MA Justice Studies Theses
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Item Rights + Capacity = Access to Justice: A Visual Exploration of Housing Precarity for Five Equity-Deserving Groups(2023) Moon, Kelly; Young, MichaelFive in-depth interviews paint a picture of housing precarity and bring a new visual model to life while illustrating the importance of addressing both rights and capacity as critical elements toward achieving more holistic justice outcomes. What does the axis of rights and capacity look like for five justice-deserving groups of people experiencing high vulnerability to housing insecurity? This study explores their stories and in the midst of an unprecedented housing crisis, a visual framework is offered to advance our collective understanding of the core elements necessary to achieve just outcomes. The product of this research is a graphic model that demonstrates how access to housing justice is achievable only in addressing both the capacity and rights barriers faced by those without safe, affordable housing.Item The current state of mental health and existing resources for correctional officers in British Columbia(2021-08-30) Proutt, Rebecca AnnPurpose To assess the current state of mental health and the resources available for correctional officers working in Provincial correctional facilities in British Columbia. The amount of existing literature focusing on Canadian correctional officers as first responders are minimal, with very few focusing on the officers’ mental health. Methods Surveys were distributed to 1374 unionized employees in Provincial correctional centres in British Columbia. A mixed-methods approach utilized the SF-36v2 quantitative health survey and open-ended interview-style qualitative questions coded using convergent grounded theory. Results Utilizing a convergent approach to data analysis, SF-36v2 data was analyzed using z-score transformations and comparing results to t-scores derived from the 2009 United States general health survey. The average mental health component score was 34.28 [N=196], with 70% [N=196] meeting the criteria for first-stage depression screening. The general population MCS is 50, with 19% meeting depression criteria. Qualitative themes including abandonment, mortality and death were prevalent. Conclusions The correctional officers surveyed scored significantly lower in every test of mental health and wellness than the general population, with men reporting lower mental wellness than women. Officers reported feeling abandoned by the organization and unable to access proper resources. The employer should make significant efforts to improve their employees’ organizational culture and mental health, such as mandatory psychological check-ins and support for officers.Item Reality revealed : an interpretive phenomenological approach exploring the lived experiences of the costs of sexual victimization, disclosure, and navigating through the judicial process(2021-03-30) Mitchell, Hiyat AssefIndividuals who have been sexually assaulted live with the financial, physical, psychological, and social costs of victimization long after the assault happens. This study utilizes a snowball sample to explore and detail the lived experiences of three (n=3) individuals who have experienced the phenomena of sexual victimization, disclosure and navigating the judicial system, through participant self-narrations from a first person lived experience perspective using survivor-centric language. The powerful and transformative qualitative research method of interpretive phenomenology was used to develop a deeper understanding that these costs affect all areas of a survivor’s life and endure indefinitely. Humanizing the phenomena and bringing the humane into the process has the potential to shift societal beliefs and attitudes that sexual assault is not a personal problem, rather a societal phenomenon of systemic oppression perpetuated against individuals, which are felt personally, but happen throughout multiple systems including the judicial, educational, and religious and cultural.