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Full-Text Articles in Social and Behavioral Sciences

From Streets To Stats: A Statistical Analysis Of The Quantity Of Illegal Narcotics Seized In The United States, Zachary T. Strickland Jan 2024

From Streets To Stats: A Statistical Analysis Of The Quantity Of Illegal Narcotics Seized In The United States, Zachary T. Strickland

Tenor of Our Times

This study aims to determine how seven different variables affect the total quantity of illegal narcotics seized. These seven variables include four dichotomous and three continuous variables, each striving to teach readers how they relate to the quantity of narcotics seized across specific states. My goal for this project is to figure out if there is any relationship to help law enforcement fight the war on drugs. With the continuing apparent rise of this war, this study is crucial in determining potential relationships between a state's characteristics and the quantity of illegal narcotics they forcibly take possession of. I further …


Preventing Civil War: The Role Of Independent Courts, Hector R. Mendoza Dec 2022

Preventing Civil War: The Role Of Independent Courts, Hector R. Mendoza

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This thesis examines the role of judicial institutions, typically overlooked in conflict studies, in their capacity to reduce the likelihood of conflict such as civil wars. I argue that courts that enjoy judicial independence can provide institutional mechanisms that reduce conflict, such as civil war. Specifically, I employ several rare events logistic and OLS regression models with robust clustered standard errors testing the effects of judicial independence on civil war likelihood and regime opposition size. The results indicate that judicial independence and judicial power have inconsistent and mixed results across these models and generally do not support the theory. In …


"Courts And State-Building: The Welsh Marcher Lordships And The Somali Union Of Islamic Courts," Polity 54(2): 197--25., Zachary C. Shirkey Apr 2022

"Courts And State-Building: The Welsh Marcher Lordships And The Somali Union Of Islamic Courts," Polity 54(2): 197--25., Zachary C. Shirkey

Publications and Research

This article examines the roles of courts in state-building and aims to bring the state-building literature into deeper conversation with institutional approaches to the study of courts. Doing so highlights that courts can play important roles in state-building including extracting revenue, coercing subjects, and generating legitimacy for the state by justly adjudicating disputes. Of these, courts’ extractive role has been especially understudied. Yet, courts can raise significant sums through fees, fines, and confiscating property, particularly in less-developed states. These three roles of courts in state-building are explored in two highly disparate cases: the medieval Welsh Marcher lordships and the Union …


S11, E05: The Department Of Justice, Nia Rodgers, John Aughenbaugh Jan 2022

S11, E05: The Department Of Justice, Nia Rodgers, John Aughenbaugh

Civil Discourse Podcast

Aughie and Nia move on to the next department in the series, the Department of Justice. They discuss the various Attorneys General, the structure of the Department of Justice, and interesting tidbits about the history, political intrigues, and the people who have served within the DoJ.


Roadblocks To Access: Perceptions Of Law And Socioeconomic Problems In South Africa, Kira Tait Jun 2021

Roadblocks To Access: Perceptions Of Law And Socioeconomic Problems In South Africa, Kira Tait

Doctoral Dissertations

My dissertation explores ordinary Black South Africans' perceptions of the law and how these perceptions impact their views of the desirability and appropriateness of appealing to courts when they have problems accessing constitutionally guaranteed services. Specifically, I study why people choose not to use courts to secure access to water, healthcare, education, and housing when it is both legal and possible to do so. Since it transitioned to democracy, South Africa has become one of the leaders of socioeconomic rights protection through courts. It is globally recognized for its progressive constitution buttressed by an expansive system of rights and a …


The Effect Of Selection Process On Judicial Behavior, Grant Baldwin Mar 2021

The Effect Of Selection Process On Judicial Behavior, Grant Baldwin

Student Works

Does the judicial selection process affect judicial behavior? In this paper I argue that the judicial selection process does affect the behavior and the character of the judiciary. Specifically, I argue that judges that are selected by executives in systems where no accountability to the people is present will mirror the ideological views of the executive in making their judicial decisions. I also argue that the competitive nature of elections influences judges to be more responsive to public opinion than those held accountable on non-competitive retention ballots. Lastly, I argue that judges that are elected or retained on non-partisan ballots …


Incitement, Insurrection, Impeachment: Inside The Second Trump Impeachment, Roger Williams University School Of Law, Michael M. Bowden Feb 2021

Incitement, Insurrection, Impeachment: Inside The Second Trump Impeachment, Roger Williams University School Of Law, Michael M. Bowden

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.


Law School News: Whitehouse, Cicilline To Offer 'Inside View' Of 2nd Trump Impeachment Trial 02-17-2021, Michael M. Bowden Feb 2021

Law School News: Whitehouse, Cicilline To Offer 'Inside View' Of 2nd Trump Impeachment Trial 02-17-2021, Michael M. Bowden

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.


Moving Forward Not Back: The Rule Of Law & Equitable Growth Save Democracy, Michael J. Pickering Dec 2020

Moving Forward Not Back: The Rule Of Law & Equitable Growth Save Democracy, Michael J. Pickering

University of New Orleans Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation focuses on the relevant factors that influence people’s perceived levels of democracy in their country. Using World Values Survey Wave 6 (2010-2014) I demonstrate that an interactive-effect between individuals’ confidence in the courts and their beliefs about the possibility of equitable economic growth account for the greatest effect on their perceived levels of democracy.


Law Library Blog (November 2020): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law Nov 2020

Law Library Blog (November 2020): Legal Beagle's Blog Archive, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Law Library Newsletters/Blog

No abstract provided.


Ethnic Fractionalization, Corruption, And Trust In The Courts, Sinan Nadarevic Aug 2020

Ethnic Fractionalization, Corruption, And Trust In The Courts, Sinan Nadarevic

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

Prior research has examined the effects of ethnic fractionalization on trust in political institutions. However, most of the literature focuses on a general understanding of political trust, disregarding the relationship between ethnic fractionalization and individual trust in the legal system. I argue that high levels of ethnic fractionalization decrease trust in the courts. To provide empirical support for my theory, I use individual-level survey data from 32 African and Latin American countries from 2013 and I produce two findings. First, using multiple OLS fixed effects regression analysis, I find that ethnic fractionalization decreases trust in the courts. Second, using mediation …


Perceptions Of Judicial Bias In The Mississippi Judiciary, Allyson Avant May 2020

Perceptions Of Judicial Bias In The Mississippi Judiciary, Allyson Avant

Honors Theses

The purpose of this study is to explore Mississippians’ opinions towards the Mississippi state judiciary and further examine any differences in such opinions across race, gender, knowledge, and education levels. In doing so, it is possible to gain further understanding of the ways that historical context and knowledge influence perceptions of the state judiciary. Data collected from an anonymous survey of approximately 500 individuals shed some light on the perceptions Mississippians have towards the state judiciary. While many of the results were generalizable across various demographics, African Americans consistently held more negative views of their state judiciary than their White …


S02, E02: Eviction Part 2 – The Longer Take, Nia Rodgers, Katheryn Howell, Benjamin Teresa, Donna Coghill Jan 2019

S02, E02: Eviction Part 2 – The Longer Take, Nia Rodgers, Katheryn Howell, Benjamin Teresa, Donna Coghill

Civil Discourse Podcast

This podcast is a continuation of the podcast Eviction Part 1. It discusses cases of eviction, how the instability of housing impacts individuals and neighborhoods, section eight and how eviction is just the latest form of dispossession of people. It looks at neighborhoods in Richmond that have seen instability in some form over the last 100 years.


Reconsidering Judicial Independence: Forty-Five Years In The Trenches And In The Tower, Stephen B. Burbank Jan 2019

Reconsidering Judicial Independence: Forty-Five Years In The Trenches And In The Tower, Stephen B. Burbank

All Faculty Scholarship

Trusting in the integrity of our institutions when they are not under stress, we focus attention on them both when they are under stress or when we need them to protect us against other institutions. In the case of the federal judiciary, the two conditions often coincide. In this essay, I use personal experience to provide practical context for some of the important lessons about judicial independence to be learned from the periods of stress for the federal judiciary I have observed as a lawyer and concerned citizen, and to provide theoretical context for lessons I have deemed significant as …


Rights And Retrenchment In The Trump Era, Stephen B. Burbank, Sean Farhang Oct 2018

Rights And Retrenchment In The Trump Era, Stephen B. Burbank, Sean Farhang

All Faculty Scholarship

Our aim in this essay is to leverage archival research, data and theoretical perspectives presented in our book, Rights and Retrenchment: The Counterrevolution against Federal Litigation, as a means to illuminate the prospects for retrenchment in the current political landscape. We follow the scheme of the book by separately considering the prospects for federal litigation retrenchment in three lawmaking sites: Congress, federal court rulemaking under the Rules Enabling Act, and the Supreme Court. Although pertinent data on current retrenchment initiatives are limited, our historical data and comparative institutional perspectives should afford a basis for informed prediction. Of course, little in …


Deference To Deference: Examining The Relationship Between The Courts And The Political Branches Through Judicial Deference And The Chevron Doctrine, Christopher Yao Jun 2018

Deference To Deference: Examining The Relationship Between The Courts And The Political Branches Through Judicial Deference And The Chevron Doctrine, Christopher Yao

Honors Theses

Judicial review of agency rulemaking sits atop a nexus between all three branches of American government, the legislature, the executive, and the judiciary. Chevron v. NRDC (1984), a landmark case in administrative law, and its resulting doctrine of strong judicial deference to agencies in their interpretations of statute, are paradoxical in their creation. Although Chevron was decided at the height of Reagan-era deregulation, it greatly enhanced the power of administrative agencies, allowing them to reinterpret the meaning of their statutory directives as needed to justify changes to regulations with less scrutiny from the courts. It is only in recent years …


The Impact Of American Sign Language Interpreter Licensure Laws On D/Deaf Defendants In Criminal Cases, Kymberly Marie Couch May 2017

The Impact Of American Sign Language Interpreter Licensure Laws On D/Deaf Defendants In Criminal Cases, Kymberly Marie Couch

Boise State University Theses and Dissertations

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a federal law which, among many other regulations, requires that d/Deaf individuals involved in criminal cases be provided with a qualified interpreter of their language, usually American Sign Language (ASL). A qualified interpreter is not defined within the law and states are left to determine what does or does not constitute qualified. This study analyzes the various ways in which d/Deaf individuals should be treated differently within the justice system due to their differences in communication, as well as how statutes defining the qualification of interpreters may be most inclusive of the variances …


Judicial Innovation And Sexual Harassment Doctrine In The U.S. Court Of Appeals., Laura P. Moyer, Holley Takersley Sep 2016

Judicial Innovation And Sexual Harassment Doctrine In The U.S. Court Of Appeals., Laura P. Moyer, Holley Takersley

Laura Moyer

The determination that sexual harassment constituted “discrimination based on sex” under Title VII was first made by the lower federal courts, not Congress. Drawing from the literature on policy diffusion, this article examines the adoption of hostile work environment standards across the U.S. Courts of Appeals in the absence of controlling Supreme Court precedent. The results bolster recent findings about the influence of female judges on their male colleagues and suggest that in addition to siding with female plaintiffs, female judges also helped to shape legal rules that promoted gender equality in the workplace.


Litigation Reform: An Institutional Approach, Stephen B. Burbank, Sean Farhang Aug 2016

Litigation Reform: An Institutional Approach, Stephen B. Burbank, Sean Farhang

Sean Farhang

The program of regulation through private litigation that Democratic Congresses purposefully created starting in the late 1960s soon met opposition emanating primarily from the Republican party. In the long campaign for retrenchment that began in the Reagan administration, consequential reform proved difficult and ultimately failed in Congress. Litigation reformers turned to the courts and, in marked contrast to their legislative failure, were well-rewarded, achieving growing rates of voting support from an increasingly conservative Supreme Court on issues curtailing private enforcement under individual statutes. We also demonstrate that the judiciary’s control of procedure has been central to the campaign to retrench …


Administrative Law: The U.S. And Beyond, Cary Coglianese Jul 2016

Administrative Law: The U.S. And Beyond, Cary Coglianese

All Faculty Scholarship

Administrative law constrains and directs the behavior of officials in the many governmental bodies responsible for implementing legislation and handling governance responsibilities on a daily basis. This field of law consists of procedures for decision making by these administrative bodies, including rules about transparency and public participation. It also encompasses oversight practices provided by legislatures, courts, and elected executives. The way that administrative law affects the behavior of government officials holds important implications for the fulfillment of democratic principles as well as effective governance in society. This paper highlights salient political theory and legal issues fundamental to the U.S. administrative …


The Politics Of The American Policymaking System, Ian R. Turner May 2015

The Politics Of The American Policymaking System, Ian R. Turner

Arts & Sciences Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Most public policy is developed and implemented by the federal bureaucracy. The possibility of unelected bureaucrats subverting the wishes of popularly elected political principals threatens to sever democratic control of policy by the populace. Through a series of essays, this dissertation explores the opportunities and limitations of one form of bureaucratic control: ex post political oversight by a third-party. Through a series of formal models I illustrate how oversight, such as judicial or executive review of agency actions, structures the policymaking incentives of bureaucratic agencies. The way oversight affects agency behavior, in turn, structures incentives for political principals to design …


Managing Political And Investment Risk In The International Oil And Gas Industry, Steven Alfred Mucci May 2015

Managing Political And Investment Risk In The International Oil And Gas Industry, Steven Alfred Mucci

Dissertations

The effectiveness with which political and investment risk are managed in the oil and gas industry are important for several reasons. First, oil and gas are essential for sustaining current economic activity and promoting economic growth. Second, the balance between supply and demand determines the price of oil and gas. Therefore the price and availability of oil and natural gas are also matters of national security. Third, the search for a secure supply of oil and gas affects the political, military and economic relations between countries. This study addresses four questions. What institutions and strategies are available for managing political …


Courtroom To Classroom: Judicial Policymaking And Affirmative Action, Dylan Britton Saul Apr 2015

Courtroom To Classroom: Judicial Policymaking And Affirmative Action, Dylan Britton Saul

Political Science Honors Projects

The judicial branch, by exercising judicial review, can replace public policies with ones of their own creation. To test the hypothesis that judicial policymaking is desirable only when courts possess high capacity and necessity, I propose an original model incorporating six variables: generalism, bi-polarity, minimalism, legitimization, structural impediments, and public support. Applying the model to a comparative case study of court-sanctioned affirmative action policies in higher education and K-12 public schools, I find that a lack of structural impediments and bi-polarity limits the desirability of judicial race-based remedies in education. Courts must restrain themselves when engaging in such policymaking.


Federal Court Rulemaking And Litigation Reform: An Institutional Approach, Stephen B. Burbank, Sean Farhang Jan 2015

Federal Court Rulemaking And Litigation Reform: An Institutional Approach, Stephen B. Burbank, Sean Farhang

All Faculty Scholarship

The purpose of this article is to advance understanding of the role that federal court rulemaking has played in litigation reform. For that purpose, we created original data sets that include (1) information about every member of the Advisory Committee on Civil Rules who served from 1960 to 2013, and (2) every proposal for amending the Federal Rules that the Advisory Committee approved for consideration by the Standing Committee during the same period and that had implications for private enforcement. We show that, beginning in 1971, when a succession of Chief Justices appointed by Republican Presidents have chosen committee members, …


The Effectiveness Of The International Criminal Court And The Impact Of The Initiating Entities, Magret Chingono Jan 2014

The Effectiveness Of The International Criminal Court And The Impact Of The Initiating Entities, Magret Chingono

Dissertations and Theses

No abstract provided.


Litigation Reform: An Institutional Approach, Stephen B. Burbank, Sean Farhang Jan 2014

Litigation Reform: An Institutional Approach, Stephen B. Burbank, Sean Farhang

All Faculty Scholarship

The program of regulation through private litigation that Democratic Congresses purposefully created starting in the late 1960s soon met opposition emanating primarily from the Republican party. In the long campaign for retrenchment that began in the Reagan administration, consequential reform proved difficult and ultimately failed in Congress. Litigation reformers turned to the courts and, in marked contrast to their legislative failure, were well-rewarded, achieving growing rates of voting support from an increasingly conservative Supreme Court on issues curtailing private enforcement under individual statutes. We also demonstrate that the judiciary’s control of procedure has been central to the campaign to retrench …


Talking Rights, Talking Politics : The Development Of Abortion Policy In New York And New Jersey, 1970-2010, Jonathan Parent Jan 2014

Talking Rights, Talking Politics : The Development Of Abortion Policy In New York And New Jersey, 1970-2010, Jonathan Parent

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Policy can be made by all three branches of government, and the institutional location of change will have an impact on the shape of policy outputs. This dissertation examines the question of what factors will make courts more or less likely to undertake and continue policymaking in a given issue area. In particular, the study presented here considers the development of abortion policy in New York and New Jersey over a forty-year period beginning in 1970. Using both quantitative and qualitative research methods, this work proposes a theoretical framework whereby issue framing, coupled with institutional first movement, will greatly influence …


Judicial Attention As A Scarce Resource: A Preliminary Defense Of How Judges Allocate Time Across Cases In The Federal Courts Of Appeals, Marin K. Levy Jan 2013

Judicial Attention As A Scarce Resource: A Preliminary Defense Of How Judges Allocate Time Across Cases In The Federal Courts Of Appeals, Marin K. Levy

Faculty Scholarship

Federal appellate judges no longer have the time to hear argument and draft opinions in all of their cases. The average annual filing per active judgeship now stands at 330 filed cases per year — more than four times what it was sixty years ago. In response, judges have adopted case management strategies that effectively involve spending significantly less time on certain classes of cases than on others. Various scholars have decried this state of affairs, suggesting that the courts have created a “bifurcated” system of justice with “separate and unequal tracks.” These reformers propose altering the relevant constraints of …


Punishment First: A Study Of Juvenile Pretrial Detention, Richard V. Foster, David Tanenhaus, Heather Lynn Lusty Jan 2013

Punishment First: A Study Of Juvenile Pretrial Detention, Richard V. Foster, David Tanenhaus, Heather Lynn Lusty

McNair Poster Presentations

How society and the legal system should respond to youth crime is a volatile issue. Much research exists on this topic broadly. A largely overlooked subset exists regarding the rights of juveniles in the United States who face pretrial confinement, specifically how juveniles accused of delinquency are treated by the courts. Delinquency or a delinquent act, in the context of this study, is “an act that would be considered a crime if committed by an adult.”7. Adults and children are processed by the courts differently, each with their own rights and court mandated procedures to follow. This report analyzes …


Recusal, Government Ethics, And Superannuated Constitutional Theory, Keith Swisher Dec 2012

Recusal, Government Ethics, And Superannuated Constitutional Theory, Keith Swisher

Keith Swisher

Something good and something bad happened recently in government and judicial ethics; no one has truly noticed yet for some reason. The Supreme Court all but banned First Amendment analysis as applied to recusal laws, both legislative and judicial. That, actually, is the good thing, or so I argue. The bad thing is that the Court, in doing so, used a geriatric approach to constitutional theory. The approach is unduly reverent of anything “old;” and old is not limited to the practices of the Founding Fathers, but also includes “traditional” practices within some undefined range. But what is old is …