Digital Commons Network^™

Introduction To Qualitative Research Methods, Nathaniel G. Chapman

ATU Faculty OER Book Reviews

Review of OER Research Methods textbook by Allison Hurst, available at https://open.oregonstate.education/qualresearchmethods/

Criminal Justice Update - June 2024, Sophia Dotterweich

Criminal Justice Updates

The Criminal Justice Update is a monthly newsletter created by the Adams County Bar Foundation Fellow providing updates in criminal justice policy coming from Pennsylvania's courts and legislature as well as the US Supreme Court.

Contents:

• Updates from PA Governor's Office
• Updates from the PA Legislature
• Updates from the Courts
• U.S. Supreme Court: Criminal Law & Procedure (no updates this month)
• PA Supreme Court: Criminal Law & Procedure
• PA Superior Court: Criminal Law & Procedure

The Automation Paradox, Mbilike M. Mwafulirwa

Tulsa Law Review

No abstract provided.

An Interdisciplinary Review Of Stress Mechanisms, Health Effects, And The Influence Of A Growth Mindset, Nathaniel Hayes Barnes

College of Liberal Arts & Social Sciences Theses and Dissertations

The human experience of stress plays a pivotal role in directing overall health and wellbeing. Stress manifests in our minds and bodies, influences our relationships, and weaves collectively into the fabric of shared society. The current capstone project essentially comprises two sections. First, a comprehensive literature review delves into an interdisciplinary depiction of chronic stress, exploring its wide-ranging impact from biological, psychological, behavioral, social, and economic perspectives. The following section presents original research focused on the moderating effects of growth mindset on the relationships between chronic stress and negative stress-related health outcomes, including a discussion regarding effective preventative measures and …

Women Police Chiefs: A Self-Perception Of Women Officers In Law Enforcement, Tianshi Hao, Jesse Llamas, Kayleigh Axtell, Anshu Lal, Michael Llamas, Mira Fadel, Amor Roma

Education Division Scholarship

A large body of literature substantiates women’s difficulties integrating into all levels of law enforcement. To understand the experiences of women police officers in the force, and to understand how law enforcement leaders view the role of women in leadership positions, this study focused on the perception of six women police officers–specifically, women police chiefs towards women who already assumed leadership positions, overcame challenges entering law enforcement and advancing into leadership positions, and collected their input on organizational decisions, policy, and recruitment of women officers. This study employs a qualitative phenomenological methodology and interviews six women police chiefs in depth. …

Old Wine In A New Bottle? – An Empirical Evaluation Of The Judicial Reforms In China In The 2010s, Peter C.H. Chan

UC Law SF International Law Review

This article provides an empirical evaluation of the effectiveness of the judicial reform measures implemented in China in the 2010s. Among other objectives, the reforms aimed to strengthen the independence of judges, the financial autonomy of courts and the professionalism of adjudicators. Critics have questioned the success of the reforms, citing continued government intervention with adjudication and unchanged structural problems with courts. To date, there has been limited empirical literature focusing specifically on the judicial reform measures in the 2010s in China. This article provides a glimpse into what really was happening on the ground since the reforms through the …

The Rule Of Law, The Lawyer’S Role As A Public Citizen, And Professional Identity: How Fostering The Development Of Professional Identity Can Help Law Schools Address The Crisis Facing American Democracy, Kendall Kerew

Mercer Law Review

American democracy is in crisis. The January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol must serve as a renewed wake-up call for the legal profession. We can no longer keep our heads down, focused solely or even primarily on serving our clients, without being mindful that what we do every day as lawyers starts and ends with our duty to uphold the rule of law and our system of justice. We must acknowledge that lawyers are the ones who have put democracy at risk. Lawyers are the ones who, in their role as zealous advocates, attempted to overturn the 2020 …

"What Kind Of Court Is This?": Perceptions Of International Justice Among Rohingya Refugees, Rebecca Hamilton, Payam Akhavan, Antonia Mulvey

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

In the context of mass atrocities, the legitimacy of institutions for international justice—such as the International Criminal Court and International Court of Justice—is based on the assumption that they vindicate demands for accountability by the survivors of horrific human rights violations. Yet, notwithstanding advances in victim representation at these Hague-based courts, victim-centered justice remains elusive. This article contributes to centering the voices of survivors in their specific cultural contexts, against the backdrop of existing efforts that too often render invisible their perspectives. Through semi-structured interviews, conducted in late 2022, with 444 Rohingya survivors of genocide who have fled Myanmar to …

Maine Regional Care Teams: Collaborating To Improve Youth Wellbeing In Maine, Emma Schwartz, Jillian Foley, Jill Ward, Ahmen Cabral, Timothy Atkinson

Justice Policy

This report provides a look back at the past three years of the Regional Care Team initiative, which helped connect 165 youth to community-based resources in those first three years through a collaborative multi-systems model. The report details the extent of cross-system collaboration that continues as a part of this initiative and summarizes feedback from partners, examines data on youth referrals, their histories of system involvement, and funding. The report recommends next steps to expand prevention, community intervention, and reintegration supports for youth.

Front Matter

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Front Matter for Volume 57, Issue 4 of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Confronting Algorithms: Conscience Catching In The Criminal Trial And Beyond, Sherman J. Clark

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Using the question of how to treat algorithmic evidence under the Confrontation Clause as an entry point, I argue that the use of AI in ethically salient situations presents a risk. It may cause us to avoid confronting our own responsibility. This matters because facing up to what we do, including what we delegate, can help us grow and thrive. Bearing responsibility can help us nurture vital capacities, including forms of empathy, honesty, and dignity. In the language of ethics, these are eudaimonist virtues—traits and capacities that can help us live well and fully. We should thus find ways of …

The Second Amendment’S Racial Justice Complexities, Daniel S. Harawa

Minnesota Law Review Vols. 106:2 onward (2021-present)

The relationship between the Second Amendment and racial justice is complicated. That's because the relationship between penal administration and racial justice is complicated. The briefing in New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen perfectly proves this point. A group of public defenders favored striking down New York's concealed carry licensing law to further racial justice, while a group of civil rights organizations argued that the law should be upheld to further racial justice. What the briefing revealed is that Black people have an interest in being free from racially disparate policing and prosecution of all criminal laws, including …

Washington Civil Jury Trials Via Zoom: Perspectives From The Bench, Marisa Pasnick

Washington Law Review

Many professions have felt the impact of the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, including the legal field. At the onset of COVID-19, many courthouses closed and trials halted, but as the pandemic continued, the need to resume judicial proceedings led courts to turn to virtual platforms to conduct civil jury trials. This Comment examines the response of judges in Washington State to the use of Zoom for conducting civil jury trials. Interviews with judges across Washington reveal a stark contrast in opinions among judges in different districts as well as within districts. This Comment answers the question of how judges feel about …

Legal Issues In Reconciling Data Protection, Ai, And Cybersecurity Under Eu Law, Iain Nash, Debrae Kennedy-Mayo, Peter Swire, Annie Antón

Missouri Law Review

This Paper focuses on certain legal responsibilities under European Union (“EU”) law for companies that provide cybersecurity services, by examining the intersection of data protection (privacy), cybersecurity, and artificial intelligence (“AI”). This Paper explores these issues in the context of a hypothetical cybersecurity company known as “ACME Cyber Sentinel” providing services to a hypothetical client named “TechGuard.” In four scenarios, this Paper explores ACME Cyber Sentinel: (1) providing cybersecurity service to TechGuard; (2) gathering and processing data from multiple clients to analyze potential cybersecurity threats; (3) training, evaluating, and deploying AI cybersecurity tools; and (4) using these AI cybersecurity tools …

Untangling While We Weave: Educators Of Color Navigating Trust In Schoolwide Restorative Justice Reform, An Hoang Phan

Social Justice in Educational Leadership EdD Dissertations

This qualitative study explores the experiences of educators of color implementing restorative justice practices within the school-prison nexus. Drawing upon carceral progressivism and the school-prison nexus frameworks, it examines how these educators navigate building and repairing relational trust while transforming punitive disciplinary policies. Through interviews, pod-mapping, and community healing circles, the study elicits narratives from five Bay Area educators committed to restorative justice.

Four key themes emerge: 1) interweaving intentional restorative justice structures with authentic connection; 2) consistent care for fostering relational trust; 3) moving at the speed of trust to avoid moral injury; and 4) intergenerational wisdom and collaboration …

Navigating The Complexities Of Ai: The Critical Role Of Interpretability And Explainability In Ensuring Transparency And Trust, Emily Barnes, James Hutson

Faculty Scholarship

The interpretability and explainability of deep neural networks (DNNs) are paramount in artificial intelligence (AI), especially when applied to high-stakes fields such as healthcare, finance, and autonomous driving. The need for this study arises from the growing integration of AI into critical areas where transparency, trust, and ethical decision-making are essential. This paper explores the impact of architectural design choices on DNN interpretability, focusing on how different architectural elements like layer types, network depth, connectivity patterns, and attention mechanisms affect model transparency. Methodologically, the study employs a comprehensive review of case studies and experimental results to analyze the balance between …

Data-Driven Decision Making: The Case Of Ridesharing With Implications For Engineering Managers, Xuan Wang, Yaojie Li, Scott Smith, Helmut Schneider

Management and Marketing Faculty Publications

As data-driven decision making becomes prevalent, research needs to provide more evidence to direct user decision making, particularly concerning transportation systems. In concurrence, ridesharing has been touted to reduce driving-while-intoxicated fatalities, albeit prior studies have provided inconsistent findings. A limitation of prior research on this topic is lacking adequate experimental controls while addressing the impact of potential confounds. This issue may affect potential assumptions and conclusions on whether the deployment of ridesharing services has led to a considerable reduction in driving-while-intoxicated fatalities. The present article leverages statistical modeling to control age, education, vehicle miles traveled, and metropolitan size. It reveals …

An Updated Account On The Similar Fact Rule, Siyuan Chen

Singapore Law Journal (Lexicon)

The number of local decisions on the similar fact rule has increased quite significantly in the last few years. However, fundamental questions, ranging from the foundational (such as the existence or operation of any residual judicial discretion to exclude relevant evidence) to the discrete (such as whether the rule works differently in civil proceedings as compared to criminal proceedings, and how the rule operates vis-à-vis related rules of evidence), continue to be answered in rather different, arguably irreconcilable ways by the courts. This article analyses some of the recent key decisions in the light of established precedents and proposes that …

The Application Of The Totality Principle In Singapore, Zi Yang Wong

Singapore Law Journal (Lexicon)

When dealing with an offender who has been convicted of two or more distinct offences, the Court is faced with the issue of determining an appropriate aggregate sentence to be imposed. An aggregate sentence may offend the totality principle if it exceeds the length of the sentence imposed for the most serious offence, or if the sentence is “crushing” and not in keeping with the offender’s past record and future prospects. In deciding whether to vary a sentence on the grounds of the totality principle, the Courts have considered an offender’s overall criminality, advanced age, precedents and the possibility of …

An Abiding Commitment To The Death Penalty? Centrality Of The Rule Of Law In The Administration Of Capital Punishment In Singapore, Eugene K. B. Tan

Singapore Law Journal (Lexicon)

Capital punishment remains in use in Singapore. The Singapore government’s position is that the death penalty works in deterring the most serious crimes. Public trust and confidence remains healthy that the death penalty regime in Singapore has the requisite deterrent effect on criminals and has sufficient safeguards to prevent any miscarriage of justice. In 2012, the Singapore Parliament made significant amendments to the Penal Code and the Misuse of Drugs Act, marking a shift from the longstanding mandatory to a discretionary death penalty system for some of the most serious crimes. It demonstrates the authorities’ belief that the mandatory death …

Moving Beyond Human Capital: Constructivism, Critical Pedagogy, And Interdisciplinary Collaboration In A Building And Construction Pathway, Ryan James Lundell

Social Justice in Educational Leadership EdD Dissertations

The silo structure and neoliberal rationality of Career Technical Education (CTE) pathways limit student learning and propagate the purpose of education as the creation of human capital, not a socially aware citizenry (Brown, 2017; Jacobs, 2010). Despite its history of racial tracking, CTE pathways still neglect critical thinking/dialogue around social/environmental justice issues, drastically hurting workers’ ability to confront these inequities (Darder, 2017; Oakes & Saunders, 2011; Shor & Freire, 1987). Using a qualitative research design that employs ethnographic elements, this study found that constructivism, critical pedagogy, and interdisciplinary collaboration can positively impact the experience, participation, and critical consciousness of students …

Introductory Sociology, Nathaniel G. Chapman

ATU Faculty OER Book Reviews

Review of OER Sociology textbook by Bill Pelz, available at https://library.achievingthedream.org/herkimerintrosociology/

State Constitutional Prohibitions Of Slavery And Involuntary Servitude, Michael L. Smith

Washington Law Review

In recent years, the Thirteenth Amendment has drawn sustained criticism for its “Punishment Clause,” which exempts those duly convicted of criminal offenses from the Amendment’s prohibition of slavery and involuntary servitude. Citing the Punishment Clause, courts have struck down challenges by those sentenced to forced labor, arguing that such involuntary servitude is explicitly permitted for those convicted of crimes. Recent criticism draws on concerns over mass incarceration and expansive forced labor practices—urging that the Thirteenth Amendment be revised to remove the Punishment Clause.

Prompted by increased attention to and criticism of the Punishment Clause, some states have taken matters into …

Fair + Equitable June 2024, International Association Of Assessing Officers

Fair + Equitable

The June F+E cover story reviews proposals to eliminate property taxes and how those proposals often ignore the basic facts of life in state and local revenue management. In addition, the issue includes articles on:

• Embracing DEI: A Black woman’s perspective in a predominantly white male field
• Celebrating the nine women IAAO presidents: Dorothy Jacks, 2018
• Meet the new IAAO instructors
• Robert Fisher: My IEW journey
• Why I give to IAAO
• 2024 Legal Seminar heads to Chicago
• Annual Conference news and notes
• Black homeowners start to close gap in property values
• Thought Leader article on integrated work-flows
• 2024 MAVS: ‘Challenges …

Beautiful Resistance: Nonfiction Theatre Rehearsal Processes, Politics, And Prefiguration In War, Ash Marinaccio

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Beautiful Resistance: Nonfiction Theatre Rehearsal Processes, Politics, and Prefiguration in War examines nonfiction theatre rehearsals and devising processes in and about conflict and war. I use the term “nonfiction” to refer to the vast body of collaborative theatre, facilitation, movement, puppet, and performance practices, knowledges, and techniques included under the capacious umbrella of “theatre of the real.” I propose that nonfiction theatre rehearsals are sites of prefiguration, possessing the potential to create a space where systemically oppressed communities can build alternative futures in the present. While there are multiple frameworks for understanding prefigurative politics, within this dissertation, I employ the …

Crime Prediction Using Agent-Based Modeling, Yifei Gong

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Crime risk evaluation and crime prediction using agent-based modeling (ABM) have gained popularity in the field of computational criminology in recent years. Traditionally, researchers rely on statistical methods and machine learning models to predict crimes using historical data. ABM generates macro-level crime patterns in a bottom-up fashion by simulating the daily behaviors of autonomous entities, such as citizens and offenders. ABM takes into consideration the non-linear interactions between agents under complex social contexts. Currently, the comprehensive usage of ABM for criminological theory testing and urban policy evaluations calls for a unified software framework. In this research, we introduce CARESim, an …

Music Of The Law: A Wigmorian Playlist For A Modern Era, Joseph Hummel

Tulsa Law Review

No abstract provided.

Can Too Much Clarity Cause Confusion? A Case Study Of Mccalop V. State, Sutton M. Eggena

Mercer Law Review

In criminal trials, few elements wield as much influence over the outcome as expert testimony. Expert testimony serves as the bridge between complex subject matter and the understanding of lay jurors, often occupying a pivotal position in the pursuit of justice. Indeed, expert testimony can be the lynchpin on which a jury’s verdict turns. Picture a courtroom filled with jurors, each presumed to lack a deep understanding of the intricate dynamics of domestic abuse and the profound effects of battered person syndrome on individuals trapped in violent relationships. In pursuit of justice, these jurors lean on a singular source—an expert …

Tale As Old As Time: The Beauty And The Beast Of Probabilistic Genotyping And Its Use In Georgia, Elizabeth Mcdaniel

Mercer Law Review

Deoxyribonucleic acid or as most of us prefer to call it—DNA—is a molecule in an organism that allows the organism to develop and function by carrying genetic information. DNA is what makes us unique. It was first observed in the late 1800s; however, its significance was not fully known until 1953. The use of DNA as evidence in criminal trials did not begin until the 1980s. Subsequently, the first statutes regarding DNA testing were passed in 1994 and 1997. Despite DNA’s late scientific discovery and its even later use in the legal profession, DNA has existed in organisms since their …

Strengthening U.S. Jail Systems’ Response To Infectious Diseases: An Evaluation Of The Covid-19 Pandemic, Erinn Bacchus

Dissertations and Theses

Jails across the United States were struck with increased infections and deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic. Studies have shown the structural make up of jails, lack of preparedness plans, and overcrowding contributed to health risks and poor health outcomes both inside jails and local communities. Yet little research has been dedicated to strengthening jail responses to infectious disease outbreaks spanning prevention measures, data collection, and reentry planning. Gaps include information on the (1) myriad infectious disease mitigation strategies used in jails and adherence to CDC prevention guidelines, (2) development of a standardized epidemiologic surveillance system, and (3) experiences working at …