Digital Commons Network^™

A Low-Stakes Assignment That Introduces Ai Technology Into The Analysis And Writing Process, Tim Mccormack

Open Educational Resources

In this ENG 225 assignment, students use AI (ChatGPT) to perform tasks related to summarizing, paraphrasing, quoting, and responding to a text, then compare the AI-generated work to their own. Using Blitzer’s article “The Rhetorical Situation”, students create APA citations, summaries, paraphrases, key quotes, and personal responses with AI guidance. The assignment emphasizes critical evaluation by having students analyze the accuracy, effectiveness, and differences between human and AI-generated work. This exercise develops skills in rhetorical analysis, source engagement, and reflective assessment of AI as a tool for writing and research.

Genocide, Memory & Prevention: Ethical Inquiry And Critical Thinking Through Research & Ai, Linda Humes

Open Educational Resources

This assignment engages students in ethical inquiry and critical analysis by examining lesser-known or silenced genocides within a global and historical context. Using academic sources alongside responsible use of generative AI, students compare dominant and marginalized narratives, analyze recurring patterns and causes of genocide, and reflect on prevention strategies. The assignment emphasizes ethical AI use, historical memory, and the development of civic awareness, empathy, and critical thinking in the study of race, power, and inequality.

Analyzing Best Practices In Reintegration, Education, Restorative Justice, And Reentry, Sergio Grossi

Open Educational Resources

This collaborative assignment in SOC 301 (Penology) requires students to critically examine best practices in reintegration, prison education, rehabilitation, and restorative justice through comparative international case studies, such as APAC, Bastøy Prison, or the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program. Working in groups, students analyze at least five peer-reviewed sources to assess both documented benefits (e.g., reduced recidivism, improved reintegration) and key challenges (e.g., scalability and sustainability). The scaffolded structure—proposal, draft, final paper, and presentation—strengthens research skills, critical thinking, and evidence-based academic communication.

Analyzing The Use Of Ai To Transcribe An Interview In Spanish, Rocío Carranza Brito

Open Educational Resources

This assignment explores the differences between oral and written language and the challenges of transcribing speech. Students conduct an interview with a selected person, using ChatGPT to create and refine interview questions. They record the interview and use Otter.ai to generate a literal transcription that captures natural speech features such as repetitions and hesitations. After reviewing and correcting the transcript against the audio, students format it with participants’ initials to focus on content rather than timestamps. A simplified transcription guideline is applied to mark key elements. Finally, students reflect on the transcription process, addressing what was most difficult to represent …

Analyzing Minnick V. California Using Chatgpt, Nicholas Malkov

Open Educational Resources

This assignment in the Race and Ethnicity course asks students to critically analyze the Supreme Court case Wayne Minnick et al. v. California Department of Corrections et al. through a structured case brief and ethical use of AI. Students examine key legal elements of the case while exploring issues of race, ethnicity, and institutional discrimination in the correctional system. After briefing the case, students use AI tools to generate and revise discussion questions that deepen analysis of themes such as racial discrimination, intersectionality, sentencing, advocacy, and policy reform. The assignment emphasizes critical thinking, legal analysis, and responsible AI engagement.

Essay Assignment On Current Political Development, Esther Verhalle

Open Educational Resources

This assignment asks students to reflect on how recent election results may influence policies related to the administration of justice. Students use ChatGPT as a brainstorming tool to generate possible policy impacts, then select one example and analyze it using course readings. By connecting AI-generated ideas to established scholarly arguments, students practice evidence-based reasoning and application of course concepts. The assignment also requires students to reflect on the strengths and limitations of using AI for idea generation, emphasizing independent analysis, proper citation, and critical engagement with AI-assisted work.

Formulating Research Question With Chat Gpt, Nicholas Malkov

Open Educational Resources

This assignment guides students through the process of developing strong, focused, and measurable research questions while critically engaging with ChatGPT as a collaborative tool. Students begin by identifying a broad topic, narrowing it to a specific and feasible area of inquiry, and determining the purpose and type of research question (descriptive, explanatory, comparative, or evaluative). After drafting their own question, they use ChatGPT to generate feedback and suggested refinements, which they must evaluate critically using the FINER criteria (Feasible, Interesting, Novel, Ethical, Relevant). Through comparison of AI-generated and human-generated revisions, students assess the strengths, limitations, and ethical considerations of AI …

Digital Cultures, Dei, And Ai: Critical Analysis Assignment, Oluremi Alapo

Open Educational Resources

This assignment presents a scaffolded, equity-centered approach to teaching digital culture and artificial intelligence (AI) within an undergraduate Diversity and Multicultural Education course at the City University of New York. Designed as a Writing Intensive, COIL-informed learning experience, the assignment invites students to critically examine digital technologies and AI as social and cultural systems shaped by power, access, and inequality.

Constitutional Powers Midterm Exam, Jordan Reitzfeld

Open Educational Resources

Students apply constitutional principles and court decisions to contemporary questions about the powers of Congress, the president, and the judiciary. They defend positions on possible reforms and analyze property rights, copyright, and trademark issues.

Reimagining Justice: Transformative Justice Analysis In Adult Felony Cases, Marisa Tramontano

Open Educational Resources

In this sociology final project, students take the role of a sociologist working with a public defender and analyze the records and social history of a client facing sentencing for a felony. They write a report for a judge explaining how structural factors and sociological concepts illuminate the case, then recommend responses that include alternatives to incarceration. A reflective essay examines the limits of the available information, ethical considerations, and how the project shaped their understanding of justice.

The Trials We Remember: Exploring Historical Significance Through Interviews, Sara Mcdougall

Open Educational Resources

Students interview someone about a judicial trial that mattered to them and reflect on a trial of personal significance. They share what they learned through a classmate presentation, exploring how people assign meaning to trials while practicing communication skills.

(Re)Discovering The Streets Of Nyc: Honorary Signs, Sticker Street Art & Collective/Collaborative Investigations, Mark Mcbeth

Open Educational Resources

In a scaffolded series of assignments, students investigate NYC honorary street signs and sticker art through photography, research, individual essays, and a collaborative project.

"Women’S Language" In Supreme Court Oral Arguments, Carolina Nunez, Lucy Williams, David Wingate, Aerin Christensen, Anna Mae Walker

University of Colorado Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Indelible Flaws Of Conviction Integrity Units, Sarah Gottlieb

University of Colorado Law Review

No abstract provided.

Aggregation At The Bottom, Seema Tahir Saifee

University of Colorado Law Review

No abstract provided.

Crimes Of The Powerful And The Looting Of Contemporary Nigeria: An Integrated Theoretical Perspective, Charles Ubah

African Journal of Criminology and Justice Studies

Crime of the powerful is a humongous social problem with the potential to ravage development and threaten the corporate existence of nation states. The case of contemporary Nigeria is the focal point of analysis in this paper. The objective of the paper, therefore, is to investigate the menace in Nigeria from an integrated theoretical perspective. The methodology was exploratory survey and review of literature which were content analyzed. The theoretical framework is a kind of Modified Multiple Reinforcing Social Forces Theory. Findings indicate that, beside its high prevalence rate, elite criminality in the various forms of corruption, property and environmental …

Understanding The Flow: Deconstructing The Link Between Immigrants And Fentanyl, Madeline F. Nesbitt

CMC Senior Theses

This thesis explains how a false link between undocumented immigration and fentanyl becomes widely accepted in the United States. Empirical data show that most fentanyl enters through legal ports of entry and that U.S. citizens account for the majority of those caught transporting it. Why, then, do 41% of Americans attribute overdose deaths to migrants trafficking fentanyl? This project examines how this myth is built, repeated, and sustained, and what policy consequences follow from it.

When complex social problems lack clear culprits, political actors often manufacture them through scapegoating. Current literature documents how political actors link immigrants to drug crimes, …

Rethinking Reentry In The United States: A Comparative Analysis Of Incarceration Strategies In Norway, Singapore, And Austria, Amelia Ulmer

CMC Senior Theses

The prison reentry system in the United States remains a pressing social, economic, and political issue, as hundreds of thousands of prisoners are released each year with few resources to assist them with their transition. In fact, these previously incarcerated people are arguably set up to fail, which leads to over half of them reoffending within two years. This thesis analyzes how the United States should reform its current prison system based on lessons learned from three international case studies. These three case studies, Norway, Singapore, and Austria were chosen as countries that have globally low recidivism rates and unique …

The History Of Mass Incarceration And Its Implications, Evan Sevaly

CMC Senior Theses

In this thesis, I develop a model to answer four questions about US incarceration: why did incarceration increase between 1973 to 2009, why have incarceration figures experienced an overall decrease since then, and what explains their oscillation, why has the penal system consistently incarcerated marginalized groups at disproportionate rates, and why is the US an incarceration outlier compared to other industrialized countries? I split the competing explanations to these questions into four schools of thought: the perspective that neoliberalism caused mass incarceration, the perspective that surpluses in finance capital, land, population, and state capacity caused mass incarceration, the perspective that …

Policy Recommendations To Reduce False Confessions By Juveniles In Wrongful Conviction Cases, Rohit R. Iyer

CMC Senior Theses

This research focuses on false confessions by juveniles in the United States justice system. False confessions are statements made by suspects during investigations in which individuals provide statements to investigators admitting to a crime in which they had no part. In these cases, individuals often spend years, if not the entirety, of their lives behind bars for crimes they did not commit. False confessions are the result of a number of systemic factors that will be discussed in this paper. While relatively rare, they are one of the largest blemishes in the U.S. justice system. Juveniles – individuals below the …

Immigration Federalism And The Promise Of State Constitutions, Joanne Gottesman

Lewis & Clark Law Review

This Article explores state constitutions’ promises and pitfalls for immigrant rights advocacy. This is a particularly urgent endeavor, given the anti-immigrant measures of President Trump’s second term and a U.S. Supreme Court that is willing to reverse longstanding precedent. Even cases like Plyler v. Doe, with its guarantee of free public education to undocumented children, could be vulnerable. While U.S. Supreme Court opinions protecting immigrant rights are the gold standard because they apply nationwide, state courts and state constitutions provide critical alternative avenues for relief that should not be overlooked.

This Article considers some state constitutional provisions that may help …

The Steelerville Case: Applying Criminological Theory To Crime And Police Morale, Shamus Smith

Open Educational Resources

Students use a fictional town’s economic decline and rising crime to evaluate at least two criminological theories and their implications for policy. Role-playing as consultants, they develop research-supported recommendations to reduce crime and improve police morale.

Reframing Sexual Assault And Intimate Partner Violence Through A Maternal And Child Health Lens: Implications For Integrated Prevention, Policy, And Practice, Daija C. Gibson

Theses and Dissertations

Sexual assault and intimate partner violence remain persistent public health concerns in the United States, with significant consequences for individual health, family stability, and population well-being. Although these forms of violence are frequently addressed through criminal justice and behavioral health frameworks, less attention has been given to their implications within maternal and child health, where relational dynamics, life course development, and intergenerational outcomes are central. This study reframed SA and IPV as core MCH issues to examine how integrated, systems-based approaches can strengthen prevention efforts. A structured literature review and systematic synthesis of peer-reviewed studies published between 2015 and 2026 …

Child Maltreatment Risk Identification In Complex Caregiving Environments: A Public Health Review Of Split-Custody And Multi-Household Family Contexts, Makenzie Lee

Theses and Dissertations

Child maltreatment remains a significant public health concern with lifelong consequences for children's health, development, and well-being. As children's caregiving environments become increasingly diverse through split-custody arrangements, blended families, kinship care, and other multi-household contexts, recognizing and assessing child safety concerns may become more complex. Although these family structures are not inherently associated with maltreatment, the distribution of caregiving responsibilities and information across multiple households may complicate child maltreatment risk identification.

This capstone presents a scoping review of peer-reviewed literature examining child maltreatment risk identification within complex caregiving environments. The review synthesized evidence related to caregiving environments, caregiver relationships, child …

The Future Of U.S. Higher Education: Equity Implications Of Shifting Immigration Policies, Research Institute For Social Equity Rise

Research Institute for Social Equity

This report examines the impact of U.S. immigration policies on higher education and international students from 2000 to 2025. It traces five major policy eras, from the post- 9/11 security overhaul and Obama-era expansion to the restrictive turns of 2017–2020 and 2025, and analyzes how shifting regulations have influenced enrollment patterns, economic contributions, and student well-being. Despite hosting more than 1.1 million international students in 2023–2024, the U.S. share of the global student market has fallen from 20% to 16%, underscoring how policy volatility and restrictive measures weaken national competitiveness. Drawing on federal data, scholarly research, and institutional reports, this …

From Diet To Deviance: Exploring The Link Between Eating Habits And Delinquent Behaviors In Early Adolescents, Mingxi Tong

Master of Arts in Criminal Justice Theses

This study examines associations between dietary habits and delinquent behaviors among U.S. adolescents, guided by biosocial and social bond theories. Using multilevel logistic regression analysis of 6,274 participants (ages 11-15) from the 2009/10 Health Behavior in School-aged Children survey, the research investigated relationships between four dietary patterns (breakfast consumption, fruit/vegetable intake, sweets consumption, and soft drink consumption) and five delinquent behaviors (bullying perpetration, physical fighting, alcohol use, cannabis use, and tobacco smoking). Results demonstrate partial support for the hypothesis that healthier dietary habits are associated with lower delinquency. Breakfast consumption emerged as a consistent protective factor across all behaviors (7-15% …

More Than A Meal: What Death Row Last Meals Reveal About Identity, Power, And Humanity, Mackenzie Helbig

Honors Theses - Providence Campus

Last meals on death row may appear to be a small or insignificant part of the execution process, but they can reveal deeper meaning about the individuals who choose them and the system that allows them. Before execution, inmates are often given the opportunity to request a final meal. While this moment is brief, it can carry emotional, cultural, and symbolic meaning. This study explores what last meals reveal about identity, mental state, and personal control in a highly controlled environment.

Using a descriptive qualitative approach, this research analyzes last meal records, academic studies, and inmate reports to identify recurring …

Affirmative Action In The Supreme Court, Arianne K. Dacayo

Senior Honors Theses and Projects

No abstract provided.

Nova Law Review Full Issue Volume 50, Issue 3

Nova Law Review

No abstract provided.

Nova Law Review Full Issue Volume 50, Issue 2

Nova Law Review

No abstract provided.