Law Commons^™

The Violation Of Transgender Prisoners: The Violent Impact Of Gender Discrimination Experienced By Incarcerated Trans People In The United States Of America, Brooklyn Jennings Mx.

Access*: Interdisciplinary Journal of Student Research and Scholarship

U.S prison reform policies such as the Prison Rape Elimination Act pacify the government and the public into believing that prisons are a less harmful place for vulnerable inmates. However, thousands of transgender inmates in the United States experience extraordinary rates of violence and discrimination for their gender identity. There are difficulties in determining exact statistics of gender-based incidents of assault due to dueling structures of legal power and questionable support from prison authorities. However, from available information, trans inmates report dehumanizing prison environments that severely impact their wellbeing. This literature draws upon the current status of incarcerated trans inmates’ …

Washington State Legislative Internship Capstone, Brooklyn Jennings

PPPA Paper Prize

This article reviews 10 weeks interning during the 2023 Washington State Legislative session. This review includes narrative, personal reflection, critique, and discussions of the author's future. There are layers of academic analysis mixed with informal reflections and observations.

Disability Accessibility In Washington Courts, Luke Byram

Access*: Interdisciplinary Journal of Student Research and Scholarship

In this article, disability access is explored in the United Kingdom, Ireland and Canada, examining court systems and the rights of defendants in a literature review. Then, disability accessibility and diversity are explored within the Washington court system utilizing semi-structured interviews with 17 practicing Washington State attorneys from diverse backgrounds and legal experiences who primarily practice criminal law in the courts. The article describes the current state of sign language interpretation and communication barriers within the courts for those who are disabled and the current accommodation standard and various communication and physical barriers for those with disabilities in the court …

Freedom Isn’T Free: Why Washington State Needs To Move Beyond A Cash Bail System, Andre Jimenez

Global Honors Theses

Despite the belief that our justice system holds people “innocent until proven guilty,” for those who are unable to pay for their freedom from pretrial detention, they find the opposite to be true. The cash bail system in this country allows people to pay a court-determined fee to be released from jail after arrest while they wait for their trial. But as this paper demonstrates, the cash bail system as it currently stands in Washington State criminalizes poverty and simultaneously exacerbates racial inequities. Under this system, accused individuals who cannot afford bail, as well as their families, face extreme social …

Examining Legal Financial Obligations In Washington State, Bryan Lewis

PPPA Paper Prize

After criminal offenders are convicted of a crime, they must return to the court where a judge will determine their sentence. Sentencing often includes jail time, but it always includes monetary penalties, or Legal Financial Obligations (LFOs). There are many reasons these penalties are given, from restitution for the victims of criminal offenses, to providing government revenue and funding the court, to punishment for the offender. However, these fines, and the interest rates that come with them, often leave offenders with an enormous amount of debt. There are a lot of interests at stake when it comes to LFO sentencing …

Washington State Sausage Making: Attempting To Measure The Efficiency Of The Legislature, Jonathon Church

PPPA Paper Prize

This paper explores the validity and justification for using how a bill dies in the Washington State legislative process to better critique and measure government efficiency. The information was gathered through interviews with former and current members of the State Legislature and from first-hand experience while working as an intern during the 2022 legislative session. Part one of the paper utilizes multiple sources to present a detailed description of the various ways in which a bill can fail to make it through the legislative process during the regular session. Part two then expands on how these obstacles in a bill's …

Rethinking The War On Drugs, Brandi Kalmbach

Global Honors Theses

The War on Drugs is a battle that has been fought within the United States for fifty years now; however, it began well before the declaration of war made by President Nixon in 1971. Since even before the prohibition era one century ago, the United States has struggled with drug addiction. Research shows that our current day results have actually digressed since the initial declaration of the war on drugs, and yet, the same methods are still being implemented over and over, despite our widespread awareness of its failure. The main failure is declaring a war against drugs. There is …

Reshaping African American Women's Birthing Experience, Kiana Bulloch

Global Honors Theses

In the United States, African American women are two to three times more likely to die from pregnancy-related complications than any other race or ethnic group. The high maternal mortality rate has continued to be a global problem. The maternal mortality rate (MMR) is a universal measurement of registered maternal deaths due to birth or pregnancy-related complications. The U.S. has continued to have an MMR well above the global average despite establishing interventions in socio-economic gaps. In an effort to decrease MMR, the United Nations proposed a global plan to decrease maternal mortality by 75% as one of the eight …

Mandatory Domestic Violence Education For Wa State Judges Legislation, Allison Sykes

MSW Capstones

This proposal is a request for legislation that all Washington State judges receive mandatory domestic violence education. There is a need for Washington State judges to receive domestic violence education to prevent biases and misconceptions from influencing their court decisions. The goal of this legislation is to increase safety for victims and increase judges’ ability to make informed judicial decisions in cases of domestic violence. Education has been identified through research and interviews to be the most significant intervention to reduce domestic violence. Judges who are educated about domestic violence make judicial decisions that are more supportive of victims. To …

Ballasted: Stabilizing Ships And Destabilizing Seas, Tracie S. Barry

Access*: Interdisciplinary Journal of Student Research and Scholarship

This article critically assesses the history of ballast water as a vector for invasive species, management, current regulations and technological advancements in water treatment. The transport of invasive species is a global threat to ecosystems as well as economies. Ballast water, used to stabilize ships has been implicated in the spread of invasive species, including zebra mussels and harmful algal species. In 2017, the International Convention for the Control of and Management of Ship’s Ballast water and Sediments, in an effort to mitigate the spread of invasive species was entered into force. However, at the same time legislation was presented …

The Militarization Of Ice And Hyper-Surveillance Of Latinx Immigrants, Karen Martinez Gonzalez

Global Honors Theses

Since the creation of this country, exclusion based on race and class has been upheld by racist immigration, citizenship and labor laws. From slavery to segregation and from mass incarceration to the exploitation and criminalization of immigrant labor. The capitalist inclusion and nationalist exclusion of people of color are not separate ideologies instead they work together to ensure the original purpose of a homogeneous nation. ICE’s most important but hidden purpose is to uphold a white homogeneous nation. Their practices not only target undocumented communities but specifically undocumented communities of color. Migrants of color in the U.S. are prevented from …

Bridging Gaps Between Constituents And Policymakers In Climate Policy In Washington State, Rebecca Dickson

Global Honors Theses

Climate change is one of the preeminent concerns of our time. As nation-states around the world face rising sea levels, pollution, political instability, and a rise of national security concerns due to climate instability, greater international cooperation is needed in order to target and adapt to cross-border issues. However, international political action is often reliant upon a national support for that action, especially when national officials rely on the support of their citizenry, such as in democracies, like the United States.

In order to understand how countries such as the United States make decisions on the domestic and international level, …

Reforming Children's Rights: The Criminalization Of Youth At The Intersection Of Schools And Juvenile Justice Systems, Nicole Carbone

Global Honors Theses

This thesis examines children’s rights and support structures for youth of color in the United States, while relying on South Africa as a framework of the needed balance between individual rights and enforcement in a democratic country. Institutionalized racism and treatment of children can be seen throughout many different cultural histories. However, the United States is the only country that has not ratified the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, with no robust standard on the treatment of children across the Country. Because of this, the literature review explores the consequences youth of color face in education …

The Health Of Migrant Farmworkers In The Pacific Northwest: Access, Quality, And Health Disparities, Marleny Silva

Global Honors Theses

The health and well-being of migrant farmworkers have been neglected in the U.S. despite the prevalent reliance on undocumented foreign labor to fill the needs of the agricultural industry. In 1942, the U.S. signed a bilateral agreement with Mexico which allowed the recruitment of Mexican workers for temporary work in U.S. fields until the end of the program in 1964. This program contributed to the increase of Mexican migration even after its termination and reaffirmed our nation’s dependence on migrant farm workers, both documented and undocumented. Due to their undocumented status, undocumented migrant farmworkers experience neglect, dehumanization, and criminalization that …

American Exceptionalism In Mass Incarceration, Isabell Murray

Global Honors Theses

American exceptionalism is often positively connotated; America’s exceptionalism often refers to the nation’s unique, progressive ideals of liberty during the nation’s founding, as well as the premise of a free Democratic Republic. While the United States of America has many positive and exceptional qualities, this research illustrates an unfortunate exceptional American quality: the mass incarceration of over 2.3 million people in the United States of America. This paper reviews the literature to understand the evolution of mass incarceration on the basis of three lines: the United States’ history of race, the nation’s governmental structure and the development of policy. Additionally, …

Integration Of Complementary And Alternative Medicine Into The Healthcare System In The United States, Nikki Lu

Global Honors Theses

Chronic diseases are a prevalent issue around the world and chronic diseases are hard to prevent due to various systemic factors in the healthcare system. This paper mainly focused on socioeconomic issues and highlighted a few systemic factors in the US healthcare system. These factors have created various health disparities, inequities among socially constructed groups, and financial expenditures in the US healthcare system. Socioeconomic factors significantly impact the health and healthcare among socially constructed groups. Additionally, in this paper there are current approaches in addressing these healthcare factors such as social determinants of health and precision medicine as well as …

The Rhetoric Is On The Wall: A Multimodal Study Of The U.S. – Mexico Border Through Image Narratives, Kristoffer Mason

Global Honors Theses

This paper applied social semiotics and systemic functional theory to study visual narratives related to President Trump’s border wall project and U.S. immigration policy. The images were selected by new articles posted by The New York Times using search parameters “border wall” and “undocumented immigration” between the dates of March 13 – April 13, 2018. Images were selected and categorized based on visual themes related to the border wall and policy enforcement. Of these categories, two images were selected for vertical perspective, vector patterns, and gestures to discover the narratives. Analysis of the images showed that social power and hierarchical …

Material Support Laws And Critical Race Theory, Nichole M. Pace

Access*: Interdisciplinary Journal of Student Research and Scholarship

The paper examines terrorism designation and material support laws for structural racism using Critical Race Theory. Legislation concerning terrorist organizations continues to limit efforts of humanitarian organizations and refugee applicants. The impact of such legislation extends beyond the designated terrorist organizations to the communities and countries they inhabit. This article describes the legal statutes and issues related to terrorist designation and material support laws before defining Critical Race Theory. The article seeks to understand the structural racism involved in the defined statutes and procedures. Using Critical Race Theory, the article defines how material support laws and terrorist designation procedures are …

Integrity & Incentives: Seeking Equity In Historic Preservation Law, Anneka Olson

Access*: Interdisciplinary Journal of Student Research and Scholarship

In this article, the author presents a case study of mobile home park residents seeking historic designation in the face of neighborhood demolition. The neighborhood’s ineligibility to become a historic site under current law can help demonstrate larger patterns of inequitable outcomes within historic preservation practice. In particular, the author argues that the application of preservation law—despite being formally neutral regarding issues of racial and socioeconomic equity—reinforces existing racial, economic, and spatial inequities. Drawing on the challenge of legal closure from critical legal studies (CLS), the author argues that law and historicity are mutually constituting, and that subjective notions of …

The Body Subject To The Laws: Louise Erdrich’S Metaphorical Incarnation Of Federal Indian Law In "The Round House", Laurel Jimenez

Access*: Interdisciplinary Journal of Student Research and Scholarship

Author Louise Erdrich, a member of the Chippewa tribe in North Dakota, is renowned for addressing historical and current social justice issues facing Native Americans in many of her critically acclaimed novels. The Round House is no exception. Erdrich begins her novel by describing a violent attack against the young protagonist's mother; an attack that is only made possible by the systemic racism and lack of tribal sovereignty that underpins Federal Indian Law and policy. Erdrich transmutes the evil couched within those laws into one deplorable incident. The unfolding affects from that incident expose how-- not only historically, but even …

No Lost Generations: Refugee Children And Their Human Right To Education, From The Holocaust To The Syrian Civil War, Jessica Warner

MAIS Projects and Theses

International law protects the right to education for refugee children, as is stated in multiple treaties and documents, such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (1948), the Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees (1951), the International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights (1966), and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1990). The purpose of this research is to highlight the historical development of education for refugee children, through programs led by Intergovernmental Organizations (IGOs), as well as to emphasize the importance of education as part of current humanitarian interventions. This thesis examines a past example …

The Hear.Us Project - Reducing Anti-Immigrant Sentiment And Myth Through An Online Awareness Intervention, Douglas J. Epps

MSW Capstones

The following is an online awareness intervention designed to reduce anti-immigrant sentiment and myth throughout the greater community by means of an educational toolkit. The foundation of this toolkit was designed using macro level theoretical intervention frameworks. The content is grounded in empirically based interpersonal communication strategies specialized in addressing anti-immigrant sentiment. The goal of this toolkit is to provide a source for humanizing and factual education especially for those who are unfamiliar with immigrant community members. The intervention achieves this goal by means of three specific elements: 1) Humanizing and inspiring personal stories from immigrants in the local community …

Southern Injustice And Radical Discontent: The Black Panther Party In The Post-Civil Rights South, Adam Nolan

History Undergraduate Theses

This paper looks at the efforts, obstacles, and outcomes of attempts to organize Black Panther Party chapters in four southern states – Georgia, Kentucky, Tennessee, and Texas - using a variety of sources, including the The Black Panther and Southern Patriot newspapers. Organized in 1966, the BPP mobilized against police brutality and injustices inflicted upon African Americans throughout American history. While successfully establishing various popular community survival programs to help uplift local communities, the BPP’s revolutionary rhetoric and imagery instantly attracted state-sponsored repression that exacted a heavy toll on the organization on local and national levels.

Prison 2 Society, Heidi S. Collins

MSW Capstones

Abstract

Returning to the community from jail is a complex transition for most offenders, as well as for their families and communities. Upon reentering society, former offenders are likely to struggle with substance abuse, lack of adequate education and job skills, limited housing options, and mental health issues. This project illuminates the difficulties that adults face as they transition out of jails back to the community and presents a model of a one-stop-shop that is designed to include all the transition resources an adult may need to successfully re-integrate back to the community after incarceration, all housed at one, easily …

The Evolution Of Intellectual Property Protections In The People’S Republic Of China: Is There An Enforcement Problem?, William Mcguire, Michael Wotherspoon

William McGuire

No abstract provided.

Victoria’S Little Secret, Matthew Deem, Christopher Aiken, Matt Colleen, Matthew Rhoades

MICCSR Presentations

This mini-case outlines a series of articles that ran in Bloomberg outlining the use of child slave labor in the fair trade cotton fields of Burkina Faso that had been used exclusively in Victoria’s Secret products. Giving students and opportunity to develop strategies and tactics that respond to a real-world public relations issue, this case also lets students explore the CSR issues inherent in a firm’s supply chain. Although trying to do the “right thing” Victoria’s Secret got caught up in the certification dilemma that many firms face.

Part II of the video

Victoria's Little Secret: Addressing Child Labor, Andrea Cerna, Michael Lawrence, Eileen Smith, Nicole Winjum

MICCSR Presentations

This mini-case outlines a series of articles that ran in Bloomberg outlining the use of child slave labor in the fair trade cotton fields of Burkina Faso that had been used exclusively in Victoria’s Secret products. Giving students and opportunity to develop strategies and tactics that respond to a real-world public relations issue, this case also lets students explore the CSR issues inherent in a firm’s supply chain. Although trying to do the “right thing” Victoria’s Secret got caught up in the certification dilemma that many firms face.

Part II of video

Victoria's Little Secret, Joe Lawless

MICCSR Case Studies

This mini-case outlines a series of articles that ran in Bloomberg outlining the use of child slave labor in the fair trade cotton fields of Burkina Faso that had been used exclusively in Victoria’s Secret products. Giving students and opportunity to develop strategies and tactics that respond to a real-world public relations issue, this case also lets students explore the CSR issues inherent in a firm’s supply chain. Although trying to do the “right thing” Victoria’s Secret got caught up in the certification dilemma that many firms face.

The Torture Debate: What The Scholars And The Intellectuals Are Saying, Dieudonné Balla

Global Honors Theses

In the aftermath of the Abu Ghraib investigation and the 2009 CASUSS report on post-9/11 interrogation practices, the question of state-sanctioned torture has become the subject of much public and scholarly debate. In this thesis, the author examines three arguments in support of lawful torture: Alan Dershowitz’s Law of Necessity and the concept of “torture warrants,” Michael Walzer’s “problem of dirty hands,” and Richard Posner’s notion of Constitutional interpretation in times of emergency.

Mothers In Chains: How National And State Legislation Have Been Enacted To Stop The Practice Of Shackling Incarcerated Pregnant Women, Emily Olson

PPPA Paper Prize

In recent decades, the treatment of pregnant prisoners has generated much public debate, in particular the issue of shackling pregnant inmates during labor, delivery, and postpartum recovery. This paper presents several shackling cases that have resulted in lawsuits and policy changes and discusses the growing effort to ban the use of restraints on pregnant prisoners, a practice many medical and human rights organizations deem unnecessary, degrading, and unsafe. The author also analyzes the Anti-Shackling Bills introduced in the 2010 Washington State Legislative Session, documenting the bills’ amendments and passage into law.