After the rebellion over the killing of Michael Brown, the US Justice Department reported that over-policing for the sake of monetary extraction was taking place in Ferguson, MO, with non-White and people in poverty being disproportionately targeted at the hands of the police. And while it has been shown to be present within the Ferguson community, this extraction and targeting by police is not a geographically isolated occurrence. Based on previous research, a racialized, economic-based system of oppression goes hand-in-hand with policing. But how do the qualities of these geographies affect the prominence and location of police violence on a systemic level? Through a process of identity creation and reification informed through the interaction of racial capitalism and the state, specific geographies are identified with different groups within society as a function of housing segregation. These areas are then targeted by police based on their identity and the existing social hierarchy. By using data from Fatal Encounters, an independent organization which catalogs who has been killed by police, coupled with demographic descriptors of place, I show that zip codes with higher levels of Black and Hispanic populations as well as worse-off economic measures were positively associated with an increased odds of more people being killed by police. By shedding light on the drivers of this cycle of violence, I hope to contribute to the establishment of a more just society by redefining who shall be protected from what and whose interests shall be served.

This thesis explores how government and society are invariably against the racial sharing of spaces. It examines how impoverished Black communities are created, sustained and perpetuated. The thesis is concerned with two main theories about race repression, race castes and racialization of space, both of which posit race as the main factor shaping the existing power relations. The work first draws upon the era of de jure segregation to highlight features of castes and racialized space. The first chapter looks at how housing discrimination caused Harlem to develop into a ghetto space. In the post-de jure era, the second chapter examines how the economics of racialized space access continued to inform a national framework defined by race-neutrality. It examines how, against the wake of Civil Rights era and community rioting, politicians discursively campaigned by demonizing and criminalizing Black rioters and Black culture. The War on Drugs, which emerged against the backdrop of Rights activism, called for crime control in Black communities. By targeting Blacks already isolated in “ghetto” spaces, politicians ensure that they over-compensate White communities with the public benefits and economic resources that are taken away from Blacks spaces. In media as well as in politics, our nation continuously fails to contextualize the costs of the War on Drugs on Black communities. The final chapter examines a film to show how popular depictions of Black ghettos and misconceptions about the War on Drugs, continue to feed our ideological and actual understandings of racialized space and privileged access.

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In a two-part study, dating sexual expectations will be evaluated and the sexual social exchange theory will be investigated in a date rape trial. In Part 1, participants (N = 100) will be presented with one of two fictional date scenarios that will differ only on the cost of the date (i.e., $30 or $175). Participants will then indicate what behaviors (sexual and not sexual) are appropriate at the end of a first date and then a fifth date. It is predicted that all participants will expect sexual intercourse more on the fifth date than the first, and that participants in the expensive date scenario will expect sexual intercourse more than participants in the inexpensive date condition. Part II will use the information gathered in Part I to investigate how sexual expectations in a dating scenario may manifest themselves as feelings of reciprocity in the sexual social exchange theory. In Part II participants (N = 160) will be presented with one of four trial summaries that differ depending on the cost of the date (i.e., $30 or $175) and the date number (i.e., first or fifth). Participants will render a verdict and then rate the defendant and alleged victim on various rating factors (e.g., credibility), in addition to completing the Illinois Rape Myth Acceptance scale, short form. It is predicted that there will be fewer guilty verdicts and lower pro-victim judgments for both men and women when the cost of the date was high and when the couple was on their fifth date. It is also predicted that men will render fewer guilty verdicts and report lower pro-victim attitudes than women. Juror rating subscales (e.g., victim credibility) and rape myth acceptance scores are predicted to mediate the effects of the cost of date and date number on verdict. The results will be discussed in terms of how the sexual social exchange theory can explain juror perceptions in a date rape trial.

This paper focuses on exploring how housing discrimination and the war on drugs affect the way communities are shaped and viewed. The area of focus is Harlem, but the paper explores these tensions in a general way as well. The paper draws on popular academic theories about racialization.

Exposure to multiple forms of victimization has been shown to have increasingly negative outcomes, but their unique trajectory-setting effects have been largely unexplored. Using a life course approach, this paper examines the trajectory-setting effects of childhood polyvictimization into early adulthood. I use a nationwide sample including 3,652 respondents after cleaning and preparation. Seemingly unrelated regressions were used to predict depression and criminal behavior in childhood and adulthood. Results suggest childhood polyvictimization sets children on a negative trajectory which grows increasingly worse through the life course. Researchers and interventions should take these trajectory-setting effects into account when attempting to aid polyvictims.

Emergency department nurses are at high risk for violence in the workplace (Keely, 2002; Fernandez et al., 1998; Nachreiner et al., 2005; Mayer et al., 1999). It is estimated that between 52% and 82% of emergency nurses will experience physical violence and 100% of emergency department nurses will experience non-physical violence in their careers. Despite this fact, there are limited studies examining workplace violence among this vulnerable group (Fernandez et al., 1998; Levin et al., 1998). Therefore, the purpose of this qualitative descriptive study was to examine the experiences of emergency department nurses with workplace violence. Levin et al.’s (2003) Ecological Occupational Model (EOHM) was used to guide this study. Four focus groups were conducted with 27 nurses who represented different types of emergency departments (rural community facility to large urban Level 1 trauma center). Results of the study suggested that the majority of participants (96%) experienced some form of work-related violence and 75% had attended at least one violence education class. The major themes of frustration and powerlessness emerged from the data. Sub themes included professional conflict while caring for violent patients, personal detachment as an emotional survival mechanisms, and feelings of victimization. Additional factors contributing to workplace violence included: personal attributes of the nurse, the workplace, and the community where the emergency department was located. These study results have potential to guide intervention development aimed at reducing workplace violence in the emergency department setting.

Juvenile misuse of prescription drugs in the United States has continuously increased over the last few decades, especially within rural regions of the country. Despite continuous increase in rates of misuse, limited research exists on elements of socialization that may function to prevent drug use. The current study utilized the Monitoring the Future Survey data to explore prescription drug misuse between different populations of juveniles. While using Hirschi’s (1969) theory of social bonds as a theoretical framework, different elements of socialization were explored to determine whether they work to contribute or prevent prescription drug misuse among rural and urban juveniles. Results indicated that parental attachment served as the most substantial protective factor among both populations of juveniles. Additionally, socialization differed in relation to prescription drug use among rural and urban youth. These findings could be implicated in future anti-drug programs that specifically target different regions of the country.

This study explored changes in affect regulation and coping strategies with family functioning and attachment behaviors among a sample of incarcerated male adolescents (N = 115) and their maternal caregivers (N = 71). The sample participated in the Multiple Family Group Intervention (MFGI; Keiley, 2007) which is an 8-session program conducted in a juvenile correctional institution with adolescents adjudicated of a sexual offense, and their families. In 90-minute sessions, group facilitators use a six-step therapeutic method for altering interactional patterns from an affect regulation and attachment perspective. Using enactments and discussion, the intervention targets affect regulation and communication skills. Results indicate that changes in affect regulation and coping skills from pre- to post-intervention were related to changes in family functioning and attachment behaviors. Findings add to growing empirical support for the utility of systemic interventions within juvenile justice systems to strengthen affect regulation, coping skills, family functioning, and attachment behaviors.

When juveniles are defined by society as delinquent they are frequently institutionalized. These institutions are referred to as reform schools, correctional institutions or schools, residential care facilities, treatment centers, or variations of the above. They are state sponsored or privately sponsored. Whatever name is on the sign by the front door, each institution is in the business of "people changing." The excellence of an inanimate product can be measured, weighed, checked, and reproduced; but an altered person is more difficult to measure. If one is in the business of people-changing, it seems important to see if one is in fact changing people. This study of post institutional adjustment in one privately sponsored girl's residential care facility is an attempt to look at change in a group of released girls measured in the scale devised by the study group).