The Mental Health of Inmates: An Approach to Jail Reform

The aim in this phenomenological study was to understand the impact the jail environment, policies, and procedures have on incarcerated individuals. Mental health problems are common among individuals in jail. Furthermore, the jail environment, harsh policies, and isolation from the public are believed to have a negative impact on inmate mental health. Elevated percentages of inmates experiencing psychiatric difficulties during their incarceration have been supported by research. It is suggested that the elevated percentages of psychiatric demands promote the lack of mental health assistance inside jails. A methodical analysis of literature was conducted to identify the circumstances of the jail environment and jail’s effects on inmates’ mental health. This phenomenological analysis emphasized the complications that evolve from the adverse impact of the jail environment on inmates’ mental health. Some research suggests that harsh jail environments provide safe and secure facilities that promote positive inmate behavior. However, there is a need for additional research in this area as many mental illnesses remain obscure within the jail. To abstain from the exacerbation of mental health problems in jail, the administration and staff should have a holistic view of the mental health issues of inmates through research. In addition, the appropriate collaboration of jail administrators and mental health professionals can provide resourceful and innovative steps to improve jail environments and inmate mental health

Using Knowledge Of The Adolescent Brain To Increase Motivation And Build Relationships

The research question addressed in this project was, how can we use knowledge of the adolescent brain to increase motivation and relationships? Adolescents are experiencing a plethora of changes that impact their ability to learn. Therefore, it is crucial to consider ways to provide them with optimal success in their academics and beyond the walls of the classroom. This Capstone provides literature supporting the value in developing the adolescent brain and using the knowledge to help increase motivation and build relationships. In addition to the literature, this Capstone provides a project that implements brain-based strategies into a curriculum in order to cater to how adolescents learn. The project provides a toolbox of strategies for supporting the adolescent brain, increasing motivation, and building relationships. It also includes a unit curriculum for a 7th grade English class that integrates the various strategies. The curriculum provides educators with the tools necessary to implement strategies within any curriculum to support the growth of adolescents outside of teaching content. By using knowledge on the development of the adolescent brain as a tool for supporting adolescents, this Capstone seeks to improve the way teachers approach teaching content by incorporating brain-based strategies

Post-Pandemic, but Not Post-Racial

The Fair Housing Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act have had measurable success in providing opportunities to address intentional discrimination in housing and voting contexts. Plaintiffs with evidence of direct illegalities have clear frameworks under which justice may be sought, and both Acts provide a path for relief upon violations of housing and voting rights because of one’s membership in a protected class. However, the disparate impact theories that are cognizable under both Acts have been scrutinized for lackluster results. Practitioners and academicians have written about and experienced the difficulties plaintiffs face in successfully proving that a particular housing practice or policy is the cause of specific discriminatory outcomes, given the interrelated factors that give rise to segregation. Similarly, the gutting of the preclearance requirements in the Voting Rights Act, coupled with the onslaught of voter suppression legislation in the last few years, create obstacles to satisfy the complicated “totality of the circumstances” test required to evidence disparate impact under the Voting Rights Act. In addition to critiquing the limits of each Act, this Article explains how racial disparities in poverty and health are exacerbated by these limitations. Systems and individuals seeking to exploit people of color through oppressive housing and voting laws rely on the failure of the Fair Housing Act and Voting Rights Act to eradicate segregation, with determinants in each sphere perpetuating the discrimination within the other. The Article sets forth federal action that can be taken to mitigate these inequities

Opioids Are The New Black

The crack epidemic swept through the black community in the United States in the early 1980s. Despite the increasing use of powder cocaine in metropolitan areas and suburbs, the “crackheads” giving birth to “crack babies” were subject to narratives that portrayed black drug users as a threat to others, which was to be contained rather than treated. The Anti-Drug Abuse Act of 1986 created stricter penalties for users. The mandatory minimums disproportionately incarcerated African Americans and adversely impacted a number of urban neighborhoods. The psychology driving the mandate to incarcerate African American, impoverished drug addicts relied on tales of gang warfare, laziness, and child neglect. Now, the opioid crisis is considered a national emergency, as declared by President Trump in October 2017. The users of these drugs span an economic and racial spectrum, with a particular emphasis in rural communities. For example, one in seven opioid users in Ohio is a construction worker. The employment of crack addicts in the 1980s was not a subject of research, legislation, or news. This Article examines the importance of stories, particularly those with racial tropes, in the creation and enforcement of drug legislation. The environments in which crack was prevalent are marked by economic distress. Disinvestment and high poverty rates in these low-income, minority neighborhoods are more commonly framed as personal failures by criminals. The story of opioids is centered on a group of people who can be saved through healthcare, treatment, and leniency. If the stories of crack addicts focused on victims of external circumstances rather than villains by individual choice, it is likely that the persistence of poverty in African American neighborhoods would have a different ending