Category Archives: Justice Studies

SJSU to honor 3,500+ at Honors Convocation

On April 25, 2014, more than 3,500 San José State University students will be recognized for high academic performance at the 2014 Honors Convocation. Students who have maintained a 3.65 GPA or higher for two contiguous semesters of the last three semesters will be recognized as Dean’s Scholars while students with a 4.0 GPA will be recognized as President’s Scholars.

In the College of Applied Sciences and Arts, more than 900 students will receive certificates of recognition for their achievement, including students in Health Science and Recreation, Hospitality Management, Journalism and Mass communications, Justice Studies, Kinesiology, Nursing, Nutrition, Food Science and Packaging, Occupational Therapy and Social Work. The keynote speaker at the event this year will be Dr. Winifred Schultz-Krohn, an occupational therapy professor, who received the Outstanding Professor Award this year.

The Provost office collected stories from some of this year’s honorees including three students from the Valley Foundation School of Nursing and the kinesiology department. To read the featured stories from College of Applied Sciences and Arts students, along with others, visit http://www.sjsu.edu/provost/events/honors/featured/index.html.

JS students ‘Walk a Mile in Her Shoes’

 

On April 12, students from the College of Applied Sciences and Arts’ Justice Studies Department joined the YWCA of Silicon Valley for its annual Walk A Mile in Her Shoes event. The annual event is a march in which men walk a mile in high heels to raise awareness of rape, sexual assault and gender violence. Members of San Jose State University’s Alpha Phi Sigma chapter raised $300 with bake sales to support efforts to prevent violence. Female members of the club showed up to cheer the men on for the walk.

According to their faculty adviser, the students were the first to cross the finish line and one student was given a special award for having the highest heel.

For more on the event, visit: http://ywca-sv.org/events/WAM/walk_a_mile_in_her_shoes.php

For more on the Justice Studies department, visit: http://www.sjsu.edu/justicestudies/

Study finds benefits of SJSU’s Record Clearance Project

On March 14, five students from the Stanford Public Policy Program shared the results of a study on San José State University’s Record Clearance Project.

The SJSU Record Clearance Project, started in January 2008, connects people eligible to clear their criminal records with undergraduate students in the Justice Studies department in the College of Applied Sciences and Arts who assist them through the process. In 2013, the team reported filing 169 petitions on behalf of 55 clients with all but two dismissals granted.

The study, released on March 17, found that an expunged record makes it easier for people with criminal histories to find employment. According to a press release, “Increased employment in turn benefits the government through increasing tax revenues and decreasing public assistance payments.” The researchers found the cost of court fees associated to expunge a record are a one-time, relatively small cost compared to the potential positive benefit of gainful employment that has benefits that accumulate over time.

In the cost analysis report, the Stanford students found a net benefit of $5,760 per Records Clearance Project client in one year. The students noted there were other benefits that were not quantifiable. The study found the positive benefits continue to accrue beyond the first year after an expungement.

In California, people can apply to expunge a conviction after completing probation or a jail sentence though the study found many people do not pursue expungement because they are not aware of it or don’t have the resources to pursue it.

Based on their findings, the Stanford team made four public policy recommendations related to expungements:

  • Increase awareness and accessibility
  • Increase funding for programs that provide legal expungement assistance
  • Provide more resources for processing and hearing expungement cases
  • Conduct additional research

The SJSU Records Clearance Project team continues to work with clients, with a group of Columbia law students on campus March 17 through March 22 for an “alternative spring break.” The students are volunteering much of their time this week to working with SJSU students on the RCP program, with a goal to prepare client petitions for a May hearing.

For the full Stanford Public Policy Program report, click here for a PDF: http://publicpolicy.stanford.edu/system/files/A%20Cost%20Benefit%20Analysis%20of%20Criminal%20Record%20Expungement.pdf

For more information on the San Jose State Univeristy Records Clearance Project, visit http://sjsurcp.org or email sjsurcp@gmail.com.

Academic Affairs thanks staff with breakfast

The Academic Affairs committee thanked San Jose State University academic affairs division staff members for another year of hard work with the annual staff appreciation breakfast Nov. 1.

At the breakfast, staff members who brought donations of canned goods to give to Second Harvest Food Bank of Santa Clara and San Mateo Counties, received raffle tickets to be entered into a drawing for a prize from their college dean.

During his remarks, Dean Charles Bullock, of the College of Applied Sciences and Arts, thanked the college staff for continuing to work hard year after year.  Molly Marquez, of Justice Studies, won the gift basket for the College of Applied Sciences and Arts. The gift basket included gourmet popcorn and seasonings, movie tickets and a restaurant gift card.

To increase the amount of donations for Second Harvest, the college or departments that collected the most canned goods were rewarded with a half a day of volunteer time from Deputy Provost Andrew Feinstein. The College of Social Sciences won the competition as they did last year and will be able to assign Feinstein to tasks in their office for four hours.

After all the deans and AVPs completed the raffle and remarks, staff members were treated to entertainment from Comedy Sportz, an Improv group. For one skit, they asked each table to come up with a line they often use in their offices and the comedians worked the lines into a funny routine. Some of the lines included, “No, I didn’t read the directions” and “It’s in the syllabus.”

In addition to the individual college raffles, the event planning committee received donations of other raffle prizes for a staff-wide raffle.  Some of the prizes included tickets to San Jose Sharks games, gift certificates to downtown restaurants, cookies and cakes, and more.

 

San Jose Garden to Table Project Fundraiser: Sunday 3/17 from 1-4pm.

by Justice Studies Department
The San Jose Garden to Table project, in collaboration with Horace Mann Elementary, CommUniverCity, and the SJSU Justice Studies Minor in Human Rights Program are developing and building a community garden behind Cafe Pomegranate.
They are holding a fundraiser with games, gifts, and (possibly) green beer at Cafe Pomegranate (across the street from SJSU) THIS SUNDAY 3/17 FROM 1-4 PM.
PLEASE MAKE AN EFFORT TO ATTEND, MAKE A DONATION, AND/OR SPREAD THE WORD TO OTHER STUDENTS AND FACULTY.  Even if you can only stop by, it would be great to support our Justice Studies/Human Rights students in their efforts to affect human rights (food justice!) in San Jose.

Garden to Table Fund raiser