Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Wrongful Conviction Documentaries: Influences Of Crime Media Exposure On Mock Juror Decision-Making, Patricia Y. Sanchez

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Psychology and law researchers have urged colleagues to collaborate with the makers of popular media, such as documentary filmmakers, in efforts to educate the general public about wrongful convictions (Kassin, 2017; Wells et al., 2000). Recently, programs depicting wrongful convictions, such as Making a Murderer (Demos & Ricciardi, 2015) and When They See Us (DuVernay, 2019) have garnered substantial viewership. Research on general and case-specific pretrial publicity (Daftary-Kapur et al., 2014; Kovera, 2002) and the effects of crime media (Baskin & Sommers, 2010; Schweitzer & Saks, 2007) demonstrate that although consuming crime-related media and being exposed to information about a …

Examining Racial And Ethnic Disparity In Prosecutor’S Bail Requests And Downstream Decision Making, Connor Concannon

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Rigorous academic research into prosecutorial and judicial decision making has been taking place for over three decades, but a great deal remains unknown about the mechanics of prosecution. A majority of the work done by prosecutors occurs outside of public view, and most research focuses on the ‘back end’ of the adjudication process, leaving unanalyzed numerous decision points made upstream of the final plea and sentencing outcomes. Using unique data from the New York County District Attorney’s Office that tracks 43,971 felony complaints, this research examines racial and ethnic disparity at multiple decision points during case processing, with a focus …

Many Forms Of Black Death: Coal Extraction, Transnational Activism And The Value Of Life In Colombia, Oscar H. Pedraza Vargas

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

After the murder of the president and vice president of the coal union by paramilitaries in the department of Cesár, Colombia, the union is left adrift. Its fragility is only heightened when the person who decides to take over, is killed six months later. The union has been vocal on their critique of environmental destruction produced by coal and argues that their criticism is part of the reasons why they were targeted. Not far from there, in the department of Guajira, the conglomerate in charge of Cerrejón, the largest open-pit coal mine of South America, wants to divert a creek …

Development And Validation Of A Multidimensional Scale For Measuring Public Confidence In The Criminal Justice System, Jimin Pyo

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Two studies were conducted with an aim of developing multidimensional measures of public confidence that are conceptually integrated, psychometrically sound, and useful in predicting individuals’ law related behaviors. Study 1 involves two-phased construction of scale in which a preliminary inventory was generated (Phase 1) and then finalized after evaluating psychometric properties based on 304 US adults recruited through Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) (Phase 2). As a result, six multidimensional scales were constructed respectively for measuring efficiency-, finality-, fairness-, strictness-, accuracy-, and transparency-oriented confidence. Despite more complexity of factor structures than originally expected, results of psychometric evaluation six scales of confidence …

Dangerous Exhibitions: Erotic Justice And Comparative Constitutional Law, Elena Cohen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The beginning of the 21^st century is widely seen as a time of great progress for LGBTQ people. Gay marriage, gay sex, adoption by same sex couples, and gay people serving in militaries have all been legalized in many countries in the past two decades, often through the decisions of constitutional courts. However, these constitutional protections of sexuality have been found in limited contexts and applied to a limited class of people, such that many are still vulnerable to repression by governments and majoritarian politics. In order to resist this sexual oppression, I widen the focus from gay and …

Collective Healing: A Restorative Justice-Based Response To Sexual Abuse, Delene Bromirski

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

For much of the last 20 years, the United States has been at the center of the sexual abuse crisis within the Roman Catholic Church. Victim-survivors of clergy-perpetrated sexual abuse have long been waiting for the Church to acknowledge them and respond to their needs. This study sought to answer two important research questions: (1) whether restorative justice can be used to redress harms stemming from clergy-perpetrated sexual abuse and promote healing, and (2) whether there are common characteristics among victims who benefit from restorative events. The study employed a mixed-method research design consisting of both a quantitative and qualitative …

The Freddie Gray Uprising: Persistence And Desistance Narratives Of Community-Engaged Returning Citizens, Maurice Vann

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This study explored how selected returning citizens in Baltimore who experienced the Freddie Gray Uprising of 2015 quelled community violence, stopped looting, and cleaned up the community in the aftermath made meaning of their experiences of the unrest. The central purpose of this study was to collect and analyze the life stories of returning citizens in Baltimore who experienced the Uprising. These men who had been incarcerated for between 5 and 20 years responded to government officials who called on them to quell violence in their neighborhoods that stemmed from the in-custody homicide of Freddie Gray.

The informants provided narratives …

Investigations Of Fraud, Waste, Abuse, And Corruption In The Public Sector: A Survey Of Organizational And Software-Based Aids And Obstructions, Lawrence Kom

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Fraud, Waste, Abuse, and Corruption present significant challenges to the efficient use of public resources and stifle government service improvement by detracting from policy development and undercutting funding for important initiatives. The purpose of this study is to better understand the aids and impediments to investigations of these offenses and provide a generalizable definition for the mission of Inspectors General, the group tasked with monitoring and addressing these offenses. This study also sought to identify the material role of software in investigations of Fraud, Waste, Abuse, and Corruption. Through a purposive sampling, 18 Inspectors General from the federal, state, and …