Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Convenience Theory Of Cryptocurrency Crime: A Content Analysis Of U.S. Federal Court Decisions, Claire Nolasco Braaten, Michael S. Vaughn

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

This article examines cryptocurrency cases decided in the U.S. District and Circuit Courts to determine the applicability of Gottschalk’s convenience theory of white collar crime to cryptocurrency crime litigation and to empirically analyze whether the conditions under which cryptocurrency offenses occurred show support for the convenience theory. Analysis of U.S. federal district and circuit court case law involving cryptocurrency crimes and fraud indicate support for the convenience theory of white-collar crime. Defendants in various schemes were motivated by financial gain, either for the company or for personal use. Their roles and positions in the businesses allowed them access to resources …

Construing The Legality Of Solitary Confinement: Analysis Of United States Federal Court Jurisprudence, Claire Nolasco, Michael S. Vaughn

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

This article analyzes the constitutional parameters of solitary confinement, administrative segregation, and/or punitive isolation within correctional facilities in the United States. After briefly discussing the harmful effects of isolation and the number of inmates subject to this type of confinement, it explains the U.S. Supreme Court’s “atypical and significant hardship” standard for assessing the legality of segregation. Evaluation of 68 cases decided by the 12 U.S. Circuit Courts of Appeals reveals how each Circuit decides when conditions of segregation amount to an “atypical and significant hardship” for the inmate, creating a liberty interest protected by the Fourteenth Amendment Due Process …

The Role Of Hospitable And Inhospitable States In The Process Of Refugee Resettlement In The United States, Claire Nolasco, Daniel Braaten

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Although the resettlement of refugees is always politically contentious in host countries, the current global refugee crisis has only magnified those contentions. In the United States and in many European countries there has been a strong backlash against the resettlement of refugees particularly those from Muslim majority countries. However, within countries such as the U.S. there are areas of the country that are more anti-refugee than others. The purpose of this paper is to explore the variation in refugee resettlement across the fifty U.S. states from 2002-2010. Refugee resettlement in the U.S. is done in conjunction with the federal government, …

Transnational State-Sponsored Cyber Economic Espionage: A Legal Quagmire, Brenda I. Rowe

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Transnational state-sponsored cyber economic espionage poses a threat to the economy of developed countries whose industry is largely reliant on the value of information. In the face of rapid technological development facilitating cyber economic espionage from afar on a massive scale, the law has not developed apace to effectively address this problem. Applicable United States domestic laws have been ineffective in addressing the problem due to lack of enforcement jurisdiction, sovereign immunity, and inability to hold the state sponsor accountable. Customary international law principles offer little help in combatting the issue, as countermeasures are typically unavailable since espionage may not …

Is It Terrorism?: Public Perceptions, Media, And Labeling The Las Vegas Shooting, Matthew J. Dolliver, Erin M. Kearns

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

When a mass casualty event occurs, why do some people label it terrorism while others do not? People are more likely to consider an attack to be terrorism when the perpetrator is Muslim, yet it is unclear what other factors influence perceptions of mass violence. Using data collected from a national sample of U.S. adults shortly after the 2017 Las Vegas shooting, we examine how media consumption and social identity influence views of the attack. Media consumption and individual-level factors—Islamophobia, political ideology, and other participant demographics—influence how people view the attack and how confident people are in their assessments.

Suffer The Little Children To Come: The Legal Rights Of Unaccompanied Alien Children Under United States Federal Court Jurisprudence, Claire Nolasco, Daniel Braaten

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

This article analyses United States (US) federal court jurisprudence to determine the legal rights of unaccompanied alien children (UAC) in various stages of immigration enforcement proceedings. After briefly discussing statistics on UAC in the US, it explains the legal context of US laws governing unaccompanied minors. Through examining 40 cases decided by the 12 US Circuit Courts of Appeals and various federal district courts, the article specifies how these courts interpreted and expanded on the procedural legal rights of UAC upon apprehension by immigration officials, during placement or detention decisions of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR), prior to voluntary …

When To Take Credit For Terrorism? A Cross-National Examination Of Claims And Attributions, Erin M. Kearns

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Rationalist research expects that groups claim credit for terrorism. Yet, the vast majority of attacks are not claimed. Of the unclaimed attacks, about half are attributed to a specific group. What factors impact claiming decisions? While extant literature largely treats claiming as binary—either claimed or not—the present study disaggregates claiming decisions further to also consider attacks with attributions of credit but no claim, using data from 160 countries between 1998 and 2016. Both attack-level and situational factors impact claiming decisions. Disaggregating claiming behavior shows meaningful differences. Specifically, competitive environments and suicide attacks increase claims but not attributions. Higher fatalities in …

When Data Do Not Matter: Exploring Public Perceptions Of Terrorism, Erin M. Kearns, Allison E. Betus, Anthony F. Lemieux

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Public perceptions of terrorism are out of line with reality. How can perceptions be changed? Using a 4 × 2 experimental design with a national sample of U.S. adults, we examine how source of information and details provided impact views of terrorism. Sources, details, and individual-level factors—Islamophobia, trust in media, and trust in science—impact perceived accuracy of terrorism data. Many people updated their views on terrorism after reading factual information, yet only trust in science was related with this change. In short, people can be persuaded by factual information on terrorism, but it is less clear why they change beliefs.

Get Out Of My Driveway! Collins V. Virginia Protects Curtilage From Being Trampled By The Automobile Exception, Brenda I. Rowe

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

In Collins v. Virginia (2018), the U.S. Supreme Court held that the automobile exception cannot justify a warrantless search of an automobile parked in a home’s curtilage because the automobile exception pertains solely to the search of the automobile, not to the intrusion upon the Fourth Amendment privacy interest in the home’s curtilage. After giving an overview of relevant Fourth Amendment jurisprudence concerning the curtilage doctrine and the automobile exception as well as the history of the exclusionary rule, this article examines the majority, concurring, and dissenting opinions in Collins and discusses the implications of this important decision. Collins …

Does Insider Trading Pay? An Analysis Of Trading And Tipping Activities In Insider Trading Litigation, Aneta Spaic, Claire Nolasco, Lily Chi-Fang Tsai, Michael S. Vaughn

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Purpose

This paper analyzes trading and tipping activities in insider trading litigation decided by federal courts from January 1, 2012 to December 31, 2014.

Design/methodology/approach

Legal documents from the US Securities and Exchange Commission, LexisNexis and Westlaw databases were coded to determine profile, patterns of trading and settlement outcomes.

Findings

Results of statistical analysis indicate that a defendant in both civil and criminal cases is more likely to trade on the information when he/she receives a direct, financial benefit from breaching his/her duty of confidentiality. The defendant tipper is also more likely to pass on the information to a close …

The Long Wait For An Improbable Death: A Look At Delays In Executions In Kansas And Possible Reforms To Capital Punishment, Amy M. Memmer, Melanie K. Worsley, Brenda I. Rowe

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

This article uses Kansas as a case study to show how in Kansas, as in many other states in the United States, the execution of a death sentence is so improbable, and the delays that precede it so extraordinary, that any arguable deterrent or retributive effect capital punishment might once have had has been severely diminished. This article considers possible reforms to the capital punishment system aimed at reducing the delay between sentencing and execution, and the risks that would accompany those reforms. This article also considers whether capital punishment should still be considered a viable option for states in …