Social Control, Law, Crime, and Deviance Commons^™

The Rise Of Russian Peasant Witchcraft: A Response To Social Unrest In Imperial Russia, Katrina Sommer

Swarthmore Undergraduate History Journal

Imperial Russia became home to a unique form of witchcraft from the seventeenth to the nineteenth century. Combining its religious history, patterns of imperial expansion and governance, and social hierarchies, witchcraft accusations arose during especially troublesome economic and political times. Differing from eighteenth-century America Witchcraft trials, these trials were not only femicide. Targeting anyone who might subvert established social or cultural norms, these accusations often led to violent expungement, ending with a ritual of communal bonding.

“If It Ain’T One Thing, It’S Another”: Black Lgbtq Students And Their Experiences With School Discipline And Punishment, Quentin Jenkins

Pitzer Senior Theses

School officials have disproportionately applied disciplinary policies and exclusionary practices to Black and LGBTQ youth, causing those students to be negatively sanctioned. Characterized by instruments of surveillance, metal detectors, and the presence of law enforcement, schools in the United States have significantly exacerbated the negative experiences these children have within educational spaces. Schools foster “prison-like” environments and subject Black LGBTQ youth to hyper-surveillance, thus increasing their likelihood of coming in contact with the juvenile justice system. Grounded in BlackCrit and Quare theory, this paper analyzes how the coupled intersecting identities of Blackness and Queerness lead Black LGBTQ youth to have …

Swerf Necropolitics: Three Sites Of Feminist Mistranslation And The Politics Of Feminist Exclusion, Aaron Hammes

Journal of Feminist Scholarship

The acronym SWERF, or Sex Work(er) Exclusive Radical Feminism, and its attendant ideologies brings up a number of questions and potential schisms for the enterprise of feminist thought more broadly. This inquiry examines what it means for feminism to exclude, what the excluders believe is gained by protecting certain boundaries around which identities and practices are included, and the ideological foundations and consequences of this thinking. SWERF logics are understood as mistranslations of the radical potentialities of feminism, clustered around three sites: exclusion (against bodily autonomy) , equivocation (between sex work and labor trafficking), and misrepresentation (of the sex worker …

Interiorization And Localization: An Analysis Of Immigration Enforcement In Local Contexts, Manuel N. Leiva

Theses and Dissertations

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) is a federal agency that plays a large role in surveilling, apprehending, detaining, incarcerating, and deporting undocumented immigrants in the United States. Due to constraints on the number of ICE’s available personnel and resources, the agency relies on deputizing, or devolving to local law enforcement agencies the authority to enforce federal immigration policies. Prior to the 1990s, the enforcement of policies directed at controlling flows of undocumented immigrants was generally under the purview of federal law enforcement agencies and administrators, not state or local ones. The attacks on September, 11^th 2001 represented a flashpoint, …

The Political Ramifications Of Judicial Institutions: Establishing A Link Between Dobbs And Gender Disparities In The 2022 Midterms, Udi Sommers, Or Rappel-Kroyzer, Amy Adamczyk, Lindsay Lerner, Anna Weiner

Publications and Research

In the American system of government, courts are designed to operate within the legal sphere, with limited political interference. Is it possible, though, that a behavior that is at the heart of the political process can be influenced directly by a judicial decision? Focusing on voter registration big data for the universe of voters in North Carolina around the time of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization, the authors assess the roles of gender, political party affiliation, and age in voter registration. North Carolina is the only state whose voter registry has the necessary granularity over time and information needed. …

The Socio-Political History Of Cannabis In Costa Rica, Winston C. Grady

Cal Poly Humboldt theses and projects

The socio-political history of cannabis in Costa Rica is one of external global influence; from colonization to independence; from neocolonialism to neoliberalism. Cannabis in Costa Rica has gone from failed agricultural crop to non-indigenous intoxicant import to controversial cultural mainstay. As Mexico influenced cannabis prohibition in the United States, so too has the U.S. approach to cannabis prohibition influenced Costa Rica. Costa Rica now grapples with attempting to reorient its general anti-cannabis status quo to one of regulated marketplace acceptance. My research findings indicate that cannabis originally entered Costa Rica in the late 19^th century by way of imported …

Press Freedom Under Threat In Europe: A Case Study Analysis Of The Increasing Threat To Press Freedom In Greece, Italy, And Hungary, Maya O'Leary-Cyr

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This research critically examines the legal systems of European countries and their relationship to press freedom. This research focuses on the vexatious legal threats used by government officials and corporations to silence journalists. These legal threats are known as SLAPPs (strategic lawsuits against public participation) and their use has increased exponentially in the last decade. Considering the scope of the problem, this research analyzes the issue through the lens of European countries Greece, Italy, and Hungary. Being members of the European Union, each of these countries have an obligation to uphold the democratic standards put forth by the EU as …

Biopolitics And Belief: The Impacts Of Religious Attitudes On Reproductive Rights In The U.S., Katlyn Barbaccia

Student Scholar Symposium Abstracts and Posters

On June 24, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled to overturn Roe v. Wade (1973)—a groundbreaking case that legalized the right to have an abortion—which signified a deep rift in the nation between the opinions of its lawmakers and citizens in the wake of a widening partisan gap. Biopower, according to Foucault, can be defined as the governing of bodies wherein citizens are stripped of bodily autonomy and are closely regulated by the nation-state. Manifested in political consequences, this can be defined as biopolitics, or when the nation-state’s ideas are made into a reality in the political realm. …

Therapeutic Jurisprudence In Practice: Applying Goffman’S Dramaturgical Approach To Mental Health Courts, Karen A. Snedker

Sociology Faculty Books and Book Chapters

"This chapter draws on qualitative data from two MHCs [mental health courts] to show how team members translate the tenets of therapeutic jurisprudence into the performance of their social roles in both formal and informal court settings. I argue that the successful operation of teamwork lies at the heart of MHC effectiveness. Judges, acting as both audience and team member, can undermine the work of the team. MHCs clearly rely upon a well-functioning collaborative team, working partially in backstage settings, with a judge willing to alter frontstage performances for the sake of collaboration and therapeutic effects for clients."

Public Perceptions Of Police Use Of Force: Does Officer Race Matter?, Diamond G. Pilgrim

USC Aiken Psychology Theses

Objective: The purpose of the current study was to examine the effects of police officer as well as suspect race on U.S.residents’ perceptions of police use of force.

Method: Participants were randomly assigned one of four vignettes describing an encounter between either a Black or White police officer and a Black or White robbery suspect. Suspect race and officer race were manipulated so that participants received a vignette involving pairings of a White officer with a Black suspect; a White officer with a White suspect; a Black officer, White suspect or a Black officer and suspect. Participants were then surveyed …

Examining The Escalation To Violence At Political Protests: A Conjunctive Analysis, Austin C. Barber

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Despite extensive sociological research on the broader causes of collective violence, there has been much less research on the situated nature of more recent violence committed by individuals attending protests and rallies, such as Black Lives Matter (BLM) protests and the 2021 Stop the Steal rally at the U.S. Capitol. To fill this gap in research, I draw from the tenets of Environmental Criminology and the Situational Crime Prevention (SCP) perspective to quantitatively examine individual-level and incident-level risk factors most associated with contemporary forms of collective violence. After exploring situated differences across ideological movements, I ask how do risk factors …

Misinformation And Disinformation: Detecting Fakes With The Eye And Ai, Victoria Rubin

Data and Test Instruments

How do we detect, deter, and prevent the spread of mis- and disinformationwith the human eye and AI? How does theory inform the practice, and how do theevidence-based research and best practices in lie-catching and truth-seekingprofessions—inform AI? The book looks into well-established human practicessuch as the routines and processes used in detective work, journalism, and scientificinquiry, and how they contribute toward innovative AI solutions. The book explainsthe principles, inner workings, and recent evolution of five types of state-of-the-artAI technologies suitable for curtailing the spread of mis- and disinformation:automated deception detectors, clickbait detectors, satirical fake detectors, rumordebunkers, and computational fact-checking tools.

Exploring The Boundaries Of Queerness From Academia To Activism, Jillian M. (Silvia) Miranda

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This paper gives a literature review that uses texts at the intersection of queerness, blackness, and/or criminality to explore the ways in which Queer Studies can be useful in the classroom (within critical race theory, quare theory) and on the streets in the fight for black lives.

Contextualizing The 2019 “Chile Despertó” Movement: The Impact Of Historical Relational Processes On Mobilization And Repression, Tanya Leon

International Studies (MA) Theses

To expand our theoretical and empirical understanding of mobilization and repression in Latin America, this thesis asks three critical questions. Are economic indicators sufficient predictors of social movement emergence in Latin America? What other factors contribute to large-scale mobilization in Latin America? How do government’s respond to large-scale Latin American social movements? Specifically, when, and why do democratic governments choose to employ repression against social movements? Accordingly, I construct a quantitative model to test the correlation between rise in protest and worsened economic conditions. I apply it to a comprehensive dataset of political events in multiple South American countries throughout …

The Great Resignation: A Content Analysis Of News Sources' Portrayals Of The Covid-19 Labor Shortage., Mackenzie Williams

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

When workers left the labor market in large numbers during the COVID-19 pandemic, proclamations of a labor shortage emerged extensively throughout the news. In this study, I analyze the coverage of the worker shortage among three news sources with different political orientations. Several themes emerged from analyzing a total of 75 articles. The findings showed that the perspective shown in the article, the cause of the labor shortage, restaurant worker portrayal, support of solutions, and opinion of the labor shortage all differed based on the political identity of the news source. This research supports previous findings that show there is …

The International Perception Of The Irish Republican Army And Chechen Insurgency, Henry Forteith

International and Global Studies Undergraduate Honors Theses

This purpose of this project is to examine how the labels used to describe the Irish Republican Army and Chechen insurgency changed after certain acts of violence. This paper begins by describing the history of imperial subjugation of Ireland and Chechnya, as well as examining the similarities between the actions and motivations of the IRA and Chechen insurgency. Then, to study the change in language to describe these groups, two searches were conducted into the New York Times and International Newsstream databases. The first search examined articles about the IRA and Chechen insurgency published between 1998 and 2009, while the …

Voluntary Contacts With Police: Do Differences In Perceptions Of Police Still Exist?, Regan Harper

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Publicized police misconduct and brutality over the past decade have contributed to increased tensions between the police and community. Exposure to these encounters can result in negative perceptions of police and have serious policy implications for funding of police departments. Although prior research has focused on previous contacts with police, little is known about how voluntary contacts with police can shape an individual’s perceptions. Given the recent death of George Floyd and movement to “defund the police,” the current study aims to determine whether there are demographic differences in perceptions of police among those who have experienced prior voluntary contacts …

Crime Pays: How Black Americans Became Central To The Carceral State, Will Brooks

Honors Theses

Over the course of American history, Black Americans have been intentionally criminalized at moments of ostensible social progress. This legacy of intentional criminalization of minority communities has both created the perception that African Americans are innately criminal and given rise to a prison-industrial complex that now depends on Black bodies. Now, predictive policing technology reinforces perceptions of Black criminality necessary for the justification of the carceral state and the survival and expansion of the prison-industrial complex.

Racialized Mass Incarceration In The United States: Exposing The Facade Of “Liberty And Justice For All”, Emily Wingfield

The Compass

No abstract provided.

Abortion And Child Sexual Exploitation: Abortion As A Tool Of Traffickers And Abusers, Gabrielle Tornow

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

An examination of how child sexual abusers use abortion as a tool to exert control over their victims and cover up the evidence of their crimes

The Influence Of Sociopolitical Factors On Adolescents’ And Youths’ Development, Banafsheh Aghayeeabianeh

Theses and Dissertations--Family Sciences

Youths and adolescents are one of the major perpetrators of antisocial and deviant behaviors, which have deleterious consequences for both the perpetrators and society. Although there is extensive literature on youth and adolescent antisocial behavior, some correlates of youth antisociality are not known yet. As such, the present study is devoted to understanding the micro- and macro-level predictors of youth and adolescents’ antisociality in three contexts. Three empirical studies applying bioecological systems theory and analyzing data from the International Dating Violence database using Mixed Effects Models were conducted to investigate the ecology of the development of antisocial behaviors among youth. …

Insistence: The Active Quest Of Citizens For Achieving Their Health And Justice Rights In Mexico, Julia Hernández-Gutiérrez

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

In Mexico’s public healthcare and justice institutions, where insufficient infrastructure, unnecessary, confusing procedures, and mistreatment are common obstacles to fundamental rights, insistence can be interpreted as an indicator of a citizen’s active quest to ensure their rights are respected. Even if citizen dependence on the State is reinforced on a daily basis within some public institutions, service users are not inactive patients or victims waiting for their turn, but rather are active agents claiming their rights, because access to healthcare and justice cannot be achieved in Mexico without the ability to cope with bureaucratic barriers and the despotic attitude of …

Assessing Variation And Change In Newspaper Portrayals Of Muslims: The Influence Of The Trump Election And Differences Across The United States In Local And National Papers, Amy Adamczyk, Emily Greene-Colozzi, Senahan Kiyal Keles, Aida Murati

Publications and Research

Since Donald Trump’s political campaign, Americans have appeared increasingly divided over public opinion issues and US policies with the media seemingly reflecting these divisions. One of Trump’s early initiatives was the “Muslim ban,” which restricted visitors from seven Muslim-majority countries. Focusing on the portrayal of Muslims in over 900 hand coded articles, our study uses multilevel modeling techniques to examine how newspapers changed their frames and claimsmakers in discussions about Muslims before and after Trump was elected. After the election, newspapers were more likely to include government claimsmakers and an immigration frame, and were less likely to mention a radical …

When And How Does Anti-Semitism Occur? The Different Trigger Mechanisms Associated With Different Types Of Criminal And Non-Criminal Hate Incidents, Matteo Vergani, Dan Goodhard, Rouven Link, Amy Adamczyk, Joshua D. Freilich, Steven Chermak

Publications and Research

We used data from an Australian community register to build a database containing 673 incidents, including both criminal and non-criminal anti-Semitic acts that occurred between October 2013 and September 2017. We conducted bivariate and multivariate analyses to explore the differences in the types of incidents associated with different trigger events. Using time series methods, we found a significant increase in criminal (but not in non-criminal) incidents during the 2014 Israel–Gaza conflict. During Jewish religious festivals, we found a significant decrease in criminal incidents, and a significant increase in non-criminal incidents. After the establishment of the neo-nazi group Antipodean Resistance, we …

Behind The Steel Bars Of History: The Post-Civil Rights Era Radical Prison Movement, Stephen Perez Jr.

Binghamton University Undergraduate Journal

The resistance and political action taken by the incarcerated in prisons like Attica Correctional Facility during the post-civil rights era (1968 -1972) faced an unprecedented state-led, counterinsurgent force. The socio-historical context of this suppression is a time of crisis for the U.S. as it struggled to maintain capitalist hegemony in the face of anti-systemic movements from the New Left. The post-civil rights era was a moment in US history that saw the strongest and most radical challenge to racial capitalism to date in the form of a social movement led by prisoners, yet the historical legacy of radical prison organizing …

My Years Campaigning For The Term "Femicide", Diana E. H. Russell

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Rethinking Immigration Justice: Mexican Community Activism While Serving Migrants In Transit., Angélica Villagrana

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

This research study focuses on the externalization of migration control and its effects on staffmembers of community organizations that serve Central American migrants in transit. While literature on migration enforcement places emphasis on border control and internal removals, research on new forms of migration enforcement has paid little attention to the extension of border control beyond physical borders. This study employed an ethnographic approach to address the overarching question of how community organizers have responded to the adoption of US practices on extraterritorial migration control by the Mexican government while serving migrants in transit. Data collected provide empirical evidence contextual …

Victim Impact: The Manson Murders And The Rise Of The Victims’ Rights Movement, Merrill W. Steeg

LSU New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Visual Framing Effects Of News Coverage Of Police Use Of Deadly Force On Intergroup Relationships, Lucile Henderson, Riva Tukachinsky Forster, Leora Kalili, Simone Guillory

Communication Faculty Articles and Research

The study examines the effects of visual framing in news coverage of law enforcement use of lethal force. In a 2X2 online experiment, participants read one of four versions of a news story that included visual racial cues (images depicting a Black vs. a White victim) and a delinquent/normative frame—depicting the victim wearing attire that signifies either normative or delinquent behavior (regalia vs. a hooded sweatshirt). Both race and delinquency framing influenced the readers’ stereotype endorsement and feelings toward Black Americans. However, judgment of the police officer’s behavior solely depended on the victim’s race. These findings demonstrate the importance of …

Budgetary Obstacles To Police Reform: The Case Of San Francisco, Hayden Anderson

Master's Projects and Capstones

In response to the murder of George Floyd in May 2020, the Black Lives Matter movement issued a statement calling on cities to Defund the Police. The event sparked a nationwide reckoning that has reshaped the narratives and strategies for remedying the racial bias and police brutality apparent in the criminal justice system. The shift in police reform efforts embraces notions guiding police budgeting decisions. Today's advocates are transforming their approach to police reform to include budgeting decisions by promoting a municipal practice known as police budget reform. This Capstone explores the feasibility of successful police budget reform under current …