Law Commons^™

Creating A Home Base For Treatment In Homeless Courts, Kyle C. Troeger

Student Publications

As the number of unsheltered homeless increases, an alternative to criminalization, homeless courts, have also become more common. 18 States currently have one or more specialty court programs dedicated to meting out alternative sentencing to the local homeless. Homeless courts are a rehabilitative process with the end goal of reintegration into society. They allow nonviolent misdemeanors to be resolved without jail time or fines. In lieu of traditional sentencing is community service and mandated self-improvement. This chapter examines the current criminalization, and history, of homelessness in the United States. Of primary interest is the development of homeless courts as an …

Perceptions Of Bystander Intervention: Surveying Students’ Relationship To Sexual Misconduct, Emma G. Padrick

Student Publications

Bystander intervention education programs have become increasingly popular as a tool for the primary prevention of sexual violence at institutions of higher education (IHEs). Emerging research surrounding bystander intervention on college campuses reveals promising results, yet there is limited extant research exploring how students perceive bystander intervention as a tool to protect themselves and their peers. Students over the age of 18 at a small, private, liberal arts IHE in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States with approximately 2,600 students were surveyed to assess knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors related to bystander intervention. Students demonstrated a willingness to intervene and …

Deconstructing Perceptions Of The Border Patrol At The U.S.-Mexico Border, Claire H. Woodward

Student Publications

The U.S.-Mexico border is a space for public debate on the legal and political aspects of immigration. Politicization of the southern border has resulted in polarized public opinion regarding immigration, leading to discrepancies between public perceptions of the Border Patrol and agents’ perceptions of their job. Agents’ work requires emotional labor, and lack of training for difficult encounters, pressure within the agency to detach from emotions, and public outcry lead to dissonance in agent perceptions of their own role in immigration enforcement. In addition, economic, ethnic, and gender-based factors contribute to agent identities, which intersect with perceptions of their roles …

Presidential Leadership In The Space Age, Ziv R. Carmi

Student Publications

Mankind’s quest to reach the moon consisted of many people in leadership positions. In the US, however, many of the decisions behind the space race, especially funding for it, were made by four men: Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Baines Johnson, and Richard Nixon. While some presidents (namely Kennedy) receive more credit than others for their work on bringing man to the moon, each of them passed influential policy that was vital in the development of Apollo: Eisenhower founded NASA and began research on the Saturn V, Kennedy gave vision and urgency to the program, Johnson gave massive …

Naming Names: The Impact Of Supreme Court Opinion Attribution On Citizen Assessment Of Policy Outcomes, Scott S. Boddery, Laura P. Moyer, Jeff Yates

Political Science Faculty Publications

The manner in which political institutions convey their policy outcomes can have important implications for how the public views institutions' policy decisions. This paper explores whether the way in which the U.S. Supreme Court communicates its policy decrees affects how favorably members of the public assess its decisions. Specifically, we investigate whether attributing a decision to the nation's High Court or to an individual justice influences the public's agreement with the Court's rulings. Using an experimental design, we find that when a Supreme Court outcome is ascribed to the institution as a whole, rather than to a particular justice, people …

Is Citizenship Still Relevant? State Sovereignty, Migration, And Sanctuary Cities In A Globalizing World, Melissa J. Lauro

Student Publications

This paper argues that sanctuary cities and sanctuary policies in the United States are a manifestation of the conflicts resulting from processes of globalization, which have changed traditional notions of citizenship, state sovereignty, and state security, as well as fostered a cultural backlash and identity politics within the U.S.

Rhetoric Vs Reality: Public Opinion On Immigration In The United States, Elizabeth M. Belair

Student Publications

The United States has a rich and interesting history of immigration. The country itself was created by waves of immigrants who came from across the globe. Although immigration has always existed in the U.S., the number of immigrants coming to the United States has increased during the 21st century, and as a result, a controversial debate surrounding the consequences of immigration has emerged. In this paper I examine how Americans view the debate on immigration, specifically focusing on what affects public opinion on this topic. I find that shifts in public opinion do not reflect changes in immigration patterns but …

Medicare At Fifty Needs To Grow, William H. Lane

English Faculty Publications

In America everybody has a healthcare story. A bill impossible to read, an inscrutable "additional" charge, trouble getting insurance, trouble keeping it, a friend or family member who's fallen between the coverage "cracks." [excerpt]

Post-9/11 Illegal Immigrant Detention And Deportation: Terrorism And The Criminalization Of Immigration, Stefany N. Laun

Student Publications

This paper analyzes the changes in immigration policy since the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001 in terms of how immigrants are viewed in the United States. The goal is to address the recent criminalization of immigration in that the perceptions of terrorists and immigrants have become relatively synonymous since 2001. Although deportations have decreased, immigrant detention has increased significantly. Detention centers pose threats to the basic human rights of the immigrants residing in them, as well as perpetuate the culture of fear enveloping recent immigrants, whether they are legally or illegally in the country, and native United States citizens …

So We Ran..., Sara R. Bias

Student Publications

This paper tells the true story of a Hungarian refugee who's family fled the communist regime there in 1971. Gabriella Bercze's story reflects on what it was like to live in Hungary under communist rule, and her family's experience in escaping the country, and fleeing to Italy, where they lived in a refugee camp for months before immigrating to the United States in the early 70s.

Italy’S Refugee Burden And The Role Of The Eu In Asylum Cases, Sara R. Bias

Student Publications

Italy's unique geographic location at the coast of the Mediteranean Sea gives much opportunity for the international community to criticize its dealings with asylum seekers crossing the body of water to enter Europe. The UNHCR reported that as of October 2014, 165,000 asylum seekers had taken dangerous journeys across the Mediterranean Sea; of those 165,000 people, Italy received 140,000.

Are Some Rights Wrong?, Megan A. Fenrich

SURGE

“When the time came, I did it. I had to.” – Seung-Hui Cho

Even though it’s been more than six years since April 16, 2007, I still find myself watching the YouTube videos and glimpsing the pictures my parents tried so hard to conceal me from. Words dripping with hatred, guns and other weapons pointed at the viewer. I can understand why my parents didn't want a seventh grader to view these. [excerpt]

'Dred Scott V. Sandford' Analysis, Sarah E. Roessler

Student Publications

The Scott v. Sandford decision will forever be known as a dark moment in America's history. The Supreme Court chose to rule on a controversial issue, and they made the wrong decision. Scott v. Sandford is an example of what can happen when the Court chooses to side with personal opinion instead of what is right.

New York Times V. U.S.: Implications And Relevance In The 21st Century, Maria E. Lombardi

Student Publications

In 1971, the New York Times released the first installment in a series later referred to as the Pentagon Papers that would eventually have significant political, social, and historical impacts that are felt even in the 21st Century. Following the first release, President Nixon’s administration sought an injunction against the publication of the remaining contents of the classified study, ultimately becoming an extensive legal process that culminated in the Supreme Court. In a per curiam opinion, the Court ruled that in accordance with Organization for a Better Austin v. Keefe and Near v. Minnesota that the federal government did not …

The New Normal, Hannah M. Frantz

SURGE

On September 19, 2013 an individual wielding a military-grade assault rifle fired sixteen bullets into a Chicago park harming thirteen individuals, among them a 3-year old named Deonta Howard who was shot in the cheek.

On September 16, 2013 a man by the name of Aaron Alexis opened fire on the cafeteria at the Navy Yard in Washington D.C. Thirteen people died, and eight others were injured.

On December 14, 2012 Adam Lanza shot twenty-six people—twenty of whom were children between the ages of 6 and 7—in Newtown, Connecticut. Barack Obama called it the “worst day of [his] presidency.”

On …

Transitions From War To Peace, Caroline A. Hartzell

Political Science Faculty Publications

The Elgar Handbook of Civil War and Fragile States brings together contributions from a multidisciplinary group of internationally renowned scholars on such important issues as the causes of violent conflicts and state fragility, the challenges of conflict resolution and mediation, and the obstacles to post-conflict reconstruction and durable peace-building. This chapter examines the state of current knowledge regarding transitions from war to peace following civil wars.

Xiii. Political Liberalism And Nationalism, 1815-1871, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles H. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section XIII: Political Liberalism and Nationalism, 1815-1871

The first half of the nineteenth century saw the emergence of two secular faiths which became key features of Western thought: political liberalism and nationalism- Their tenets were not wTiblly ne^ As~early as the lourteenth century when medieval feudalism was giving way to the rising national state, Marsiglio of Padua (c. 1275 - c, 1343) had announced that political authority was properly lodged in the people. The seventeenth century had produced in John Locke (1632-1704) a man whose ideas on government later became a wellspring for political liberalism. The same era also found nationalism accentuated by colonial rivalries and mercantilist …

1. The Era Of Metternichian Conservatism, 1815-1848, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles C. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section XIII: Political Liberalism and Nationalism, 1815-1871

Before either political liberalism or nationalism could become institutionalized, the Continent passed through a period of conservative reaction. Taking their cue from Edmund Burke, who "as early as 1790 strove to discredit France's great experiment by associating it with the excesses of reason and revolution, many people blamed liberalism for the quarter century of war, and chaos that followed. The "Reign Terror" in France, under the sway of Madame Guillotine, gave a connotation of horror to the slogan of "liberty, equality, and fraternity," Conservativeminded folk tended to regard the abstract ideas of freedom, brotherhood, and a society without class distinctions …

2. Victories Of Political Liberalism, Robert L. Bloom, Basil L. Crapster, Harold A. Dunkelberger, Charles C. Glatfelter, Richard T. Mara, Norman E. Richardson, W. Richard Schubart

Section XIII: Political Liberalism and Nationalism, 1815-1871

As we have already suggested in the opening paragraphs of this chapter, the roots of political liberalism antedated the nineteenth century. The philosophic principles of this creed were based on earlier ideas such as natural rights and utilitarianism. Political liberals held that human actions to be moral must be voluntary, and that a society seeking to follow the laws of nature must cherish individual liberty. Since they believed human reason was capable of discerning these laws, liberals believed that enlightened self-interest was an accurate guide for political action. In the next chapter we will take note of the kinship which …