Digital Commons Network^™

Capital Punishment At Home And Abroad: A Comparative Study On The Evolution Of The Use Of The Death Penalty In The United States And The United Kingdom, Rachel Gaines

Honors Theses

Capital punishment (sometimes referred to as the death penalty) is the carrying out of a legal sentence of death as punishment for crime. The United States Supreme Court has most recently ruled that capital punishment is not unconstitutional. As a result, states are free to abstain from using capital punishment or to use it, and it is accepted for federal crimes. In 1965, the United Kingdom eliminated the use of capital punishment for murder on a temporary basis, abolishing it permanently in 1969, and adopting two European protocols that eliminated its use perpetually for all crimes in 1998. This research …

The Right To Self-Determination Of A People: A Twailian Analysis Of Icj Decisions In Cameroon V. Nigeria, East Timor, And Western Sahara Cases, Ngozi Sunday Nwoko

LLM Theses

The various post-colonial armed conflicts bedeviling Third World States have claimed numerous lives and properties, drained its resources, displaced millions and have put the territory’s development move on the reverse gear. This thesis, from the theoretical perspective of Third World Approaches to International Law (“TWAIL”) is a contribution to the various on-going discussions on the roles that colonialism played in triggering bitter conflicts, confusion, and unhealthy rivalries amongst Third World peoples. Not losing sight of the internal dimensions to these conflicts, the thesis also examines the degree of contributions by some power-drunk and despotic Third World governments to these conflicts. …

Essays On The Economics Of Police Officer Discretionary Decisions, Huong Nguyen

Open Access Dissertations

This dissertation consists of three chapters studying police officer discretionary decisions on traffic stops and traffic violations. The decisions include whether to stop and search a vehicle, whether to write a ticket or a warning, the duration of stop, and the fine amount. The purpose of this research is to determine whether police officer discretion is affected by various factors other than the violation itself

The Globalization Of Crime Control: The Use Of Non-Criminal Justice Responses For Countering Organized Crime, Bjarni Halldor Sigursteinsson

LLM Theses

This thesis examines domestic authorities’ use of non-criminal justice responses to counter organized crime. Examples of responses used to counter outlaw motorcycle gangs in Canada, Germany, and Iceland are provided. These responses are significantly different from most international efforts focusing on criminal norms and cooperation in criminal matters.

As harmonization of legislation, policies and practices in this field become an international focus, I examine the role currently played by the European Union in promoting these non-criminal justice 'alternative' enforcement strategies for the purpose of furthering the development of international and domestic efforts to counter organized crime.

This study concludes that …

Comparing Police Eyewitnesses And Lay Eyewitnesses: The Effect Of Eyewitness Reputation And Procedural Justice On Juror Verdict Decisions, Lindsey Marie Cole

Doctoral Dissertations

Verdict decisions can have potentially severe consequences for defendants including incarceration or even capital punishment. Previous researchers have identified many factors that can influence these decisions. One of the most influential aspects of juror decisions identified by researchers is witness testimony; however, there has been little empirical research on police officers as witnesses. Jurors may have pre-existing attitudes about the police that may influence how they view police officer witnesses on the stand. Furthermore, special rules govern the admission of credibility evidence against a police officer witness in the state of New Hampshire. The purpose of the study was threefold: …

Do Our Perceptions Affect Our Decision Making In Legal Contexts?, Scott Benedict

Undergraduate Honours Theses

Previous research has established that community interaction with the mentally ill, public education on the subject, and social integration all lead to a significantly more positive prognosis for sufferers of mental illness (Trute & Loewen, 1978), especially in ensuring less-frequent interaction with the legal system. Research has also shown however, that the misinformed and uneducated are more punitive and less empathetic (Shaw & Woodworth, 2013). The large representation of the mentally ill in the prison system necessitates revisions of policies regarding the handling of mental illness in social and community immersion, public education and legal contexts. The present study was …

Parole And Probation Officers' Perceptions Of Management Effectiveness In Baltimore County, Maryland, Valencia Tamir Johnson

Walden Dissertations and Doctoral Studies

Management practices in the rehabilitation and criminal justice system are primarily concerned with how employees sense, collect, organize, and process information regarding the criminal offender. The purpose of this quantitative study was to measure parole and probation officers' perceptions regarding management support and effectiveness in the workplace, with particular emphasis on communication, collaboration, and conflict resolution. Herzberg's 2-factor theory of motivation served as the theoretical framework for the study, supporting the concept of participatory management as a central factor in job satisfaction. A researcher-designed, Likert-type questionnaire was administered to a randomly selected sample of 31 parole and probation officers in …

Law, Justice, And All That Jazz: An Analysis Of Law's Reach Into Musical Theater, Amy Oldenquist

Master's Theses and Capstones

Narratives or stories are present in many facets of life. Narratives especially are seen in the media, fiction and nonfiction alike. These stories, seen in media, fiction, and nonfiction alike, have an immense impact on their audience. This influence displays the importance of continued research into media’s narratives, especially legal narratives. Much of past research looked at the social construction of these stories and its framing. Framing refers to how a subject is discussed in the media. While there is much research on media, framing, and legal narratives, very few researchers have examined live entertainment, including musical theater. My study …