Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

China’S Relationship With Sudan—And Human Rights Consequences, Tessa Li Powell

Human Rights & Human Welfare

China is the largest country in the world and has a rapidly expanding economy. Its streets are starting to crowd with cars instead of bicycles and there is an increasing demand for the luxuries of developed nations. The desire to keep up with major international players has pushed the Chinese government to overlook whatever human rights abuses may be occurring inside and outside of its borders. China has taken steps to support Sudan despite its use of child soldiers and the genocide in Darfur that has been occurring for years. By criticizing and withdrawing support from President al-Bashir, China could …

A Legal System That Compromises Due Process And Promotes Organ Harvesting And Human Rights Abuse Of Prisoners: A Case Study Of China, Shivani Ramdeo

Human Rights & Human Welfare

On June 21, 1989, three men were executed in Shanghai two weeks after their arrests. The Xinhua News Agency reported that Bian Hanwu, Xu Guoming and Yan Xuerong were arrested, charged and convicted for sabotaging transportation. Upon rejection of their appeals by the Shanghai People’s High Court, they were executed. Again, Xinhua reported on January 26, 2003, the execution of Lobsang Dondrub, (who was found guilty of inciting a split in the country and illegally possessing firearms and ammunition), hours after his death sentence was approved by the Sichuan Province Higher People’s Court, despite an assurance to a US delegation …

The Past, Present, And Future Of Freedom Of Speech And Expression In The People’S Republic Of China, Liza Negriff

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The international community has been criticizing China for its human rights violations for years. However, one human rights violation has received less attention than some other rights issues both inside and outside of China: censorship and restrictions on freedom of speech and expression. This scantiness of attention is largely attributed to the fact that acquiring reliable information about censorship and freedom of expression in China is challenging.

China’S Infanticide Epidemic, Winter Wall

Human Rights & Human Welfare

China’s one-child policy, initiated to curtail China’s rapid population growth, has resulted in fundamental human rights abuses. Due to the cultural stigma of having female children, the stringent policy has led to millions of female infants being aborted, abandoned, or killed. As China struggles with population control, families are faced with the necessity of bearing male children, who are perceived as being more valuable to the family and who are often charged with the care of their elderly parents. Consequently, the elimination of female infants has created a skewed sex ratio in China’s population—the social, economic, and physical repercussions of …

2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, Allison Welch

Human Rights & Human Welfare

China’s human rights record has been the subject of intense scrutiny. Therefore, when China was chosen to host the 2008 Summer Olympics, the decision was predictably controversial. There were calls for boycotts of the opening ceremony by many international actors, such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and an assortment of political figures. Institutions such as the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom argued that boycotting the games would bring critical attention to China’s troubled human rights record, which would ultimately provoke Beijing to alter its controversial policies. Others argued that boycotting the games would only serve to intensify …

Human Rights In Sub-Saharan Africa: Introduction, Jendayi E. Frazer

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Whether one points to the legacy of colonialism, the nature of the post-colonial state, the effects of the Cold War, globalization, and enduring customary cultural practices, the facts presented in this Spring Digest on Human Rights in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) point to a significant deficit in human rights protection for sub-Saharan Africa’s people. All of the selections recognize that the demand for greater human rights and the form in which they are expressed will largely come from within Africa to be sustainable. The Digest creates a bridge between universal rights standards and their particular application and expression in Africa.

Universal Human Rights Vs. Traditional Rights, Brittany Kühn

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) is one of the most translated documents in the world. Its promotion of freedom, justice and peace provides a set of standards that were adopted by the United Nations General Assembly and with the support of forty-eight countries. Despite this doctrine of international values, indigenous societies often resist attempts to implement such law when it threatens to constrain traditional norms that are deeply embedded into the realm of cultural identity.

Youth Migration And Poverty In Sub-Saharan Africa: Empowering The Rural Youth, Charlotte Min-Harris

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Sangaré, a poor young farmer from a village in southern Mali, leaves his wife and three children to find stable employment in the capital city of Bamako. What he finds is an unrewarding reality that leads him from small job to small job, only earning about US 22 cents per day. These jobs range from selling sunglasses, to shining shoes, to driving a rickshaw. Unfortunately, his income has not proved enough to provide for his family, as his aunt has since adopted his daughter, and his children cannot attend school. The inability to find stable employment in Bamako has forced …

The Continuing Struggle For Agrarian Reform In Brazil, Sarah Mogab

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Brazil is infamous for its enormously skewed distribution of income, wealth, and land. In a country where 4 percent of landowners own 79 percent of the land, an ongoing movement for land reform continues to be a source of conflict and violence in the countryside (Kay 2001: 755). Extreme poverty is highly concentrated in rural areas. Although rural workers comprise only 18 percent of the total population (Filho 2007), it is estimated that as many as 6 million families are in need of land (Thomas: 9). This struggle for land, in Brazil and elsewhere, is framed by its supporters as …

The Brazilian Paradox: The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, And Transgender Battle For Human Rights, Adrienne Rosenberg

Human Rights & Human Welfare

With a rich religious history of Catholicism juxtaposed with a sexually liberal public, Brazil interacts with its lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) community in a very distinct and often conflicting manner. Although homosexuality has been legal in the state since 1823, save the armed forces, and civil unions are currently permitted in some areas, Brazil has functioned within this paradox as both worst transgressor, with a high record of hate crimes and discrimination, and as world leader, with a progressive domestic and global push for LGBT rights. In order to accurately assess these two opposing statuses, one must analyze the …

The Colonial Legacy And Human Rights In Mexico: Indigenous Rights And The Zapatista Movement, Alexander Karklins

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The current status of human rights in Latin America has been profoundly affected by the legacy of colonial institutions. Since the time of conquest, through colonialism, and after independence, the growth of the Latin American state has been challenged by the alternative discourse of indigenous rights. In Mexico, the dominance of mestizaje (or the quest for a single Mexican ethnic identity) in the formation of its modern state apparatus has left indigenous cultures out of the realm of political participation and exposed to human rights violations. With the Zapatista uprising of 1994-1996, the contradictions inherent in Mexico’s constitution were brought …

Police Violence In Brazil, Kyra Moon

Human Rights & Human Welfare

“This was just the beginning. They want war, and they‟ll get war. The problem of trafficking will only be resolved with blood. It is the only language they understand.” This was the response of Mario Azevedo, chief delegate of the 21st police precinct in the Bonsucsso neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, after drug traffickers killed three police officers. Three days after that assault, one hundred and twenty heavily armed police officers stormed into the Nova Brasilia favela (the Brazilian term for slum or shantytown) and killed thirteen residents, four of which were minors. Press reports initially described this incident in …

Violence Against Sex Workers In Latin America: Pervasiveness, Impunity, And Implications, Stephanie A. Bell

Human Rights & Human Welfare

On December 17, 2005, two transgendered sex workers in Guatemala City were shot in the head, one fatally. Witnesses—including the survivor—alleged that police forces shot the victims. Human rights advocates have argued that the attack was part of a broader social cleansing campaign that has targeted all sex workers.

Sex workers in Latin America are subjected to violence regularly. This violence varies greatly, but its pervasiveness and the impunity for perpetrators are two common themes. Violence against sex workers comes from many different sources: police, pimps, johns, serial killers, gang members and others. The violence also takes many forms, including …

Addressing The Needs Of The Homeless: A San José Library Partnership Approach, Lydia N. Collins, Francis E. Howard, Angie Miraflor

Faculty and Staff Publications

Describes an urban joint-use library's approaches to library programs for homeless children, teens, and adults as well as agencies the library could partner with. Proposes that libraries put more effort into reaching out to the homeless community instead of assuming the normal expectation that people will come to the library.

Teaching And Learning In Second Life: A Pilot Study, Anamika Dasgupta

Faculty and Staff Publications

Second Life (SL) is a 3-D virtual online environment that was first released in 2003 by Linden Lab. Educators speculate that it has the ability to support kinesthetic and audio-visual styles. Many universities and colleges have built their teaching campuses in SL in order to experiment with teaching and learning activities in SL. In this study, data were collected from 16 students to evaluate how students respond to the various communication modes available in SL, how students perceive the manipulation of in-world movement, navigation, and action affordances in SL, and how students perceive using a virtual environment to attain learning …

Gender Differences In Antecedents To Academic And Personal Well-Being In Urban Youth: What Is The Role Of Social Support?, Erin Caskey

Dissertations

Urban youth are an important, yet understudied population. Moreover, the vast majority of existing research has focused on negative outcomes. Recently, there has been a trend in the field of adolescent research toward creating models that attempt to understand and explain why some members of at-risk populations are able to overcome adversities and to achieve successful adaptation. The present study investigated the relationships between perceived social support, gender, academic outcomes, and personal well-being in urban youth. Overall, perceived social support was found to be related to many outcome variables for males and females. Gender differences were found in the relationships …

The Relations Among Parental Monitoring And Warmth, And Adolescent Externalizing And Internalizing Distress: The Effects Of Parent And Adolescent Perception Of Neighborhood Danger, Jonathan Goldner

Dissertations

Parental monitoring and warmth have traditionally been studied in the context of white, middle-class families. This paper adds to recent research that has begun to explore what levels of these parenting behaviors are optimal for the prevention of adolescent psychopathology in impoverished, urban high crime areas. It also takes into account parent and child perceptions of neighborhood danger. This study employs a longitudinal design, with data collected at two times points one year apart, among a sample of 240 African American young adolescents and their parents in urban, high crime neighborhoods. It aims to study parental monitoring, parental warmth, parent …

Recognition Of Emotions From Facial Expression And Situational Cues In Children With Autism, Dina Tell

Dissertations

The present study investigated two areas of emotion recognition in school-aged high-functioning children with autism and typically developing children, matched on chronological age and gender: (1) recognition of facially expressed emotions that were presented in still photographs of adult faces and (2) emotion recognition from situational and facial cues, presented in line drawings of emotionally-laden situations. For the photograph task, children's accuracy in recognizing facial expressions of happy, sad, angry, and fear emotions along with neutral expressions was investigated. All emotional expressions were presented with computer-generated direct and averted eye-gaze at 100% and 50% emotion strength. Of particular interest were …

Relating Color Blind Racial Attitudes, Social Dominance Orientation And Just World Beliefs, Jennifer Marie Kestner

Dissertations

This research study explored the relationship between Just World Beliefs, Social Dominance Orientation, and Color-blind Racial Attitudes. Beliefs in Just World (BJW) asserts that people believe in a world where, in general, good things happen to those that are good and bad things happen to those that are bad. Research has shown that just world beliefs can be adaptive and protective, but unhealthy behaviors and attitudes can develop in an effort to defend these beliefs. For example, individuals with high beliefs tend to blame victims, deny the reality of social inequality, and hold prejudiced attitudes. Similar constructs related to attitudes …

The Role Of Expectations As Determinants Of Satisfaction In An Outpatient Care Setting, Jan Strohmeyer Brien

Dissertations

Understanding patient satisfaction is a central theme in today's healthcare landscape. The role of patient expectations and its impact on patient satisfaction has not been well understood in the context of a viable theoretical model. Thibault and Kelly's Theory of Interpersonal Relations and constructs of expectations in relationships are used to develop a framework for identifying the main factors driving both expectations and satisfaction. Measures are developed for comparison level of current outcomes compared to expectations (CL), comparison level of alternatives to care (CLalt), investment in selecting a physician, and prior satisfaction. Participants included a random sample of 500 primary …

Therapeutic Mentoring: Outcomes For Youth In Foster Care, Sara B. Johnson

Dissertations

This study examined the impact of therapeutic mentoring on youth in foster care. Youth outcomes on the Child and Adolescent Needs and Strengths (CANS) measure for four groups of youth were compared. Three treatment groups were divided based on the amount of therapeutic mentoring received and compared on CANS outcome scores as measured from baseline to 6, 12, and 18 months. The fourth group did not receive any therapeutic mentoring. Outcome domains for emotional and behavioral functioning, peer relationships, academic functioning, and community involvement were analyzed. All youth in the study (n = 262) received counseling and support through the …

The Importance Of Comprehensive Clinical Social Work Assessments For Determination Of Older Adult Guardianship Petitions In Cook County Probate Court, Chicago, Illinois, Heather Jones

Dissertations

As our population ages there seems to be a strong current toward seeking surrogate decision-makers for individuals, who appear unable to manage their lives and make clear choices. Guardianship is the most profound course of action when determining that an older adult lacks decisional capacity. Older adults make up the majority of persons adjudicated incapacitated and, in turn, are assigned guardians (Crampton, 2004; Teaster, Schmidt, and Roberto, 2004). There is limited research about older adult guardianship, so this study is opportune because of the increased longevity of the population, with the most rapid growth among the very old, who likely …

Connection, Caretaking, And Conflict: The Recalled, Lived Experience Of Adultdaughters Of Bipolar Mothers, Louise Ribeiro Presley

Dissertations

At present in the United States approximately four million people (1.6%) suffer from bipolar I and bipolar II disorders. About 20% are not helped by medication. Each bipolar person has two parents,and may have siblings, friends, spouses and children. All of these people are affected by the feelings and behavior of the bipolar person. The children are especially vulnerable to behavior disorders, depression, and anxiety, even if protective factors mitigate the family situation.

This qualitative research addresses the events recalled by adult daughters whose mothers are bipolar: what they recalled of what they thought, felt and did in response. Events …

Organizational Approaches To Drug Law Enforcement By Local Police Departments In The United States: Specialized Drug Units And Participation In Multi-Agency Drug Task Forces, Robert M. Lombardo, David E. Olson

Criminal Justice & Criminology: Faculty Publications & Other Works

This paper examines the factors associated with the decision of local police departments in the United States to operate specialized drug units or to participate in multi-jurisdictional drug task forces. Combining data from the Law Enforcement Management and Administrative Statistics (LEMAS) Survey, the 2000 Census, and the Uniform Crime Report, we use both bivariate and multivariate methods to conduct the analysis. The findings indicate that county-level agencies, those with other formalized drug control efforts, high levels of violent crime, high degrees of task specialization and formalization, and high proportions of the resident population accounted for by renters were more likely …

Of Sweatshops And Human Subsistence: Habermas On Human Rights, David Ingram

Philosophy: Faculty Publications and Other Works

In this paper I argue that the discourse theoretic account of human rights defended by Jürgen Habermas contains a fruitful tension that is obscured by its dominant tendency to identify rights with legal claims. This weakness in Habermas’s account becomes manifest when we examine how sweatshops diminish the secure enjoyment of subsistence, which Habermas himself (in recognition of the UDHR) recognizes as a human right. Discourse theories of human rights are unique in tying the legitimacy of human rights to democratic deliberation and consensus. So construed, their specific meaning and force is the outcome of historical political struggle. However, unlike …

Restorative Justice: A Systematic Review Of The Social Work Literature, Edward J. Gumz, Cynthia L. Grant

Social Work: School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Other Works

Restorative justice is an alternative paradigm for dealing with the effects of crime and wrongdoing that seeks to bring healing to victims, offenders, and the community. Although a key element of social work’s ethical code is the obligation to work toward social justice, this has been viewed primarily as efforts to ensure a fair distribution of resources and opportunities. Yet justice is also restorative in nature—seeking to restore and enhance victims, offenders, and communities to fuller functioning. This article systematically reviews 80 social work peer-reviewed articles dealing with restorative justice. The role of social workers in restorative justice programs remains …

Korean Older Intimate Partner Violence Survivors In North America: Cultural Considerations And Practice Recommendations, Woochan Shim, Holly Nelson-Becker

Social Work: School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Other Works

While literature on elder abuse has expanded, elder abuse by intimate partners has been less investigated. Even less is known about intimate partner violence among older Koreans living in North America. This article identifies important cultural considerations for individuals helping the Korean older adult community beginning with the definition of intimate partner violence in this community and barriers to leaving that include traditional views of the East Asian self. Current practice interventions are discussed and recommendations for future practice such as healing han, the accumulated suffering from years of abuse, are suggested. The ultimate goal of this paper is …

Interventions With Borderline Personality Disorder, Jonathan B. Singer

Social Work: School of Social Work Faculty Publications and Other Works

No abstract provided.

The Differential Effects Of Concurrent Planning Practice Elements On Reunification And Adoption, Amy C. D’Andrade

Faculty Publications

Objective: The child welfare practice of concurrent planning attempts to shorten children's stays in foster care. There is very little quantitative research on concurrent planning's effects. This study examines the influence of concurrent planning practice elements (reunification prognosis, concurrent plan, full disclosure, and discussion of voluntary relinquishment) on reunification and adoption. Method: Using a sample of 885 children, an observational design, and statistical controls, children who received concurrent planning elements were compared to those who did not. Results: Findings show discussion of voluntary relinquishment to be positively associated with adoption and full disclosure to be negatively associated with reunification. Conclusions: …

Development Of Interactional Competence: Changes In The Use Of Ne In L2 Japanese During Study Abroad, Midori Ishida

Faculty Publications

This chapter investigates the development of the use of the Japanese particle ne by a second language (L2) learner of Japanese during a 9-month study abroad.