Legal Studies Commons^™

The Effect Of The Method Of Execution On Sentencing Determinations In Capital Cases, Adam G. Fera

Theses and Dissertations

The United States has had different methods of execution throughout its history, some of which are viewed to be more humane by the public. The most recent switch was from electrocution to lethal injection. This study is a look at the effect the method of execution on a juror's decision between life and death in capital cases. To this end, data collected by the Capital Jury Project Phase I were statistically analyzed controlling for case-level and demographic variables. The method of execution was found to have a statistically significant effect on the jurors' decision.

Examining Attitudes And Perceptions Of Sexual Harassment On A University Campus: What Role Do Myths And Stereotypes Play?, Courtney Crittenden

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The attitudes reflecting the apathy our society feels toward sexual harassment is indicated throughout our culture. Many studies focusing on attitudes toward sexual harassment and attitudes toward women have shown the need for continued research. The current study examined attitudes toward sexual harassment and compared them to other attitudes toward women and rape myth acceptance because of increasing evidence that these attitudes are complex and require further study. Three research questions were sought to be answered through this research: 1) Does sexual harassment education/training have an affect on respondent’s acceptance of sexual harassment; 2) Do male and female respondents hold …

An Assessment Of Democratic Policing In The Turkish National Police: Police Officials' Attitudes Toward Recent Police Reforms, Akin Karatay

Dissertations

This study defines democracy, describes democratic policing, analyzes the development of democratic policing principles in the developing country of Turkey and contends that democracy can be enduring only when the police embody democratic values. As Turkey transforms itself in order to become a member of the European Union, the process has fostered national, institutional, cultural and socioeconomic adaptations, all of which lead towards democracy. This process has influenced the Turkish National Police (TNP) as well. In theory, these efforts towards political democratization, legal reform and the adoption of European Union police policy guidelines should have a positive effect on Turkish …

Legal Analysis Of Off-Hire Clauses, Li Ma

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Policing And Firearms: Exploring Data Collection Practices And Attitudes Toward Gun Control, Adam V. Moltisanti

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this exploratory investigation was to measure what, if any, differences exist between law enforcement and non law enforcement personnel in their opinions towards gun control, as well as investigate the types of information that are recorded in police reports. Using a test population of police officers (n = 90) and students (n = 131), a self administered, anonymous survey was used to test the hypotheses that police officers are a) more likely to support gun control policies, b) more likely to view gun control policies as increasing community and police safety, c) more likely to view gun …

Decentralizing Police Detectives: Increasing Efficiency Of Property Crime Investigations, Jon M. Zeh

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Beginning in November, 2007, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department implemented organizational changes to the Financial/Property Crimes Bureau by decentralizing all property crime detectives. Although no previous research was found on the decentralization of police detectives specifically, there is existing research on similar concepts that suggest at least two benefits of decentralizing police detectives: improved communication with patrol officers and increased efficiency of investigations. With these benefits in mind, the current study examines the following hypotheses: hypothesis 1: decentralizing property crime detectives will lead to improved quality of communication between property crime detectives and patrol officers; hypothesis 2: decentralizing property …

Judge, Jury, And Executioner: Organizational Factors That Affect Police Use Of Lethal Force, Mikaela Cooney

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

There currently exists an empirical gap in our knowledge of organizational factors as they relate to police use of lethal force. As a result of waning interest in macrolevel policing studies over the last three decades, the majority of our understanding of lethal force is derived from studies that specifically focus on microlevel factors (such as officer race or suspect behavior). The present study examined the relationship between organizational variables and the number of self-reported instances of lethal force by law enforcement officers. Departmental variables, jurisdictional characteristics, and the number of lethal force incidents reported annually were collected from law …

How Teachers Perceive The "School Violence Issue", Leonce Crump Jr.

Masters Theses and Doctoral Dissertations

The propensity to overestimate statistics, underestimate safety, and dramatically report crime is clearly seen in the issue of school violence. Violent crime in schools is rare, however, over publicized (Baily, Carona, Mebane, & Snell, 2002). Nonetheless any evidence of it arouses fear in teachers, students, and parents (Toby, 1983; Dworkin, Haney & Telschow, 1988; May, 1999; Smith & Smith, 2006). Since the recent exposure and coverage of school shootings, Americans seem to be gripped by fear over this issue (Burns & Crawford, 1999). This fear, in conjunction with a lack of clear communication on the part of the school system …

Form Blindness Testing: Assessing The Ability To Perform Latent Print Examination By Traditional Versus Nontraditional Students, Dean James Bertram

Dissertations

This study examined form blindness testing as a predictor of latent print examination success among traditional and nontraditional college students. A correlational analysis of traditional versus nontraditional students was also assessed. Data were collected for two groups: trained and untrained. The untrained group (n = 167) consisted of students enrolled in courses within the field of forensic science at a university in the southeastern United States during the spring 2009 academic term. Students retained within the untrained group were those with no fingerprint training. The trained group (n = 160) consisted of students who completed a science of fingerprinting course …

Targeting Youth—Hit Or Miss? Juvenile Certification In Clark County, Nevada Examined, Brittnie Turquoise Watkins

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Juvenile certification is the method by which a juvenile may be removed from juvenile court jurisdiction and placed in the adult criminal court jurisdiction. In many cases, juvenile courts exercise judicial certifications, in which a judge determines if the case will be heard in juvenile or adult court. Many factors influence a judge's determination of certification outcomes. Legal factors include dangerousness, amenability, and maturity of the youth. Extra-legal factors include race and sex. Although judges are believed to be impartial, prior research has found that these bias factors may influence outcomes. This study assesses what factors are influential in one …

Examining The Impact Of Drug Court Participation For Moderate And High Risk Offenders, Kara Kobus

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to examine the impact of drug court participation among moderate and high risk offenders. While studies have found that intensive programs, such as drug courts, are more effective when focusing their services on high risk offenders, few studies have examined the relationship between offender risk and drug court effectiveness. Using the Level of Service Inventory-Revised (LSI-R) as a measure of offender risk, the study employed a quasi-experimental design to compare outcomes of drug court participants (n=228) and a matched sample of probationers (n=252). The analyses showed that drug court participants had lower rates of …

An Assessment Of Proposed Sex Offender Mobility And Residency Restrictions In Nevada, Samantha Dawn Beecher

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This research explores the impact of sex offender exclusion zones and residency restrictions proposed by Nevada Senate Bill 471. This law would prohibit sex offenders from being within 500 feet of places where children congregate and living within 1,000 feet of these places. Analyses conducted using Geographic Information Systems demonstrate the degree to which offender mobility, housing, employment, and access to social services may be restricted should the law be adopted and enforced. Data are also used to assess the potential impact of the law on victimization patterns. Policy implications, data limitations, and suggestions for future research are discussed.

Killing History: The Effect Of Slavery And Wwii On The Death Penalty In America And Europe, Julie Turley

Global Honors Theses

The author examines the cultural and social factors that have impacted the United States’s and European Union’s opposing stances on capital punishment. Particular focus is paid to the United States’s history of race relations and views on economic inequality and to the influence of World War II on the EU’s human rights and welfare policies. The paper concludes with a discussion on how the US may enact its own path to abolition.

Intimate Partner Violence: Criminal Justice Responses To High Lethality Cases, Victoria E. Collins

Sociology & Criminal Justice Theses & Dissertations

This study examines the relationship between the level of violence suffered by the victim in a domestic violence relationship and the criminal justice responses to that violence, namely arrest, prosecution and the issuance of protective orders. Data was obtained from a nonprofit domestic violence agency in Virginia Beach, Virginia. The data was collected by agency staff from victims seeking assistance. This study found that female victims of domestic violence that suffered higher levels of violence at the hands of their abuser were more likely to be issued a protective order. Female victims who suffered higher levels of violence were not …

The Forensic Analysis Of Triacetone Triperoxide (Tatp) Precursors And Synthetic By-Products, Kimberly Painter

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Triacetone Triperoxide (TATP) is a primary high explosive that can be synthesized using commercially available starting materials and has grown in use among terrorists over the past several years. Additives present in the precursors were investigated to see if they carry through the TATP synthesis and can be detected in the final product potentially aiding in the identification of the source. Additives identified in the acetones were also identified in pre-blast and in some post-blast samples. However, these additives are present in trace quantities relative to the TATP, which coupled with the volatility and short lifetimes of some of the …

The Law V. The Stranger: Language Interpretation And Legal Space In Lexington, Ky, Karen S. Kinslow

University of Kentucky Master's Theses

This thesis examines the role of interpretation in legal encounter in Lexington, Kentucky. Through an analysis of legal and interpretation practices, this study seeks to ascertain how these practices may affect non-native or low-proficiency English speakers’ (LLPs) experiences with both federal and local laws and legal spaces. This place-based study involves in-depth qualitative research. Using the methodological framework of feminist geo-jurisprudence, this research contributes to our understanding of 1) the limits of the publicity of legal space and, more specifically, the ways in which language barriers can prevent legal inclusion; 2) local strategies and tactics for dealing with the challenges …

The Effectiveness Of Using Homicide And Auto Theft Rates As Indicators Of Violent And Property Crime In The United States, Joseph Allan Schwartz

Theses Digitization Project

The primary goal of this study is to determine whether the use of homicide and motor vehicle theft rates can predict overall violent and property crime rates respectively. Recent studies indicate that homicide rates seem to act as a primary and reliable representation of other violent crime rates, while motor vehicle theft rates seem to act as a primary representation of other property crime rates. This research for the author's thesis indicates otherwise. Measures considered include the Uniform Crime Report, the National Crime Victimization Survey, and the National Incident-Based Reporting System.

Reducing Disparities In The Adult Criminal Justice System: Creating A Model For Denver County, Shelley Siman

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Overrepresentation in the criminal justice system of people who are marginalized by society has been researched for decades. Major challenges as they relate to overrepresentation of people of color in the system include a silo approach to research which leans towards analyzing system decision points in a vacuum, the misuse of official statistics to determine who is involved in crime, and the difficulty in translating solutions to the problem into practice. Disparate treatment of people of color in the American criminal justice system has also been reported by the United Nation's International Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination as …

Understanding Deviant Behaviors Through Coercion And Social Support Theory, Maria Nicte-Ha Uribe

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Mark Colvin, Francis T. Cullen and Thomas Vander Ven (2002) developed an integrated theory of crime called "coercion, social support, and crime" which hypothesizes that coercion and social support are inversely related and that these variables have direct effects on criminal and deviant behavior as well as a combined effect. Specifically if an imbalance between coercion and social support exists, crime is more likely to occur because coercion induces weak social bonds and low self control thereby increasing crime. On the other hand, social support prevents criminal involvement through organized networks of human relations that assist people in meeting their …

Detection Of Deception In Criminal Defendents: Treatment Or Trial?, Loran Noelle Bounds

Theses Digitization Project

The purpose of this study is to determine how to detect whether a person is faking a mental illness. An area that is often malingered is insanity, where criminal defendents will fake that they are mentally ill as to avoid imprisonment or the death penalty. The death penalty is one of the most difficult defenses to raise and is rarely successful.

Memorial Laws: Social And Media Construction Of Personalized Legislation, 1994-2005, Faith H. Leibman

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation explores the possibility that certain social, demographic, and political factors have led to the recent adoption by American state legislatures of what are known as Memorial Laws. First enacted in 1994, these laws have become increasingly common. However, there has been little or no formal academic research into them. This investigation aims to provide a preliminary analysis of Memorial Laws and to contribute to a better understanding of the dynamics affecting their passage. Specifically, this study examines a variety of demographic traits of victims and the characteristics of the crimes committed against them in an attempt to determine …

The Gatekeeping Behind Meritocracy: Voices Of Nyc High School Students, Arlene Melody Garcia

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Survey and focus group sampling of students in high achieving schools compared to lower achieving schools were used to examine why there are fewer black men graduating from high schools in New York City as well as high schools around the country compared to other groups of students. Race is disaggregated in order to look at the difference in achievement rates for African American, black Hispanic, African, and Afro-Caribbean men. The findings support the contention that foreign-born blacks do better academically than native blacks.

Focus groups consist of black males, females, and staff at six of the 12 schools; field …

Mental Illness, Co-Occurring Factors And Aggression As Examined In An American Prison, Stephanie Leigh Sullivan

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study examines the relationship between several factors which have been identified in previous research as co-occurring and risk relevant to aggressive behavior. Although many factors have been addressed independently for various reasons in other studies, this study looks at the unique combination of a select few of these variables and their relationship for propensity towards aggression. The results of this study show propensity towards aggression is significant for two specific mental health issues; anxiety, and history of severe head injury. Results also indicate that co-occurring factors are prevalent in this sample and those inmates with prior mental illness are …

A Validation Study Of Risk Management Systems, Bridget Kelly

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

The purpose of this study was to examine the predictive validity of Risk Management Systems (RMS) as a risk assessment instrument. To date, a published validation study does not exist for the RMS. The study employs secondary data analysis to examine the predictive validity of RMS recidivism and violence scores on three outcomes: arrest, unsuccessful termination from supervision, and technical violations. The study sample consisted of 830 probationers from the United States Probation Office, District of Nevada. The analyses showed that RMS recidivism and violence scores were moderately predictive of all three outcomes.

Illegal Immigration And Worldview Defense: Distaste For Human Migration In The Context Of Tmt, John Matthew Bergen

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This study examines the impact of mortality salience on opinions about illegal immigrants. Participants were asked to write about their own death or a control subject and then presented with scenarios of illegal immigration to the United States. The scenarios included a defendant who was either of Latin American or European origin and had or had not learned to speak English. However, the European condition had to be dropped due to unreliable identification of the origin of the European defendant. The results indicate that mortality salience caused an increase in the preference for deportation of an illegal immigrant who was …