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Legal Studies

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Series

2019

Articles 1 - 6 of 6

Full-Text Articles in Law

Law Versus Action: How Five Cape Town Organizations Are Combating High Rates Of Sexual Assault And The Failure Of Progressive Sexual Offences Legislation, Anna Tinker Oct 2019

Law Versus Action: How Five Cape Town Organizations Are Combating High Rates Of Sexual Assault And The Failure Of Progressive Sexual Offences Legislation, Anna Tinker

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This Independent Study Project (ISP) seeks to understand the work various Cape Town organizations are doing to help survivors of sexual assault gain access to justice. Previous research finds that social norms defining masculinity as well as rape myths and stereotypes lead to the high levels of gender-based violence (GBV) in South Africa. This research led to my hypothesis that organizations fighting GBV would target these norms to help survivors access the justice system that so frequently ignores them. Eight organizations were contacted requesting an interview to discuss their work and two agreed to participate. Participants were asked to discuss …


Systems Of Crime And Castigation: A Reevaluation Of The Punishment Bureaucracy, Lia Pikus Oct 2019

Systems Of Crime And Castigation: A Reevaluation Of The Punishment Bureaucracy, Lia Pikus

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Models of reform within the criminal justice system often operate from a top-down perspective, affecting change on surface levels to attempt to better the system. One example of such a reform is Scotland’s Presumption Against Short Sentences. These kinds of changes, as I will illustrate in this paper, both fall short of achieving genuine change and often produce negative side effects. However, a few countries have made deeper changes to the ways their systems both view and handle crime and punishment; one such system is Norway. Through rehabilitation and restorative justice, Norway has greatly decreased rates of recidivism, increased social …


Not-So-Decriminalized: Consequences Of Intersectional Identity For Migrant Sex Workers In Switzerland, Teagan Langseth-Depaolis Oct 2019

Not-So-Decriminalized: Consequences Of Intersectional Identity For Migrant Sex Workers In Switzerland, Teagan Langseth-Depaolis

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

Sex work in Switzerland, which was decriminalized long ago, has been regarded as one of the most liberal systems of sex work in the world. However, this reputation is contested when factoring in the interaction between immigration and sex work policies. Migrant sex workers in Switzerland are put at a precarious intersection of decriminalized sex industry and restrictive migration policy and attitudes, and are not addressed or protected from violations of the law or violations of their human rights. Using databases containing Swiss legislation, I will critically examine the intersectional effects of migration policy and the treatment of migrants on …


Criminalizing The Other: Exploring The Impact Of The Netherlands' Adaptation Of Prosecutorial Guidelines On Sentencing Disparities, Alia Nahra Apr 2019

Criminalizing The Other: Exploring The Impact Of The Netherlands' Adaptation Of Prosecutorial Guidelines On Sentencing Disparities, Alia Nahra

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research explores the impact of the 2015 institution of prosecution guidelines in the Netherlands. Prior to this switch, the Openbaar Ministerie operated using a punishment point system, which provided a mathematical formula with which to decide sanctions. Though the motivation of this change was to make the overall system more efficient and enable individual prosecutors to consider each case in a customizable and more equitable form, this research demonstrates that the change has served instead as a perpetuator (and in some cases, facilitator) of the persistent ethnic and gender biases already at work in the Netherlands. The social and …


Voices Unheard: Women And Their Children In Nepal’S Incarceration System, Aune Nuyttens, Mikayla Rose Apr 2019

Voices Unheard: Women And Their Children In Nepal’S Incarceration System, Aune Nuyttens, Mikayla Rose

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research project focused on women in Nepal’s incarceration system. Our goal was to hear and share their stories with the hopes of humanize and de-stigmatize perceptions of female prisoners in and outside of Nepal. A central component to these stories, as we learned, was also the story of prisoner’s children and the NGOs who provide assistance to this vulnerable group of women and their children. The researchers travelled to the east and west of Kathmandu to visit rural and urban prisons in Nepal, and visited various children homes, however the research was based out of Kathmandu, where many of …


Divorce Experiences: What The 2004 Moudawana Does And Does Not Do For Women In Morocco, Beatrice March Apr 2019

Divorce Experiences: What The 2004 Moudawana Does And Does Not Do For Women In Morocco, Beatrice March

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In 2004, the parliament amended the original Moudawana, or Family Code, from 1958. Among the changes, they altered the laws regarding divorce. The 2004 Moudawana included new provisions for women to obtain divorces in an attempt to create more progressive and equitable laws. The process of divorce, however, is still unequal for men and women. Despite women’s social conditions improving under the 2004 Moudawana, discrimination against women within the Moroccan legal system continues to prevent women from accessing their rights. A complex legal system and general lack of knowledge about the law create an overwhelming experience for women who do …