The present study addressed the lack of cognitive assessment instruments in the educational settings of adolescent and young adult students who are incarcerated in juvenile correctional institutions. The purpose of the study was to develop and validate a verbal problem solving questionnaire. The design of the Everyday Problem Questionnaire (EPQ) was based on a model and testing method for assessing cognitive development throughout the life-span. The study was conducted in two phases. In the first phase, the Everyday Problem Questionnaire was developed from descriptions of everyday life problems that were submitted in writing by 47 randomly-chosen males, aged 18 through 24 years, who were incarcerated in a high security state youth correctional institution. A second group of 25 randomly-chosen students from the same institution, rated the life problems on four criteria: (a) typicality, (b) personal experience, (c) interest level and, (d) level of difficulty. Nine problems were included in the final Everyday Problem Questionnaire. In the second phase, the new Everyday Problem Questionnaire was administered to a group of 54 randomly-chosen late adolescent and young adult males who were incarcerated. Four commonly used measures of cognitive ability and achievement were also administered, the Kaufman Adolescent and Adult Intelligence Test, the Test of Non-verbal Intelligence-Two, Second Edition, and the Woodcock-Johnson Tests of Achievement-Revised for reading and mathematics. The Everyday Problem Questionnaire responses were scored by three educators from the institution, who received training on an experimental scoring system that was a model of problem solving that included five steps. The other measurements were scored by a professional school psychologist. In the analyses of the first phase ratings indicated that the EPQ was shown to consist of life problems representative of adolescents and young adult males who have been incarcerated. Subsequent validation of the EPQ scoring system was not successful in the second phase of the study due to inconsistent inter-rater reliability. Consequently, the instrument could not be compared with results on other tests of cognition and achievement. Specific suggestions are made for designing a more reliable and stable scoring system. Issues regarding research and institutional access to students in a high-security youth corrections institutional setting are also discussed.

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This study uplifted the stories of formerly incarcerated and/or system-impacted students attending a California community college (i.e., “Rising Scholars”) to provide qualitative context to a growing literature following the state’s promotion of support programs at the University of California (UC), California State University (CSU), and California Community Colleges (CCC) systems. This study interviewed six formerly incarcerated/system impacted Rising Scholars using a narrative inquiry methodology with a theoretical framework of Critical Race Theory (CRT) and Desistance theory to inquire about their educational experiences before and during their enrollment at an urban California community college with reentry support. Key themes in the interviews include trauma in early educational experiences, dropping out of college, the gendered experiences of formerly incarcerated women, the role of pregnancy and parenthood as a turning point, and authentic care expressed by the support staff. The narratives of the participants are offered as a counter-narrative to the quantitative neoliberal practice of justifying reentry programs based solely on reductions in recidivism rates. Recommendations include increasing trauma-informed pedagogy in TK-12 and Postsecondary education, recruiting and educating more allies for Rising Scholars on campus, ensuring that campus reentry support programs fully meet the needs of female Rising Scholars, and uplifting successes and scholarship by Rising Scholars to build lasting structural support for the Rising Scholars Network.

Unemployment among formerly incarcerated citizens is a complex problem that continues to grow. Previous reentry studies describe the collateral effects of incarceration on employment from the perspective of formerly incarcerated individuals, yet little academic research exists regarding reentry practitioners' perceptions of constraints during the job search process. Using Goldratt's theory of constraints as the foundation, the purpose of this case study of reentry and employment in a mid-Atlantic state was to explore from the perspective of practitioners, the types of constraints individuals with criminal records face during the job search process, the most difficult phase of the job search process, and recommendations on improving employment outcomes. Data for this study were obtained from 20 reentry professionals in Maryland, who completed an online, open-ended response survey. Data were inductively coded and subjected to thematic analysis procedure. The results showed that practitioners perceived the background check to be the most difficult phase in the job search process, and that external and environmental constraints such as employer bias and social stigma prevent individuals with criminal records from securing job offers. The results also showed that reentry professionals support automatic record expungement, record shielding, employer partnerships, and employment programming that provides job leads, resume building, and mock interview assistance. The positive social change implications stemming from this study include policy recommendations to policy makers to include centralizing and expanding the location of statewide employment centers, record shielding under the Second Chance Act, and fair education access through Ban-the Box for state colleges.

This qualitative multiple-case study sought to provide an in-depth understanding of how children living in broken families-due to the wrongful conviction of parent(s)-developed psychosocial issues. The theoretical frameworks applied to this study were the social learning theory, the social control theory, the role-modeling theory, and the general theory of crime. A purposeful sample of 13 adults who were children at the time of their parents’ wrongful incarceration were drawn for phone and in-person interviews. The data were transcribed and analyzed to code, sort, and organize; to analyze connections in the information, and to compare and contrast cases. The multiple-case study data were analyzed using 1st and 2nd cycle coding. Among the 10 themes identified in this study were these 5: family structure and activities, behavioral issues associated with the wrongful conviction of their parents, wrongful conviction effects on education, mental health impacts of a parental wrongful conviction on left-behind children and bullying in school and at home. This implications for positive social change are that the findings raise awareness of the psychosocial issues experienced by children whose parent(s) were wrongfully imprisoned for government officials, community leaders, policymakers, and justice reform advocates who can use them to implement programs to provide psychosocial assistance to all children of incarcerated parents.

No description available.

Barn och unga med ett frihetsberövat syskon har en ökad risk för psykisk ohälsa och kriminalitet och är därmed i behov av socialt stöd. Dessvärre har målgruppen tidigare försummats i såväl forskning som praktik och stödbehovet har därmed inte tillgodosetts. 2021 implementerade dock Bufff projektet Bryta mönster med målet att utveckla och förbättra stödet till målgruppen. Rådande studie har genom fyra semistrukturerade intervjuer med verksamma inom projektet, analyserat projektets programteoretiska grund och dess upplevda och förväntade effekter samt identifierat utmaningar som verksamma möter i arbetet med projektet. Resultatet åskådliggjorde hur projektets aktiviteter bemöter både emotionella och instrumentella behov och riktas mot såväl syskonen själva som personer och verksamheter i deras omgivning. Därmed stärks både syskonen och de prosociala nätverken runtomkring vilket uppgavs vara effektivt för att minska risken för psykisk ohälsa och kriminalitet. Resultatet synliggjorde dock utmaningar i att identifiera och nå fram till både syskonen själva men även till relevanta verksamheter som kan tänkas uppmärksamma och utveckla sitt stöd till målgruppen. Dessa utmaningar uppgavs dock minska i takt med att målgruppen i högre grad uppmärksammas. Överlag framgick därmed en positiv bild av detta unika projekt och dess förmåga att synliggöra och förbättra stödet till barn och unga med ett frihetsberövat syskon. / Children and youths with an incarcerated sibling have an increased risk of mental health issues and criminality and thus require social support. Unfortunately this target group has previously been neglected in both research and practice, and their needs of support have therefore not been met. However in 2021 the Bufff implemented the project Breaking Patterns with the aim of developing and improving support for this target group. The current study has, through four semi-structured interviews with practitioners, analyzed the project’s program theory and its perceived and expected effects, as well as identified challenges encountered by practitioners in working with the project. The results illustrated how the project includes activities that address both emotional and instrumental needs, targeting both the siblings themselves and individuals and organizations in their environment. Consequently, both the siblings and the prosocial networks around them are strengthened, which was said to be effective in reducing the risk of mental health issues and criminality. However, the results highlighted challenges in identifying and reaching both the siblings themselves and relevant organizations that could potentially enhance their support for the target group. Nevertheless, these challenges were reported to decrease as awareness of the target group increases. Overall, a positive picture emerged of this unique project and its ability to highlight and improve support for children and young people with an incarcerated sibling.

Registered nurses and registered psychiatric nurses are members of multidisciplinary mental health teams that address the assessment and treatment of vulnerable youth. The phenomenon of interest for this study is nursing's distinct contribution to a multidisciplinary team in this clinical domain. An interpretive description drawing on the perspectives of seven nurses and seven clinicians from the professions of psychiatry, psychology, social work, child and youth care, and registered clinical counselling provides insight into understanding nursing's distinct contribution (NDC) to multidisciplinary mental health teams that serve vulnerable youth (MMHTSVY). Six major themes and multiple subthemes were inductively derived. The findings make explicit nursing’s contribution to MMHTSVY in ways that are meaningful to the clinical practice. / Graduate

Security and race have historically been entangled in the politics of nation-building, whereby national security discourses have constructed the ‘public’ whom it should protect as ‘white’ while demonizing persons of colour as a threat to that public. In the current war against terrorism, these racialized discourses, underwritten by a colonial logic, have materialized through the symbolic and literal displacement of Muslim persons. Under this imperative of national security, both existing and novel legislations have either been suspended, contorted, or implemented to be used against Muslims, or anyone who visibly appears Muslim. Security certificates are one of such judicial tools. This thesis seeks to explore the experiences of securitization, analyzing how this legislation strips the subjects of the security certificate program of their legal rights and social connectedness. To explore this, I interviewed three of the five men from the ‘Secret Trial Five’ cases and some of their family members. I investigate how securitization manifests in the lives of those who have been securitized, exploring the practices that are used to maintain and reinforce the othering and the displacement of Muslim populations.