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Assessing The Risk, Addressing The Need: A Mixed Method Approach To Designing A Strengths-Based, Post-Incarceration, Correctional Assessment For Women, Rashonda Johnson

Dissertations

Women are the fastest-growing segment of the incarcerated population, steadily increasing since 1985 (ACLU, n.d.). More than one million women are behind bars or have some involvement with the criminal justice system. The rapid growth of incarceration among women has led scholars and researchers to address the growing needs and risk levels that lead to increased recidivism rates. The creation of assessment tools specifically focused on female populations began in 1999. However, before this time, instruments were historically designed for men within the criminal justice system, and addendums were added to these tools to be used with female populations (Voorhis …

Entre Madres, Putas Y Buchonas: A Content Analysis Of Narco Shows And Their Representation Of Women, Salma Galvan

Senior Theses

Fatima Cecilia was seven years old when she went missing from the gates of her elementary school in Mexico City. She was last seen on February 11th, 2020, walking hand in hand with an unidentified woman. Four days later, her body was found in a plastic bag; she had been sexually assaulted. This case shook the nation and served as a reminder of the fear and danger that girls face every day. On average, ten women a day are killed in Mexico, half of them by a significant other or someone they knew (Villegas, 2020 p1). Women not only face …

The Evolving Role Of Women In The Sinaloa Cartel: An Analysis Of The Relationship Between Drug Trafficking Organizations, Female Agency, And Economic Mobility, Catherine Page, Kennady Leigh Hertz

Honors Theses

Exploring the role of women in Mexican drug trafficking organizations is a topic that has gained significant traction in the past 30 years. Despite the increase of literature on the topic, few papers theorize as to why women participate. This product sought to explore the various reasons why women participate in Mexican drug trafficking organizations, either willingly, or against their wishes. We hypothesized that women join drug trafficking organizations for two primary reasons: a) they are coerced by male figures in their life, and b.) they participate willingly in an effort to gain economic mobility. To test our hypothesis, we …

The Underreporting And Dismissal Of Sexual Assault Cases Against Women In The United States, Jacey Passmore

Ballard Brief

Sexual assault is a highly prevalent yet rarely addressed issue within the United States. It is considered the most underreported and dismissed crime. There are a plethora of variables contributing to the underreporting and dismissal of sexual assault cases. The most prevalent factor appears to be the various understandings of sexual assault. The United States has no standard definition of rape or consent due to rape myths, victim blaming, disproportionately high perceptions of baseless allegations, and high-profile cases that are unrepresentative of the more common details of sexual assault. Other major contributing factors include knowing the perpetrator, victims’ pre-existing and …

Law School News: Joyce And Bill Cummings Of Cummings Foundation To Deliver Keynote Address At Rwu Commencement 4-20-2023, Jill Rodrigues

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Mothering Experiences Of Women In Jail, Bothwell Piason

Theses and Dissertations

Women make relatively small proportions of incarcerated population worldwide, but the rate at which they have been incarcerated over the past four decades in the U.S. has outpaced that of their male counterparts. Although carceral trends show declining patterns in prison population numbers, the jailed population continues on an upward trend (Bureau of Justice Statistics, 2022), studies have focused more on prison than jail. The disproportional incarceration of women is evident in jails where the majority of women incarcerated are mothers of young children (Sawyer & Bertram, 2022). The current paper explores mothering experiences of women in two Midwestern jails, …

Adding Women To The Conversation On Safe Consumption Sites: A Qualitative Interview Study With Poor And Marginalized Women Who Use Illicit Substances, Kaitlin Waechter

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Women’s erasure from discourses pertaining to substance use and safe consumption sites (SCSs) means harm reduction efforts are developed through the male lens. This research seeks to discover why women do (or do not) access SCSs so as to determine if and how SCSs address the unique gendered needs of women who use illicit substances. Semi-structured qualitative interviews were conducted with 14 women-identified individuals who use illicit substances. Participants were recruited from a non-profit organization that offers harm reduction, but is not itself a SCS in order to capture a full range of perspectives on the SCS in their community. …

Lifting As We Climb: Effective Mentoring Methods For Black Women Who Aspire To Senior Leadership Roles In Higher Education, Janine Mixon

University of the Pacific Theses and Dissertations

According to the National Center for Education Statistics, 125,485 Black women earned a bachelor’s degree in 2019 in comparison to 70,909 in 1999. As the number of Black women on college campuses have increased, the number of Black women in senior leadership roles have remained stagnant. It is important for higher education institutions to find ways to increase the number of Black women in senior leadership roles because diverse staff and faculty not only increases students’ success but the institutions’ success. One of the ways in which colleges and universities can support the career advancement of Black women is to …

A Path Forward To #Niunamenos Based On An Intersectional Analysis Of Laws Criminalizing Femicide/Feminicide In Latin America, Melissa Padilla

San Diego International Law Journal

Since 2007, eighteen Latin American countries have enacted laws that criminalize femicide/‌feminicide in an effort to address gender-based murders in the region and to uphold their obligations under international human rights law. However, the COVID-19 pandemic and its systemic lingering effects exacerbated the existent dangerous levels of gender-based violence in the region, resulting in an increase in gender-based murders. To address these murders, between 2020 and 2021, a quarter of the eighteen Latin American countries that criminalized femicide/‌feminicide have implemented or are in the process of implementing reforms to their laws criminalizing femicide/‌feminicide. Given this new trend to address the …

Traumatic Brain Injury And Psychopathy In Incarcerated Men And Women, Tessa Cappelle

Psychology ETDs

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is one of the most suffered injuries with detrimental effects on the individual’s health, personality, and behavior. Overlap exists between TBI sequelae and symptoms of psychopathy. Both conditions are especially prevalent in incarcerated populations which makes studying their interrelation critical. Two studies examined the relationship between history of TBI (TBI+ vs. TBI-) and psychopathy (via the Hare Psychopathy Checklist-Revised; PCL-R) in adult incarcerated men and women at correctional facilities in New Mexico and Wisconsin. Study 1 included 342 women, study 2 included 1049 men. Measurement invariance was evident for TBI+ and TBI- for both studies. TBI+ …

Bipartisn Bills From Caucus Collaboration: Solutions To Polarized Or Non-Polarized Issues?, Kaitlin Holden

All Graduate Theses and Dissertations, Spring 1920 to Summer 2023

This paper investigates whether caucus members pursue bipartisan collaboration on bills related to polarized or non-polarized policy issues. The aim is to determine whether caucuses may be used to pursue bipartisan solutions to major policy issues in an increasingly polarized political environment. I model the effect that the presence of a women’s caucus has on bipartisan collaboration in increasingly polarized legislatures, depending on whether a bill’s title contains words related to polarized issues and its overall sentiment. Findings indicate that bipartisan women may be more likely to collaborate on polarized bills then non-polarized bills in legislatures with a women’s caucus …

Too Feminine For Execution?: Gender Stereotypes And The Media’S Portrayal Of Women Sentenced To Death, Kelsey M. Collins

Theses and Dissertations

Traditional gender norms prescribing women as more nurturing and less aggressive than men have led to both the reluctance to view women as capable of violence, as well as a greater willingness to execute men than women in the United States. To make sense of the instances where women are sentenced to death, the media often pathologizes and/or demonizes them. Scholars have found that demonizing and dehumanizing those executed is a necessity to the implementation of capital punishment, both in cases of male and female defendants. To better understand how the news media have framed the gender and racial narratives …

"Everything I Believe Is Rooted In Love": Women And Non-Binary Activists Of Color Fighting For The Practice And Promise Of Abolition, Brittany Pearl Battle

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"The police murders of Breonna Taylor and George Floyd in the first half of 2020 sparked a powerful movement against police violence, white supremacy, and the carceral state with millions taking to the streets in the U.S. and globally. The movement coalesced around calls for police accountability, and to defund and abolish the prison industrial complex. While these calls for abolition were certainly not new, they reached national dialogues in a way not previously experienced. Although there are significant projects exploring abolition as a theory, there is not much scholarship on the specific area of the social movement that advocates …

The Voices Of The Divorced: Reasons For Early Divorce Among Emiratis In Abu Dhabi, Fakir Al Gharaibeh, Muneera Majed Al Ali

Journal of International Women's Studies

There has been a growing interest, especially among Emirati organizations concerned with family development, in the rising rates of early divorce in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). The purpose of this research is to identify the reasons for early divorce among Emiratis. The authors selected 2,162 Emirati early divorcees who were registered with the Family Development Foundation (FDF) in Abu Dhabi and who received services from the (FDF) between 2012 and 2018. Among those, 200 divorcees agreed to participate in this study. Quantitative data were analyzed using SPSS. Results found that the most common reasons for early divorce were the …

Behind Closed Doors: A Look Into Access To Supportive Resources And Women Experiencing Intimate Partner Violence (Ipv), Ashley Lauren Holloway

Master's Projects and Capstones

Introduction Intimate Partner Violence (IPV) is a preventable health disparity that remains an underrepresented health issue due to survivors' comfortability in reporting violence within their most intimate relationships; in addition to providers' comfortability in addressing intimate partner violence. The high prevalence of IPV-related incidents highlights the importance of early intervention to prevent victims from experiencing violence again and dying.

Methods A systematic review was conducted to look into intimate partner violence against women. Key words such as intimate partner violence or domestic violence, women, utilization of care services or services, socioecological model were searched through pubmed and other scholarly search …

A Comparative Approach Of The Development And Impact Of Victims’ Rights On Violence Against Women In The United States, Portugal, And Pakistan, Brianna Williams

Lincoln Memorial University Law Review Archive

In recent years, victims’ rights have received worldwide attention in regards to women’s rights and opportunities-or lack thereof. However, what are victims’ rights, how are women’s issues addressed under these rights, have they had their intended effect, are they adequately addressing modern issues, how have similar rights been implemented in other counties and are they working better? This article is a comparative law project between the United States, Portugal, and Pakistan evaluating victims’ rights in each country and any correlation between the presence and enforcement of victims’ rights and the impact they have had on violent crimes against women. By …

Promoting Women Police Officers: Does Exam Format Matter?, Jessica Huff, Natalie Todak

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Despite decades of calls to diversify policing, women continue to be underrepresented in the field, and this problem compounds when looking up the ranks. One explanation is that police organizations are “gendered” in that their structures, processes, and cultures support men’s career advancement over women’s. To investigate this possibility, we analyzed survey results from 685 women police officers to examine whether career advancement is influenced by the composition of an agency’s promotional process. Most agencies used a combination of testing components, with written exams being the most common, but also a heavy reliance on interviews, assessment centers, and career portfolios. …

Breaking The Cycle: An Analysis Of The Reduction Of Single Women In The Homeless Community, Luisa J. Lamagra

Honors Projects

An analysis of homelessness with particular attention to King County and a focus on single women. This paper aims to address gender disparities in housing prioritization and homeless reduction solutions while suggesting gender-conscious policies and programs. The current system of housing prioritization is aiming to be neutral; yet it falls to the side of white, cisgender, heterosexual men. Single women without children have specific needs that are not met because the absence of children in their lives makes them insignificant, which feeds into the cyclical nature of chronic homelessness. By analyzing the specific pathways that women take into homelessness, this …

Women's Timeless Fascination With True Crime And Horror, Sarah Victoria Di Carluccio

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

This thesis examines society’s interest in gothic literature, horror, and true crime. Beginning with the first gothic works, and ending with modern true crime media, a focus of this exploratory piece will be on women because women have always been, and remain, the primary consumers of the gothic, and of true crime. The question is: Why? To examine the possible reasons, I will be examining the success of original gothic writers, namely, Ann Radcliffe. Other authors who influenced the development of the Gothic genre will influence our modern understanding of these origins. I will examine Poe’s “The Mystery of Marie …

Anger In The Overlooked: A Gendered Analysis Of The January 6, 2021 Capitol Hill Breach, Elizabeth Bender

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

The violence seen at the U.S. Capitol Building on January 6, 2021 has sparked concern at the threat of domestic violent extremism (DVE) within the United States. Over 700 individuals have been federally charged in connection with the events of January 6 including almost 100 women. Women’s involvement in DVE is underestimated and understudied. This project utilized a corpus of over 1,000 court documents to content code variables relating to violence and DVE affiliation for the individuals who have been federally charged in relation to January 6th. The results of the coding process were then used to compare the rates …

Causal And Contributing Factors In Lynching Women, Cecelia Smith

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The violent act of lynching has mostly been identified as a method of vigilante justice perpetrated against African American men. During the Reconstruction Era (1865-1877) in the south, these efforts of terror by violent mobs were employed to instill fear, to preserve an economy that had been fortified by a now-extinct slave industry, and to facilitate a white supremacist ideology. Initial lynching and data analyses have often seen scholars focus explicitly on male experiences. Women, however, were also victimized by this type of mob violence. African American women, White women, and Mexican women were lynched, but justification for such actions …

From The Mouths Of Women: The Life Model Of Homelessness, Janeal M. White

LSU Doctoral Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify commonalities in life events preceding a first episode of homelessness for women living in shelters in Texas. This built on the work of Nooe & Patterson (2010) who identified fourteen factors that contributed to increased risk of homelessness as visualized in the Ecology of Homelessness. While based on existing literature at the time, Nooe & Patterson may not have heard clearly the voices of women with lived experience. The current study sought to explore how these risk factors manifest in the lived experiences of women residing in Texas homeless shelters.

The significance …

Human Trafficking Among Utah Girls And Women, Lindsay B. Gezinski, Mckayla Caress, Marin Christensen, Susan R. Madsen

Marketing and Strategy Faculty Publications

Human trafficking is a global problem that involves the exploitation of people for profit through the means of force, fraud, or coercion.¹ It takes a variety of forms, including forced labor, debt bondage, domestic servitude, and sexual exploitation.² Systemic inequalities, such as mass displacement, extreme poverty, and lack of access to education and job opportunities are examples of contributing factors that can fuel trafficking of vulnerable populations.³ While the scale of trafficking in persons is difficult to determine, estimates suggest that there were over 40 million victims worldwide in 2016.⁴ In fact, during the COVID-19 pandemic, …

Prevention Of Violence Against Women And Girls: A Cost-Effectiveness Study Across 6 Low- And Middle-Income Countries, Giulia Ferrari, Sergio Torres-Rueda, Esnat Chirwa, Andrew Gibbs, Stacey Orangi, Edwine Barasa, Theresa Tawiah, Rebecca Kyerewaa Dwommoh Prah, Rozina Karmaliani, Hussain Maqbool Ahmed Khuwaja

School of Nursing & Midwifery

Background: Violence against women and girls (VAWG) is a human rights violation with social, economic, and health consequences for survivors, perpetrators, and society. Robust evidence on economic, social, and health impact, plus the cost of delivery of VAWG prevention, is critical to making the case for investment, particularly in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) where health sector resources are highly constrained. We report on the costs and health impact of VAWG prevention in 6 countries.
Methods and findings: We conducted a trial-based cost-effectiveness analysis of VAWG prevention interventions using primary data from 5 randomised controlled trials (RCTs) in sub-Saharan Africa …

Tactical Mistakes: Women's Role In Terrorism, Laura Daniel

Liberty University Journal of Statesmanship & Public Policy

Since the 1970s, the word "terrorism" has become a well-known term. Almost two decades after 9/11, it has become a part of everyday vocabulary and, at times, dominates the news cycle. However, the faces we see associated with terrorism are mainly men. When talking of a training camp or a video claiming responsibility for terrorist attacks, women are not a part of the majority. However, women do play a significant role in terrorism. This article evaluates the history of women in terrorism and their positions in terror organizations, as well as the tactical mistake of overlooking women's role in global …

Women During The Governorship Of Dale Bumpers, Amanda Whitley

Theses and Dissertations

Among the most important issues women have experienced is the lack of equality between the genders. In the 1970s women were close to achieving the equal opportunity they had been fighting for. The creation of the Equal Rights Amendment (ERA) was one of the most contentious issues of the time. This was no different in Arkansas as evidenced by the local opinions expressed in the many letters received by Governor Dale Bumpers. The opinions were overwhelmingly opposed to the ratification of the ERA. In the end the voices of its citizens were heard. Arkansas would not ratify this ERA.

A Study On Formerly Incarcerated Women From Appalachia Pursuing Higher Education, Marcie Simms

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The pursuit of higher education is a goal that is embedded in secondary education and often correlated with the American dream. This study concentrated on the barriers that women with a felony conviction face when pursuing higher education after incarceration. Based on the identified barriers, current best practices for admission to higher education institutions and individual resources available for the ex-offender population were assessed. Using a questionnaire and interviews, a qualitative research approach helped identify the barriers that women with a felony conviction face when pursuing education and best practice solutions for institutions of higher education when working with the …

The Impact Of Intimate Partner Violence On Women's Financial Wellbeing, Rowan Dunton

Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science

Domestic violence and intimate partner violence against women affects all aspects of their health, including physical, mental, emotional, and economic health. When social programs, support networks, and better opportunities exist to improve the lives of female survivors, the financial impact of their abuse can be addressed and reduced in a significant, sustainable manner. Reviewing existing literature on this financial impact of abuse makes it apparent what women want and need to recover from their former, or even ongoing, situations. Effective preventative measures against financial harm include closing the gender wage gap and offering welfare programs for lower-income women to increase …

Feminist Ethics And Research With Women In Prison, Christina Quinlan, Lucy Baldwin, Natalie Booth

Articles

In this article, a new model, An Ethic of Empathy, is proposed as a guide for researchers, particularly new scholars to the discipline. This model emerged from the authors’ concerns regarding the application of ethics to studies that focus on the experience of female offenders in criminal justice systems. The key issue is the vulnerability of incarcerated and post-release women in relationship to the powerful status of social scientist researchers. The complexity of ethics in such research settings necessitates a particular ethical preparation, involving formation, reflection, understanding, commitment, care, and empathy. Three cases are outlined which document the authors’ ethical …

Violence Against Refugee Women In The Mena Region, Genevieve Cole, Harriet Huang

Ballard Brief

Refugee women of the Middle East North Africa (MENA) Region are exposed to violence in a variety of ways along their refugee journey. Once within refugee camps, refugee women face high risk spaces for violence, inhibited privacy, as well as unequal gender based power relations between themselves and predominantly male staff. Outside of refugee camps, lack of and improper implementation of cross-border policies allow trafficking networks, authority figures, and other perpetrators of GBV to harm refugee women without fear of repercussions. Victims of GBV can experience a variety of short and long term physical and mental health concerns that can …