Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Still Awaiting Justice: An Analysis On The Impact Of Anti-Immigrant Sentiment On The Reproductive Autonomy Of Migrant Women, Annays Esperanza Yacaman

Senior Independent Study Theses

My research aims to explain the impact of anti-immigrant sentiment on the reproductive autonomy of migrant women. Legislators typically act as their constituents feel on a certain issue, so I aimed to explore how legislators responded with legislation when their constituents held higher levels of anti-immigrant sentiment, hypothesizing that this would lead to more legislation limiting the reproductive autonomy of migrant women. I explore topics of eugenics and how anti-immigrant sentiment has led to modern day eugenics.

My hypothesis did not manifest itself in the expected way, but the results do provide evidence for a causal link between legislation meant …

Evolving Standards Of Decency: The Intersection Of Death Penalty Theory And Supreme Court Jurisprudence, Rachel S. Sullivan

Senior Independent Study Theses

The American death penalty must be abolished in order to establish a more just system of punishment. This thesis examines the arguments of eight political theorists and their connections with five essential Supreme Court cases on capital punishment in order to determine the Court's theoretical view of the American death penalty. This theoretical view is that justices who affirm the constitutionality of capital punishment use philosophical theories, while justices who critique capital punishment rely upon context-dependent analyses. If the Court ever rules that capital punishment is unconstitutional in all circumstances, these latter theories will be dispositive.