Digital Commons Network^™

A Forensic Lens On Aces & Trauma, Greta K. Cruz

Master of Arts in Human Services

Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACEs) have emerged as a critical area of research in childhood development and the prevention of criminal behavior. The framework of this topic continually provides updated information on the impact of criminal behavior on children. Understanding the long-term effects of trauma on mental health, the influence of criminal behavior, and patterns of recidivism across the lifespan when children are exposed to a single form of adversity or multiple forms of adversity. This research aims to synthesize recent empirical data/findings of how specific ACEs, such as physical abuse, sexual abuse, exposure to familial violence, and household substance misuse, …

The Preferential Option For The Poor: Vincentians Carry The Church’S Call To Justice And Compassion, Aidan Rooney

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

No abstract provided.

The Dominican-Haitian Border Region, Alex Morel

Journal of Vincentian Social Action

No abstract provided.

Life In The Cracks: Law, Violence, And Resistance In Haiti, Marco Motta

Anthropology

A rich account of what it means to live with law amid its failures.

Life in the Cracks is a rich ethnographic portrait of law, violence, and resistance in Haiti. In a contemporary context marked by international interference, global capitalism, and state collapse, Haitians face complex challenges that are largely ignored and misunderstood. By examining the most unexpected inflections of ordinary life, Life in the Cracks offers a well-grounded account of people’s experience of law in their lives. The book describes what it means to endure violence partly engendered by the law, and thus to live up to one’s disappointment …

The Scotus Tournament: Winning Isn't Everything, Tracey E. George, Mitu Gulati, Albert H. Yoon

Duke Law Journal Online

Litigation at the U.S. Supreme Court is a tournament of champions. This Essay presents an empirical analysis of Supreme Court advocacy over time (1970-2023), examining how the elitification of the legal profession has transformed Supreme Court oral arguments. Drawing on a dataset of 7,077 cases and 4,599 private attorneys, we analyze the rise of repeat players and their litigation success. Our findings reveal a transformation. In the 1970s, most Court advocates were rookies: first-time advocates from various backgrounds. Today, a small number of superstars dominate: attorneys with extensive experience, elite law school degrees, Supreme Court clerkships, and stints in the …

Caste As Practice, Analogy, And Metaphor, Mark A. Graber

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Governance & Guardrails: Artificial Intelligence And Low-Wage Workers, Seema N. Patel

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Caste And American Citizenship In The Trump Era, Carol Nackenoff

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

No Return: Caste And The End Of The Liberal Debate Over U.S. Antidiscrimination Law, Julie Novkov

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

How Ai Reinforces Caste: Creating And Amplifying Systematic Inequality, Catherine Powell

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Under What Circumstances Is “Caste” Likely To Be Useful As An Analytic Concept (And Should We Care)?, Sanford Levinson, Robert L. Tsai

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

In Re: Craig M. Hendricks

2025 Decisions

USDC for the District Court of the Virgin Islands

Pablo Sandoval V. Attorney General United States Of America

2025 Decisions

Agency

Table Of Contents

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Social Murder And The Antisocial Contract, Marissa Jackson Sow

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Generality And Abusive Constitutionalism, Ofra Bloch

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Caste-Ing And Recasting Race In Equal Protection Jurisprudence, Vinay Harpalani, Magdalene Bernier

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

Hollywood, Ai, And The Moral Universe: An Analysis Of The Terminator And Battlestar Galactica, Lara Sumera Samms

Masters Theses

This thesis defends the argument that depictions of artificial intelligence in Hollywood film and television point to a moral universe. Films The Terminator (1984) and Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), as well as the television series Battlestar Galactica (2004-2009) are analyzed to find clues of moral facts. This research paper submits that these stories add weight to the moral argument and provide evidence that humans implicitly recognize a moral universe. Such acknowledgment of moral structures cannot be adequately explained within a secular framework such as utilitarianism or evolutionary ethics. However, the Christian worldview frames reality around the existence of God, …

Exploring John Maxwell’S 16 Undeniable Laws Of Communication As A Possible Framework For Public Speaking Success: A Qualitative Content Analysis Of The Top 20 Ted Talks And Their Alignment With The Principles, Kevin C. Mcintyre

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The qualitative content analysis aimed to discover whether Maxwell’s 16 undeniable laws of communication are applied to the top 20 TED Talks of all time based on view count catalogued on the TED website and inform a framework for public speaking success. Through the lens of Fisher’s narrative paradigm of coherence and fidelity, while situated in Craig’s rhetorical tradition, which builds on ethos, pathos, and logos, the study examined the gap in workplace competence moving beyond theory to practical guidance. Additionally, the study was guided by three research questions that were answered in the study. Through an immersive multimodal examination …

Dawn Valli V. Avis Budget Group Inc

2025 Decisions

USDC for the District of New Jersey

In Re: Alton Brown

2025 Decisions

USDC for the Western District of Pennsylvania

Usa V. Maurice Smith

2025 Decisions

USDC for the Western District of Pennsylvania

What Are The Effects Of Implementing Effective Restorative Practices In The Classroom?, Liana V. Rios

Masters Theses (Archived)

This qualitative case study examines the implementation of restorative practices in an elementary classroom, focusing on their impact on students’ social, emotional, and academic development. Data was gathered through observations, student journals, surveys, and feedback from school administrators. Five themes emerged from the analysis: improved emotional regulation, increased student voice, relational changes, academic gains, and a supportive environment. The results indicate that restorative practices effectively reduce conflicts, empower students, and foster positive teacher-student relationships, while also increasing academic engagement. Parental feedback further supported these findings, highlighting increased confidence and more positive attitudes toward the school environment. While external variables influenced …

The Educational Impact Of Taking Ethnic Studies In K12: A Mixed Methods Study Of Students In Ethnic Studies Courses, Lesley A. Rivera

Masters Theses (Archived)

This transformative mixed-methods study investigates the academic and personal impacts of Mexican American Studies (MAS) courses on South Texas high school students, addressing critical gaps in Texas-based research. Quantitative measures were combined with qualitative data from semi-structured interviews to reveal a comprehensive picture of MAS outcomes. While quantitative results show moderate academic gains, they also reveal MAS’s powerful role in fostering cultural understanding and student engagement. Qualitative analysis reinforces these findings through five intersecting themes: personal growth, representation, engagement and opportunities, empowerment, and challenges. Guided by Critical Race Theory, LatCrit, and Chicanx Studies, the research demonstrates that ethnic studies courses …

Leaving The Fold: Young Adult Disaffiliation From Protestantism In Political And Cultural Context, Kimberly S. Johnson

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This study investigated the lived experiences of young adults who have disaffiliated from a Protestant church, focusing on political, national, and religious dynamics, including reflections on Christian Nationalism. The study also examines how these meaning-making processes informed participants’ retrospective accounts of disaffiliation. Building on the quantitative research that has dominated prior studies, this study employed interpretative phenomenological analysis to investigate how encounters with Christian Nationalism have shaped perceptions of organized religion. The study’s ten participants ranged in age from 21 to 29 years old and identified as having been part of the Protestant Church prior to disaffiliating from organized religion. …

“Forward Into Light”: The Shaping Of The Suffrage Ideology Of Alice Paul And The Practical Theological Application Of The Quaker Spices In The American Women’S Suffrage Movement, Alice L. Alvarado

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

In 1920, the Nineteenth Amendment of the United States Constitution gave women the right to vote after decades of dedication and agitation by women in their monumental fight to win the franchise. Alice Paul, a second-generation suffragist, dedicated her life to the cause and became the new face of the suffrage movement in Progressive America. A birthright Hicksite Quaker, Alice Paul’s ancestry can be traced back to the Quakers of England, and her extended family connected with early practitioners such as George Fox, along with a blood relation to William Penn. Paul’s Quaker ancestry, Quaker upbringing, Quaker guarded education, and …

Designing A Grief Intervention To Address The Religious Problem Of Evil, Charles Lee Burris Jr.

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

Christian fellowships should have grief ministries. The problem is the Greater Morning Star Baptist Church lacks a clear and practical intervention to support adult congregants coping with grief. The purpose of this DMIN action research project was to equip adult congregants of the Greater Morning Star Baptist Church through a biblically designed grief curriculum that provided training and encouragement to improve quality of life. This DMIN action research project applied qualitative and quantitative methods that included a pre-grief curriculum interview, a pre-grief curriculum survey, a post-grief curriculum focus group, and test assessments (pre-grief curriculum, mid-grief curriculum, and post-grief curriculum) for …

Procedure As Power: The Rule Of Arcadius In Constantinople, 395–408, Matthew Lloyd Talmage

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

This dissertation reinterprets the reign of the Eastern Roman emperor Arcadius (395-408 CE), challenging the entrenched view of a passive figurehead by arguing that he governed through indirect, procedure-driven rule. It analyzes how Arcadius shaped outcomes via law, office rotation, ecclesiastical appointments, and controlled visibility while shifting political risk to ministers and bishops through strategic inaction. Focusing on Constantinople and the Eastern court between the deaths of Theodosius I (395) and Arcadius (408), the study employs process-tracing with falsifiable indicators: legal addressee patterns as proxies for routing nodes, rotation cadence in senior posts as a balancing and audit tool, and …

Effects Of Deployments On Military Families: A Phenomenological Study, Joseph E. Hensley

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

An emerging area of focus in the military sub-culture is the phenomenon of secondary stress experienced by military spouses and children due to high-tempo operational rates of the military member. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to gain a greater understanding of what factors are at play and possibly influencing military members and their families in avoiding deployment resources that could assist them in preventing secondary stress. The central research questions were designed to assess whether connections between the secondary stress that military families experience (due to the deployment cycle) were instigated by a lack of awareness or a …

A Predictive Correlational Analysis Of Ninth And Tenth Grade Students' Perception Of Culture Of Excellence And Their Attitude To Stem, Mofoluwake Abiola Laleye

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this quantitative, predictive correlational study was to determine if ninth and 10th grade students’ attitude toward Science Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM), specifically in mathematics and science can be predicted from their perceptions of culture of excellence (CoE). The continued disparity in academic performance and the representation of minority in STEM workforce has prompted the need to explore the effect of CoE on their attitude to STEM. Data for this study were collected from 177 ninth and 10th grade students attending a public charter school predominantly serving underrepresented minorities in southeastern Tennessee. The primary instruments were Student …