Social and Behavioral Sciences Commons^™

Judges' Misuse Of Contempt In Criminal Cases And Limits Of Advocacy, Peter A. Joy

Scholarship@WashULaw

This article examines the conduct of Judge Julius Hoffman and the defense lawyers, William Kunztler and Leonard Weinglas, in the Chicago Eight Trial. The article presents lessons from the Chicago Eight Trial about the limits of a judge's contempt authority against defense lawyers in criminal matters, and how far a defense lawyer may go in advocating for a client without being liable for contempt of court.

A Study Of The Relationship Between Law School Coursework And Bar Exam Outcomes, Robert R. Kuehn

Scholarship@WashULaw

The recent decline in bar exam passage rates has triggered speculation that the decline is being driven by law students taking more experiential courses and fewer bar-subject courses. These concerns arose in the absence of any empirical study linking certain coursework to bar exam failure.

This article addresses speculation about the relationship between law school coursework and bar exam outcomes. It reports the results of a large-scale study of the courses of over 3800 graduates from two law schools and the relationship between their experiential and bar-subject coursework and bar exam outcomes over a ten-year period. At both schools, the …

Corporate Stewardship, Danielle D'Onfro

Scholarship@WashULaw

Harnessing strategies both ancient and modern — hostages, surety, gatekeepers, and blame — this Article proposes a new tool for achieving more efficient corporate compliance. It begins with the premise that a handful of well-known factors, including agency costs, misaligned time-horizons, cognitive biases, and insufficiently deterrent legal regimes sometimes cause companies to ignore important public safety obligations even when those obligations are cost-effective and welfare-maximizing. The result is systemic undercompliance with certain regulatory obligations. Despite the seriousness of this problem, currently available options for motivating compliance mostly fail to make public-safety regulations sufficiently salient to the individuals who perform the …

Immigrant Sanctuary As The 'Old Normal': A Brief History Of Police Federalism, Trevor George Gardner

Scholarship@WashULaw

Three successive presidential administrations have opposed immigrant sanctuary policy, at various intervals characterizing state and local government restrictions on police participation in federal immigration enforcement as reckless, aberrant, and unpatriotic. This Article finds these claims to be ahistorical in light of the long and singular history of a field this Article identifies as “police federalism.” For nearly all of U.S. history, Americans within and outside of the political and juridical fields flatly rejected federal policies that would make state and local police subordinate to the federal executive. Drawing from Bourdieusian social theory, this Article conceptualizes the sentiment driving this longstanding …

Right At Home: Modeling Sub-Federal Resistance As Criminal Justice Reform, Trevor George Gardner

Scholarship@WashULaw

Over the past two decades, state and local governments have crippled the federal war on marijuana as well as a series of federal initiatives designed to enforce federal immigration law through city and county police departments. This Article characterizes these and similar events as sub-federal government resistance in service of criminal justice reform. In keeping with recent sub-federal criminal reform movements, it prescribes a process model of reform consisting of four stages: enforcement abstinence, enforcement nullification, mimicry, and enforcement abolition. The state and local governments that pass through each of these stages can frustrate the enforcement of federal criminal law …

Hate Crimes And Discrimination Against Jews: The Anti-Semitism Phenomenon In The 21st Century, Jon Zemke

Theses and Dissertations

Hate Crimes and Discrimination against Jews: The Anti-Semitism Phenomenon in the 21st Century. Jonathon Zemke, 2018: Applied Dissertation, Nova Southeastern University, Abraham S. Fischler College of Education. The purpose of this study is to compare the perceptions and opinions of Jewish and non-Jewish adult in Virginia Beach, Virginia regarding Jewish hate crimes, discrimination, the safety of the Jewish population, and general beliefs about the Jewish faith. The study set out to provide an evaluation of opinions regarding hate crimes, discrimination, personal safety, and anti-Semitic propensities among the Jewish population (n=77, 45.29%) compared to the non-Jewish respondents (n=93, 54.71%) examined in …

A Multiple Case-Study Approach To Examine Police Officers Perceptions On Narcan® Policies, Casey Gnann

Theses and Dissertations

In October 2017, President Trump officially declared the opioid epidemic to be a public health emergency. Reports from the CDC indicate that over 140 Americans die per day as a result of an opioid overdose (NPR, 2017). This statistic alone highlights the tragic effects of the current opioid climate. To date, an abundance of research has been conducted on opioid addicts, family members, doctors approach to addiction, etc. However, there is a gap in the research regarding law enforcement officers and their ever-changing role in the fight against opioids. As the opioid epidemic has continued to worsen, many law enforcement …

The State Of The Death Penalty, Ankur Desai, Brandon L. Garrett

Faculty Scholarship

The death penalty is in decline in America and most death penalty states do not regularly impose death sentences. In 2016 and 2017, states reached modern lows in imposed death sentences, with just thirty-one defendants sentenced to death in 2016 and thirty-nine in 2017, as compared with over three hundred per year in the 1990s. In 2016, only thirteen states imposed death sentences, and in 2017, fourteen did so, although thirty-one states retain the death penalty. What explains this remarkable and quite unexpected trend? In this Article, we present new analysis of state-level legislative changes that might have been expected …

Federal Criminal Risk Assessment, Brandon L. Garrett

Faculty Scholarship

Risk assessments are a common feature of federal decisionmaking, including across a range of administrative agencies. However, in federal criminal law, risk assessments have been only haltingly adopted. Decisions regarding bail, sentences, and prison programming have largely been made based on official discretion. Risk assessment instruments are currently used in federal courts pretrial and postconviction, and in federal prisons regarding security levels and reentry, with highly uneven results to date. The adoption of the First Step Act, which has the ambition to transform the federal prison system through the use of risk instruments, has the potential to introduce a more …

Technologically Distorted Conceptions Of Punishment, Jessica M. Eaglin

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Much recent work in academic literature and policy discussions suggests that the proliferation of actuarial — meaning statistical — assessments of a defendant’s recidivism risk in state sentencing structures is problematic. Yet scholars and policymakers focus on changes in technology over time while ignoring the effects of these tools on society. This Article shifts the focus away from technology to society in order to reframe debates. It asserts that sentencing technologies subtly change key social concepts that shape punishment and society. These same conceptual transformations preserve problematic features of the sociohistorical phenomenon of mass incarceration. By connecting technological interventions and …

“I’M The Greatest”: Pride, Impression Management, And Denial Of Coercive Control And Physical Abuse By Perpetrators Of Intimate Partner Violence, Benjamin Reissman, Kendra Doychak M.A., Angela Crossman Ph.D., Chitra Raghavan Ph.D.

Student Theses

Coercive control and physical abuse are two prominent forms of intimate partner violence (IPV), often accompanied by with impression management to conceal such behavior. However, intrinsic motives for engaging in impression management by male IPV offenders are not well-known. The present study makes use of archival data from 85 heterosexual men in a batterer treatment program to gauge how pride, shame, and guilt may relate to impression management and reported IPV. Admission to shame and guilt appear to be correlated with and predictive of both forms of reported abuse, along with the absence of impression management. This implies that internalized …

The Impact Of Gangs On Community Life In Trinidad, Ericka Adams, Patrice Morris, Edward Maguire

Faculty Publications

Trinidad and Tobago has more than 100 criminal gangs, some of which engage in high levels of homicide and violence. Recent research has shown that gang members in Trinidad and Tobago are more likely than nongang members to be arrested for violent, property, and drug crimes. As gangs continue to proliferate throughout the Caribbean, there is a pressing need to understand the nature of these gangs and their impact on the communities in which they are entrenched. Using data from interviews with community members, police officials, and gang members, as well as ethnographic observations from 10 high crime, predominantly Black …

Terrorism In The Middle East: Implications On Egyptian Travel And Tourism, Tamer Z.F Mohamed, Tamer S. Elseyoufi

International Journal of Religious Tourism and Pilgrimage

This paper attempts to shed the light on challenging issues affecting travel and tourism industry especially in the Middle East such as political, socio-economic and security instability. Due to its geopolitical and historical importance, the paper focuses on the situation in Egypt as a descriptive case study. The methodology relies on historical review and impact assessment to understand the roots and extended branches of instability in the Middle East that led to the Arab Spring, by focusing on the Egyptian case in the last half century. The assessment explains the negative effect of Western and Egyptian policy on extending the …

Optimizing A Method For Dna Recovery While Preserving Latent Prints On Paper, Niti Dalal

Student Theses

Paper evidence is commonly encountered in cases of kidnapping, threatening letters, extortion, and bank robbery, and the optimal workflow between latent print processing and DNA collection is of interest to the forensic community. The overall aim of this project was to achieve optimal amounts of DNA for typing without destroying the fingerprint. The first study compared two collection techniques—tape-lifting by Scotch Removable Poster Tape and dry swabbing with FLOQSwabs— using prints deposited in defined locations. Samples were processed for DNA and developed with 1,2-indanedione. The second aim was to determine if visualizing print locations with fingerprint powder prior to DNA …

A Qualitative Case Study On The Domestic Violence Act, 2007 (732) And The Convention On The Elimination Of All Forms Of Discrimination Against Women, Victoria Hernandez

Master's Theses

On July 17, 1980, Ghana became a signatory to CEDAW (Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women) under the United Nations in order to combat all forms of violence, discrimination and human rights violations that harm the security, freedom, privacy, and dignity of every woman. The Domestic Violence Act (732) stemmed from CEDAW in order to add on more layers of legal protection for victims of domestic violence and to penalize all acts according the bill’s definition and the different forms of domestic violence. Although there are stricter laws to punish any acts of violence inflicted …

Organizational Deviance: The Case Of The Baltimore City Detention Center, Jaz Vallin

Augsburg Honors Review

This paper analyzes the causes that led to the federal indictment of thirteen female guards, and eventual conviction of forty guards and inmates, at the Baltimore City Detention Center in 2013. The analysis is based on information presented in extensive newspaper coverage during and after the discovery of the events and the behavior at the jail. While popular opinion in the press blamed the guards’ gender or their personal morals for their actions, the incident can best be explained through the use of organizational heuristic tools. Application of Diane Vaughan’s matrix of routine nonconformity reveals that the guards’ actions involved …

Prosecutorial Misconduct: Typologies And Need For Policy Reform, Rylee Broyles, Tamara J. Lynn

Academic Leadership Journal in Student Research

A gross manifestation of injustice within the criminal justice system, warranting policy development to correct, is the issue of prosecutorial misconduct. There are numerous reasons why misconduct occurs and oftentimes overlooked within the courts. Action must be taken to both prevent and rectify such wrongdoings committed by those whom are presumed to be the most virtuous of our justice system. Future policy action is paramount to the constitutionality of criminal proceedings and the abatement of prosecutorial misconduct in every capacity. The implementation of austere policies would positively impact all criminal defendants whom cross the threshold of a courthouse.

Sex Offender Perceptions: Investigating Social Supports As Buffers To The Consequences Of Megan's Law, Melissa D. Colson

Theses and Dissertations

The purpose of this study was to identify supports and whether supports perceived as helpful lessen negative experiences with job difficulty, housing difficulty, vigilantism, and isolation. Additionally, registrants' perceptions of hopelessness and sex offender registration and community notification laws (SORN) as a public safety measure were examined to determine whether more helpful supports positively impacted their attitudes. Another aspect of this study explored differences with males and females since females have rarely been examined. Narratives were compiled to further describe offender experiences and perceptions. This study used a survey to collect data on sex offenders, including offender demographics and victim …

Informal Rulemaking And Democratic Participation Fda – Food Labeling, Fcc – Net Neutrality, A Text Mining Study, Casey Shannon

Public Administration Master’s Projects

The Administrative Procedure Act (APA) is supposed to make the rulemaking process at the administrative level democratic. This study will look at two examples of federal regulatory agencies – Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The topics are food labeling, and net neutrality respectively. The APA highlights the process of notice and comment rulemaking. The APA is evaluated in the literature review for effectiveness and shortcomings. Interest groups play a key role in the policy making process; interest groups inform and mobilize citizens, and then coordinate commenting on agency rule propositions. This can sometimes lead …

Furthering Understanding Of Forensic Units: A Detailed Examination Of Knoxville Police Department's Crime Scene Unit., Cassandra Christina Rausch

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Throughout the past three decades, the criminal justice system has decidedly employed new technologies for the purposes of establishing guilt or innocence. Forensic science, with its synthesis of scientific methodology and investigative considerations of law enforcement, ushered in the development of DNA profiling and forever changed the process of crime scene investigation.This shift in focus also led to a shift in the individuals involved in investigation, producing the widespread formation of stand-alone crime scene units. Utilizing both civilian and sworn employees of a law enforcement agency, these units became responsible for the documentation, collection, and preservation of evidence that would …

Race, Social Class, And Child Abuse: Content And Strength Of Medical Professionals’ Stereotypes, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Kimberly M. Bernstein

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Black and poor children are overrepresented at every stage of the child welfare system, from suspicion of abuse to substantiation. Focusing on stereotypes as a source of bias that leads to these disparities, the current study examines the content and strength of stereotypes relating race and social class to child abuse as viewed by medical professionals. Doctors, nurses, and other medical professionals (Study 1: N = 53; Study 2: N = 40) were recruited in local hospitals and online through snowball sampling. Study 1 identified stereotype content by asking participants to list words associated with the stereotype that …

Motivators Of Prostitution Desistance, Shawn Nicole Guy

Criminology & Criminal Justice Theses - Archive

The intent of this thesis was to determine the factors that lead to desistance from street prostitution in the form of motivators and how to shape recommendations to courts, social services, and policy-makers based off of identified themes. Additionally, various theories are discussed, supporting the presence of identified motivators and themes, that could be used by interventionsists as guiding principles when working on strategies for prostitution desistance modifications. Without isolating and stratifying motivators and themes, prostitutes who desire to desist may not receive appropiate treatments and interventions and may continue to recidivate with prostitution-related criminal charges. Statements obtained through qualitative …

"I Wanted Them To Be Punished Or At Least Ask Us For Forgiveness”: Justice Interests Of Female Victim-Survivors Of Conflict-Related Sexual Violence And Their Experiences With Gacaca, Judith Rafferty

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

Survivors of human rights abuses need to experience a sense of justice to support their individual recovery. Women who have experienced conflict-related sexual violence have specific justice interests that are distinct from those of survivors of other abuses. This article focuses on justice interests of Rwandan women who experienced sexual violence during the genocide in Rwanda and who had their cases tried in gacaca community courts between 2008 and 2012. The article discusses two justice interests that emerged during interviews with 23 Rwandan women about their gacaca experience. These interests include the punishment of perpetrators and perpetrators taking responsibility for …

Vocational And Life Skills Monthly Data Update: December 2018, Uno Nebraska Center For Justice Research, Katelynn Towne, Michael Campagna

Reports

Grantees use an online data management system to submit data on participants served under their Vocational and Life Skills programming. This data is due monthly and reflects all services provided during the previous month to participants. Evaluators at the Nebraska Center for Justice Research work with grantees directly to manage data entry errors on an ongoing basis during monthly update calls and regular site visits.

The current data derives from an active database, with live data being entered and updated daily. Data values, including previously submitted information, may fluctuate depending on changes made from data entry oversight. One common example …

The Impact Of Black Lives Matter Movement Publicity On Juror Decision Making, Emily R. Nerness

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

Others have investigated separately whether general pretrial publicity (PTP) or racial salience have an impact on juror decision making, but no one has explored a potential connection between the two. With information about the Black lives matter (BLM) movement recurring in the media, the question arises of whether news about the BLM movement can increase racial salience, thereby influencing juror decision making. The present research addressed whether 1) exposing participants to pro-BLM or negative-BLM news articles would influence verdicts and guilt ratings when compared to a control group, 2) whether this PTP effect would be different for Black versus White …

The Theory And Practice Of Contestatory Federalism, James A. Gardner

Journal Articles

Madisonian theory holds that a federal division of power is necessary to the protection of liberty, but that federalism is a naturally unstable form of government organization that is in constant danger of collapsing into either unitarism or fragmentation. Despite its inherent instability, this condition may be permanently maintained, according to Madison, through a constitutional design that keeps the system in equipoise by institutionalizing a form of perpetual contestation between national and subnational governments. The theory, however, does not specify how that contestation actually occurs, and by what means.

This paper investigates Madison’s hypothesis by documenting the methods actually deployed …

Mens Rea In Comparative Perspective, Luis E. Chiesa

Journal Articles

This Essay compares and contrasts the American and civilian approaches to mens rea. The comparative analysis generates two important insights. First, it is preferable to have multiple forms of culpability than to have only two. Common law bipartite distinctions such as general and specific intent fail to fully make sense of our moral intuitions. The same goes for the civilian distinction between dolus (intent) and culpa (negligence). Second, attitudinal mental states should matter for criminalization and grading decisions. Nevertheless, adding attitudinal mental states to our already complicated mens rea framework may end up confusing juries instead of helping them. …

Revolution In Crime: How Cryptocurrencies Have Changed The Criminal Landscape, Igor Groysman

Student Theses

This thesis will examine the ways in which various cryptocurrencies have impacted certain traditional crimes. While crime is always evolving with technology, cryptocurrencies are a game changer in that they provide anonymous and decentralized payment systems which, while they can be tracked in a reactive sense via the blockchain, are seen by criminals as having better uses for them than traditional fiat currencies, such as the ability to send money relatively fast to another party without going through an intermediary, or the ability to obscure the origin of the money for money laundering purposes. Every week there are new cryptocurrencies …

Detection Of In Utero Cannabis Exposure By Umbilical Cord Analysis, Jiyoung Kim

Student Theses

According to 2018 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, 7.1% of pregnant women smoked marijuana in the past month in 2017. Although this prevalence is expected to increase as a growing number of states and countries are now considering legalization, there are scarce data on effects of in utero cannabis exposure. For the monitoring of fetal cannabis exposure, two methods are employed; self-report and the analysis of biological matrix. Due to inaccuracy of self-report, the analysis of neonatal matrixes such as meconium, hair, and urine is perferred. Although umbilical cord is becoming a useful objective tool to detect in …

Editors’ Introduction, Christian Gudehus, Susan Braden, Randle Defalco, Roland Moerland, Brian Kritz, Joann Digeorgio-Lutz, Lior Zylberman

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.