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This study examines a short-term study abroad program in Costa Rica. The goals of the study are to (1) investigate the link between high impact learning practices (HIPs) and program learning outcomes and (2) capture the relation between program structure, program facilitation, and student learning networks. The methodology includes ethnographic observations, student interviews, and social network analysis. The implementation of three HIPs in the program (applied learning, project-based, and cultural-learning) drives the change in student network structure. The article places scholarly attention on how HIPs incorporated into the program structure influence changes in student learning and support networks as well as influence student reported learning outcomes.

Since the 1970s, feminist criminologists have challenged researchers and practitioners to center gender in their theories, research designs, and practice approaches. Because of this, a large body of research examines correctional approaches to assess the question "what works" for women? Researchers have, for example, examined: how gender shapes pathways into the system or how correctional programming and staff can meet women's needs. At times these queries include studying the effectiveness of using gender responsive approaches. Little is known, however, regarding the effects of these strategies in the community corrections context. Women make up a substantially larger proportion of the community corrections population than they do prison or jail. Additionally, because the philosophy of this context is well suited to engage rehabilitative and treatment-based programs—needs of amplified importance for system involved women—understanding what we know as researchers and practitioners is particularly important. To assess the state of knowledge in this area, we conducted a scoping review of research on gender responsive programming within community corrections settings. Our analysis reviews the findings from these articles and highlights implications for practitioners and researchers working in this area. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this article, we explored the social networks of 20 women who were in the process, or had completed, a sentence at a residential community corrections facility. Drawing on egocentric social network data and in-depth qualitative interviews, we analyzed the kinds of support that were most and least available to women, who were members of their network and what type of support they provided, and the role of complex relationships and peers. We found that women often relied on complex relationships and strategically navigated these relationships to access support. Many women also expressed a desire to mend and heal damaged relationships, recognizing their significance in their support system. Although peers can play a critical role in providing support to system-involved women, community corrections must invest in facilitating supportive connections and relationships among women. Ultimately, this research offers insights that can guide community corrections organizations in building and repairing women's networks. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A growing body of scholarship highlights the merits of fusing green criminology and environmental justice frameworks to better understand intersections among carceral systems, race‐ and class‐based stratification, and environmental harm. This paper explores how correctional institutions (CIs) with known histories of federal environmental law violations compare against other previously established environmentally harmful facilities and land uses. In this article, we ask: are prisons and other CIs that have violated federal environmental laws located proximate to areas where there is evidence of existing high‐pollution facilities? Relatedly, are CIs that have established noncompliant histories with federal environmental laws located in similarly marginalized and disadvantaged communities compared to other traditionally defined sites of environmental injustice and harm? To answer these questions, we utilize data from the EPA's Enforcement and Compliance History Online (ECHO) database. Our findings provide evidence that, within our sample of facilities that have recorded noncompliance with federal environmental laws, CIs are significantly more likely to be located proximate to Superfund sites than most of the other facility types/land uses and more likely to be located in communities with racially minoritized populations. Our findings have important implications for further research on carceral systems and environmental justice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social network analysis (SNA) is an interdisciplinary method that takes as its starting point the premise that social life is created primarily and most importantly by relations and the patterns formed by these relations. While SNA is often associated with the quantitative analysis of network measures, we illustrate through our overall mapping of, and interpretation of the relations within the Denver food movement, the advantages of a qualitative approach. We bring together information from surveys, network diagrams, betweenness centrality measures, and interviews to offer an interpretive process that reveals both the structure and activist- and organization-level meanings to explain resource mobilization and collaboration. We propose that qualitative SNA allows researchers to (a) understand the context and content of network structures and (b) better interpret quantitative measures with additional qualitative data. Based on our findings, we additionally suggest that for social movement scholars, qualitative SNA offers a deeper understanding of how organizations collaborate to advance organizational and movement goals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]