Digital Commons Network^™

The “War On Cops,” Retaliatory Violence, And The Murder Of George Floyd, Michael Sierra-Arevalo, Justin Nix, Scott Mourtgos

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

The police murder of George Floyd sparked nationwide protests in the summer of 2020 and revived claims that public outcry over such high-profile police killings perpetuated a violent “war on cops.” Using data collected by the Gun Violence Archive (GVA) on firearm assaults of U.S. police officers, we use Bayesian structural time series (BSTS) modeling to empirically assess if and how patterns of firearm assault on police officers in the United States were influenced by the police murder of George Floyd. Our analysis finds that the murder of George Floyd was associated with a 3-week spike in firearm assaults on …

Concepcion V. United States: Compassionate Drug Sentencing Reform Against A Criminal Legal System Built On Racialized Social Credit, Misty L. Schlabaugh

Denver Law Review Forum

​Misty L. Schlabaugh argues that ending the use of retributive punishment for non-violent drug crimes is crucial for addressing mass criminalization and incarceration, but it also emphasizes the need for broader societal change.​​​

The Cannabis Industry Needs More Green: The Necessity Of Federal Legislation To Aid Marijuana-Related Businesses In Conducting Ancillary Real Estate Transactions Notes And Student Works, Kevin M.A. Marek

Journal of International Business and Law

No abstract provided.

Denezpi V. Makin: Triba Self-Determination, Safety, And The Necesary Role Of The Dual-Sovereignty Doctrine, Hanna Woods

Denver Law Review Forum

​Hanna Woods argues that although the Court correctly decided Denezpi, it failed to incorporate key public policy considerations in its reasoning by neglecting to acknowledge that barring Denezpi’s subsequent prosecution in federal court would yield unfavorable consequences.​

Racial Discrimination In Jury Selection: The Urgent Need For Sixth Amendment Protections For Black Capital Defendants, Claire Austin

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

In the U.S., death row is made up of a disproportionate number of black persons. In capital trials, black defendants often face all white juries. The deep-rooted racial discrimination in the justice system impacts jury selection because prosecutors use peremptory strikes to remove black jurors from the jury panel. As the law stands today, the Sixth Amendment guarantee of an impartial jury made up of a fair representation of the jury applies only to the pool of jurors called in for jury service, not those who are actually selected to hear the case.

This comment analyzes the Supreme Court decision, …

A Theory Of Racialized Judicial Decision-Making, Raquel Muñiz

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

In this Article, I introduce a theory of racialized judicial decision-making as a framework to explain how judicial decision-making as a system contributes to creating and maintaining the racial hierarchy in the United States. Judicial decision-making, I argue, is itself a racialized systemic process in which judges transpose racially-bounded cognitive schemas as they make decisions. In the process, they assign legal burdens differentially across ethnoracial groups, to the disproportionate detriment of ethnoracial minorities. After presenting this argument, I turn to three mechanisms at play in racialized judicial decision-making: (1) whiteness as capital that increases epistemic advantages in the judicial process, …

Electing Prosecutors Based On Their Convictions, Ryan Edwards

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

When Machines Can Be Judge, Jury, And Executioner: Justice In The Age Of Artificial Intelligence (Book Review), Stacy Fowler

Faculty Articles

In When Machines Can Be Judge, Jury, and Executioner, former federal judge Katherine Forrest raises concerns over the pervasive use of artificial intelligence (AI) in the American justice system to produce risks and need assessments (RNA) regarding the probability of recidivism for citizens charged with a crime. Forrest’s argument centers on AI’s primary focus on utilitarian outcomes when assessing liberty for individual citizens. This approach leads Forrest to the conclusion that in its current form, AI is “ill-suited to the criminal justice context.” Forrest contends that AI should instead be programmed to focus on John Rawl’ 'concept of justice as …

Consistency Amongst Pairs: How Consistent Are Child Co-Witnesses With One Another?, Sarah L. Deck, Sonja P. Brubacher, Jason J. Dickinson, Martine B. Powell

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Purpose: When multiple children are asked about the same event, the consistency of their reports may be used as a heuristic for credibility. Little research has considered how consistent child co-witnesses are likely to be. In this study, we explored how likely child co-witnesses were to report the same details from a mutually experienced event. Methods: Pairs of children participated in an educational science event during which the target attempted to coax the children into breaking preestablished rules for the session (i.e., commit transgressions). Children were individually interviewed about their experience on two subsequent occasions. Results: Co-witnesses tended to be …

Relating Facial Trustworthiness To Antisocial Behavior In Adolescent And Adult Men, Zoe M. Alley, David C.R. Kerr, John Paul Wilson, Nicholas O. Rule

Department of Psychology Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Here, we investigate how facial trustworthiness—a socially influential appearance variable—interrelates with antisocial behavior across adolescence and middle adulthood. Specifically, adolescents who look untrustworthy may be treated with suspicion, leading to antisocial behavior through expectancy effects. Alternatively, early antisocial behaviors may promote an untrustworthy appearance over time (Dorian Gray effect). We tested these expectancy and Dorian Gray effects in a longitudinal study that followed 206 at-risk boys (90% White) from ages 13–38 years. Parallel process piecewise growth models indicated that facial trustworthiness (assessed from photographs taken prospectively) declined during adolescence and then stabilized in adulthood. Consistent with expectancy effects, initial levels …

Constitutional Law—Filling The Gap: The Need For Legislative Action To Protect The Right To Record Police In The Age Of Citizen Journalism, Madalyn J. Goolsby

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Implementation And Outcome Evaluation Of La Door: A Proposition 47-Funded Program In Los Angeles: Cohort 2 Final Evaluation Report, Melissa M Labriola, Danielle Sobol, Heather Sims, Stephanie Brooks Holliday

Faculty, Staff and Student Publications

The Los Angeles Diversion, Outreach, and Opportunities for Recovery (LA DOOR) program is designed by the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office (LACA) to provide a comprehensive, health-focused, preventative approach that proactively engages individuals at elevated risk of returning to LACA on a new misdemeanor offense. In this study, the authors document the findings of a process and outcome evaluation of Cohort 2 of the LA DOOR program.

Report: Oral Health In North Dakota: Opportunities And Need To Promote Oral Health Equity, Tonya Connor, Shawnda Schroeder, Anastasia Stepanov, Olivia Persinger

Indigenous Health Faculty Publications

THIS BOOKLET DESCRIBES THE CURRENT OPPORTUNITIES TO ADDRESS AND PROMOTE GOOD ORAL HEALTH IN NORTH DAKOTA Research and funding agencies stress the importance of using data to guide, develop, and implement effective and targeted activities to promote health equity. The data presented in this resource can aid decision makers, program developers, health professionals, dental teams, state agencies, and others when responding to the needs of North Dakota communities. USING THIS BOOKLET Countless providers, dental teams, local public health units, clinicians, agencies, and programs in the state are doing amazing work to ensure a healthy North Dakota. However, there are still …

Breaking Down Bias: A Comparative Analysis Of General Public And Police Officer Attitudes Toward Mental Illness And Officer Decision-Making In Mental Health Crises, Therese L. Todd

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Police responses to persons with mental illness (PMIs) compared to those without appear to be more likely to result in negative outcomes, underscoring the importance of understanding these interactions and the factors that may influence them. Relatively little research has examined officer attitudes toward mental illness, and no study has examined implicit bias toward mental illness among police officers or how police culture may impact outcomes in mental health crises. The present study sought to: 1) measure explicit and implicit bias toward PMIs among the general public and police officers to understand how these constructs may vary among these populations; …

Bargaining In The Shadow Of The Truth: How Client Assertion, Perception Of Guilt, And Predictive Inaccuracy Influence Plea Recommendations, Anna D. Vaynman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Over the past few decades, the largely hidden, secretive, and widely used system of plea bargaining has caught the fervent attention of scholars. The Shadow of the Trial model has been central to much of the plea-bargaining literature, despite significant critiques about its oversimplification. The model posits that defendants and their attorneys make plea decisions based largely on the estimated probability of conviction and the severity of the sentence to which the defendant could be exposed at trial.

The model, however, assumes that all actors are rational, equally risk averse, have no competing interests, and possess high predictive accuracy. It …

Epistemic Virtue And Receptivity To Science In Policing, Braden L. Campbell

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation investigates the underexplored relationship between character epistemology and its potential to explain behavior, decision-making, and culture within the criminal justice system, particularly the police. Building on the existing theoretical framework of evidence-based policing (EBP) and the recognized gap in understanding police receptivity to science, this study hypothesized that intellectual character at personal and collective levels positively correlates with science receptivity.

Epistemic character was defined through the aggregation of four traits: open-mindedness, defensiveness, insouciance, and groupthink. Science receptivity was measured by openness to change, desire to learn, reliance on intuition, and mistrust of science. Data were collected through surveys …

Typologies Of Battering: Uncovering Patterns Of Coercive Tactics Used By Abusive Men In A Mixed Methods Study, Abbie L. Tuller

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Coercive control provides a current day feminist understanding of intimate partner violence (IPV). Recent research has demonstrated the significance of coercive control and suggests it provides a more accurate understanding of IPV than using physical violence alone. Utilizing a feminist lens, this study’s first aim was to explore if typologies based on coercive control could be developed. The second and third aims were to explore if demographic differences and differences in masculinity exist across typologies. The final aim of this study was to continue the feminist understanding of IPV using the moral emotions of shame and guilt as an extension …

“Bending The Law” – Weimar Judiciary And The Political Bias Paradox Of The Legal System, Irit Bloch

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This interdisciplinary, microhistory project which draws on historical, legal and sociological methodologies, examines the relationship between a new and unstable democracy and a hostile judicial system in the Weimar Republic (Germany, 1919-1933). In particular, it asks how Weimar judges who were bound to codes of law and adhered to the rule of law were able to manipulate laws and to produce judgments along ideological lines while keeping a semblance of legality. By analyzing judicial decisions in three non-political, criminal cases, this research explains the mechanism of subversion and offers a nuanced explanation for the judiciary's motivations to abuse the law. …

Nursing Perspectives On Intimate Partner Violence Screening In The Emergency Department, Justin Cabrera

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Using descriptive and quality descriptive (QD) analysis, emergency department nurses from around the country completed a modified version of the Physician Readiness to Manage Intimate Partner Violence Survey (PREMIS) tool to gain insight on their attitudes, knowledge, and preparedness about working with patient survivors of intimate partner violence (IPV) regarding their willingness to and comfort in engaging in IPV screening practices. In total, 1,523 responses were received from emergency department nurses currently or formerly in practice.

Findings show that there was no correlation between emergency department nurses’ education and training on IPV and willingness and comfort with IPV screening with …

Doc/U/Ment: Affinities In 20th And 21st-Century Documental Poetics, Katherine Payne

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation presents, analyzes, and builds on the existing literary genealogy of documental poetry. In 2020 Michael Leong proposed the term documental poetry to describe the turn toward source materials in 21^st-century North American poetry, seen in longform research-based poems that explicitly incorporate documentation and seek to intervene in cultural memory. Using Ludwig Wittgenstein’s concept of family resemblance, I argue that there are clear affinities between 21^st-century poets and their 20^th-century literary forerunners, also that an expansion of the scope of documental poetics is needed. The three nodes of connection I examine are works …

Abuse Victimization And Impulsivity In Incarcerated Males: Examining The Roles Of Affective Instability And Trauma Symptoms, Jacqueline K. Douglas

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Incarcerated individuals with a history of physical and/or sexual abuse have been found to exhibit increased levels of impulsivity compared to those with no abuse history (Carli et al., 2014; Davis et al., 2017; Sergentanis et al., 2014). Given that impulsivity is a risk factor for criminal delinquency (Carroll et al., 2006; Kamaluddin et al., 2015; Zimmerman, 2010), it is important to gain a thorough understanding of psychological factors that may contribute to higher levels of impulsivity in incarcerated populations. The present study examined the mechanisms underlying the relationship of physical and/or sexual abuse history to impulsivity in a sample …

Examining The Prevalence And Psychopathological Correlates Of Paraphilic Interests In A Non-Clinical Sample, Dylan H. Abrams

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The paraphilias are among the most contentious diagnoses in contemporary psychological discourse. One of the major debates is over the extent to which paraphilic interests and behaviors should be considered “deviant.” To address this issue, extant research has examined the prevalence of paraphilic interests and their correlation with psychopathology. Though findings suggest that certain paraphilic interests are relatively common, existing data may misrepresent true prevalence rates due to racially and ethnically homogenous sampling. Additionally, though an association between paraphilias and psychopathology has been found in forensic and clinical samples, this relation may not generalize to all individuals with paraphilic interests. …

Local Law Enforcement And The Human Right To Housing, Sophia Vander Kooy

Denver Journal of International Law & Policy

The homelessness crisis stands at a point of overflowing, affecting the world’s capacity to continue ignoring the problem. As the world globalized, vagrancy laws and pervasive stigmatization of the homeless community persisted, leaving modern-day social services with a failing ability to enact change. The United Nations first recognized the human right to adequate housing in the mid-twentieth century but has tried to strengthen this right over the past two decades. Law enforcement officers around the world interact regularly with individuals experiencing homelessness and are arguably tasked with being the front-line enforcers of the right to adequate housing. However, often, these …

Above Reproach? The U.S. Supreme Court's Ethical Issues, Christopher J. Przemieniecki, Jana Nestlerode, Carli Younce

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

With society scrutinizing the American criminal justice system, a standard of ethics becomes ever so important for law enforcement officials, members of the bench, and correctional personnel. Creating a code of conduct not only benefits the individual players in the criminal justice system but it also protects the integrity of each institution. Unfortunately, one of the most important judicial branches in the criminal justice system, the United States Supreme Court, does not have, nor follow an ethical code of conduct. This creates a problem for criminal justice practitioners, the media, and society. This article examines the current requirements for a …

Association Of Reproductive Autonomy And Rates Of State-Level Racialized Disparities In Preterm Birth And Low Birthweight, Andrew S. Bossick, Emily C. Williams, Ian Painter, Jodie G. Katon

Public Health Sciences Articles

INTRODUCTION: Reproductive policies' impact on disparities in neonatal outcomes is understudied. Thus, we aimed to assess whether an index of reproductive autonomy is associated with black-white disparities in preterm birth (PTB) and low birthweight (LBW).

METHODS: We used publicly available state-level PTB and LBW data for all live-births among persons aged 15-44 from January 1, 2016, to December 31, 2018. The independent measure was an index of state laws characterizing each state's reproductive autonomy, ranging from 5 (most restrictive) to 43 (most enabling), used continuously and as quartiles. Linear regression was performed to evaluate the association between both the index …

The 2022 Alabama Executions And The Crisis Of American Capitalpunishment, Alexandra L. Klein

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Impact Of Technology Dominance On Audit Professionalism Through Data Analytic-Driven Healthcare Audits, Jared Koreff, Lisa Baudot, Steve G. Sutton

School of Business Faculty Research

Artificial intelligence (AI)-enabled tools and analytics hold the potential to radically alter audit processes by disseminating centralized audit expertise. We examine this potential in the context of data analytic-driven audits mandated to reduce fraud, waste, and abuse in a government-sponsored healthcare program. To do so, we draw on semistructured interviews with healthcare providers (i.e., auditees) subject to healthcare audits. Our work shows how use of paraprofessional auditors guided by AI-enabled tools and analytics reflects a very different audit environment. Specifically, auditees’ experiences suggest paraprofessional auditors lack specific expertise and credentials to conduct data-driven audits, apply judgment in deference to technology, …

Wgss 263s.01: Social And Political Perspectives On Gender And Sexuality, Elizabeth A. Hubble

University of Montana Course Syllabi, 2021-2025

No abstract provided.

Relationship Among Police Officers’ Alcohol Use, Child Sexual Abuse Material Exposure And Department Practices And Policies, Mahmuda Akter

Master's Theses and Capstones

This study explores the complex interplay of departmental practices and policies, exposure to child sexual abuse material (CSAM), social support, group connectedness, and gender in relation to alcohol consumption among police officers. The cross-sectional study utilizes self-reported data from 528 police investigators, forensic examiners and others connected with the criminal justice system from across the United States. Analysis reveals exposure to CSAM does not demonstrate a significant correlation with drinking habits among police officers. However, one significant positive relationship was observed between viewing CSAM that involves children aged 6 to 10 and drinking patterns. Furthermore, departmental practices are not associated …

The War On Drugs Or The War On Drug Users? Supervised Consumption Site In The United States As A Harm Reduction Strategy To Fight The Opioid Epidemic, Mary Crevello

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

Exploring the U.S. response to the opioid crisis, this study critically examines supervised consumption sites (SCSs) as a pragmatic approach. The historical framework of the "war on drugs" is scrutinized, highlighting its limitations and the necessity to shift from punitive measures towards more effective harm reduction strategies. Due to escalating opioid-related fatalities and inadequate harm reduction methods, the potential of SCSs is evaluated for short-term intervention. The Department of Justice's (DOJ) role in facilitating temporary measures to enable SCS operations is assessed, underscoring the urgency for a stable legislative framework to comprehensively address the crisis.

This research advocates for embracing …