Wendy A.
Bach, University of Tennessee College of Law
Investigating
Criminalization of the In-utero Transmission of Opiates to a Fetus
This study
focuses on the implementation, over two years, of the first
criminal statute in the nation to explicitly criminalize the transmission
of illegally obtained opiates to a fetus as assault. The study seeks to
determine the demographics of those prosecuted in comparison to the
demographics of those whose conduct could have led to prosecution; the
mechanisms of discretion that could have led particular women towards or
away from prosecution and finally, the outcomes in the criminal cases
themselves.
Davida
Finger, Loyola University New Orleans College of Law
Using
Eviction Data in New Orleans to Advocate for Housing Justice
This
project is based on an empirical study of approximately 12,000 eviction
cases filed over the last three years (2014-2016) in First City Court
located in New Orleans, Louisiana. This project focuses on what I call
eviction geography and what I call the
eviction economy to better understand the location, demographics, and cost
of Orleans Parish evictions. Research methods for this project have
been heavily influenced by the theory of participatory action research;
the views of tenants and their advocates frame both the study and
conclusions.
Jennifer
D. Oliva, West Virginia University College of Law
Justice System-Involved
Veterans Reintegration Study (JIVRS)
This is
a multi-phase, interdisciplinary project that seeks to design, develop,
operationalize, and evaluate an effective justice-involved veterans (JIV)
reentry program within a community-based framework to help ensure JIV are
able to successfully readjust and reintegrate into community life upon
their release from custody. Specifically, this study, which utilizes a
mixed-methods design, aims to collect JIV criminal history and
criminogenic risks, identify barriers to successful JIV reentry, identify
community-based services to deliver JIV reentry programming and services,
design and assist to operationalize a holistic, community-based JIV
reentry pilot, and evaluate the pilot at various time intervals to assess its
strengths and weaknesses.
Jessica
Steinberg, The George Washington University Law School
Behavior
of Judges with Self-Represented Litigants
The purpose of the study is to
gain insight into the operation of the civil justice system and the
judge’s role in promoting access to
justice by (1) observing how judges handle civil matters where at least
one party lacks representation, and (2) interviewing judges about their
approach in such cases. The role of the civil judge has undergone
significant reexamination in recent years, most notably with revisions to the
Model of Judicial Conduct allowing for more active judicial participation in
pro se cases, and yet little data exists examining the degree and extent of
judicial interventions in such matters. By collecting quantitative and
qualitative data on judicial practices in hundreds of civil protection order
cases, this project will investigate and map the landscape of judges’ perceived
and actual impact on distributive justice, procedural justice, and substantive
justice. In doing so, this project hopes to contribute data and analysis
relevant to the state of access to justice in the civil courts, and will
promote a better understanding of the relationship between prevailing ethical
standards and on-the-ground judicial conduct.