Law Commons^™

The Responsibility To Protect And Syria- Looking At The Future Of Humanitarian Intervention, Nikola Jana Trahan

Honors Projects

This thesis assesses the legality of humanitarian intervention in the context of the Syrian Civil War. It specifically investigates the international legal principle the Responsibility to Protect (R2P)" and critiques it. "

The Rights Of Queer Children, Robyn Linde

Faculty Publications

The ratification of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child (crc) has long been hailed as a major event in the realisation of children’s human rights, combining the need for protection with a desire to grant agency through recognition of the evolving capacities of the child. Yet the idea of children’s agency as articulated in the crc excluded sexual identity and expression, and ushered in an incomplete emancipation for lgbtiq children; children who are gender non-conforming; and children whose sexual expression otherwise conflicts with heterosexuality – hereafter queer children. I argue that while the crc granted …

Gatekeeper Persuasion And Issue Adoption: Amnesty International And The Transnational Lgbtq Network, Robyn Linde

Faculty Publications

Network theory is a valuable tool for understanding how transnational human rights advocacy emerges and develops; how norms become salient; and how nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) gain prominence within networks. This article evaluates political network theory through the case study of the transnational lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, and queer (LGBTQ) advocacy network. Through interviews with key figures at human rights and LGBTQ NGOs, I suggest that the transnational LGBTQ network emerged through contestation with the human rights gatekeeper, Amnesty International, and its US section, AIUSA. This process of contestation would produce a specific type of gatekeeper activism that would become a …

Understanding Campus Copyright & Creative Commons, Deryl Freeman Bissonnette, Dragan Gill

Open Textbook Initiative

Presentaion (slide, PDF) for the members of Rhode Island College campus community on information and guidelines regarding copyright law.

Not intended or offered as professional legal advice.

"First Woman To Lead R.I. State Police Attributes Her Achievement In Part To Portuguese-American Ancestry", Sabrina Brum, Iplws Ric

Elected and Appointed Officials Project

Institute intern Sabrina Brum '19 interviewed Col. Ann C. Assumpico, 13th Superintendent of the Rhode Island State Police for the IPLWS Elected and Appointed Officials Project and authored this news article, published on July 7, 2017 by O Jornal/The Herald News of Fall River. The IPLWS is grateful for the assistance of the Rhode Island College's Office of Communications and Marketing.

Perceptions And Occurrences Of Relationship Abuse And Sexual Assault, Jessica Parenteau

Honors Projects

Previous research illustrates that college age students experience relationship abuse and sexual assault. I test lifestyle-routine activities theory to determine how college students perceive non-stranger relationship abuse and/or sexual assault and if both are occurring on a college campus, off a college campus, or through technology, including social media. Like previous studies, this one found that alcohol played a role in victimization. Also, more male participants than female participants were likely to be harassed through social media than in actual physical locations, such as at a bar or a private party. Findings from this study show that both women and …

Did Print Media’S Coverage Of White-Collar Crime Change After The ‘Bernie Madoff Scandal’?, Susan Wennermark

Honors Projects

The question guiding this research is: What are the meanings associated with white-collar crime in the media, and how, if at all, have those meanings changed in the wake of the ‘Bernie Madoff scandal’? This analysis explores how the newspaper article was framed (either episodic or thematic) and what labels were used to describe the crime and actors involved. Articles between 2007 and 2011 were analyzed, covering the year before the scandal to two years after Madoff was convicted in 2009. For framing, this analysis found that, unlike stories on poverty or street crimes which focus more on episodic themes, …

Understanding The Determinants Of U.S. District Court Judges' Decisions On Patriot Act Cases, Daniel Mccarthy

Honors Projects

Prior research on federal court judges suggests that their judgments are not made solely on legal principles, but on the basis of political ideology and “strategic anticipation” of the actions of reviewing courts. This study seeks to empirically test the role these factors play in Federal District Court decisions involving the U.S.A. Patriot Act of 2001. The results indicate that both political policy preference and strategic anticipation have an effect on the judicial decisions of U.S. District Court judges. Due to statistical complications, however, it was not possible to determine their relative effects on the outcomes of Patriot Act cases.

What's Best For Women: Examining The Impact Of Legal Approaches To Prostitution In Cross-National Perspective And Rhode Island, Malinda Bridges

Honors Projects

This research analyzes legal approaches to prostitution on a cross-national level in order to determine if legal methods that regulate prostitution have an effect on prostitution. In order to examine these concepts, legel approaches were first identifed in the United States, Germany, the Netherlands, and Sweden. Following this analysis, the effects of these legal approaches are reported. Instead of working from a strictly sociological standpoint, this project focused greatly on the legal aspects that affect prostitution.

Perceived Job Readiness Among The Previously Incarcerated, Amy Audet

Honors Projects

This study aims to determine the primary factor in employment readiness for previously incarcerated individuals. Ex offenders were were surveyed for job readiness using a scale developed in the studies' literature review. This scale emcompasses factors such as skills, knowledge, confidence and goals. Surveys were also done according to age, age of first incarceration, incarceration history and job training history. Because this population is marginalized, this study may bring new awareness about the effects of employer discrimination and the need for future programs to increase job readiness among the previously incarcerated individuals.

Labor Rights, Human Rights And A Critical Sociology Of Law, Richard R. Weiner

Faculty Publications

Arguing for a transnational labor movement increasingly poses transnational labor rights as transnational human rights. Sociologically, how can such transnational labor rights be secured by institutions at a global level? Moving from human rights to transnational social rights? A seemingly aporia between the concepts of labor rights and human rights can be dialectically mediated by the tradition of a critical sociology of law in yielding a critical sociology of rights.

Essential Ethics Education In Social Work Field Instruction: A Blueprint For Field Educators, Frederic G. Reamer

Faculty Publications

Ethics content in field instruction is a vital component of social work education. Ethical standards and knowledge have expanded significantly in recent years. The author provides a comprehensive overview of core ethics content that should be incorporated into students’ internships, and also highlights key themes that should be addressed. Essential ethics content addresses core social work values, students’ personal and professional values, ethical dilemmas in field placements and social work practice, ethical decision-making frameworks and strategies to manage ethics risks.

From Rapists To Superpredators: What The Practice Of Capital Punishment Says About Race, Rights And The American Child, Robyn Linde

Faculty Publications

At the turn of the 20^th century, the United States was widely considered to be a world leader in matters of child protection and welfare, a reputation lost by the century’s end. This paper suggests that the United States’ loss of international esteem concerning child welfare was directly related to its practice of executing juvenile offenders. The paper analyzes why the United States continued to carry out the juvenile death penalty after the establishment of juvenile courts and other protections for child criminals. Two factors allowed the United States to continue the juvenile death penalty after most states in …

Predicting Police Discretion: A Traffic Stop Analysis, Andrew Girard

Honors Projects

Examines Donald Black's (1976) theory of pure sociology with data from traffic stops collected over eight months during seventy hours of "ride alongs" with eight different police departments in Rhode Island. Posits that the social structure of each traffic stop is predictable based on observable characteristics of the parties involved and that distance in social space increases the likelihood of a police officer issuing a citation to a driver, while social characteristics similar to that of the police officer reduces the likelihood of a driver receiving a citation. Twenty-one variables throught to impact a police officer's discretion are analyzed. As …

Careers In Corrections: Perceptions From The Inside, Kelsey A. Kanoff

Honors Projects

Examines the perceptions of correctional officers on recruitment, retention, and promotion processes within the Rhode island Department of Corrections. Studies the extent to which gender, and to a lesser extent, race, impact officers at all three stages of their careers.

Research On The Effectiveness Of The Rhode Island Adult Drug Court, Stephen T. Burke

Honors Projects

Investigates the effectiveness of the Rhode Island Adult Drug Court Program (RIADC) by examining the impact of the treatment modalities offered by the Drug Court on paticipants' likelihood of graduating successfully from the Program. Uses data on the seventy-one participants in the Program during the 2005/6 Court cycle, and describes the results in detail.

How To Make After School Programs Work: A Study Of Successful After School Programs In Five States, Caitlin Laboissonniere

Honors Projects

Explores the factors that make a high school after school program successful. Eight programs from five states participated by completing a voluntary survey. Half of the programs are categorized as being a success, with results indicating that the types of activities offered to teens is the most important aspect in ensuring a successful after school program.

Social Workers' Management Of Error, Frederic G. Reamer

Faculty Publications

Social workers, like all professionals, sometimes make mistakes. For example, they may disclose clients' confidential information inappropriately, fail to respond to clients' reasonable requests in a timely manner, or engage in improper dual relationships with clients. Ideally, social workers who err would follow a protocol that honors the profession's commitment to responsible and honest communication and minimizes the practical risks faced by social workers who might be named in lawsuits, licensing board complaints, and ethics complaints. This article explores the nature and forms of social work error and possible constructive responses to it that (a) protect clients, (b) minimize risk …

Ethical Issues In Open Adoption, Frederic G. Reamer, Deborah H. Siegel

Faculty Publications

Total secrecy and confidentiality no longer typify adoption in the United States. Today, most adoptions involve an exchange of information or some form of contact between the birth family and adoptive family - so-called open adoptions. This article provides a comprehensive overview of ethical issues associated with various forms of open adoption, including issues of privacy, confidentiality, self-determination, paternalism, conflicts of interest, deception, and truthtelling.We present guidelines for social work practice in open adoptions, based on current ethical theory and ethical standards in social work.

Nontraditional And Unorthodox Interventions In Social Work, Frederic G. Reamer

Faculty Publications

Social work interventions with individuals, families, couples, and small groups have evolved over time. Traditional casework methods associated with social work's pioneers during the early and mid-twentieth century, such as Mary Richmond, Florence Hollis, Harriett Bartlett, Grace Coyle, and Helen Perlman have been transformed. Today's social workers are more likely to discuss and debate the use of such approaches as dialectical behavior therapy, narrative therapy, hypnosis, eye movement desensitization and reprocessing, art and dance therapy, radical cognitive therapy, and Internet-based therapy, among others. Clinicians now have access to a staggering array of clinical options that would be unimaginable to social …

Tax Fraud, Money Laundering And The Financing Of Organized Crime, Erin Todisco

Honors Projects

Demonstrates that tax fraud and money laundering are major means of financing organized crime operations and argues that more aggressive enforcement of the tax code and money laundering legislation are necessary to help stop such crime.

Statelessness And Roma Communities In The Czech Republic: Competing Theories Of State Compliance, Robyn Linde

Faculty Publications

This paper examines the Czech Republic’s passage in 1993 of a citizenship law that rendered approximately 10,000 to 25,000 members of the Roma community stateless. The Czech Republic, a former satellite state of the Soviet Union, peacefully split from the Slovak Republic with the dissolution of the Czechoslovak Federal Republic (hereafter Czechoslovakia) in 1993, a process known as the Velvet Divorce. Following the dissolution, a new citizenship law came into effect that put steep requirements on individuals who wished to gain or retain Czech citizenship. These requirements included verification of a five-year period of residence, a clean criminal record, and …

Ethical And Legal Standards In Social Work, Frederic G. Reamer

Faculty Publications

Social workers frequently encounter circumstances involving ethical and legal issues. In many instances, relevant ethical and legal standards complement each other; however, in some circumstances, ethical and legal standards conflict. This article provides a comprehensive overview of the relationship between U.S. ethical and legal standards in social work. The author presents a conceptually based typology of 4 types of relationships between legal and ethical standards. Case examples are included. The author concludes with a decision-making framework designed to enhance social workers' constructive management of difficult decisions involving ethical and legal standards.

Moral Philosophy Meets Social Work, Frederic G. Reamer

Faculty Publications

In recent years, social workers have become increasingly aware of ethical dilemmas in practice. Beginning especially in the mid-to-late 1970s, social work's literature has included a steady stream of reflections on difficult moral choices involving conflicts among professional duties and obligations (Loewnberg and Dolgoff 1996; Congress 1998; Reamer 1998, 1999). To what extent do clients have the right to engage in self-harming behavior without interference? How should social workers allocate scarce or limited resources such as emergency services, shelter beds, funds, and even their own time? Is it ethically permissible for social workers to violate laws and regulations they believe …

How Goes The American Dream?, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"Americans are a hard-working lot. The ambitious American worker has fewer holidays, less vacation time and other benefits than Western Europeans. They are well-rewarded for their pursuit of the American dream. Home ownership rates in this country are among the highest rates in the world. The typical American worker has more cars and more kitchen gadgets, electronic hardware, recreational gear and more computers in his home than any other worker in the world."

Redistricting Law And Minority Rights, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"It has been referred to as "probably the most important civil rights law on the books," and the results of that legislation are most impressive. But more importantly, the Voting Rights Act promises to have an even greater influence in the coming decade."

Watch The Process, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"The reason for the 1990 census is now at hand: The Reapportionment Commission is in place, and the process has just begun. The redrawing of local state and congressional boundary lines that define districts by populations to be represented at these three levels of government is upon us, and bears close watching."

Voting Districts, Tailor-Made, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"When a federal district court judge threw out the five voting district boundaries in Johnston this summer, it should have come as no surprise. After all, this marked the third time since the 1980census that boundary districts in Rhode Island have been challenged and changed as a result of improper political decisions made by elected officials."

Japanese-Americans Still Waiting For Payment, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"The Victory Day holiday, or 'V-J Day' as it's still called, was recently enjoyed as a long weekend in Rhode Island. It is the only state to recognize the end of World War II in this manner, and the practice still raises questions about its validity 44 years after the fact."

Financing Difficulties Stall Linkage In Providence, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"When the India Point Club luxury condominium development, scheduled to be built on the Providence waterfront, was announced in 1987, there were many local skeptics who said it was too expensive for the Providence market. After all, selling penthouse condos overlooking the dirty Providence River for over $1 million was quite ambitious--and some said impossible."