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Browsing by Author "Nowacki, Jeffrey, advisor"

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    Fair chance legislation: a state-level socio-political analysis
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2020) Creech, Danielle, author; Nowacki, Jeffrey, advisor; Opsal, Tara, committee member; Makela, Carole, committee member
    Laws vary greatly from state to state, with little clear understanding of what conditions make certain legislation politically viable. Although many studies have examined the ways that voter sentiments and race/ethnic social dynamics are tied to certain types of legislation, little has been done to evaluate the ways power dynamics in state government might impact the type of legislation enacted. Thus, this study examines the relationship between racial/ethnic measures, socio-political measures, and 'fair chance legislation' (FCL). Using OLS regression, this work lays the foundation for further in-depth examination of state-level socio-political dynamics and legislative outcomes.
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    Inequitable, disparate outcomes for U.S. divorces in 2022: how gender and age moderate family income and divorce
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2024) Falkinburg, Buday, author; Nowacki, Jeffrey, advisor; Roberts, Anthony, committee member; Braunstein, Elissa, committee member
    Divorce can significantly affect personal income, which economically harms adults and children during the post-divorce recovery. Half a century of research on how much a divorce affects gender stays relevant even to this day. What are the heterogeneous effects of divorce on income? Female divorcées potentially have less time to recover from a gray divorce than male divorcées due to a shorter time for higher education, job training, and career development. Devastating consequences plummet if divorcées are not adequately prepared or have a solid plan to rebuild their financial stability. Lower wage-earning potential and segregated occupations significantly affect female-headed households. Investigating the effects of divorce on the gendered family income differential is critical to research, as divorce, gender, and age are contributing mechanisms for the likelihood of the feminization of poverty. Examining the interaction of gender and age in the consequential context of divorces continues to marginalize female divorcées but significantly harms older divorced men more. Divorced women most likely will experience a delayed start to recuperate from the lost time of economic growth and wealth accumulation compared to male divorcées. An imperative suggestion for women is to obtain higher education credentials before significant life events such as marriage, childbirth, or divorce to obtain long-term economic stability.
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    Legal financial obligations: a focal concerns perspective
    (Colorado State University. Libraries, 2019) Parks, Megan, author; Nowacki, Jeffrey, advisor; Unnithan, Prabha, committee member; Hughes, Shannon, committee member
    Using State Court Processing Statistics (SCPS) data from 2009, I examine the effects of personal characteristics on the amount of legal financial obligations (LFOs) imposed on defendants and the monetary amount of these LFOs. Drawing on focal concerns theory, first developed by Steffensmeier (1980), which identifies three factors used by court actors in criminal sentencing: blameworthiness of the offender, protection of community, and practical constraints and consequences. Adjusting to these practical constraints causes court actors to employ "perceptual shorthand", utilizing defendant's characteristics in sentencing decisions. Applying focal concerns perspective is a novel approach to evaluating the effect of race/ethnicity, age, and gender on LFO imposition and LFO amounts.