Digital Commons Network^™

Proxy Punishment: Consequences Of Informal Sanctions Among Families Of Offenders In Japan, Mari Kita

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

This study demystifies the nature of societal reactions to crime in Japan and their consequences on the family members of those who have trouble with the law. Over a 20-month period in metropolitan areas in Japan, participant observation and in-depth interviews were conducted with 50 mothers, fathers, wives, and sisters of those who had broken the law. Major findings include the role that the media and criminal justice authorities play in triggering the informal labeling of offenders’ kin. Families’ strong ties to communities also rendered them particularly vulnerable to the effects of informal sanctions, even more so than offenders themselves. …

A Diversity Course For Criminal Justice Undergraduate Students: A Preliminary Evaluation, Nancy Hirschinger-Blank, Lori Simons, David Fernandez

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

Racially-involved police community incidents demonstrate the urgent need for educating future criminal professionals to work in a multicultural environment. We present a qualitative evaluation of a criminal justice diversity course designed to broaden university students' multicultural attitudes, knowledge, and skills. Results indicated that most students reportedly experienced a decrease in biases, described the importance of learning about cultural differences, acknowledged minorities’ negative attitudes toward the criminal justice system, and reported intentions to serve as fair and open-minded criminal justice professionals. Students also showed a significant increase in empathy across the semester.

The Deweyan Approach To Learning Victim Advocacy: Seeing Beyond Stigmas And Facilitating Second Chances, Ashley Peake Wellman, Sherri Dioguardi

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

Fundamentally, criminal justice practitioners are public safety promoters, yet safety can be compromised if a divide exists between them and the communities they serve. The best way to train future criminal justice practitioners may be found in the progressive education proposed by John Dewey in the early 20th-century. Dewey’s experiential approach, specifically service-learning, has gained traction as an effective teaching tool for broadening perspectives, deepening understanding of diverse populations, and fostering higher order reasoning, all of which are critical characteristics for criminal justice professionals as well as for all American citizens. Undergraduate students participated in service-learning during a semester-long honors …

Surveying Justice, Keith Swisher

Hofstra Law Review

No abstract provided.

Collaborating For Transformation, Marjorie A. Silver

Journal of Experiential Learning

No abstract provided.

The Aba Rule Of Law Initiative Celebrating 25 Years Of Global Initiatives, M. Margaret Mckeown

Michigan Journal of International Law

Relying on extensive reports, program documentation, and interviews with important actors in the rule of law movement, this article will explore how one key player in the international-development field—the ABA—has furthered rule of law values through its global programs. The first half of the article surveys the ABA’s involvement in rule of law initiatives. Part I explores the origins of the ABA’s work in this field, which date back to the organization’s founding and took shape after the demise of the former Soviet Union. Part II surveys the expansion of the ABA’s programs beyond Eastern Europe to other regions—a growth …

Sequencing Peace And Justice In Syria, Milena Sterio

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Since 2011, the conflict in Syria has caused the death of hundreds of thousands of individuals and the displacement of millions. Efforts to refer the Syrian situation to the International Criminal Court (ICC) have consistently failed despite well-documented reports about the commission of serious crimes in Syria, including the use of chemical weapons against civilians, torture, the use of child soldiers, and crimes of sexual violence.

This Article explores whether the dual goals of peace and justice can be reconciled in the Syrian context and how these goals may be properly sequenced in order to potentially achieve long-lasting peace in …

Justice As Fair Division, Ian C. Bartrum

Scholarly Works

The current hyperpoliticization of the Court grows out of a feedback loop between politicized appointments and politicized decision-making. This Article suggests a change in the internal procedures by which the Court hears and decides particular cases. A three-Justice panel hears and decides each case. Appeal to an en banc sitting of the entire Court would require a unanimous vote of all non-recused Justices. This Article explores several possible approaches in selecting the three-Justice panel. This Article proposes that applying a fair division scheme to the Court's decision-making process might act to reverse this loop and work to depoliticize the Court …

Removing Race From The Jury Deliberation Room: The Shortcomings Of Pena-Rodriguez V. Colorado And How To Address Them, Lauren Crump

University of Richmond Law Review

This comment explores ways in which racial bias undermines

the American jury system and argues that simply having a racial

bias exception to the no-impeachment rule does not go far enough

to guard against racially motivated jury verdicts. In order to

guarantee the Sixth Amendment right to an impartial jury, defendants

must always be able to question potential jurors about

racial bias, and universal court policies need to be adopted across

the country that allow for a consistent approach for investigating

claims of racial bias in jury deliberations. Part I of this comment

examines the history of American juries and …

The Peace Vs. Justice Puzzle And The Syrian Crisis, Paul R. Williams, Lisa K. Dicker, C. Danae Paterson

Faculty Publications

(Excerpt)

Those involved in peace negotiations often face the dilemma of balancing demands for justice with the imperative of stopping the conflict as quickly as possible. There are abiding ethical and moral debates surrounding this tension between peace and justice. In Syria—where the death toll has exceeded 470,000, 11 million have been displaced, and there are over 14,000 documented cases of death by torture—the peace versus justice puzzle is a living dilemma with which those involved in the peace process grapple with on a daily basis.

Is it morally permissible to allow conflict (and the attendant human suffering) to continue, …

Sentencing Reform: Fixing Root Problems, Peter A. Joy, Rodney J. Uphoff

Scholarship@WashULaw

In theory, at least, many subscribe to the belief that it is better to let 10 or 100 guilty persons go free rather than convict an innocent person. Indeed, the American criminal justice system provides criminal defendants a panoply of important rights, including the right to effective assistance of counsel, in large part to ensure that the innocent are not convicted of crimes that they did not commit. But defense counsel is there not only to protect the innocent, but also to ensure that, if the defendant is found guilty after trial or if the defendant pleads guilty before trial, …

Ghosting: It’S Time To Find Uniformity On Ghostwriting, Jona Goldschmidt

Criminal Justice & Criminology: Faculty Publications & Other Works

There is no way of knowing how many, and for how long, lawyers and nonlawyers have engaged in ghostwriting pleadings to assist pro se litigants — indigent or nonindigent. It is reasonable to assume that many lawyers and others have acted as ghostwriters in order to facilitate greater access to the court, rather than for personal gain. Despite the laudable motives of ghostwriters, ghostwriting has historically been considered an illegitimate form of unbundling legal services because of the spate of federal court opinions opposing the practice on ethical and Rule 11-violation grounds. This article addresses the current anomalous situation in …

Pursuing Justice In Africa: Competing Imaginaries And Contested Practices, Jessica Johnson, George Hamandishe Karekwaivanane

Ohio University Press Open Access Books

Pursuing Justice in Africa focuses on the many actors pursuing many visions of justice across the African continent—their aspirations, divergent practices, and articulations of international and vernacular idioms of justice. The essays selected by editors Jessica Johnson and George Hamandishe Karekwaivanane engage with topics at the cutting edge of contemporary scholarship across a wide range of disciplines. These include activism, land tenure, international legal institutions, and postconflict reconciliation.

Building on recent work in sociolegal studies that foregrounds justice over and above concepts such as human rights and legal pluralism, the contributors grapple with alternative approaches to the concept of justice …

Crisp-Set Qualitative Comparative Analysis (Csqca) And Criminology, Belinda L. Parker

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"This article presents Qualitative Comparative Analysis (QCA; Ragin, 1987, 2000) as a useful methodological approach for criminological research. The aim is to introduce QCA’s logic and assumptions and a step-by-step guide to its application of crisp-set QCA using an illustrative hypothetical example. While QCA is a relatively new method and not widely used within criminological research thus far, it offers a unique approach that is particularly well suited to the field. This article is intended to serve as an introduction to those researchers interested in QCA and to demonstrate how they may incorporate it into their research."

Employment Pathways: How Former Offenders Navigate To Employment, Breanne Pleggenkuhle, Alaina Bearsby Steele, Elle Gray Teshima

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Employment is one of the most critical dimensions of reintegration, and much research documents the barriers formerly incarcerated persons experience in seeking out steady work. However, most offenders are ultimately successful in obtaining some form of employment. Less research discusses how offenders manage these barriers or examines the practice by which offenders navigate employment pathways, and even less examines whether particular offense categories further challenge the process. The current research utilizes qualitative data to examine the methods by which ex-offenders seek out and obtain employment, with an emphasis on the function of self-motivating practices, access to services, and the utilization …

“Losing The Humanity Of The Street”: Retired Police Officer Narratives Of The Evolution Of Low-Level Enforcement In New York City, Megan Welsh

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Low-level enforcement activities such as pedestrian and traffic stops, the issuance of criminal court summonses (tickets or citations), and misdemeanor arrests comprise the vast majority of police-citizen encounters relative to the policing of more serious, felony-level offenses. The complexities of these activities – particularly from the perspectives of the police officers who carry them out – have received relatively little scholarly attention. In an effort to more fully understand the nuances of low-level enforcement, in particular how such activities have changed over time and how police officers have experienced such changes, in-depth interviews were conducted with a small sample of …

Forrest Stuart, Down, Out, And Under Arrest: Policing And Everyday Life In Skid Row, Jordan Denton

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Aggressive crime control strategies such as stop-and-frisk and poverty governance bring forth contentious debates on their impact. Proponents argue the policies are needed to combat crime, while opponents contend they are oppressive, harmful, and discriminatory. It is rare in these discussions that the perspectives of the control agents and the public impacted by the policies are simultaneously engaged. Forrest Stuart in his book Down, Out, and Under Arrest: Policing and Everyday Life in Skid Row fills this gap using ethnographic and historical data to depict how poverty governance impacts the everyday interactions of Skid Row residents, police, and community organizations. …

‘It Just Be Like That’:Young Men’S And Women’S Attributions Of Negative Sexual Behavior, Christopher W. Mullins, Daniel R. Kavish

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"This paper provides an examination of the role that male peer support plays in negative sexual attitudes and behaviors vis-àvis women. Drawing on semi-structured interview data collected from at risk high school students in an urban Midwestern town, we are able to qualitatively explore attitudes, behaviors, and experiences within this group of young men and women as they relate to negative sexual behaviors. We integrate routine activites theory with a male peer support theory of violence to to obtain a more holistic view of negative sexual behaviors. Male peer support models provide us with a theoretical explanation of the variation …

Howell V. Mcauliffe, L. Michael Berman

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Looking At Justice Through A Lens Of Healing And Reconnection, Annalise Buth, Lynn Cohn

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

No abstract provided.

Panel Discussion: Expanding Our Conception Of Justice

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

No abstract provided.

Newsroom: Governor Raimondo On Rwu Law 09-19-2017, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Realizing Dispute Resolution: Meeting The Challenges Of Legal Realism Through Mediation, Robert Rubinson

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Civic Tenderness: Love's Role In Achieving Justice, Justin Leonard Clardy

Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Martha Nussbaum’s work Political Emotions: Why Love Matters for Justice identifies the role that compassion plays in motivating citizens in a just society. I expand on this discussion by considering how attitudes of indifference pose a challenge to the extension of compassion in our society. If we are indifferent to others who are in situations of need, we are not equipped to experience compassion for them. Building on Nussbaum’s account, I develop an analytic framework for the public emotion of Civic Tenderness to combat indifference.

Civic tenderness is an orientation of concern that is generated for people and groups that …

“They Teach You How To Weather The Storm, But They Don’T Teach You How To Dance In The Rain:” Veterans’ Perspectives On The Pathways To Criminal Justice Involvement, Kelli E. Canada, Clark Peters

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Some veterans face elevated risk of mental illness, alcohol, and drug use, and difficulty adjusting post-deployment, which can increase the risk of homelessness and contact with the criminal justice system (Elbogen et al., 2012). This study adds to the limited and mixed findings regarding factors associated with criminal offending among veterans. It explores, from veterans’ perspectives, what contributes to their criminal justice involvement. In-depth interviews with 28 U.S. Veterans on probation or parole explored their military service, mental health, and the events surrounding arrests. Findings indicate that substance use was a significant contributor to arrests. Alcohol and drugs were used …

Conjectures, Refutations, And (Elusive) Resolution: An Exercise In The Sociology Of Knowledge Within Criminology, Brendan Dooley

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"An analysis of in-depth discussions (oral histories) with 17 leading criminologists on the seminal debates in which they each participated showcases the benefits of intellectual debate. Over the last half-century, the field’s understanding of crime and its control has experienced genuine gains through a vigorous exchange of conjectures and refutations. It stands to benefit from more of these. However, there is a tension between professional and scientific concerns that limits the expansion of this process. The insistence on open ended inquiry in advancing professional ends dulls the interest and opportunity for debating first principles. As a result, the field is …

Kitty Calavita And Valerie Jenness, Appealing To Justice: Prisoner Grievances, Rights, And Carceral Logic, Talisa J. Carter

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"In Appealing to Justice, by Kitty Calavita and Valerie Jenness explain the grievance system of the California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation (CDCR) in detail. Grievance systems are the formal internal process by which inmates contest prison conditions. Federal law requires that prisoners fully exhaust the grievance system before their claims can be heard in court. Although there may be an assumption that justice exists in systems that are charged with upholding standards of safe and humane conditions within confinement facilities, the authors find the grievance process to be riddled with inefficiencies and inequalities."

Waverly Duck, No Way Out: Precarious Living In The Shadow Of Poverty And Drug Dealing, Jascha Wagner

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"No Way Out: Precarious Living in the Shadow of Poverty and Drug Dealing examines how the residents of “Lyford Street,” an impoverished Black neighborhood, organize for survival against the backdrop of “increasingly desperate circumstances.” Decades of deindustrialization and misguided social policies have left the neighborhood economically and socially isolated. Unemployment and poverty are rampant for young men of Lyford Street. Stripped of educational or economic opportunities, the drug trade has become their “principal employment.” However, against the “stereotypical image of the drug infested ghetto,” Waverly Duck compels us to see Lyford Street as a place with a unique social …

Aldo Civico, The Para-State: An Ethnography Of Colombia’S Death Squads, Elena Sciandra

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"On August, 24, 2016, the Colombian conflict returned to the spotlight. On this day the peace agreement between the Colombian government and the last active guerrilla group, the FARC (Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionaria de Colombia), had been signed after decades of discontinuous peace talks. Such discontinuity, along with other peculiarities, have long piqued the interest of scholars in this conflict; not only is it one of the longest civil wars in recent history – its origin dating back to the end of the 1950s – it has also shaped the political, economic, and cultural life of the country. Started as sectarian …

Self-Motivation In Policing, Scott W. Phillips

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Research shows that the work shift of a patrol officer includes a large amount of “down time.” Occupational scholarship has validated that workers can reduce boredom by engaging in activities that are ancillary to normal duties. The autonomous work environment of police officers provides them a unique opportunity to minimize boredom by working in a way that makes their expected behavior interesting. To date the police motivation scholarship tends to examine “job satisfaction,” but the notion of boredom is missing from the research. This study used an observational research design to provide a qualitative examination of the techniques used by …