Digital Commons Network^™

Critical Thinking: Primary Concepts, James Digiovanna

Open Educational Resources

I’ve been teaching critical thinking for many years, and I’ve developed a short, free, Creative Commons-licensed text that’s useful for a brief (maybe 3 week?) critical thinking section in any intro philosophy or composition course (or really, just about any course; it’s been used at my college by professors from a number of departments.)

The Story Of Kleppe V. New Mexico: The Sagebrush Rebellion As Un-Cooperative Federalism, Robert L. Fischman, Jeremiah I. Williamson

University of Colorado Law Review

federal power advancing national conservation objectives collided with traditional, local economic interests on public lands in the 1970s. This Article connects that history with current approaches to natural resources federalism. New Mexico challenged the Wild Free-Roaming Horses and Burros Act, which diminished both state jurisdiction and rancher influence over public rangelands. In response, the Supreme Court resoundingly approved federal authority to reprioritize uses of the public resources, including wildlife, and spurred a lasting backlash in the West. Further legislation passed in the wake of Kleppe transformed this unrest into a political movement, the Sagebrush Rebellion. Though Kleppe failed to undermine …

Indian Courts And Fundamental Fairness: Indian Courts And The Future Revisited, Matthew L.M. Fletcher

University of Colorado Law Review

This article comes out of the University of Colorado Law Review's symposium issue honoring the late Dean David H. Getches. It begins with Dean Getches's framework for analyzing Indian courts. I revisit Indian Courts and the Future, the 1978 report drafted by Dean Getches, and the historic context of the report. I compare the 1978 findings to the current state of Indian courts in America. This article focuses on the reality that the ability of Indian courts to successfully guarantee fundamental fairness in the form of due process and equal protection of the law for individuals under tribal government authority …

Table Of Contents (Vol. 84, Issue 2)

University of Colorado Law Review

No abstract provided.

Jury Instructions As Constitutional Education, Andrew Guthrie Ferguson

University of Colorado Law Review

Juries are central to the constitutional structure of America. This Article articulates a theory of the jury as a "constitutional teaching moment," establishing a historical and theoretical basis for reclaiming the educative value of jury service. This Article addresses the fundamental question of why, despite an unquestioned acceptance of a constitutional role of the jury, our criminal justice system does not explain this role to jurors on jury duty. This Article seeks to answer the question of how we can educate jurors about the jury's constitutional role, while at the same time exploring the larger theoretical concerns with using the …

Indiana V. Edwards: The Prospect Of A Heightened Competency Standard For Pro Se Defendants, Ashley N. Beck

University of Colorado Law Review

The Sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution guarantees a criminal defendant both the right to the assistance of counsel and the right of self-representation. The right of self-representation is deeply ingrained in the Anglo- American system of justice, but so is the requirement that a criminal defendant be tried only if competent to stand trial. In Indiana v. Edwards, the Supreme Court recognized a "gray area" of competency, noting that competency to stand trial with the assistance of counsel may not equate to competency to proceed pro se. In Edwards, the Court held that a trial court retains the …

Adolescents With Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder: Program For Prevention Of Juveniles Entering The Criminal Justice System, Erin Sykora, René Warzecha

Occupational Therapy Capstones

Purpose: The purpose of the product is to provide adolescents with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder (FASD) who are in a youth juvenile detention center the opportunity to participate in group sessions that will increase their functional occupational performance and decrease behaviors associated with their disorder.

Methodology: An extensive literature review was completed in order to determine the need for services and the information to include within the product. The authors looked at websites related to programming already implemented in Juvenile Centers to gather an idea of how to organize the product. A review of Cole’s 7 Steps was done in …

The Only Thing That Stops A Guy With A Bad Policy Is A Guy With A Good Policy: An Examination Of The Nra’S “National School Shield” Proposal, Gordon A. Crews, Angela D. Crews, Catherine E. Burton

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

With the recent tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, CT, the public and the government are looking for solutions to school violence. The National Rifle Association (NRA), a Second Amendment, pro-gun advocacy group, has proposed an “education and training emergency response program” called The National School Shield, which advocates the placement of armed security in schools. Although the program sounds provocative, serious questions complicate its plausibility, necessity, motive, and effectiveness. Furthermore, the potential policy and practical ramifications of encouraging armed security forces in U.S. schools are complex. The authors examined the proposal’s key elements from a public policy …

Strategic Approaches To Lying: Understanding Their Impact On Psychological Processes, Cues To Deception, And Perceptions Of Observers, Stephen Worth Michael

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

The current research examined the strategies implemented by liars, the relationships between these strategies and psychological processes related to deception, and the implications of these associations on perceptions of deceptive statements. In general, deception research has either ignored or superficially examined the types of strategies that individuals use to construct lies. However, these strategies may have significant impact on characteristics of the lie itself, and in turn, perceptions of the lie.

Study 1 explored the various strategies that liars use and the association of these strategies to psychological processes involved in lying. Results demonstrated that participants used a wide range …

How Many Barack Obamas Does It Take: An Analysis Of The Effect Of Charter Schools On Real Estate And Crime, Aananditaa Kakkar

CMC Senior Theses

This study looks at the relationship between charter school presence and neighborhood quality in Los Angeles. Using data from the Los Angeles Department of Education, Zillow Real Estate, and the Los Angeles Sheriff, this paper attempts to find whether changes in charter presence influence the price of surrounding real estate or the occurrence of serious and petty crimes. The results find that charter schools tend to be associated with a decrease in home sale prices. The results on crime imply that crime increases upon the opening of charter schools, however they are statistically insignificant.

Are Principals Driving The Cop Car? The Growth In School Discipline For Off-Campus Conduct, Michael L. Collins

Seton Hall Journal of Legislation and Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Emotionality And Public Perception Of Guilt: How The Media Portrayal Of High Profile Missing Person Cases Affectes The Public Perception Of Guilt, Laura Ann Polson

Master of Arts in Criminal Justice Theses

No abstract provided.

A Descriptive Research Study On Law Enforcement's Eyewitness Identification Procedures, Lynn Slaughter

Master of Arts in Criminal Justice Theses

Annually, mistaken identifications lead to thousands of wrongful convictions and missed opportunities to catch guilty persons. Researchers rely on decades of exploration to recommend identification procedures to law enforcement. Several jurisdictions have recently standardized identification procedures.

This descriptive research investigated two photographic line-up variables: whether witnesses viewed photographs sequentially or simultaneously, and was the presentation singleor double-blind. Researchers agree lineups should be administered double-blind to decrease administrator influence. Experts debate the sequential format; mistaken identifications are decreased, as are correct identifications. Many experts recommend the sequential format.

This study mailed 1016 law enforcement agencies employing 100 or more officers a …

The Credit Industry And Identity Theft: How To End An Enabling Relationship, Eric T. Glynn

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

We Are Always Already Imprisoned: Hyper-Incarceration And Black Male Identity Performance, Frank Rudy Cooper

Scholarly Works

In this Essay, Professor Frank Rudy Cooper recenters the experiences of men of color, particularly those of black men, in light of Reagan's War on Drugs and recent scholarship illustrating the over-representation of men of color in prison for petty drug use. The mainstream's depiction of black men as always already imprisoned disciplines us into the never-finished quest to prove we are a "Good Black Man," rather than a "Bad Black Man." In order to propose greater empathy for black men's imprisonment, this article proceeds in the following manner. In Part I, Professor Cooper sets the stage for considering the …

Nfib V. Sebelius: Proportionality In The Exercise Of Congressional Power, David Orentlicher

Scholarly Works

With its opinion on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the U.S. Supreme Court sparked much discussion regarding the implications of the case for other federal statutes. In particular, scholars have debated the significance of the Court's recognition of an anticoercion limit to the Spending Clause power.

When it recognized an anticoercion limit for the ACA's Medicaid expansion, the Court left considerable uncertainty as to the parameters of that limit. This essay sketches out one valuable and very plausible interpretation of the Court's new anticoercion principle. It also indicates how this new principle can address a long-standing problem …

Identities Cubed: Perspectives On Multidimensional Masculinities Theory, Ann C. Mcginley

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Theorizing From Particularity: Perpetrators And Intersectional Theory On Domestic Violence, Elizabeth L. Macdowell

Scholarly Works

The role of identity-based stereotypes about perpetrators in domestic violence cases has not received much attention in legal scholarship, which has instead focused on the identities of victims. However, stereotypes governing who is a recognizable victim (e.g., that victims are white, middle-class, passive, and dependent women in heterosexual relationships) cannot by themselves explain why nonconforming victims are sometimes successful in family court cases and other, more “perfect” victims are not. Drawing on intersectionality theory, which studies the ways experiences are shaped by the interaction of multiple identity categories, I argue that understanding this phenomenon requires a relational analysis that examines …

Joshua’S Children: Constitutional Responsibility For Institutionalized Persons After Deshaney V. Winnebago County, Susan Stefan

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Introduction: Wounds Of War: Meeting The Needs Of Active-Duty Military Personnel And Veterans With Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, Kathy Cerminara, Olympia Duhart

Nova Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Aftermath Of International Conflicts: Veterans Domestic Violence Cases And Veterans Treatment Courts, Linda J. Fresneda

Nova Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Indirect Influence Of Politics On Tort Liability Of Public Authorities In English Law, Dan Priel

Articles & Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Rakofsky V. The Washington Post, New York Supreme Court

Historical and Topical Legal Documents

No abstract provided.

Surviving Probation: The Challenges Sexual Offenders Are Faced With In Mainstream Society, Krystal Stevenson

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

"Society sees us [sexual offenders] as terrible people. Either lock us up or kill us. They don't want us in their community." Sexual offenders are seen as some of the most repulsive criminals through society's eyes. The term "sexual offender" encompasses many different types of people with regards to their crime, but society sees all sexual offenders as child molesters. This causes an over-whelming problem for sexual offenders, specifically in terms of housing, since there are many restrictions on where they can live. Legislation is implementing housing restrictions to prevent these criminals from re-offending, but in some cases, it can …

Avian Scavenging, Mummification, And Variable Micro-Environments As Factors Affecting The Decomposition Process In Western Montana, Teresa Ann White

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The purpose of this research study was to empirically study the temporal order of events of postmortem changes in Missoula, Montana utilizing pig (Sus scrofa) cadavers as human proxies by documenting postmortem changes and rate of soft tissue decomposition of three pigs over the course of one year and 19 days. The data from this study will be compared and contrasted to studies that have occurred elsewhere. A full understanding of the postmortem changes and rate of soft tissue decomposition in this area will help forensic anthropologists better understand why the postmortem interval (PMI) may be different in western Montana …

The New State Postconviction, Giovanna Shay

Faculty Scholarship

This Article examines two October Term 2011 Supreme Court cases – Maples v. Thomas and Martinez v. Ryan – which have a significant impact on the provision of counsel in state postconviction proceedings. In Maples and Martinez the Court expanded the circumstances in which deficient performance by state postconviction counsel can overcome procedural default, to permit the prisoner to litigate defaulted claims on the merits in federal habeas. The Author argues that, given the increased significance of state postconviction under the Anti-Terrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act (AEDPA), Maples and Martinez could have a salutary effect on the development of …

Texas Legislative Implications For Minors Accused Of Sexting., Mallory N. Myers

St. Mary's Law Journal

State legislation criminalizing sexting—the possession or electronic transmission of visual material capturing a minor engaged in sexual conduct—should not punish minors similarly to adults. The Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 (Walsh Act) in conjunction with the Sex Offender Registration & Notification Act (SORNA), require that any individual, including a minor, convicted of child pornography register as a sex offender. As a result, states with legislation that categorize sexting as child pornography, will require a minor with a sexting conviction to register as a sex offender. This disportionate punishment on the minor will make it difficult for …

Dissent Into Confusion: The Supreme Court, Denialism, And The False “Scientific” Controversy Over Shaken Baby Syndrome, Joelle Moreno, Brian Homgren

Utah Law Review

In the United States Supreme Court's first opinion on the merits from its 2011-2012 term, three members of the Court contributed their authoritative voices to one of the most recent -- and one of the most deadly -- false scientific controversies, the purported scientific debate over the medical diagnosis of shaken baby syndrome (SBS), a prevalent form of abusive head trauma (AHT).

On October 31, 2011, in Cavazos v. Smith, the Supreme Court upheld Shirley Ree Smith's conviction for causing the death of her seven-week-old grandson, Etzel. This conviction was based on the jury finding that Etzel died from SBS. …

The Skeptic’S Guide To Information Sharing At Sentencing, Ryan W. Scott

Utah Law Review

The “information sharing model,” a leading method of structuring judicial discretion at the sentencing stage of criminal cases, has attracted broad support from scholars and judges. Under this approach, sentencing judges should have access to a robust body of information, including written opinions and statistics, about previous sentences in similar cases. According to proponents, judges armed with that information can conform their sentences to those of their colleagues or identify principled reasons for distinguishing them, reducing inter-judge disparity and promoting rationality in sentencing law.

This Article takes a skeptical view of the information sharing model, arguing that it suffers from …

Nfib V. Sebelius: Proportionality In The Exercise Of Congressional Power, David Orentlicher

Utah Law Review

With its opinion on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), the U.S. Supreme Court sparked much discussion regarding the implications of the case for other federal statutes. In particular, scholars have debated the significance of the Court’s recognition of an anticoercion limit to the Spending Clause power. When it recognized an anticoercion limit for the ACA’s Medicaid expansion, the Court left considerable uncertainty as to the parameters of that limit. This essay sketches out one valuable and very plausible interpretation of the Court’s new anticoercion principle. It also indicates how this new principle can address a long-standing problem …