Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

People And Power: Person-First Language Usage And The Criminal Justice System, Casey E. Orr

Amplify: A Journal of Writing-as-Activism

Language is power. Word choice and terminology, especially those referring to people, are expressions of societal norms and institutional power. Dehumanizing crime-first terms and labels are abundant and common in criminal justice contexts despite being protested by system-involved individuals and activists. Instead, many advocate for person-first terms wherein identifying language emphasizes an individual’s humanity. With a peace-focused anthropological framework, this paper presents the case for person-first language in criminal justice contexts. It is evident that adopting first-person language usage regarding the criminal justice system is necessary after analyzing and considering the multiple sources, such as the voices of those who …

The War On Drugs, Moral Panics, And The Groundhog Day Effect: Confronting The Stereotypes That Perpetuate The Cycle Of Disparity, Tasha Withrow

The Mid-Southern Journal of Criminal Justice

There has been a specter haunting America for over 400 years. That specter is an insidious and destructive beast that has found its way into every crevice and layer of all American institutions. Racism, racial stereotypes, racial stigma, biases, and White supremacy has infiltrated every power structure since the foundation of America and has created a system of social control that has perpetually oppressed, marginalized, and disenfranchised generations of people of color. One of the most catastrophic by-products generated from America’s historic racist ideology has been that of the over-criminalization of people of color for drug crimes justified by discriminatory …

The Criminal Justice System And The Lgbtq Community: An Anti-Queer Regime, Steven Peck

Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science

The LGBTQ community in the US, while experiencing great strides in social equality, continues to suffer disproportionately in the criminal justice system. Historical precedents of criminalizing the LGBTQ community are rife within the criminal justice system; the establishment of anti-sodomy laws, belief of inherent criminality, and a heteronormative perspective have all fostered a greater anti-queer regime. The criminalization and incarceration of the LGBTQ community remain steadfastly in place, with little to no reprieve. Establishing a new narrative in the criminalization and imprisonment of the LGBTQ community may assist in efforts to achieve real change within the criminal justice system. Moving …

Advocacy In The Youth Justice System As A Speech-Language Pathologist, Jennifer Johnson

Honors Theses

In this work, an overview is given of the prevalence of language disorders within the youth offender population along with its implication for you g individuals in the criminal justice system. An evidence-based argument is made for the need for speech-language pathologists to advocate for youth offenders with language disorders by educating relevant personnel and providing language therapy services to youth offenders who qualify.

Front End Justice: Diverting People Affected By Mental Illness From The Criminal Justice System, Ariel Esqueda, Kelliann Kutschke, Matthew Miller, Kayleigh Wendland

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

Many of the people caught up in the criminal justice system are non-violent offenders struggling with mental illness, which cannot and should not be addressed through incarceration. Our jails and prisons are ill-equipped to provide effective mental health services. Incarceration compounds the problem by contributing to increased psychological distress. We are relying on the criminal justice system to respond to mental illness, rather than investing fully in the spectrum of mental health care from prevention to recovery. Minnesota must invest in diverting people affected by mental illness away from the criminal justice system and into community-based treatment, services, and supports …

The “Innocence Penalty”: Is It More Pronounced For Juveniles?, Nilam A. Sanghvi, Elizabeth A. Delosa

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Despite the presumption of innocence, we know that individuals accused of crimes are punished for maintaining their innocence in ways both tangible and intangible as they make their way through our criminal justice system. For example, even if instructed not to, jurors may infer guilt from a defendant’s failure to testify; defendants who exercise their right to go to trial receive lengthier sentences if convicted than those who plead guilty; and, once convicted, defendants who maintain their innocence are often denied opportunities for parole or clemency. This article explores whether these “innocence penalties” are even greater for children who are …

From Incarceration To Community: Criminal Justice Reform For People Affected By Mental Illness In Minnesota, Nancy Altmann, Paige Myrick

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

Minnesota needs a new pathway approach in supporting people affected by mental illness. It is time we stop the practice of criminalizing mental illness, reform the probation and supervision systems, expand Medicaid and MinnesotaCare access, and fully invest in supports for people reintegrating back to their families and communities. Let’s take the millions of dollars spent annually on incarceration and invest in supportive services for people affected by mental illness. This approach invests in the health, hope, safety, and justice for all Minnesotans.

Case Studies Of Three Wrongful Convictions, Kelsie Blood

Criminology Student Work

Although the criminal justice system is one of the most important systems in our society, it has its flaws. One role of the criminal justice system is to incarcerate people who have committed crimes in violation of criminal law. Unfortunately for thousands of individuals, the criminal justice system incarcerates people who are not guilty of those crimes. Wrongful convictions are a failure of our criminal justice system. There are different factors that contribute to a person being wrongfully convicted. These factors include eyewitness misidentification, inadequate or ineffective legal representation, DNA-or lack thereof, and official misconduct, or a combination of these. …

Debt Bondage: How Private Collection Agencies Keep The Formerly Incarcerated Tethered To The Criminal Justice System, Bryan L. Adamson

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

This Article examines the constitutionality of statutes which allow courts to transfer outstanding legal financial obligations to private debt collection agencies. In Washington State, the clerk of courts can transfer the legal financial obligation of a formerly incarcerated person if he or she is only thirty days late making a payment. Upon transfer, the debt collection agencies can assess a “collection fee” of up to 50% of the first $100.000 of the unpaid legal financial obligation, and up to 35% of the unpaid debt over $100,000. This fee becomes part of the LFO debt imposed at sentencing, and like that …

The Treatment Of People With Mental Illness In The Criminal Justice System: The Example Of Oneida County, New York, Alexander Black '19, Kylie Davis '18, Kenneth Gray '20, Connor O'Shea '18, Alexander Scheuer '18, Samantha Walther '18, Nico Yardas '18, Frank M. Anechiarico, Ralph Eannace, Jennifer Ambrose

Student Scholarship

This publication is two-fold: an executive summary and the report itself. The executive summary provides a general overview of the larger report, on the criminalization of the mentally ill. It begins by summarizing three case studies from the report that concern the intersection of mental health issues and the criminal justice system in Oneida County in New York State. It then provides a brief historical overview of mental health issues and the criminal justice system before going on to discuss the current best practices in addressing the criminalization of the mentally ill, including law-enforcement mechanisms, mental health courts, and reintegration …

Merciless: Psychopathic Criminals And How The Criminal Justice System Can Protect Us From Them, Dilara Gingerich

Student Symposium

For my presentation, I will discuss an independent study I did with Dr. Durst in the Fall of 2018, in which I wrote about psychopaths and ways the criminal justice system (CJS) can protect society from them. I will first briefly define psychopathy and explain the personality traits associated with it. I will dedicate the rest of my time to explaining ways I believe the CJS can use information about psychopathy to protect society from criminals with that condition. Psychopathy is a subtype of antisocial personality disorder (APD) that is characterized by a lack of empathy and remorse, manipulative and …

How Crime Dramas Influence Perception Of Crime, Abby Hogan

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

Television crime dramas are becoming more and more popular, introducing new shows and spin-offs every year. With their growing popularity, it is important to study the possible impacts that they could have on society, and people’s views of crime and criminality. This study looks at how much college students watch and enjoy these shows, and whether they affect their perception on the criminal justice system and procedures shown in the crime dramas. Questionnaires given to Butler University students inquire about their crime drama watching habits as well of their opinions and views on different aspects of the justice system, including …

The Victimization Of The Misconceived: The Mentally Ill In The Criminal Justice System, Margarita Trejo

Themis: Research Journal of Justice Studies and Forensic Science

It is unfortunate to say that the number of people who suffer from a serious mental illness has been drastically increasing in the criminal justice system since the late 1960s. This drastic change has captivated the minds of the public, forced them to develop a fallacious stereotype, and labeled the mentally ill population as wrongdoers. This image, however, is inaccurate. In reality, these people are the victims of a broken system. This paper establishes the victimization that a person with a serious mental illness experiences as they are processed through the criminal justice system. The following elaborates how victimization is …

The Lived Experiences Of African-American Male Exoffenders In The Northeast United States, Jacqueline Grant

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Discrimination, racism, and class bias affects the accessibility of resources available to African American males who are exoffenders. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to explore the lived experiences of African American, male exoffenders' ability to access resources postincarceration. Guided by Bell and Freeman's critical race theory, a purposeful sample of 6 African American, male exoffenders were recruited from 2 reentry programs in the Northeast United States. A semistructured interview approach was employed to examine the life history, details of experience, and reflection on the meaning of the lived experience from the participants. The modified Stevick, Colaizzi, and Keen …

The Scale Of Misdemeanor Justice, Megan T. Stevenson, Sandra G. Mayson

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article seeks to provide the most comprehensive national-level empirical analysis of misdemeanor criminal justice that is currently feasible given the state of data collection in the United States. First, we estimate that there are 13.2 million misdemeanor cases filed in the United States each year. Second, contrary to conventional wisdom, this number is not rising. Both the number of misdemeanor arrests and cases filed have declined markedly in recent years. In fact, national arrest rates for almost every misdemeanor offense category have been declining for at least two decades, and the misdemeanor arrest rate was lower in 2014 than …

5-0 Is Not Coming To Save You: Examining The Lack Of Police Intervention In Lgbtq Intimate Partner Violence, Lucais Wallen

Online Theses and Dissertations

Intimate partner violence (IPV) has garnered a lot of attention by the criminal justice system, the media and, academia. Intimate partner violence laws have seen drastic changes over the past hundred years often coupled with the changes of culture and society. Though intimate partner violence surely warrants that attention, the growing and important issue of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) intimate partner violence has largely been ignored. The ongoing struggle of LGBTQ community for equality has not as of yet been a catalyst for drastic legal change. Utilizing narratives from victims of intimate partner violence from around the …

Book Review: American Jericho: A Book Review Of The Hanging Judge By Michael A. Ponsor, Giovanna Shay

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Resources In English On The Criminal Justice System Of The People’S Republic Of China, Ellen Sexton

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Economic Interest Convergence In Downsizing Imprisonment, Spearit

Articles

This Essay employs a variation of the “interest convergence” concept to examine the competing interests at stake in downsizing imprisonment in the United States. In the last few decades, the country has become the world leader in both incarceration rates and number of inmates. Reversing these trends is a common goal of multiple parties, who advocate prison reform under different rationales. Some advocate less imprisonment as a means of tempering the disparate effects of imprisonment on individual offenders and the communities to which they return. Others support downsizing based on conservative values that favor reduced government size, spending, and interference …

Value Of Social Science Research Often Measured By What You Don't See, Roberto Hugh Potter

UCF Forum

In early April, our UCF colleagues at the Florida Space Institute secured a $55 million grant to produce an instrument for space research. Congratulations!

'Smart' Justice Is Based On More Than Just Reducing Costs, Roberto Hugh Potter

UCF Forum

I attended a statewide “justice summit” in December, but left wondering about how some people think we should achieve that.

Incarceration And The Economic Fortunes Of Urban Neighborhoods, Jeffrey A. Fagan, Valerie West

Faculty Scholarship

This chapter turns to the response of the criminal justice system to neighborhood violence, in particular examining to what extent persistently high levels of incarceration can depress economic well-being and human capital in disadvantaged and racially segregated communities. A panel analysis of New York City neighborhoods between 1985 and 1996, a period in which the city's violent-crime rates both rose and fell sharply, provides evidence that high incarceration rates reduce income growth, educational attainment, and work experience in disadvantaged and racially segregated neighborhoods. To rectify this, targeted micro investment and housing development in such areas can break the connection between …

The International Criminal Justice System’S Response To Genocide: A Case Study Of The Darfur Conflict And President Omar Hassan Ahmad Al-Bashir, Ingrid Scheer

Honors Projects

No abstract provided.

The Emerging Role Of Dna Analysis In The Criminal Justice System, Sandra Sherman

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

Forensic science has evolved into the most advanced investigative tool used in the criminal justice field. DNA evidence is a strong component of forensic science and with constant advancements of DNA testing so that its evidence is more reliable and accepted in the criminal justice system will help provide justice for the quily and innocent alike.

Women, Re-Entry And Everyday Life: Time To Work?, Dina R. Rose, Venezia Michalsen, Dawn Wiest, Anupa Fabian

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This study focuses on women at various stages of re-entry into the community after involvement with the criminal justice system. In particular, it takes a close look at how the participants in the study manage their time in the face of the types of competing demands that are all too common to most people.

Intimate Partner Violence And The Justice System: An Examination Of The Interface, Carol E. Jordan

Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women Publications

Women entering the court system face a challenging experience, in part, because a courtroom can be an intimidating and difficult place for any person, and in part because women victimized by crimes in which the offender is known to them face distinctive difficulties when they seek the court’s remedies. The interface is also made more challenging for women as the literature offers disparate findings as to the efficacy of criminal justice responses and civil remedies. This article briefly explores the unique characteristics of intimate partner violence cases that influence the interface of these victims with the court system.Areviewis provided of …

Public Perception, Justice, And The "Search For Truth" In Criminal Cases, Craig M. Bradley, Joseph L. Hoffmann

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Crime, Drugs, And Race, Wornie L. Reed

Trotter Review

The crime and criminal record statistics of black Americans are frightening; and they keep getting worse. These figures, of course, give us pause. Yet, it must be kept in mind that none of these figures demonstrates that blacks as a race are more prone to crime. Rather, the figures show that the average black person in the United States is more likely than the average white person to be so situated in the social structure that he or she is more likely to be involved in crime, with an even higher likelihood of being arrested, convicted, and imprisoned.

African-Americans And The Administration Of Justice, E. Yvonne Moss, Roy Austin, Nolan Jones, Barry A. Krisberg, Hubert G. Locke, Michael L. Radelet, Susan Welch

Trotter Review

The status of African Americans in relationship to the administration of justice has improved since the 1940s. Significantly, however, researchers continue to find racial discrimination and racial disadvantage operating in various aspects of the criminal justice process in numerous jurisdictions. Such findings are unacceptable in a society that claims to honor equal justice under law.

This article is reprinted from Summary, Volume 1 of the Assessment of the Status of African-Americans series, published in 1990 by the William Monroe Trotter Institute, University of Massachusetts at Boston, and edited by Wornie L. Reed. Materials included in the article were adapted …

Judicial Incentives: Some Evidence From Urban Trial Courts, Greg A. Caldeira

IUSTITIA

In the following pages, I shall outline the basics of a method for studying the motivations of trial judges - or any public officials, for that matter - that I find particularly interesting and fruitful - "incentive theory". The use of incentive theory is, in my view, a preliminary contribution to an ongoing movement to fill glaring gaps in the literature on judicial motivation and trial judging.