Originalism is a legal framework of constitutional interpretation that re-emerged in the United States in the 1970's as part of the conservative legal movement. In the decades since, originalism has grown in prominence both in government institutions and interest groups. Using critical discourse analysis, this research identifies the frames and narratives developed in originalism and examines how those frames and narratives are used by network members in friend of the Court briefs in Shelby County v. Eric Holder 2013 and Students for Fair Admissions v. Regents of Harvard University 2022. This research finds three dominant frames in the originalist literature and demonstrates how these frames are deployed in amicus brief in support of the petitioners in each of the two cases. This research provides a sociological perspective on the use of originalism and how it is used to reverse civil rights gains.

The intent of this thesis is to create a new heuristic for processes of identification. Currently, Burke's identification theory only accounts for his definition of successful identification. This thesis explores how Burke's initial identification theory interacts with other theories that contribute to identity formation. Specifically, Fernheimer's identification half-steps, Reynold's ethos as location theory, and Kerschbaum's commodification of difference will be used to build on Burke's theory and develop a new heuristic. The new heuristic will be applied to the San Quentin State Prison's inmate-run newspaper, the San Quentin News, to explore how inmates are utilizing rhetorical identification strategies to change the dominant conversations surrounding their identity.

The current study examined the relationship of testifier type (expert, character witness) and race. Fifty-three participants were selected via convenience sampling to read four scenarios and answer a series of questions regarding the guilt or innocence of the defendant in each scenario. The scenarios included the absence or presence of racial identifiers and the presence of either a character witness or the testimony of an expert. It was hypothesized that the scenario with the presence of expert testimony will yield more guilty verdicts as well as the effectiveness of the testimony will cause a participant to yield a guiltier verdict. The research concluded that participants rendered more guilty verdicts in the absence of race. Additionally, expert testimony was found to be more effective than the testimony of a character witness even when both testifiers presented the same information.

Given the ever-growing body of evidence surrounding implicit bias in and beyond the institution of the law, there is an equally growing need for the law to respond to the accurate science of prejudice in its aspiration to objective practice and just decision-making. Examined herein are the existing legal conceptualizations of implicit bias as utilized in the courtroom; implicit bias as peripheral to law and implicit bias as effectual in law, but not without active resolution. These views and the interventional methods, materials, and procedures they inspire are widely employed to appreciably “un-bias” legal actors and civic participants; however, without an accurate conceptualization of the science of prejudice in law, these interventions are likely doing more harm than good. On the basis that these interventional techniques are unscientific in their methodology, reliant upon a misleading theory of transparency of mind, deny the inherently emotional and biased origin of the court, and are disseminated largely technocratically, they fail to serve their intended purpose. In actuality, they reinforce systemic intergroup biases and are seen to produce a lesser objective justice. This project reiterates, as with so many aspects of justice, that there must be the same care taken in the address of those structural and institutional contributions to implicit bias that the enterprise of law perpetuates in and of itself as have been taken in the address of our individual cognitive predispositions toward discrimination.

As more public spaces are under the influence of private stakeholders in cities, it is important to consider the role, both financial and social, that these stakeholders have on the design of the physical space and the users of the space. This analysis will utilize a qualitative methodological approach to understand the contested redevelopment of a public park in Richmond, Virginia as it transitioned from a city-owned space to a public-private partnership. By gaining a better understanding of the major spheres of influence involved in the redevelopment, namely the large public university and the corporations adjacent to the space, it is understood that the public spaces in question take on forms that are less public and more exclusionary in nature. Upon the conclusion of this analysis, I provide suggestions and recommendations for the future of the public forum and the role that private stakeholders might have in public spaces going forward.

This study explored the level of involvement of school social workers in the 504-Plan process as it relates to the administrative culture of school administrators, collaboration with school personnel, training on the 504-Plan process, and finally knowledge of Section 504. Attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder affects over six-million children in the world today that may benefit from the use of a 504-Plan. A total of 147 school social workers participated in this study. A self-administered survey was used, and data analysis was conducted on two levels: descriptive which employed frequency and percent distributions of respondents and analytical procedures. The Kruskal-Wallis H test utilized for this study which indicated a statistically significant relationship which rejected the null hypotheses of all four research questions. A second test was then performed, Mann Whitney U test, to determine where the significance of the hypotheses lied. Findings revealed that overall there is a low level of involvement of school social workers in the 504-Plan process of 64.8%. Twenty-nine and a third percent reported a moderate level of involvement. There was a low to moderate level of administrative culture, moderate level of collaboration, training and knowledge among the school social workers.

Our criminal justice system works very hard to prevent criminals from harming other individuals; however, unfortunately mistakes happen. One wrongful conviction is one too many. There are multiple factors that can be assumed to be the cause of wrongful convictions. However, due to the lack of directly related research, the determents are not well established. The following research addresses wrongful convictions as a result of public defender representation. Through the process of theory construction, the research uses critical race theory and social disorganization theory to show the relationship between court appointed representation and wrongful convictions. A new theory is also established that is referred to as the partial load reduction theory. This theory establishes the relationship that exists between wrongful convictions and public defender representation and provides solutions as well as new avenues for future research.

This thesis examines how Jews of the Ottoman Empire responded to newfound opportunities that emerged across the domains of the late Ottoman Empire in the nineteenth century due to the Ottoman bureaucratic reforms (Tanzimat). It challenges the discourses that argue that Jews engaged probing issues such as nationalism in a monolithic fashion. Rather, Sephardi and Arab Jews, based on socioeconomic status and geographic location in the Empire approached questions of affiliation with the Empire or attachment to new forms of nationalism based on divergent structures that informed their lives and personal political choices. This project explores the main avenues that Jews in the Ottoman world used to approach questions that animated the public discourse not just of Jews, but of peoples across the globe who struggled to find new avenues for belonging in shifting geopolitical terrains. For Jewish communities in the Ottoman world, four dominant avenues and attitudes emerged: traditionalists who desired to maintain the status quo; those who sought an Ottoman or Turkish Republican future; Sephardi Zionists who believed they were integral to Ottoman communal history; provincial nationalists who agitated for distinct regional identities. The thesis also briefly examines the Armenian millet’s socio-political situation during the nineteenth and twentieth century in order to show the ways in which the Jewish millet was both in tandem with broader nationalist discourses but were also less cohesively politically organized than other millets in the Empire.

Juvenile justice reforms in America today closely resemble the ones that occurred over a century ago. The reforms of both eras aim to separate juveniles from adults and emphasize rehabilitation over punishment. Why is policy repeating itself? In search of an answer, I look to a monumental series of liberal Supreme Court decisions made in the 1960s that constituted what is now known as the Civil Rights Era’s “due process revolution.” In these cases, the Supreme Court provided juveniles with procedural protections in attempt to prevent the manifestation of racial bias in the juvenile court. It is commonly agreed upon that the due process revolution failed in its mission to protect minority youth. However, scholars are divided on why it failed. Some claim that states simply did not implement the protections properly. Others argue that a conservative backlash obstructed their proper implementation. In this thesis, I put forth that the decisions themselves — specifically, Kent v. United States and In Re Gault — criminalized youth by mistakenly presuming that racism could be regulated out of the court by enhanced procedures of due process. The liberal decisions made in Kent and Gault ultimately paved the way for the conservative carceral agenda of the late twentieth century and subjected minority youth to unprecedented punitive policy. I refer to Naomi Murakawa’s “racial innocence” theory to illuminate this interpretation of events and suggest that communities look inwards for alternatives to institutional reform.

It’s been more than a decade since the National Institute of Mental Health (NAMI) initiated its public campaign, ‘Real Men Real Depression.’ Despite increased awareness, research and relevant studies indicate that African American / Black men continue to underutilize mental health treatment while still having the highest all-cause mortality rates of any racial/ ethnic group in the United States. When reading this statement, one must question what impact that the beliefs about ‘social workers’ through the lens of Black males in the United States, may play. This very simply, yet flammable, question not only seems pertinent but also seems to warrant further exploration due to the research that shows that service access and help-seeking by African-American males across the lifespan is significantly lower than that of their non-Black counterparts. That same research seems to make assumptions about why this is, however it is only responsible and ethical, given the National Association of Social workers’ (NASW) Code of Ethics calling for cultural competence in practice, that we challenge and test the rationales being offered. This study was exploratory in nature, employed a snowball sampling methodology, and utilized an electronic survey offered through social media and promoted by word of mouth, targeting Black males over the age of 18, to assess their overall knowledge about being a social worker, and their beliefs and perceptions about social workers and how they believe social workers perceive them. The goal of this study was to begin to explore the reasons for overwhelming statistics that speak to the fact that Black males do not access mental health services, especially those provided by social workers. A total of 59 were started, and 43 completed, by the target respondents, which included a 5-item scale, to assess basic knowledge about social workers, a 10-item scale to assess the general beliefs about social workers, and 13-item scale to assess the beliefs about the perceptions of social workers about Black males. Univariate and bivariate analyses were performed using SPSS, and the results revealed that although there was a moderate level of general knowledge about social workers, the general belief of the respondents were primarily negative, with their beliefs about how social workers see Black males was just slightly more positive. These results seemed to be across the board and were not shown to be correlated with level of education, income, or whether they has received direct services provided by social workers or had no affiliation with such services. What did seem to have some relevance was an overall negative belief about social workers, and a level of suspicion and distrust for how their information would be used, as evidenced by 16 respondents who started the survey but would not completed it. In keeping with the NASW Code of Ethics, recommendation are provided to helps clinicians and those social workers providing direct service, be informed of the suspicions and apprehensions among this population, while encouraging the importance of continuous learning and increasing of cultural competence, awareness and humility. Lastly, recommendations for future research are also provided for the same purposes.