Unspoken Immunity and Reimagined Justice: The Potential for Implementing Restorative Justice and Community Justice Models in Police-related Shootings

The purpose of this Note is to analyze the limitations of the criminal legal system when faced with cases of police-related shootings. Specifically, I will discuss two instances of police (mis)conduct that captured the attention of the nation in the past three years: the non-indictment of Cleveland Police Officer Timothy Loehmann and the conviction of NYPD Officer Peter Liang. First, by assessing the circumstances and responses to those two cases, I will argue that the criminal legal system is inherently incapable of responding to and remedying the violence that occurs in situations laced with power, privilege, and emotional trauma. Second, I will engage in an analysis of the growth of restorative justice and community justice practices within the United States in the last forty years in an attempt to expand on the current discussion surrounding police-related shootings. Finally, I will assess the potential value of utilizing restorative justice practices, grounded in a community justice model, in situations of police-related violence. The foundation of this Note is rooted in the recognition that attendant issues of power are necessarily bound up in any discussion of interactions between marginalized communities and actors of state-backed power. Therefore, the focus on police violence in marginalized urban communities necessitates an awareness and engagement of the discourses of power, both between individuals and social systems

From a Whisper to a Rebellion: Examining Space, Race, Sexuality, and Resistance within the Confines of the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility

“From a Whisper to a Rebellion” examines the history of the Bedford Hills Correctional Facility in Bedford Hills, New York. It is not a chronological history. Instead this thesis is intended to wedge open spaces in the study of carceral institutions within the United States. Bedford’s past as a model reformatory cum maximum-security prison for women charts the expansion and transformation of the penal system within the United States during the twentieth century. I examine three specific themes in an attempt to situate the current discussion of mass incarceration within a broader history of penal institutions. These include: the spatial and temporal components of punishment; the phenomenon of interracial same-sex coupling; and riots, prison protests, and resistance. By contextualizing Bedford’s place in the annuals of penology and penal practices, we begin to see the ways in which gender, race, and sexuality construct carceral spaces. In addition, by examining histories of rebellion within these spaces, we can attempt to map both the growth of the modern prisoners’ rights movement and its successes or failures. Most importantly, this work is intended to re-center the experiences of individuals forced to make a home out of a nightmare. Their voices and histories merit investigation

Posttraumatic Stress Symptoms, Anger, and Substance Use as Risk Factors for Trauma Revictimization

Maltreatment survivors are at an increased risk for adult revictimization. Yet, existing work has specifically focused on sexual revictimization, and it is unclear what factors increase one’s risk for revictimization more broadly. Posttraumatic stress symptoms (PTSS), anger, and substance use have been identified as potential risk factors for sexual revictimization. Still, the role of these variables is ambiguous in the broader revictimization framework. There is also a lack of understanding regarding the roles of the DSM-5 posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) symptom clusters and revictimization. This study aims to: 1) examine the links between maltreatment and revictimization and three factors (i.e., PTSS, anger, and substance use), 2) determine whether there are indirect effects between maltreatment and revictimization through each factor, and 3) investigate whether the PTSD clusters have indirect effects on the relationship between maltreatment and revictimization. The sample included 417 maltreated college students (Mage = 22.04, SD = 5.08; 83.2% female; 54.9% white) from two universities. Mediation results indicated that maltreatment and revictimization were linked with PTSS (B = .02, B = .01, respectively). Only maltreatment was related to anger, B = 1.86, and revictimization was tied to substance use, B = .02. Only PTSS had an indirect effect on the link between maltreatment and revictimization (B = .02). Maltreatment was associated with each of the four PTSD symptom clusters, but the clusters had no indirect effects on the link between maltreatment and revictimization. These findings indicate that PTSS may be uniquely important in increasing risk for trauma revictimization

How changes to how the Census counts people has implications for democracy and inequality

The US Census Bureau recently announced that it will be changing the demographics it measures and how it counts people. Hannah L. Walker and Rebecca U. Thorpe argue that the Bureau's revisions are an important opportunity to correct current practices of counting prisoners as residents where they are incarcerated rather than in their home communities. Such practices distort democratic representation and influence benefits and state aid

Combining Physical and Mental Practices of a Dart-throwing Task Enhances Motor Learning and Impacts Psychological Skills

Determining practical ways to improve motor skill learning is crucial to enhancing behavior. Combining Visualization technique with dart throwing practice could impact positively skill learning. This study aimed to investigate whether the combination of dart-throwing skill practice and visualization would enhance motor learning. Fifty-three participants were divided in two groups ([1] visualization + dart; [2] dart group). Groups performed pretest of 10 trials, followed by 60 practice trials (6 blocks of 10 throws) with 1-minute break between blocks. Importantly, the Visualization + dart group practiced visualization during the 1-min breaks between blocks, while the Dart group read a nutrition paper during breaks to prevent the possibility to visualize the skill. An immediate posttest section (20 min after practice) was performed to assess motor learning. Participants were required to perform a low pressure; high pressure and transfer test conditions. Results showed that the combination of visualization with Physical practice of dart throwing skills enhanced motor learning (improving accuracy on retention and transfer tests) and prevented learners from choking under pressure relative to only physical practice of the skill. Key-words: Dart-throwing; Visualization, Choke under Pressure; Motor learning

Allies in name only? Latino-only leadership on DACA may trigger implicit racial biases among White liberals

At the beginning of September, President Trump announced the end of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program within six months. Activists mobilized immediately in response to protect the program which provides temporary shelter from deportation to those covered by the DREAM Act. In new survey research, Sergio Garcia-Rios, Kassra AR Oskooii and Hannah Walker find that when efforts ..

Here's what the Democrats need to do to get the DREAM Act through Congress

Last week the United States government shut down for the first time in nearly 5 years. At the centre of the shutdown was the impasse between Democrats and Republicans over the DREAM Act, which would grant residency to those who came to the US as the children of undocumented immigrants. While the Democrats eventually agreed to a budget which did not include the legislation, Hannah Walker, Kassra A.R. Oskooii, and Sergio Garcia-Rios write that there is still widespread support for such a measure among Democratic voters. In order to get immigration reform through Congress, they argue, the Democratic Party, must mobilize its supporters en masse into a broad-based coalition to push for reform

Effects of Rock Steady Boxing on Parkinsons Patients

OBJECTIVE Rock Steady Boxing’s (non-profit organization) program goal is improving Parkinson’s patients’ quality of life through a non-contact, boxing-based fitness class. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of Parkinson’s patients perceived improvement on proprioception from one hospital-based Rock Steady Boxing Program. The program was led by athletic trainers and physical therapists. MAIN.OUTCOME.MEASURE Likert scale survey was used with one fill in the blank question