Digital Commons Network^™

Here’S Everything Libertarians Like Russ Diamond Get Wrong About Mask-Wearing, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

Collected biweekly contributions to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site.

Cryptography, Passwords, Privacy, And The Fifth Amendment, Gary C. Kessler, Ann M. Phillips

Journal of Digital Forensics, Security and Law

Military-grade cryptography has been widely available at no cost for personal and commercial use since the early 1990s. Since the introduction of Pretty Good Privacy (PGP), more and more people encrypt files and devices, and we are now at the point where our smartphones are encrypted by default. While this ostensibly provides users with a high degree of privacy, compelling a user to provide a password has been interpreted by some courts as a violation of our Fifth Amendment protections, becoming an often insurmountable hurdle to law enforcement lawfully executing a search warrant. This paper will explore some of the …

N.Y.’S James Is Right To Go After The Nra For Fraud And Malfeasance. Seeking To Dissolve It Is A Step Too Far., Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

Collected biweekly contributions to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site.

August 7, 2020: Latitia James's Tyranny, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “ Latitia James's Tyranny“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

August 5, 2020: The Power Of Prayer, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “The Power of Prayer“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

A Study Of The United States Influence On German Eugenics., Cameron Williams

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This thesis is a study of the influence and effects that the United States had upon Germany from the rise of eugenics to its fall following the end of World War II. There are three stages to this study. First, I examine the rise of eugenics in the United States from its inception to the end of World War I and the influence it had upon Germany. Then I examine the interwar era along with the popularization of eugenics within both countries before concluding with the Second World War and post war era.

My thesis focuses on both the active …

Community-Based Participatory Research: How Residents Of A Small Low-Income Racially Homogenous Disadvantaged Neighborhood Perceive The Effects Of Poverty Stigma, Community Disorder, & Feelings Of Unsafety On Health, Stan Korotchenko, Kim M. Anderson

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

Although research indicates that social determinants impact minority health, there remains a dearth of knowledge on how economically disadvantaged communities perceive the effects of poverty stigmatization, community disorder, and feelings of unsafety on their health status. This qualitative study used community-based participatory research methods to explore how minority residents (n=23) from an urban neighborhood of concentrated poverty perceived the impact of residential and environmental factors on their health. Thematic analysis highlighted how the combination of high crime rates and community disorder negatively affected residents’ ability to maintain a healthy lifestyle due to increased levels of stress and decreased access to …

Public Discussion About Critical Issues In Criminal Justice Reform, Kevin H. Wozniak

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

Through analysis of six focus groups with 44 black and white residents of the greater Boston metropolitan area, this paper presents a qualitative assessment of people’s “zone of acquiescence” for justice reinvestment reform, paying particular attention to people’s criminal justice budget preferences and their openness to sentencing reform for violent offenders. When asked to write their own crime prevention budgets, participants chose to invest more money into the infrastructure and social services of communities than into police, probation, or prisons, arguing that the former is in greater need of funding than the latter. Most participants were initially resistant to sentencing …

Study On The Implementation Of The Regulations Of Terrorism Activities In Social Media, Angga Dewanto Basari, Muhammad Syauqillah, Asep Usman Ismail

Journal of Strategic and Global Studies

The legal scope of the Terrorism Law and the Information and Electronic Transactions Law in Indonesia is considered as lacking to cover the problem of cybercrime in social media. Aside from literature review, this paper is also supported by data from direct interview with the Head of Counterterrorism Special Detachment 88 (Densus 88 AT) of Indonesian National Police. The data found out that the Terrorism Law is a repressive response towards terrorism crimes that have already occured, but less preventive to future crimes. The existence of laws in Indonesia is often one step behind its crime. The difference of perception …

In Harrisburg And D.C., The Gop Meddling With Our Courts Is A Threat To Democracy, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

Collected biweekly contributions to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site.

July 26, 2020: No Federal Police Power, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “No Federal Police Power“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

If We’Re Serious About Protecting Religious Liberty, We Need Universal Healthcare, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

Collected biweekly contributions to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site.

Are We Witnessing The Death Of Reason And Truth In American Public Life?, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

Collected biweekly contributions to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site.

July 1, 2020: Originalism Is Dead, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Originalism Is Dead“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

The Failure To Grapple With Racial Capitalism In European Constitutionalism, Fernanda Giorgia Nicola Dr.

Working Papers

Since the 1980s prominent scholars of European legal integration have used the example of U.S. constitutionalism to promote a federal vision for the European Community. These scholars, drawing lessons from developments across the Atlantic, concluded that the U.S. Supreme Court had played a key role in fostering national integration and market liberalization. They foresaw the possibility for the European Court of Justice (ECJ) to be a catalyst for a similar federal and constitutional outcome in Europe. The present contribution argues that the scholars who constructed today’s dominant European constitutional paradigm underemphasized key aspects of the U.S. constitutional experience, including judgments …

Don’T Throw Caution To The Wind: In The Green Energy Transition, Not All Critical Minerals Will Be Goldmines, Perrine Toledano, Martin Dietrich Brauch, Solina Kennedy, Howard Mann

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

The green energy transition will be exceedingly mineral intensive. Manufacturing solar panels, wind turbine and batteries to power cleaner energies is set to significantly increase the demand for co-called “critical” minerals. Such a forecast prompts high expectations in mineral-rich countries and suggests promising opportunities for developing countries.

However, the projects to increase the primary extraction of critical minerals rest on bullish forecasts and uncertain terrain due to a number of factors explored in the paper that threaten to leave these investments obsolete and economically stranded.

Governments, international actors, and mining advocates seeking to optimize the value of green energy mineral …

Racism Is White People’S Fault. It’S Our Responsibility To End It, Bruce Ledewitz

Newspaper Columns

Collected biweekly contributions to the Pennsylvania Capital-Star, a nonpartisan, nonprofit news site.

The Problem Of Modern Monetization Of Memes: How Copyright Law Can Give Protection To Meme Creators, Mark Marciszewski

Pace Intellectual Property, Sports & Entertainment Law Forum

Some legal questions answered in this article on the horizon for the courts and lawyers is how should courts apply copyright law to popular media made by small scale creators and shared on the internet, otherwise known as "memes."

Part II of this article will focus on validity of potential copyright protection in internet memes. It will start by describing the increased monetization surrounding memes and how this monetization calls for greater interest for meme creators to protect their work. It will then describe the merits of individual copyright interests in internet memes.

Part III of this article will focus …

Speaking Volumes: The Failure Of American Courts To Address The Underlying Themes Of Silence And Patriarchy Within The Civil Order Of Protection Process In Davenport, Iowa, Catherine Priebe

Sociology: Student Scholarship & Creative Works

Domestic abuse is a pervasive issue within the United States. Approximately three women will be murdered by an intimate partner every day and around half of all women will experience psychological abuse by an intimate partner in their lifetime. As such, it is important to have legal avenues that survivors can pursue in order to ensure safety for themselves and their children. There are many obstacles to obtaining a civil order of protection despite it being the most common legal option survivors choose to pursue. Survivors must take on the burden of proof and hire their own attorney if they …

Mechanisms For Consultation And Free, Prior And Informed Consent In The Negotiation Of Investment Contracts, Sam Szoke-Burke, Kaitlin Y. Cordes

Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment Staff Publications

Investor-state contracts are regularly used in low-and middle-income countries to grant concessions for land-based and natural resource investments, such as agricultural, extractive industry, forestry, or renewable energy projects. These contracts are rarely negotiated in the presence of, or with meaningful input from, the people who risk being adversely affected by the project. This practice will usually risk violating requirements for meaningful consultation, and, where applicable, free, prior and informed consent (FPIC), and is particularly concerning when the investor-state contract gives the investor company rights to lands or resources over which local communities have legitimate claims.

This article explores how consultation …

America’S Pastime: Human Trafficking, Cuba, And The Road To The Show, Cole Burton

Northern Illinois University Law Review

Cuban athletes face a treacherous journey in venturing from Cuba to the United States in order to pursue their dreams of becoming professional athletes. The MLB-FCB Agreement of 2018 sought to ease this journey by alleviating the smuggling of Cuban athletes by violent gangs and criminal organizations. However, the Agreement was declared unconstitutional by the Trump administration months later. This Comment analyzes the MLB-FCB Agreement, including the benefits and risks associated with it, and presents potential alternate solutions to cut down on the trafficking of Cuban athletes.

Time, Place, And Manner Restrictions On Speech, R. George Wright

Northern Illinois University Law Review

The category of time, place, and manner restrictions on speech, as supposedly distinct from absolute bans, appears to be central to free speech law. Even a modest examination of the case law, however, suggests the arbitrariness of any such distinction. Any familiar time, place, or manner restriction on speech can be reasonably re-described as an absolute ban on speech, and vice versa. Any differences in how the relevant regulations of speech should be judicially tested, whether by differing degrees of rigor or otherwise, are correspondingly arbitrary. This Article recommends abandoning any attempt to substantively distinguish between time, place, and manner …

Determining Intellectual Disability In Death Penalty Cases: A State-By-State Analysis, Jennifer Laprade, John L. Worrall

Journal of Criminal Justice and Law

In Moore v. Texas (2017), the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Texas death penalty definitions of intellectual disability were inadequate because they strayed too far from clinical definitions. This study examines how each state defines intellectual disability with regard to death penalty eligibility. It reveals a wide variation in the standards used by states, with no clear consensus on definitions of intellectual disability or who should measure it. Variations pertain to age at onset, proof of intellectual disability status at the time of the crime, burden of proof required to make the intellectual disability determination, and who makes the final …

The Science Of Deception Detection: A Literature And Policy Review On Police Ability To Detect Lies, Jillian R. Yarbrough

Journal of Criminal Justice and Law

Humans have a strong “truth” default, meaning that when processing incoming information, they will passively believe statements made by others. However, idle acceptance can put people at risk for deception (Levine, 2019). Research shows that 60% of people lie during a typical 10-minute conversation (Bradberry, 2017). Considering the pervasiveness of lying, it is easy to recognize deception as a challenge for individuals involved in law enforcement because they are expected to distinguish between truth and lies daily. If deception detection is an essential component of law enforcement, are techniques available that law enforcement can apply during interrogations to improve the …

Pre-Report Review Of Body-Worn Camera Footage: An Examination Of Stakeholder Beliefs, Laypeople’S Judgments Of Officer Credibility, And The Consequences For Memory, Kristyn A. Jones

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Aim: This dissertation examines people’s beliefs about police officer access to body-worn camera footage, people’s judgments of officer credibility as it relates to video footage, and the consequences that review of footage has on reporting accuracy.

Rationale: With escalating police-civilian tensions in 2014, American police departments adopted body-worn camera programs. A majority of departments have policies allowing officers unrestricted access to camera footage. Because officers fear that inconsistencies between reports and videos could result in suspicion of officer deceit, they argue that officers should have access to footage before writing their reports to ensure reports match the footage. Yet, because …

May 18, 2020: Why Have Taxes At All?, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Why Have Taxes At All?“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

May 5, 2020: Preparing The Ground To Overrule Roe?+A5, Bruce Ledewitz

Hallowed Secularism

Blog post, “Preparing the Ground to Overrule Roe?“ discusses politics, theology and the law in relation to religion and public life in the democratic United States of America.

Litigation As Parenting, Lisa Martin

Faculty Publications

Children have legal rights. Yet, children typically lack the legal capacity to represent their interests in courts. When federal courts are presented with children’s claims, the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure require courts to ensure that children’s legal interests are adequately protected. To do so, courts decide who can speak and make decisions for the child within the litigation. Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 17(c) maps out a loose process for addressing these concerns but fails to fully account for a critical factor in protecting child litigants: the decision making rights of parents.

Because parents have constitutionally protected authority to …

Similar Interpretations, Different Conclusions: The Criminalization Of Hate Speech In The West, Michael Goryelov, Wesley S. Mccann

Northern Illinois University Law Review

The United States is unique internationally in that hate speech is not considered a criminal offense. Drawing from a sample of Western countries and their respective statutes, the analysis will look at different nations' interpretations of hate speech criminality. This study identifies common patterns in international criminal legal codes and compares them to U.S. jurisprudence, focusing on content neutrality and the ideological content of these laws. It was found that hate speech statutes internationally tended towards content neutrality, were structured similarly to anti-defamatory codes, and generally did not result in amendments/extensions of new regulatory laws. These findings imply a closer …

An Analysis On Whether An Accounting Background Lays The Foundation For A Successful Transition Into Law School, Christopher M. Chimienti

Honors Capstones

The purpose of this paper is to analyze how an undergraduate degree in accountancy will assist in the study of law. To accomplish this, the paper looks at the course curriculum of a Northern Illinois University Accountancy major and the first year required courses in three law schools of varying rankings. Then, the skills and knowledge taught in each curriculum will be compared to see if there is any overlap. To supplement this analysis, I will host interviews with professional lawyers and law teachers who will give descriptions of the skills needed in everyday work. In addition to this analysis, …