Legal Studies Commons^™

Criminal Justice: Minorities In Criminal Justice Revised (Crj 7200), Vanda Seward, Peleya Patterson

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Relationship Between Load Shedding And Crime In Gauteng, Bhavesh Ram

Master's Theses

This study investigates the impact of load shedding, a recurring power outage phenomenon in South Africa, on crime rates in the densely populated Gauteng province. Using a novel dataset that combines Eskom's load shedding schedules with detailed crime statistics from 2015 to 2022, a fixed-effects regression model is employed to examine the relationship between blackout hours and various crime categories. Findings reveal that while load shedding does not significantly affect overall crime rates, it significantly increases the incidence of contact crimes and sexual offenses, particularly during daylight hours. Additionally, our results provide evidence that load shedding diminishes the ability of …

Rawls, Game Theory, And The Multiple Meanings Of Equality, David Crump

St. Mary's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Casar Auc Community Only Lecture: Men, Women’S Body Autonomy & Gbv Crimes In Egypt, Us & Canada: Why Men Need To Step Up For The Education Of Women's Body Autonomy, The Prince Alwaleed Center For American Studies And Research Casar

Performances, Events, and Presentations

This was a hybrid CASAR AUC community only lecture titled: ‘Men, Women’s Body Autonomy & GBV crimes in Egypt, US & Canada’: Why men need to step up for the education of women’s body autonomy.

This lecture featured Tadwein from Egypt, Women’s Advocates from the US & London Abused Women's Counseling Center from Canada (via Zoom). This lecture was part of course AMST 1091 ‘Exploring Feminist Perspectives in Egypt & the US’ (core curriculum pathways two- American studies) taught by Yasmeen El-Ghazaly, CASAR Assistant to Director & Adjunct Faculty - Wednesday May 15th, 2024

The lecture pondered on the following …

Injustice: Parental Betrayal And The Exploitation Of Child Murder In The United States, Isabella Merlini

Honors Scholar Theses

The following serves as an extensive literature review on the phenomena of filicide and familicide–the ultimate forms of parental betrayal–perpetrated within the United States. Subsequently highlighted is the theme that the people who should always take care of and love their children are sometimes also those who demonically arrange for their children’s very deaths, and while parents have the power to bring children into this world, they do not have the right to remove children from it. An overview of the unique perpetrations, victimologies, psychopathologies, and motivations that contribute to the classifications of filicide and familicide are further provided. Six …

Prosecutors’ And Police Chiefs’ Perception Of Crime In South Dakota, Maggie Erickson

Honors Thesis

PURPOSE:

This exploratory study regarding prosecutors' and police chiefs' perceptions of crime in South Dakota covers many aspects of crime, including available resources to address crime, perceptions of the criminal justice system, fear of crime, concern for specific crime categories, and crime-reducing measures. Studies specifically focusing on Criminal Justice actors’ perception of crime prove low in number at the national and state levels.

FINDINGS:

Findings indicate that prosecutors lack enough time, financial resources, and staff to effectively address crime, while police chiefs primarily view inadequate staffing as their biggest resource concern. While personal fear of crime or victimization for both …

Criminal Justice: Fieldwork, Carlene Barnaby

Open Educational Resources

No abstract provided.

Boundaries Of Autonomy: Exploring Parallels Between Mental Hospitals And Prisons In The United States, Benjamin J. Boldt

The Agora

Within the United States, a prevailing perception emerges that mental health facilities and prisons are unfavorably similar. This societal sentiment is quite concerning if true, as the prison system is known for its many societal failures within the U.S. Furthermore, mental hospitals aim to help individuals; thus, a comparison to a faulty system highlights a possible issue worthy of exploration. Unfortunately, little analysis exists, within academic research, comparing both institutions. The following comparative analysis looks at available research between mental hospitals and prisons to validate this issue and explore implications. Findings indicate a shared pattern between mental hospitals and prisons …

The U.S.: The Land Of Modern Day Slavery, Devon Harrison

The Agora

This article was originally assigned as a final, where the author was tasked with addressing the question, "*If you could change an amendment of the U.S. Constitution, which one would you and why?*". The author opted for an educational approach to maintain objectivity while constructing a philosophical argument. To develop this piece, the author references a multitude of mediums -- including documents (the 'U.S. Constitution'), a U.S. Supreme Court case ('*U.S. v. Reynolds (1914)*'), a documentary ('*The World's Most Luxurious Prison*' 2020), a couple of mini-documentaries ('*This Is What People Really Make In Prison Jobs*' 2023 & Insider News 2020 …

Recidivism In South Dakota, Allison L. Young

Honors Thesis

The South Dakota Criminal Justice System suffers from a high recidivism rate across the state. There are few resocialization methods used within state facilities, and the existing ones have not adequately addressed what is causing the high rate. People who are either incarcerated or were formerly incarcerated have a myriad of systematic barriers that prevent them from finding a stable footing before and after release. This literature analysis aims to compare existing resocialization methods among various countries and states to South Dakota’s techniques to identify which would be most successful for the state. Using a grounded-theory structure for the analysis …

Evaluating De-Escalation Training At The National And Regional Levels: A Mixed Methods Analysis Of Officer Perceptions And Use Of Force, Samantha A. Tosto

Doctoral Works at the University of New Haven

High profile incidents of police misconduct and excessive use of force, particularly in cases of racialized violence against unarmed Black men, have led to a sociopolitical reckoning with the American criminal justice system. Following several of these incidents in the past decade, scholars, policymakers, and the public all have called for significant reform and the prioritization of de-escalation skills for law enforcement officers during citizen interactions. Despite these efforts, little empirical evidence has been established regarding the effectiveness and generalizability of de-escalation training programs. The current research represents a mixed-methods evaluation of the National De-escalation Training Center’s program at both …

Presidential Influence On The Bureaucracy: The Curious Case Of Lina Khan, Nickolas Remish

Departmental Honors & Graduate Capstone Projects

How effective can a president be in promoting his or her policies through the bureaucracy? Most theories postulate the president has influence – via appointees, budgeting, and executive orders. This paper unpacks the president’s influence on the bureaucracy by analyzing President Biden’s effect on antitrust, particularly with regards to addressing labor concerns. Biden appears to depart from previous presidential administrations due to his heightened emphasis on labor’s need for protection and antitrust law as the optimal vehicle for helping workers. The data, pulled from federal and state court antitrust cases since 2000, relies on textual analysis with regards to the …

Settler Colonialism And Ecosystem Change: How Ideology Has Shaped Minnesota’S Environments, Sarah E. Hobby

History Honors Projects

The formation of a uniquely American land ethic—defined by European political history and Christian biblical doctrine and forged through systems of dispossession—is central to the creation of environments within the United States today. Using Minnesota as a microcosm to understand how settler colonial interactions played out all across the United States, this paper analyzes connections between violent dispossession of Indigenous people and the degradation of environments. By understanding how Ojibwe and Dakota people think about and have shaped Minnesotan lands throughout their history and comparing Indigenous land-ethics to the Euro-American-settler land ethic, this paper evaluates the role that ideology and …

Criminal Justice Update - May 2024, Sophia Dotterweich

Criminal Justice Updates

The Criminal Justice Update is a monthly newsletter created by the Adams County Bar Foundation Fellow providing updates in criminal justice policy coming from Pennsylvania's courts and legislature as well as the US Supreme Court.

Contents:

• Updates from PA Governor's Office (no updates this month)
• Updates from the PA Legislature
• Updates from the Courts
• U.S. Supreme Court: Criminal Law & Procedure
• PA Supreme Court: Criminal Law & Procedure
• PA Superior Court: Criminal Law & Procedure

A Comprehensive Examination Of The Post-Conviction Risk Assessment (Pcra) And Risk Prediction Index (Rpi) For General Risk Factors, Criminogenic Outcomes, And Risk-Specific Populations, Logan J. Distasio

Master's Theses

The use of risk assessment instruments has become an increasingly pertinent issue in the realm of reentry. Though sometimes controversial, risk assessment tools provide local, state, and federal governments with actuarial techniques focused on providing unbiased and accurate risk assessments for individuals returning to the community. The present study was focused on the further evaluation of two risk assessment instruments utilized by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts (AOUSC)—the Post-Conviction Risk Assessment (PCRA) and the Risk Prediction Index (RPI). A mixed-methods approach was taken in order to investigate the associations between these tools, general risk factors, criminogenic outcomes, …

Recovery Of Nuclear Dna From Skeletal Remains Decomposed In Freshwater, Zoe L. Sikon

Master's Theses

This research compared freshwater and dry decomposition environments and their impact on DNA recovery from Sus scrofa domesticus(domestic pig) femora over a 3-month period. Prior to decomposition, initial cuttings were taken from "fresh" bone samples. Cuttings were then collected at 3-week intervals from waterlogged and dry bone samples. All samples were extracted using the vendor recommended protocol for the Applied Biosystems PrepFiler BTA extraction kit and an updated version of the same protocol, that substitutes Proteinase K with additional Dithiothreitol (DTT) (Thermo Fisher Scientific, 2012.). DNA quantitation was performed using pig-specific custom primer sets, with the QuantStudio 5 Real-Time …

Unmasking Justice: Racial Disparity Trends In Sentencing Before And After The Covid-19 Pandemic, Noah Samuel Reynolds

All Theses

The advent of the COVID-19 pandemic profoundly impacted every facet of the United States justice system, disrupting traditional systems and introducing a new era of virtual alternatives. This unprecedented crisis provides a unique opportunity to empirically study the interplay between health risks, shutdowns, and uncertainty and the foundational value of fair and impartial justice. Using North Carolina sentencing data from 2016-2022, this study delves into the consequences of the pandemic on sentencing outcomes after the virus was declared a national emergency in March 2020. Framed within the Focal Concerns (FC) theory, I expect judges to be more lenient in their …

The Application Of Particle-Correlated Raman Spectroscopic Analysis Of Soils To Mock Casework Scenarios, Sam Gong

Master's Theses

Soil is a continuous material, reaching across geological bodies, and is distinctly variable and differentiable based on aspects such as geographic location, seasonal factors, and human interference. In combination with its highly transferable nature, the complexity of soil makes it valuable material for forensic trace evidence and object-to-scene association. The development of forensic soil analysis is currently focused on mineralogy. Raman spectroscopy is a chemical technique that has previously been studied for mineralogy uses. Additionally, Raman spectroscopy has been researched for use in other fields of forensic science as well. As such, it is possible to use Raman spectroscopy for …

Dazed & Confused... And... Psychotic?, Judy Ann Clausen, Joanmarie I. Davoli, Benjamin W. Lacy Md

UF Law Faculty Publications

This Article examines marijuana’s impact on developing brains. Secondly, this Article explores the Green Rush – the rise of the multibillion-dollar marijuana industry and the media and legal environment that unleashed massive marijuana commercialization. The Article compares decriminalization with commercialization, illustrating that it is possible to address social justice concerns of arrests, incarceration, and criminal records for marijuana use without unleashing a multibillion-dollar industry that markets to youth. The Article concludes by exploring approaches from Australia, the United Kingdom, and Sweden, all of which continue to criminalize marijuana, in part because they have observed the U.S. Green Rush and its …

Emergence: Social Movements, Law Enforcement, And Defending The Sanctity Of Life, Diana Elizabeth Aroche

Doctoral Dissertations

This study examines the aftermath of national social movements advocating for police reforms and accountability, with San Francisco emerging as a pivotal city at the forefront of criminal justice and policing transformations. Rebuilding community trust and implementing substantive police reforms aimed at preserving lives has proven to be a formidable challenge. The convergence of interests among all stakeholders, driven by a shared commitment to dismantling institutional racism and implementing reforms that fostered trust with communities of color and law enforcement, played a pivotal role.

A significant aspect of this reform process has been the development of social movement convergence, where …

Seeking Sanctuary: An Analysis Of U Visa Policies In Omaha, Nebraska And Their Impact On Immigrant Communities, Emma Ehmke

Theses/Capstones/Creative Projects

Since 2000, immigrants have been eligible for U visa status if they are a victim of a particular crime and assist law enforcement in criminal investigations. However, challenges arise for numerous reasons with the I-918 Supplement B form, which must be signed by an agency certifier within law enforcement or an attorney’s office. This study examines the policies of six law enforcement agencies and attorney’s offices in the Omaha Metro Area through semi-structured interviews to understand their approach to U visas and the characteristics of successful applications. The study aims to uncover variations in agency procedures and understandings and the …

The Politics Of Gender Affirming Healthcare: A New Battleground For Morality Policy?, Reaves Robinson

Political Science Undergraduate Honors Theses

Morality policy as a discipline saw its peak during the transformative years at the turn of the 21^st century; however, there has been very little scholarship to follow new social policy issues that have arisen in the past two decades. Anti-transgender policy, specifically, can be considered under the morality policy scope following years of LGBTQ+ scholarship that fell under the morality policy umbrella. In 2023 alone, more than 200 pieces of anti-transgender legislation were introduced in state legislatures across the nation. A trend among the increasingly popular policy realm can be seen from gender affirming healthcare bans, where almost …

The Impact Of Sports Wagering On Collegiate Sports Viewership, Maddix Blackwell

University Honors College

Fan viewership was examined after the legalization of sports wagering. The methods of placing bets were analyzed as well as the in person and broadcasting viewership of NCAA competitions. Fan broadcast and in person viewership has increased since the legalization of sports wagering. The world of sports betting has adapted to new technology to better enhance the user's accessibility. Mobile apps have become the preferred method of sports bettors, due to the capabilities and ease of access the apps provide. Broadcasting networks have played a large role in increasing the appeal of sports betting, through advertisements and deals being offered. …

Effects Of Ethanol On Gaba Transaminase, Mary Corrigan

Master's Theses

Ethanol is the primary active ingredient in alcoholic beverages, and functions in the body as a central nervous system (CNS) depressant. The overt effects ethanol has on the body, e.g. diminished cognitive ability, loss of motor control, slurred speech, impaired balance, etc., are well documented. While the behavioral consequences of consumption are well understood, how ethanol actually functions on a mechanistic level to elicit those effects has yet to be satisfactorily elucidated.

The structural homology between ethanol and the C3 and C4 carbons of gamma-hydroxybutyric acid (GABA), the major inhibitory neurotransmitter in the mature CNS, has led us to hypothesize …

Social Undermining Among Police Officers In The United States., Weston B. Anderson

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

Policing is a large and critical part of the American criminal justice system. Although a focal study group for research, little is known of how social undermining impacts police officers and organizations. Social undermining can cause a variety of negative consequences, including lower job satisfaction, reduction in work-related outcomes, and mental and physical health problems (Duffy et al., 2002; Hershcovis & Barling, 2010; Sabeen & Arshad, 2019). To date, no study has examined social undermining in police officers within the United States. This qualitative research examined social undermining among police officers. Using a blend of inductive and deductive thematic analysis, …

Building Capacity And Agency In Emergency Shelters In Paterson, Nj, Fanny Lauby

Department of Political Science and Law Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This paper outlines a consistent issue with Paterson City’s communication across departments, resulting in a lack of accessible data at multiple levels and a reduced knowledge among social workers and program coordinators. These citywide issues have contributed to a culture of confusion. The city of Paterson is improperly pursuing the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD)’s “Housing First” approach, resulting in a relative lack of housing programs - constituting a matter of long-term concern for the city.

Addressing Youth Cannabis Poisonings In Paterson, Nj, Fanny Lauby

Department of Political Science and Law Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

This report has found that various local stores within the city of Paterson have been packaging and displaying cannabis items in a similar fashion to candies popular with children, thus leading to instances of children purchasing these items and consuming them. This highlights issues surrounding enforcement of various New Jersey statutes regulating the distribution of cannabis items to those under the age of 21. This negligence at the hands of store owners has helped contribute to the increase of cannabis poisonings due to being so easily accessible by children. The increased normalization of cannabis uses with its legalization and the …

Silencing And Surveillance: The Struggle Of Same-Sex Desire In The Shadow Of The 20th-Century Police State, Ethan Dunn

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This paper investigates the intersection of social perceptions of vice and gender norms in shaping the policing of sexual orientation and sexuality during the turn of the twentieth century. Employing a legal analysis rooted in the law and society movement and critical legal studies, this study examines how social anxieties surrounding vice and vice crimes prompted swift legislative measures at both federal and state levels, resulting in statutes characterized by broad language that granted extensive discretion to law enforcement officials and judges. The emergence of morals and vice police squads further intensified the targeting of individuals who deviated from prevailing …

Resource Scarcity Caused By Environmental Changes: Driving Factor In Terrorism Attacks In Afghanistan, Pakistan, Syria, Amaris Bustamante

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Climate change, resource scarcity, and terrorist attacks are ever-growing crises that disproportionately impact different states. They are crises that can impact the stability and resilience of humanity in the following decades if they are not addressed and mitigated. This study addresses the impact of resource scarcity caused by climate change that can then serve as a driving force in terrorist attacks in climate-sensitive and conflict-prone states. The objective of this mixed-methods study is to identify the correlation between climate changes that lead to resource scarcity such as rainfall and surface temperatures with terrorist attacks when taking into consideration other demographic, …

Race, Severe Mental Illness, And Crime: An Intersectional Look Into Stigma And Policy Implications, Elena Therese Vaudreuil

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

Criminal behavior has been a long-discussed topic in the United States and often is tied to characteristics such as race and mental illness. The presumed connection between criminal behavior and being a member of a racial minority group or having a mental illness have been researched for years, however few researchers have sought to take an intersectional approach to investigate the unique experiences of people belonging to both groups in the criminal legal system. Using the lenses of attribution and intersectionality theories, the proposed studies sought to understand the effect of race that influences policy support of justice-involved people with …