The Consortium for Undergraduate Law and Justice Programs recently announced that Bryce Kushmerick-McCune and Heather Pickett have received the 2020 Best Undergraduate Student Paper Award in Interdisciplinary Legal Studies for their research paper “Accessing a (W)hole New Life: Resident Pathways to Coping While Living in Restricted Housing Units.”
The award announcement highlights the students’ outstanding achievement with these words: “Kushmerick-McCune and Pickett’s research paper addresses a question of enormous practical and academic significance: how do prison inmates cope with the highly punitive conditions of solitary confinement? Adopting an interdisciplinary approach that draws heavily on the literatures in psychology and criminology, the authors conducted an in-depth, qualitative study of residents living within solitary confinement units within four state penal institutions, as well as the correctional staff working within these units. This paper is marked by clear topic definition, a highly important research question, excellent background literature research, lucid and compelling argumentation, and impressive research design and analysis.”
Bryce Kushmerick-McCune and Heather Pickett are students in the criminology, law and society program at George Mason University. They worked with Professor Danielle Rudes and doctoral candidate Shannon Magnuson on a larger research study focused on restrictive housing units in prison and have previously presented their research at the National Conference on Undergraduate Research.
Kushmerick-McCune and Pickett will receive their award during an online ceremony on June 11, 2020.
June 05, 2020
