Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes both ASU Theses and Dissertations, submitted by graduate students, and the Barrett, Honors College theses submitted by undergraduate students.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3
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- All Subjects: Sexual Abuse
- Creators: School of Criminology and Criminal Justice
Description
Sexual abuse is a major issue in the United States that has only recently begun to get media attention. This media attention has resulted in a growing awareness of the problem of sexual harassment and assault in society, especially in Hollywood and politics. However, sexual abuse is not limited to those areas, but occurs in all facets of society, including the workplace, schools, prison, and the military. Sexual abuse is only recently being recognized by society as a systemic problem instead of an isolational one. Depsite, this growing awareness of the issue, educator sexual abuse remains understudied. Educator sexual abuse is a largely ignored problem in society. This paper will look at how the media portrays gender in their reporting of educator sexual abuse cases and how this can affect biases, stereotypes, and myths surrounding the issue. We will look at eight cases—four female perpetrators and four male perpetrators—of K-12 educator sexual abuse in the United States. Using two articles for each case, we will analyze how the media reports on these cases and how gender biases are further perpetuated through these reportings. Specifically, we will analyze how perpetrators are portrayed as victims, instances of victim blaming, the implications of terminology in describing consent and responsibility, and the use of click bait all continue to perpetuate stereotypes and myths surrounding the issue of sexual abuse. The media coverage of educator sexual abuse is problematic and it is important to recognize the gender biases in the news coverage. Additionally, we will argue that the media can be a part of the prevention strategy for stopping sexual assault and harassment. Society has a long way to go in stopping sexual assault and educator sexual abuse; however, awareness is often the first step in this process, and the media needs to be careful about further perpetuating damaging stereotypes and myths.
ContributorsLanphier, Erin (Co-author) / Rosenbach, Elizabeth (Co-author) / McGibbney, Michelle (Thesis director) / Johnson, Eric (Committee member) / Computer Science and Engineering Program (Contributor) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2018-05
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
When allegations of sexual abuse are tried in criminal court, children are questioned about the abuse that occurred, including questions about the sexual body parts involved in the abuse. Miscommunication is likely to occur between the child and the attorney due to unsupportive questioning techniques and child’s developing understanding of sexual body terms. Given this, we examined how body term type, body term consistency, and attorney-type contributed to miscommunications. We found that children most often used Colloquially Understood-Vague terms (e.g., privates), less often used Colloquially Understood-Specific (e.g., pee-pee) and Anatomically Correct terms (e.g., penis), and least often used Unique terms (e.g., cookie). We had so few miscommunications (N = 19) and defense attorneys asked so few questions about body terms (N = 12) that we were unable to accomplish our original research aims. Instead, we conducted exploratory analyses on age and gender. Younger children (5-8) used Colloquially Understood-Vague terms significantly more often, while older children (9-12) used Colloquially Understood-Specific terms significantly more often. Boys were significantly more likely to use Colloquially Understood-Specific terms than girls but less likely to use Anatomically Correct and Unique terms. The findings of this study can be used to support a shift in educational practices for child sexual body terms towards specific anatomical terms and lead prosecutors to use body mechanic questions rather than open-ended ones.
ContributorsRuiz-Earle, Ciara (Author) / Stolzenberg, Stacia (Thesis director) / Sullivan, Colleen (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor)
Created2022-12