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Court Review: Volume 42, Issue 3-4 - The Resource Page

Court Review: Journal of the American Judges Association

No abstract provided.

The Use Of Religion In Death Penalty Sentencing Trials, Monica Miller, Brian H. Bornstein

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Both prosecutors and defense attorneys have presented religious appeals and testimony about a defendant’s religious activities in order to influence capital jurors’ sentencing. Courts that have objected to this use of religion fear that religion will improperly influence jurors’ decisions and interfere with their ability to weigh aggravators and mitigators. This study investigated the effects of both prosecution and defense appeals. Prosecution appeals did not affect verdict decisions; however, use of religion by the defense affected both verdicts and the weighing of aggravators and mitigators. These results could be due to differences in perceived sincerity and remorse that are conveyed …

Panel Discussion: The Future Of Natural Resources Extension, Gary San Julian Moderator

11th Triennial National Wildlife and Fisheries Extension Specialists Conference (2006)

Today we want to talk about the future of Extension. At the committee meeting, we talked about what the important things were, and a high priority that everyone is concerned about is going to happen in 2020: Where is Extension going to be, where is the fisheries and wildlife program going to be, where are we in the states going to be, and what kind of support are we going to get?

What Do Faculty Want?: A Focus Group Study Of Faculty At A Mid-Sized Public University, Michael A. Weber, Robert Flatley

Library Philosophy and Practice (e-journal)

Presents the findings of a focus group study to determine how faculty use library resources and what role they see the library playing on campus. Results indicated that faculty use was mixed. Information literacy instruction, electronic access to information, and the library as space were seen as important roles.

Court Review: Volume 43, Issue 3 – Remarks On Judicial Independence, Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Court Review: Journal of the American Judges Association

Essential to the rule of law in any land is an independent judiciary, judges not under the thumb of other branches of Government, and therefore equipped to administer the law impartially. As experience in the United States and elsewhere confirms, however, judicial independence is vulnerable to assault; it can be shattered if the society law exists to serve does not take care to assure its preservation.

On the essence of independent, impartial judging, a comment by former U.S. Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist seems to me right on target. Using a metaphor from his favorite sport, he compared the role …

Book Review Of "Will The Circle Be Unbroken?": Aboriginal Communities, Restorative Justice, And The Challenges Of Conflict And Change By Jane Dickson-Gilmore And Carol La Prairie, Tim Quigley

Great Plains Research: A Journal of Natural and Social Sciences

Over the past decade or two, restorative justice has become a popular approach for the criminal justice system to take in Canada, New Zealand, and Australia. In part, this is due in all three countries to an appalling disproportionality in the incarceration rates for racialized minorities. As the authors of "Will the Circle Be Unbroken?" point out, however, governments have been attracted to restorative justice for cost-cutting reasons as well. A burning question, therefore, is whether restorative justice works.

Court Review: Volume 43, Issue 3 – President’S Column, Eileen Olds

Court Review: Journal of the American Judges Association

I can never say enough what an honor and a privilege it is to have been elected to serve as your 46th president of the American Judges Association. I have used that time since our annual conference in Vancouver to crystallize my vision of what I would like to accomplish during my tenure and of what I believe we can accomplish together. The potential to see dreams realized is what keeps us going! Like many of you, I have concluded that judges in general—and the members of AJA in particular—must seize the opportunity to improve our delivery of services within …

Court Review: Volume 43, Issue 3 – Complete Issue

Court Review: Journal of the American Judges Association

Table of Contents:
Remarks on Judicial Independence by Ruth Bader Ginsburg
Recent Civil Decisions of the United States Supreme Court: The 2006-2007 Term by Charles H. Whitebread
Recent Criminal Decisions of the United States Supreme Court: The 2006-2007 Term by Charles H. Whitebread
Jailing Ourselves: Standards Used for Declaring United States Citizens to Be Enemy Combatants by Joseph Carl Storch
Editor’s Note
President’s Column
The Resource Page

Court Review: Volume 43, Issue 3 – Jailing Ourselves: Standards Used For Declaring United States Citizens To Be Enemy Combatants, Joseph Carl Storch

Court Review: Journal of the American Judges Association

On a clear, blue September morning in 2001, nineteen men hijacked four commercial airplanes headed toward the West Coast. They crashed two into the World Trade Center in New York City, one into the Pentagon in Northern Virginia, and one into a Pennsylvania field. In the wake of the shocking attack, Congress authorized President Bush to use military force against those who committed the attack, commencing a “war on terror” that still rages today.

The government has fought the “war on terror” on many fronts. The military is engaged in Afghanistan and Iraq; diplomatic overtures have been made to Libya …

Decision-Making About Volitional Impairment In Sexually Violent Predators, Cynthia Calkins Mercado, Brian H. Bornstein, Robert F. Schopp

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

The Kansas v. Hendricks (1997) decision, in which the Supreme Court authorized post-sentence civil commitment for certain sex offenders, appeared to be constitutionally legitimized by limiting the class of offenders eligible for this special form of civil commitment to those who are “unable to control” their dangerousness. Nowhere in the available record, however, did the Court elucidate what they meant by this notion of volitional impairment. This study sought to examine factors that legal professionals (n = 43), psychologists (n = 40), and mock jurors (n = 76) deem most relevant to a determination of sex offender volitional impairment. Participants, …

Report To The Nebraska Supreme Court On Indigent Defense Systems And Fee Structures, Nebraska Minority Justice Committee

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

On May 18, 2005 the Nebraska Supreme Court adopted the following resolution: “The Minority and Justice Implementation Committee shall study indigency attorney fee structures statewide and report and make recommendations, if any, to the Supreme Court regarding indigency fees throughout the State of Nebraska.”

The Nebraska Supreme Court’s resolution was influenced by a certain county’s attempt to establish a flat fee for court appointed attorneys. The legal profession’s concern with this policy is that such a drastic rate reduction would likely encourage attorneys to spend less time on court appointed cases, and discourage more experienced attorneys from accepting court appointments …

Mugshot Exposure Effects: Retroactive Interference, Mugshot Commitment, Source Confusion, And Unconscious Transference, Kenneth A. Deffenbacher, Brian H. Bornstein, Steven D. Penrod

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

More than 25 years of research has accumulated concerning the possible biasing effects of mugshot exposure to eyewitnesses. Two separate metaanalyses were conducted on 32 independent tests of the hypothesis that prior mugshot exposure decreases witness accuracy at a subsequent lineup. Mugshot exposure both significantly decreased proportion correct and increased the false alarm rate, the effect being greater on false alarms. A mugshot commitment effect, arising from the identification of someone in a mugshot, was a substantial moderator of both these effects. Simple retroactive interference, where the target person is not included among mugshots and no one in a mugshot …

Defining, Identifying, And Addressing Antisocial Behavior In Children Ages 4-7: The Perspectives Of Selected Elementary Principals In A Midwestern City School District, Audre Lynn Zaroban

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Children and youth are becoming involved in violent behavior at ever-younger ages. Early appearing behavior problems in a child’s school career are the single best predictor of delinquency in adolescence, gang membership, and adult incarceration. The purpose of this research was to identify successful interventions used by selected elementary principals which positively changed antisocial behavior in a kindergarten child. Face-to-face interviews were conducted with six elementary principals. The participants were chosen based on their district’s view of their success and were also chosen due to the low social economic status of the children in their building. Seven themes emerged from …

One Stop Community Center – Adaptive Reuse Of A Vacant Wal-Mart, Heather A. Dysart

Architecture Masters of Science Program: Theses

It is the intention of this project to redevelop a vacant Wal-Mart store into an adult education/community center. With the ever changing nature of our retail environ¬ment vacant stores will become a part of our architectural scene, thus it is important to make considerations of what could be done with buildings, besides just tearing them down. There are several considerations that will be integral in developing a successful renovation of the abandoned store. These considerations include the aesthetic nature of a Wal-Mart, the program elements that should be offered, the integration of light into such a large structure, entries into …

Methamphetamine Addiction, Treatment, And Outcomes: Implications For Child Welfare Workers, Cathleen Otero, Sharon Boles, Nancy Young, Kim Dennis

Center on Children, Families, and the Law (and related organizations): Publications

Methamphetamine is a highly addictive stimulant associated with serious health and psychiatric conditions, including heart damage and brain damage, impaired thinking and memory problems, aggression, violence, and psychotic behavior. Methamphetamine is also associated with the transmission of infectious diseases such as HIV/AIDS and hepatitis.

Child welfare workers are seeing growing numbers of children and families affected by the parent’s use of methamphetamine. In order to make sound decisions for the benefit of children and families, child welfare workers need accurate information about methamphetamine, its effects on parents and their children, and the effectiveness of treatment. This paper presents the most …

Extended Visions, March/April 2006

Extended Visions Newsletter of ARDC

Contents:
ARDC Feature Unit – Facilities Operations
About the People
Maintaining the ARDC Infrastructure
Acreage Insights - Rural Living Clinics
Horse Nutrition and Management
Vegetable Gardening - Varieties, Insects and Diseases
An Entrepreneurial Approach to Career Development
Calendar of Events
Creating a Horticulture Paradise Series Continues
Pollinating Insects In Your Garden
Rethinking Shelterbelts
Director's Comments
Recognizing Outstanding Efforts
Employees Receive ARDC and IANR Awards
Get the Latest Landscape and Garden News
Growers Learn Valuable Information at Programs

Course Description Booklet -- Women's And Gender Studies -- Summer And Fall 2006

Women's and Gender Studies Program: Information and Materials

Undergraduate and graduate courses offered through the Women's and Gender Studies Program. WIth descriptions and teaching faculty.

Models Of American Indian Education: Cultural Inclusion And The Family/Community/School Linkage, Adrienne Freng, Scott Freng, Helen A. Moore

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

Educational research has explored the impact of culture and the linkage of families and communities to schools on student achievement among minority students. Little focus, however, has been placed on the family/community interactions with schools among culturally distinctive populations such as American Indians and students' perceptions of the educational process. This exploratory research examined the state of education from the perspective of American Indian young adults from various tribes in Nebraska. Instead of focusing on educational achievement, the emphasis of most educational research relating to American Indians, this study explored the model of education in existence. Additionally, researchers explored the …

Review Of Fathers Under Fire: The Revolution In Child Support Enforcement, By Irwin Garfinkel, Sara S. Mclanahan, Daniel R. Meyer, And Judith A. Seltzer, Ryan Spohn

Center on Children, Families, and the Law: Faculty Publications

The title of this book adequately reflects its timely focus on nonresidential fathers facing increased child support enforcement, examining how child support contributions (or failure to meet child support obligations) affect the lives of children as well as the fathers themselves. As the authors suggest, nonresident fathers have generally been treated as financial resources, with little attention paid to their rights as parents or their needs as providers for their children. A particular focus of this collection of studies is the role of indigent nonresident fathers and their role as parents and providers. Consequently, the scope of study adopted by …

Progress Report 2005, Nebraska Minority And Justice Implementation Committee

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

The Nebraska Minority and Justice Implementation Committee is a unique statewide collaboration that works to develop and implement just and sustainable policy reforms that will not only improve the system of justice but will also strengthen public trust and confidence in our laws and court system. The Committee is a joint effort of the Nebraska State Bar Association and the Nebraska Supreme Court, appointed by the Supreme Court in May of 2003 in response to a Task Force’s two-year investigation of racial and ethnic bias and discrimination in Nebraska’s justice system. The mission of the Committee is to achieve four …

Introduction To The Special Issue On Emotion In Legal Judgment And Decision Making, Brian H. Bornstein

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

In the last decade, researchers have shown burgeoning interest in issues at the intersection of emotion and law. Given the longstanding interest in emotion among social (and other) psychologists, most of this research has come from a psychological perspective, but it also includes work with a legal, sociological, philosophical, and neuroscience flavor. The issues are theoretical as well as practical, influencing both psychological theories of emotion and matters of legal practice and policy.

The law adopts a double standard in its treatment of emotion. In some areas, the law explicitly addresses emotion as a legitimate consideration, but in other areas, …

All Parents Are To Blame (Except This One): Global Versus Specific Attitudes Related To Parental Responsibility Laws, Eve M. Brank, Stephanie A. Hays, Victoria Weisz

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Increasing state legislation and media interest give the appearance of public support for parental responsibility laws; however, some national polls suggest otherwise. Based on disparate global and specific attitudes in other areas of the criminal justice literature, it was hypothesized that relatively weak global support for parental responsibility would be diminished even more if a specific juvenile was described. The current studies confirmed that participants were even less supportive of parental responsibility laws when a specific juvenile and his parents were described than they were when they answered questions about parents in general.

Judicial Independence: The Situation Of The U.S. Federal Judiciary, Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Nebraska Law Review

Essential to the rule of law in any land is an independent judiciary, judges not under the thumb of other branches of Government, and therefore equipped to administer the law impartially. The U.S. Federal Judiciary has been a model for the world in that regard. Fortunately so, for we can promote the rule of law, administered fairly and fearlessly elsewhere--in Afghanistan, Colombia, Iraq, Kosovo, Ukraine, for example--only by vigilantly practicing at home what we preach abroad. As recent experience confirms, however, judicial independence is vulnerable to assault; it can be shattered if the society law exists to serve does not …

Court Review: Volume 43, Issue 2 – The Legislatures, The Ballot Boxes, And The Courts, William Raftery

Court Review: Journal of the American Judges Association

As a separation-of-powers matter, the nation’s framers and their state counterparts placed some distance between the legislative and judiciary branches so that each might better serve the people. Of course, the separation between the two branches has not prevented legislation impacting the courts year in and year out, much of which could reasonably be described as changes that potentially infringe on the independence, fairness, and impartiality of the courts. (I term these “attacks on the courts.”) Moreover, the issue has been compounded lately by a series of efforts in initiative and referendum states to achieve by the ballot box what …

Human Trafficking: Better Data, Strategy, And Reporting Needed To Enhance U.S. Antitrafficking Efforts Abroad, United States Government Accountability Office

Human Trafficking: Data and Documents

The U.S. government estimates that 600,000 to 800,000 persons are trafficked across international borders annually. However, such estimates of global human trafficking are questionable. The accuracy of the estimates is in doubt because of methodological weaknesses, gaps in data, and numerical discrepancies. For example, the U.S. government’s estimate was developed by one person who did not document all his work, so the estimate may not be replicable, casting doubt on its reliability. Moreover, country data are not available, reliable, or comparable. There is also a considerable discrepancy between the numbers of observed and estimated victims of human trafficking. The U.S. …

Federal Prosecution Of Human Trafficking, 2001-2005, U.S. Department Of Justice

Human Trafficking: Data and Documents

Between 2001 and 2005, U.S. attorneys investigated 555 suspects in matters involving violations of Federal human trafficking statutes. Over half of the matters (58%) opened during this period were for offenses created under the Trafficking in Victims Protection Act (TVPA) of 2000.

Don't Worry, I'Ll Be Right Back: Temporary Absences Of Counsel During Criminal Trials And The Rule Of Automatic Reversal, David A. Moran

Nebraska Law Review

When the victim testified during Pamela Green's trial for kidnapping and gross sexual imposition, Green's lawyer, John Carlin, never asked her a single question.' In fact, it would have been impossible for Carlin to cross-examine the victim because he had left the courtroom to attend a hearing for a client in another case. After Green repeatedly complained about Carlin's absence and asked the judge to provide her with another attorney who might actually stay in the courtroom while the prosecution's principal witnesses testified, the judge not only rejected the request but also revoked Green's bond and remanded her to jail …

Lex-Praxis Of Education Informational Privacy For Public Schoolchildren, Susan P. Stuart

Nebraska Law Review

Starting with the premise that students' informational privacy is constitutionally protected, this Article will examine the federal statutes that purport to protect that privacy. Part II will sort through the current versions of federal statutes that regulate the collection, maintenance, and disclosure of student information and examine whether they actually protect student privacy interests. Part III will outline what information a local policy must constitutionally protect that the statutes really do not. Finally, Part IV will set out a plan for incorporating fair information practices into the framework of any local privacy policy and thereby set out a more coherent …

Recent Efforts To Make Nebraska Juries More Representative Of Their Communities, Carly Duvall, Elizabeth Neeley

University of Nebraska Public Policy Center: Publications

According to the Minority and Justice Task Force Report (2003), “the majority of Nebraskans believe that it is important that juries reflect the racial and ethnic makeup of the community.” Preliminary data obtained as part of the Task Force’s inquiry into representation of minorities on petit juries call into question whether Nebraska juries are representative of their communities. This concern has prompted several statewide policy reforms that are designed to increase representation of minorities on juries regardless of whether there has been a problem in the State. The first reform involved regular refreshing of jury pool lists (LB 19 and …

Mental Disorders, Comorbidity, And Postrunaway Arrests Among Homeless And Runaway Adolescents, Xiaojin Chen, Lisa Thrane, Les B. Whitbeck, Kurt Johnson

Department of Sociology: Faculty Publications

This study examined the associations between lifetime mental disorder, comorbidity, and self-reported postrunaway arrests among 428 (187 males, 241 females) homeless and runaway youth. The analysis examined the pattern of arrests across five lifetime mental disorders (alcohol abuse, drug abuse, conduct disorder, major depressive episode, and posttraumatic stress disorder). The adolescents, ranging from 16 to 19 years old, were interviewed directly on the streets and in shelters in four Midwestern states using computer-assisted personal interviewing. Extensive self-reports of early life history, behaviors since running away from home, and diagnostic interviewing (UM-CIDI and DISC-R) were used to estimate possible disorders. There …