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Last week the School of Criminology & Criminal Justice (CJJ) held its Spring 26 Capstone Research Symposium, and there was another slate of insightful capstone projects. 11 ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥¼ä presented the findings from their individual scoping reviews. The capstone projects analyzed a range of areas connected to peace, justice, and human rights. Some examples include immigrant detention, disability and victimization, service provision in child welfare, and stand-your-ground self-defense laws.Ìý

The Gordon Bazemore Graduate Research Award goes to the project most likely to impact one or more areas of peace, justice, and human rights. This semester, the Bazemore was awarded to Jasmine Valdez for her project titled "Medical Marijuana & Child Welfare: A Scoping Review."

Jasmine's paper used a parents' rights perspective to assess the current knowledge base regarding evolving marijuana laws and policies regarding child welfare and protection. Her findings suggest that there is a wide gap between marijuana laws and child welfare policy. Her review also established some key areas in need of further research regarding legal and social outcomes that will do much to inform policy development going forward in collaboration with professors Gabriel Cesar and Morgan Cooley in the college of Social Work and Criminal Justice and the Florida Institute for Child Welfare (FICW).Ìý

Jasmine, the Capstoners, and the faculty in the School of Criminal Justice deeply appreciate PJHR’s continued support of our grad ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥¼ä. It is always a challenge to get travel funding for grad ÐÓ°ÉÖ±²¥¼ä, and Jasmine plans to use the Bazemore award funds to attend the annual conference of the Southern Criminal Justice Association in September 2026.Ìý

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