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Full-Text Articles in Legal Theory

Analyzing Sexual Expression: Marriage, Prostitution, And The Law, Leah Christiani May 2011

Analyzing Sexual Expression: Marriage, Prostitution, And The Law, Leah Christiani

Honors Scholar Theses

Marriage and prostitution laws solidify and propagate norms about sexual expression. Marriage law functions positively to dictate the kind of expression that is acceptable, normal, and natural while prostitution law frames the illegal, deviant, and unnatural. The legal benefits offered to those who marry function as an endorsement of a particular type of sexual expression: monogamous, faithful, loving, long term, and procreative. Equally, the criminalization of prostitution solidifies norms about the wrong, illegal unnatural kind of sexual expression; one focused on pleasure and money, not monogamy, fidelity, love, or procreation. These valuations of sexual expression solidified by the law impact …


Exploring The Relationship Between Drug And Alcohol Treatment Facilities And Violent And Property Crime: A Socioeconomic Contingent Relationship, Christopher Salvatore, Travis A. Taniguchi May 2011

Exploring The Relationship Between Drug And Alcohol Treatment Facilities And Violent And Property Crime: A Socioeconomic Contingent Relationship, Christopher Salvatore, Travis A. Taniguchi

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Siting of drug and alcohol treatment facilities is often met with negative reactions because of the assumption that these facilities increase crime by attracting drug users (and possibly dealers) to an area. This assumption, however, rests on weak empirical footings that have not been subjected to strong empirical analyses. Using census block groups from Philadelphia, PA, it was found that the criminogenic impact of treatment facilities in and near a neighborhood on its violent and property crime rates may be contingent on the socioeconomic status (SES) of the neighborhood. Paying attention to both the density and proximity of facilities in …


Reviewing Racism And The Right To Marry: An Analysis Of Loving V. Virginia, Kathryn L. Jordan Apr 2011

Reviewing Racism And The Right To Marry: An Analysis Of Loving V. Virginia, Kathryn L. Jordan

Senior Honors Theses

Prior to the 1967 United States Supreme Court case of Loving v. Virginia, many states had laws that banned the intermarriage of whites with black or other minorities. Since then, the number of interracial marriages has increased and the attitudes of society have shifted. This thesis uses Loving as basis to explore the ways in which societal views have changed since the overruling of the anti-miscegenation statutes. It first discusses the culture in America before Loving and then, explains the details of the Loving case. This is then followed by a synopsis of how the culture changed after Loving. After …


Provocation Manslaughter As Partial Justification And Partial Excuse, Mitchell N. Berman, Ian Farrell Jan 2011

Provocation Manslaughter As Partial Justification And Partial Excuse, Mitchell N. Berman, Ian Farrell

All Faculty Scholarship

The partial defense of provocation provides that a person who kills in the heat of passion brought on by legally adequate provocation is guilty of manslaughter rather than murder. It traces back to the twelfth century, and exists today, in some form, in almost every U.S. state and other common law jurisdictions. But long history and wide application have not produced agreement on the rationale for the doctrine. To the contrary, the search for a coherent and satisfying rationale remains among the main occupations of criminal law theorists. The dominant scholarly view holds that provocation is best explained and defended …


The Function Of Indigenous Law In A Modern Economic And Political State: The Cameroon Scenario, Victoria M. Time Jan 2011

The Function Of Indigenous Law In A Modern Economic And Political State: The Cameroon Scenario, Victoria M. Time

Sociology & Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Using Cameroon as a case study, this research examines if a legal system built primarily upon indigenous laws can serve modern economic, political, and social realities. Indigenous laws have several attractive advantages (such as expediency in dispute resolution, and fostering community cohesiveness), and may fully thrive in a homogenous society. However, after examining the realities in Cameroon, the study concludes that since the society has dozens of tribes with values and traditions which are invariably different, and because the country relies on foreign aid, what is advocated is a system whereby indigenous and formal laws co-exist.