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The Americans Progress Forgot? An Interdisciplinary Study Of The Role Of Media In Opiate Politics, Rachael M. Erickson

Senior Theses

The most recent opioid crisis in the United States was largely described, by politicians, the media, and subsequently members of the voting public, as being an issue primarily affecting rural White communities. This phenomenon is shaped by the fact that the rate at which White Americans use opiates is outpaced by the frequency with which White American use of opiates is described as an issue of human interest in opinion or editorial articles in news media. In this thesis I aim to understand how the racialized public and political perception of opiate use is shaped by local media.

The following …

'I Can’T Vote If I Don’T Leave My Apartment’: The Problem Of Residential Violence And Its Impact On The Politics Of Black American Women Living Below The Poverty Line, Alex J. Moffett-Bateau

Publications and Research

Prior research examining political behavior outside of the United States, has shown that violence can have a mixed impact on political engagement. Building on that work, this research examines whether violence shapes the political lives of poor Black women within the United States. I argue, neighborhood violence in the United States can and often does, shape the political behavior of Black women living below the poverty line in public housing. I use ethnographic data to parse out a conceptual framework which articulates connections between residential violence experienced by Black women living in poverty and their politics. Ultimately, my analysis shows …

Sticky Situations: Understanding The Law And Life, Krystal Banks

National Youth Advocacy & Resilience Conference

Law and life go hand in hand. Understanding the law and how it connects to life can be an effective tool in teaching youth and adults the value of making good decisions when it comes to life and the law. Sticky Situations places real-world situations in the context of learning how to apply the law and effectively respond to life's sticky situations.

The Legacy Of Trayvon Martin—Neighborhood Watches, Vigilantes, Race, And Our Law Of Self-Defense, Mark S. Brodin

Marquette Law Review

Reflecting back a decade later, what is the enduring significance of the Trayvon Martin case—a Black teenager whose life is violently cut short, and a legal system that accepted his death without consequence? The poet Elizabeth Alexander speaks of “The Trayvon Generation” of Black youth who have grown up in the haunting shadow of his killing, and the anguished parents who cannot protect their children from such a fate. America’s first Black president spoke for them: “When I think about this boy, I think about my own kids. If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon,” Barack Obama told …

Ensuring Equity In Education: End Exclusionary Discipline To Protect All Students Access To Learning, Emma Daugherty, Dominika Dyminski, Lacey Erickson, Carly Manderfeld

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

A student's race, disability status and previous history of discipline are leading factors associated with being subjected to exclusionary discipline. This contributes to a negative cycle of discipline for our Black, Indigenous, and other students of color (BIPOC) and students with disabilities. This cycle prevents BIPOC and students with disabilities from learning, growing, and reaching their full potential. Minnesota must disrupt this negative disciplinary cycle by ending subjective disciplinary practices and investing in practices that promote an equity and a healthy school environment for all students.

Lgbtq-Parent Families: Diversity, Intersectionality, And Social Context, Abbie E. Goldberg

Psychology

Lesbian, gay, bisexual, queer, and trans (LGBTQ) parents become parents in a variety of ways, including via reproductive technologies, through foster care and adoption, and in the context of different-gender relationships. This review addresses research developments over the past 5–6 years, revealing that LGBTQ people continue to face barriers in becoming parents, especially those who are trans, of color, and have limited financial means. Bisexual and trans parents are increasingly centered in research, and have unique experiences of parenthood related to navigating (in)visibility and stigma in various contexts. Recent work has documented the impacts of sociopolitical events (e.g., COVID-19, the …

The Influence Of Covid-19 On Tobacco Racial Health Disparities: Testing The Differential Effects Of Covid-19 On Smoking Motivation Variables Across Black And White Smokers, Patricia F. Calixte-Civil

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The COVID-19 pandemic has illuminated persistent racial differences in access and quality of healthcare resources that result in disproportionately poor health outcomes for Black and African Americans, relative to Whites. Given COVID-19’s influence on racial health disparities broadly, examination is warranted on whether the pandemic has more specificallyinfluenced smoking motivation and, subsequently, tobacco-related health disparities. The goal of this study was to test whether COVID-19 related video content differentially primed smoking motivation (cravings, cessation self-efficacy, and motivation to quit) among Black and White smokers. I used an online research platform to host an experiment with a 2x3 between-subjects factorial design …

Continuing To Do The Work: An Examination Of The Experiences Of Students Of Color In Collegiate Speech, Tennisha Sonsalla

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

This thesis examines how the experiences of students of color in the collegiate speech community are inextricably linked to their race. Students of color, unlike white students, face unique challenges in the predominately white speech community. Using qualitative interviews to uncover the experiences of students of color who have participated in collegiate speech, this project details 6 major themes: Internal Pressures, External Pressures, Navigating Voice, Issues of Representation, Team Dynamics, and Survival Strategies. As well as implications, limitations,and suggestions for future research.

Race, Gatekeeping, Magical Words, And The Rules Of Evidence, I. Bennett Capers

Faculty Scholarship

Although it might not be apparent from the Federal Rules of Evidence themselves, or the common law that preceded them, there is a long history in this country of tying evidence—what is deemed relevant, what is deemed trustworthy—to race. And increasingly, evidence scholars are excavating that history. Indeed, not just excavating, but showing how that history has racial effects that continue into the present.

One area that has escaped racialized scrutiny—at least of the type I am interested in—is that of expert testimony. In this brief Essay written for the Vanderbilt Law Review Symposium, Reimagining the Rules of Evidence at …

How The “Black Criminal” Stereotype Shapes Black People’S Psychological Experience Of Policing: Evidence Of Stereotype Threat And Remaining Questions, Cynthia J. Najdowski

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Cultural stereotypes that link Black race to crime in the U.S. originated in and are perpetuated by policies that result in the disproportionate criminalization and punishment of Black people. The scientific record is replete with evidence that these stereotypes impact perceivers’ perceptions, information processing, and decision-making in ways that produce more negative criminal legal outcomes for Black people than White people. However, relatively scant attention has been paid to understanding how situations that present a risk of being evaluated through the lens of crime-related stereotypes also directly affect Black people. In this article, I consider one situation in particular: encounters …

The Incongruence Principle Of Evidence, Hillel J. Bavli

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Evidence law assumes that the meaning and value of information at trial is equal to the meaning and value of the same information in the real world. This premise underlies evidence policy, judicial applications of evidence law, and instructions to jurors for evaluating evidence. However, it is incorrect, and the law’s failure to recognize this hinders its aims of accuracy and equality.

In this article, I draw on fields outside of law - including Bayesian inference and cognitive psychology - to develop a model of evidence that describes how jurors combine new evidence with prior beliefs (or “priors”) to make …

How Gender-Biased Oral Argument Interruptions Opened The Door For Chief Justice Roberts To Be A Transformational Leader, Christina L. Boyd, Sidney E. Shank

Scholarship@WashULaw

In a 2021 NYU Law School conversation with Justice Sonia Sotomayor, the Justice was asked whether she observed higher levels of interruptions of female Justices, relative to their male colleagues, during the Supreme Court’s oral arguments. Justice Sotomayor responded in the affirmative:

“Did I notice it as a dynamic? Without question . . . but I don’t know of a woman who hasn’t. Meaning, regrettably, that is a dynamic that exists not just on the court but in our society in general. Most of the time, women say things, and they’re not heard in the same way [as] men [who] …

Sentence Length And Perceptions Of Dangerousness As A Function Of Race, Attributional Complexity, And Ability To Meet Bail, Hannah Baldwin

Psychology Theses

Defendant race and ethnicity impact sentencing length decisions, leading to discrimination in the criminal justice system. Aspects of the pretrial process that strongly correlate with a defendant’s socioeconomic status, the use of cash bail, may also influence sentencing length, given the negative stereotypes about individuals of lower socioeconomic statuses. Relatively few studies have explored the impact of cash bail use on sentencing decisions or sought to understand why use of cash bail might influence these decisions. The current study investigates the impact of defendant ability to meet bail (yes v. no) on judgments of sentence length and dangerousness within the …

Accuracy Of Ancestry Estimation In Forensic Anthropology: An Examination Of Select Nonmetric Methods, Mackenzie Miller

All ETDs from UAB

A goal of forensic anthropology is to aid in identifying unidentified human remains, often by creating a biological profile. An important piece of this profile is an ancestry estimate, and methodological accuracy is taken seriously. Traditional typological nonmetric methods of ancestry are heavily critiqued for being subjective and lacking scientific rigor in analysis. In addition, these methods are noted for conflating morphological traits with specific ancestral categories, ignoring the reality of continuous human variation. To combat this, scholars have proposed morphoscopic nonmetric methods as an alternative because they retain the accessibility popularized by typological methods but add a layer of …

A Mixed-Method Analysis Of The News Media Framing Of Gender Non-Conforming Victims Of Homicide In The U.S. From 2012 To 2022, Susana Avalos, Hayley Jackey, Iyan Wickel

Sociology & Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Recent analyses of transgender homicide victims find that the news media often uses improper terminology, delegitimizes, and victim blames them. These analyses, while insightful, are limited as they have largely analyzed cases involving trans women and trans feminine individuals. The present study employs a mixed-method approach to analyze news media articles (N = 88) published in U.S. online news media outlets about 17 gender non-conforming victims killed between 2012 and 2022. We found that most articles did not delegitimize or victim blame. However, we find (1) victim blaming occurred when reporting on cases of officer-involved shootings, (2) certain victims …

The Conflict Among African American Penal Interests: Rethinking Racial Equity In Criminal Procedure, Trevor George Gardner

Scholarship@WashULaw

This Article argues that neither the criminal justice reform platform nor the penal abolition platform shows the ambition necessary to advance each of the primary African American interests in penal administration. It contends, first, that abolitionists have rightly called for a more robust conceptualization of racial equity in criminal procedure. Racial equity in criminal procedure should be considered in terms of both process at the level of the individual, and the number of criminal procedures at the level of the racial group—in terms of both the quality and “quantity” of stops, arrests, convictions, and the criminal sentencings that result in …

Character Evidence As A Conduit For Implicit Bias, Hillel J. Bavli

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

The Federal Rules of Evidence purport to prohibit character evidence, or evidence regarding a defendant’s past bad acts or propensities offered to suggest that the defendant acted in accordance with a certain character trait on the occasion in question. However, courts regularly admit character evidence through an expanding set of legislative and judicial exceptions that have all but swallowed the rule. In the usual narrative, character evidence is problematic because jurors place excessive weight on it or punish the defendant for past behavior. Lawmakers rely on this narrative when they create exceptions. However, this account arguably misses a highly troublesome …

Religious Convictions, Anna Offit

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

The Anglo-American jury emerged at a time when legal and religious conceptions of justice were entwined. Today, however, though the American public remains comparatively religious, the country’s legal system draws a distinction between legal and religious modes of determining culpability and passing judgment. This Article examines the doctrine that governs the place of religious belief and practice in U.S. jury selection proceedings. It argues that the discretion afforded to judges with respect to applying the Batson antidiscrimination doctrine has given these beliefs and practices an ambiguous status. On the one hand, judges aim to protect prospective religious jurors from discrimination. …

The Role Of Suspect Development Practices In Eyewitness Identification Accuracy And Racial Disparities In Wrongful Conviction, Margaret Bull Kovera

Publications and Research

This article reviews the three previously studied categories of variables that are related to eyewitness identification accuracy: estimator (characteristics of the witnessing conditions), system (characteristics of the identification procedure that are under the control of the criminal legal system), and reflector (variables that reflect the likely accuracy of a witness). Although eyewitness scholars frequently turn to these variables and models of memory to explain why eyewitnesses make mistakes, none of these variables provides a reasonable explanation for the large racial disparities in wrongful convictions based on mistaken identifications, yet problematic policing practices might. The policies and practices guiding police efforts …

Potential Causes Of Racial Disparities In Wrongful Convictions Based On Mistaken Identifications: Own-Race Bias And Differences In Evidence-Based Suspicion., Jacqueline Katzman, Margaret Bull Kovera

Publications and Research

Objective: We explored whether racial disparities in evidence-based suspicion (i.e., evidence of guilt prior to placement in a lineup) provide a better explanation of racial disparities in exonerations based on eyewitness misidentification than the own-race bias in eyewitness identifications. Hypotheses: We predicted that the own-race bias in identification accuracy would be insufficiently large to fully explain the racial disparities in wrongful convictions in cases with mistaken identification. We also predicted that possible racial disparities in the prior probability of suspect guilt before subjecting suspects to the risk of misidentification might better explain racial disparities in wrongful convictions. Method …

State Attorneys’ Perceptions On The Role Of Racial Disparities In The Juvenile Justice System, Allison Cohen

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation was prepared to offer a scholarly investigation on the justice officials’ consideration of race in making decisions for sanctions and sentencing of African American juveniles. The research provided an extreme review of the justice system to place in context the differential treatment of Black youths. African American juveniles’ cumulative experience of discrimination and racial disparities in the juvenile justice system and adult criminal justice system. An examination of the overrepresentation of African Americans in the justice system. A journey from juvenile delinquency to adult criminality. An early destination starts at arrest to intake to juvenile court then transfer …

Abandoning Animus, Robert L. Tsai

Faculty Scholarship

This Essay presents a preliminary set of arguments against the legal concept of animus grounded in actual practice. After considering the major reasons advanced in support of the animus approach as well as the main objections, I argue that the end of animus may come once we confront the limits of judicial capacity. First, judges have not been willing or able to resort to the animus rationale to call out bigotry where the evidence of hostility is robust. These failures suggest that projects founded upon judicial review to reduce hateful motivations may be overly optimistic. Second, on the occasions the …

Intersections Of Disproportion: A Critical Quantitative Examination Of Dis/Ability And Gender In Black Students’ School Discipline Outcomes, Ceema Samimi, Noah Jefferson, Shelby Flanagan, Yolanda Anyon

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

This study uses critical race quantitative intersectionality to examine the impacts of gender and dis/ability type on Black students’ school discipline outcomes. We use multilevel logistic regression models to analyze data from a large urban school district, considering the intersectional impact of gender and dis/ability type on school discipline outcomes among Black students (suspension, restorative justice, referral to law enforcement). We found that Black students identified as male, labeled with emotional dis/abilities, or identified as having ADHD were more likely to experience school discipline consequences than those who were not. These findings suggest that gender and dis/ability status are significant …

Freeze-Frames And Blanket Bans: The Unconstitutionality Of Prisons’ Denial Of Gender Confirmation Surgery To Transgender Inmates, Aranda Stathers

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

It is long established that the Eighth Amendment’s prohibition against imposing cruel and unusual punishments requires prisons to adequately address their inmates’ medical needs. Inmates identifying with the LGBTQ+ community are not exempt from this constitutional mandate. Trans inmates with gender dysphoria require specific treatment, including, but not limited to, gender confirmation surgery. While courts acknowledge that prisons owe a duty to provide some transition-related care, the extent of that duty remains contested. With no guidance from Congress or the Supreme Court, the constitutionality of prisons’ denial of gender confirmation surgery is in the hands of the circuit courts, which …

Unpacking The Implementation Of Restorative Practices: A Case Study Of Race, Equity, And Change, Theresa Helyn Holtsbery

Dissertations - ALL

This research examined two types of change enacted by implementing Restorative Practices to address racially disproportionate disciplinary practices at an urban middle school. The first was change at a systemic, organizational level and the second as a paradigm shift in the negotiation of race, equity, authority, and Restorative Practices. The research explores essential change components in the planning, enactment, and sustainability of RP implementation and details the history and rationale for selecting RP. This study also explores the perspectives and actions of school staff as they negotiate the intersections of RP, race, equity, and authority. Qualitative data was collected during …

Implicit Bias In The U.S. Air Force Criminal Justice System And The Excessive Punishment Of Black Airmen, Brandon Lanier Dinkins

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this hermeneutic phenomenological study was to understand whether implicit bias influenced disproportionate commander-imposed punishment of junior ranking Black Airmen from grades E1–E4 who previously served on active duty in the U.S. Air Force. The theory guiding this study is the implicit bias theory introduced by psychologists Mahzarin Banaji and Anthony Greenwald in 1995. This theory identifies that attitudes, perceptions, and stereotypes shape specific groups' associations and qualities, which can influence decisions. This qualitative study employed a hermeneutic phenomenology research design. This study used snowballing and purposeful sampling methods to recruit 16 participants. Data within this study was …

“Together We Arrived And Together We Shall Leave”: The Gouverneur Parents Association And The Politics Of Race And Disability In Postwar New York, Jorge A. Matos

Publications and Research

This essay documents the history of the Gouverneur Parents Association (GPA), a group of mostly Black and Latinx parents whose disabled children were institutionalized at the Gouverneur Division of the infamous Willowbrook State School in New York City. The GPA, in coalition with Black, Latinx, and White parents and activists, led a campaign during the 1970s and 1980s to close Willowbrook, then part of a national network of sites denounced by disability activists during the heyday of the deinstitutionalization movement. In this essay I argue that the postwar migration of Black and Latinx communities into New York City amid an …

Borderline Personality Disorder And Violent Crime: The Moderating Role Of Sex And Race, Genevieve Allison

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

People receiving treatment for substance use disorders (SUD) are at risk of justice involvement. Although it is well-established that borderline personality disorder (BPD) increases risk for criminal involvement, it is unclear whether this relationship exists among people with SUDs. Furthermore, prior research has found sex and race differences in the relationships between BPD and justice involvement as well as violence, but these moderators have not been explored within a substance using sample. The current study utilized a sample receiving SUD treatment to examine whether BPD is associated with prior violent charges and, if race and sex moderated this relationship. Results …

Pretrial Consequences: The Impact Of New York State Bail Reforms On Racial And Ethnic Disparities In Pretrial Outcomes, Esther Laaninen

Student Theses

This study investigates the impact of New York’s 2020 Bail Reforms on racial and ethnic disparities in pretrial outcomes for New York State. 2019, 2020, and 2021 arraignment data from the Office of Court Administration Pretrial Release Datasets are used to determine whether racial and ethnic disparities for White Non Hispanic, Black Non Hispanic, Hispanic, and other race defendants narrowed after the implementation of the new law. The results from descriptive analysis, binary logistic regressions, and ANOVA tests suggest that racial-ethnic disparities have not abated, even though the proportion of defendants required to pay cash bail has sharply declined among …

Justice For All: Demanding Accessibility For Underrepresented Communities In The Law: A Roger Williams University Law Review, Roger Williams University School Of Law

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.