Student Outreach Committee Correspondence

Primarily incoming and outgoing letters regarding individual committee activities, nominations for awards and elections, and membership issues

Justifications for the Probation Sanction Among Residents of Virginia--Cool or Un-Cool?

Perhaps as evidence of a growing cultural gap between our students and ourselves, one of the authors was recently amused when a student asked whether probation was a cool sanction. In this study, we begin an investigation into how cool the probation sanction is in the eyes of residents of the Commonwealth of Virginia. Specifically, we use data from a telephone survey of 840 registered voters to explore three questions. First, how often would they recommend the probation sanction in comparison to other sanctions? Second, how do they justify the sanction relative to justifications for other sanctions? Finally, are their justifications and sentencing recommendations consistent across crimes? We address these questions in this study to see whether the sanction is cool or uncool. In the review of literature, we discuss punishment justifications in general and probation as a punitive experience

Globalisation and criminal justice : an interactive collaborative approach to global learning

This paper outlines the use of WebCT in a collaborative assessment project between an Australian and two US universities. Informed by global trends, criminal justice practitioners increasingly move through different jurisdictions and cultural contexts. We wanted to work with students and have students work with each other in ways that prepared them to operate in international surroundings in relation to international law and the transnationalisation of criminal justice agencies. The Global Project required students to engage in a series of online activities with the aim of fostering online and international co -operation between students. Moreover, as students were studying globalisation and criminal justice, it was designed to engage students in the processes and experiences of globalisation. The use of online learning technologies in fostering the internationalisation of curriculum and developing alternative group learning strategies has offered a series of challenges which require critical reflection on the ways we globalise learning

Using Focus Groups to Listen, Learn, and Lead in Higher Education

Using Focus Groups to Listen, Learn, and Lead in Higher Education presents an easy-to-use 6-step guide to help leaders in higher education listen to and learn from their stakeholders in order to enhance decision making. The big questions facing institutions today, especially those surrounding access, affordability, and accountability, require more than dashboards. Metrics and quantitative data alone do not offer lasting solutions and improvements. Using qualitative methods to listen to the voices of those involved, especially students and staff, is critical. Focus groups constitute the most appropriate, rigorous, and relevant qualitative research tool for this purpose, and one that is cost-effective and builds community when conducted using the ODU Method described in this book. … [From Amazon.com]https://digitalcommons.odu.edu/sociology_criminaljustice_books/1027/thumbnail.jp

A factorial trial of six interventions for the prevention of postoperative nausea and vomiting.

BACKGROUND: Untreated, one third of patients who undergo surgery will have postoperative nausea and vomiting. Although many trials have been conducted, the relative benefits of prophylactic antiemetic interventions given alone or in combination remain unknown. METHODS: We enrolled 5199 patients at high risk for postoperative nausea and vomiting in a randomized, controlled trial of factorial design that was powered to evaluate interactions among as many as three antiemetic interventions. Of these patients, 4123 were randomly assigned to 1 of 64 possible combinations of six prophylactic interventions: 4 mg of ondansetron or no ondansetron; 4 mg of dexamethasone or no dexamethasone; 1.25 mg of droperidol or no droperidol; propofol or a volatile anesthetic; nitrogen or nitrous oxide; and remifentanil or fentanyl. The remaining patients were randomly assigned with respect to the first four interventions. The primary outcome was nausea and vomiting within 24 hours after surgery, which was evaluated blindly. RESULTS: Ondansetron, dexamethasone, and droperidol each reduced the risk of postoperative nausea and vomiting by about 26 percent. Propofol reduced the risk by 19 percent, and nitrogen by 12 percent; the risk reduction with both of these agents (i.e., total intravenous anesthesia) was thus similar to that observed with each of the antiemetics. All the interventions acted independently of one another and independently of the patients' baseline risk. Consequently, the relative risks associated with the combined interventions could be estimated by multiplying the relative risks associated with each intervention. Absolute risk reduction, though, was a critical function of patients' baseline risk. CONCLUSIONS: Because antiemetic interventions are similarly effective and act independently, the safest or least expensive should be used first. Prophylaxis is rarely warranted in low-risk patients, moderate-risk patients may benefit from a single intervention, and multiple interventions should be reserved for high-risk patients

Gendering climate change: A feminist criminological perspective

Drawing on insights from feminist scholars and activists, this article examines the dialectical relationship between climate change and the social construction of gender. We examine in detail how gender inequalities associated with capitalism, particularly in its latest Neoliberal incarnation, help to produce global warming, as well as to produce gendered vulnerabilities and unequal impacts. After a brief review of past successes and failures to integrate gender concerns into climate change debates and policies, we suggest several criminological interventions that are compatible with a feminist perspective on climate change. We argue that a stronger criminological focus on the global political economy, particularly on the gendered inequalities it produces, is analytically essential for understanding both the etiology and harmful consequences of climate change. Simultaneously, we urge critical criminologists to employ the tools of our trade to take a more proactive role in the social construction of a just and sustainable society