Law Commons^™

Legal Representation In The Chinese Criminal Court, Yudu Li, Hong Lu

Graduate Research Symposium (GCUA) (2010 - 2017)

Abstract: Legal representation plays an important role in criminal sentencing decisions. China has recently stipulated a mandatory legal representation clause for all offenders facing capital charges in its Criminal Procedural Law (1996). This study uses data generated from criminal court case documents involving three serious violent crimes: murder, intentional assault, and robbery. All these crimes carry a maximum of sentence of death. The study examines whether and under what conditions legal representation has an effect on criminal sentencing decisions in China. While the overall multi-regression model did not find that having a legal representation significantly reduces the criminal sentence, a …

Facebook And The Police: Communication In The Social Networking Era, Mari Sakiyama, Deborah K. Shaffer, Joel D. Lieberman

Graduate Research Symposium (GCUA) (2010 - 2017)

An increasing number of police departments are using Facebook to communicate with the public. As with any emerging communications technology, there is considerable variation in the usage of this medium. This study reports the results of a content analysis designed to determine how police departments are using Facebook.

Driving Forces: Police Fatalities, Carol Servino

Graduate Research Symposium (GCUA) (2010 - 2017)

Law enforcement is an inherently risky occupation. The number of traffic-related fatalities for law enforcement officers in the U.S. during the past 13 years has been increasing; however, the number of fatalities for the general population in motor vehicle traffic incidents declined during the same time period.

The federal government reports that federal motor vehicle safety standards aswell as behavioral and vehicle safety programs implemented by state and local law-enforcement agencies contributed to the downward trend for the general public.

What accounts for the pattern and problem with police driving-related deaths?

Should Primates Have Legal Rights?, Hannah Barten, Zhimin Chen

Festival of Communities: UG Symposium (Posters)

A primate having legal rights is a controversial topic these days. Many other countries around the world support the idea of great apes having legal rights, because we for one are one of the five great primates. Others do not support this trending topic as much as others. These types of people believe that great apes such as chimpanzees are superb testing animals for medical purposes, because of the fact that they are closely related to mankind. Organizations such as Great Ape Protection, work towards protecting the rights of these great apes since they cannot speak for themselves. In many …

Blameworthiness And Dangerousness: An Analysis Of Violent Female Capital Offenders In The United States And China, Courtney Lahaie

Graduate Research Symposium (GCUA) (2010 - 2017)

The United States and China represent two of the leading nations that retain the death penalty in both law and practice. Research suggests that judges’ sentencing decisions are based primarily on two factors, blameworthiness and dangerousness. Studies involving gender and sentencing in capital punishment cases tend to provide inconsistent findings. The current study uses case narratives to examine the direct and conjunctive effects of various factors on the sentencing decisions of violent female capital offenders in the United States and China. The findings suggest that the concepts of blameworthiness and dangerousness are distinctly defined in the United States and China. …