Education Commons^™

Chippin’ In: An Analysis Of The Criminological Concepts Within Cyberpunk 2077, Morgan J. Steele

SACAD: John Heinrichs Scholarly and Creative Activity Days

The cyberpunk genre dominates much of our popular culture, from how we think of cyber- and white-collar crime, to our understanding of how technology influences the criminal justice system. This article explores the common criminological themes prevalent within the recent video game Cyberpunk 2077 as an example of popular criminology. Specifically, it explores the game’s story and environment by examining key characters’ responses to structural inequalities through an anomie theory lens. Key characters and groups within the game exemplify Merton’s (1938) different responses to rampant poverty and socioeconomic inequality. Thus, the game can be used to explore how cultural goals …

Incarcerated Bodies – Embodied Autoethnography In Prison, Shulamit Kitzis‬‎

The Qualitative Report

Prison is a study field in which everyone – inmates, guards, and prison researchers – experiences powerful sensory stimuli comprised of sounds, sights, and smells in a crowded, closed space. Yet traditional academic research has socialized researchers to “wash away” their physical and emotional feelings for fear they would jeopardize the scientific nature and validity of their studies. Nevertheless, at times in a prison setting, the researchers’ bodies are the only tool that enables them to document what goes on; so much so that ignoring their bodies and emotions leads to a loss of valuable information. Using embodied autoethnography (EA), …

No Cell For The Soul: Prison, Philosophy And Bernard Stiegler - A Short Appreciation, Rod Earle

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

Bernard Stiegler was a French philosopher who served 5 years in prison for a series of bank robberies committed in his youth. He died in August 2020, aged just 68, a professor celebrated in the highest ranks of continental philosophy. Stiegler subsequently published over 30 books, at the core of which is the series tellingly gathered under the title ‘Time and Technics’. His essay, ‘How I became a philosopher’, convinced me he, and it, should be on every prison philosophy course. In this article I outline why, as a convict criminologist, I feel an affinity with Stiegler’s project.

Rethinking Social Reintegration And Prison: A Critical Analysis Of An Educational Proposal For An Alternative Model In Brazil, Sergio Grossi

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

The call for social reintegration of prisoners, in many cases, does not work or has been abandoned, leaving the question of inclusivity regarding the imprisoned an open challenge in contemporary societies. My study provides a critical analysis of a model defined as an educational system of social reintegration, which aspires to be an alternative to imprisonment in Brazil and worldwide by proposing a reduction in the recidivism rate at a lower cost. I discuss the possibilities of social reintegration and the educational conceptions and practices that can emerge from it, though a document analysis and ethnography of two model units. …

Understanding Aspiration And Education Towards Desistance From Offending: The Role Of Higher Education In Wales, Mark Jones, Debbie Jones

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

There has been a growing recognition of the value of education in facilitating desistance from offending. Yet, despite a determined push to “widen access” universities continue to be an unwelcoming place for those with a criminal record. To better understand the role of higher education in raising aspiration towards desistance, this paper draws on findings from a study in Swansea, Wales. Adopting a Pictorial Narrative approach the findings suggest that, whilst the participants identified potential benefits of attaining a higher education, those aspirations were outweighed by a distrust of the “institution” and a fear that the stigmatisation experienced through the …

A Serious Game For Social Engineering Awareness Creation, Fabian Muhly, Philipp Leo, Stefano Caneppele

Journal of Cybersecurity Education, Research and Practice

Social engineering is a method used by offenders to deceive their targets utilizing rationales of human psychology. Offenders aim to exploit information and use them for intelligence purposes or financial gains. Generating resilience against these malicious methods is still challenging. Literature shows that serious gaming learning approaches are used more frequently to instill lasting retention effects. Serious games are interactive, experiential learning approaches that impart knowledge about rationales and concepts in a way that fosters retention. In three samples and totally 97 participants the study at hand evaluated a social engineering serious game for participants’ involvement and instruction compliance during …

An Ecological Approach To Improving Reentry Programs For Justice-Involved African American Men, Precious Skinner-Osei, Peter Claudius Osei

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

This article is a re-analysis of a previous study (please see https://doi.org/10.1080/10911359.2017.1402724). Considering the previous findings, in addition to the recent discussions around criminal justice reform, race, policing, and mental health in the United States, the data were reanalyzed using an updated version of QSR NVivo. The new findings revealed that reintegrating justice-involved African American men back into society requires reentry programs to utilize a different approach. Reentry programs must be constructed under the notion that the process involves multiple interrelated components that interact with larger systems outside the individual or organization's immediate control or organization advocating for them. …

Making Methods Relevant: Undergraduate Research Methods And The Content Analysis Project, Kevin E. Courtright, David A. Mackey

Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, Innovative Pedagogy (2018-2020)

Teachers of undergraduate research methods classes may struggle at times to keep their courses engaging and to have students view the material as relevant to the occupations they will soon enter. This article discusses a content analysis assignment and how it offers a way for students to demonstrate critical thinking and acquire data analysis skills. Through the use of multiple high-impact learning practices, the assignment requires students, individually or in a group, to identify data appropriate for content analysis and then, with faculty guidance, develop research questions, manage the data, conceptualize and operationalize themes, perform content analysis, draw conclusions from …

County Probation: A Service-Learning And Community Engagement Project For Criminology, Abby Byrnes, Chelsea Scuderi, Lindsay Smalec, Vince Filippini, Sarah Mooney

The International Undergraduate Journal For Service-Learning, Leadership, and Social Change

Our group focused on understanding the role of the probation office in the criminal justice system and in society. We were fortunate enough to work with the Union County Probation Office where we focused on adult probation, juvenile probation, and treatment court. We focused specifically on how it works, the effects of probation on society, and the differences between juvenile and adult probation. Much of what we learned through our participation at the Union County Probation Office relates to topics we covered in class discussions, debates, and in the textbook readings, making this a very worthwhile experience for our learning. …

Turning Gender Inside-Out: Delivering Higher Education In Women’S Carceral Spaces, Giulia Federica Zampini, Linnéa Anna Margareta Österman, Camille May Stengel, Morwenna Bennallick

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

This article is a critical reflection of the role of gender in the delivery of a higher education course based on the Inside-Out Prison Exchange Programme. Related concepts such as hegemonic masculinity, heteronormativity, and intersectionality are discussed within the prison education setting. This reflection primarily draws on critical incidents from the experiences of the first three authors facilitating a higher education course in a women’s prison in England. One major reflection is that learning in a group of ‘inside’ and ‘outside’ students, all self-identified women, who vary along the dimensions of age, class, ethnicity, nationality and sexual expression, presented unique …

Developing Civically Engaged Citizens In An Introductory Criminal Justice Course, Tamara J. Lynn

eJournal of Public Affairs

Criminal justice programs are often considered a training ground for students’ future careers; however, that training often lacks a focus on civic engagement. This article highlights an experiential learning project in an introductory criminal justice course that was designed to develop the skills of civically engaged professionals. The project, combining research with service-learning, was implemented in an undergraduate criminology course to demonstrate the ways in which research and theory are necessary for implementing social and political change. Student participants achieved the desired learning outcomes and gained a deeper understanding of their role as change agents. The success of this project …

Skinning The Cat: How Mandatory Psychiatric Evaluations For Animal Cruelty Offenders Can Prevent Future Violence, Ashley Kunz

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

In 2017, the Texas legislature amended Texas Penal Code § 42.092, which governs acts of cruelty against non-livestock animals. The statute in its current form makes torturing, killing, or seriously injuring a non-livestock animal a third degree felony, while less serious offenses carry either a state jail felony or a Class A misdemeanor charge.

While a step in the right direction, Texas law is not comprehensive in that it fails to address a significant aspect of animal cruelty offenses: mental illness. For over fifteen years, Texas Family Code § 54.0407 has required psychiatric counseling for juveniles convicted of cruelty to …

Reforming Recidivism: Making Prison Practical Through Help, Katelyn Copperud

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

While Texas has long been recognized as “Tough Texas” when it comes to crime, recent efforts have been made to combat that reputation. Efforts such as offering “good time” credit and more liberal parole standards are used to reduce the Texas prison populations. Although effective in reducing prison populations, do these incentives truly reduce a larger issue of prison overpopulation: recidivism?

In both state and federal prison systems, inmate education is proven to reduce recidivism. Texas’s own, Windham School District, provides a broad spectrum of education to Texas Department of Criminal Justice inmates; from General Education Development (GED) classes to …

Sexual Assault Campus Climate Surveys: Insights From The First Wave, Kristen M. Budd, Alana Van Gundy, Rose Marie Ward, Glenn W. Muschert

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

One tool to help institutions of higher education (IHEs) to address campus sexual assault is the campus climate survey (CCS); yet little is known about the CCS implementation process. This study used a mixed methods approach to examine the implementation process of CCSs deployed during the 2015/16 academic year at 244 IHEs throughout the United States. Quantitative results indicate CCSs were designed primarily by the Title IX officer and campus administration; assessed victimization rates and knowledge about campus resources; and were voluntary. Qualitative findings generate concerns surrounding generalizability, participation rates, validity of data, and suggestions for improvement for future CCSs.

Reconsidering Policy Barriers For Justice-Involved College Students, Bradley D. Custer

Journal of College Access

Student affairs professionals are concerned about the access and success of diverse groups of students in U.S. higher education, but systematic barriers continue to confront one understudied population of college students. Justice-involved people–those who have experienced the criminal justice system–face unique challenges on our campuses but are often ignored in discussions of access, retention, and success. To raise awareness about the barriers these student face, this paper offers a descriptive examination of the federal, state, and institutional policies that target justice-involved college students, including policies related to admissions, financial aid, campus housing, student employment, student athletics, and others. Analysis suggests …

A Realist Model Of Prison Education, Growth, And Desistance: A New Theory, Kirstine Szifris, Chris Fox, Andrew Bradbury

Journal of Prison Education and Reentry (2014-2023)

This paper articulates the first ‘general theory’ of prison education, offering a new insight into the relevance of desistance theory and understanding of prison sociology to the lives of men engaged in education whilst in prison. Using a realist review method (Pawson, 2002b; Wong, 2013a) we develop a rough, initial general theory of prison education articulated in the form of three context-mechanism-outcome configurations (CMO). We then ‘test’ these CMOs by assessing the current evidence base through a systematic review of literature. This paper articulates three inter-related CMOs that we ground in prison sociology and desistance literature: ‘hook’, ‘safe space’ and …

Models As Weapons: Review Of Weapons Of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality And Threatens Democracy By Cathy O’Neil (2016), Samuel L. Tunstall

Numeracy

Cathy O’Neil. 2016. Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy (New York, NY: Crown) 272 pp. ISBN 978-0553418811.

Accessible to a wide readership, Cathy O’Neil’s Weapons of Math Destruction: How Big Data Increases Inequality and Threatens Democracy provides a lucid yet alarming account of the extensive reach of mathematical models in influencing all of our lives. With a particular eye towards social justice, O’Neil not only warns modelers to be cognizant of the effects of their work on real people—especially vulnerable groups who have less power to fight back—but also encourages laypersons to take initiative …

Putting An End To The Silence: Educating Society About The Canadian Residential School System, Jamie Lee Kuhl

Bridges: An Undergraduate Journal of Contemporary Connections

This paper advocates for the increased education of Canadian society regarding the Indian Residential School System. Many Canadian’s tend to be uninformed on the history of the schools and as a result risk subjecting Aboriginal peoples to further harm. The contents of this paper demonstrates by informing all Canadian citizens of the truth regarding the assimilative schools and their enduring legacy on Aboriginal peoples, several benefits can occur. Specifically, through revealing the truth regarding the residential schools, healing becomes possible for victims, over-representation within the criminal justice system can be better understood as well as addressed, and future harm can …

Twenty Reasons To Publish In Dignity, Donna M. Hughes

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Post-Trayvon Stress Disorder (Ptsd): A Theoretical Analysis Of The Criminalization Of African American Students In U.S. Schools, Marcia J. Watson-Vandiver

Journal of Educational Controversy

This article examines the historical and contemporary intersections of race in education. Specifically, this article explores the African American schooling experience in relation to the Black Lives Matter movement. Although the Brown vs. Board of Education [1954] decision promised more racial cohesion in public schools, many African American students still experience widespread disparities (Kozol, 2005). With African American students receiving three times the number of suspensions or expulsions (Lewis, Butler, Bonner, & Joubert, 2010), it is imperative to explore the undeniable relationship between public schooling and the criminal justice system. To that end, it is important to consider ways that …

Visualizing Abolition: Two Graphic Novels And A Critical Approach To Mass Incarceration For The Composition Classroom, Michael Sutcliffe

SANE journal: Sequential Art Narrative in Education

This article outlines two graphic novels and an accompanying activity designed to unpack complicated intersections between racism, poverty, and (d)evolving criminal-legal policy. Over 2 million adults are held in U.S. prison facilities, and several million more are under custodial supervision, and it has become clearly unsustainable. In the last decade, there has been a shift in media conversations about criminality, yet only a few suggest decreasing our reliance upon incarceration. In meaningfully different ways, the two novels trace the development of incarceration from its roots in slavery to its contemporary anti-democratic iteration and offer an underpublicized alternative.

Critical and community …

Beyond The Big House: Making The Transition To Life After Prison, Kelsey Brewster, Paula Sorrentino, Mina Hailemariam

VA Engage Journal

As the cost of imprisonment climbs, overcrowding in correctional facilities proves to be a major concern. The Virginia Department of Corrections spends an average of $24,380 per inmate annually (VADOC, 2013). The burden of recidivism puts strain on the state budget due to the steady increase in inmate population. Without proper resources and support, released inmates will likely face health, financial, and social barriers, forcing many to revert back to criminal behavior. There is ample evidence to suggest pre- and post-release programs can reduce criminal behavior and aid offenders in their transition back into society. This article summarizes the current …

Managing The Polarities Of Democracy: A Theoretical Framework For Positive Social Change, William J. Benet

Journal of Sustainable Social Change

People around the globe have embraced democracy to bring about positive social change to address our environmental, economic, and militaristic challenges. Yet, there is no agreement on a definition of democracy that can guide social change efforts. The Polarities of Democracy model is a unifying theory of democracy to guide healthy, sustainable, and just social change efforts. The Polarities of Democracy model consists of ten elements, organized as five polarity pairs: freedom & authority, justice & due process, diversity & equality, human-rights & communal-obligations, and participation & representation. In this model each element has positive aspects and negative aspects and …