Digital Commons Network^™

Identifying The Guilty, Protecting The Innocent: Amending The Federal Rules Of Evidence To Address Admissibility Of Eyewitness Identification, Louisa M. A. Heiny

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Mistaken eyewitness identification is among the most common factors in wrongful conviction cases. Indeed, hundreds of innocent defendants have been convicted for a crime they did not commit, their fate sealed by an eyewitness who convincingly, but mistakenly, testified, “That’s the one!”

Scientific researchers have documented the fallibility of eyewitness identification for decades. Their collective work has produced recommendations for eyewitness identification reform, focusing on procedural problems most likely to result in mistaken identification. The law in this area, however, has not kept pace with the science. Rather than representing a cohesive series of safeguards against inaccurate eyewitness identifications, federal …

2025 Youth Transitions Advisory Council Annual Report, Tennessee Commission On Children And Youth, Tennessee. Youth Transitions Advisory Council.

Annual Reports

In accordance with T.C.A. 37-2-601 – 37-2-606 the Tennessee Commission on Children and Youth is pleased to provide the 2025 Annual Report of the Youth Transitions Advisory Council. The Youth Transitions Advisory Council brings dedicated advocates together from across the state who are developing and implementing new strategies to meet the challenges of engaging former foster youth and other young adults as they make the critical transition from adolescence to adulthood. This report outlines the work of the Youth Transitions Advisory Council as the members continue to develop strategies to assist these young adults as they prepare for success in …

Discussing The Effectiveness Of Capital Punishment And Florida's Sentencing Change From Unanimous To Eight Juror Majority, April Feeser

Nova Law Review

No abstract provided.

Crime Theory Informed Agent-Based Modeling For Crime Prediction And Patrolling Route Optimization, Shohreh Moradi

Industrial, Manufacturing, and Systems Engineering Dissertations - Archive

Crime reduction remains a global priority, demanding both accurate modeling of criminal dynamics and efficient allocation of scarce policing resources. To address these needs, this study presents a two‐fold framework that (1) simulates street‐level crime patterns using an agent‐based model (ABM) grounded in Routine Activity Theory (RAT), Rational Choice Theory (RCT), and Crime Pattern Theory (CPT), and (2) optimizes patrol routing through a time-dependent, multi‐visit mixed‐integer linear programming (MILP) formulation.

In the first component, we integrate real‐world crime, environmental, and census data to reproduce realistic offender, citizen, and Police behaviors, capturing where and when robbery, burglary, and larceny occur across …

Stigmatization In The Pre-Death Interactions Of Family And Friends Bereaved By A Drug-Related Death, Joshua H. Stout, Benjamin Fleury-Steiner

Faculty Publications - Criminal Justice Sciences

As part of a larger analysis focused on family members and adult peers bereaved by a drug-related death (DRD), the present study explores how stigmatization is experienced in pre-death interactions. Respondents were asked about the decedent’s history of substance use, experiences with addiction treatment, and the events leading up to the DRD through 35 semi-structured qualitative interviews. Findings reveal several themes related to stigmatization experienced before, during, and after addiction treatment. These include experiences of difficulty accessing treatment, pains of separation and isolation involving facilities out of state, and increased hopelessness with repeated relapses following treatment. Conversely, some respondents described …

Vulnerability In The Law, Sara Aziz, Aisli Ali, Casey Williams, Lindsey Nye, Saya Khandhar, Sofia Bazdekis

Human Rights Brief

On Monday, February 24, 2025, the Human Rights Brief (“the Brief”) at American University Washington College of Law (“WCL”) held its annual spring symposium with the theme of “Vulnerability in the Law.” This year’s theme aimed to highlight areas where legal systems fall short in protecting vulnerable populations, as well as highlighting where the law itself is vulnerable. The symposium was organized by Symposium and Education Editor Sara Aziz, in collaboration with the Junior Symposium Staff: Asli Ali, Casey Williams, Lindsey Nye, Saya Khandhar, and Sofia Bazdekis. The team worked relentlessly to coordinate panels on legal issues, including technology, environmental …

Imperfect Justice: Gaps In The Icc’S Reparations And Victim Participation, Alyssa Price

Human Rights Brief

The International Criminal Court (ICC) made substantial efforts to establish a court system that is more inclusive and supportive of victims. Notably, the ICC provides victims with opportunities for active participation in the judicial process—far more extensive than most domestic courts—ensuring that victims have a voice. However, the mechanisms the ICC employs for victim reparations lack effectiveness. These reparations often prove logistically challenging to implement and fail to address victims’ specific and diverse needs. Consequently, this limitation threatens the ICC’s reputation as a protector of victims’ rights. By collaborating with other United Nations (UN) organizations, private corporations, and individuals, the …

State Restorative Justice Legislation 2020 – 2025: Confidentiality, Admissibility & Privilege, Center For Racial And Economic Justice

Center for Racial and Economic Justice

No abstract provided.

Faq: Educational Fines And Fees In K – 12 Public Schools, Center For Racial And Economic Justice

Center for Racial and Economic Justice

No abstract provided.

(D)Evolution Of International Commercial Arbitration In Mexico, Edwin N. Á. Román

Arbitration Brief

The 1990s were a time of vibrant international rulemaking in the field of international economic law, during which Mexico transformed from a closed to an open economy. In 1993, Mexico adopted the 1985 UNICITRAL Model Law on International Commercial Arbitration. In 2011, Mexico amended its commercial code by introducing a specific proceeding to enforce and set aside arbitration awards titled “Juicio Especial sobre Transacciones Comerciales y Arbitraje.” Alongside these amendments, Mexico became an internationally relevant jurisdiction for the recognition and enforcement of foreign arbitral awards. This article analyzes the evolution of the Mexican Supreme Court of Justice’s jurisprudence concerning international …

Preventing Suicide In Jails: Examining Community, Facility, And Individual Differences, Mijin Kim, Victor J. St. John, Jason Szkola

Faculty Publications - Criminal Justice Sciences

Suicide remains the leading cause of death in U.S. correctional facilities, underscoring the importance of identifying factors contributing to elevated risk. Drawing on national data on jail fatalities from 2011 to 2019, this study examines suicide risk across macro-level (community infrastructure), meso-level (facility characteristics), and micro-level (individual vulnerabilities) domains. Multivariate regression analyses indicate that, at the micro-level, being young, White, male, unconvicted, or serving a short length of stay increases suicide likelihood. Rural isolation is associated with higher suicide rates, whereas overcrowding is linked to lower rates. Interaction models further demonstrate that rural jails without overcrowding experience the highest suicide …

Connecting Classrooms To Communities: A Practical And Effective Guide For Involving Community Development Practitioners In Graduate Seminars, Michael Hendricks

Faculty Publications – Politics and Government

This article examines the pedagogical impact of a strategically structured guest speaker series in a graduate-level community development seminar. Drawing on four cohorts of qualitative student feedback and utilizing an inductive thematic analysis, the study explores how guest speakers influence student learning, professional development, and civic engagement. Findings reveal that guest speakers effectively bridge theory and practice, enhance classroom engagement, and foster critical thinking, career exploration, and long-term civic involvement. Students reported that interacting with diverse professionals helped clarify real-world applications of course content and inspired volunteerism, internships, and employment opportunities. The paper also identifies conditions that enhance the effectiveness …

Carceral Consequences And Perverse Perks: Care And The Disciplinary Alternative School, Kaitlyn J. Selman

Faculty Publications - Criminal Justice Sciences

Drawing on in-depth interviews with current and former students, parents, teachers, and staff members connected with three alternative schools in one Kentucky, USA school district, this work contributes to the theorization of carceral care. Instead of reducing the alternative school, its processes, and its functions down into a dichotomized question of good or bad, productive or violent, we come to see the dialectical nature of carcerality and the logics of care. Specifically, the negative consequences that students are subjected to are justified and internalized by the (perverse) benefits of attendance, thus dissipating from the realm of critique. As such, I …

An Evolving Standard Of Decency: Examining The American Juvenile Justice System And The Constitutionality Of Youth Incarceration, Mark S. Smith

CGU Theses & Dissertations

The United States incarcerates more children and adolescents than any other developed nation in the world. Studies have shown that juvenile detention is generally ineffective at rehabilitating delinquent youth, which places the practice at odds with the stated intent of modern juvenile justice. Similar to the adult criminal justice system, there is a significant and widespread disparity in the incarceration rate between that of minority youth and their white counterparts in the juvenile system. Finally, a substantial and growing body of medical and behavioral research concludes that trauma associated with juvenile detention can cause long-term or even lifetime negative neurological …

The Economics Of Crime: Exploring The Impact Of Psychedelics, Gun Liability Insurance, And Zero-Bail Policies On Crime, Victor Olu Kilanko

CGU Theses & Dissertations

This dissertation investigates the intersection of public health and criminal justice by empirically evaluating the effects of three distinct policy reforms: psychedelic decriminalization, firearm liability mandates, and zero cash bail, on crime outcomes in California. It aims to inform evidence-based policymaking by leveraging quasi-experimental methods to identify the causal impact of each intervention. A growing number of U.S. jurisdictions have decriminalized psychedelic substances, and there are attendant theoretical expectations that such reforms could promote desistance from crime through the rehabilitative potential of psychedelics. This study examines the causal impact of psychedelic decriminalization on violent and property crime rates using monthly …

Juror Certainty About Firearm Evidence: Examination Effects, Dr. Amelia Shooter, Dr. Paraic Scanlon, Professor Sarah L. Cooper

Criminal Law Practitioner

Firearms examiners can evaluate associations between suspect ammunition and ammunition test-fired by a suspect firearm by microscopically comparing tool marks on both projectiles. This practice has been criticized, including by the National Academy of Sciences, yet firearms examiners routinely testify as experts in the United States. Jurors must determine the weight of expert evidence, which lawyers can aim to discredit on cross-examination or rehabilitate on redirect-examination. Using online vignettes, the authors investigated how both cross-examination and redirect-examination affected potential U.S. jurors' certainty about expert firearms evidence.

Participants (n=114) were asked to rate their certainty (on a scale of 0-100) about …

Methodological And Data-Driven Approaches For Analyzing And Enhancing Campus Camera Coverage At The University Of Akron, Aj Stewart

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

This Honors Project presents both a methodological and data-driven approach to analyzing, calculating, and enhancing the camera coverage on The University of Akron's (UA) campus using Geographic Information Systems (GIS). The project uses spatial crime mapping with camera coverage analysis to support The University of Akron Police Department (UAPD) in determining surveillance gaps and suggesting strategic improvements. The goal is to develop a replicable framework for evaluating and improving camera coverage in crime hotspots using spatial analysis and viewshed analysis. The findings in this project give a usable guide for using data to improve security camera placement according to maps …

Nurturing The Event: A Trauma-Informed Psychosocial Analysis Of Conversions To Christianity And Desistance From Crime, Alex Beaumont

School of Law, Humanities and Social Sciences Theses

The aim of this thesis is to demonstrate the role prison chaplaincy and faith-based organisations play in supporting new Christian converts across HMPPS establishments. Drawing on research data from 11 in-depth narrative interviews with formerly incarcerated individuals, many of whom were long-term desisters or still in the desistance process (18 months post-release), this thesis provides a psychoanalytic interpretation of the relationship between early childhood development, traumatic events, and spiritual transformations in prison. Data was gathered using Hollway and Jefferson’s (2001) Free Association Narrative Interview Method (FANIM), which applies psychoanalytic principles to explore subjectivity beyond surface-level descriptions of self and identity. …

Justice And Law, Saul M. Kassin, Amy Douglass

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Reevaluating Felon-In-Possession Laws After Bruen And The War On Drugs, Laura Ginsberg Abelson

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

The legal landscape surrounding firearm possession is evolving rapidly. In 2022, the Supreme Court accelerated its expansion of the individual right to bear arms under the Second Amendment in New York Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen. Since Bruen, courts around the country have struck down nearly all types of firearm regulations, with a notable exception: felon-in-possession laws. This Article examines the implications of a legal landscape where those who have prior felony convictions, and especially prior drug convictions, are punished harshly for the same behavior—possession of a firearm—that is constitutionally protected for nearly everyone else. I argue …

Data Injustice In Global Justice, Asaf Lubin, Cherry Tang

Articles by Maurer Faculty

In May 2020, the United Nations Secretary-General unveiled a sweeping “Data Strategy for Action by Everyone, Everywhere,” seeking to unlock the UN’s “full data potential.” The International Criminal Court’s Office of the Prosecutor followed suit, declaring in 2023 its intent to acquire advanced cyber forensic tools so as to hold the “widest range of digital evidence globally.” Across international institutions, data-driven governance has become the norm, with humanitarian agencies and tribunals transforming into “data hubs and information clearinghouses.” This Article critiques the unfettered datafication of global justice by international courts and organizations. These entities have aggressively expanded their data-driven operations …

Climate Prosecution As Climate Regulation, Cindy J. Cho

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Last term, the Supreme Court weakened the federal government’s ability to regulate. Three new decisions—and one landmark case from the previous term—will affect everything from drug approvals to overtime pay to national security. One issue stands out as a political flashpoint that will prove particularly difficult to address via regulation in the wake of this term: climate change. Given the unlikelihood of congressional climate action any time soon, those concerned about the risks of a warming planet will no doubt be looking for alternatives to regulation. Private and state civil lawsuits against polluters reflect an important legal tradition that must …

Public Constitutional Ai, Gilad Abiri

Georgia Law Review

We are increasingly subjected to the power of AI authorities. Machine learning models now underpin algorithmic markets, determine whose speech is amplified or restricted, shape government decisions ranging from resource allocation to predictive policing, and influence our access to information on critical issues such as voting and public health. As AI decisions become inescapable, entering domains such as healthcare, education, and law, we must confront a vital question: How can we ensure that AI systems, which increasingly regulate our lives and make decisions that shape our societies, have the authority and legitimacy necessary for effective governance?

To secure AI legitimacy, …

The New Game Theory, Cortelyou C. Kenney

Georgia Law Review

Game theory and the legal system it models are deeply indebted to the idea of efficiency and efficient outcomes. A great many scholars use game theory to rationalize approaches based on efficiency not only to commercial transactions but also to the legal system writ large, including the tort law system and the criminal justice system.

Efficiency and efficient outcomes have a storied history dating back to Vilfredo Pareto, Ronald Coase, and even before that to Adam Smith. But the person who truly popularized the idea of efficiency was John Nash, who won the Nobel Prize for his work on noncooperative …

Suffolk University Academic Catalog, College Of Arts And Sciences And School Of Management, 2025-2026, Suffolk University

College of Arts and Sciences and Sawyer Business School Academic Catalogs

This catalog contains information for the day, evening, and graduate programs.

Annual Report, Fiscal Year 2025, Tennessee. Department Of Correction

Annual Reports

This document is the annual report for the Tennessee Department of Correction during the fiscal year.

Criminalizing Ecocide: An Opportunity To Embed The Inseparability Of Humans From Nature Into The Law, Rebecca Hamilton

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Amid widespread acknowledgment that we live on a planet in peril, the term “ecocide” packs a powerful rhetorical punch. Extant regulatory approaches to environmental protection feel insufficient in the face of the triple threat of climate change, pollution, and biodiversity loss. International criminal prosecution for ecocide, by contrast, promises to meet the moment, and a recent proposal to introduce ecocide into the canon of core international crimes is gaining traction. Assuming the push to criminalize ecocide continues to gain momentum, this Article argues that the primary (and perhaps, sole) benefit that international criminal law can offer in this context is …

Digital Evidence: Facilitating What And For Whom?, Rebecca Hamilton, Adebayo Okeowo

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

The emergence of user-generated evidence has revolutionized how atrocities and human rights violations are documented globally. Since 2011, when Syrian human rights defenders began documenting atrocities on their smartphones, a professional field has emerged around the collection, authentication, and preservation of digital evidence. However, this professionalization has created unintended consequences, as expertise and verification power shifted away from frontline communities to Global North institutions. This Article examines this tension through two case studies: the Rohingya Genocide Archive, and Nigeria's #EndSARS movement. These examples demonstrate both the power of locally-informed evidence collection and the challenges when verification skills remain concentrated among …

Designing Trauma-Informed Legislation: Drafting The Workplace Bullying Accountability Act, David C. Yamada

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Trauma-Informed Judicial Practice Meets Therapeutic Jurisprudence: Compassionate Written Judgments In Child Protection Cases, Shelley Kierstead

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.