Law Commons^™

Do Factors Contributing To Wrongful Conviction Differ By Crime Type?, Kaylee Baldwin

Honors College Theses

Wrongful convictions play a big role in the criminal justice system, resulting in individuals being punished for crimes they did not commit. This study investigates the factors contributing to wrongful convictions across different crime types, utilizing data from the National Registry of Exonerations. The research aims to identify common contributors to wrongful convictions and explores variations by crime type. Results highlight the challenges associated with specific offenses. Understanding how factors vary by crime type is essential for developing strategies to prevent and address wrongful convictions.

Liberation Chronicles: Reformulating Black Liberation In The Face Of Persistent Oppression, Nia P. Gadson

Honors College Theses

Liberation movements for Black people have been prominent throughout American history. Chattel slavery and Jim Crow laws caused centuries of anti-black oppression. They continuously evolved into other anti-black structures – mass incarceration, predatory loan companies, and healthcare inequalities, to name a few – that require us to address these issues still today. The most recent Black liberation movement, Black Lives Matter, experienced a brief uptick in support after George Floyd’s murder but, overall, failed to address these issues. This thesis outlines three approaches to Black liberation in the U.S. to determine the most effective. First, drawing on Frederick Douglass’ autobiographies, …

Mapping Collaboration: Examining State-Government Alliance In Addressing Specific Child Sexual Offenses, Allison R. Lair

Honors College Theses

Amidst our society, a harrowing reality persists: one in ten children bear the burden of enduring sexual abuse before reaching the tender age of eighteen. Alas, this issue often remains hidden from the societal spotlight due to limitations in offense-specific statistical crime data. Since 1930, the Federal Bureau of Investigation's Uniform Crime Report (UCR) has been the primary resource for annual state-level law enforcement data collection. However, the voluntary nature of participation and the mass categorization of offenses within the UCR methodology, lead to the exclusion of crucial data concerning child sexual offenses. This research explores the dynamics of state …

A Philosophical Look Into The Morality And Legality Of Abortion, Alexis J. Agnew

Honors College Theses

In his Nicomachean Ethics, Greek philosopher Aristotle posits an understanding of ethics and how human life is characterized by the “good.” Aristotle argues that (I) ethics involve humans possessing a rational capacity and specific function; (II) ethics are habitual, and the “doctrine of the mean” is used to gauge proper action; and (III) justice is linked to virtue. A moral issue that can be analyzed through Aristotle’s Ethics, as well as works of contemporary philosophers, is abortion. Abortion has been a controversial topic and has been brought before the Supreme Court to determine its morality and legality. Using …

Cybercrime Victimization: Online Routine Behaviors, Guardianship, And Identity Theft Victimization In A Nationally Reflective Sample, Ifeoluwa Stella Elegbe

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

In this digital era, cybercrime victimization has emerged as a significant issue, with identity theft being one of the most prevalent forms. This study examines the relationship between online routine behaviors, guardianship, demographics, and identity theft victimization in a nationally representative sample of U.S. adults utilizing routine activities theory (RAT) as a conceptual

framework. The research applies statistical methods such as descriptive statistics, correlation analysis, and logistic regression models to examine theoretically oriented hypotheses. The

hypotheses suggest connections between different online habitual behaviors, steps taken to

protect oneself, demographic characteristics, and the extent to which one has been a victim …

Masculine Vs. Feminine Women: Verdict, Blame, And Punishment Outcomes In The Legal System, Alaina Helmerichs

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

It is commonly recognized that sentencing disparities exist between men and women who are accused of the same crime—with men often receiving harsher judgements than women. However, research explaining why this disparity exists is incomplete. Research suggests that higher levels of facial masculinity in men is tied to higher levels of criminality (Estrada-Reynolds et al., 2017); however, little research looks at this pattern amongst female defendants. The current study investigated whether the gendered appearance (masculine vs. feminine) of female defendants in different types of cases (child negligence vs. medical malpractice) affects mock jurors’ judgments about verdict, punishment, and internal blame …

Is There Really Anything Wrong With That? An Aristotelian Analysis Of Duty, Luke J. Mcgrath

Honors College Theses

In the iconic Seinfeld series finale, Jerry, George, Elaine, and Kramer find themselves in a peculiar legal predicament when they mock a crime rather than intervene to help the victim. The show’s commitment to portraying reality, even in its finale, vividly demonstrates the potential consequences of a society lacking the legal obligation to aid others. This comical incident raises a thought-provoking question about the legitimacy of duty-to-act laws in the United States. This thesis examines the application of Aristotle’s Nicomachean Ethics to the concept of duty-to-act laws and argues for the necessity and benefits of such laws in promoting a …

What Doesn’T Kill You Makes You Stronger: The Shifting Strategies Of Japan’S Yakuza In Response To Economic Globalization And Securitization, Benjamin P. Murkison

Honors College Theses

The Yakuza in Japan is a deeply traditional and infamous ethnic mafia, which has historically based their profits off of the protection of gambling rings and street vendors, but have developed into one of the most sophisticated and wealthy criminal institutions in the world. Reaching their peak in the 1960’s with around 200,000 members, the Yakuza has been in a slow decline ever since. However, the past decade has seen the most dramatic drop in Yakuza numbers in recorded history, as a result of increasing securitization by the Japanese state. As their power has declined within Japan, they have only …

Extralegal Bias In The United States Military In Sexual Assault Cases, Taylor F. Blackston

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

By evaluating the case recommendations following a preliminary hearing from military sexual assault cases from fiscal years 2016-2018, this study aims to assess whether or not extralegal factors are influencing decisions of case recommendations of assigned convening authorities. Using secondary data from the Department of Defense’s annual reports on sexual assault in the United States military (n=5,171), this study aims to answer the following questions: Do extralegal factors contribute to convening authorities’ recommendations following Article 32 hearings? If so, what extralegal factors contribute to convening authority's decision on non-judicial hearing recommendations? The results of the following analyses identified several extralegal …

Defund The Police: Snappy Slogan Or A Viable Solution? A Case Study Of Savannah, Georgia, Michayla F. Knox

Honors College Theses

The notion of defunding the police remains a hot-button political topic since the protests of Summer 2020. The forefront of the debate concerns how defunding the police will impact crime rates. Still, the topic has scarcely been investigated empirically. This thesis provides an early examination into the relationship between "defunding the police", reallocating funding, and crime rates in Savannah, Ga. Several experiments are performed to answer three research questions that involve comparing and manipulating the budget provided for policing and the budgets for neighborhood vitality and poverty reduction. The findings show that Savannah allocates significantly more money to the policing …

Data Privacy Regulations In The United States, China, And The European Union, Charlsey A. Kelly

Honors College Theses

This paper compares and discusses the different data privacy regulations found in the United States, China, and the European Union. It is no secret that big tech companies like Facebook and Google continuously collect data on their users. The big question is what protections and rights one has as a consumer. The answer to this question differs when you are in different parts of the world. Currently the United States does not have a federal data privacy law, China recently adopted a new data privacy law called the Personal Information Protection Law, and the European Union has a data privacy …

The 1994 Federal Crime Bill: An Evaluation Of The Past, Present, And Future Of Its Impact On The Criminal Justice System, Jade R. Philpot

Honors College Theses

The 1994 Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act was signed into law in response to the crack cocaine and crime epidemic of the 1980s. In this thesis I address the major elements of this bill, the racial, financial, and ethical conflicts that arose thereafter, and the reforms that should be implemented today to correct said conflicts.

Bad Acts, Worse Responses: Reconsidering The Moral Foundations Of The Us Criminal Justice System, Christian N. Futch

Honors College Theses

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the contemporary criminal justice system in the United States, offering moral and pragmatic critiques to its current construction, and proposing an alternative construction that is both more successful pragmatically and morally. In this paper, I first establish the connection between morality and the law through the consideration of jurisprudential theories of law. After arguing for this connection, I then offer critiques of the current criminal justice system in the United States. After this, I evaluate the four general theories of punishment using the scholarship of Thom Brooks, finding that retributive and deterrent …

Seeking Justice: Reform To The Resolution Of Sexual Harassment Workplace Claims, Maygen Martinez

Honors College Theses

The era of the #MeToo Movement has brought about significant change in both personal and professional lives. With support from the community, many survivors of sexual assault are now able to publicly confront the atrocities that have happened to them. Further, and as a result of this impetus, historic legislation and internal action have caused many companies to end their mandatory arbitration practices for sexual harassment complaints. The ending of mandatory employer-sponsored arbitration opens the door to a significant change in the way discrimination and harassment complaints are resolved in the workplace. More employees than ever are now able to …

The Effects Of A Powerful Military On Compliance With International Human Rights Tribunals, Ian Z. Sheppard

Honors College Theses

Are states with a powerful military force less likely to comply with European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) and Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) judgements and rulings? The main foundation of the paper is built upon Hillebrecht’s definition of compliance and why a particular state complies with the rulings of the ECtHR and IACtHR. Domestic institutions are the driving force behind a state’s willingness to comply because of the significant lack of enforcing power behind these international institutions. The goal of the paper is to expand upon what Hillebrecht started by looking past the basic domestic institutions like executive …

The Drug War In America: How Much Damage Has It Done, Sherrod D. Hollingshed

Honors College Theses

For decades, the War on Drugs has had a profound effect on the United States of America. The effects include high arrest rates, creation of private prisons, and unequal treatment of minorities by the Criminal Justice System. For the past several years, heightened attention has been paid to the War on Drugs. There have been calls to legalize certain drugs, such as marijuana, and calls to completely end the War on Drugs. The purpose of this study is to (1) study the history of the War on Drugs in America and discuss the effects that it has had on America, …

Who Is Baby Girl? A Philosophical Discussion Of The Legal Obligation To Define Authenticity, Madison Hayes

Honors College Theses

In the later twentieth century, American law attempted to address legacies of unjust treatment of Native Americans though legislation like the Indian Child Welfare Act, which requires considering Native American identity in child custody decisions. This created some complex legal questions about exactly what constituted Native identity. The Supreme Court case, Adoptive Couple v. Baby Girl, exposed a number of problems that arose from determining authentic tribal identity. To offer a more precise analysis of the problem of identity in American law, I will engage in philosophical investigations into the nature of authenticity, bringing in the work of the …

Directed Gifts, Love Offerings And The Uncertain Guidance Of Irs Publication 526 For Donors And Donees To Non-Profit Organizations: Literature Review, Victoria Liggett

Honors College Theses

Love offerings are donations given to an identified beneficiary of a non-profit organization. It can be challenging for tax experts to make accurate tax assessments based on such offerings and enormously difficult for the layperson. This is exacerbated by the unclear directives of the IRS, which include the sometimes nearly inscrutable guidelines of IRS Publication 526. The lack of clarity makes this a hazard for accountants and attorneys involved in tax preparation. Against this backdrop, this paper provides a literature review exploring the history of the issues, current guidelines as decided by court cases, and research done with regards to …

2008 Financial Crisis And The Deviation From The Taylor Rule, Uzoma H. Okoye

Honors College Theses

In this paper, we derive possible causes of the 2008 financial crisis, as well as provide evidence of a possible deviation from the Taylor rule by the Federal Reserve. This research draws up mostly primary sources such as published books and speeches by John B. Taylor himself, as well as articles from academic journals related to the topic. Other prior research tends to take a side on the argument as to whether the Federal Reserve deviated or not. This paper serves as a descriptive analysis of different sides of the argument to come up with suggestions regarding the Fed’s actions.

The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program: Attitudes Towards Prisoners As Reported By College Students, Laurel M. Sabadosh

Honors College Theses

The Inside-Out Prison Exchange Program involves students from Georgia Southern University and inmates from Smith State Prison who interact and hope to receive a deeper understanding of the justice system through experiential learning. This style of learning has demonstrated greater effectiveness in learning outcomes and a more positive student experience compared to classical, lecture-based learning. No previous research has compared changes in perceptions of students in the Inside-Out Program to a lecture based course of the same content. The purpose of this study was to investigate changes in students’ attitudes towards prisoners over eight weeks between participants in the Inside-Out …

The 1492 Jewish Expulsion From Spain: How Identity Politics And Economics Converged, Michelina Restaino

Honors College Theses

In 1492, after Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand defeated the last Muslim stronghold on the Iberian Peninsula, they presented the Jewish community throughout their kingdoms with a choice: leaving or converting to Catholicism. The Spanish kingdoms had been anti-Jewish for centuries, forcing the creation of ghettos, the use of identifying clothing, etc. in an effort to isolate and “other” the Jews, who unsuccessfully sought peaceful co-existence. Those who did not accept expulsion, but converted, were the subject of further prejudice stemming from a belief that Jewish blood was tainted and that conversions were undertaken for financial gain. The government’s dramatic …

Free Speech In Wartime: Sedition Acts During The Presidencies Of John Adams And Woodrow Wilson, Juliana M. Hafner

Honors College Theses

This paper analyzes two time eras in which the United States federal government created and passed two sedition acts: in 1798 with President John Adams and in 1918 with President Woodrow Wilson. Both ultimately affected American’s freedom of speech during wartime, as well as during times of peace. This analysis addresses the specific acts themselves, the overall political atmosphere in each time period, including who were considered the country’s “enemies,” in-depth consideration of one court case per era, the government and public reaction to the acts, and the overall impact that both eras had on the development of American Constitutionalism. …

Is Students’ Knowledge Of The Student Conduct Code Associated With Their Conduct Code-Breaking Behaviors On Campus?, Joy D. Bonner

Honors College Theses

Annually colleges and universities spend countless hours updating their student codes of conduct, but is this added time worth the hassle if students continue to break the code? The purpose of this study was to examine the effects a student’s knowledge of a university’s code of conduct may have on the amount of code-breaking behaviors committed on campus. A survey was administered to students at Georgia Southern University analyzing students’ knowledge and perceptions of academic dishonesty and plagiarism on campus. Each participant was asked a series of questions analyzing their knowledge of the code, its sanctions, as well as the …

Policing The Traffic: The Capacity Of Legal Change To Arrest Human Trafficking In The European Union, Charlotte Mcdonald

Honors College Theses

Intense violence in the Middle East continues to force millions of displaced people to immigrate to Europe. Governments tighten border controls to stem the influx, and desperate individuals fall victim to human traffickers. Though European Union members have made progress in developing a legal framework for combatting this evil, past attempts to coordinate national laws failed to address the growing need. Research is needed to understand the causes of success and failure in this endeavor. Through a comparative case study of three states from different parts of Europe- Germany, Hungary and Turkey- I examine the extent to which to adoption …

Police And Gangs: Undergraduates’ Perceptions Of The Similarities And Differences, Seroyah Williams

Honors College Theses

Police have been said to be the largest gang in America with badges. With recent events occurring throughout the United States, including police shootings of unarmed citizens, some may say that the police have shown various characteristics similar to those of gangs. Does the public also view officers, in general, in the same perspective? Surveys were administered to a large class of Georgia Southern University students to acquire their perceptions of both the police and gangs. Each student listed characteristics of the police and gangs, their opinion, and different ways those perceptions have been formed. The data collected revealed more …

Who's In Charge Of Whom? A Study Into The Deference Paid By Federal Court Judges To Executive Agencies, Andrew Smallwood

Honors College Theses

With judicial decisions instigating much of the immediate political changes in recent history, this study delves into the relationship between a judge’s tenure on the bench as well as other contributing factors, such as political ideologies, and the decision in cases relevant to politically charged agencies. This purposeful study into the United States Court of Appeals, District of Columbia Circuit, attempts to isolate specific determinants in cases involving the National Labor Relations Board and the Environmental Protection Agency. Logistic Regression analysis is used to determine the existence of possible relationships between judicial behavior and factors such as prior executive experience …

Guns, Gender, Geography: Exploring Reasons For Gun Ownership, Lauren N. Kadet

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This study was aimed to depict patterns of gun ownership in the United States and to outline the reasons for gun ownership and the influential variables associated with people’s reasons for owning handguns and long guns. This study used data derived from the 2004 National Firearm Survey to examine how respondents’ geographic region of residency, gender, race, age, rural location and education level influenced the likelihood of, and reasons for owning a firearm. The findings from this study suggest that being a male, living in the south and participants’ age was significant in determining the likelihood of participants owning a …

The Influence Of Emotion On Memory For A Crime, Taylor Langley

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Researchers have reported errors in recall or recognition of witnessed events, accounting for the most common cause of false convictions of innocent people. Tiwari (2010) indicated that 25% of suspects who were identified in a line-up were actually innocent. Jurors are strongly influenced by eyewitness testimony and this can lead to false convictions. The validity of eyewitness identification is critical in cases in which it is used as evidence. In the current study we examined specific emotion states by inducing fear, surprise, and neutral moods. We hypothesized that participants in the Fear group would be least susceptible to the effects …

An Analysis And Examination Of College Undergraduates' Perceptions Of Women In Law Enforcement, William T. Stone ~

Honors College Theses

Throughout the course of history, various perceptions of gender and the roles that each gender should play have been observed. As Western society has progressed, so have the rights of women in many modern, developed nations. In America, women became an integral part of the workforce during World War II. When the war was over, however, they were expected to return to a more domestic role. Today, the number of women in the workplace continues to increase; however, many disparities continue to exist. Traditionally masculine careers, such as policing, have seen smaller increases in the number of women in these …

The Landwarnet School, The Army Learning Model, And Appreciative Inquiry: How Is A Centralized Training Organization Improved By Introducing Decentralization?, Lisa Jayne Stamper

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This exploratory, qualitative case study describes how a centralized training organization (LandWarNet School) was improved by introducing decentralization (Army Learning Model) toward “the best competitive position” or "sweet spot," defined by Brafman and Beckstrom (2006) as “enough decentralization for creativity, but sufficient structure and controls to ensure consistency” (pp. 189, 191). Any presence of the six chaordic elements of a decentralized organization, as described by Hock (1999), was also considered.

LandWarNet School (LWNS) trains approximately 6000 US Army Soldiers annually and is centrally organized. The new Army Learning Model (ALM) is a vision for a more decentralized training approach where …