Digital Commons Network^™

Death And Disappearance: Measuring Racial Disparities In Mortality And Life Expectancy Among People In State Prisons, United States 2000-2014, Bryan L. Sykes, Ernest K. Chavez, Justin D. Strong

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Background Research on carceral institutions and mortality finds that people in prisons and jails have a high risk of death immediately following release from custody and that while incarcerated, racial disparities in prisoner mortality counter observed death patterns among similarly situated non-incarcerated, demographic groups. Yet, many of these studies rely on data prior to the millennium, during the COVID-19 pandemic, or are relegated to a small number or select group of states. In this paper, we explore changes in mortality and life-expectancy among different demographic groups, before and after the Great Recession, across forty-four states that reported deaths in custody …

Two Decades Later, Steven L. Chanenson, Douglas A. Berman

Faculty Publications

A generation after the Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in United States v. Booker changed federal sentencing laws and practices, it is remarkable how much and how little has changed. This brief introduction provides an overview to this issue of the Federal Sentencing Reporter, with an array of authors providing perspectives on Booker after two eventful decades.

Figg At 5: An Update On Us Public Perspectives On Forensic Investigative Genetic Genealogy Five Years After Its Introduction To Criminal Investigations, Christi J Guerrini, Jill O Robinson, Mohamed I Elsaid, Whitney Bash Brooks, Ariel Levchenko, Stephanie M Fullerton, Sara Huston, Norah L Crossnohere, John F P Bridges, Jacklyn M Dahlquist, Louiza Kalokairinou, Diana Madden, Cece Moore, Amy L Mcguire

Center for Medical Ethics and Health Policy Staff Publications

In 2018, after law enforcement announced it had used a technique called forensic investigative genetic genealogy (FIGG) to identify the Golden State Killer, we conducted a U.S. general population survey and found most respondents supported using FIGG to solve violent crimes. Since then, FIGG has helped close hundreds of criminal cases, but it also has weathered controversies. On FIGG's fifth anniversary, we conducted an expanded, follow-up survey with U.S.-based participants to determine if public opinion had changed and found continued support for FIGG across most applications. The same proportion (91 %) of respondents in the 2018 and 2023 surveys endorsed …

Reversing Perverse Incentives And Aligning Interests: A Statutory Approach To Combatting Sex Trafficking In The Hospitality Industry, Sara Seymour

Vanderbilt Law Review

The hospitality industry has a sex trafficking problem: Seventy-five percent of sex trafficking victims report coming into contact with a hotel at some point during their trafficking. Though hotel franchisors publicly tout their efforts to combat sex trafficking, they are not properly or adequately incentivized to intervene in a meaningful way. The majority of hotels in the United States are franchised, and for every franchised room that is rented out—whether for sex trafficking or otherwise—hotel franchisors receive royalties. Further, franchisors are motivated to dictate material consistency, like what brand of soap to use, but not safety measures, because it allows …

University Student Organizations: Influence On Leadership Skills In The Workforce, James W. Ebert, Tomicka N. Williams, Aline K. Major, Kristi Pitts, Donna Yohman, Jodi Levit, Thomas Anderson

The Guardianship Journal

The modern-day workforce is ever-changing, and so are the required leadership skill sets for employees to be successful in the workplace. University student organizations (USOs) offer students opportunities to develop their leadership skills in preparation for the workforce. The purpose of this research is to conduct an empirical study that uses distributed leadership theory (DLT) as a lens to explore how USOs influence a student's leadership capacity in the workforce. Exploring the various components of DLT (autonomy, accountability, and leadership capacity) using an empirical research method approach is plausible in understanding the unique approach USOs offer students while simultaneously preparing …

A Democratic Restraint On Incarceration, Marah Stith Mcleod

Florida Law Review

We face a crisis of excessive incarceration. Undeserved punishment violates a bedrock principle of justice, yet criminal defendants are often imprisoned without assurance that their deprivation of liberty and exclusion from society is deserved. Legislatures are under powerful pressures to authorize and even mandate carceral penalties that may exceed individual culpability; prosecutors have strong cost incentives to threaten undeserved penalties to induce guilty pleas, and to pursue those penalties if defendants refuse to plead guilty; and judges face like institutional pressures to sentence defendants more harshly if they insist on trial. This Article proposes a new sentencing model that employs …

Exploring Modern Data Accessibility Surrounding Police-Involved Killings Of Black Citizens, Chloe Robinson, Jenna L. Borseth

The Guardianship Journal

The need for greater data transparency regarding police-involved killings has been a recurring issue raised by scholars in the field. With limited means of using official policing data, research in the area of police-involved fatalities and other critical policing issues has relied on alternative data sources. While the government has historically failed to instill a mechanism for systematically collecting this information, the development of the Use-of-Force Data Collection in 2019 was an initial step in improving data transparency. The current study seeks to reassess the accessibility and utility of various data sources following the publication of the Use-of-Force Data Collection. …

Theatre As Exigency: A Case For Live Performance From The Ghosts Of The Theatre, Erin J. Schmidt

Theatre, Dance & Film Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Indispensability Of Human Paralegals In The Era Of Advancing Ai, Nicole L. Perry

The Guardianship Journal

The rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) is causing ripples in all areas of life. The legal field is not immune, and concerns about AI replacing legal professionals abound. This manuscript explores the role of paralegals in the legal field from the inception of legal assistants to today and beyond. It examines research on the importance of the human paralegals’ expertise in navigating complex legal processes efficiently and accurately while providing emotional support for clients. This manuscript describes how human paralegals will remain indispensable thanks to their technological capabilities and emotional intelligence. Emphasizing the American Bar Association’s (ABA) mandate on …

The Beacon, January 31, 2025, Beacon Staff

The Beacon, 2024-2025

Inequality in men's and woman's retreat; NW advice on adulting for students; A journey through Mac Miller's mind; Bob Dylan biopic deemed underwhelming; NW forgoes foreign language requirement; Faculty art exhibit displays diverse styles; The paths of maximum efficiency; Men's vs. women's retreat; College campus snow days policies; Adulting 101; TikTok ban: double-edged sword; Unity in the body of Christ; Cheer and dance kick off competitive season; A deeper look into the NW vs. Dordt rivalry; Women's soccer welcomes new head coach; What happened with TikTok; NW Students stand out at KCACTF;

The Clock Is Ticking: Legal Barriers In § 1983 Execution Protocol Challenges, Christian Witte

Missouri Law Review

At 7:53 p.m. on January 25, 2024, the curtains opened, revealing Kenneth Smith strapped down in the execution room, covered by a white sheet. A respirator mask covered his face, serving as the conduit for nitrogen gas that Smith would soon inhale. The prison warden entered the execution chamber, read Smith’s death warrant, and allowed Smith to share his final words: “Tonight Alabama causes humanity to take a step backwards. I’m leaving with love, peace[,] and light . . . . Love all of you.” Alabama’s Attorney General permitted the warden to continue, signaling no court orders were staying the …

Time And Retribution, Meghan J. Ryan

Missouri Law Review

Time is missing from discussions on the theory of retribution. A colossal body of scholarship has been devoted to exploring the theory of retribution, or “just deserts,” but much less has attempted to translate this theory into practice, explaining how to determine an actual offender’s desert in real life. The limited scholarship on this topic touches on who might best assess an offender’s desert. For example, should a judge, a juror, or the public itself be making these desert decisions? But there is also a temporal aspect to this decision-making that has thus far largely eluded exploration: When should the …

Pressure Of The Past: How Recalling Ostracism Influences Risk And Benefit Perception, Joseph Newton, Ulrich Von Hecker

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

The affect heuristic suggests that emotional responses significantly influence perceptions of risk and benefit. We extend this model to test how recalling ostracism affects these perceptions across financial, health, and social domains, and test how time pressure moderates these effects. Participants were randomly assigned to one of two conditions: recalling either a time they were ostracized (ostracism condition) or included (inclusion condition), followed by evaluating risk and benefit scenarios under time pressure or no time pressure. While a growing body of evidence has linked ostracism to increases in risky decision-making, we found that recalling ostracism led to domain-specific, bi-directional changes …

The Right To Truth In Transitional Justice, Nouran Hassan

Theses and Dissertations

Transitional justice is sought by nations suffering from legacies of human rights violations. The field of transitional justice stands on four main pillars: truth seeking, criminal justice, reparations and guarantees of non-recurrence. It promotes utilizing legal and non-legal mechanisms to achieve a transition to democracy and the mechanisms employed must relate to, at least, one of its pillars. Truth is considered substantial for transitions to happen. Revealing the truth is believed to be essential for reconciliation and promoting peace. However, in various experiences the truth did not lead to reconciliation and was widely distorted. The approach of the transitional justice …

Minor Role Iii: Youth Under Age 18 And New York City Violence, Jeffrey A. Butts, Gina Moreno

Publications and Research

Researchers at the John Jay College Research and Evaluation Center analyzed NYPD arrest data from 2006 to 2024 to assess trends in felony assault, felony robbery, and felony weapon offenses across age groups. The study examined whether New York’s “Raise the Age” law, which shifted most youth under 18 out of adult court, influenced violent crime patterns. Although arrests rose across all age groups following the COVID-19 pandemic, trends among youth under 18 generally mirrored those of older age groups. The findings suggest no clear evidence that the law caused a youth-specific increase in violent crime.

Liberty, Safety, And Misdemeanor Bail, Brandon L. Garrett, Sandra Guerra Thompson, Dottie Carmichael, David Shi, Songman Kang

Florida Law Review

The highest volume of cases in the U.S. criminal system are misdemeanors, and every day, hundreds of thousands of people are detained pretrial in such low-level cases. In policy and in politics, pretrial rules have swung between a focus on protecting constitutional rights and the public safety dangers posed by releasing arrestees. The Supreme Court’s ruling in United States v. Salerno sought to promote a balance between protecting individual due process rights and public safety interests. A central constitutional and pressing policy question is what trade-off exists between pretrial liberty and reoffending. The highest profile jurisdiction to examine that question …

Volume 38-1 Complete Issue, C. Nicholas Raphael

The Geographical Bulletin

Volume 38-1 Complete Issue

Urban Poverty And The Underclass Revisited: "Debates Within" The Underclass Debate., Eugene J. Palka

The Geographical Bulletin

Urban poverty and the "underclass" remain politically and emotionally charged topics among academicians and political analysts concerned with American urban affairs. Geographers, however, have not been central to the main debates. The latter trend is perplexing, given the spatially concentrated nature of the underclass problem. This paper provides a synthetic review of the urban underclass concept and a distillation of the underclass debate in order to describe the complex and multifaceted problems associated with the urban underclass, and to illuminate themes which may be of interest to geographers. Urban poverty is more concentrated today, and hence, more geographically distinct than …

Stepping Up Ohio: 2024 Evaluation Report, Melissa Burek, Philip M. Stinson, Mackenzie Grace, Stephanie Decroix

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Voices For Justice: Firsthand Accounts Of Innocent People Fighting For Access In New York’S Post-Conviction Process, Perlmutter Center For Legal Justice At Cardozo Law

Perlmutter Center Reports

In 2018, the New York State Court of Appeals’ decision in People v. Natascha Tiger created an insurmountable obstacle for wrongfully convicted individuals pursuing innocence claims. The ruling held that a guilty plea precluded persons accused of crime from challenging their conviction in the absence of newly discovered, exculpatory DNA evidence. This is a troubling fact given 97% of felony convictions and 99% of misdemeanor convictions in New York State are resolved by guilty plea. The National Registry of Exonerations documented that 24% of all exonerated people across the United States pled guilty to crimes they did not commit. According …

Empowering Families To Prevent Violent Extremism, Karyn Sporer

Reports, Projects, and Research

Families play a critical role in the pathways to radicalization and the prevention of violent extremism. While adverse family conditions — such as abuse, neglect, and parental abandonment — can increase vulnerability to radicalization, strong family bonds and emotional support can help individuals disengage from extremism and reintegrate into society. This study aims to understand the lived experiences of families impacted by violent extremism to identify how they can support prevention efforts. This research was conducted for policymakers, community organizations, and practitioners seeking to develop family-centered strategies to prevent radicalization and support deradicalization. By equipping families with knowledge, resources, and …

The Need For The Enactment Of Prize Law Legislation In Indonesia, Pornomo Rovan Astri Yoga

Indonesian Journal of International Law

Indonesia is a peace-loving nation. However, maintaining independence is more precious than maintaining peace. Therefore, Indonesia will always be ready to maintain its independence at any cost, including war. Indonesia claims itself as a maritime nation. All of those facts disregard the point that Indonesia lacks legislation regarding the law of naval warfare. This is particularly true in the case of the prize law. There are no single laws, statutes, or even procedures that govern the prize law in times of armed conflict at sea. The practice of the prize law has also been lacking since Indonesia’s independence in 1945. …

Impaired Driving Among Rural Appalachian Women In The Year Following Incarceration, J. Matthew Webster, Megan F. Dickson, Shawn M. Jamison, Michele Staton

Journal of Appalachian Health

Introduction: Despite the known risks associated with substance use following incarceration, no studies have examined substance-impaired driving as a post-incarceration health risk behavior in rural Appalachia.

Purpose: The present study examined differences by impaired driving following incarceration and identified predictors of impaired driving in sample of rural Appalachian women with a history of drug use and risky sex.

Methods: Women (N=340) from three rural Appalachian jails completed a baseline interview in jail and follow-up interviews at six and 12 months post-release. Interview questions included demographic characteristics and information on substance use risk, mental health, criminal legal system involvement, and impaired …

January 29, 2025 (Vol. 109, No. 16), Daily Eastern News

Daily Eastern News: 2024-2025

No abstract provided.

Business Management Strategies To Address Retail Theft, Mattie Sena Barcon

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Theft and fraud in the retail sector contribute to significant financial losses, operational disruptions, and reduced employee morale. Retail leaders are particularly concerned about these deviant behaviors, as they threaten profitability, business sustainability, and long-term workforce stability. Grounded in the retaillance conceptual framework, the purpose of this qualitative pragmatic inquiry was to explore strategies leaders used to mitigate shoplifting and fraud. The participants were six retail loss prevention professionals who had successfully mitigated retail crime. Data sources consisted of semistructured interviews and public records. Through thematic analysis, four themes were identified: (a) team dynamics, (b) organizational training and policies, (c) …

Business Management Strategies To Address Retail Theft, Mattie Sena Barcon

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Theft and fraud in the retail sector contribute to significant financial losses, operational disruptions, and reduced employee morale. Retail leaders are particularly concerned about these deviant behaviors, as they threaten profitability, business sustainability, and long-term workforce stability. Grounded in the retaillance conceptual framework, the purpose of this qualitative pragmatic inquiry was to explore strategies leaders used to mitigate shoplifting and fraud. The participants were six retail loss prevention professionals who had successfully mitigated retail crime. Data sources consisted of semistructured interviews and public records. Through thematic analysis, four themes were identified: (a) team dynamics, (b) organizational training and policies, (c) …

The Rider (2025-01-27), Rebeca Salinas

The Rider Archives

Vol.10 No.16

Obstacles For Women In Policing Seeking Leadership Positions, Catina Dukes

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Women’s representation in policing has grown throughout time, yet women continue to be underrepresented in policing as well as higher-ranking leadership positions. Despite efforts to increase their representation, many women in policing have yet to receive the proper promotion that they are due over their male counterparts. Further, when women are promoted, they are usually assigned to deal with crimes such as sexual assault, child abuse, human trafficking, and domestic violence against women. While prior research has addressed these gaps, there are a lack of data on the challenges women encounter while working toward leadership positions in the police workforce. …

Quantitative Analysis Of The Impact Of State Gun Laws And Gender Distribution On Illicit Firearm Trafficking: A Multiple Linear Regression Study Using Data From 2017–2021, Celeste Marre Quinn

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This quantitative, correlational study examines the impact of state gun law stringency and gender distribution among firearm possessors on illicit firearm trafficking, focusing on three key outcomes: firearm traces, perfected firearm traces, and straw purchases. In response to the pressing need to understand factors driving firearm trafficking, this research aims to inform public safety initiatives and policy strategies. Guided by deterrence theory, the study investigates how legislative strength and gender-based possession patterns influence trafficking indicators. Secondary data were analyzed using multiple linear regression to assess relationships between the IVs of state gun law stringency and gender distribution of firearm possessors …

Quantitative Analysis Of The Impact Of State Gun Laws And Gender Distribution On Illicit Firearm Trafficking: A Multiple Linear Regression Study Using Data From 2017–2021, Celeste Marre Quinn

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

This quantitative, correlational study examines the impact of state gun law stringency and gender distribution among firearm possessors on illicit firearm trafficking, focusing on three key outcomes: firearm traces, perfected firearm traces, and straw purchases. In response to the pressing need to understand factors driving firearm trafficking, this research aims to inform public safety initiatives and policy strategies. Guided by deterrence theory, the study investigates how legislative strength and gender-based possession patterns influence trafficking indicators. Secondary data were analyzed using multiple linear regression to assess relationships between the IVs of state gun law stringency and gender distribution of firearm possessors …