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RETHINKING THE RIGHT TO SHELTER IN THE POST-DOBBS JUDICIARY
Get PDFUnlike some similarly situated nations, the United States does not recognize the right to shelter. As a result, the country’s homelessness epidemic is exacerbated by anti-homelessness laws that punish homeless people for peddling, dumpster-diving, or sleeping in public encampments. Largely supported by the government, non-profit charities receive funding in order to deliver sheltering services into communities; however, shelters often have restrictions on who they allow to access their services. The U.S. Supreme Court has not held that there is no right to shelter, but federal and state courts have used Supreme Court precedent to carve out an understanding that no such right exists. The U.S. Constitution provides a limited number of enumerated rights, but the Supreme Court has utilized the substantive due process doctrine to find constitutional rights that are not explicit in the text of the Constitution. In 2022, the Court demonstrated a shift in their approach to substantive due process analyses by abandoning their practice of engaging in a balancing test to determine to what extent governments could restrict people’s liberty. Instead, the Court reasoned that for an unenumerated right to be constitutionally recognized, it must be deeply rooted in the nation’s history or essential to ordered liberty.
With a change in approach, the right to shelter must be reconsidered. The philosophies of the American Founders acknowledge the importance of assisting the poorest sects of society not only because it fulfills the government’s duty to seek justice, but because it is critical for the legitimacy of a nation. From the Colonial era until the turn of the twentieth century, state and local governments provided sheltering services to their communities’ poorest. These services first came in the form of poorhouses and then via state-run institutions that provided care for people with the highest risk of homelessness, such as abandoned children and people with mental or physical impediments. Throughout the twenty-first century, the federal government stepped into the arena and began providing relief by funding programs that prevent homelessness and by providing grants and contracts to non-profit charities that deliver sheltering services directly to communities. Given the extensive history of government-backed sheltering services, the importance of shelter to the integrity of American justice, and the philosophies of the American Founders, this Article shows that a modern analysis supports the right to shelter despite prior judicial holdings to the contrary
Validation of a Brief Response Restriction Preference Assessment
No full textIdentifying preferred stimuli is an important aspect of education and treatment for individuals with autism spectrum disorder (ASD). Previous research has evaluated and validated the response restriction (RR) preference assessment, a combination of both free-operant and selection-based methods. The RR preference assessment is advantageous for identifying reinforcing stimuli but can be time-consuming and the criteria for restricting stimuli can be difficult to interpret. The current study extends research on the RR assessment by evaluating and validating a brief version (BRR) with two adolescents with autism. The results of the concurrent operant reinforcer assessment showed that the items identified as BRR-high or high-high were chosen over the SP-high items, suggesting that the BRR preference assessment can be a valid predictor of reinforcing stimuli
WESTERN NEW ENGLAND LAW REVIEW TRIBUTE TO DEAN BETH COHEN
Get PDFThis Author’s tribute acknowledges Professor Beth Cohen for her service as Interim Dean during the 2022-2023 academic year, her commitment to legal writing and excellence in legal education, and her years of service to the Western New England University School of Law
THE IDEA OF PRIVATE LAW: A COMMUNITARIAN VERSION OF KANTIAN RIGHTS
Get PDFThis Article begins with the introduction of two competing schools in private law. One school claims that private law is to achieve efficient resource allocation or wealth maximization. The other school follows the bipolar structure of corrective justice with the assistance of the Kantian theory. While each side is very strong and elegant, neither is able to claim the totality of private law. Naturally, scholarship reconciling the two schools is urgently needed. Although there is a thin body of literature, trying to reconcile the two competing schools, the outcome has been far from satisfactory. This Article tries to fill an important gap in the literature by developing the communitarian version of Kantian right while taking into consideration the efficient resource allocation within the bipolar structure of corrective justice. After articulating such a theory, this Article has made an effort in analyzing empirical evidence from United States judicial practice to test whether the communitarian version of Kantian right can be supported. The Article then examines the failure of judicial analyses when the utilization of the communitarian version of Kantian right ignores the bipolar structure of corrective justice and keeps an inappropriate balance on the interaction of the relationship between private parties in private law and the relationship between the government and individuals under public law
THE MANDATORY VICTIMS RESTITUTION ACT: THE COURT’S AUTHORITY TO REDIRECT DISCLAIMED PAYMENTS
Get PDFConsider a situation where a defendant has committed a crime that in some way harmed a victim. The court then decided to enter a judgment ordering the defendant to pay restitution to the victim as part of their criminal sentence. Typically, the victim participates in the restitution order and receives the funds they are owed. But what happens in those rare circumstances where the victim does not want to accept these payments? Where do those unclaimed funds go?
These situations are governed by the Mandatory Victims Restitution Act of 1996 (MVRA), 18 U.S.C. §§ 3663A–3664. The MVRA requires restitution and states that payments may neither expire nor be modified except in limited circumstances. Additionally, victims are generally not allowed to modify the defendant’s restitution sentence through releases or settlements, as restitution is a criminal sentence, and therefore any modification must be done through the courts. At the same time, the MVRA does not require a victim to accept the restitution payments, as the victim cannot be required to participate in any part of the sentence. Victims who choose not to participate are allowed to assign and redirect their interest in the restitution. However, the MVRA is silent as to a court’s authority to redirect the funds if the victim neglects to do so. Circuits are split regarding whether the courts possess such a power.
The majority of circuits that have ruled on this issue do not believe that the MVRA allows courts to redirect unclaimed funds. They believe that the goal of the MVRA is to compensate the defendant’s particular victim and that goal cannot be accomplished by redirecting funds. The minority believes that the MVRA’s silence leaves room for the courts to fashion the practical solution of allowing for disclaimed funds to be redirected to the Crime Victims Fund.
This Note will argue that both law and policy dictate that courts have the power to redirect disclaimed funds. This Note will begin by looking at the wording of the MVRA and argue that the principles derived from the statute support the interpretation of allowing for redirection of disclaimed funds. It will then argue that the goals of the MVRA and restitution generally are both compensatory and punitive in nature. Further, both goals would be better served by allowing disclaimed funds to be put to positive use, rather than allowing disclaimed funds to simply accumulate
Addressing Employment Barriers of Young Adults with Disabilities Transitioning Into Employment Post-Education
Get PDFThis project focused on addressing barriers to employment for individuals with disabilities by considering the stakeholders in the employment cycle and expanding the involvement of Occupational Therapy Practitioners (OTPs) in transition services. The initial research identified a need for more OTP involvement in transition (Mankey, 2011). Over fourteen weeks, this student undertook the development, implementation, analysis, and modification of a program named World Seekers. The initial World Seekers program partnered with Western New England University’s BEARPAW Center (BPC) and Hampden- Wilbraham Regional Schools (HWRS). The participants were students in the transition school at HWRS. This program, which consisted of six group intervention sessions held both on the Western New England University (WNEU) campus and at HWRS, was positively received by the participants
Cultivating Leaders in Care: Establishing an Intercollegiate Occupational Therapy Student Leadership Society
Get PDFOccupational therapy (OT) students currently do not have access to an inclusive student leadership society. There are student organizations that exist, however they do not provide the opportunity to solely develop leadership skills. These organizations also do not offer the opportunity for intercollegiate collaboration. The purpose of this research project was to develop an inclusive, intercollegiate student leadership society for OT students. Through the distribution of a survey, recruitment of student volunteers, board member meetings to develop the society and a focus group to understand the effectiveness of this organization, an inclusive OT student leadership society has been developed. This can serve as a model for other institutions to develop their own society in other geographic regions
Occupational Therapy and Artificial Intelligence: A Collaborative Approach to Improve Quality of Life While Recovering from Concussion
Get PDFLiterature surrounding occupational therapy’s role with concussion management is sparse. This study aims to examine the effectiveness of occupational therapy (OT) in combination with Brainbot, an Artificial Intelligence (AI) phone application for tracking and managing post-concussive symptoms. This study is composed of qualitative and quantitative data on five individuals ages 18+ who have sustained one or multiple concussions within the past five years. The researcher administered the following through pre and post assessments: The Quality of Life Inventory (QOLI), the Sport Concussion Office Assessment Tool (SCOAT-6), and the Positive and Negative Affect Schedule (PANAS). In addition, the researcher conducted the researcher-developed Occupational Therapy Concussion Evaluation Form to assess performance skills across a variety of areas. The student also used the BEAR PAW Center (BPC) Discharge Satisfaction survey to assess the services provided post-treatment. Through pre and post assessments, weekly sessions, and utilization of Brainbot, clients were able to improve their quality of life (QOL) and develop strategies to implement into their everyday life after concussion. This study helps to describe how occupational therapy practitioners can aid individuals in returning to meaningful activities after concussion(s)
Accessibility and Inclusion on the Western New England University Campus
Get PDFThis report aims to act as a culminating product that demonstrates the key works completed during the doctoral experiential capstone, as partial fulfillment of the requirements for the entry-level doctorate in Occupational Therapy at Western New England University. The project accomplished by this student involved the completion of a thorough needs assessment of the Western New England University campus, regarding accessibility and inclusion. This report includes the condensed versions of a preliminary needs assessment and population profile, a literature review, the results of an IRB-approved survey and campus-wide accessibility assessment, a discussion of the results, and the resources created to help create change
Factors Influencing Article Citations in Top OBGYN Journals
Get PDFBackground: Obstetrics and gynecology is a dynamic field with evolving research impact. Limited bibliometric analyses provide insights into factors influencing the citation metrics of scholarly articles within this specialty. Objectives: This study aims to identify the predictors of citations in top two OBGYN specialty journals. Methods: This bibliometric analysis examined articles from 2016 to 2018 published in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology and Obstetrics and Gynecology. All articles except for editorials and letters were included. The dependent variable was ‘Google Scholar’ citation counts. It was dichotomized for analysis as citation count at median or above and below median. The predictor variables were the year of publication, journal, broad study topic, specific study topic, study design/method, geographic region, number of institutions, number of clinical disciplines, number of references, open access status, number of mentions on Facebook, X, and Mendeley, and source of funding. Logistic regression was used to identify independent predictors of citations above median. Results: The median and mean (SD) number of citations for all articles (n=2,162) from the two journals were 35 and 57.56 (76.08), respectively. More recent articles articles were less likely to be high citations (OR = 0.444, p \u3c .0001 for 2018 versus 2016 comparison). Articles published in the topic area of addiction/pain management and racism and maternal mortality and morbidity/gender diversity were 80% and six-fold more likely to be high-citations than those in perinatology, respectively (p \u3c .05 for both comparisons). Reviews were more likely to be high citations than cohort studies (OR = 2.678, p \u3c .0001). In addition, articles reporting randomized controlled trials were slightly less likely to be high citations than cohort study articles (OR=0.95, p=0.01). Geographic region was not associated with citations (p\u3e0.05). Industry funding was associated with increased likelihood of articles being high citations compared to articles without funding (OR = 2.135, p = 0.0181). Articles with over 10 X-mentions were more likely to be high citation compared to those with 1-10 mentions (OR = 2.271, p \u3c .0001). Open access status was not associated with citations (p\u3e0.05). Higher number of disciplines, institutions, and references increased the odds of the article being high citations (p\u3c0.05 for all comparisons). Conclusion: Factors associated with article being high citations included publication year, journal, specific research topics, study design, collaborative efforts, funding, X mentions, and number of references. Authors are encouraged to include detailed literature reviews in their papers, and it is recommended that researchers, editors, and publishers use social media such as X to enhance the visibility of new publications