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- Creators: School of Politics and Global Studies
Description
The United States criminal justice system seemingly contradicts the staples of freedom that the country was founded upon. Given that the U.S. leads the world in rate of imprisonment, "the land of the free" is actually better described as "the land of the imprisoned". Yet despite such meteoric imprisonment rates, there is no evidence that United States citizens commit more crimes than citizens of other countries. This leads to the deduction that there is a fundamental difference between the United States criminal justice system and that of other countries. While different does not always mean worse, it is undoubtable that the United States is currently facing a financial dilemma due to housing so many criminals. Further, prosecution of such a large number of citizens has led to a dichotomy in society that perpetuates recidivism among those imprisoned. Thus, reform activists are growing in number as the incarceration problem continues to perpetuate. Information Measurement Theory, a modern school of thought, is applied in this paper in order to develop practical improvements to the American criminal justice system. Information Measurement Theory is aptly named because it proposes universal axioms based upon the various levels of information perceived by human beings. It has already improved performance dynamics in various areas of business; therefore it has a great opportunity for success in refining the American prison industry. Staples of Information Measurement Theory allow the individual to simplify complex situations. Hence, it can be applied to simplify the conditions that have led to the current U.S. incarceration predicament. Three different specific areas of U.S. criminal justice will be addressed, and solutions will be presented that are complimentary to Information Measurement Theory fundamentals.
ContributorsMcLeod, Ian Nicholas (Author) / Kashiwagi, Dean (Thesis director) / Kashiwagi, Jacob (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering Program (Contributor) / Mechanical Engineering Program (Contributor) / Del E. Webb School of Construction (Contributor)
Created2015-05
Description
Debates about criminal justice have erupted onto the American political scene in recent years. Topics like mass Incarceration, civil asset Forfeiture, three strike laws, and mandatory minimums have been dredged up and discussed at every level of government from county courtrooms to state legislatures and all the way up to the halls of the US Senate and the desk of the White House. According to Marc Mauer of the Sentencing Project, a non-profit entity focused on prison population reduction, this new focus has yielded some important victories with New York, and New Jersey both reducing their respective prison populations by 26% between 1999 and 2012 (1). In the summer of 2015, President Obama became the first sitting President in American history to visit a prison. His visit to El Reno Prison, just outside of Oklahoma City, came on the heels of a speech against Mass Incarceration that the President made at an NAACP conference in Philadelphia (Horsely). The movement for change had reached all the way to the desk of the oval office. Indeed, it is of little wonder why our criminal justice system has come under such close scrutiny. With mass protests breaking out around the nation due to clashes between the criminal justice system and those it has victimized, the rise of a new Black Lives Matter movement, and an overburdened prison system that houses almost 25% of the world inmates (Ya Lee Hee), criminal justice in America has been driven to an ideological and financial breaking point. In a nation that purportedly values freedom and individual choice, the stark realities of our prison system have created a divide between those that would reform the system and those who seek to keep the status quo. I align with those stakeholders that desire comprehensive reform. In my opinion, it is no longer fiscally responsible, nor morally credible to lock American citizens up and throw away the key. The days of tough on crime, of Willie Horton, and of super predators are gone. Crime has been reduced to historic lows in almost the entire country despite significant increases in the population. According to Oliver Roeder, in a Brennan Center scholarly article, violent crime has been reduced by 50% since 1990 and property crime has been reduced by 46% (Roeder et al, p.15) while the population during this same period has grown by how much 249 million to 323 million, almost 30%. For the first time in almost 20 years, the conversation has finally shifted to how we can make the system equitable. My vision for our criminal justice system will stretch beyond the following plan to revise truth in sentencing. TIS remains a small component of a much larger question of our justice system. It is my fundamental belief that the way America treats its offenders needs reformation at every level of the system, from the court, to the prison. It is my view that our prerogative when treating offenders should be to address the root causes of crime, that is the societal structure that causes men and women to commit crime. Poverty, education, economics, and community reinvestment will be just some of the issues that need to be addressed to secure a better future. If we seek true justice, then we must seek to reinvest in those communities that need it the most. Only then can the lowest rungs of our society be given the opportunity to climb upward. In my view, a reimagined prison system idealistically strives to put itself out of business.
ContributorsHolbert, Connor Michael (Author) / Herrera, Richard (Thesis director) / Wells, Cornelia (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
Building information modeling (BIM) has already sparked changes in design and construction practices, ranging from new methods to coordinate work during design to supporting paperless construction sites where crews use handheld devices in lieu of paper plans. It is seen as the starting point for the larger picture, virtual design and construction (VDC). While some research has explored the feasibility of using BIM for Facilities Management (FM) this practice is yet to become widely accepted and integrated. This paper explores how VDC could improve the operations of a Facilities Management department at a large state university. Specifically, the authors examine the degree to which institutional requirements foster BIM use during building operations, the ability of models to interface with existing FM software, and the willingness of FM executives to incorporate BIM into their processes. The authors also discuss the sorts of information contained in building models that FM could find most useful, and highlight those pieces of information required for FM that many building models do not contain. Finally, the paper closes with a set of recommendations about how to create building models that more seamlessly integrate into existing Facilities Management processes at the university studied, in order to draw a set of recommendations that may apply more broadly to state universities and similar institutions.
ContributorsHebel, Natasha Faith (Author) / Parrish, Kristen (Thesis director) / Ayer, Steven (Committee member) / Del E. Webb School of Construction (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2017-05
Description
The United States Supreme Court decided Ramos v. Louisiana in 2020, requiring all states to convict criminal defendants by a unanimous jury. However, this case only applied to petitioners on direct, and not collateral, appeal. In this thesis, I argue that the Ramos precedent should apply to people on collateral appeal as well, exploring the implications of such a decision and the criteria that should be used to make the decision in the case before the court, Edwards v. Vannoy (2021). Ultimately, I find that because the criteria currently used to determine retroactivity of new criminal precedents does not provide a clear answer to the question posed in Edwards, the Court should give more weight to the defendant's freedoms pursuant to the presumption of innocence while considering the potential for any disastrous outcomes.
ContributorsCaldwell, Rachel Lillian (Author) / Hoekstra, Valerie (Thesis director) / Bender, Paul (Committee member) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor, Contributor) / Historical, Philosophical & Religious Studies, Sch (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2021-05
Description
The design and intent of this research proposal was unknowingly established during my first semester at Arizona State University. Dr. John Hepburn, my Introduction to Criminology professor at the time, and I created an honors contract where I would be conducting a qualitative research project with the municipality of Chandler, Arizona. This encompassed two main components: 28 hours of ride-alongs with the Chandler Police Department during their over-night shifts and, secondly, four additional hours observing the criminal courts at Chandler Municipal Court. This entailed the very start of my first-hand exposure to the American—and more specifically the Arizona—criminal justice system. At the conclusion of this experience, the need for reform and equity within our current criminal justice system divulged. Thus, I was inspired to dedicate the prompt of my honors thesis project to the Arizona criminal justice system and the Arizona community.
As my academic career progressed at ASU, I witnessed the Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter movements emerge, accompanied with a polarization between communities and U.S. law enforcement. This exposure led the mission of my honors thesis project towards helping alleviate those tensions. With the help of my committee, I found it most appropriate to investigate the community-police programs that already exist and seeing how communities across the states can develop not a single community police program but develop a mechanism for tailoring and modernizing programs as needed.
As my academic career progressed at ASU, I witnessed the Black Lives Matter and Blue Lives Matter movements emerge, accompanied with a polarization between communities and U.S. law enforcement. This exposure led the mission of my honors thesis project towards helping alleviate those tensions. With the help of my committee, I found it most appropriate to investigate the community-police programs that already exist and seeing how communities across the states can develop not a single community police program but develop a mechanism for tailoring and modernizing programs as needed.
ContributorsHernandez, Daisy (Author) / Hepburn, John (Thesis director) / Robinson, Kevin (Committee member) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of Public Affairs (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2020-05
Description
Mental health in the profession of policing is a topic that needs more attention. Many departments have readily available mental health resources however, they are only mandated for officers to use after an incident such as a shooting or suicide has occurred. Shift work, and police culture coupled with the traumatic events that take place on the job negatively impact the mental health of officers and more support is needed for officers to overcome their mental struggles. Through snowball sample interviews of officers and those who work with officers in a mental health capacity, this thesis found that it is evident that most police departments should be more proactive instead of reactive with their mental health support. Police officials should take mental health as seriously as physical health.
ContributorsChristino, Elina (Author) / Wallace, Danielle (Thesis director) / Katz, Charles (Committee member) / Maguire, Ed (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Politics and Global Studies (Contributor) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor)
Created2023-12