Legal Studies Commons^™

Finding Law, Stephen E. Sachs

Faculty Scholarship

That the judge's task is to find the law, not to make it, was once a commonplace of our legal culture. Today, decades after Erie, the idea of a common law discovered by judges is commonly dismissed -- as a "fallacy," an "illusion," a "brooding omnipresence in the sky." That dismissive view is wrong. Expecting judges to find unwritten law is no childish fiction of the benighted past, but a real and plausible option for a modern legal system.

This Essay seeks to restore the respectability of finding law, in part by responding to two criticisms made by Erie and ...

Organizational Deviance: The Case Of The Baltimore City Detention Center, Jaz Vallin

Augsburg Honors Review

This paper analyzes the causes that led to the federal indictment of thirteen female guards, and eventual conviction of forty guards and inmates, at the Baltimore City Detention Center in 2013. The analysis is based on information presented in extensive newspaper coverage during and after the discovery of the events and the behavior at the jail. While popular opinion in the press blamed the guards’ gender or their personal morals for their actions, the incident can best be explained through the use of organizational heuristic tools. Application of Diane Vaughan’s matrix of routine nonconformity reveals that the guards’ actions ...

A Public Health Argument Against Arming Teachers, David I. Swedler

Health Behavior Research

The peer-reviewed scientific literature does not support the idea that arming teachers will prevent school shootings. In this commentary, I draw on the criminal justice, injury prevention, and firearm safety literature to demonstrate how arming teachers will do more harm than good.

Prosecutorial Misconduct: Typologies And Need For Policy Reform, Rylee Broyles, Tamara J. Lynn

Academic Leadership Journal in Student Research

A gross manifestation of injustice within the criminal justice system, warranting policy development to correct, is the issue of prosecutorial misconduct. There are numerous reasons why misconduct occurs and oftentimes overlooked within the courts. Action must be taken to both prevent and rectify such wrongdoings committed by those whom are presumed to be the most virtuous of our justice system. Future policy action is paramount to the constitutionality of criminal proceedings and the abatement of prosecutorial misconduct in every capacity. The implementation of austere policies would positively impact all criminal defendants whom cross the threshold of a courthouse.

Sex Offender Perceptions: Investigating Social Supports As Buffers To The Consequences Of Megan's Law, Melissa D. Colson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify supports and whether supports perceived as helpful lessen negative experiences with job difficulty, housing difficulty, vigilantism, and isolation. Additionally, registrants' perceptions of hopelessness and sex offender registration and community notification laws (SORN) as a public safety measure were examined to determine whether more helpful supports positively impacted their attitudes. Another aspect of this study explored differences with males and females since females have rarely been examined. Narratives were compiled to further describe offender experiences and perceptions. This study used a survey to collect data on sex offenders, including offender demographics and victim ...

Public Perceptions On Domestic Sex Trafficking And Domestic Sex Trafficking Victims: A Quantitative Analysis, Faith Browder

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Sex trafficking is a grossly misconstrued and increasing issue within the United States. The purpose of this study was to extend current knowledge regarding the public’s education on domestic sex trafficking and perceptions of domestic sex trafficking victims. The public’s awareness of domestic sex trafficking and perceptions of domestic sex trafficking victims were examined through the utilization of a 31 closed-ended question survey. The survey included questions about domestic sex trafficking and prostitution myths, domestic sex trafficking victim characteristics, domestic sex trafficking legislation, law enforcement’s involvement in domestic sex trafficking cases, and demographics. The sample consisted of ...

Political Competition And Predictors Of Hate Crime: A County-Level Analysis, Eaven Holder

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Research on hate crime has tended to utilize sociological frameworks to best explain the incidence of such offending, but little research has been conducted to determine whether political factors may play a role. Although Olzak (1990) touched upon the relationship between racial violence and third-party politics during the American Progressive era (1882-1914), the research did not fully articulate how political competition may influence the commission of hate crime. The current study seeks to fill this gap, while also extending concepts associated with social disorganization theory and the defended communities perspective. It does so by utilizing a longitudinal research design to ...

Officer Perceptions On Armed Campuses, Paul Perry

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This research was intended to investigate the perceptions of firearm policies and the views held by campus security personnel regarding student or teacher carry on campus. The purpose of the interviews was to investigate campus security officer’s perceptions and how they differ based upon individual belief systems. The goal, therefore, was to understand how their perspectives on campus carry could impact interactions with students and faculty. Exploring a representative sample of current firearm policies, both on and off campus, established a framework that exposed the opinions of campus security personnel and gave some insight into the potential impact that ...

"I Just Got Out; I Need A Place To Live": A Business Plan For Transitional Housing, Walker Beverly V

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

The United States has a serious epidemic of mass incarceration and high recidivism rates. The U. S. must act on these high recidivism rates by implementing social services programs that help the formerly incarcerated stop committing crimes. The formerly incarcerated are being oppressed by a historic process that has continued to incarcerate and control them, even after they had served their time for their crimes. This project attempts to assist in reducing the high recidivism rates by creating an education-based transitional housing facility with a plethora of supportive services that will be open to formerly incarcerated individuals. This project sheds ...

Revolution In Crime: How Cryptocurrencies Have Changed The Criminal Landscape, Igor Groysman

Student Theses

This thesis will examine the ways in which various cryptocurrencies have impacted certain traditional crimes. While crime is always evolving with technology, cryptocurrencies are a game changer in that they provide anonymous and decentralized payment systems which, while they can be tracked in a reactive sense via the blockchain, are seen by criminals as having better uses for them than traditional fiat currencies, such as the ability to send money relatively fast to another party without going through an intermediary, or the ability to obscure the origin of the money for money laundering purposes. Every week there are new cryptocurrencies ...

The Effects Of Sexual Victimization On College Women, Bailie Light

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis analyzed the effects of sexual victimization among college women. Previous research has found that victimization has several negative effects. This thesis was designed to add to this literature by addressing how sexual victimization effects both behavior and academic performance. Results indicated that there was a significant relationship between sexual victimization and behavior changes, the type of victimization experienced had a different impact on the victim based on the type of victimization they experienced, and that academic performance was significantly affected by sexual victimization.

Exited Prostitution Survivor Policy Platform, Marian Hatcher, Alisa L. Bernard, Allison Franklin, Audrey Morrissey, Beth Jacobs, Cherie Jimenez, Kathi Hardy, Marlene Carson, Nikki Bell, Rebecca Bender, Rebekah Charleston, Shamere Mckenzie, Vednita Carter

Dignity: A Journal on Sexual Exploitation and Violence

Survivors of prostitution propose a policy reform platform including three main pillars of priority: criminal justice reforms, fair employment, and standards of care. The sexual exploitation of prostituted individuals has lasting effects which can carry over into many aspects of life. In order to remedy these effects and give survivors the opportunity to live a full and free life, we must use a survivor-centered approach to each of these pillars to create change. First, reform is necessary in the criminal justice system to recognize survivors as victims of crime and not perpetrators, while holding those who exploited them fully responsible ...

Aging In Correctional Facilities: Challenges, Programs, And Service Adaptations, Shawna Wolfe

PURE Insights

As the aging American population grows, so does the aging population within the penal system. Historically, correctional institutions were designed for young, able-bodied inmates. Today, correctional institutions are finding the need to make accommodations for the unique physical and cognitive needs of those over age 55. Due to lack of health care and illicit behaviors, individuals who are incarcerated typically experience negative outcomes of aging earlier than those in the general population. With increased sentence lengths and a decline in physical and cognitive abilities, correctional facilities are finding it necessary to identify and create modifications. Some of the challenges correctional ...

The Effects Of Holistic Defense On Criminal Justice Outcomes, James Anderson, Maya Buenaventura, Paul Heaton

Faculty Scholarship at Penn Law

No abstract provided.

Falling Between The Cracks: Understanding Why States Fail In Protecting Our Children From Crime, Michal Gilad

Faculty Scholarship at Penn Law

The article is the first to take an inclusive look at the monumental problem of crime exposure during childhood, which is estimated to be one of the most damaging and costly public health and public safety problem in our society today. It takes-on the challenging task of ‘naming’ the problem by coining the term Comprehensive Childhood Crime Impact or in short the Triple-C Impact. Informed by scientific findings, the term embodies the full effect of direct and indirect crime exposure on children due to their unique developmental characteristics, and the spillover effect the problem has on our society as a ...

The Critical Need For Mental Health Education To Be Mandated In New Mexico's Public Schools, Bonnie L. Murphy

Shared Knowledge Conference

Based on a review of research and best practices in mental health awareness and skills, this inquiry project argues for state legislative policies that would require mental health awareness and skills in the K-12 curriculum. Mental health affects individual accomplishments in every stage of people’s lives beginning in early childhood and throughout the life cycle. Prevention and treatment of mental illness plays a key role in the ability of an individual to cope with loss and develop resiliency and perseverance in challenging times and to make better decisions that improve the individual’s life and the lives of those ...

Use Of Drug Dependency To Entrap And Control Victims Of Sex Trafficking: A Call For A U.S. Federal Human Rights Response, Jacquelyn C.A. Meshelmiah, Carra Gilson, Athapattu Pathirannelage A. Prasanga

Dignity: A Journal on Sexual Exploitation and Violence

Survivors of sex trafficking who were forced into drug use as victims are in need of social services to treat their drug dependency and other mental disorders. Access to social services is a human rights issue that must be acted upon by state and federal officials. The law, however, requires approval of the T-Visa for receipt of benefits. Along with the T-visa application process, the applicant (human trafficking survivor) must be willing to assist in every reasonable way in the investigation and prosecution of the trafficker. The authors argue that drug dependency treatment and other social service benefits should be ...

‘Affluent’ Justice: The Role Of Ses In Sentencing Severity, Sonia Pappachan

Student Theses

Imprisonment is the harshest punishment the law can give a defendant; it has considerable consequences on the incarcerated, during and after. Therefore, the sentencing phase of the criminal proceedings should be fair and balanced. However, the literature and researches that have explored the biases in sentencing found that there is a disparity in sentencing due to the characteristics of both the victim and the defendant. The current study used a sample of 209 online survey participants to explore the effect of the socioeconomic status of the victim and defendant on sentencing length. Participants reviewed a vignette of a criminal offense ...

A General Mitigation For Disturbance-Driven Crimes?: Psychic State, Personal Choice, And Normative Inquiries, Paul H. Robinson

Faculty Scholarship at Penn Law

It is argued here that the narrow provoked “heat of passion” mitigation available under current law ought to be significantly expanded to include not just murder but all felonies and not just “heat of passion” but potentially all mental or emotional disturbances, whenever the offender’s situation and capacities meaningfully reduce the offender’s blameworthiness for the violation. In determining eligibility for mitigation, the jury should take into account (a) the extent to which the offender was acting under the influence of mental or emotional disturbance (the psychic state inquiry), (b) given the offender’s situation and capacities, the extent ...

Legislative Committee Systems: A Design Perspective, Chase Stoddard

Indiana Journal of Constitutional Design

Committees are the defining characteristic of the modern legislature. While the centrality and study of party politics goes back further than committee politics, the focus on committee systems emerged over the course of the twentieth century, and legislatures could not function as we understand them without this mechanism. The United States Congressional committee system is the most studied system, yet virtually every country utilizes a committee system of some sort within its legislature. Despite their ubiquity in and centrality to the operations of legislatures, committees remain insufficiently studied, especially outside of the United States. The existing body of work tends ...