In the last decade, California’s imprisoned population of women has increased by nearly 400% (Chesney-Lind, 2012). The focus of this thesis is to discuss the treatment—or lack thereof—of women within California’s criminal justice system and sentencing laws. By exploring its historical approach to two criminal actions related to women, the Three Strikes law (including non-violent drug crimes) and the absence of laws accounting for experiences of female victims of domestic violence who killed their abusers, I explore how California’s criminal code has marginalized women, and present a summary of the adverse effects brought about by the gender invisibility that is endemic within sentencing policies and practice. I also discuss recent attempted and successful reforms related to these issues, which evidence a shift toward social dialogue on sentencing aiming to address gender inequity in the sentencing code. These reforms were the result of activism; organizations, academics and individuals successfully raised awareness regarding excessive and undue sentencing of women and compelled action by the legislature.
By method of a feminist analysis of these histories, I explore these two pertinent issues in California; both are related to women who, under harsh sentencing laws, were incarcerated under the state’s male-focused legislation. Responses to the inequalities found in these laws included attempts toward both visibility for women and reform related to sentencing. I analyze the ontology of sentencing reform as it relates to activism in order to discuss the implications of further criminal code legislation, as well as the implications of the 2012 reforms in practice. Through the paper, I focus upon how women have become a target of arrest and long sentences not because they are strategically arrested to equalize their representation behind bars, but because the “tough on crime” framework in the criminal code cast a wide and fixed net that incarcerated increasingly more women following the codification of both mandatory minimums and a male-oriented approach to sentencing (Chesney-Lind et. al, 2012).
In today's business environment, customer service is more critical than ever. It is a major factor when consumers decide where to take their business. However, consumer choice is not applicable to all businesses for example, public utilities. Consumers do not have a choice in picking which utility company provides them service; the choice depends upon local jurisdictions and predetermined service territories. This lack of choice creates a "forced relationship" between consumers and public utilities. Because the nature of this relationship can have a negative impact, public utilities need to reevaluate their approach and invest in effective customer service as a valuable tool to achieve their organizational goals. This study investigates the need for public utilities to expand their investment; explores the available avenues to expand their investment; and offers a recommended pathway with the features and interface to expand their investment. Technology is the key in achieving organizational goals as it can reengineer internal and external operations. Self-service technology (SST) along with the features of gamification enable an organization to reengineer both its internal and its external operations. Companies can shift work from employees to customers and develop new mediums for customer service interaction. Overall, three investments are analyzed: traditional call centers, online, and mobile. The analysis focuses on available features and how those features affect the achievement of organizational goals. Two studies comprise interviews with utility representatives and a customer survey completed to reinforce findings. Based on the research, a smartphone application is the best option to enhance customer service while addressing all organizational goals.
Previous studies about the effects of regulatory institutions on the outcomes of regulation have resulted in a lack of consensus on the nature of these impacts. This paper seeks to resolve some of this ambiguity by analyzing two dimension of electric utility regulatory outcomes, prices and reliability, with a broader panel of explanatory variables and with a Hausman-Taylor regression technique. The results suggest that elected regulators and deregulated electricity markets result in worse reliability outcomes for consumers without strong evidence that either institution secures lower electricity prices. Incorporating these insights into a theoretical model of regulation could give more detailed insight into how to create regulatory institutions that can optimize the outcomes of governance.
This project dives into the journey of our entrepreneurial startup with the Founders Lab Thesis Program. In the global sports business industry, we knew that there was something missing. While conducting market research, there was little data and information about sustainability initiatives that engaged sports fans, especially in college sports. Not to mention, there was no sustainability information provided on any existing platforms that sporting teams use for ticketing and advertising. So, for our startup, we decided to create a website called SustainSports which gives fans the opportunity to inform themselves about sustainability initiatives at sports events (https://sustainsports.webflow.io/). These fans can also earn points and rewards for practicing sustainability activities at home. In short, SustainSports serves as an educational, interactive, and informative website that connects users to sustainability initiatives, community activities, and exciting rewards, while encouraging users to continue such environmentally-friendly practices in their daily lives. In chronological order, this thesis paper will examine the process we took to create SustainSports and demonstrate our efforts that properly allowed us to defend it one academic year later. From meetings with renowned sports enthusiasts and professors to interviews with ASU students and sports fans, we have listened to and taken in diverse perspectives to understand the perceptions of sustainability in the global sports industry. When we realized that there was a significant gap between sports and sustainability - both important elements of American society and culture - we knew a change needed to be made. Hence, SustainSports came to life, offering users a fresh opportunity to be more aware of their sustainability surroundings, while simultaneously enjoying the sports they know and love.
Digital learning tools have become ubiquitous in virtual and in person classrooms as teachers found creative ways to engage students during the COVID 19 pandemic. Even before the pandemic and widespread remote learning, however, digital learning tools were increasingly common and a typical part of many classrooms. While all digital learning tools are worthy of study, math digital learning tools (MDLTs) designed for K - 8th grade in particular raise questions of efficacy and usefulness for classrooms. This paper shows that MDLTs are an effective tool to raise students’ math achievement across K - 8th grade, and that time spent on MDLTs can lead to better understanding of a topic than traditional, teacher led instruction. However, if the MDLT is being delivered in a language the student is not familiar with, that student will not be able to benefit from MDLTs in the way other students do. This is also true of students who receive Special Education services. Additionally, higher quality MDLTs that provide feedback that attaches meaning to students’ work creates a better learning environment for students than one with simpler feedback. Based on my experiences with student teaching this year and using the popular MDLT IXL frequently, I recommend that MDLTs not just be used for independent practice time, but for whole class, problem solving sessions where students have to use mathematical thinking in new content areas. This will build deeper conceptual learning and a greater sense of achievement in students.
Media witnessing and storytelling for environmental justice (EJ) provide an avenue to understand the relationships between “multiple realities of environmental injury” and to analyze “fleeting phenomena with lasting form; thereby transforming phenomena that are experienced in a plurality of lives into publicly recognized history” (Houston, 2012, 419, 422). This creates opportunities to challenge and eradicate the oppressive structures that deem certain individuals and groups disposable and ultimately protect the possessive investment in whiteness. Therefore, for the purposes of EJ, media witnessing creates space for dynamic, citizen-based storytelling which can undermine narratives that promote the life versus economy framework that has perpetuated oppression, injustice, and state sanctioned violence. Media witnessing in an EJ context demonstrates the potential for collective understanding and action, political opportunities, and healing.<br/>This paper is an analysis of the process of media witnessing in regards to the Flint Water Crisis and the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline (DAPL) and will apply an EJ lens to this phenomenon. It will discuss how media witnessing in response to these two crises can be used as a precedent for understanding and utilizing this framework and digital storytelling to address the crises of 2020, primarily the COVID-19 pandemic and racial injustice. It will then examine how the intersectionality of race, gender, and age has implications for future media witnessing and storytelling in the context of EJ movements. Finally, it will explain how media witnessing can motivate holistic policymaking in the favor of EJ initiatives and the health and wellbeing of all Americans, as well as how such policymaking and initiatives must acknowledge the double-edged sword that is social media.