicted of sex crimes outside of its protection. In New York, people convicted of sex crimes face unique barriers to housing due to a complex web of federal and state laws that restrict access to safe, stable, and affordable housing. Like other New Yorkers with criminal records, people on …

Rape Pregnancies And Consequent Ptsd Resulting From The Overturn Of Roe V. Wade, Emma Lindenfelser, Yulia Garaeva, Nenette Nti-Agyemang, Ellen Davis, Anna Kabwa, Alexandra M Calaman

Binghamton University Undergraduate Journal

Prior to the 1973 Roe v. Wade ruling, access to safe legal abortions was limited and often restricted along racial, economic, and geographic lines. Nearly fifty years later, women’s health policy evolved again following the 2022 Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization decision overturning Roe v. Wade. This court ruling decimated federal protections of abortion. This paper presents the research that the 2022 Dobbs judicial decision may contribute to and exacerbate rape-related PTSD on 1 out of 20 American who are unable to access a safe abortion after a rape-related pregnancy. Pregnant women living in conservative states that have outlawed …

Exploring The Link Between Substance Use Severity And Self-Stigma: The Moderating Role Of Enacted Stigma, Alaya Shelton

McNair Culminating Research Projects

Self-stigma has been shown to negatively impact treatment engagement, recovery, and reintegration outcomes among individuals with substance use and criminal histories (Moore et al., 2023). Further, prior research has shown that markers of an individual’s substance use treatment history (e.g., number of prior treatment episodes and perceived substance use severity; Hammarlund et al., 2018; Luoma et al., 2012; Silveira et al., 2016) and negative experiences with medical professionals (Hoover et al., 2022; Muncan et al. 2020) are closely linked to self-stigma. While these factors independently contribute to one’s level of self-stigma, to our knowledge, no prior work has examined how …

This Is Not Who We Are: Punishment Is Justified As Disavowal, Mark Pickering

Tulsa Law Review

No abstract provided.

Swift Injustice: How Government Proffers Compromise Pretrial Liberty, Lori Whitlock

Tulsa Law Review

No abstract provided.

Scaffolded Reflection And Research Assignment For Sociology 101, Sara Martucci

Open Educational Resources

Dr. Sara Martucci created these assignments as part of a funded project focused on converting more sections of high-enrollment foundational courses to use Open Educational Resources and Pedagogy.

Office Discipline Referral Narratives, Context, And Categorization, Deanna M. Bush

Education Dissertations

This two-part qualitative study examined the experiences of students with disabilities (SWD) in the middle school discipline. Phase one was a qualitative document analysis study that examined school discipline for SWD through the lens of Critical Disability Theory (CDT), Multi-Tiered Systems of Support (MTSS), Constructivist Learning Theory, and the Vulnerable Decision Point model (VDP) in a midsize suburban district in Washington state. The study explored alignment of ODR teacher-written narratives with behavioral categories assigned to the ODR at the time of issue to determine variance based on behavior category or student disability status. Phase two a semi-structured interview (shown on …

Racism In The Science And Practice Of Psychotherapy, Richard E. Redding, Craig L. Frisby

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

We discuss a recent controversy that occurred in The Cognitive Behavioural Therapist over whether Lilienfeld’s critical views on microaggressions theory and research reflect racist beliefs, as alleged by some. This is one of many recent examples of a profoundly antiscientific practice whereby racism allegations chill scientific debate and open inquiry on important research issues. This produces an overtly politicized science that has a corrosive effect on scientific progress and ultimately the useful application of research in clinical practice. The microaggressions controversy provides an especially useful vehicle for challenging this state of affairs given the widespread application of microaggressions theory, including …

A Scoping Review Of Ai Literacy: Implications For Governance And Public Policy, Anabel Quan-Haase, Katharine Willis, Hillary Anderson, Selena Gignac, Takuya Maeda

School of Art, Design and Architecture

AI literacy can be situated at the intersection of other types of literacy such as media literacy anddigital literacy, but the concept is distinct. What complicates our understanding of AI literacy is thatAI is highly opaque and black-box, creating obstacles to grasping what these systems are doing andhow (Burrell, 2016; Petrovčič, et al. 2024). This requires an interdisciplinary effort in conceptualizingand mapping AI literacy. Based on our analyses of the current literature, we see five different typesof conceptualizations of AI literacy:1.Competency-based approaches: focused on skills, knowledge, and ethical use of AI.2.Awareness-oriented approaches: centered on recognizing the presence and influence of …

Fort Hays State University Tiger Weekly, June 05, 2026, University Relations

Tiger Weekly Newsletters

No abstract provided.

Profiles Of Family Engagement In Head Start, Elizabeth Jane Tremaine

Dissertations and Theses

Families of young children are active participants in their child's transition to kindergarten. Head Start is designed to facilitate families' engagement in their child's learning experiences (Head Start Parent, Family, and Community Engagement Framework, 2018). This study explores family engagement in Head Start, its changes across the transition into kindergarten, and its relation to children's development of social-emotional and executive function skills.

The current study addresses limitations of previous research by relying on family perspectives of family engagement, approaching family engagement as a developmental concept, and taking a person-centered analytic approach that accounts for the multi-dimensionality of family engagement. This …

How Do Peer Support Officers Perceive Support Provided To Officers Involved In Critical Incidents, Jodi Vanderwier

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.

The Impact Of Burnout On The Attitudes Of Treatment Providers Towards Sex Offenders, Aklima S. Baksh

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

No abstract provided.