Digital Commons Network^™

Unequal Representation For Equal Numbers Of People: The Persistence Of Prison Gerrymandering And Why It Requires Judicial Intervention, Meredith Conway

Student Works

No abstract provided.

Babies Behind Bars, Elissa Johnson

Student Works

No abstract provided.

A Framework For Dignity And Health: Why Transgender Prisoners Are Entitled To Gender Affirming Care And How Their Rights Should Be Protected, Rishi Sane

Student Works

No abstract provided.

Police Accountability In Expungement Processing In New Jersey: The Past, Present, And Future, Jahmir Sterling

Student Works

No abstract provided.

Housing Transgender Inmates: A Review Of Prea Compliance And Related Legislation & Litigation, Carla Williams-Pauley

Student Works

No abstract provided.

The Problem With The United States For-Profit Cash Bail System And Why State Legislatures Should Stop Putting Profits Over People And Not Let Fear Prevent Bail Reform, Jake Collins

Student Works

No abstract provided.

Asking Gpt For The Ordinary Meaning Of Statutory Terms, Christoph Engel, Richard H. Mcadams

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

We report on our test of the Large Language Model (LLM) ChatGPT (GPT) as a tool for generating evidence of the ordinary meaning of statutory terms. We explain why the most useful evidence for interpretation involves a distribution of replies rather than only what GPT regards as the single “best” reply. That motivates our decision to use Chat 3.5 Turbo instead of Chat 4 and to run each prompt we use 100 times. Asking GPT whether the statutory term “vehicle” includes a list of candidate objects (e.g., bus, bicycle, skateboard) allows us to test it against a benchmark, the results …

The Common Political Foundations Of Originalism And Cost-Benefit Analysis, Jonathan S. Masur, Eric A. Posner

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

Cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and originalism are rarely discussed together, and seem to belong to different worlds of legal scholarship. The two methods are used by different institutions in different spheres of law for different purposes; what could they have in common? Nothing, or so it would seem. Yet closer inspection reveals surprising commonalities—both in terms of structure and function, on the one hand, and in historical pedigree and political economy, on the other. CBA and originalism are what we will call midlevel legal methods. Midlevel legal methods are neither normative commitments nor legal doctrines, but recurrently used methodologies that are …

Criminal Procedure In A Time Of Abolition, Adam Davidson

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

As the ranks of prison industrial complex abolitionists grow, the question of whether, and if so how, they should engage with criminal procedure doctrine becomes ever more pressing. This Essay engages Devon W. Carbado’s Unreasonable: Black Lives, Police Power, and the Fourth Amendment’s interrogation of whether to “blame” Chief Justice Warren for the expansion of the carceral state brought on by his opinion in Terry v. Ohio to begin exploring that question. It argues that while a laser-like focus on doctrine betrays an individual-focused theory of change that is likely to be both ineffective and anathema to abolitionist praxis, abolitionists …

University Of Central Florida Graduate Catalog, 2024 - 2025, University Of Central Florida

UCF Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Antisocial Personality Disorder And Trauma In Females, Marissa Lange

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

Antisocial personality disorder (ASPD) is a diagnosis reserved for individuals who feature deceitfulness, impulsivity, aggressiveness, recklessness, and irresponsibility. Evidence suggests that experiencing trauma is an etiological factor in developing antisocial traits in males. The prevalence of ASPD in the U.S. is three to one, male to female. However, research indicates females are substantially underdiagnosed due to exclusionary diagnostic criteria in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (5th ed.-Text Revised; DSM-5-TR; American Psychiatric Association, 2013). The Personality Assessment Inventory (PAI) is a personality measure that features a conceptualization of ASPD that differs from the DSM-5-TR and includes more personality-specific …

An Exploration Of The Experience Of Bipoc Students In Predominantly White Institutions, Lisanda Mojica

Doctor of Psychology (PsyD)

This dissertation explores the experiences of BIPOC students studying at predominantly White institutions (PWIs). Through in-depth interviews with a diverse group of participants, the study identifies seven categories that encompass the students' experiences: perception of the school, chosen community and friendships, academics and scholarships, exclusion and difference, relationships with professors, tokenization, and mental health. The findings suggest that BIPOC students at PWIs face numerous challenges, including feelings of isolation and exclusion, and being tokenized. Additionally, the study identifies protective factors such as professors. The study highlights the importance of creating inclusive and supportive environments for BIPOC students in higher education. …

Dordt University 2024-25 Catalog, Dordt University. Registrar's Office

Academic Catalogs

Academic Catalog for 2024-25

Creditor Courts, Alexander Billy, Neel U. Sukhatme

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

One of the largest institutional creditors in the United States is perhaps the most unexpected: the criminal court system. Each year, creditor courts collect more than $15 billion in revenues from criminal defendants. These fees are the lifeblood of the modern criminal legal system.

In this Article, we shed new light on the legal and economic framework under which myriad stakeholders operate in these creditor courts. By analyzing new survey data from clerks of court and 102 contracts with debt collection agencies in Florida, we provide general insights how creditor courts distort incentives and teem with conflicts of interest. These …

A Second Chance At Success: Using “Second Look” Laws To Modify Sentences Of Juvenile Offenders, Sophia M. Adams

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

“Second look” sentencing laws allow incarcerated individuals to petition to have their sentences reexamined and potentially reduced after they have served a significant period of incarceration. This rehabilitative relief is conditioned upon an offender showing that they have made meaningful positive changes while incarcerated and would not pose a threat to their community if released. Implementing second look laws is particularly appropriate in the context of offenders who have committed crimes as juveniles. The U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that juvenile offenders are less culpable than their adult counterparts and psychological science supports this conclusion. This Comment examines and compares …

A Critical Assessment Of The First Step Act’S Recidivism-Reduction Measures, Raquel Wilson

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

The First Step Act of 2018 (“FSA”) is the most impactful federal sentencing reform of the past 40 years. While the Act represents a partial resurgence of the rehabilitative model of imprisonment, which had fallen out of favor decades before, it also represents a missed opportunity to fully integrate evidence-based rehabilitation programs for those offenders who pose the greatest risks to public safety.

The public has a strong interest in reducing recidivism, particularly among violent offenders, most of whom will be released from federal prison eventually. The FSA incentivizes participation in evidence-based, recidivism-reducing programs offered by the Bureau of Prisons …

The Sword And The Scale: Model Rule 8.4(G) As A Tool Of Racial Justice In The Legal Profession, Tiffany Williams Brewer

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Lady Justice. Have you seen her? Standing regal and tall with blindfolded eyes. A sword in one hand and a scale in the other. Her image represents a symbol of hope and idealism in protecting and delivering her virtues. Lawyers enter this noble profession to do right by her and carry on her legacy. We serve our clients with the aim that she will ultimately be both our arbiter of facts and our judge. While the symbolism of her blindfold is often the subject of commentary on justice, consider the symbolism of the powerful tools she has chosen in her …

An Overview Of Youth Crime And Violence In The Caribbean Community (Caricom), Marika Dawkins-Cavazos

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Real Individuals Striving For Excellence (Rise): An Occupational Therapy Based Re-Entry Program For A Rural Jail Facility, Kennedy Tooke

Occupational Therapy Capstones

Title: Real Individuals Striving for Excellence (RISE): An occupational therapy based re-entry program for a rural jail facility.

Introduction: The United States criminal justice system continues to be known for currently holding over 2 million people within state, federal, local, and juvenile correctional facilities (prisonpolicy.org, 2021). Jail incarceration rates have increased 15% from 2020 to 2021 following a 26% decline from midyear 2019 (Zeng, 2022). Many individuals involved in the criminal justice system will be arrested again within the same year due to unsuccessful transitions back into the community. The purpose of this scholarly project was to develop a program …

Improving Occupational Performance For Survivors Of Sex Trafficking: An Executive Functioning Program, Riley P. Thomas

Occupational Therapy Capstones

Purpose: In 2021, the U.S. reported 10,360 human trafficking cases, of which 7,499 or 72% were explicitly identified as instances of sex trafficking (National Human Trafficking Hotline, 2021). Sex trafficking is “a form of modern-day slavery in which individuals perform commercial sex through the use of force, fraud, or coercion” (National Human Trafficking Hotline, n.d., para. 1). Due to survivors of sex trafficking being exposed to dehumanizing and traumatic events, this may impact the ability to participate and engage in daily activities related to an individual's executive functioning and life skills. The purpose of this scholarly project was to analyze …

Immigration Detention Abolition And The Violence Of Digital Cages, Sarah Sherman-Stokes

University of Colorado Law Review

The United States has a long history of pernicious immigration enforcement and surveillance. Today, in addition to more than 34,000 people held in immigration detention, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) shackles and surveils an astounding 376,000 people under its “Alternatives to Detention” (“ATD”) program. The number of people subjected to this surveillance has grown dramatically in the last two decades, from just about 1,700 in 2005. ICE’s rapidly expanding Alternatives to Detention program is a “digital cage,” consisting of GPS-outfitted ankle shackles and invasive phone and location tracking. Government officials and some immigrant advocates have characterized these digital cages as …

Estate To State: Pay-To-Stay Statutes And The Problematic Seizure Of Inherited Property, Brittany L. Deitch

University of Colorado Law Review

Pay-to-stay statutes allow states to recover their incarceration-related expenditures from those who are currently or have formerly been incarcerated. Mass incarceration is expensive, and states have aimed to shift this financial burden from their taxpayers and government coffers to the individuals who experience incarceration. Although pay-to-stay laws take many forms, in general, they authorize the government to seek recompense for an individual’s incarceration costs from the currently or formerly incarcerated person’s assets and income. Many states permit the seizure of inherited property to satisfy this legal financial obligation. Pay-to-stay laws have survived constitutional challenges thus far, but some state legislatures …

‘Saving The Youth’: Children And Young People As Moral Subjects In The Philippines’ Punitive Drug Regime, Gideon Lasco, Luis Emmanuel A. Abesamis

Development Studies Faculty Publications

Background

The Philippines has one of the must punitive drug regimes in the world, as evidenced not just by Rodrigo Duterte’s drug war but previous anti-drug campaigns. This article examines the place of ‘the youth’ in the longstanding moral panic around drugs and drug policy in the Philippines.

Methods

This article uses critical discourse analysis to analyze figurations of young people across three distinct periods in the Philippines’ contemporary history: Ferdinand Marcos Sr.’s early dictatorship (1972–1975), Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s presidency (2001–2010), and Rodrigo Duterte’s administration (2016–2022).

Results

In all three periods, young people were simultaneously invoked as a group that needs …

Police Vigilantism, Nadia Banteka

Scholarly Publications

This Article uncovers a critical yet unexplored dimension of policing: the strategic oscillation of police officers between their roles as state actors and private individuals, and its significant implications for police accountability frameworks. As officers toggle between these two roles to their legal advantage, they exploit a deep, systemic flaw in the structural design of policing. Tracing the trajectory of policing from its vigilante origins to its institutionalized form today, this Article argues that contemporary policing merges state-sanctioned power with vestiges of vigilantism to blur the public-private divide. This duality enables a form of state-sanctioned vigilantism through which officers exploit …

Viewers' Attitudes Towards Analytical And Traditional Commentary Styles In Baseball Broadcasts: A Quasi-Experimental Study, Michael Menhart

Theses and Dissertations

This study investigates the attitudes of college and non-college athletes on analytical and traditional commentary styles during baseball broadcasts. The attitudes tested were satisfaction and likelihood to watch again (retention). The experiment had two data collection sessions for the athletes and non-athletes where they were exposed to either analytical or traditional commentary. The exposure came through the reading of a fictional scrip based on each style and then the participants were asked to answer questions to test their satisfaction and retention. Through a comprehensive analysis, including independent sample t-tests and two-way ANOVA, the findings revealed a significant main effect for …

A Qualitative Descriptive Study On Secondary School Administrators’ Perception Of Restorative Practices And The Impact Of Restorative Practice Program, Antron Murray

Theses and Dissertations

Zero tolerance behavior management policies in secondary schools contribute to high student suspension and dropout rates. Zero tolerance policies do not provide an alternative solution to correct undesired behaviors and do virtually nothing to target a solution to reduce suspensions and student dropout. The purpose of this qualitative research was to gain insight into secondary school administrators’ perceptions of restorative practices and the impact of restorative practice programs. The researcher analyzed participating administrators’ perspectives regarding their behavioral management beliefs towards restorative practices and practices through interviews and open-ended questionnaires. Five school administrators with some familiarity with the concept of restorative …

A Preliminary Study On Intra-Departmental Abuse In A Central American Police Force, Emily Veroeven

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The aim of this study was to serve as a preliminary analysis to investigate the prevalence of sexual violence in the Belize defense and police force, the impact on victim’s lives, and the culture of military/police force. This mixed-methods study was conducted through a Qualtrics survey, and 34 participants were obtained. This survey contained a variety of dichotomous, multiple-response, and open-ended questions. This study found that 54.5% reported as a victim of sexual violence in the workplace. We also found that most victims did not report the crime, and many victims’ perceptions of their workplace has changed. A thematic content …

"Flowers In The Concrete”: Anti-Violence Nonprofit Leadership And Primary Prevention In Minnesota, Kim Lohse

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The grassroots origins of the American anti-violence movement have evolved to rely on institutions that perpetuate cycles of violence including law enforcement, criminal justice, and government funding programs. These systems do not meet the needs of most survivors and, in many cases, increase the physical violence and emotional abuse they experience. While the anti-violence movement has had success in shifting perceptions of gender-based violence, systemic responses have proven inadequate to prevent cases of sexual assault and intimate partner violence. This thesis study will analyze various forms of anti-violence response in the state of Minnesota using qualitative interviews with anti-violence advocates …

Pharmacy Involvement In Increased Access To Opioid Treatment Programs, Catherine O'Rourke

Theses and Dissertations--Public Health (M.P.H. & Dr.P.H.)

The opioid epidemic still affects many Americans today. Despite approved medication treatments for opioid use disorder (OUD), a majority of the population with OUD have not received treatment. Since pharmacists are the most accessible health care professional and had an important role providing care during the COVID-19 pandemic, there has been a push to expand pharmacists’ scope of practice. The primary purpose of this investigation was to identify the benefits and barriers to community pharmacist-led treatment of OUD. The secondary purpose was to determine whether pharmacist participation in opioid treatment programs (OTPs) or office based opioid treatment (OBOT) would be …

The Effects Of Stigma Within The Prep Care Cascade Among People Who Inject Drugs In Rural Kentucky, Abby Burton

Theses and Dissertations--Public Health (M.P.H. & Dr.P.H.)

Background: Injection drug use has increased HIV burden in low-prevalence communities, specifically within rural Kentucky. Pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) has been successful in terms of HIV prevention, yet uptake remains low among people who inject drugs (PWID). PWID living in rural areas face unique challenges to receiving PrEP care, including significant barriers of substance use- and HIV-related stigma. Recent studies have only started to explore the overlapping effects of these two stigmas. Considering the barriers each stigma independently poses to PrEP care, it is important to investigate their role in tandem for any compounding effects. This paper is a secondary analysis …