Law Commons^™

There Must Be Something In The Water: Understanding Pfas Contamination Of Groundwater As A National Security Issue, Kylie N. Ford

Student Theses 2015-Present

This report addresses the widespread pollution of domestic groundwater resources with Perfluoroalkyl and Polyfluoroalkyl Substances (PFAS) caused by firefighting activities performed at military installations across the United States. Two former military bases in Southeastern Pennsylvania are used as a single case study: the Naval Air Development Center (NADC) in Warminster and the Naval Air Station Joint Reserve Base (NASJRB) in Horsham. Chapter 1 gives a history of domestic military bases from the perspective of the infrastructure buildup and downsizing that occurred over the 20th Century, along with the environmental degradation revealed during brownfield redevelopment. The chapter then gives specifics about …

How Gun Control Laws Affect Homicide, Abbey Maloney

Honors Theses

Homicide is an ever-prevalent problem in the United States (U.S.). One solution that is often turned to is the implementation of stricter gun control laws. This causes much divide as many citizens are not in agreement about whether or not these laws do what they are intended to. The aim of this study was to determine whether or not gun control laws have an effect on homicide, and, if so, what this effect is. The U.S. states were evaluated in several different categories to determine how strict or lax their gun laws were. They were scored using the number of …

International Commercial Arbitration Law And Practice In Thailand, Parada Kaewparadai

SJD Dissertations

International Commercial Arbitration is one of the essential mechanisms that support and facilitate international trade transactions, especially when the parties are from different nations. Since it is an alternative dispute resolution that provides a final and binding award that is enforceable through the national courts mostly everywhere around the world, it becomes the most popular dispute resolution for international enterprises. Arbitration has been in existence in Thai Laws for centuries, but its role has been minimal as litigation is the primary adjudicate method of the country. However, in the past twenty years, arbitration has been developing rapidly since Alternative Dispute …

One Salvadoran Mother Was Determined To Bring Her Son To The U.S. Legally— It Took 24 Years, Maggie Veatch

Capstones

Desperate for a better life, Daysi Perla fled violence in El Salvador to provide a better life for her ten-year-old son. She immediately received temporary legal status. But by the time the paperwork for her son was processed, he was 34 years old with a 5-year-old child of his own. This is a story of a broken immigration system, and shows why Salvadorans are now risking their children's lives by bringing them to the U.S.

Link: http://maggieveatch.com/Capstone/

Getting Out: Bruce Bryant’S Climb To Redemption Inside Prison, Rachel M. Rippetoe, Sean Sanders-Mills

Capstones

Bruce Bryant, 50, was convicted of the murder of 11-year-old Travis Lilley in June 1996. Bryant maintains he never fired a weapon that day in 1993. But he recognizes that his lifestyle as a young person — he started dealing drugs when he was 14 — contributed to an environment in which a stray bullet could take a young life. And for that reason, he’s spent most of his 25 years in prison working to help young people.

With at least 12 more years on his sentence, Bryant is now asking the governor for early release, with the hope that …

A New Breed Of Cop: Keeping Kids On The Straight And Narrow, Michael Tashji

Capstones

Policing kids in America today has changed—the ‘tough on crime’ days are over. Public scrutiny of police is at an all-time high, five years after the unrest in Ferguson. Officers Camacho, Charles and Romano serve the town of Bloomfield, New Jersey, and work specifically with kids in the community. They’ve adapted to these changes. But they’ve also banded together to support each other behind the thin blue line.

https://michaeltashji.com

Dangerous Drivers Still On City Streets Despite Thousands Of Speeding Tickets, Liam Quigley

Capstones

A months-long investigation of a vehicle in New York City with many speeding tickets led to a Nassau County address and a man who claims his employer paid all the tickets. It’s one of a limited number of cases where thousands of dollars in fines have proven ineffective at changing behavior and highlights a blind spot of the city’s Vision Zero initiative. This article explores a bill that lawmakers are hoping to use to get the worst drivers off the road and into a safety course.

Link: https://medium.com/@lquigley/dangerous-drivers-still-on-city-streets-despite-thousands-of-speeding-tickets-2cfda50883d7

Voter, Jefferson S. Arak

Capstones

Ron Pierce, on parole in New Jersey, fights for a state bill that would re-enfranchise himself and 100,000 other New Jerseyans with criminal convictions.

Taught at a young age that voting is a duty to one's community, Ron works tirelessly to make sure that the fundamental right to vote does not leave New Jersey's neediest without a voice.

Meanwhile, state lawmakers may need to compromise their efforts to restore the right to vote in the face of political opposition.

Crazy Rich Karachi — Where The Streets Are Paved With Gold, Murtaza Irfan Ali

MSJ Capstone Projects

Karachi happens to be Pakistan’s economic powerhouse but the irony is it never received its fair share of development. Which is why, to this day, I have no clue where to park, when I visit the southern district of the city. The random and sporadic parking has costed me with a hundred scratches and 2 pairs of side-view mirrors during the course of a year. So to find exactly where I could safely and “legally” park, I set out to find some answers.

Finding Justice, Hannah Miller

Capstones

Finding Justice tackles the devastation caused by wrongful conviction through the journey of Jeffrey Deskovic. After serving 16 years in prison for a murder he didn’t commit, Deskovic has strived to rebuild his life. The film follows him as he finishes law school and runs a foundation that frees the wrongfully convicted, all while dealing with lingering trauma.

Discipline Or Destiny: A School-To-Prison Pipeline Story, Trayonna Hendricks, Kourtney Webb

Capstones

The school-to-prison pipeline is a phenomenon by which students, mainly students of color, are pushed out of schools and into juvenile detention centers and through the criminal justice system. This documentary series explains and displays what "the school-to-prison pipeline looks like through a personal story.

https://readymag.com/u1985351703/1646028/

After 31 Years In Prison, Lee Chalk Asks For Forgiveness., Jeffery Harrell, Brenda Leon

Capstones

Lee Chalk has spent more than three decades in state prison, and is now applying for executive clemency to have his sentence ended early. He is guilty of a crime, being involved in an armed robbery turned deadly which killed two people. Our project explores the potential for transformation and rehabilitation inside prison, and the personal and political ramification of mass incarceration and extreme sentencing.

https://medium.com/p/738d1cb28532/edit

A shorter version of the capstone was also published with Gothamist here: https://gothamist.com/news/ny-prison-clemency-parole-cuomo

Clemency Gives A Renewed Sense Of Hope To A Man Incarcerated For 39 Years, Annie Todd, Stephanie Chukwuma

Capstones

Paul Clark has spent the past 39 years incarcerated in New York prisons. He was 19 when he first went inside because he murdered a 17-year-old at an East Flatbush summer block party. A few years later, 25 years was added to his sentence for a crime he says he never committed. He's asked Governor Andrew Cuomo for clemency in 2019.

https://medium.com/@annietodd203/clemency-gives-renewed-sense-of-hope-to-man-incarcerated-for-39-years-44a8ee58db2e

Ny State Marijuana Law Clears The Records Of Thousands, But Will It Help Immigrants?, Jaime Longoria, Harsha Nahata

Capstones

In July 2019, Governor Cuomo signed legislation that would clear criminal records for over 200,000 people with marijuana related convictions and reduce punishment for possession. But, there’s one group of New Yorkers who are left out — and that’s immigrants. With over 4 million immigrants in New York State, the lives of those with prior marijuana convictions are still in limbo. Harsha Nahata and Jaime Longoria spoke with immigrants and advocates to find out why. The full story can be found here: https://jaimelongoria.github.io/nys-marijuana-law/

Impact Of High Profile Police Use Of Force Incidents On Violent Crime Rates, Megan Galante

Honors Theses

This research study examined the relationship between high-profile police use of force incidents and local violent crime rates. It is important to analyze the impact that police use of force has on the respective community in regard to crime rates. This study analyzed three incidents of police use of force that have received extensive coverage in the media in order to determine if there was a change in the rates of violent crime in that city. The theory of de-policing suggests that in the aftermath of a high-profile incident of police brutality, police departments in the area change their behaviors …

Cryptocurrency Taxation: Suggested Revisions On Current Treatment, Joe Wilwerding

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

The current tax regulations applied to cryptocurrencies are inappropriate. The initial purpose of Bitcoin, the most popular cryptocurrency, was to circumvent the fraud associated with using credit and debit cards for e-commerce. Simply put, cryptocurrencies can be thought of as cash for the internet. The Internal Service Revenue acknowledged its use as a unit of account, store of value, and medium of exchange (the definition of a currency). Despite its function as a currency, and the IRS’s acknowledgement of this function, the new asset has been designated as property for tax purposes. Property transactions are generally taxed on realized gains. …

Roli I Adn –Së Në Hetimin E Krimit, Blinera Hyseni

Theses and Dissertations

Kriminaliteti është një dukuri mjaftë negative jo vetëm në vendin tonë por në tërë botën. Krimineli si person i cili kryen veprën penale është ai i cili shumë rrethana dhe shumë faktorë e sjellin deri tek ky vendim apo deri tek kjo vepër. Luftimi për ndalimin e kriminalitetit është një dukuri e cila duhet të jetë e pranishme në masë mjaftë të lartë. Krime kemi shumë në ditët e sotme por jo gjithnjë krimineli kapet në vendin e ngjarjës.

Hulumtimi shkencor “Roli i ADN-së në hetimin e krimit” trajton një llojllojshmëri problematikave dhe tregon se si bëhet zbardhja e një …

A Venue To Grow: Researching Professional Growth In The Collaborative Courts Of The Northern District Of California, Wyatt Lim-Tepper

Master's Projects and Capstones

This study examines the professional growth of collaborative court staff in the Northern District of California (NDCA). First, it sets forth a background that reviews the history of collaborative courts and details the development, purpose and structure, and current processes at the federal level. Second, the researcher describes the framework of the NDCA as an institution and further identifies the stakeholders who participate in the NDCA’s two collaborative courts: the Reentry Court and the Conviction Alternatives Program (CAP). Third, the study reviews the literature on professional growth in the legal field, education and academia, and public-health fields. Fourth, this paper …

Examining Racial & Ethnic Disparities In The Reach Of The Medicare Shared Savings Program, Lindsey Arneson

Capstone Experience

It is important to understand the quality of health care for racial and ethnic minorities covered under the largest U.S. government-run insurance program, Medicare, because the demographics of the U.S. are becoming older and more diverse. A new value-based program under Medicare is the Shared Savings Program (MSSP), which creates incentives to improve care quality and health outcomes for Medicare beneficiaries with a specific focus on increasing the provision of preventive care services. This capstone project aims to understand the representation of racial/ethnic minority Medicare beneficiaries, namely African Americans/Blacks and Hispanics/Latinxs, that receive care from providers or facilities (i.e., Accountable …

Refugee Resettlement In The U.S.: The Hidden Realities Of The U.S. Refugee Integration Process, Bienvenue Konsimbo

Master of Science in Conflict Management Final Projects

From the 1946 to the 1980 Act, more than two million refugees have resettled in the U.S. (Eby, Iverson, Smyers, & Kekic, 2011p.). This has made the U.S. the largest of the 10 resettlement countries (Xu, 2007, p. 38). The U.S. department of state (DOS)’ hope is to give “the refugee a leg up on their journey to self-sufficiency” (Darrow, 2015, p. 92). For these millions of refugees, their expectations are to find “employment, education, to provide a better environment for their children, and to integrate into the community” (Xu, 2007p.38).

However, this pre-package deal is not without repercussions or …

The G5 Sahel: An Insufficient Organization For A Failed Region?, Beder Dine El Khou

Graduate Program in International Studies Theses & Dissertations

In the wake of mass kidnapping and terrorist attacks launched by Boko Haram and other extremist groups in the Sahel of West Africa, along with the rise of the Islamic State in Libya that started to have immediate impact on the Sahel’s already problematic situation, five states from the region of Sahel decided to create a coalition in 2014 not only to fight insurgencies rampaging in the area but also to work on the development of the region. With a very small capacity in terms of man power and equipment, the G5 Sahel coalition attempts to achieve what other intervening …

Day Worker Center: Employer And Client Engagement, Anayeli Avalos

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

The Day Worker Center of Santa Cruz County is a component of the Community Action Board (CAB), a non-profit organization that has been providing services to eliminate poverty. CAB offers the program, administrative, and fiscal oversight to the Day Worker Center. The County of Santa Cruz is facing a high rate of unemployment, which is affecting the community. What contributes to the problem is low awareness of community knowledge about employment services. Also, the undocumented community that finds it hard to trust services because they think they can get deported. In addition, the issue can cause consequences such as health …

No Habla Español: Are Monolingual Teachers Getting The Support They Need?, Natalie Correa

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

For this Capstone Project, the researchers investigated how monolingual teachers view the support and resources they received to teach English Language Learners (ELL) and what they thought could be done to improve their teaching effectiveness. An evidence based argument is offered that monolingual teachers were not being provided with effective support and resources. More specifically, three themes emerged from an analysis of the data obtained from interviews of monolingual teachers and administrators. Based on the emergent themes, an action was undertaken to help monolingual teachers better address the needs of ELLs. This is an important issue for monolingual teachers because …

Ensuring Victims’ Rights And Inspiring Hope Through Community Collaboration, Evelyn Rodriguez Martinez

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Numerous crime victims who qualify for Victim Witness Assistance Program services through the San Benito County District Attorney's office are not accessing the resources. Research done to support this project revealed that countless crime victims did not utilize the services offered by the program during the time of their victimization. The project conducted was an outreach presentation, which included all the services provided by the Victim Witness Assistance Program, victims’ legal rights, and the qualifications for the California Victim Compensation Board. The outreach presentation was developed to increase awareness of victims’ rights and the Victim Witness Assistance Program to community …

Trauma On The Border: Immigrant Children In Detention Centers, Yosseline Pacheco

Capstone Projects and Master's Theses

Between the year 2018 through 2019, there has been a sixty-percent increase in unaccompanied children at the Southwest border where they are later transferred to the care of the Office of Refugee Resettlement (ORR). The dramatic increase in undocumented children are immigrants from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador (the Northern Triangle countries of Central America). (Cardosa, Brabeek, Stinchcomb, Heidbrink, Price, Fil.Garcia, Crea & Zayas pg 1,2). During those two years the Trump administration passed many harsh policies designed to decrease the flow of migration, yet it has only done the opposite with the new formations of caravans that are headed …

Presumptive Deference And The Role Of Expertise On Questions Of Law In Canadian Administrative Law, Cheryl Laura Bowman

LLM Theses

Administrators in Canada are presumptively accorded deference on questions of law. This deference is grounded largely in expertise, a pragmatic justification for deference. This thesis examines the relationship of expertise to other practical justifications for deference and to legislative intent. This thesis questions (i) whether assumptions about administrative expertise are grounded in administrative realities; (ii) whether deference to expertise has a meaningful nexus with legislative intent; and (iii) whether heavy reliance on expertise leaves meaningful room for judicial review on questions of law within reasonableness. I conclude that the doctrine of deference relies too heavily on presumptions about the expertise …

The Nigerian Niger Delta And The Invisible Hand Of Tremf: Exploring The (Im)Possibility Of Socio-Economic Justice Under The Un 'Ruggie' Guiding Principles, Ikenna Emmanuel Aniekwe

LLM Theses

The Nigerian Niger Delta region which is home to Nigeria’s large crude oil reserves, has grappled with many problems since the inception of crude oil explorations in the area over six decades ago. From environmental degradations to flagrant violation of human rights, the pitfalls of the exploration activities have hugely undermined the socio-economic wellbeing of the people and thereby causing them socio-economic injustice. This thesis tested how, and found that, the protracted socio-economic problems in the Niger Delta exemplifies Upendra Baxi’s germinal theory on the emergence (and now prevalence) of a trade-related and market-friendly (TREMF) paradigm that supplants human rights …

Narrowing The Gap Between Tax Law And Accounting, Humayun Rashid Chaudhary

PhD Dissertations

Accounting income and taxable income are both designed to capture the economic activities of an entity based on their own rules and assumptions. Despite all the differences in reporting objectives and measurement methods, accounting income forms the starting point for determining taxable income. This suggests that much of accountants use of consistency and matching principles flows through to the legal measure of taxable income. This thesis argues that the principles in some select areas of financial reporting can be sanctioned more explicitly and enacted into the Income Tax Act (ITA) in determining the taxable income of corporations. It also recommends …

If You Love Something, Set It Free? Open Content Copyright Licensing And Creative Cultural Expression, Giuseppe Roberto Tarantino

PhD Dissertations

This dissertation seeks an answer to the question of when open content copyright licences can be most productively used to facilitate the creation and dissemination of cultural expression. Conventional copyright licences emphasize control and the policing of infringing activity. By identifying the circumstances in which open, permissive, and simple-to-understand copyright licensing models can successfully be employed, this dissertation provides a heuristic that articulates when open content licensing can be used to help foster creativity, dialogic collaboration and iterative cultural expression. Using communicative copyright, an account inspired by the relational author approach of Carys Craig, as a theoretical framework, this dissertation …

Attracting Foreign Investments For Green Energy Projects In Sub-Saharan Africa: Climate Change Policy & Innovation In International Legal Compliance, Leslyn Ann Lewis

PhD Dissertations

Sub-Saharan Africa must confront the dual problem of development coupled with the complexities surrounding climate change. The regions stagnated growth has been historically attributed to many factors, but the predominant thought from an international law perspective is that if the region modernizes its legal and regulatory structures this will engender the confidence of foreign investors. With this acknowledgement came the demand on developing nations to modernize local legal and regulatory systems initially focusing on globally harmonized intellectual property rights and then more recently their energy regulatory infrastructures and processes to attract foreign investments. Several international organizations and institutions including the …