Matching Items (21)
Description
The intention of this research is to bring us to Worcester, Massachusetts, New England's second largest city, to critically investigate the punitive patterns that exist in the "second chance" opportunity structure experienced by young people who have been dropped-out of schools. The conceptual framework I've constructed pulls from developed theories on the relationship between structural processes, institutional practices and lived experiences of marginalization. There is a need to understand how the process of school leaving, the label of "dropout," and the pursuit of second-chance opportunity are connected and exercise forms of punishment that have clear messages about the worth of these young men's aspirations and the value in fostering support for their opportunities. This critical ethnography introduces the narratives of four young men, marginalized by race and class, whose pursuits of alternative education pathways in Worcester, MA lead them towards constructing an inclusive opportunity on one's own terms. My assertion here is that the social issue is not exclusively about "dropouts," but about the relationships our schools, neighborhoods and society at large have on creating the enabling conditions of opportunity for our most marginalized students.
ContributorsBegin, Meshia (Author) / Lopez, Vera (Thesis advisor) / Cheng, Wendy (Committee member) / Sandlin, Jennifer (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2014
Description
National mandates to decrease suspension numbers have prompted school districts across the country to turn to a practice known as restorative justice as an alternative to removing students through suspension or referral to law enforcement for problematic behavior. This ethnographic case study examines school-based restorative justice programs as potentially disruptive social movements in dismantling the school-to-prison-pipeline through participatory analysis of one school’s implementation of Discipline that Restores.
Findings go beyond suspension numbers to discuss the promise inherent in the program’s validation of student lived experience using a disruptive framework within the greater context of the politics of care and the school-to-prison-pipeline. Findings analyze the intersection of race, power, and identity with the experience of care in defining community to illustrate some of the prominent structural impediments that continue to work to cap the program’s disruptive potential. This study argues that restorative justice, through the experience of care, has the potential to act as a disruptive force, but wrestles with the enormity of the larger structural investments required for authentic transformative and disruptive change to occur.
As the restorative justice movement gains steam, on-going critical analysis against a disruptive framework becomes necessary to ensure the future success of restorative discipline in disrupting the school-to-prison-pipeline.
Findings go beyond suspension numbers to discuss the promise inherent in the program’s validation of student lived experience using a disruptive framework within the greater context of the politics of care and the school-to-prison-pipeline. Findings analyze the intersection of race, power, and identity with the experience of care in defining community to illustrate some of the prominent structural impediments that continue to work to cap the program’s disruptive potential. This study argues that restorative justice, through the experience of care, has the potential to act as a disruptive force, but wrestles with the enormity of the larger structural investments required for authentic transformative and disruptive change to occur.
As the restorative justice movement gains steam, on-going critical analysis against a disruptive framework becomes necessary to ensure the future success of restorative discipline in disrupting the school-to-prison-pipeline.
ContributorsWeeks, Brianna Ruth (Author) / Cuadraz, Gloria (Thesis advisor) / Swadener, Elizabeth (Committee member) / Lopez, Vera (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2018
Description
Many studies have suggested the existence of what is called the school-to-prison pipeline, a model explaining the process by which we hinder the academic development of students of color and push them instead toward the criminal justice system. This process takes place through a series of practices called exclusionary discipline practices, and these include such things as suspensions, zero tolerance policies, and the prevalence of school resource officers that often reflect larger biases or implicit racism. These practices alienate students from the academic process, increasing dropout rates and negatively affecting student achievement. There has been a great deal of research investigating these discipline policies, but significantly less research investigating how teachers perceive these practices. This study examines the perceptions and attitudes of student teachers throughout their first experiences in the classroom. It explores their attitudes toward these policies, as well as their perceptions of discipline practices and student behavior problems. In conducting interviews with four student teachers, qualitative analysis of the resulting data shows that teachers are aware of the disadvantage that students of color face, however, they perceive some of these exclusionary discipline practices to be beneficial or neutral. Teachers understood suspensions to be detrimental to students, but saw no issues with zero tolerance policies or school resource officers. For this reason, it will be important to better educate teachers to be advocates for their students, and push for better policies at the administrative and legislative levels.
ContributorsLundy, Amy Nicole (Author) / Lopez, Vera (Thesis director) / Swadener, Elizabeth (Committee member) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Department of Psychology (Contributor) / School of Criminology and Criminal Justice (Contributor) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor)
Created2016-05
Description
Adolescent substance use carries a considerable public health burden, and early initiation into use is especially problematic. Research has shown that sensation seeking traits increase risk for substance use experimentation, but less is known about individual and contextual factors that can potentially protect against this risk. This study utilized a longitudinal sub sample of youth (N=567) from a larger study of familial alcoholism to examine sensation seeking in early adolescence (ages 10-15) and its relations to later substance use experimentation. Hypotheses tested whether individual executive control, parenting consistency, neighborhood disadvantage, and neighborhood ethnic concentration moderated sensation seeking’s effects on substance use experimentation using multilevel zero-inflated Poisson modeling. Across models, higher levels of sensation seeking were predictive of a higher likelihood of having initiated substance use, but sensation seeking was not significantly related to the number of different substance use classes tried. Only neighborhood disadvantage emerged as a significant moderator of the path from sensation seeking to substance use initiation. The strength of sensation seeking effects on substance use initiation increased as neighborhood disadvantage decreased below average levels, with the most advantaged neighborhoods exhibiting the strongest link between sensation seeking and substance use. There was also a trend towards the most disadvantaged neighborhoods exhibiting increased sensation seeking effects on substance use initiation. These results highlight the importance of focusing on relatively more advantaged areas as potentially risky environments for the externalizing pathway to substance use.
ContributorsJensen, Michaeline R (Author) / Gonzales, Nancy A. (Thesis advisor) / Chassin, Laurie (Thesis advisor) / Enders, Craig (Committee member) / White, Rebecca (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2016
Description
The role of the American police is to work for and with the communities they serve. The relationship between police and community, however, has not always been a positive one. In recent decades, police organizations throughout the United States have attempted various approaches to addressing the problem. Most recently, they have been focused on improving that relationship by enhancing their legitimacy. This practice is commonly known as the process-based model of policing: theoretically, a procedurally just interaction will enhance legitimacy, which in turn will enhance willingness to cooperate with the police. The benefit for police agencies in enhancing legitimacy lies in the idea that when the police are perceived as a legitimate entity, the public will be more likely to cooperate with them. Enhancing police legitimacy also offers benefits for the public, as this is preceded by a procedurally just interaction.
The goal of this dissertation is to assess the applicability of the process-based model of policing to an under-studied population: Hispanics and undocumented immigrants residing within Maricopa County, Arizona. The analysis for this dissertation uses data from two different sources: a sample of Maricopa County residents (n=854) and a sample of Maricopa County arrestees (n=2268). These data are used to assess three research questions. The first research question focuses on assessing the applicability of the process-based model of regulation as a theoretical framework to study this population. The second research question compares Hispanic and White respondents’ views of procedural justice, police legitimacy, and how these perceptions relate to their willingness to cooperate with the police. The last research question examines the differences between undocumented immigrants’ and U.S. citizens’ perceptions of procedural justice, police legitimacy, and how these perceptions relate to their willingness to cooperate with the police. In doing so, this study examined the convergent and discriminant validity of key theoretical constructs. Among several notable findings, the results show that the process-based model of regulation is a promising framework within which to assess perceptions of the police. However, the framework was only supported by the sample of arrestees. Implications for theory, practice, and suggestions for future research are discussed.
The goal of this dissertation is to assess the applicability of the process-based model of policing to an under-studied population: Hispanics and undocumented immigrants residing within Maricopa County, Arizona. The analysis for this dissertation uses data from two different sources: a sample of Maricopa County residents (n=854) and a sample of Maricopa County arrestees (n=2268). These data are used to assess three research questions. The first research question focuses on assessing the applicability of the process-based model of regulation as a theoretical framework to study this population. The second research question compares Hispanic and White respondents’ views of procedural justice, police legitimacy, and how these perceptions relate to their willingness to cooperate with the police. The last research question examines the differences between undocumented immigrants’ and U.S. citizens’ perceptions of procedural justice, police legitimacy, and how these perceptions relate to their willingness to cooperate with the police. In doing so, this study examined the convergent and discriminant validity of key theoretical constructs. Among several notable findings, the results show that the process-based model of regulation is a promising framework within which to assess perceptions of the police. However, the framework was only supported by the sample of arrestees. Implications for theory, practice, and suggestions for future research are discussed.
ContributorsNuño, Lidia (Author) / Katz, Charles M. (Thesis advisor) / Lopez, Vera (Thesis advisor) / White, Michael D. (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
Sexual risk taking is prevalent in adolescence, particularly among Latino teens, and can have serious consequences in the form of contraction of STIs, HIV, and increased risk of unintended pregnancy. Family contexts characterized by conflict and lack of support are antecedents of adolescent sexual risk taking, but evidence elucidating the mechanisms underlying this association is lacking. The current study sought to test two potential pathways to sexual risk taking within the framework of social developmental theory, among a sample of 189 Mexican origin adolescents and their caregivers interviewed in the 7th, 8th, and 12th grades. Structural equation modeling was utilized to examine pathways from 7th grade family risk to age of sexual initiation, number of lifetime sexual partners, and condom nonuse reported in the 12th grade. Deviant peer affiliations and academic engagement at 8th grade were tested as mediators of this relationship for boys and girls. Results confirm the importance of the family context, with family risk exerting direct effects on the number of lifetime sexual partners for both genders, and on age of sexual initiation for females only. Deviant peer affiliations serve as a mediator of family risk for males, but not females. When included in a model alongside deviant peers, academic engagement does not play the hypothesized mediating role between family risk and any of the sexual risk outcomes. Future research ought to consider additional mediators that better account for the relation between family risk and sexual risk taking among females.
ContributorsJensen, Michaeline R (Author) / Gonzales, Nancy A. (Thesis advisor) / Lopez, Vera (Committee member) / Millsap, Roger (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2012
Description
How do Queer Black Women make sense of their experiences within educational settings? How do they engage in space-making? How do educational settings protect Black Queer Women's bodies? Through a series of in-depth interviews with individuals that identify as, are labeled by others as, or previously identified as Queer Black Women, I found that participants understood their lived experiences intersectionality and understood their experiences in educational settings as critical to their self-development. Participants described race, sexuality, and gender as overlapping systems of oppression that negatively affected their experiences within educational settings. Not only did participants experience discrimination due to their race or gender, but also due to their sexuality. This seen and/or invisible identity leads them to experience multiple axes of oppression, not only inflicted by peers and teachers, but also the institutions. The findings have implications for theories of intersectionality and queer of color critique.
ContributorsMelendez-Mayfield, Amina (Author) / Charron-Chenier, Raphael (Thesis advisor) / Lopez, Vera (Committee member) / Garcia, Rocio (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2022
Description
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.
ContributorsKinnison, Emma (Author) / Lopez, Vera (Thesis director) / Charron-Chenier, Raphael (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor)
Created2023-05
Description
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.
ContributorsKinnison, Emma (Author) / Lopez, Vera (Thesis director) / Charron-Chenier, Raphael (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor)
Created2023-05
Description
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.
ContributorsKinnison, Emma (Author) / Lopez, Vera (Thesis director) / Charron-Chenier, Raphael (Committee member) / Barrett, The Honors College (Contributor) / School of Social Transformation (Contributor) / Dean, W.P. Carey School of Business (Contributor)
Created2023-05