ASU Electronic Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes most of the ASU Theses and Dissertations from 2011 to present. ASU Theses and Dissertations are available in downloadable PDF format; however, a small percentage of items are under embargo. Information about the dissertations/theses includes degree information, committee members, an abstract, supporting data or media.
In addition to the electronic theses found in the ASU Digital Repository, ASU Theses and Dissertations can be found in the ASU Library Catalog.
Dissertations and Theses granted by Arizona State University are archived and made available through a joint effort of the ASU Graduate College and the ASU Libraries. For more information or questions about this collection contact or visit the Digital Repository ETD Library Guide or contact the ASU Graduate College at gradformat@asu.edu.
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- All Subjects: public policy
- All Subjects: criminology
- Creators: Lucio, Joanna
Description
A void exists in public administration, criminology, and criminal justice research as it relates to the study of power in American policing agencies. This has significant ramifications for academia and practitioners in terms of how they view, address, study, and interpret behaviors/actions in American policing agencies and organizations in general. In brief, mainstream research on power in organizations does not take into account relationships of power that do not act directly, and immediately, on others. By placing its emphasis on an agency centric perspective of power, the mainstream approach to the study of power fails to recognize indirect power relationships that influence discourse, pedagogy, mechanisms of communication, knowledge, and individual behavior/actions. In support of a more holistic inquiry, this study incorporates a Foucauldian perspective of power along with an ethnographical methodology and methods to build a greater understanding of power in policing organizations. This ethnography of an American policing organization illuminates the relationship between the exercise of power and the objectification of the subject through the interplay of relationships of communication, goal oriented activities, and relationships of power. Specifically, the findings demonstrate that sworn officers and civilian employees are objectified distinctly and dissimilarly. In summary, this study argues that the exercise of power in this American policing organization objectifies the civilian employee as a second class citizen.
ContributorsBentley, Paul C (Author) / Catlaw, Thomas (Thesis advisor) / Musheno, Michael (Committee member) / Lucio, Joanna (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
ABSTRACT This research examines what contextual elements shape a community court. In the past several decades, the court system has lost trust with the American public. Citizens thought the courts were too complex, expensive, didn't address the issues of crime, and were out of touch with their communities. A movement called community justice began to grow in the 1990s. As part of this movement the concept of problem solving courts grew. Community focused courts were part of this. Community courts are unique in that the courts reach out to the community to help solve problems identified by citizens, businesses, and others in that area. Various stakeholders are involved in the planning, implementation, and operation of these courts, working together to address issues that arise from those who commit a crime and come before the court. Four community courts were examined using the case study method, examining the literature and conducting interviews, and a model was developed based on these courts. Two additional courts were examined, having been established after judges from their respective communities had attended a national seminar on community focused courts. These two courts were then compared to the model. Based on the model, areas most likely to develop a community court were identified. Additionally, the model can be utilized to indicate how these courts can be successful or fail. Other issues that were examined were how community courts differ from traditional courts and how this could impact judicial impartiality and independence, and the traditional adversary system.
ContributorsDicus, Bonnie Carol (Author) / Cayer, N. J. (Thesis advisor) / Alozie, Nicolas (Committee member) / Lucio, Joanna (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2010
Description
Research suggests that a particularly important variable in determining success in public participation is the presence of a facilitator. Data from a study of 239 public participation case studies is analyzed using descriptive and statistical analysis to determine the impact on success of the participation efforts if a facilitator is present and whether or not internal versus external facilitators have a significant impact on success. The data suggest that facilitators have a positive impact on the success of public participation efforts and, in particular, that public participation efforts that use facilitators are more successful when the facilitator is a third-party intermediary (external) versus a member of the lead agency's staff (internal).
ContributorsWastchak, Daran Reginald (Author) / Cayer, Joseph (Thesis advisor) / Lucio, Joanna (Committee member) / Schugurensky, Daniel, 1958- (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2013
Description
Law enforcement officers are frequently tasked with addressing and responding to public safety and community concerns related to issues of homelessness. While interactions between law enforcement and individuals experiencing homelessness occur frequently, issues of homelessness also span public health, policy, and housing spheres. Because of this, several communities in the United States also lean on outreach workers to address issues of homelessness. Recent research has described both law enforcement officers and outreach workers as street-level bureaucrats. Both groups grapple with unique shift demands, lack of supervision, burnout, and issues such as turnover, all while leveraging their personal knowledge and connections to make decisions on a case-by- case basis.In two studies, this dissertation explores the role of the police and outreach workers in responses to issues of homelessness. This is important to address because there is evidence that these two groups have a high degree of contact with individuals experience homelessness and have similar decision-making processes. Yet, they are largely siloed from one another making it difficult to generate policies related to issues of homelessness that are informed by both groups. In study one, responses to close- and open-ended responses (N = 1,163) drawn from a survey distributed to law enforcement personnel are analyzed, merged, and interpreted. The second study of this dissertation is an ethnography of outreach workers in Maricopa County, Arizona. The collective findings from these two studies underscore a remarkable similarity between outreach worker and law enforcement decision making, as well as a growing need to strengthen the relationships between these two groups to support longer-term solutions. Co-created training guides and events can be constructed to enhance the relationship between these two groups and to support mutually beneficial outcomes.
Portions of this research were supported by a Law and Science Dissertation Grant, via the National Science Foundation, award SES-2016661 to Arizona State University. This project was also supported by Arizona State University’s Graduate College and Graduate Student and Professional Association’s Graduate Research Program Award. The findings and conclusions are those of the author and do not reflect the position of the National Science Foundation or Arizona State University.
ContributorsBrown, Katharine L (Author) / Telep, Cody W (Thesis advisor) / Lucio, Joanna (Committee member) / Young, Jacob Tn (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2023
Description
Conflict over management of natural resources may intensify as population growth, development, and climate change stress natural systems. In this dissertation, the role of policy networks implementing Habitat Conservation Plans (HCPs) is examined. As explored here, policy networks are groups that come together to develop and implement terms of HCPs. HCPs are necessary for private landowners to receive Incidental Take Permits (ITPs) from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) if approved development activities may result in take of threatened or endangered species. ITPs may last up to 100 years or more and be issued to individual or multiple landowners to accomplish development and habitat conservation goals within a region.
Theoretical factors in the implementation and policy network literatures relevant to successful implementation of environmental agreements are reviewed and used to examine HCP implementation. Phase I uses the USFWS Environmental Conservation Online System (ECOS) database to identify characteristics of policy networks formed to implement HCPs within the State of California, and how those networks changed since the creation of HCPs in 1982 by amendment of the 1973 Endangered Species Act. Phase II presents a single, complex, multiple-party HCP case selected from Phase I to examine the policy network formed, the role of actors in this network, and network successes and implementation barriers.
This research builds upon the implementation literature by demonstrating that implementation occurs in stages, not all of which are sequential, and that how implementation processes are structured and executed has a direct impact on perceptions of success.
It builds upon the policy network literature by demonstrating ways that participation by non-agency actors can enhance implementation; complex problems may better achieve conflicting goals by creating organizational structures made up of local, state, federal and non-governmental entities to better manage changing political, financial, and social conditions; if participants believe the transaction costs of maintaining a network outweigh the benefits, ongoing support may decline; what one perceives as success largely depends upon their role (or lack of a role) within the policy network; and conflict management processes perceived as fair and equitable significantly contribute to perceptions of policy effectiveness.
Theoretical factors in the implementation and policy network literatures relevant to successful implementation of environmental agreements are reviewed and used to examine HCP implementation. Phase I uses the USFWS Environmental Conservation Online System (ECOS) database to identify characteristics of policy networks formed to implement HCPs within the State of California, and how those networks changed since the creation of HCPs in 1982 by amendment of the 1973 Endangered Species Act. Phase II presents a single, complex, multiple-party HCP case selected from Phase I to examine the policy network formed, the role of actors in this network, and network successes and implementation barriers.
This research builds upon the implementation literature by demonstrating that implementation occurs in stages, not all of which are sequential, and that how implementation processes are structured and executed has a direct impact on perceptions of success.
It builds upon the policy network literature by demonstrating ways that participation by non-agency actors can enhance implementation; complex problems may better achieve conflicting goals by creating organizational structures made up of local, state, federal and non-governmental entities to better manage changing political, financial, and social conditions; if participants believe the transaction costs of maintaining a network outweigh the benefits, ongoing support may decline; what one perceives as success largely depends upon their role (or lack of a role) within the policy network; and conflict management processes perceived as fair and equitable significantly contribute to perceptions of policy effectiveness.
ContributorsReece, Mary, J (Author) / Corley, Elizabeth A (Thesis advisor) / Cayer, N J (Committee member) / Lucio, Joanna (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
Individual behavior change is a goal of many public policies directed at people of low socioeconomic status. Without evidence of behavioral change, these policies cannot be considered a success: a process of co-production where some level of cooperation between the client and program administrators is required to successfully meet program objectives. The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (WIC), is one example of a co-production design. WIC encourages women to engage in healthy behaviors by providing healthy food along with nutrition education to improve the health status of low-income families. However, while WIC is one of the most studied nutrition programs, little attention has been paid to the nutrition education portion or to interactions between staff members and participants. This research draws on the public policy and administration literature about street-level bureaucrats and co-production, which provides a framework for understanding the purposeful, inter-dependent relationships between front-line service providers and clients. However, neither literature explicates the process of interactions that is expected to lead to client behavior change and co-production. The primary contribution of this research is the creation of a grounded theory that identifies and explains the WIC interaction process as one of "negotiating healthy self-government". Based on analysis of three months of observations of WIC encounters in two clinics, this research finds that participants and staff members enter into tacit and explicit negotiations concerning the degree to which participants should govern their family's nutrition-related behavior. Clients actively shape the interactions by demonstrating their discipline and efforts to feed their families, while staff members refine and reinforce self-governing behaviors through assessing action, and providing advice to ensure behaviors meet recommendations. Finally, participants and staff members distinctly link self-governing behavior to identity: "good mothers" feed their children healthy food and govern their behaviors to meet nutritional recommendations. This research has implications for the study of behavior change promotion in public programs by introducing the concept of identity as a mechanism for governance and explicating the interaction process between front-line service providers and clients
ContributorsHand, Laura Catherine (Author) / Catlaw, Thomas J. (Thesis advisor) / Ohri-Vachaspati, Punam (Committee member) / Lucio, Joanna (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
The City of Portland has 21 distinct agencies/bureaus with Facebook pages. Of these 21 Facebook pages, three were selected for in-depth case study analysis. Qualitative methods including descriptive coding (Saldana, 2009; Saldaña, 2003; Wolcott, 1994) and content analysis were the primary methodological tools used while the individual SMS post was the unit of analysis. Basic quantitative methods were used to generate tabular values for general post/agency comparison.
This research identifies SMS usage patterns, differences, and policy implications within a large city government where multiple agencies have independent control over their own SMS sites/pages. It examines how each agency/bureau uses SMS and to determine if such use fits within Iris Marion Young's deliberative democracy model. This research contributes to voids in the academic literature in the topics of governmental SMS usage, intra-city SMS usage, and SMS as a mechanism for promoting deliberative democracy.
This research identifies SMS usage patterns, differences, and policy implications within a large city government where multiple agencies have independent control over their own SMS sites/pages. It examines how each agency/bureau uses SMS and to determine if such use fits within Iris Marion Young's deliberative democracy model. This research contributes to voids in the academic literature in the topics of governmental SMS usage, intra-city SMS usage, and SMS as a mechanism for promoting deliberative democracy.
ContributorsChing, Brandon (Author) / Schugurensky, Daniel, 1958- (Thesis advisor) / Lucio, Joanna (Committee member) / Jones, Matthew (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2015
Description
This study uses the ontological lenses of discourse theory to conduct a critical mixed-methods analysis of state statutes related to prostitution and sex trafficking. The primary research question of the study was, "How do state laws communicate and reinforce discourses related to sex trafficking and prostitution and how do these discourses reinforce hegemony and define the role of the state?" A mixed methods approach was used to analyze prostitution and sex trafficking related annotated and Shepardized statutes from all fifty states. The analysis found that not all prostitution related discourses found in the literature were present in state statutes. Instead, statutes could be organized around five different themes: child abuse, exploitation, criminalization, place, and licensing and regulation. A deeper analysis of discourses present across and within each of these themes illustrated an inconsistent understanding of prostitution as a social problem and an inconsistent understanding of the legitimate role of the state in regulating or criminalizing prostitution. The inconsistencies in the law suggest concerns for equal protection under the law based upon a person's perceived deservingness, which often hinges on his or her race, class, gender identity, sexuality, age, ability, and nationality. Implications for the field include insights into a substantive policy area rarely studied by policy and administration scholars, a unique approach to mixed methods research, and the use of a new technique for analyzing vast quantities of unstructured data.
ContributorsMayo, Andrea, Ph.D (Author) / Herbst, Chris M. (Thesis advisor) / Lucio, Joanna (Thesis advisor) / Segal, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
Cities today face new economic, political, and social challenges spurred, in part, by the growth of immigrant and newcomer populations and increasing competitive pressure in the context of contemporary globalization. In the face of these challenges, some U.S. city and county governments have adopted the “welcoming city initiative,” which promotes both immigrant integration and economic growth. To date, little research has explored why different U.S. cities decide to pursue the welcoming city initiatives, what cities really hope to achieve through them, or what governing arrangements emerge to develop and implement these initiatives. In addition to illuminating the emerging discursive, political, and organizational dynamics of welcoming, this dissertation contributes to the literatures in urban asset development, urban regime theory, and political and bureaucratic incorporation.
Drawing on 30 interviews with key actors and document analysis, this dissertation employs a multiple case study design to conduct an interpretive policy analysis of the initiatives of four U.S. welcoming cities: Austin, Texas; Boise, Idaho; Chicago, Illinois; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The analysis explores three independent but interconnected themes. The first theme concerns multiple, context-specific framings of “welcoming” and the types of assets cities seek to leverage and develop through the welcoming city initiatives. This investigation finds that while each city puts a priority on developing a certain set of assets based on its unique political, economic, and demographic contexts, welcoming efforts tend to encourage immigrant entrepreneurialism, the leveraging newcomers’ human capital and financial assets, and the development place-based assets to attract and retain newcomers. The efforts to strengthen community capacity seek to institutionalize a new norm of welcoming, structure immigrant-friendly governance practices, and engage newcomers and longer-term residents in their community affairs. The second theme probes the ways in which these four cities create and maintain governing regimes for the initiative. The analysis finds that, while the four cities develop different governing structures, all pursue the creation of mixed types of governing coalitions that combine pro-growth and opportunity expansion regimes by incorporating the goals of economic growth and immigrant integration. The third theme investigates different modes of immigrant incorporation and their contribution to immigrant integration, the final stage in immigrant settlement. The analysis suggests that political leaders and bureaucratic agencies of the welcoming cities tend to build reciprocal relationships, rather than principal-agent relationships, in which political leaders rely on the positional, professional, and technical expertise of bureaucrats. In these early stages on the initiative, political and bureaucratic incorporation aim to create institutional changes that help immigrants and newcomers to be viewed as political constituents and clients of bureaucratic agencies.
This dissertation broadly concludes that the welcoming city initiative is a promising new urban economic development framework that could reshape urban space by integrating pro-growth demands with social integration and inclusion. Going forward, however, deeper consideration of the perspectives and rights of immigrants and newcomers themselves is needed in these initiatives.
Drawing on 30 interviews with key actors and document analysis, this dissertation employs a multiple case study design to conduct an interpretive policy analysis of the initiatives of four U.S. welcoming cities: Austin, Texas; Boise, Idaho; Chicago, Illinois; and Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The analysis explores three independent but interconnected themes. The first theme concerns multiple, context-specific framings of “welcoming” and the types of assets cities seek to leverage and develop through the welcoming city initiatives. This investigation finds that while each city puts a priority on developing a certain set of assets based on its unique political, economic, and demographic contexts, welcoming efforts tend to encourage immigrant entrepreneurialism, the leveraging newcomers’ human capital and financial assets, and the development place-based assets to attract and retain newcomers. The efforts to strengthen community capacity seek to institutionalize a new norm of welcoming, structure immigrant-friendly governance practices, and engage newcomers and longer-term residents in their community affairs. The second theme probes the ways in which these four cities create and maintain governing regimes for the initiative. The analysis finds that, while the four cities develop different governing structures, all pursue the creation of mixed types of governing coalitions that combine pro-growth and opportunity expansion regimes by incorporating the goals of economic growth and immigrant integration. The third theme investigates different modes of immigrant incorporation and their contribution to immigrant integration, the final stage in immigrant settlement. The analysis suggests that political leaders and bureaucratic agencies of the welcoming cities tend to build reciprocal relationships, rather than principal-agent relationships, in which political leaders rely on the positional, professional, and technical expertise of bureaucrats. In these early stages on the initiative, political and bureaucratic incorporation aim to create institutional changes that help immigrants and newcomers to be viewed as political constituents and clients of bureaucratic agencies.
This dissertation broadly concludes that the welcoming city initiative is a promising new urban economic development framework that could reshape urban space by integrating pro-growth demands with social integration and inclusion. Going forward, however, deeper consideration of the perspectives and rights of immigrants and newcomers themselves is needed in these initiatives.
ContributorsAhn, Jeong Joo (Author) / Catlaw, Thomas J (Thesis advisor) / Lewis, Paul G (Committee member) / Lucio, Joanna (Committee member) / Mossberger, Karen (Committee member) / Williams, Linda M. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
The Housing Choice Voucher Program (“HCVP”) is one of the largest housing subsidy programs targeting low-income households. Despite its history and scale of the program, however, the impact of the HCVP is still unsatisfactory. One of the reasons is landlord discrimination against housing vouchers that prevents voucher families from moving to ‘opportunity neighborhoods’. Although landlord participation in the HCVP is instrumental in achieving the program’s policy goals, as the vouchers’ high demand for rental housing units in ‘opportunity neighborhoods’ cannot be met without it, little systematic discussion has taken place regarding landlords’ perception and strategies for housing vouchers. Based on idiosyncratic text data scraped from five U.S. landlords’ forums, three essays in this dissertation answer questions of housing vouchers, discrimination, and landlords. The first essay identifies the topics that are discussed among landlords regarding housing vouchers and voucher tenants. The second essay examines landlords’ emotions regarding the HCVP and voucher households and analyzes the factors that contribute to their perceptions. The third essay delves into landlords’ strategies toward tenants with housing vouchers and analyzes how their reactions may vary depending on contexts such as the existence of Source of Income protections in state and local jurisdictions. Findings from the three essays provide theoretical and practical implications on landlords and housing vouchers, and the analytic strategies employed in this dissertation expand the scope of methodological approaches that could be used in social science and policy research.
ContributorsCho, Seongkyung (Author) / Lucio, Joanna (Thesis advisor) / Mossberger, Karen (Committee member) / Herbst, Chris M. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2021