Digital Commons Network^™

A Legal System That Compromises Due Process And Promotes Organ Harvesting And Human Rights Abuse Of Prisoners: A Case Study Of China, Shivani Ramdeo

Human Rights & Human Welfare

On June 21, 1989, three men were executed in Shanghai two weeks after their arrests. The Xinhua News Agency reported that Bian Hanwu, Xu Guoming and Yan Xuerong were arrested, charged and convicted for sabotaging transportation. Upon rejection of their appeals by the Shanghai People’s High Court, they were executed. Again, Xinhua reported on January 26, 2003, the execution of Lobsang Dondrub, (who was found guilty of inciting a split in the country and illegally possessing firearms and ammunition), hours after his death sentence was approved by the Sichuan Province Higher People’s Court, despite an assurance to a US delegation …

Police Violence In Brazil, Kyra Moon

Human Rights & Human Welfare

“This was just the beginning. They want war, and they‟ll get war. The problem of trafficking will only be resolved with blood. It is the only language they understand.” This was the response of Mario Azevedo, chief delegate of the 21st police precinct in the Bonsucsso neighborhood in Rio de Janeiro, after drug traffickers killed three police officers. Three days after that assault, one hundred and twenty heavily armed police officers stormed into the Nova Brasilia favela (the Brazilian term for slum or shantytown) and killed thirteen residents, four of which were minors. Press reports initially described this incident in …

The Judicial Behavior Of Justice Souter In Criminal Cases And The Denial Of A Conservative Counterrevolution, Scott P. Johnson

The University of New Hampshire Law Review

[Excerpt] “The following article documents the judicial career of Justice David Souter from his time served as an attorney general and state judge in New Hampshire until his recent tenure on the U.S. Supreme Court. Based upon his written opinions and individual votes, Justice Souter clearly has evolved into a more liberal jurist than ideological conservatives would have preferred in the area of criminal justice. Over the course of his judicial career, Justice Souter has gained respect as an intellectual scholar by attempting to completely understand both sides of a dispute and applying precedent and legal rules in a flexible—albeit …

Impacts Of ‘Three Strikes And You’Re Out’ On Crime Trends In California And Throughout The United States, Elsa Y. Chen

Political Science

The impacts of Three Strikes on crime in California and throughout the U.S. are analyzed using cross-sectional time series analysis of state-level data from 1986 to 2005. The model measures both deterrence and incapacitation effects, controlling for pre-existing crime trends and economic, demographic, and policy factors. Despite limited usage outside California, the presence of a Three Strikes law appears to be associated with slightly but significantly faster rates of decline in robbery, burglary, larceny, and motor vehicle theft nationwide. Three Strikes is also associated with slower declines in murder rates. Although California’s law is the broadest and most-frequently-used Three Strikes …

The Liberation Hypothesis And Racial And Ethnic Disparities In The Application Of California’S Three Strikes Law, Elsa Y. Chen

Political Science

This paper examines the extent to which racial and ethnic disparities exist in the implementation of California's “Three Strikes and You're Out” law and whether racial and ethnic disparities vary by type of offense. Logistic regression analysis of individual-level data on over 171,000 California prison inmates indicates that African-Americans are more likely than whites and Latinos to receive third-strike sentences, even when legally relevant variables are controlled. The analysis also finds that Latino defendants are significantly less likely to receive third-strike sentences. The results also indicate that the black-white gap is greater for offenses known as “wobblers,” which can be …

Legacy Of A Leader, Michael Staib

Honors Independent Research Papers

This study assesses the historical legacy of former Commander-In-Chief and 40th President, Ronald Wilson Reagan. Research references Reagan’s formidable contribution to subsequent U. S. politics by analyzing his domestic and foreign policy. Ultimately, Reagan revolutionized the presidency and provided conservative reconstruction, restoring moral guidance to American society. Epitomizing the Roosevelt Corollary, the aphorism popularized by Teddy Roosevelt, “Speak softly, but carry a big stick,” Reagan followed an aggressive foreign policy. Exercising diplomacy, Reagan deterred those countries deemed dangerous, while preserving peace with amiable nations. Essay examines his ideological perspective, constitutional interpretation, executive appointment of Supreme Court justices, laissez-faire economic strategy, …

Gender, Race, And Intersectionality On The Federal Appellate Bench., Todd Collins, Laura Moyer

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

While theoretical justifications predict that a judge’s gender and race may influence judicial decisions, empirical support for these arguments has been mixed. However, recent increases in judicial diversity necessitate a reexamination of these earlier studies. Rather than examining individual judges on a single characteristic, such as gender or race alone, this research note argues that the intersection of individual characteristics may provide an alternative approach for evaluating the effects of diversity on the federal appellate bench. The results of cohort models examining the joint effects of race and gender suggest that minority female judges are more likely to support criminal …

Volume 01, Jessica Fields, Stephanie Neeley, Derek W. Hambright, Mary E. Lehman, Andrew R. Grzankowski, Zachary Johnson, Boone M. Prentice, Ashley M. Swandby, Victoria Morgan, Katie Williamson, Kristine G. Bender, Katelyn N. Romaine, D. Nicole Swann, Jessica Fox, Mike Mcateer, Alex Grabiec, Laura Nodtvedt, Nick Costa, Rachel Wolfe, Zack Dalton

Incite: The Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship

Introduction from Dean Dr. Charles Ross

Three Decades of Digging: Undergraduate Archeology at Longwood by Jessica Fields and Stephanie Neeley

Interactions of Allelopathy and Heat Stress in Plants by Derek W. Hambright and Mary E. Lehman

Inertial Electrostatic Confinement D-D Fusion Device: Construction and Simulation by Andrew R. Grzankowski

Shackled Nim by Zachary Johnson

Development of GC-MS and Chemometric Methods for the Analysis of Accelerants in Arson Cases by Boone M. Prentice

A Comparison of Image Analysis Methods in cDNA Microarrays by Ashley M. Swandby

Perceived Sexual Activity of Short and Long-Term Relationships by Victoria Morgan and Katie Williamson

Elderly …

Establishing Multicultural Interdependence In Europe: Overcoming The Legal Challenges Facing Cosmopolitan Citizens, Jessica L. Hawkinson

International Studies Honors Projects

Modern states and legal structures around the world are pressed by the forces of globalization to accommodate increasingly diverse multicultural populations. Older and more frequently followed models for cultural integration are rooted in theories of assimilation or liberal pluralism. These theories can demand unbalanced changes from either minority communities or the state. Few theories identify the dual process of interdependence necessary for the democratic inclusion of diverse minority communities in Europe. This thesis explores the historical intent and shortcomings of immigration and integration legislation as it relates to ethnic minority communities in Great Britain and the Netherlands, and makes a …

Poverty’S Captives, Tim Brauhn

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Today’s manifestations of bondage are a marked departure from those of pre-modern slavery. Now the value of the human “goods” is so low that slavers do not have to worry about damaging them. Two hundred years ago, slaves had to at least be treated with a modicum of safety, if for no other reason than to ensure continued profitability. But in the 20th and 21st centuries, slavers have become less like “hunters” and more like “gatherers,” since their work no longer involves raids and chains, at least in the physical sense. No, today’s raids are the false promises of work …

Political Science And Public Administration, Mark Jendrysik

UND Departmental Histories

This departmental history was written on the occasion of the UND Quasquicentennial in 2008.

Intelligence And Human Rights: A View From Venus, Peter Gill

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Intelligence and Human Rights in the Era of Global Terrorism. By Steve Tsang (ed.). Westport, Connecticut: Praeger Security International, 2007.

and

War by Other Means: An Insider’s Account of the War on Terror. By John Yoo. New York: Atlantic Monthly Press, 2006.

Contract Enslavement Of Female Migrant Domestic Workers In Saudi Arabia And The United Arab Emirates, Romina Halabi

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Slavery was not abolished in Saudi Arabia until 1962, and in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) until 1963. It is unsurprising, then, that contract slavery of domestic servants continues to thrive in much of the Persian Gulf, where local economies prosper on the immigration of foreign workers. Economic incentives on the part of the sending and receiving nations encourage the migration of female workers from their home countries to Saudi Arabia and to the UAE. These incentives, coupled with restrictive contract systems, bind the female domestic worker to her employer and create an environment conducive to exploitation and involuntary servitude.

Are We Over-Lawyering International Affairs, Philip C. Bobbitt, John D. Hutson, John C. Yoo, Philip D. Zelikow, Edwin D. Williamson

Faculty Scholarship

This panel will discuss the role of lawyers — particularly government lawyers — in addressing questions of legal policy. We will discuss fundamental questions such as: Should lawyers decide legal policy? Or, is that best left to the policymakers? Should lawyers give advice as to legal policy, or should they stick to providing answers as to what the law is? How should lawyers respond to what a policymaker thinks is the legal question, but is really a question of legal policy? If lawyers find the law vague or lacking, should they fill in the gaps, advising as to what the …

Michel Foucault Meets Gary Becker: Criminality Beyond Discipline And Punish, Andrew Dilts

Political Science and International Relations Faculty Works

Among the numerous reasons why Discipline and Punish continues to be read and to shape the contours of criminology, sociology, political theory, and philosophy, is its attention to the development of criminal subjectivity. The ascendancy of the disciplinary age brought about the “fabrication” of the delinquent as a by-product of the discursive needs of the penitentiary technique and the requirements of the juridical law. The figure of the delinquent comes into existence both historically and theoretically at the intersection between discursive orders to manage the contradictions between them, providing a suitable subject for both the court and the penitentiary. The …

A Case Of Moral Heroism: Sympathy, Personal Identification, And Mortality In Rwanda, Ari Kohen

Department of Political Science: Faculty Publications

What sort of person chooses to remain in a place like Rwanda when an easy exit is offered, when leaving seems the only safe or sane option, and when one is not directly connected to the would-be victims? And how does this person come to develop a circle of care that is expansive enough to include those who are radically Other? In what follows, I consider these questions through a detailed examination of the recent example of Paul Rusesabagina, the Hutu hotel manager in Kigali, Rwanda, who sheltered more than a thousand Tutsi and moderate Hutu refugees during the hundred-day …

Voting Rights For Felons: An Analysis Of Felon Voting Rights Restoration Laws In Illinois And New York And The Factors That Affect An Elections Official's Willingness Or Reluctance To Implement The Law, Barbara Dongu Smith

Masters Theses

This research examines the roles that race and political party affiliation play in an elections official's knowledge of voting rights restoration for felons in Illinois. Felon disenfranchisement as public policy traces a path from pre-modem society to present day and has become a viable issue as the numbers of those incarcerated and denied voting rights has increased. This research proposes to determine if felon disenfranchisement as public policy is prevalent in Illinois, a state that grants franchise to felons after release from Department of Corrections custody or if, as the academic and scholarly literature proposes, it is so entrenched in …

An Open Letter To The Political Science Community, Daniel R. Pinello

Human Rights & Human Welfare

In 2003, the American Political Science Association (APSA) selected New Orleans as the site for its 2012 annual meeting.

In 2004, 78 percent of Louisiana voters (including 54 percent in Orleans Parish) passed the following amendment to their state constitution:

Marriage in the state of Louisiana shall consist only of the union of one man and one woman. No official or court of the state of Louisiana shall construe this constitution or any state law to require that marriage or the legal incidents thereof be conferred upon any member of a union other than the union of one man and …

Revolutionary Peacemaking: Using A Critical Pedagogy Approach For Peacemaking With "Terrorists", Steven Best, Peter Mclaren, Anthony J. Nocella Ii

Education Faculty Articles and Research

"The current global political atmosphere is steeped in fear of, and intense rhetoric about, political violence and "terrorism." Amidst this turbulent environment, it is clear that scholars and practitioners need to get beyond the manufactured fear and the hysterical rhetoric, peddled by what we call the corporate-state-military-media complex (or simply, the "power complex"), and instead seek a deeper understanding of political groups that defend or deploy the tactics of economic sabotage (property destruction) or armed struggle in order to change repressive and violent social structures (Best and Nocella 2004; Best and Nocella 2006). Such understanding is important to slow down …

Doing Justice Without The State: The Afikpo (Ehugbo) Nigeria Model, Ihekwoaba D. Onwudiwe, Iona West

African Journal of Criminology and Justice Studies

No abstract provided.

The Place Of Criminology In The Study Of Terrorism: Implications For Homeland Security, Ihekwoaba D. Onwudiwe

African Journal of Criminology and Justice Studies

In this article, I intend to describe the history of terrorism, provide an explanation of some aspects of criminological theories related to the study of terrorism, and briefly articulate the link between criminology, terrorism, and homeland security. While criminology has made significant contributions in the understanding of crime in general, the literature on terrorism and homeland security by criminologists is still emerging. Arguably, this treatise calls for this void to be filled by criminologists, because terrorism and homeland security appropriately belong within the perimeters of criminology. This article employs the methodology of content analysis as used in social science research. …

Geo-Politics, The ‘War On Terror’ And The Competitiveness Of The City Of London, Richard Woodward

Books/Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

On The Wery Idea Of Transitional Justice, Jens David Ohlin

Journal of Diplomacy and International Relations

No abstract provided.

Advocate, March 2007, Vol. [18], No. [5], Gc Advocate

The Advocate

TABLE OF CONTENTS:

New Index Ranks GC Among Top 50 U.S. Research Universities (p. 1)

From the Editor’s Desk: Walking Away from Torture (p. 2)

GC Technology - IT Goes Shopping: New PCs Coming (p. 3)

The PSC and CUNY Resume Contract Negotiations: What Graduate Students and Adjuncts Can Expect. Carl Lindskoog (p. 4)

Dispatches from the Front: History of the World, Part 28. Mark Wilson (p. 5)

Academic Repression Update: “We Shall Rise”: The Persecution of Dr. Sami Al-Arian. Philip Fairbanks (p. 6)

Letters (p. 2)

Violent Crime at CUNY. Andrea Siegel.

There’s More to the Urban Ed Story. …

A Benchmark Report On Diversity In State And Local Government, Carol Hardy-Fanta Phd

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

The Pipeline to Public Service Initiative asked the McCormack Graduate School’s Center for Women in Politics & Public Policy at the University of Massachusetts Boston to ascertain the racial diversity in state and local government. The project had the following three goals:

--To identify the race (and gender) of those holding top-level positions filled through gubernatorial appointments, e.g., secretaries, commissioners, directors, deputy commissioners/directors, and undersecretaries, in the Commonwealth’s executive offices and major departments.

--To compile the same information for members of the most influential boards and commissions in the Commonwealth filled through gubernatorial appointments.

--To assess the diversity of elected …

Constitution Week, University Of South Alabama

Constitution

Bibliography and photographs of a display of government documents from the University of South Alabama.

United States Foreign Policy: Liberty And Security?, Jessi Schimmel

Human Rights & Human Welfare

Prior to September 11, 2001, the United States had the reputation of being a leader in the field of human rights. As information of torture and abuse in Abu Ghraib, Guantánamo Bay, and secret CIA detention centers has surfaced, however, the image of America has changed from human rights champion to that of violator. In large part, the international community of scholars and activists has come to deride the foreign policy of the United States as misguided and out of balance with the threats the country faces. However, there are also plenty of outspoken defenders who believe that the tactics …

Human Rights And The War On Terror: Complete 2005 - 2007 Topical Research Digest, Jack Donnelly, Simon Amajuru, Susannah Compton, Robin Davey, Syd Dillard, Amanda Donahoe, Charles Hess, Sydney Fisher, Kelley Laird, Victoria Lowdon, Chris Maggard, Alexandra Nichols, Travis Ning, Toni Panetta, Greg Sanders, James Smithwick, Angela Woolliams, Chris Saeger, Sarah Bania-Dobyns, Eric Dibbern, David Gillespie, Latife Bulur, Katie Friesen, Arika Long, Arianna Nowakowski, Joel R. Pruce

Human Rights & Human Welfare

“9/11 changed everything.” Not really. In fact, there has been far more continuity than change over the past six years in both international and domestic politics. Nonetheless, human rights often have been harmed—although not by terrorism but by “the war on terror.”

The Roma: During And After Communism, Florinda Lucero, Jill Collum

Human Rights & Human Welfare

The Roma are an interconnected ethnic and cultural group that migrated out of India more than ten centuries ago. In the Czech Republic, they may have been present since the 15th century. Although relations within Czech lands began honorably, they quickly disintegrated into enmity and within a century Czechs could kill the Roma with impunity. Legislation restricting Roma movement came about in 1927 with Law 117: the “Law on Wandering Gypsies,” which stated that the Roma were now required to seek permission to stay overnight in any given location. In the run-up to World War II, parallel restrictions to those …

Indeterminacy And Society By Russell Hardin, Daniel R. Sabia

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.