Digital Commons Network^™

Shot In The Streets, Buried In Courts: An Assault On Protester Rights, Olalekan N. Sumonu

Seton Hall Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Anatomy Of A Crisis: Law Enforcement Leaders’ Perspective On Police Enforcement, Kayleigh Axtell, Jesse Llamas, Michael Llamas, Amor Roma

The Scholarship Without Borders Journal

Although law enforcement in the United States has faced past challenges, it is currently facing unprecedented crises. Previous research has shown that police officer retention and recruitment rates are diminishing, causing ripple effects throughout the U.S. police departments (Bowman et al., 2006). This study examines the anticipated challenges that law enforcement leaders face in lieu of the current social and political climate. The study uses a grounded qualitative theory and a phenomenological approach to understand participants’ experiences. Police chiefs and sheriffs were interviewed to get a leadership perspective on the anticipated challenges. The leaders described that challenges expected in the …

Improving Adult Sex Offender Rehabilitation With Strength-Based Approaches, Jennifer Kirshenbaum

Bridges: An Undergraduate Journal of Contemporary Connections

New approaches in any field require analysis. In forensic psychology, strength-based approaches are a relatively new approach used with a variety of offenders, but most especially with adult sex offenders. The goal of this literature review is to understand, through the unification of many research papers, how and why strength-based approaches provide more efficient programs and reduced recidivism for this population. While including a statistical background of adult sex offenders in Canada and a history of all the models discussed, the central tenet of this paper is that despite considerable academic debate, RNR and CBT models work well, but they …

The California Consumer Privacy Act: Towards A European-Style Privacy Regime In The United States?, Stuart L. Pardau

Journal of Technology Law & Policy

California is leading the way towards greater security of the consumer—or to needless overregulation, depending on one’s perspective. Governor Jerry Brown signed into law The California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA or the Act) on June 28, 2018; it goes into effect on January 1, 2020.

Broadly, the CCPA grants consumers four basic rights in connection to their personal data: (1) the right to know what personal information a business has collected about them and how it is being used; (2) the right to “opt out” of a business selling their personal information; (3) the right to have a business delete …

A Case Against Bad Math, Peggy Bruner

Journal of Technology Law & Policy

If you google any of one your favorite Tech News blogs, you will likely see at least one of the following phrases on the homepage: “artificial intelligence,” “Machine learning,” or “algorithm.” An algorithm, the basis of this fast-growing area of computer science, is a sequence of instructions telling a computer what to do. Machine learning uses algorithms to “learn” by “minimizing error or maximizing the likelihood of their predictions becoming true.” Artificial Intelligence uses algorithms to perform tasks that would otherwise require human behavior, such as visual or audio recognition. Over the last few years, big data companies like Netflix, …

Autonomous Vehicle Testing Legislation: A Review Of Best Practices From States On The Cutting Edge, Rustin Diehl, Matthew I. Thue

Journal of Technology Law & Policy

This Article aims to bring autonomous vehicle testing legislation to the attention of lawmakers who have not yet considered the issue, and to provide encouragement and additional guidance for expansion of legislation at the state level. It does so in three parts. First the article briefly reviews the history of autonomous vehicles. Second, it discusses some of the ways that autonomous vehicles could impact society, and explains why lawmakers might be interested in facilitating the safe and orderly deployment of the technology. Finally, the article reviews the current state of the existing legislation and offers some best practices for implementation …

Crime In The Evolved Digital Age, Anar Patel (Now Kanwar)

Journal of Technology Law & Policy

This Article examines computer crime statutes and focuses on their weaknesses to implement statutory modifications. Part I provides an overview on the current federal statute, Computer Fraud and Abuse Act, and specific computer crime statutes from California, Vermont, Arkansas and Arizona. Part II focuses on states’ approaches to computer crimes. Part III highlights potential statutory weaknesses and suggests possible amendments to federal and state legislation. Finally, Part IV of this Article concludes with a unique perspective of computer fraud, specifically hacking, in relation to financially motivated crimes.

Adjusting Community Survey Data Benchmarks For External Factors, Allen Miller, Nicole M. Norelli, Robert Slater, Mingyang N. Yu

SMU Data Science Review

Abstract. Using U.S. resident survey data from the National Community Survey in combination with public data from the U.S. Census and additional sources, a Voting Regressor Model was developed to establish fair benchmark values for city performance. These benchmarks were adjusted for characteristics the city cannot easily influence that contribute to confidence in local government, such as population size, demographics, and income. This adjustment allows for a more meaningful comparison and interpretation of survey results among individual cities. Methods explored for the benchmark adjustment included cluster analysis, anomaly detection, and a variety of regression techniques, including random forest, ridge, decision …

Managing Arpa State And Local Recovery Funds In The New England States : Year One, Melissa Prosky

Reports

No abstract provided.

Classifying And Georeferencing Indoor Point Clouds With Arcgis, Jason R. Parent, Chandi Witharana, Michael Bradley

Natural Resources Science Faculty Publications

This study aimed to develop and apply a manual procedure for classifying and georeferencing indoor point clouds that we created using Paracosm’s PX-80 handheld three-dimensional laser scanner. We collected data for 11 buildings in Connecticut, USA and focused on classifying features-of-interest to public safety personnel (i.e., doors, windows, fire alarms, etc.). ArcGIS Desktop was used to manually digitize features that were easily identified in the point cloud and Paracosm’s Retrace was used to digitize small features for which imagery was needed for identification. We developed several tools in Python to facilitate point cloud classification and georeferencing. The procedure allowed accurate …

Come Hell Or No Water: The Story Of Sandbranch And The Unincorporated Community Fight For Public Services, Daeja Pemberton

Student Scholarship

Sandbranch is the only unincorporated community left in Dallas County, and the residents of this majority-Black, impoverished community have had their cries for basic necessities—such as clean, running water—largely ignored. With the County and the City of Dallas not remedying the problem so far, there is a question as to who is responsible for providing water and other public services to the community’s eighty residents. As it currently stands, Texas law simply permits local governments to offer assistance to unincorporated communities but does not mandate that affirmative measures be taken to ensure that these communities are provided for. What is …

Notes On Quotes: Special Circumstances, Sue Kuykendall

Research Skills

This handout provides information about managing special circumstances regarding quotation.

Bio-Inspired Fire-Resistant Building Materials, Ryan Lee

Materials Engineering

An increased frequency of fires in California motivates the development of fire damage mitigation strategies, including environmentally-friendly fire-resistant materials. A novel succulent-inspired sandwich composite consisting of HardiePlank (a cement-fiber composite), waxed paper, cardboard, paper, and mucilage (here labeled HPWM) is proposed. Sample manufacturing considerations were investigated, and the resulting composite design was evaluated for aging, mechanical, and flammability performance. Variability in sample manufacturing was assessed by measurements of sample weight before and after applying mucilage. Thermogravimetric analysis was conducted on sample materials to better understand thermal degradation. HPWM samples using two different types of waxed paper (soy wax, beeswax) were …

The Mental Health Experience Of Treatment-Seeking Military Members And Public Safety Personnel: A Qualitative Investigation Of Trauma And Non-Trauma-Related Concerns, Bethany Easterbrook, Andrea Brown, Heather Millman, Sherry Van Blyderveen, Ruth Lanius, Alex Heber, Margaret Mckinnon, Charlene O’Connor

Neuroscience Institute Publications

Introduction: Paramedics, firefighters, police officers and other public safety personnel (PSP) as well as Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) members are frequently exposed to stressors and demanding work environments. Although their specific work-related tasks may vary, a commonality between these occupations is the significant likelihood of repeated exposure to potentially psychologically traumatic events (PPTE) over the course of their careers. Due in part to these repeated exposures, CAF members and PSP are at an elevated risk of mental health concerns including posttraumatic stress disor-der. The purpose of this study was to obtain a more in-depth understanding of the trauma-and non-trauma-related experiences …

Well-Known Signs: Models Of Disability In Early Modern Islamic Law And Current American, European, And Pakistani Jurisprudence, Elicia Shotland

Washington International Law Journal

Current American, European, and Pakistani legal structures are often insufficient to ensure rights of disabled people, particularly rights of equal access to courts and to act as a witness in court. As the disability rights movement gains ground, judges and legislation drafters are struggling to shift modes of jurisprudence from a medical model that conceptualized disability as a permanent physical affliction to the social model, which locates disability in an individual’s relation to their built and social environments. A review of historical records concerning deaf and hard of hearing participants in legal processes from the Ottoman Empire shows that the …

The Right To Remain, Timothy E. Lynch

Washington International Law Journal

Article 12.4 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) states, “No one shall be arbitrarily deprived of the right to enter his own country.” Citizens clearly enjoy Article 12.4 rights, but this article demonstrates that this right reaches beyond the citizenry. Using customary methods of treaty interpretation, including reference to the ICCPR’s preparatory works and the jurisprudence of the Human Rights Committee, this article demonstrates that Article 12.4 also forbids States from deporting long-term resident noncitizens—both documented and undocumented—except under the rarest circumstances. As a result, the ICCPR right to remain in one’s own country is a …

Hybrid Ac/Dc House: The Road To A Sustainable Future, Nicholas Mcadams, Luis Rodriguez

Electrical Engineering

The Hybrid AC/DC house is a sustainable alternative to preexisting residential power systems. The implementation of a DC bus in current homes will allow inefficient DC-AC and AC-DC conversions to be circumvented. This provides a direct path for current to flow to DC loads from DC sources such as solar panels to minimize power losses. In doing so, this will give users the ability to power their homes strictly from renewable sources and substantially decrease reliance on the utility. For this purpose, the hybrid AC/DC house is also designed in such a way to be entirely grid-independent to provide power …

Precedents Ignored: Erroneous Applications Of Due Process Precedents Lead To Unjust Consequences For Pretrial Detainees And A Lack Of Accountability For Jailers—Whitney V. City Of St. Louis, 887 F.3d 857 (8th Cir. 2018)., Deena Keilany

Nebraska Law Review

Mass incarceration has led to the confinement of 2.3 million individuals in the United States,despite a steady decline in crime rates since the 1990s.An already strained carceral system,now operating against the backdrop of a nation reeling from the global COVID-19 pandemic,has experienced an influx of detainees as demonstrators are periodically arrested for protesting the very institutions that are sending them to jail.As demonstrators are arrested and detained, often for minor offenses, many people who have not been touched by the criminal justice system before are getting a glimpse at detention facility conditions.Mass arrests and the impacts of COVID-19 on the …

Voiding The Federal Analogue Act, Andrew Fels

Nebraska Law Review

"Accordingly, [King Rex] announced to his subjects that he had written out a code and would henceforth be governed by it in deciding cases, but that for an indefinite future the contents of the code would remain an official state secret, known only to him and his scrivener. To Rex’s surprise this sensible plan was deeply resented by his subjects. They declared it was very unpleasant to have one’s case decided by rules when there was no way of knowing what those rules were."--LON L. FULLER, THE MORALITY OF LAW

If the Federal Analogue Act (Analog Act) is to be …

“Bang!”: Shotspotter Gunshot Detection Technology, Predictive Policing, And Measuring Terry’S Reach, Harvey Gee

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

ShotSpotter technology is a rapid identification and response system used in ninety American cities that is designed to detect gunshots and dispatch police. ShotSpotter is one of many powerful surveillance tools used by local police departments to purportedly help fight crime, but they often do so at the expense of infringing upon privacy rights and civil liberties. This Article expands the conversation about ShotSpotter technology considerably by examining the adjacent Fourth Amendment issues emanating from its use. For example, law enforcement increasingly relies on ShotSpotter to create reasonable suspicion where it does not exist. In practice, the use of ShotSpotter …

Salary Roster, 2022 June, Eastern Michigan University

EMU Salary Reports

No abstract provided.

Fighting Global Surveillance: Lessons From The American Muslim Community, Danna Z. Elmasry

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The United States government has been spying on its citizens through a massive surveillance infrastructure that is unrestricted to a particular target or suspicion of wrongdoing. The statutory and regulatory authorities responsible for this infrastructure are sprawling and often secret. Built-in limitations and oversight mechanisms are riddled with loopholes or inaccessible due to exceedingly high thresholds. Litigation challenges to surveillance overreach often fail at standing. Under the current doctrine, plaintiffs must show that their own communications have been surveilled by a specific surveillance program. This Note contributes to surveillance reform by proposing a private right of action that sets the …

Reconciliation, Restoration And Reconstruction Of A Conflict Ridden Country, Muhammad S. Riaz

Theses and Dissertations

Conflict has sadly been a constant part of history. Winning a conflict and making a lasting peace are often not the same thing. While a peace treaty ends a conflict and often dictates terms from the winners’ perspective, it may not create a lasting peace. Short of unconditional surrender, modern conflict ends with a negotiated cessation of hostilities. Such accords may have some initial reconstruction agreements, but Reconciliation, Restoration and Reconstruction (RRR) is a long term process. This study maintains that to achieve a lasting peace: 1) The culture and beliefs of the conflict nation must be continuously considered and …

Low-Cost Uav Swarm For Real-Time Object Detection Applications, Joel Valdovinos Miranda

Master's Theses

With unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), also known as drones, becoming readily available and affordable, applications for these devices have grown immensely. One type of application is the use of drones to fly over large areas and detect desired entities. For example, a swarm of drones could detect marine creatures near the surface of the ocean and provide users the location and type of animal found. However, even with the reduction in cost of drone technology, such applications result costly due to the use of custom hardware with built-in advanced capabilities. Therefore, the focus of this thesis is to compile an …

North Hollywood To Burbank Airport Red Line Extension, Benjamin Lieber, Matthew Hu, Michael Lo

City and Regional Planning

The North Hollywood-Burbank Airport Red Line Extension is a proposal that plans to connect the Red Line from the North Hollywood Station to the Hollywood Burbank Airport. The main focus of the extension is to reduce traffic by allowing a direct Metro rail to the airport. Extending the line will help commuters traveling between Los Angeles to San Fernando Valley and new arrivals at the Hollywood Burbank Airport. In the proposal, commuters will have a direct connection to Amtrak’s Pacific Surfliner and Coast Starlight without having to travel down to Union Station. New arrivals will also have access to cities …

The Mustang Bridge, Dominic Loreto, Jacob Bulotti

City and Regional Planning

The purpose of this project is to develop a pedestrian overpass in San Luis Obispo, California at the entry of the city that will successfully provide crossing and safety on Boysen Ave. and Santa Rosa Street connecting Mustang village to university square. The current circulation routes have a significant impact on a community’s pedestrians, cyclists, and automobile drivers. Safety becomes a growing concern when the streets are illegally crossed in unsafe sections, putting everybody at risk. The planned environment will be revised and accurately assessed to provide safety, flexibility, and proper use of the circulation route in place. The community’s …

Bridge Project Prioritization, Bryan Gibson, Christopher Van Dyke, Sudhir Palle, Ryan Griffith, Doug Kreis

Kentucky Transportation Center Research Report

Kentucky’s 14,000+ bridges are key nodes within the state’s surface transportation network. They facilitate the movement of freight, commercial vehicles, and personal vehicles alike. Historically, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) has prioritized bridge maintenance projects using sufficiency ratings. These ratings are based on three factors — structural adequacy and safety, design obsolescence, and an asset’s importance within the roadway network. Although useful, sufficiency ratings do not account for factors that should be considered during the prioritization process (e.g., condition factors, risk). To address the shortcomings associated with using sufficiency ratings, KYTC — with the assistance of the Kentucky Transportation Center …

Who Can Tax Telecommuters?: A Case For An Economic Presence Regime, Garry Canepa

The University of Chicago Business Law Review

Should telecommuters who work across states be taxed by the state that they are physically working in? By the state their office is located in? By both? This issue was raised in New Hampshire v. Massachusetts. There, New Hampshire challenged the taxing authority of a Massachusetts rule that taxed New Hampshire residents who had worked within a Massachusetts office prior to COVID-19 related restrictions but were telecommuting from New Hampshire. New Hampshire argued that the Massachusetts rule violated both the Due Process Clause and Commerce Clause. Since the Supreme Court had denied certiorari for this case, the constitutionality of the …

Tyson And Leviathan: Usda Rulemaking And The Psa Harm To Competition Requirement, Spencer James Parts

The University of Chicago Business Law Review

Facing concentration in meatpacking, farmers and ranchers are making increasingly urgent calls for protection from practices they claim make it difficult for them to earn a living. Among the statutes they have turned to for recourse is the Packers and Stockyards Act, a 1921 law that prohibits meatpackers from engaging in unfair, deceptive, or unjustly discriminatory practices. Courts, however, have made PSA cases more difficult to win by requiring that plaintiffs prove “harm to competition” to bring a successful case. Recently, the USDA has intervened in this debate, alternately supporting each side of the harm to competition question in controversial …

Examining The Effects Of Legalizing Marijuana In Colorado And Washington On Clearance Rates: A Quasi-Experimental Design, Cody Jorgensen, Alexis J. Harper

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objective This study follows the lead of Makin et al. (Police Quarterly 22(1): 31–55, 2019) who found that marijuana legalization is associated with a marginal increase in clearance rates for some crimes but not for others.

Methods We build on their work attempting to replicate their findings by using the synthetic control method and fixed-effects models. A 50-state panel data set was constructed and analyzed. The dependent variables were aggregated violence and property crime rates. The independent variable was dichotomously measured recreational marijuana legislation.

Results Marijuana legalization is not a meaningful avenue of increasing clearance rates.

Conclusion The synthetic …