A Driving Dilemma: Examining the Community Impacts of Failure to Pay Driver's License Suspensions

Description

Driver’s licenses are central to many people's livelihoods, allowing us the ability to travel for work, education, healthcare, and all other essentials of life. Often, however, driver’s licenses are suspended as a means of enforcing traffic violations. About two years…

Driver’s licenses are central to many people's livelihoods, allowing us the ability to travel for work, education, healthcare, and all other essentials of life. Often, however, driver’s licenses are suspended as a means of enforcing traffic violations. About two years ago, Arizona significantly changed the civil traffic enforcement landscape in the state as it passed a law—S.B. 1551—that, in part, made it so individuals could no longer receive driver’s license suspensions for failing to pay a civil traffic fine. This study aimed to examine how this legal change has impacted civil traffic enforcement in Tempe, Arizona. As part of this work, I helped my thesis supervisor with overseeing student groups in one of his online courses in a research project that centered around studying the community impacts of driver’s licenses suspensions. I met with my thesis supervisor to coordinate how the project would be implemented, assisted students with learning how to use data analysis and visualization tools, and edited the paper of the student group selected as the top team so that they could share their findings with members of the Tempe Municipal Court. Coinciding with the research done by these student groups, I also conducted my own analysis, using traffic data provided by the Tempe Municipal Court to be able to determine how the passage of S.B. 1551 was affecting civil traffic trends related to failure to pay dispositions, if at all. Overall, I found that S.B. 1551 presented implications for both accountability and equality related to civil traffic enforcement. To the enforcement concerns, the number of failure to pay dispositions rose after the passage of SB 1551. With traffic fines being a central means for punishing and deterring traffic violations, people no longer being compelled to pay them may present issues for regulating traffic safety. However, this study also demonstrated that, had S.B. 1551 not been implemented, driver’s license suspensions for failure to pay dispositions may have disproportionately and adversely impacted communities in Tempe by socioeconomic status and race. Hopefully, this project can guide policymakers in setting civil traffic enforcement policy, taking into account both the enforcement and equitability implications, as well as to serve as a starting point for future research on the topic.

Date Created
2023-05
Agent

Getting It Right -- Not!: Avoiding Wrongful Convictions Using Technology

Description

In order to best approach the paradoxical concepts of exonerations and wrongful convictions in the determinate system of US courts, both court agents (i.e. attorneys and judges) and citizens that interact with it must increase their understanding of the various…

In order to best approach the paradoxical concepts of exonerations and wrongful convictions in the determinate system of US courts, both court agents (i.e. attorneys and judges) and citizens that interact with it must increase their understanding of the various perspectives found in the process. Through the use of an app for mobile devices, information from the perspective of these court agents can be easily accessible for anyone, serving as a valuable learning tool for not only individuals that strive to work in the justice system, but citizens that will possibly interact with it in the future as well.

Date Created
2021-05
Agent

Youth Restorative Justice in Courts: Program Evaluation and Tempe Municipal Court Proposal

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Description
Juvenile restorative justice has become an increasingly common alternative to punitive justice in recent decades. This project evaluates best practices and strategies that have been effective in reducing recidivism while upholding the key tenets of restoration. The goal of this…

Juvenile restorative justice has become an increasingly common alternative to punitive justice in recent decades. This project evaluates best practices and strategies that have been effective in reducing recidivism while upholding the key tenets of restoration. The goal of this project is to compile a reference for best practices and recommendations for the implementation of a juvenile restorative justice program at the Tempe Municipal Court. Through a comparison of two court-based restorative programs in the United States and a compilation of relevant research, a recommendation of Circle Conferencing is appropriate for the needs of the Tempe Municipal Court.
Date Created
2020-05
Agent

Stigma and The Mental Health Court

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Description
This thesis explores the connection between how the stigmatization of mental illness may be perpetuated by health care workers and the effect this has on individuals using mental health care services, focusing on how it negatively impacts the outcome of…

This thesis explores the connection between how the stigmatization of mental illness may be perpetuated by health care workers and the effect this has on individuals using mental health care services, focusing on how it negatively impacts the outcome of treatment. Much research and studies have been done on the topic of stigma, but few have surveyed how mental health care service users are directly impacted by stigma, specifically from members of the health care community. The Tempe Mental Health Court, a local alternative program for individuals who have diagnosed serious mental health issues and have committed misdemeanor offenses, is an exemplar of a treatment program that may be impacted by this stigma. Literature research collected for this paper analyzed how stigmatization is perpetuated through actions and words, and how this negatively impacts the stigmatized. Additionally, research was also gathered on how mental health care workers may play a part in the stigmatization of mental illness. A survey based off of The Stigma Scale developed by Michael King and his associates was administered at the Mental Health Court to be taken by participants of the program (2007). The survey aimed to figure out whether stigma was present at the court, if so, how it was being presented, and what role health care professionals and other members of the court had in perpetuating it. The survey was administered online and totaled 30 questions. Afterwards, survey data was compared and analyzed to the information gathered through literature research. Solutions for intervening in the stigma were derived from the survey as well as outside research. Based on these survey results as well as the outside research conducted, proposals for further research were suggested at the end of this paper.
Date Created
2020-05
Agent

Civil Court Mediation in the 21st Century

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Description
Tempe, and the greater justice system, consistently seeks to re-evaluate its operations and processes to meet the ever-increasing conflicts that are brought into the courts purview. Nationally, municipal courts have seen a decrease in civil matters, however, this is…

Tempe, and the greater justice system, consistently seeks to re-evaluate its operations and processes to meet the ever-increasing conflicts that are brought into the courts purview. Nationally, municipal courts have seen a decrease in civil matters, however, this is not the case in Tempe. My goal for this project was to assess and reflect on the circumstances that surround civil matters within the municipal court. As a case study, I observed and evaluated several civil court cases. In doing so, I analyzed the ways in which legal consciousness and discourse are used to solve existing civil court matters. I then took these data and considered the ways in which mediation could be used as a justice alternative. In proposing mediation as an alternative, I focus on the ways in which mediation better serves to build positive legal consciousness and address all forms of discourse that can be presented in specific civil cases. Finally, I discuss a strategy that can be used within the Tempe Courts to implement mediation as a long-term problem-solving court strategy.
Date Created
2019-05
Agent

A century of land-use change in metropolitan Phoenix

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Description
The Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan area has sustained one of the United States' fastest growth rates for nearly a century. Supported by a mild climate and cheap, available land, the magnitude of regional land development contrasts with heady concerns over…

The Phoenix, Arizona metropolitan area has sustained one of the United States' fastest growth rates for nearly a century. Supported by a mild climate and cheap, available land, the magnitude of regional land development contrasts with heady concerns over energy use, environmental sensitivity, and land fragmentation. This dissertation uses four empirical research studies to investigate the historic, geographic microfoundations of the region's oft-maligned urban morphology and the drivers of land development behind it. First, urban land use patterns are linked to historical development processes by adapting a variety of spatial measures commonly used in land cover studies. The timing of development - particularly the global financial crisis of the late 2000s, and the impact of varying market forces is examined using econometric analyses of land development drivers. This pluralistic approach emphasizes the importance of local geographic knowledge and history to empirical study of urban social science while stressing the importance of temporal effects. Evidence is found that while recent asset market changes impact local land development outcomes, preferences for place may be changing too. Even still, present-day neighborhoods are heavily conditioned by the market and institutional conditions of the historical period during which they developed, while the hegemony of low-cost housing on the urban fringe remains.
Date Created
2015
Agent
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