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.

Research has shown that being a female athlete in a male-dominated sports world is an oppressive burden, yet the experiences of being a black female athlete have been largely ignored. To combat this lack of attention, this paper invokes communication and feminist theorist Bell Hook's concept of moving black women from margin to center to reveal the intersectional oppression of gender and racial narratives that they face in sports. By outlining the difference between white and black femininity and studying media portrayals of popular black female athletes such as Venus and Serena Williams and others, it becomes obvious how black women are typecast into certain social and athletic roles. This research also includes an auto-ethnographic component of my own experience as a black female lacrosse player at the NCAA Division I level. This component functions as a point of comparison and contrast of the ideas and concepts I discuss. Lastly, I offer recommendations and suggestions as to how to empower young black female athletes and retain them in a variety of sports. The goal of my thesis is to place special attention onto black women in an area which there is an extreme lack of representation. My own empirical research has led me to the conclusion that not only is such a discussion important, but it is absolutely necessary. If we are to fight back against hegemonic social structures such as racism and gender roles in the sports world, we must first understand what we are up against. My thesis gives us a glimpse into our imposing opponents, and I hope that future research continues this trend so that black female athletes like myself may one day be considered an athlete in the same sense that our white peers are.

Divorce and custody decisions have profound effects on the children involved for years to come. Depending on the circumstances, level of conflict, and custody decision results, these repercussions can resonate all the way into adulthood (D'Onofrio, 2019). This explorative qualitative study focuses on three young adults at or under the age of twenty-six whose parents divorced when they were minors. Now as young adults, they can look back on the procedures and processes utilized during the time of divorce and after the initial custody arrangements to provide insight as to what did and did not work in their family’s situation. This study focuses on the child’s perspective to see what the most effective practices are when making these decisions, which can further be used to suggest ways to reform the current processes in family court rulings involving custody decisions. The research findings will be discussed in this paper to highlight key experiences that played a pivotal role in the way these individuals interpret their experiences.

Divorce and custody decisions have profound effects on the children involved for years to come. Depending on the circumstances, level of conflict, and custody decision results, these repercussions can resonate all the way into adulthood (D'Onofrio, 2019). This explorative qualitative study focuses on three young adults at or under the age of twenty-six whose parents divorced when they were minors. Now as young adults, they can look back on the procedures and processes utilized during the time of divorce and after the initial custody arrangements to provide insight as to what did and did not work in their family’s situation. This study focuses on the child’s perspective to see what the most effective practices are when making these decisions, which can further be used to suggest ways to reform the current processes in family court rulings involving custody decisions. The research findings will be discussed in this paper to highlight key experiences that played a pivotal role in the way these individuals interpret their experiences.