Barrett, The Honors College Thesis/Creative Project Collection
Barrett, The Honors College at Arizona State University proudly showcases the work of undergraduate honors students by sharing this collection exclusively with the ASU community.
Barrett accepts high performing, academically engaged undergraduate students and works with them in collaboration with all of the other academic units at Arizona State University. All Barrett students complete a thesis or creative project which is an opportunity to explore an intellectual interest and produce an original piece of scholarly research. The thesis or creative project is supervised and defended in front of a faculty committee. Students are able to engage with professors who are nationally recognized in their fields and committed to working with honors students. Completing a Barrett thesis or creative project is an opportunity for undergraduate honors students to contribute to the ASU academic community in a meaningful way.
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Police use of force and race often garners a good deal of attention, however it is also important to understand the influence of gender when dealing with male-dominate populations, like police officers. The current study aims to add to the current body of literature by using data from seven cities to examine the relationship between officer gender and police use of force, as well as officer gender and citizen resistance. In relation to use of force, the results show that male officers used significantly less force than female officers. In terms of citizen resistance, the results indicate that officer gender had no effect. Additionally, a number of control variables were significantly related to police use of force and citizen resistance. The implications of these findings are discussed.
ContributorsWeiser, Marah Brooke (Author) / William, Terrill (Thesis director) / Trinkner, Rick (Committee member) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
Introduction: Depression is one of the most prevalent mental illnesses in the United States, and is characterized by feeling sad or empty most of the day, nearly every day (American Psychiatric Association, 2013). The experience of childhood trauma is one of many factors that may lead to depression, while trauma can also yield other adverse life outcomes, such as alcohol-related consequences (Felitti et al., 2001; Neumann, 2017). One of the specific aims of this investigation was to examine the direct influences of childhood trauma on depression. We also examined selected direct and indirect influences of childhood trauma on drinking outcomes through the potential mediating mechanism of depression. We examined three distinct drinking outcomes, 1) impaired control over drinking (i.e. the inability to stop drinking when intended), 2) heavy episodic drinking (four or more drinks on one occasion for men, four or more for women), and 3) alcohol-related problems. Methods: A survey was administered to 940 (466 women, 474 men) university students. Structural equation modeling was used to examine the data. Potential two- and three-path mediated effects were examined with the bias corrected bootstrap technique in Mplus (MacKinnon, 2008). Results: Emotional abuse was found to be positively associated with depression. In contrast, having an emotionally supportive family was found to be negatively associated with depression. Congruent with the Self-Medication Hypothesis, depression was found to be positively associated with impaired control over drinking. Physical neglect was found to be positively associated with impaired control. Lastly, emotional abuse was found to be indirectly linked to increased heavy episodic drinking and alcohol-related problems through depression and impaired control.
ContributorsBobel, Emily Rebecca Leslie (Author) / Patock-Peckham, Julie (Thesis director) / Glenberg, Arthur (Committee member) / Karoly, Paul (Committee member) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
The Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) is an organization dedicated to defending student and faculty freedom of speech rights on college campuses in the United States. Their work has brought national attention and debate around how unbiased the foundation truly is. This thesis discusses the relevant cases around the freedom of speech such as United States v. O'Brien and Matal v. Tam in order to develop an understanding of general free speech protection. Free speech cases specifically regarding school campuses were analyzed such as Tinker v. Des Moines, Bethel v. Fraser, and Rosenberger v. University of Virginia to show the limitations of what FIRE can fight on campuses. FIRE's case selection methods were analyzed, and a bias toward conservative cases was found. This bias is disputed by FIRE supporters as natural given the liberal nature of higher education, but data surrounding professors, disinvitation attempts, and student opinions invalidate these claims. Three FIRE cases (Roberts v. Haragan, Smith v. Tarrant County College District, and the Dixie State Incident) were analyzed to show the progression and style of the foundation through the years and how they developed their aggressive and bully reputation. Finally, current large incidents of free speech oppression were analyzed to understand how they skew and affect public perception of the overall struggle for freedom of speech on college campuses. This thesis found that FIRE is in fact biased and that their efforts to make positive change are undermined by this. Keywords: FIRE, free speech, First Amendment
ContributorsRamos-Mata, Joseph Wilfrido (Author) / von Delden, Jayn (Thesis director) / Fradella, Hank (Committee member) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / School of Public Affairs (Contributor) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
The primary purpose of this project is to study the correlation between exposure to sexually-explicit materials and sexual offending. A thorough literature review has been conducted. The analyses include the definitions and history of sexual deviancy and paraphilia, a review of existing research that examines the complex relationship between said materials and criminal behavior, methods individuals use to access sexually-explicit materials, and case studies of individuals whose behavior is relevant to the purposes of this study. There does not appear to be a causal relationship between these two factors. However, there is an intricate, interrelated dynamic between the two that is worth examining more thoroughly. Further research should study the timeline in which sexual offenders first consumed sexually-explicit material, as well as the genesis of their sexually-deviant behaviors. This may lead to a clearer comprehension of their psychosexual criminality. Further understanding will hopefully lead to improved policies proposed by law makers, refined prevention/intervention strategies by law enforcement, and more effective rehabilitative methods for offenders.
ContributorsDwyer, Brittny Elise (Author) / Rebecca, Loftus (Thesis director) / Randall, Snyder (Committee member) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Experimentation is as vital to literature as it is to the sciences. Experimentation through narrative is an evolutionary process that develops the art of storytelling through changing mediums, formats and forms of linearity. Challenging conceptual norms of narrative has resulted in a new genre characterized by interactive nonconventional structures, and the necessity of reading with nontrivial effort. The term ergodic was applied to literature first in Espen J. Aarseths 1997 study Cybertext: Perspectives on Ergodic Literature. In its simplest terms, ergodic literature requires nontrivial effort to transverse the text, as opposed to nonergodic literature, which would be the majority of traditionally formatted and conventionally read literature that requires no extraneous responsibilities of the reader (Aarseth, 1997). The qualities that necessitate a heightened requirement of nontrivial effort vary widely. Literary works like Doug Dorst’s Ship of Theseus (2013) integrates supplemental materials, and notes transcribed in the margins connected to the multiple narratives within the actual pages of the book. Some books such as Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves (2000) utilize coded messages and hidden information that contribute to the atmosphere of the narrative. These intricacies enclose information that constructs a veritable labyrinth, containing details and material not easily found but ultimately pivotal to the comprehension of the text. And while completion may be a goal of the standard text, it may never even be intended for works such as these. Throughout this discussion I intend to contest that House of Leaves is an apex of literature and experimental narrative. Furthermore, I will highlight the importance of experimentation in narratives and its role in the development of various modes and mediums while analyzing prominent works and themes that fall under the category of experimental narrative or ergodic literature.
ContributorsGalvan, Joshua Paul (Author) / Gilfillan, Daniel (Thesis director) / Rigoni, Adam (Committee member) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
This study intends to understand the extent to which media coverage of the sexual assault and/or harassment allegations against federally elected officials during the #MeToo Movement impacted male and female college students' trust in government. To answer this question, we conducted a survey of 377 Arizona State University students. Participants were administered a pre-test gauging their experience with issues of sexual assault and harassment, their awareness of sexual assault campaigns and their trust in government to uphold their civil liberties. A video montage of #MeToo media coverage that reported the accusations made against federally elected officials followed the pre-test for the experimental group. The control group viewed a video unrelated to the #MeToo movement. Participants were then given the same survey after watching the stimulus video. Our findings show that females have more experience with issues of sexual assault and harassment and are more aware of sexual assault campaigns than males. Most notably, our results determined that females were generally impacted at a higher level than their male counterparts after watching media coverage of the #MeToo movement. This study provides insight into the extent to which the #MeToo movement has had an impact on attitudes and perceptions of rape culture as well as government accountability amongst male and female college students. It also reaffirms the urgent need to increase male engagement on these issues and provides evidence supporting future research.
ContributorsRanney, Isabel (Co-author) / Isaac, Zoe (Co-author) / Woodall, Gina (Thesis director) / Lennon, Tara (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
This research study looked at frequency and proportion of suggestive questions (negative term, statement, and tag), the age of the child, and the attorney conducting the examination (prosecution versus defense). The population of this study was obtained from Maricopa County Attorney's Office court transcripts from 2005-2015 and the sample included 64 minors between the ages of 5-12 years old. The present study showed that regarding frequency, there was no significant difference between the number of suggestive questions asked by the prosecution and defense, however, when looked at the proportion of these questions, prosecution asked significantly fewer suggestive questions compared to the defense. Older children (9-12 year olds) receive more, both in terms of frequency and proportion, suggestive questions than younger children (5-8 year olds). Lastly, children typically gave elaborate responses to suggestive questions from the defense more than from the prosecution. This study shows that attorneys are using problematic methods when questioning children between the ages of 5-12 years old and these suggestive methods may affect the child's ability to provide credible testimony.
ContributorsMcDonald, Ashley (Author) / Stolzenberg, Stacia (Thesis director) / Fradella, Hank (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor)
Created2018-12
Description
This thesis examines the use of two novel technologies in forensic science: familial DNA matching and genealogical DNA matching. I define DNA and describe how DNA is employed in multiple ways by law enforcement to aid in solving serious crime investigations. I also provide other modern-day common uses of DNA. I will then explain the technology of familial DNA searches and genealogical DNA searches. Drawing from case law and legislation, I will discuss arguments supporting the use of the DNA technologies as well as possible privacy concerns with these methods. I will also review possible concerns with the collection, usage, breadth, and storage of DNA information.
Considering cases such as the Golden State Killer case and BTK, a debate arose over whether the DNA matching methods covered in this thesis were ethical police work with people disagreeing about whether the privacy interests of the relatives of the suspects outweighed the State’s interest to find the murderers.
The authors of the Constitution did not have the ability to predict the technological advances since the establishment of the Constitution nor the issues that have arisen out of this advancement. For this reason, constitutional law does not explicitly address the right of privacy relevant to the technology of 2019, including DNA matching. Rather, contemporary courts must determine rulings based off of the original text of the Constitution, Amendments to the Constitution, and subsequent rulings decided by the Supreme Court. While organizations and individuals have raised privacy concerns with familial and genealogical DNA matching, current case law and legislation have not ruled the matching technology to be unconstitutional.
Considering cases such as the Golden State Killer case and BTK, a debate arose over whether the DNA matching methods covered in this thesis were ethical police work with people disagreeing about whether the privacy interests of the relatives of the suspects outweighed the State’s interest to find the murderers.
The authors of the Constitution did not have the ability to predict the technological advances since the establishment of the Constitution nor the issues that have arisen out of this advancement. For this reason, constitutional law does not explicitly address the right of privacy relevant to the technology of 2019, including DNA matching. Rather, contemporary courts must determine rulings based off of the original text of the Constitution, Amendments to the Constitution, and subsequent rulings decided by the Supreme Court. While organizations and individuals have raised privacy concerns with familial and genealogical DNA matching, current case law and legislation have not ruled the matching technology to be unconstitutional.
ContributorsHamblen, Macie B (Author) / Kobojek, Kimberly (Thesis director) / Simpson, David (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor, Contributor) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
Masculinity presents itself in many forms, but only a few are accepted by society. Men are exhibiting exaggerated characteristics of hyper-masculinity that result in harm to themselves and others in order to meet society’s standards. This has generated a toxic sense of masculinity that generates men who glorify violence, objectify women, are misogynistic, and feel entitled. Not every man fits into the toxic masculinity category or even the hyper-masculinity category, however, they do fit into the failed masculinity category. Those who fall into this category do not receive the societal benefits that more masculine men do, like female attention. A relatively new movement has emerged from failed masculinity, the Involuntarily Celibate. They call themselves Incels and they meet online through chat forums to discuss their feelings about not having relationships or meeting society’s expectations of a man. The extreme Incels are known as Blackpill Incels, and they believe that their position in the world has no hope of improvement. This has resulted in threats against women online, and physical violence to women and society. The hate stratagem is used to categorize Incel chat posts and explain how they use hate speech to carry out this violence.
ContributorsBoyd, Sarah (Author) / Walker, Michael (Thesis director) / Lewis, Stephen (Committee member) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor) / School of Social and Behavioral Sciences (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05
Description
The goal of our research is to highlight the reality of criminal justice professionals’ roles. We interviewed six criminal justice professionals from three different fields within the criminal justice profession. The professions we focused on included judges, lawyers and police officers. During each interview we showed the professionals a series of video clips from popular movies and television shows that portrayed individuals in their field. At the conclusion of each video, we asked the professionals to point out the realistic and overexaggerated aspects in the videos. Towards the very end of the interviews, we asked each professional a series of questions that corresponded with their specific field (See Appendix A). We received a lot of insight on what their jobs truly entail.
We gathered qualitative data on criminal justice professionals because we wanted to debunk myths associated with their professions. Professions within the criminal justice field can be extremely dangerous and even life-threatening, therefore it is important that individuals looking to enter these professions are well-informed. With technology improving daily, more and more people have easy access to social media, news, and television shows. Some people rely solely on these platforms to receive information. Another key reason we chose qualitative methods is because we wanted our information to be applicable for criminal justice professionals themselves. Maureen McGough from the National Institute of Justice describes that for police officers, policy related research tends to be geared towards academics (McGough, 2019). We used qualitative methods to provide more actionable and relatable feedback. However, these platforms do not always reveal the full story. Our research reveals how television shows and movies are not always accurate in portraying the roles of criminal justice professionals.
Our findings revealed that there are both realistic and overexaggerated aspects in the portrayal of criminal justice professionals in television shows and movies. Some of the overexaggerated aspects include how nearly all the television shows and movies only captured action parts of criminal justice professionals’ roles. Which creates the illusion that these roles are all about action and never have dull moments. None of the scenes captured the research and paperwork that goes along with being a criminal justice professional. On the other hand, there were some aspects of television shows and movies that the professionals found realistic. These aspects include the unusual humor police officers use to cope with the pressures of their job and the tactics lawyers use to sway a jury.
Aside from the information we received about what was real and overexaggerated in television shows and movies, we also identified some of the aspects of criminal justice roles that are omitted from television shows and movies. The professionals we interviewed also shared some of the rewarding and fulfilling aspects of their roles that are often overlooked or just unknown to the public. With the valuable information we gathered from our thesis project, we created a website (See Appendix B). The website includes profiles on the criminal justice professionals we interviewed and a summary of our findings. The purpose of this website is to reach a larger audience, so that we can inform more people about the reality of criminal justice professionals’ roles. Individuals can use our website to learn more about what the role of a criminal justice professional entails and how to prepare.
We gathered qualitative data on criminal justice professionals because we wanted to debunk myths associated with their professions. Professions within the criminal justice field can be extremely dangerous and even life-threatening, therefore it is important that individuals looking to enter these professions are well-informed. With technology improving daily, more and more people have easy access to social media, news, and television shows. Some people rely solely on these platforms to receive information. Another key reason we chose qualitative methods is because we wanted our information to be applicable for criminal justice professionals themselves. Maureen McGough from the National Institute of Justice describes that for police officers, policy related research tends to be geared towards academics (McGough, 2019). We used qualitative methods to provide more actionable and relatable feedback. However, these platforms do not always reveal the full story. Our research reveals how television shows and movies are not always accurate in portraying the roles of criminal justice professionals.
Our findings revealed that there are both realistic and overexaggerated aspects in the portrayal of criminal justice professionals in television shows and movies. Some of the overexaggerated aspects include how nearly all the television shows and movies only captured action parts of criminal justice professionals’ roles. Which creates the illusion that these roles are all about action and never have dull moments. None of the scenes captured the research and paperwork that goes along with being a criminal justice professional. On the other hand, there were some aspects of television shows and movies that the professionals found realistic. These aspects include the unusual humor police officers use to cope with the pressures of their job and the tactics lawyers use to sway a jury.
Aside from the information we received about what was real and overexaggerated in television shows and movies, we also identified some of the aspects of criminal justice roles that are omitted from television shows and movies. The professionals we interviewed also shared some of the rewarding and fulfilling aspects of their roles that are often overlooked or just unknown to the public. With the valuable information we gathered from our thesis project, we created a website (See Appendix B). The website includes profiles on the criminal justice professionals we interviewed and a summary of our findings. The purpose of this website is to reach a larger audience, so that we can inform more people about the reality of criminal justice professionals’ roles. Individuals can use our website to learn more about what the role of a criminal justice professional entails and how to prepare.
ContributorsLynch-Howell, Deja (Co-author) / Roldan, Joshua (Co-author) / DeCarolis, Claudine (Thesis director) / Robinson, Kevin (Committee member) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor) / Department of Information Systems (Contributor, Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2019-05