Legal Studies Commons^™

Analysis Of Skeletal Trauma: Examining Current And Potential, Maia Stevenson

D.U.Quark

Skeletal trauma is an important component of death investigations which is often discovered through postmortem computed tomography (PMCT) scanning. The analysis of skeletal trauma is a key process in the medicolegal field which could provide information on the cause and manner of death of the individual. Though PMCT provides useful imaging data for discovery, there is a lack of reliable technological tools for analyzation of such data. More definitive skeletal reconstruction tools and injury mechanism categorization tools would increase the efficiency of the post-mortem examination process. This review observes the current methods of discovering skeletal trauma through PMCT and surveys …

Attitudes On Solitary Confinement, Emily Dewey

Undergraduate Theses

Solitary confinement is widespread and recognized as harmful in society. However, it is not as researched as other controversial issues, including immigration, gun control, abortion, etc. Due to this, it is hard to gauge how supportive the public is or isn't of related practices. In a general sense, public support has been established by legislators crafting policy, and by extension United States Supreme Court decision making. This is particularly crucial in discussions on interpretations of the 8th Amendment/ cruel and unusual punishment. Existing case law, such as Peoples V. Fischer, found that solitary confinement was arbitrary and needed reform, including …

Community-Level Analysis Of Anti-Asian Hate Crime, Jisoo Cho, Jinuk Jeong, Christopher Han-Fai Seto

Publications and Research

Motivated by the surge in anti-Asian hate crimes during the COVID-19 pandemic, this study examines the community characteristics associated with the likelihood of their occurrence from 2020 to 2023 through interracial conflict and social disorganization perspectives. Analyzing data from the New York City Police Department and the American Community Survey across 2,198 census tracts, we find that communities with higher levels of Asian population, racial heterogeneity, and residential instability have higher odds of experiencing anti-Asian hate crime. However, concentrated disadvantage and defended neighborhoods (White, Black, and Hispanic) are not significant across all estimated models. These findings have important implications for …

Indiana Prison Writers Workshop: The Power Of Group Cohesion And Creative Expression Among Incarcerated Individuals, Lindamarie Olson, Debra Des Vignes, Amy Mclean, Bailey Wester, Uche Nwatu

Journal of Prison Education Research

Objective: The present study describes the development of the Indiana Prison Writers Workshop (IPWW), a creative writing workshop, based in group theory and designed for incarcerated settings. Methods: Quantitative evaluation data from IPWW workshops conducted from 2023-2024 were analyzed using IBM SPSS V. 29. Prior to the workshop, 149 men responded to questions on class expectations and goals, and 115 men responded at workshop conclusion. Open-ended qualitative responses from post-workshop data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Results: Quantitative data demonstrates the effectiveness of IPWW in teaching writing skills and reflects participants’ agreement that the workshops provide opportunities to share their …

Researching Public Perceptions Within Legal Precedents Related To The Use Of Police Swat Teams In South Carolina, Kristopher S. Ahler

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

SWAT deployments, the militarization of police, and the use of force by law enforcement are frequent staples of media attention, harsh public opinion, and judgment from the public. The public, with specific legislative limitations on demographics, such as age and criminal history, comprises those individuals selected to sit on juries, which make decisions about the reasonableness of police conduct in SWAT operations. SWAT teams wear militaristic uniforms, are heavily armed, and respond to hostage rescues, counterterrorism operations, apprehending armed and dangerous fugitives, serving high risk search and arrest warrants, active shooter response, and other high-risk operations. The concept and practice …

Warriors And Guardians: Police Recruit Role Orientation And Heterogeneity, Robert Boxerman

Dissertations

American police have experienced an expansion of duties over the last century, and their function has become increasingly diverse. As a result, researchers have developed role orientation typologies to understand how officers view themselves, their attitudes toward their work, and their responsibilities. One such typology is the warrior/guardian framework, where warrior-oriented officers see themselves as crime-fighting soldiers in conflict with criminals, while guardian-oriented officers view themselves as protectors of the community and providers of broader public services. Despite its popularity, there is limited empirical evidence supporting this framework. Further, little research examines how police recruits differentially view their role as …

Investigating Cold Homicide Cases In Michigan: Combining Systematic Research With Experiential Insight, Jaqueline Chavarria

Honors Theses

According to the Michigan State Police (2023), murder/non-negligent manslaughter, commonly known as homicide, is the “willful (non-negligent) killing of one human being by another.” The Murder Accountability Project suggests there could be over 20,000 unsolved homicide cases in Michigan between 1965 and 2023 (2024). Despite the prevalence of unsolved cases, scholarly analysis on the topic is limited. This study examines solvability factors, also known as clearance factors, for cold homicide cases in Michigan by conducting a systematic literature review with news publications. Additionally, this study incorporates experiential insight, offering a holistic exploration of solvability factors. Using a systematic approach, 15 …

Association Of Driving With Blood Delta-9-Tetrahydrocannabinol: A Systematic Review, Danial Behzad, Sampson Zhao, Reena Besa, Bruna Brands, Christine M. Wickens, Marilyn A. Huestis, Bernard Le Foll, Patricia Di Ciano

Institute of Emerging Health Professions Faculty Papers

IMPORTANCE: Driving under the influence of cannabis increases the risk of motor vehicle collisions. In some jurisdictions, deterrence rests on the ability to detect delta-9-tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) in blood. Recent evidence suggests that there may be a nuanced relationship of blood THC to driving.

OBJECTIVE: The purpose of this systematic review was to summarize all published papers investigating the presence of a linear relationship between blood THC and driving, primarily measured by simulated driving in the lab.

OUTCOMES: The main outcomes assessed included "weaving"/lateral control (eg, standard deviation of lateral position), speed, car following (following distance; coherence), reaction time, and overall …

Gendered Rehabilitation: Male And Female Offenders' Experiences In Reintegration, Ellie Hansen

Student Research Symposium

• Gender: Socially constructed roles, behaviors, and expectations assigned to women, men, girls, and boys (World Health Organization).
• Gender specific (responsive) programing: Tailored interventions addressing distinct learning styles, relationship dynamics, and life circumstances of men and women (The Oregon Intermediate Sanctions for Female Offenders Policy Group 1995).
• Recidivism: Relapse into criminal behavior after sanctions or interventions (NIJ).
• Reentry: The inevitable consequence of incarceration (Visher 2015).
• Rehabilitation: Programs reducing crime by addressing root causes and improving reintegration outcomes (NIJ).
• Reintegration: Reconnecting individuals with societal institutions as both a process and goal (Visher 2015).

The Effect Of A Dance-Like Martial Arts Training On Prisoners’ Concentration Ability, Uta Czyrnick-Leber, Kiara Kuhrs, Christian Kraft, Pamela Wicker, Bernd Groben

Journal of Prison Education Research

A cognitive prerequisite for education and (re)entry into the labor market is the ability to concentrate for a long period. Conducted with 39 participants, the present study examines the effect of a six-week dance-like martial arts program on prisoners’ concentration ability in an open prison in Germany (n=15), and compares their concentration ability with a control group of prisoners (n=5), as well as a treatment (n=11) and control group (n=8) of university students. Concentration ability is assessed using the d2-R concentration and attention test before, after, and six weeks following the program. The program’s participants showed significant improvements compared to …

It’S Time For A Change: A Proposal To Abolish Solitary Confinement From Canadian Prisons, Amy Rico

Bridges: An Undergraduate Journal of Contemporary Connections

Despite Canada’s reputation for being a leader in human rights, its treatment of prisoners requires a closer examination. In particular, prisoner and human rights advocates have widely criticized the use of solitary confinement in Canadian federal and provincial prisons as a form of torture. Solitary confinement imposes excruciating and demeaning conditions on prisoners, jeopardizing their mental and physical welfare. Following court decisions deeming solitary confinement unconstitutional, the federal government replaced the formal use of solitary confinement with structured intervention units. However, these units continue to be a reformulated version of the original practice, sustaining the torturous conditions subjected to inmates. …

Actions Speak Louder Than Words: Public Perceptions Of Victim Forgiveness And Offender Reparative Effort, Samantha Does

Bridges: An Undergraduate Journal of Contemporary Connections

Passing judgment is an inevitable aspect of human behaviour, particularly in cases of severe wrongdoing or crime. These assessments can affect the individuals implicated in the transgressions, including the victim and offender. This research enhances our understanding of how third parties judge offenders and victims of crime, exploring whether offender participation in rehabilitation, offender remorsefulness, and the victim's forgiveness following a crime influence the third party's judgement of the victim and offender. Participants were presented with a scenario depicting a significant transgression, after which they responded to prompts concerning their perceptions of the event and the people involved. The findings …

Criminal Justice Update - April 2025, Mia Agudelo

Criminal Justice Updates

The Criminal Justice Update is a monthly newsletter created by the Adams County Bar Foundation Fellow providing updates in criminal justice policy coming from Pennsylvania's courts and legislature as well as the US Supreme Court.

Contents:

• Updates from PA Governor's Office
• Updates from the PA Legislature
• Updates from the Courts
• U.S. Supreme Court: Criminal Law & Procedure (no updates this month)
• PA Supreme Court: Criminal Law & Procedure
• PA Superior Court: Criminal Law & Procedure

Cyber Offending Among Adolescents: The Role Of Thoughtfully Reflective Decision-Making And Victimization, Revital Sela-Shayovitz, Tamar Berenblum, Sharon Toys

International Journal of Cybersecurity Intelligence & Cybercrime

There has been growing attention to the role of the decision-making process in crime involvement in recent years. However, less is known about the association between the decision-making process and adolescents’ online offending. The present study examined whether thoughtfully reflective decision-making (TRDM) and cyber victimization are related to adolescents’ cybercrime. Data were obtained from self-report questionnaires administered to 510 Israeli adolescents aged 13-20. The results indicate that TRDM is negatively associated with engagement in online offending. Furthermore, cyber victimization is significantly associated with online offending. In addition, a significant predictor of online offending is intense activity on social media. We …

A Theoretical Defense Of Police Recalibration In Columbia, South Carolina, Sanya Singh

Senior Theses

This paper defends police recalibrationism as the best means of reforming law enforcement. Columbia, South Carolina, will serve as a case study to demonstrate the philosophical and practical justifications of recalibrationism. Police recalibration, which aims to reconceptualize the role of police by reallocating extraneous responsibilities to other entities, offers a more comprehensive and viable solution than abolition, fiscal restraint, and managerialism. The paper further examines proposals that align with police recalibrationism through the lens of the philosophical frameworks of social contract theory and utilitarianism to demonstrate how the reform would fulfill the proposed goals of the American criminal justice system. …

Understanding Processes That Produce Racial Disparities In California Death Sentences: A Review Of The Literature, Catherine M. Grosso, Michael Laurence, Jeffrey A. Fagan

Faculty Scholarship

A robust and extensive body of empirical research, and a rich historical record, documents a recurring and pervasive influence of race in the application of California’s death penalty. This article reviews the legal and social science research to document multiple paths through which institutions and processes produce these racial disparities over many decisions in many cases across four decades. The article reviews relevant literature by decision, institution, or actor and presents key findings. This includes documenting the history of the broad statutory design of the California capital punishment statue. The review also considers research on policing, including the influence of …

Chalmers Library Research Award Winner 2 2025, Chau Vu

Chalmers Library Research Award

No abstract provided.

Vocational & Life Skills: Quarterly Report - Grant Cycle Five, Quarter Five July-September 2024, Nebraska Center For Justice Research, Janee Pannkuk, Abby Hayes, Katelynn Towne

Reports

The Vocational and Life Skills (VLS) program was created by Nebraska Legislative Bill 907 in 2014 with the purpose of easing the transition for individuals who reenter the community after incarceration. The VLS initiative is evaluated by the Nebraska Center for Justice Research (NCJR) to identify the impact service providers and programming have in increasing meaningful employment and prosocial lifestyle improvements among the justice-involved population. As part of the evaluation, NCJR provides trainings to support grantees as needed and provides feedback and information to the Nebraska Department of Correctional Services (NDCS) regarding the implementation process and data updates on a …

Beyond The Bickering: Examining Event, Victim, And Offender Characteristics For Sibling Abuse Incidents In Oregon, Isabella M. Starr

University Honors Theses

Sibling violence (SV) is the most prevalent form of intrafamilial and domestic violence, yet it remains underrecognized and lacks the systematic attention given to other forms of family violence. Often minimized or misclassified as typical sibling rivalry, SV can inflict serious and lasting physical, emotional, and psychological harm on its victims. This study explores the characteristics of sibling violence incidents reported to law enforcement in Oregon between 2016 and 2023, using data from the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). Through an analysis of 5,793 single-victim, single-offender incidents, the research examines demographic patterns among victims and offenders, incident dynamics, and typological …

Integrating Data Visualizations To Enhance Effectiveness Of Mitigation Reports, Eric A. Kowalik

Master's Theses (2009 -)

The Wisconsin State Public Defender (SPD) relies on mitigation reports to communicate the personal histories, circumstances, and mitigating factors of clients during criminal defense and sentencing advocacy. Traditionally, these reports are text-heavy documents that must be reviewed efficiently by attorneys, judges, and other stakeholders. Research suggests that data visualizations, including maps, charts, infographics, and the strategic use of color, can improve comprehension, increase engagement, and provide clearer context for complex information. This project explores the design and development of a Tableau dashboard that enables the efficient creation and integration of data visualizations within SPD mitigation reports. The project seeks to …