Law Commons^™

The Cyber-Industrial Complex, Connor O’Malley

Political Science Theses and Capstones

When Edward Snowden released a massive trove of classified files from the National Security Agency, the world became aware of numerous global surveillance systems. As Snowden hoped, a global dialogue began concerning surveillance, privacy, and government transparency. While there was a lively discourse surrounding the leak and Snowden, another story was missed. Snowden was not an employee of the NSA; rather he was an employee of Booz Allen Hamilton, a private contractor maintaining computer systems for the NSA. The deeper story here is the emerging relationship between government agencies and technology companies. This paper discusses the theory of iron triangles …

Tax Expenditure Limitations (Tels) And State Expenditure Structure, Jeffrey M. Kulik

All Capstone Projects

Background: Tax Expenditure Limitations (TELs) are limits placed on either outlays of cash or creation of new revenues via tax levy by states. There have been many TEL initiatives since the so-called Taxpayer Revolt of the late 1970s.

Purpose: This paper analyzes the impact of TELs on different types of state expenditures. This study provides a comparative analysis of different types of TELs on the state level and aims to evaluate the effect of TEL policy on state expenditure structures.

Methods: Using panel data analysis, this work finds that states with more stringently binding tax and expenditure limitations-in addition to …

Examining The Feasibility Of Implementing A Deconstruction Nonprofit In East St. Louis, Il, David M. Hoag Jr.

All Capstone Projects

Background: According to an environmental justice case study by Kozol (2005), East St. Louis is considered the country's most distressed city. It has suffered from environmental and economic misfortunes for several decades. Many residents of the city have left due to the economic conditions of the city, which resulted in a loss of tax base. According to Hou (2010), the loss of tax base has had a severe impact on the community; the city that once had flourishing parks, streets, and businesses has now become blighted with condemned, abandoned, and foreclosed structures. Poor maintenance and neglect has led to decay …

Implementing Talking Circles In A Living Learning Community, Shaniqua Jones

All Capstone Projects

Restorative Justice is a collaborative decision-making process that has been integrated as an alternative approach to historic means of justice systems globally for thousands of years. Restorative justice began to impact higher education in 1998 in order to strengthen student ties to their respective colleges and universities by enriching student voices and experiences in various areas of academic and student life, including living learning communities. Talking Circles are one of many restorative practices used to facilitate effective dialogue among shareholders because it fosters a similarity of integration, motivation, and values. The purpose of this research is to determine if the …

A Borrowed Language, Yvonne Osei

Graduate School of Art Theses

Art has the potency of mediation: bridging human differences, questioning voids in historical trajectories, negotiating spaces of relevance, and most importantly, being signifiers that embody the absent. I speak in a borrowed language, a multilingual visual tongue, inspired by a culmination of Western and African Art modes of practices to create charged platforms for multicultural communication.

My art presents visual portals that allow for intercultural and interracial mingling as issues of colorism, present-day colonialism, gender inequality and the politics of dress are foregrounded for collective deliberation. The essence of the work is often activated and brought to its full potential …

A Model Of Segmenting A High-Cost Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design Initiative, Paul Adams

All Capstone Projects

This project aimed to create a working model worthy to include within Schneider, Walker, and Sprague's description of a five-stage process of parceling out high-cost Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) initiatives. In 2002, the Department of Education and Department of Justice sponsored Schneider as the lead author for introducing and promoting CPTED initiatives for the first time in schools. This project's funding mechanism was created to help assist with the procurement of a highly priced CPTED initiative (key-less card system) for Suburban College.

Suburban College had faced a reoccurring pattern of theft from its classrooms and common areas. The …

Race Representatives: Why Black Members Of Congress Matter, Shenika Mcdonald

Honors Theses

My research project consisted of examining 200 bills sponsored by six African American members of Congress during the Ninety-third Congress (1973-1975). These six members of Congress represented Chicago, Illinois; Detroit, Michigan; or New York, New York- three metropolitan cities with significant African American populations. This research emphasizes the importance of Black members of Congress to African Americans nationwide by highlighting the Congressional Black Caucus' formation and mission, examining the bills' key terms and public policy issues for racial implications, and consulting a variety of secondary source material that underscores the need for descriptive representation in the Black community. The primary …

Substantive Representation By The Unelected: The Role Of Staff Gender On Mayoral Priorities In U.S. Cities, Sara M. Hottman

Dissertations and Theses

The literature on descriptive and substantive representation focuses on elected representatives, but overlooks the gender of those who play an integral role in policy process (agenda-setting) and outcomes (implementation): The elected’s chief of staff, senior policy advisors, and, in council-manager systems, the city manager. This thesis examines the role policy staff and city manager gender plays in substantive representation. After analyzing staff composition and agenda priorities — gleaned from State of the City addresses — for mayors of the 50 most-populous cities in the United States, I found substantial evidence to support my hypotheses that the chief of staff’s gender, …

A Law For Rulers And People: David Davis, Ex Parte Milligan, And Constitutional Liberalism During The Civil War Era, John Lewis Moreland

Theses and Dissertations

This thesis examines the political life of Judge David Davis, his drafting of Ex parte Milligan, and the opinion’s impact on the partisanship and political instability of Reconstruction.

On The Poverty, Rise, And Demise Of International Criminal Law, Tiphaine Dickson

Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation in four essays critically examines the emergence of international criminal courts: their international political underpinnings, context, and the impact of their political production in relation to liberal legalism, liberal political theory, and history. The essays conceive of international criminal legal bodies both as political projects at their inception and as institutions that deny their own political provenance. The work is primarily one of political theory at the intersection of history, international relations, international criminal law, and the politics of memory. The first essay questions Nuremberg's legacy on the United States' exceptionalist view of international law and its deviant …

Unclaimed Money In Saudi Banks, Abdulrahman Almasnad

Maurer Theses and Dissertations

A law shall not violate its sources, especially if the sources are not subject to being overruled or ignored. However, one of the essential Islamic objectives is preserving the wealth “property.” This preservation requires protecting wealth from being acquired in illegitimate way, which will prevent the owners from controlling and enjoying their wealth. Islam protects true owners themselves from getting harmed or facing suffering caused by engaging in a transaction that involved their property. In making the law, Islamic scholars contend that any deliberate act that creates harm or makes someone suffer is “strictly prohibited” and must be rebuked. This …

The Search For Dark Matter Annihilation In Galaxy Clusters At Veritas, James V. Tucci

Open Access Dissertations

Recent data and cosmological models point to a significant fraction of the Universe being comprised of Cold Dark Matter (DM), though little is known about it directly as it does not interact electromagnetically. The most likely explanation for DM is a Weakly Interacting Massive Particle (WIMP) having a mass as low as ∼10 GeV to as high as ∼10 TeV. WIMPs are believed to be their own antiparticles and self-annihilate into a variety of lighter particles including γ-rays. Many direct detection, indirect detection, and direct production schemes have been proposed to search for the elusive WIMP. Galaxy clusters, consisting of …

The Rise And Fall Of The Patent Trolls: How They Lost The Public Relations Battle, Liz Weber

Journalism

Patent trolls gained notoriety in the early 2000s as many nine- and even 10-digit patent infringement settlements made headlines. Trolls claim they are helping inventors get the compensation they deserve for their inventions, while opponents claim trolls are parasites on successful businesses who want glittering pots of gold in exchange for doing absolutely nothing. As the debate continues and parties on both sides continue to call for patent reform, the question arises: what is best of the IP overall market? And how can patent trolls utilize communications best practices to ensure their message is convincingly conveyed to key influencers who …

Delusional Disorder: Treatment And The Restoration Of Adjudicative Competence, Martin Kassen

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Delusional disorder has long been recognized in the psychiatric nomenclature, however, low prevalence rates and prevailing clinical views about the seemingly refractory nature of delusional disorder have restricted data on clinical treatment outcomes for this illness. Similar perspectives have been noted in forensic settings where minimal data is available to guide standards of care for incompetent to stand trial (IST) delusional pretrial defendants. Rationale. While the factors explicated in Sell provide guidelines for the involuntary medication of defendants found IST, numerous questions are left unanswered regarding the restorability of pretrial delusional detainees. The proposed study investigated the competency restoration rates …

Richard A. Posner: A Study In Judicial Entrepreneurship, Sean J. Shannon

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

This dissertation analyzes the role of Richard Posner, one of the most prolific and innovative legal thinkers over the past forty years, as a judicial entrepreneur in his efforts to persuade the legal academy and judiciary to incorporate economic principles into the judicial decision making process in market and non-market areas of the law and legal discourse and thereby to re-examine the role of the judge. Though political scientists have explored the entrepreneurial activities of policy makers and political actors, they have given little attention to the role of judges as judicial entrepreneurs. This dissertation develops a comprehensive theoretical understanding …

The Effect Of Attitudes Towards The Death Penalty On Forensic Clinical Judgments Of Competency For Execution, Eugenia Garcia-Dubus

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Capital punishment has been a part of the American Justice System since colonial times. A brief historical overview reveals a general tendency towards the imposition of restrictions on who is eligible for the death penalty (DP). In a series of decisions, the Supreme Court has held that the execution of an incompetent inmate is unconstitutional, but the topic is controversial among mental health professionals. The likelihood of clinician attitudes towards the DP affecting judgments of competency for execution (CFE) is discussed in the context of existing literature. The vagueness of the current CFE standard is thought to contribute to this …

Through The Gateway: Marijuana Production, Governance, And The Drug War Détente, Michael Polson

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Since the 1996 voter approval of medical marijuana laws in California, marijuana policy has become increasingly liberalized. Producers, however, have remained in the greyest of grey market zones. Federal anti-drug laws and supply-side tactics have intensively targeted them even as marijuana has become more licit. In this legally unstable environment, marijuana patient-cultivators and underground producers have articulated and asserted themselves politically and economically, particularly as the likelihood of full legalization has increased. This dissertation explores how producers navigated the nebulous zone between underground and medical markets. I argue that even as producers supplied marijuana to a formalizing, regulated medical industry …

Cops In Court: Assessing The Criminal Prosecutions Of Police In Six Major Scandals In The New York City Police Department From 1894 To 1994, Kevin E. Mccarthy

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

From the 1890s to the 1990s, the police department in New York City experienced six major corruption scandals that occurred at approximately twenty-year intervals. These cyclical scandals all involved intense public attention, examination by an outside agency, and a comprehensive report calling for departmental reforms to address corruption issues. The scandals resulted in turnover of police commissioners and political fallout for sitting mayors. Police officers faced transfers, administrative sanctions, dismissals, and forced retirements. Some faced criminal prosecution.

This dissertation examines prosecutions of police in the context of the city’s changing social and political circumstances surrounding the scandals, while recognizing the …

Towards Collaboration Between Lawyers And Social Workers: A Content Analysis Of Joint Degree Programs, Ifem E. Orji

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Collaboration is a central issue in the interdisciplinary education of social work and law students. Joint JD/MSW degrees have the potential to promote collaboration between practitioners of law and social work in areas where their practices converge. The 1969 recommendations by the National Conference of Lawyers and Social Workers (NCLSW) to establish these joint degree programs assumed that collaborative learning would occur within them. However, prior research has not investigated whether or not this occurs. The purpose of this dissertation was to determine whether evidence of the intent to promote collaboration was present in written materials associated with joint degree …

When Insider Trading And Market Manipulation Cross Jurisdictions: What Are The Challenges For Securities Regulators And How Can They Best Preserve The Integrity Of Markets?, Janet Elizabeth Austin

PhD Dissertations

Over the last few decades world securities markets have become significantly more sophisticated in terms of how securities are traded as well as the variety of securities traded. My hypothesis is that the ability of securities regulators to take enforcement action against market abuse has not kept pace with the level of sophistication of the markets and, in particular, the way in which trading can take place across borders and the manner in which market related information can spread rapidly across the world. I argue that that regulators need to do more to protect the integrity of the markets by …

Enhancing Judicial Institutions: Enhancing Economic Development, Stephane Alia Haisley

Duke Law Master of Judicial Studies Theses

Since the 1980s, scholars and development banks have recognized the link between judicial institutions and economic growth. This thesis proposes to explore the role of judicial institutions in the performance of economies and questions whether enhancing judicial institutions can result in enhancing economic development in developing countries. Since the 1990s development banks have explored the role of judicial institutions in the quest for economic development. Both the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) have done this through the pursuit of judicial reform efforts in countries with ailing economies. The focus has been on improving the efficiency of the …

Beware Of Judging A Book Just By Its Cover: Are The German Rules Of Civil Procedure, In Their Practical Application, Really As Capable To Facilitate A Speedy And Fair Trial As One Might Think?, Julia Prahl

Duke Law Master of Judicial Studies Theses

No abstract provided.

Are We Insane? The Quest For Proportionality In The Discovery Rules Of The Federal Rules Of Civil Procedure, Paul W. Grimm

Duke Law Master of Judicial Studies Theses

No abstract provided.

What Judges Say And Do In Deciding National Security Cases: The Example Of The State Secrets Privilege, Anthony John Trenga

Duke Law Master of Judicial Studies Theses

From the criminal trial of Aaron Burr on charges of treason to modern-day litigation involving the CIA, the state secrets privilege presents a thorny issue for federal judges. Judge Trenga examines the legal issues at the heart of this privilege—separation of powers, non-justiciability, evidentiary privilege, national security interests, and military secrets—and the two primary doctrinal tracks judges invoke. Then, based on interviews with thirty-one federal judges, Judge Trenga offers insights into how judges think about applying the state secrets privilege to sensitive material.

Justified Outbreak: Bringing Together Law, Public Health, And Ethics During An Infectious Disease Emergency, Clark Colwell

LLM Theses

Infectious diseases have recently found renewed significance in Canadian scholarship, with a corresponding increased interest in Canada's overall preparedness, including legal preparedness, to combat infectious disease emergencies. Nearly every Canadian province has emergency legislation containing a "basket clause" - a provision which, for the duration of an emergency, authorizes a decision maker to take 'all necessary measures' to defeat it. Public health legal preparedness scholarship has not yet examined what criteria the decision maker must consider before deciding to deploy measures that could seriously impact the rights of individuals, including those under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. This …

Emergency Room Utilization Disparities Among Older Adults Treated By Rural Health Clinics, Matt Bagwell

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Examining the persistence of disparities over time is an important obligation in terms of rectifying, maintaining, and improving community health and social well-being for all. This study analyzed the individual factors of (a) race/ ethnicity and (b) dual eligibility, as a proxy measure of socioeconomic status, as well as the environmental factor of (c) place of residence, and the organizational factor of (d) Rural Health Clinic (RHC) type on emergency room (ER) utilization of older adult Medicare patients treated by RHCs within the Department of Health and Human Services' (DHHS) Region 4. A prospective, multi-level, longitudinal design was employed to …

A Future For A Forgotten Predator: Assessment Of The Global And Regional Legal Frameworks For Protection And Recovery Of The Caribbean Sawfishes Pristis Pristis And Pristis Pectinata And Recommendations For The Course Forward, Olga Koubrak

LLM Theses

Two species of sawfish, Pristis pristis and Pristis pectinata, used to be common in the coastal waters of the Caribbean Region. However, due to direct and incidental fishing pressures, national and international trade in body parts, and habitat loss, the populations of these ecologically and culturally significant species have drastically declined. This thesis identifies and reviews global and regional, binding and non-binding legal instruments in effect in the Caribbean Region that encourage states to protect biodiversity in general or address identified threats to sawfishes specifically. Despite the presence of obligations that call upon states to adopt sawfish conservation and habitat …

Political Culture And School Choice: The Influence Of Constitutions, Case Law And Public Officials In Louisiana And Virginia, Karen M. Hiltz

Graduate Dissertations and Theses

This dissertation focused on the State of Louisiana and the Commonwealth of Virginia, which provides a limited perspective on what directly and indirectly influences school choice programs. Louisiana is a state and has a legal system predicated on French or Napoleonic Law, and Virginia is a Commonwealth and has a legal system predicated on English or Common Law. In order to remedy or minimize constitutional conflicts related to an education system, U.S. political parties have relied on the judicial system and the developing of case law to provide direction that in turn provides fodder for future legislation and education policy. …

Principals' Perceptions Of The Effectiveness Of The Jrotc Program, Patty Jean Blake

Theses, Dissertations and Capstones

The purpose of this national study was to investigate the perceptions of public high school principals regarding the effectiveness of the Junior Reserve Officer Training Corps (JROTC) program. The study examined the perceived influence of the program regarding the social development of the cadet, the behavior of the cadet, and the overall school environment. Data for this study was collected through an anonymous online survey emailed to current principals in public high schools across the United States where JROTC is offered as a course selection. Of the 3,062 schools identified as the population, 491 usable surveys provided participant information for …

The Bill Of Lading In An Era Of Electronic Commerce: Legal Developments And The Reform Options For Nigeria, Kenneth Ugwuokpe

LLM Theses

One of the pervasive effects of the advancement in information and communication technology is a radical shift in the means of conducting business transactions. With the digitalization of the global economy, business transactions are increasingly conducted in an electronic medium. The bill of lading, as the most important ocean transport document, has, in response to the needs of the times, passed through many phases of development to its present electronic nature. The problem however, is adapting the challenges of electronic commerce to the old contractual legal order. For the bill of lading, the challenge is the replication of all its …