Law Commons^™

On The Intersections Of Childhood Maltreatment, Self-Control, And Behavioral Outcomes Across The Life-Course, Ameleigh Bippen

Honors Theses

Childhood abuse and neglect are highly deleterious experiences that a number of children continue to encounter. The purpose of the current discussion is to examine the impact of childhood abuse and neglect on the growth and development of self-control in early childhood. In service of this goal, several methods were employed, including a review of the historical and current research on the development of self-control. In addition to this, specific scientific theories and their advancements were analyzed to provide further insight into the connection between poor impulse regulation (and decision-making) and downstream linkages with criminal offending. Perhaps not surprisingly, evidence …

The Implementation Of An Authenticity Clause In Social Media Influencers' Contracts, Sarah Tonos

Honors Theses

In the age of social media influencers turning social media platforms into jobs– monetizing pictures of their cats, dancing for dollars, or even making a mockery of themselves for fame and money, the question of whom to trust or distrust has become increasingly important among consumers. As more brands are starting to collaborate with influencers, it is essential to acknowledge the current relationship among all parties involved, including the Federal Trade Commission. There is currently a blurred line among trust, distrust, authenticity, and reliability during sponsorships. The common question among consumers is whether social media influencers believe in the brand …

A Cleave Within The Piney Woods: Nacogdoches, Stephen F. Austin State University And How Racial Integration Divided The Town And Gown, Caitlin Hornback

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Stephen F. Austin State University was once the pride and joy of the city of Nacogdoches, Texas. When the Texas State Legislature began to look for a location for their new state normal school, the people of the East Texas town fought to have it built there and the Stephen F. Austin Teacher’s College opened its doors in September 1923 to a proud community. Through the trials and tribulations of early twentieth century events, the school managed to stay afloat and grow in numbers. Dr. Ralph W. Steen became the president of the college in 1958 and he oversaw a …

Lawyers That (Say They) Listen: An Exploratory Study Into Law Firms With Listening Specific Branding, Kacey Henriques

Honors Theses

The following investigation attempts to explore the communication dynamics between law firms and their clients. As shown in this research, clients tend to make note of poor communication skills, specifically listening skills, when they interact with attorneys. In an attempt to appeal to clients who have had negative interactions in respect to listening, several law firms across the country are utilizing branding that stresses their strengths in listening (what I term listening specific branding). In the investigation to come, three law firms are analyzed that utilize this type of branding. Additionally, three law firms that specialize in similar areas of …

The Construction And Defense Of Artistic Authorship In Contemporary Copyright Disputes, Sophie Bell

Theses and Dissertations

Through the lens of three contemporary copyright infringement cases, this thesis examines topics in the field of art law, each grounded in the recent history of art and its controversies, in order to illuminate the unique set of legal conditions shaping contemporary artmaking, sale, and exhibition in the United States.

The Dream Of The Common Good: Not A Nightmare, Jackson Gregory Dellinger

Honors Theses

This paper examines an emerging position in the philosophy of law, common-good constitutionalism. In the first two parts of the paper, I explain the position and constitutionalism more generally, examining how common-good constitutionalism fits within the definition of constitutionalism providing by a neutral scholar. In the next five parts, I attempt to show that common-good constitutionalism’s preference for explicit adherence to the common good does not violate constitutionalism. In doing so, I provide an examination of common-good constitutionalism’s relationship with three important constitutional principles and the separability of common-good constitutionalism as a whole and the infamous views of its most …

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 …

Education, Income, Racial Composition, And Urbanization: An Examination Of Factors That Affect Intervention Court Participation And Drug-Related Arrests In Mississippi, Will Hengehold

Honors Theses

This paper serves as an evaluation of Mississippi Intervention Courts and attempts to determine the effectiveness and use of those courts. The regressions in this paper attempt to show how the use of intervention courts and demographic characteristics of Mississippi District Circuit Courts affect the number of drug-related arrests in Mississippi, how the number of drug-related arrests and demographic characteristics of Mississippi district circuit courts areas affects intervention court use and intervention court participation rates in Mississippi, and how demographic characteristics affected the delay in the adoption of intervention courts by Mississippi District Circuit Courts. Demographic characteristic variables used include …

Blue Water Navy, Hannah Melinda Woods

Veterans Studies Undergraduate Capstones

For years, Veterans who served on ships during the Vietnam war have been denied access to Agent Orange Veterans Affairs benefits. These group of veterans are called the Blue Water Navy. This paper explores the background of this issue, legislation coming about this issue, and the against sides of this issue.

Diagnostic Featural Detection Or Filler Siphoning: A Red Box Study, Brynn Schuetter

Psychological Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

The current study is a replication and extension of previous research by Colloff and Wixted (2020). In their study, they created a novel identification procedure called the simultaneous showup. They found support for the diagnostic feature detection theory over the filler siphoning theory. The current study was interested in seeing if covert filler siphoning was still occurring in their novel procedure by asking participants how photos of fillers influenced their identification decision. Participants of the study viewed two crime videos and completed an identification task. If they were assigned to the simultaneous showup task, they were asked if and how …

The Skin, The Law, And Women In The United States From The 1600s To The 1960s, Hannah Knight

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

For a country that has been built on the legacy of freedom and the idea of individual rights, the United States has a history of legalizing oppressive policies and denying rights and freedom based on the color of one’s skin. As scholars take on the issue of Colorism within the American society, this thesis works to examine the origins of white supremacy and its legalization through the institutions of American enslavement and the era of Jim Crow. First examining the portrayal of those of African descent and its connection to white supremacy during the period of enslavement, this thesis relies …

Local Public Health Legal Landscape Report, Christina Hitz

Capstone Experience: Master of Public Health

This report provides a framework for understanding and examining local public health authority and implications of proposed legislative changes, specifically whether a shift is occurring in public health authority from the executive to the legislative branch. It compares the public health governance and legal infrastructure of states making a shift in 2021 relative to Nebraska’s current and proposed public health infrastructure and provides a synopsis of the legal context for and the scope of local public health authority currently in Nebraska. Three resources were used to create two tables to compare both states with legislative changes in 2021 indicating a …

Theranos: Case Study And Examination Of The Fraud Triangle, Abbey Jennings

Finance Undergraduate Honors Theses

Fraud is a serious issue which carries significant implications. Fraud committed by top level managers is particularly grievous, as it ripples through a firm, harming the company’s shareholders, employees, and credibility, while posing a threat to individuals and society (Zahra, et al.). A common framework in auditing, the fraud triangle, outlines three factors that if present, increase the risk or enable fraud to occur. The three factors are incentive, opportunity, and rationalization to commit fraud (Barlow).

In 2018, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) charged Elizabeth Holmes, founder and CEO of a supposedly groundbreaking health tech company, Theranos, with what …

Islamic Bioethics: National Regulations And Guidelines Of Human Stem Cell Research In The Muslim World, Azza Mahmoud

International Studies (MA) Theses

The utilization of human stem cells emerged recently in the Muslim world as one of the essential valuable areas of medicine for their vital role in developing regenerative medicine and treating chronic and incurable diseases. Existing studies indicate that most human stem cell researchers rely on varying schools of thought in Islamic law or on an individual base to define legitimate practices. From a policy perspective, the different Islamic religious decrees do not constitute a unified legal framework to promote essential international collaborations. The existing literature exhibits a limitation in comprehensive studies on human stem cell research (HSCR) in the …

The "Law To Use The Mark The Delpaís," Act 195-2016: Case Study Of A Puerto Rican Certification Mark With Potential Of Becoming A Geographic Indication For Economic Development, Paola Gabriela Zaragoza Cardenales

Maurer Theses and Dissertations

In 2016, the Puerto Rican Congress codified the “Law for the use of the DelPaís Mark” (the DelPaís Law), creating a composite certification mark called Productos DelPaís de Puerto Rico (the DelPaís Mark) for raw fruits, milk, honey, meats, egg, fish, ornamental plants, spices, vegetables, starches, and value-added products. The Puerto Rican Department of Agriculture intended the DelPaís Mark to function as a certification mark and Geographical Indication (GI) to differentiate local from imported products to promote purchasing of locally produced items and eventually export internationally. A GI is a source identifier identifying that a place makes a particular product …

An Iterative Theory Of The Legislative Process : A Case Study Of The New York State Commission On Prosecutorial Conduct, Kimberly M. Bernstein

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Prosecutors wield the power of the criminal justice system (Medwed, 2014) and the ability to deprive a person of their constitutional rights (Imbler v. Pachtman, 1976). With such power, it is unsurprising that a leading cause of miscarriages of justice is prosecutorial misconduct (e.g., Joy, 2006; Ridolfi & Possley, 2010). New York State became the first state in the country to respond to this issue with a specialized Commission on Prosecutorial Conduct (CPC). The goal of the CPC is to serve as an official mechanism for holding District Attorneys and Assistant District Attorneys accountable by challenging convictions and handing down …

The Dark Figure Of Wrongful Convictions : How Intake Decisions Impact Exonerations, Jennifer Weintraub

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

Innocence organizations contributed to 45% of exonerations in the year 2020, and account for nearly 25% of all U.S. exonerations. Yet little is known about these organizations, including a review of their intake criteria and procedures, how they select their intake criteria and procedures, or how those choices influence the landscape of known wrongful convictions. The contents of these intake decisions as well as how they are chosen have implications for what is currently known about wrongful convictions nation-wide. In this study, 19 innocence organizations represented by 24 innocence organization staff and leaders completed qualitative interviews to address this gap …

The Albany Answers Plant Incinerator : Environmental Justice And Slow Violence At The New York State Capital, Matthew D. Saddlemire

Legacy Theses & Dissertations (2009 - 2024)

The ANSWERS plant and its impact on the residents of Sheridan Hollow has recently been accepted by many as a case of environmental injustice. Simply looking at the benefits and burdens of environmental processes shows clearly that the primarily black community faced most of the health burdens that came from waste in the capital region, while white residential areas who sent their trash to ANSWERS faced minimal risk. The state benefitted from energy production, which was used to heat and cool the Empire State Plaza, the Alfred E. Smith State Office Building, the state Education Building and New York State …

Ideological Preferences Of Supreme Court Justices: The Shift Throughout Tenure, Amelia Ver Woert

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

For this thesis, I will analyze the tenure of five Supreme Court justices across the decades, ranging from the year 1940 up to the present year of 2022. The analysis will examine the variation between the justices' decisions at the beginning of their term compared to the decisions near the end of their term. The purpose of this study is to properly distinguish whether Supreme Court justices who have served on the bench for more than a decade are impacted by ideological drift and preference shifts throughout their career. The importance of this analysis is to determine the impact of …

Historical Underpinnings And Consequent Effects Of Labor Exploitation Of Mexican And Central Americans In The United States, Andrew Elkins

World Languages, Literatures and Cultures Undergraduate Honors Theses

The experience immigrants have today working and living in the southern United States is defined by systems that have developed out of lingering racist attitudes and reactions toward these individuals. The flow of people across the U.S.-Mexico border has a long history, and it is characterized by patterns that have continued from early guest worker programs to the present-day flow of migrants, both legal and undocumented. Also continually present is the racialization of these migrants, which has often forced them to work and live as marginalized members of American society. This project will explore the establishment of Mexican American citizen …

Linguistic And Cultural Training For Immigration Attorneys Representing Undocumented Oaxacan Immigrants In The United States., Alexis Faith Ecarma

College of Arts & Sciences Senior Theses

The roles of second language acquisition and cultural competence in the training of attorneys have been explored by legal scholars and law professors. Some suggest that such training ought to be administered to law students as a component of their law school curricula. Others argue that, in an increasingly globalized legal field, “experiential learning” is essential for developing linguistically-proficient and culturally-competent lawyers. Despite the growing presence of undocumented Oaxacan immigrants in the U.S., scholars have yet to investigate the linguistic and cultural training of U.S. immigration attorneys who represent these immigrants in legal contexts. The following research fills this gap …

Tribal Identity And The Rise Of The American Indian/Alaskan Native Population, Angel M. Stevens

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Today, most tribal nations in the United States identify by federal recognition, yet on the American Community Survey, American Indian/Alaskan Native respondents can self-identify as a member of a specific tribal nation. Most researchers argues that this tribal identification fortifies the reflection of the American Indian/Alaskan Native identity. There are 574 federally recognized tribes in the United States today. Between 2000-2020, the US Census Bureau and the American Community Survey noted a significant surge in the American Indian/Alaskan Native population. This population growth went from a mere 2 million to almost 10 million in a 20-year time span. In this …

Factors Influencing The Credibility And Believability Of Victims Of Sexual Assault, Stephanie Carlson

Political Science Theses and Capstones

The purpose of this research is to answer the question of which factors that influence the believability of a woman who comes forward to disclose a sexual assault are the most impactful. My methodology consisted of conducting interviews with attorneys who have participated in both the defense and prosecution of criminal sexual conduct cases to evaluate whether the trends revealed in the literature on a macro scale apply to the micro-scale in northern Minnesota. Findings showed that the majority of patterns revealed in the literature did in fact influence the credibility of victims of sexual assault in Beltrami County, Minnesota …

Do Voter Id Requirements Impact Voter Turnout In Minnesota And Wisconsin?, Jacob Berg

Political Science Theses and Capstones

After the 2020 General Election there was wide disagreement over the process of how elections are administrated specifically related to voter ID laws. Prior research that attempts to answer the question has mixed results and there has been controversy over how to approach the research. The use of demographic data from the American Community Survey, turnout data from the Minnesota Secretary of State office, and the Wisconsin Election Commission. I made use of different statistical tests to evaluate if there was a connection between voter ID and voter turnout. Preliminary results are mixed for the relation between voter ID and …

Analyzation Of Audit Procedures In The Wake Of The Early 2000s Accounting Scandals, Zachary Byar

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Enron, WorldCom, and Tyco International were companies that operated in different industries and had different levels of net profit for decades. However, these companies had one pivotal thing in common: accounting fraud. In the early 2000s, accounting scandals from large companies created a major impact on the financial markets, causing Congress to take action to increase investor protection through the origination of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The Act was meant to restore investor confidence through strengthened disclosures and auditing requirements for public corporations. However, even with the creation of this new Act from Congress, fraud is still prevalent today, …

Redressing The Past To Repair The Present: The Role Of Property Law In Creating And Exacerbating Racial Disparities In Wealth And Poverty In Nova Scotia, Melissa Marsman

LLM Theses

For over 200 years African Nova Scotians have been fighting to confirm legal title to the land on which their ancestors were settled. In 2020, the Nova Scotia Supreme Court remarked “the lack of clear title and the segregated nature of their land triggered a cycle of poverty for black families that persisted for generations.” Nova Scotia has a long history of obscure land titles; however, the ensuing cycle of poverty appears to have disproportionately impacted African Nova Scotians. This thesis reframes the African Nova Scotian land titles discourse into a broader understanding about systemic anti-Black racism and White supremacist …

Patents And Plants: Rethinking The Role Of International Law In Relation To The Appropriation Of Traditional Knowledge Of The Uses Of Plants (Tkup), Ikechi Mgbeoji

PhD Dissertations

Legal control and ownership of plants and traditional knowledge of the uses of plants (TKUP) is often a vexed issue, particularly at the international level because of the conflicting interests of states or groups of states in the matter. The most widely used form of juridical control of plants and TKUP is the patent system which originated in Europe. This thesis rethinks the role of international law and legal concepts, the major patent systems of the world and international agricultural research institutions as they affect legal ownership and control of plants and TKUP. The analysis is cast in various contexts …

Other Transaction Authorities: Evaluating Innovation Policy Impact Of Alternative Contract Vehicles In The Department Of Defense, Dolores Kuchina-Musina

School of Public Service Theses & Dissertations

Since 1958, government agencies have used Other Transactions (OT) to encourage innovation and the development of new technology. OTs' purpose is to help government agencies acquire leading-edge technology from private sector sources in a flexible, goal-oriented manner. This dissertation is a pilot study assessing whether innovation policies, specifically 10 USC 2371b (Pub. L. No. 114-92, 2015) that authorizes DoD prototype OTs, influence the Department of Defense (DoD) alternative contracting activities to promote the development of innovative technologies and products. Using existing literature and interrupted time series analysis, this dissertation examines publicly available contract data to answer the following research question: …

Inter-Agency Collaborations Among Mental Health And Law Enforcement Professionals In San Bernardino County During Covid-19: A Qualitative Study, Sonya Mcisaac

Electronic Theses, Projects, and Dissertations

As first responders, law enforcement officers and mental health professionals are constantly sought after regarding the delivery of critical services to people in need. However, the COVID-19 pandemic brought almost everything to a halt. It is therefore important to understand how social services were delivered during the crisis. It has been assumed in the literature that interprofessional collaboration is an important service delivery framework. However, because COVID-19 is a relatively recent public health phenomenon, relevant studies on interprofessional collaboration between law enforcement officers and mental health professionals are scant, if not non-existent. This qualitative study addresses this gap by exploring …

Public Policy, Economic Development, And Taxes: An Impact Analysis Of Business Incentive Strategies At The State And Local Level, Richard Nanney

All Dissertations

In an effort to promote economic development, state-level policymakers have exercised discretion over the use of public money to incentivize subsidy packages for decades. Estimates suggest state governments spend approximately $50 billion annually on these initiatives. However, there has been little empirical research about the political and economic benefits received by local residents from these subsidy programs. This dissertation analyzes the effectiveness of state subsidy policy by considering induced economic spillover effects and population attrition rates. It examines how subsidy distribution is related to employment rates, average weekly wages, and population attrition. The project offers two methodological innovations. First, to …