Examining The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Violent Crime In The City Of Pittsburgh, 2022 Duquesne University
Examining The Impact Of The Covid-19 Pandemic On Violent Crime In The City Of Pittsburgh, Brittany Urban
Electronic Theses and Dissertations
The goal of this research is to examine patterns of Part I crimes [including Part I Person/Violent: Homicide, Rape, Aggravated Assault, and Robbery, and Part I Property: Burglary, Larceny-Theft, Motor Vehicle Theft, and Arson, as defined by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) Standards] in The City of Pittsburgh, framing the COVID-19 pandemic as a major stressor that Robert Agnew’s General Strain Theory suggests may lead to increased opportunity for crime, due to the perceived unjustness of the associated lockdown orders and potential incentive for criminal coping (Agnew 1992). This descriptive analysis is based primarily upon …
Hustle In H-Town: Hip Hop Entrepreneurialism In Houston, 2022 Senior Research Analyst
Hustle In H-Town: Hip Hop Entrepreneurialism In Houston, Brittany L. Long
Journal of Hip Hop Studies
Imagine a sprawling, overheated American megalopolis that epitomizes diversity and segregation in one of the world’s youngest countries. Despite Houston’s history of structural racism and segregation, Houston Hip Hop entrepreneurs built communities and created storied businesses that culminate in a sense of local pride and Hip Hop identity that has not been replicated in the same manner in any other city. An examination of thought-provoking existing scholarship about the Hip Hop South and Hip Hop in Houston, as well as an examination of existing and collected primary sources (interviews) allow me to demonstrate two things: Hip Hop entrepreneurialism is a …
Press Freedom Under Threat In Europe: A Case Study Analysis Of The Increasing Threat To Press Freedom In Greece, Italy, And Hungary, 2022 University of San Francisco
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 …
The Fiscal Impact Of Marsy's Law: A Financial Analysis Of Victims' Rights Policy In Nevada, 2022 University of Nevada, Las Vegas
The Fiscal Impact Of Marsy's Law: A Financial Analysis Of Victims' Rights Policy In Nevada, Elia Del Carmen Solano-Patricio
Undergraduate Research Symposium Lightning Talks
Since 2008, the "Marsy's Law" campaign has sought to embed in state constitutions a specific and lengthy set of victims' rights. In 2018, voters ratified "Question 1" in Nevada which broaded the definition of the term victim to any person directly and 'proximately' harmed by a criminal offense. As a result, Marsy's Law opens the door to the interpretation of the word "crime" and the word "victim."
Human Trafficking: Physical And Non-Physical Force Factors And Their Links To Victim Industry, 2022 University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Human Trafficking: Physical And Non-Physical Force Factors And Their Links To Victim Industry, Mary Caroline Kerr
Sociology and Criminology Undergraduate Honors Theses
This paper examines the occurrence of different types of physical and non-physical force factors with two distinct human trafficking industries: sex trafficking and labor trafficking. This research’s main goal is to identify if there are specific uses of force that are more likely to be used in either sex or labor trafficking. The Human Trafficking Study, a database housed at the University of Arkansas, is used as a sample for this study. Two-sided, two sample proportion tests were conducted to establish if there is a statistical significance between the amount of physical force used in sex trafficking and the amount …
Biopolitics And Belief: The Impacts Of Religious Attitudes On Reproductive Rights In The U.S., 2022 Chapman University
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. …
Characteristics Of Bias Homicides Against The Lgbtqia+ Community, 2022 University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Characteristics Of Bias Homicides Against The Lgbtqia+ Community, Jeff Gruenewald, Katie Ratcliff
Research Projects
Background: Five people were killed and at least 17 injured on November 19, 2022 just before midnight at Club Q, an LGBTQIA+ club in Colorado Springs, CO. The shooting ended after a 22-year-old gunman wielding an AR-15 style rifle was disarmed by club patrons. Federal, state, and local law enforcement officials continue to investigate the mass shooting. The alleged shooter has been charged with murder and hate crimes.
The Social Murder Of Victoria Salazar: Neoliberal Capitalism And Working Class Precariousness In El Salvador, 2022 California State University, Long Beach
The Social Murder Of Victoria Salazar: Neoliberal Capitalism And Working Class Precariousness In El Salvador, Steven Osuna
Emancipations: A Journal of Critical Social Analysis
On March 27, 2021, a Salvadoran refugee named Victoria Salazar was brutally killed by police in the Mexican resort town of Tulum, Quintana Roo. In this article, I introduce a “proletarian feminist analysis” to the study of Central American displacement and forced migration to argue that Victoria Salazar’s death is a “social murder.” Although Mexican police murdered Victoria Salazar, I contend that the social degradation and working-class precariousness in El Salvador and Mexico, all shaped by neoliberal capitalist relations of exploitation and afflicting cisgender and trans women in distinctive ways, set the conditions for Ms Salazar’s social murder.
Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Students Experiencing Homelessness And Substance Use In The School Context: A Statewide Study, 2022 Hebrew University of Jerusalem
Lesbian, Gay, And Bisexual Students Experiencing Homelessness And Substance Use In The School Context: A Statewide Study, Hadass Moore, Kris De Pedro
Education Faculty Articles and Research
PURPOSE
This study explored differences between lesbian, gay, and bisexual (LGB)-housed and homeless students regarding substance use patterns on and off school grounds and the unique contribution of homelessness to substance use in school.
METHODS
Data were from the 2013-2015 California Healthy Kids Survey, a statewide survey of school protective factors and risk behaviors. A representative sample of 9th- and 11th-grade students (N = 20,337) was used. Comparisons between housed (n = 19,456) and homeless (doubled up: n = 715; acute homeless: n = 166) LGB students were conducted. We used chi-square tests to compare rates of lifetime, past-30-day, and …
Public Perceptions Of Police Use Of Force: Does Officer Race Matter?, 2022 University of South Carolina - Aiken
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 …
Crime Scene Behaviors Of Sexual Murderers With And Without A Criminal History Of Sexual Assault, 2022 CUNY John Jay College
Crime Scene Behaviors Of Sexual Murderers With And Without A Criminal History Of Sexual Assault, Tirza Z. Ben Ari
Student Theses
This exploratory study is intended to serve as a gateway to future research about the differences between sexual murderers with (HSAO) and without (N-HSAO) a recorded criminal history of sexual assault, on which there is little to no comparative literature. This study aims to extend our understanding of these groups by comparing their crime scene (and crime-related) behaviors and exploring their underlying psychological functioning. The results suggest that N-HSAO have a significantly higher tendency to murder friends or strangers, initially attack or abduct their victims from the victim’s residence, use more than one killing method in the murder, attack their …
Film Women Violence, 2022 University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Film Women Violence, Madison R. Ross
Masters Theses
As a condensed version of social reality, film has become a more common object of modern sociological and criminological investigation. As such, we can explore film to understand taken-for-granted as well as innovative constructions of social phenomena. Among these are gendered violence. We can use film to dig deep into its logics, elaborated in visual and narrative representations. Prior literature has analyzed crime films and the behavioral constructions within them, outlining the representations of serial homicide, rape, mass shootings and revenge. However, few studies have outlined films that do meaningful, non-voyeuristic representational work on the issue of violence against …
The Politics Of The Self: Psychedelic Assemblages, Psilocybin, And Subjectivity In The Anthropocene, 2022 Florida International University
The Politics Of The Self: Psychedelic Assemblages, Psilocybin, And Subjectivity In The Anthropocene, Joshua Falcon
FIU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This dissertation examines how psychedelic substances become drawn into particular sociohistorical and political arrangements, and how psychedelic experiences with psilocybin ‘magic mushrooms’ are used as tools of subjectivation. Guided by literatures in philosophy, critical theory, and the social sciences that focus on subjectivity, assemblage theory, and critical posthumanism, I argue that psychedelics are drawn into variegated assemblages, each of which conceptualizes the nature of psychedelics in highly specific ways that reflect implicit conceptions of the world and the self. In developing the concept of psychedelic assemblages, this research provides a window onto the politics of the self in the Anthropocene. …
Suspect Development Systems: Databasing Marginality And Enforcing Discipline, 2022 Northeastern University
Suspect Development Systems: Databasing Marginality And Enforcing Discipline, Rashida Richardson, Amba Kak
University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform
Algorithmic accountability law—focused on the regulation of data-driven systems like artificial intelligence (AI) or automated decision-making (ADM) tools—is the subject of lively policy debates, heated advocacy, and mainstream media attention. Concerns have moved beyond data protection and individual due process to encompass a broader range of group-level harms such as discrimination and modes of democratic participation. While a welcome and long overdue shift, the current discourse ignores systems like databases, which are viewed as technically “rudimentary” and often siloed from regulatory scrutiny and public attention. Additionally, burgeoning regulatory proposals like algorithmic impact assessments are not structured to surface important –yet …
Tablets As A Vehicle For Imprisoned People’S Digital Connection With Loved Ones, 2022 The Graduate Center, City University of New York
Tablets As A Vehicle For Imprisoned People’S Digital Connection With Loved Ones, Andrea Mufarreh
Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects
The intersection between criminal justice and technology is fairly understudied, despite increasing technological advancements in the world and within the criminal justice system. A rather recent addition to the technological landscape of prison is the adoption of tablets used by imprisoned people for communication and connection with loved ones and other activities, which is particularly important given the context of COVID-19, a virus which caused a global pandemic from 2020-2022. While the use of tablets by imprisoned people appears to be a new trend, the use of tablets in prison both prior to and during the pandemic has remained an …
Police Frisks, 2022 University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School
Police Frisks, David S. Abrams, Hanming Fang, Priyanka Goonetilleke
All Faculty Scholarship
The standard economic model of police stops implies that the contraband hit rate should rise when the number of stops falls, ceteris paribus. We provide empirical corroboration of such optimizing models of police behavior by examining changes in stops and frisks around two extraordinary events of 2020 - the pandemic onset and the nationwide protests following the killing of George Floyd. We find that hit rates from pedestrian and vehicle stops generally rose as stops and frisks fell dramatically. Using detailed data, we are able to rule out a number of alternative explanations, including changes in street population, crime, police …
The Great Resignation: A Content Analysis Of News Sources' Portrayals Of The Covid-19 Labor Shortage., 2022 University of Louisville
The Great Resignation: A Content Analysis Of News Sources' Portrayals Of The Covid-19 Labor Shortage., Mackenzie Williams
College of Arts & Sciences Senior Honors 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 …
Justice Involvement During Covid-19 And The Possibility Of Transitional Justice, 2022 University of Tennessee, Knoxville
Justice Involvement During Covid-19 And The Possibility Of Transitional Justice, Rachel A. Ponder
Doctoral Dissertations
The COVID-19 pandemic introduced numerous unprecedented political, social, and economic challenges that resulted in unprecedented responses by policy makers. As result, existing inequalities and injustices rooted in a dense history of structural and institutional violence were uncovered and exacerbated. As of June 2021, at least 398,627 people in prison tested positive for COVID-19 and at least 2,715 had died (The Marshall Project 2021). In the United States, the inmate population is disproportionately made up of poor, people of color. This is a pattern that is rooted in the country’s long history of racism and white supremacy. This cycle continues as …
Recreational Cannabis Legalization And Homelessness In The U.S.: A Quasi-Experimental National Policy Analysis, 2022 Clemson University
Recreational Cannabis Legalization And Homelessness In The U.S.: A Quasi-Experimental National Policy Analysis, James A. Sanderson
All Theses
In analyzing rising homelessness across the country, a comparison of state policies uncovered a trend: many states which were early adopters of adult-use recreational cannabis law also exhibited a high incidence of homelessness. As legalizing cannabis undoubtedly affects the number of substance users who are imprisoned, such changes to drug enforcement policy may also be impacting homeless populations. Now, there is substantial research on the relationship between incarceration and homelessness, and on co-occurring mental health and substance use problems known to be prevalent among these populations. Despite such similarities, and the impacts of recreational cannabis legalization on jail populations, there …
Print News Media And Prisoner Reentry: An Exploratory Study Of Local Newspapers In 2018, 2022 University of Arkansas, Fayetteville
Print News Media And Prisoner Reentry: An Exploratory Study Of Local Newspapers In 2018, Sydney Gaughan
Sociology and Criminology Undergraduate Honors Theses
In hopes to fill gaps on this subject, the current study uses ethnographic content analysis on newspaper articles while investigating the following research questions: (1) How does local news media portray recidivism by reentering prisoners? and in turn, (2) What are some characteristics of those news articles associated with the likelihood of local media using specific portrayals or “frames”?
There are several reasons to examine these research questions. First, this research aims to convey how local news media might use their positions to create narratives for public consumption that foster worry and panic. This study can shed light on the …