Prison Exit Samples as a Source for Indicators of Pretrial Detention

Many governments, civil society organizations, and international development agencies today seek to limit the use of pretrial detention in criminal justice. Motivations vary. Some believe that pretrial detention is ordered indiscriminately and employed for unreasonably long periods; others are concerned with the conditions of confinement and the burdens detention places on families; still others worry about the criminogenic effects of pretrial incarceration. But whatever the motive to limit the use of pretrial detention, it is difficult to imagine the effort succeeding without a good indicator of the extent of its use. Such an indicator has proven surprisingly elusive in countries at every income level. Indeed, it is possible that the effort to reduce pretrial detention in developing countries may actually be hindered by the indicator most commonly used there: the proportion of prison inmates on any given day that is not sentenced. This paper describes some of the flaws with this and other indicators, and shows how domestic governments and their development partners can use a basic and better indicator—the median duration of detention—as a catalyst for change. This paper demonstrates a simple and inexpensive way of developing this indicator – by obtaining administrative data already collected in most prisons and jails about the people who leave detention each month. Everywhere in the world, some number of detainees "exit" each month: some released to continue awaiting trial at liberty, others released at the end of their cases without a prison sentence, and still others whose pretrial detention has been changed to a sentence of incarceration following a criminal conviction. Virtually every prison and jail in the world records the dates of these "exits" whether they are actual releases or merely the reclassification of a pretrial detainee as a sentenced prisoner. Only these administrative data can generate an accurate measure of the duration of detention

On to Wisteria: Designing an Action-Adventure Role-Playing Game for the Empowerment of the Preteen Female Audience

This thesis document details the design for an original action-adventure role-playing game (AARPG) specifically targeted towards the preteen female audience, ages 10-12, as well as the production of a promotional trailer to communicate the design. This thesis aims to bring this untapped market to an already established video game genre in order to communicate to this young female audience that these games are not “just for boys” by providing a clear example of an empowering and inclusive game that is designed to appeal to their demographic. Given that there are currently no AAA action-adventure RPGs targeted towards this group as well as limited research into the relationship between video games and female youths, a broad net of research is cast in order to design a game that would celebrate this demographic without relying on stereotypes or being too narrow in defining what it means for a girl to be “strong.” Through this work I investigate female gender representation, the current gender biases in the video game medium, and what prevents young females from playing games in order to create a solution that inspires and engages this audience.The complexities of gender development in youths is considered, focusing on how media and other gendered products are marketed towards young audiences and how they can potentially influence their perceived identities. Television shows such as My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic and She-Ra and the Princesses of Power are considered as examples of popular media aimed at the young female market acclaimed for their strong storytelling, themes, diversity, and female characters. It also examines games like Kingdom Hearts, well-known exemplars from this genre aimed at boys of the same age demographic. After breaking down the core components of the AARPG genre itself, this thesis presents a game design following this structure with original characters, story elements, and gameplay features that would especially appeal to the target market. From this design, it develops key moments in an animatic for a trailer designed to excite and capture the feeling of empowerment the game would hope to achieve for this audience if it were fully realized as a production

How to research policing? talk to people who have been arrested. 4 insights from 150 arrested individuals on the role and reform of the police.

Over past months, the Black Lives Matter movement’s denunciation of police violence has been spotlighted in the wake of high-profile police killings of Black men in the United States. Over the past five years, the cities of Cleveland and Baltimore entered “consent decrees” to undertake civil rights improvements in their police forces after Federal Government investigations found evidence of overly aggressive policing. One of the conditions of the decrees in Baltimore and Cleveland was to ask arrested individuals whether any of these changes were noticeable in practice. In 2019, Todd Foglesong and Ron Levi, along with research teams, went to the jails in both Baltimore and Cleveland to speak with arrested individuals

Department of Music Student Symposium Honors Recital

The Department of Music Honors Recital is presented at the Student Symposium to recognize excellent progress in performance, scholarship, and creativity in the area of music lesson study. The students perform selections in solo and chamber music repertoire, and original songs composed in Songwriting class

Professional development for the library para educator: Developing a guide to answer questions about school libraries in the 21st century

The purpose of this project was to create a manual for new and existing library paraprofessionals as well as administrators who coordinate teacher librarian professional inservice days. This information will provide content for library paraprofessionals to understand both the procedures and principles of school libraries

Reverse engineering, modeling, and redesign of a vibratory conveyor

Some successful products are still developed and produced without the benefit of modern design techniques. One such product is a vibratory conveyor that has been developed largely through prototype iteration. The manufacturer has collaborated with Oregon State University to introduce model-based design into the development process. This research details a proposed framework for the reverse engineering of a mature product line. The framework is applied to a vibratory conveyor that is used in processing plants for corn and other raw foods. First, the project's origin and goals are described, followed by an explanation of the reverse engineering based framework used for guiding model selection. Next the selected dynamics model, built from the dynamic properties measured during reverse engineering, is applied and refined to accurately reflect the system's measured performance. Further modeling with finite element analysis, for improving performance and durability of specific components, is also described. This work concludes with the final research outcomes - redesign of fiberglass composite elements within the dynamic system and a set of guiding principles for designing a vibratory system, specifically this manufacturer's line of vibratory equipment

High throughput quantitative reverse transcription PCR assays revealing over‐expression of cancer testis antigen genes in multiple myeloma stem cell‐like side population cells

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/108270/1/bjh12951.pd