Legal Studies Commons^™

The Role Of Clinical Legal Education In The Future Of The Battered Women's Movement, Leigh Goodmark

Buffalo Journal of Gender, Law & Social Policy

No abstract provided.

The Tools Of Our Trade, Richard Leiter

Marvin and Virginia Schmid Law Library: Faculty Publications

During the past 30 years, computers and other digital tools have evolved from scientific curiosities that promised to make our lives easy and paperless and threatened to make libraries go away to ubiquitous means of communication, research, entertainment, news, and much, much more. Access to technology for librarians today is as critical as having access to leather-bound books once was for the earliest librarians. In order to communicate with peers, patrons, and colleagues and to conduct legal research and create scholarship, today we need a device that lets us “see” the communication or information. This article explores the changing role …

“Fixed” Sentencing: The Effect On Imprisonment Rates Over Time, Mark G. Harmon

Criminology and Criminal Justice Faculty Publications and Presentations

Objective: Sentencing guidelines, statutory presumptive sentencing, determinate sentencing, truth in sentencing, and three strikes are important components of the criminal justice system. The main purpose behind a relatively-fixed sentence is to remove judicial discretion by insuring that convicted felons receive a reasonably-assumed sentence depending on the crime committed. The current study assessed shifts in year-to-year changes in incarceration rates within all 50 states from the years 1965 to 2008 due to the adoption of sentencing reforms.

Methods: The study tests two competing theories, a normative theory and critical theory of the expected effects of reforms on imprisonment. Data was analyzed …

Mental Health, Substance Use, And Delinquency Among Truant Youth In A Brief Intervention Project: A Longitudinal Study, Richard Dembo, Rhissa Briones-Robinson, Kimberly Barrett, Ken C. Winters, James Schmeidler, Rocío Aracelis Ungaro, Lora Karas, Steven Belenko, Laura Gulledge

Faculty Publications

The relationship between substance use, mental health disorders, and delinquency among youth is well documented. What has received far less attention from researchers is the relationship between these issues among truant youth, in spite of studies that document truants are a population at risk for negative outcomes. This study bridges this gap by (a) examining psychosocial functioning and delinquency among truants and (b) assessing the efficacy of a brief intervention (BI) in reducing delinquent behavior over time. To meet these objectives, data were collected from 183 truant youth enrolled in an ongoing National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA)-funded BI project. …

On Hart's Category Mistake, Michael S. Green

Faculty Publications

This essay concerns Scott Shapiro’s criticism that H.L.A. Hart’s theory of law suffers from a “category mistake.” Although other philosophers of law have summarily dismissed Shapiro’s criticism, I argue that it identifies an important requirement for an adequate theory of law. Such a theory must explain why legal officials justify their actions by reference to abstract propositional entities, instead of pointing to the existence of social practices. A virtue of Shapiro’s planning theory of law is that it can explain this phenomenon. Despite these sympathies, however, I end with the suggestion that Shapiro’s criticism of Hart, as it stands, is …

Suicide Within United States Jails: A Qualitative Interpretive Meta-Synthesis, Laura Frank, Regina T. P. Aguirre

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Suicide was the leading cause of unnatural deaths in local jails, accounting for 29% of all jail deaths between 2000 and 2007. Though much literature exists on suicide in jails, very little is qualitative. Additionally, little attention has been focused on how the Interpersonal Theory of Suicide applies to the jail environment. To gain a better understanding of suicide in jails, an interpretive meta-synthesis of three qualitative articles was conducted. The combined sample included thirty-four individuals from three jails. These three articles were analyzed to identify common themes that led inmates to suicide. Three broad categories were identified through constant …

A New Low In Getting High: Illegal Drug Use And Crime, Erica Jean Ferrelli

Dissertations and Theses

The current research analyzed the relationship between methamphetamine use, cocaine use and marijuana use within the last 12 months and crime committed within the last 12 months. Crime is defined as drug sales, property and violent crime. The research design is a quantitative approach which uses secondary data analysis of the National Longitudinal Survey of Adolescent Health (Add Health) to provide evidence toward the research question; does illegal drug use increase the risk of committing a crime?The public access, 2008 Wave III data results of this nationally representative sample of adolescents in grades 7 through 12 in the US in …

Returning Home: Understanding The Challenges Of Prisoner Reentry And Reintegration, Jeremy Travis

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Toward A New Professionalism In Policing, Jeremy Travis

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Emotion Regulation And Strain In Corrections Officers: Examining The Role Of Recovery Experiences And Coping Mechanisms, Frankie Guros

Dissertations and Theses

Research has begun to identify recovery experiences during nonwork time as an important mechanism explaining the relationship between job characteristics and strain (Geurts & Sonnentag, 2006; Kinnunen, Feldt, Siltaloppi, Sonnentag, 2011). Corrections officers face challenges unique to their occupation (Armstrong & Griffin, 2004) that may contribute to the high levels of strain that currently characterize their occupation (i.e., short life expectancy, high suicide rates; Spinaris & Denhof, 2011; Stack & Tsoudis, 1997). Though previous research has not examined emotion regulation, recovery experiences, and coping within corrections officers, these constructs may be of particular importance to an occupation that requires employees …

Classified Information: A Review Of Implemented Offender Classification Models In Colorado, Andrielle Holmes

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

The focus of this project centers around the large amount of material in regards to objective offender classification models. Research suggests that objective classification models are the most effective means of evaluating the risk and needs of inmates while in custody. Since it is the responsibility of all correctional facilities to keep their inmate population and staff safe, implementing a successful classification tool is crucial. Documentation reviewed for this project suggests most correction facilities across the United States have implemented objective systems into their classification policies and procedures. This project attempted to evaluate classification models implemented in the county jail's …

Hot-Spot Policing And The Use Of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design, Heather L. Merigan

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

An existing gap found in current literature is whether or not prevention-oriented methods have been implemented within crime hot-spots and if these methods have been implemented, it is unknown how effective have they been. The following paper is an evaluative study conducted to examine the use and effectiveness of Crime Prevention Through Environmental Design (CPTED) methods when implemented by police departments within crime hot-spots. This was done by distributing an on-line survey to 56 Police Chiefs and researching the websites of 136 police departments located within ten counties of the western United States. The results indicated that the use of …

Dna Testing Is The Most Effective Procedure To Solve Crimes, Son Nguyen

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

There are several different techniques to solve crimes. Fingerprinting has been used as an investigative tool to help law enforcement find suspects. By using the fingerprints obtained at a crime scene, investigators can try to find a match within the fingerprint database. Since fingerprints are truly unique, there are better technological advances that will aid law enforcements and forensic scientists confirm a suspect was at the crime scene. By using DNA, deoxyribonucleic acid, technology, established in 1985 but was first used in 1987 in law enforcement, as the main investigative tool, several different crimes can be solve by analyzing the …

Exploring The Causes Of Islamic Radicalization And Recruitment And The General Strain Theory In Identified Terrorists, Julian A. Torres

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

Little research has been done exploring the relation between the General Strain Theory and Islamist radicalization and recruitment. This author will explore a possible relationship between collective social strain and its impact on one's decision to engage in radical Islamist extremism. This author based the research on the General Strain Theory which states that when individuals experience strain or pressure, under certain circumstances, that strain can lead to offending or delinquent behavior. Muslims living in the United States and abroad, regardless of generation or nationality, can find themselves subject to discrimination, poverty, inequality and other real or perceived injustices. This …

Examining Barriers To Reentry Faced By Offenders In A Metropolitan County Jail And Community Setting, Kelly J. Russell

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

This study uses a strain theory approach to examine the barriers to community reentry faced by individuals being released from county detention facilities. Individuals who are reentering the community from jail face a variety of challenges, particularly when trying to access community resources. In almost every community, barriers to offender reentry include, but are not limited to, housing, benefit acquisition, healthcare, access to medications, identification, transportation, mental health treatment, substance abuse treatment and employment. While there has certainly been an increase in the amount of programs and services available for former offenders, research analysis presented here will identify what these …

An Examination Of Cities' Resilence To Violent Crime: A Contextual Analysis Of Victim-Offender Convergence, Vanessa Hatch Woodward

Dissertations

In his 2012 Presidential Address to the American Society of Criminology, Robert Sampson purported that causality can only be reached when social science researchers accept that individual actions are dependent on social context. He referred to this as contextual causality and argued that future research needed to focus on how to measure and/or reoperationalize community measures of crime.

There were three primary goals of this study. First was to provide a better understanding of victim-offender convergence in time and space (Cohen & Felson, 1979) within incidents of violent crime. In order to meet this goal, 90 city agencies’ incident and …

Holmes, Cardozo, And The Legal Realists: Early Incarnations Of Legal Pragmatism And Enterprise Liability, Edmund Ursin

San Diego Law Review

The theory of enterprise liability is associated with the tort lawmaking of the liberal California Supreme Court of the 1960s and 1970s. Legal pragmatism, in turn, is associated with the conservative jurist Richard Posner. This Article explains that early incarnations of each can be found in the works of four giants in American law: Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, Judge—later Justice—Benjamin Cardozo, and the Legal Realists Leon Green and Karl Llewellyn. As will be seen, these scholars and judges shared a common view of the lawmaking role of courts. Stated simply, this shared view was that judges are lawmakers and policy …

“Unmistakably Clear” Coercion: Finding A Balance Between Judicial Review Of The Spending Power And Optimal Federalism, Dale B. Thompson

San Diego Law Review

This Article proposes a new tier of scrutiny, “unmistakably clear,” for conducting judicial review of congressional authority under the Spending Clause. Under this standard, a condition would be unconstitutional only if it is unmistakably clear that it is coercive. In order to develop this proposal, this Article traces the debate over the spending power from the Federalist Papers up through the decision in National Federation of Independent Business v. Sebelius, finding strong arguments for granting significant deference to Congress’s Spending Clause authority. Careful analysis of the opinions in the case yields not only the name for the new standard of …

Reasonable Persons, Reasonable Circumstances, Christopher Jackson

San Diego Law Review

The reasonable person test is a common thread that runs through the fabric of Anglo-American law. It has become such a common trope in legal discourse that it scarcely receives much attention in its own right. This Article analyzes one facet of the test that will yield significant benefits in understanding the subject as a whole: how we ought to go about determining which circumstances are relevant to the reasonable person inquiry. The Article will argue that the circumstances that ought to be part of the test will vary based on one’s underlying theoretical commitments: the reasonable person test is …

Is Freedom Of Expression A Universal Right?, Larry Alexander

San Diego Law Review

The title of my Essay asks a question. If one were to go by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights —or by John Rawls’s A Theory of Justice and other quotidian works of liberal political and moral philosophy—the answer to the question is a resounding “yes.” Indeed, in the constellation of cherished liberal rights, freedom of expression is surely one of the brightest, if not the brightest, of its stars.

Animal Cruelty: The Nexus Between Admonishable Violence And Sanctionable Criminal Acts, Natalie Donis

HIM 1990-2015

In recent years, animal cruelty has stirred into the limelight as society has given the issue further consideration. State and federal laws as well as the establishment of diverse non-governmental organizations exist to abate animal cruelty, but such institutions have lagged in creating effective control mechanisms in spite of the growth of this modern day pandemic. This thesis will discuss animal cruelty, the types of cruelty, legislative developments, correlation of animal cruelty to violence among humans, and ways to strengthen control mechanisms. Credible findings have indicated a propensity for offenders of animal cruelty to escalate their acts of violence towards …

Breach Of Allegiance: The History Of Treason Charges In The U.S., And Its Rebirth In The Age Of Terrorism, David Lewis

HIM 1990-2015

The purpose of this thesis is to provide a legal history and analysis of how the treason clause has been utilized since the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1789. Further, the United States and the United Kingdom share not only a historical parallel of the meaning and use of the charge of treason, but also an abandonment of using the charge today. This thesis will provide an in-depth legal history of treason charges in the United States, along with its close parallels in historical evolution and usage to that of the United Kingdom. Focusing prominently on treason throughout United States …

The Role Of The Federal Judge In The Constitutional Structure: An Originalist Perspective, Diarmuid F. O'Scannlain

San Diego Law Review

Join me now in examining some of the structural features of our Constitution. And let’s do so by focusing upon cases that have come before my court—the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, the second highest federal court in the land, inferior only to the Supreme Court of the United States. My goal is to present, in modest outline, an originalist perspective on the federal judge’s role, particularly my role as a circuit judge, in the constitutional order.

Joyless Life And Lifeless Joy: The Recovery Of Hedonic Damages By Plaintiffs In A Persistent Vegetative State, Alexandra Preece

San Diego Law Review

This Comment focuses on the potential injustice to patients in a persistent vegetative state and the proper manner in which to handle these cases. Based on tort principles underlying the justification for the award of damages to plaintiffs, including deterrence and compensation, plaintiffs in a persistent vegetative state should be entitled to damages for loss of enjoyment of life. To allow for these awards, courts must separate loss of enjoyment of life from pain and suffering, thereby allowing vegetative plaintiffs who cannot prove that they are in pain to recover hedonic damages from their wrongdoers. Part II discusses the effects …

Jurors’ Subjective Certainty And Standards Of Proof: The Role Of Emotion And Severity Of Charge In Subjective Probability Judgment, Yimoon Choi

Department of Psychology: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Recent empirical research suggests that jurors struggle to understand and correctly apply the standard of proof. Many researchers have focused on methods to re-write jury instructions so that standards of proof are clearer and easier for jurors to understand. This dissertation suggests the fundamental cause of jurors’ confusion concerning standards of proof is that jurors may use different decision processes (intuitive decision processing or systematic decision processing) and decision indices (objective probabilistic judgment or subjective confidence) depending upon their transient emotions or the seriousness of charge.

Study 1 assessed whether experiencing particular emotions (sadness or anger) could change mock jurors’ …

Testing Orthodox Utilitarian And Extrajudical Determinants Of Incarceration In The U.S. At The State-Level, 1980-2005, Pavel V. Vasiliev

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

This project is a theory-driven secondary data analysis of state-level incarceration trends in the U.S. between 1980 and 2005. I replicate and advance Smith's (2004) study of the relationship between the socioeconomic, demographic, political, electoral, and criminal justice factors and incarceration rates at the state level. The purpose of this project is to determine the empirical validity of the major explanations of the incarceration trends in the U.S. I advance Smith's (2004) study using important novel elements. First, I extend the scrutinized historic period by a decade by compiling time-series data for 1980-2005. Second, I employ a more sophisticated analytic …

Police Integrity Lost: Preliminary Findings Of A National Study Of Law Enforcement Officers Arrested, Philip M. Stinson

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

This presentation presents preliminary research findings of a study on the nature and extent of police crime in the United States. It provides information on the factors that influence how a law enforcement agency responds to arrests of its officers. The data indicate that civil rights litigation is a correlate of police misconduct.

Studies On Religion And Recidivism: Focus On Roxbury, Dorchester, And Mattapan, George Walters-Sleyon

Trotter Review

This research article raises the question of whether religion can be considered a viable partner in the reduction of the high rate of recidivism associated with the increasing mass incarceration in the United States. Can sustainable transformation in the life of a prisoner or former prisoner as a result of religious conversion be subjected to evidenced-based practices to derive impartial conclusions about the value of religion in their lives? With a particular focus on three neighborhoods of Boston—Roxbury, Dorchester, and Mattapan—this study examines the relevance of religion and faith-based organizations in lowering the high rate of recidivism associated with incarceration …

The Personal And Family Challenges Of Reentry: Interview With Helen Credle, Kenneth J. Cooper

Trotter Review

For 40 years, Helen Credle has worked with prison inmates and exoffenders in Massachusetts, from inside or outside the state corrections system. The Boston native, who grew up in Roxbury, did not set out to become an advocate for prisoners and their families. Oddly, it was music that first took her inside prison walls and into that role. As director of community services for the New England Conservatory of Music, Credle organized concerts by bluesman B.B. King and balladeer Bobby Womack in state prisons. Her involvement grew deeper when the conservatory’s administrators and faculty members decided to teach inmates to …

Life After Prison: A Different Kind Of Sentence?, A Forum At The Boston Center For The Arts, Andrea J. Cabral, Daniel Cordon, Lyn Levy, Gary Little, Janet Rodriguez

Trotter Review

In September 2012, the Boston Center for the Arts (BCA) hosted a forum on life after prison as part of its series, Dialogue: Social Issues Examined Through the Playwright’s Pen. The forum coincided with performances at the Boston Center for the Arts of The MotherF**ker with the Hat, a play by Stephen Andy Guirgis about prisoner reentry.

Andrea J. Cabral, then sheriff of Suffolk County and secretary of public safety in Massachusetts, moderated the forum in BCA’s Calderwood Pavilion, the same theater where SpeakEasy Stage Company was putting on the play. The four panelists work for nonprofit organizations primarily …