Other Legal Studies Commons^™

Minority Vetoes In Consociational Legislatures: Ultimately Weaponized?, Devin Haymond

Indiana Journal of Constitutional Design

In societies emerging from or at risk for conflict, dividing power among rival groups—called power-sharing—can be an appropriate arrangement to maintaining peace. But how can groups, who are often emerging from violent conflict, trust sharing a government with rival groups that were just recently shooting at them?

A potential solution is the minority veto, which is allows minority groups to block the government from harming those groups’ vital interests. But what sorts of change blocking mechanisms constitute a minority veto? Who gets the veto power, and when can they be used? Do minority vetoes function as effective incentives for ensuring …

Models Of Pre-Promulgation Review Of Legislation, Rachel Myers

Indiana Journal of Constitutional Design

Pre-promulgation review seeks to harmonize legislation with the constitution by engaging in a dialogue among government institutions that seeks to prevent unconstitutional legislation from becoming law. Pre-promulgation review is an integral part of the lawmaking process, and this study seeks to unite scholarship on different methods of this review in a comparative survey to assist lawyers, policymakers, and scholars. A wide range of institutions may fulfill the function of reviewing proposed legislation for compliance with the constitution or other codes of national importance prior to their passage into law. Because of this diversity, scholarship on the topic of pre-promulgation review …

Taxonomy Of Powers And Roles Of Upper Chambers In Bicameral Legislatures, Carolyn Griffith

Indiana Journal of Constitutional Design

Bicameral legislatures exist around the world, with power divisions to create checks and balances on the constitutional order as a whole. In the context of constitutional design, this presents a variety of options of roles and rights given to each chamber at each step in both the legislative process and beyond. Taken as a whole, this taxonomy demonstrates there are nearly an infinite number of possibilities for separating powers between upper and lower chambers in bicameral legislatures. Often, these decisions are guided by the history of the country. For each federal legislature that places powers or votes in one chamber, …

Public Matters? Comparing Decision-Making By Appointed And Elected Prosecutors In Cases Of Deadly Use-Of-Force By Police In The Hartford Judicial District And Suffolk County, Andrew E. Dubsky

Honors Scholar Theses

This thesis dissects prosecutor discretion for appointed and elected prosecutors after a “catalyst” event shifts public opinion. Previous studies have shown that elected prosecutors are more likely to use discretion favoring the opinion of the public than their appointed counterparts (Bandyopadhyay 2014, Nelson 2014, and Valenti 2011). Because elected prosecutors are more likely to follow public opinion, they should also be more likely to respond to the demands of the public than their appointed counterparts. In effect, elected prosecutors are expected to be more likely to exercise discretion in their charging and prosecuting. To test this, I use the 2014 …

Lgbtq Training For Aquatic Employees: Impact On Attitudes And Professional Competencies, Austin R. Anderson, Eric Knee, William D. Ramos

International Journal of Aquatic Research and Education

This study examined the impact of a LGBTQ diversity training on the attitudes and professional competencies of aquatic employees within a campus recreational sports setting. While diversity training is often discussed as a key component of inclusive aquatic programming, little empirical research examining the outcomes associated with such trainings exists. As such, members of the research team developed, implemented, and evaluated a four-month long training program consisting of one in-person training session and monthly inclusion handouts discussing issues related to the inclusion of LGBTQ participants. A comparative quantitative research design was used to measure employee’s attitudes towards the LGBTQ population …

How Factors Of State Supreme Court Retention Affect Votes To Overturn Precedent: How Do Different Factors Of State Supreme Court Composition Effect The Likelihood That Salient Cases Will Result In An Overturning Of Precedent?, Autumn N. Fosteson

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Since the establishment of individual states supreme courts, there has been debate on the best way to retain individual judges to their court. With five different forms of retention, each comes with their own set of outside forces that determine how a judge behaves while on the court. Some of these outside forces like a judge’s length of service on the court can also affect the decision to overturn a standing precedent, especially when the case captures great amounts of media attention. Salient cases are often more likely to result in an overturned precedent than other cases but outside factors …

A Political Effect On Judicial Decision Making: Does Ideology Or Election Effect The Way Judges Decide?, Kaylynne Lyons

Political Science Theses and Capstones

Politics have shown to have a strong effect on most things in our country. There has been lots of research on our state judicial systems and their effects on judicial decisions. Judges have been accused of having underlying reasons to their decisions even though they are not supposed to. Past research has suggested that how the judge is retained has a small but relevant effect on judicial decision making. The literature review discusses effects of the state's system of judicial selection. That leads us to question more about political effects on decision making. I analyze how the ideology of a …

Mhpaea & Marble Cake: Parity & The Forgotten Frame Of Federalism, Taleed El-Sabawi

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

No abstract provided.

“But I’M Standing Inside Right Now And I Need Help”: Security Projects And The Perceptions Of Campus Security, Andrea Corradi, Carrie B. Sanders, James Popham

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Acts of violence at institutions of higher education have been heavily publicized, leading security on post-secondary campuses to become a hotbed issue in the media and in the daily lives of those who attend them. With extensive media coverage of events such as the attack on Jeanne Clery, and the mass shootings at Northern Illinois University, Dawson College, and Virginia Tech, many post-secondary schools are working to enhance their security practices. The present study uses Valverde’s (2001; 2008; 2009; 2010; 2011; 2014) security projects framework to examine the lived experiences of security measures on a Canadian urban-integrated campus. Through semi-structured …

Public Opinion Of The Police In 1930s America: A Qualitative Historiographical Study, Willard M. Oliver

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Public opinion polls largely developed post-WWII and questions about the police did not appear until the late 1960s. Since then, over 100+ studies have assessed the modern-day public opinion of the police, but none have looked to public opinion from an earlier time period. This study uses a qualitative historiographical approach for assessing public opinion of the police in the 1930s by drawing on the primary source of a letter exchange between two of that eras greatest pulp writers: Robert E. Howard and H.P. Lovecraft. Findings suggest similarities between the 1930s and present day public opinion of the police."

Jennifer E. Cobbina, Hands Up, Don't Shoot, Joshua R. Ruffin

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Issues surrounding police use of excessive force continue to be a longstanding debate in the field of Criminal Justice. In the timely boots-on-the-ground work, Hands Up, Don't Shoot, Jennifer Cobbina amplifies the voices of Ferguson and Baltimore protestors by conducting indepth interviews with residents as it relates to their everyday experience with the police. In Hands Up, Don’t Shoot, Cobbina takes an “and” instead of an “or” approach in understanding the experiences often faced by residents of different intersecting identities in these communities. Further, Cobbina provides readers the opportunity to learn of the racialized experiences of these groups …

Out-Of-School Suspensions: Counter-Narratives From The Student Perspective, Karen Mcelrath, Lori Guevara, Zahra Shekarkhar, Joe M. Brown

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Out-of-school suspension (OSS) is a major disciplinary tool that has impacted large numbers of students in the United States. Most research into OSS has drawn exclusively on data collected from school records and other “official” sources, and this body of work has contributed to our understanding of suspension decisions by school officials. Considerably less is known about how students experience out-of-school suspensions. This line of inquiry is important because it captures the student voice and reveals a series of counter-narratives that offer alternative interpretations of students’ behaviors that lead to OSS. The aims of this study were twofold: 1) to …

“Everybody Loses:” Understanding Police Roles And Perceptions Of Domestic Violence Calls, Anjali Fulambarker

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"To better understand police response to domestic violence, it is useful to consider the perspectives of officers themselves. Through exploratory, in-depth interviews and applying the lens of role theory, this study focuses on police officers’ perceptions of their role in responding to domestic violence, their perceptions of the effectiveness of their response, and challenges they face. Findings suggest that, for these participants, there is an overlap in the different roles they inhabit, as well as limitations and barriers to their response. These limitations and obstacles are a signal that officers may be experiencing role overload, which leads to their frustration …

Incapacitated Fatherhood: The Impact Of Mass Incarceration On Black Father Identity, Dara Lewis, Philip Young P. Hong

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Despite the growing body of literature detailing the disproportionate social consequences of mass incarceration to black men, many of whom are fathers, insufficient attention has been given to the extent of damage on fatherhood and father identity in particular. This article examines the consequences of mass incarceration on father identity and the performance of fatherhood among a group of black men. Drawing from rich qualitative data, the study uses the lived experiences and perceptions of a group of formerly incarcerated black fathers. This research found that the incarceration experience significantly disrupted the performance of fatherhood among this group of men …

Tasseli Mckay, Megan Comfort, Christine Lindquist, & Anupa Bir, Holding On: Family And Fatherhood During Incarceration And Reentry, Danielle L. Haverkate

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"The impact of incarceration on families has received increased focus over the past 20 years. The bulk of examinations have narrowed in on the impact of parental incarceration on children (see Wakefield & Wildeman, 2013), the impact of incarceration on parenting (see Hairston, 2002), and the impacts of incarceration on the partners of those incarcerated (see Roy & Dyson, 2005; Turney, 2015). All of this suggests that family functioning is disrupted during periods of incarceration. Despite this, a large proportion of the literature on family relationships during and after prison focuses on incarcerated mothers (see Ferraro & Moe, 2003; Enos, …

What’S After Good?: The Burden Of Post-Incarceration Life, Quintin Williams, Cesraéa Rumpf

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"In the current era of mass incarceration, an increasing number of people face the challenge of transitioning from prison to society. Researchers of post-incarceration life have produced a detailed account of the collateral consequences of incarceration, noting the numerous barriers people must overcome as they try to return to society. In this paper, we show how stigma continues to be a structuring force in the lives of the formerly incarcerated. We develop the concept of the burden of post-incarceration life, meaning the structural constraints formerly incarcerated people face and the constant work they undertake to demonstrate and attempt to …

Letter From The Outgoing Editor, Lynne Vieraitis

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Welcome to the first issue of Volume 9 of the Journal of Qualitative Criminal Justice & Criminology, and my last issue as editor. I am happy to hand over the position to Scott Jacques from Georgia State University, who has a solid record as a qualitative researcher. The journal is in excellent hands, and I wish Scott and his editorial team the best as they continue to advance the journal and qualitative research."

Explaining The Body-Worn Camera Perspective Bias, Rémi Boivin, Camille Faubert, Annie Gendron, Bruno Poulin

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Body-worn cameras (BWCs) can be used to provide video evidence that is expected to help settle cases quickly. The present study explores the assumption that everyone who watches a recorded intervention will have the same understanding of the images. Focus groups were conducted with different people: citizens from the general population, in-training police candidates and cadets, as well as experienced police officers. The aim was to provide insights into how a potential BWC perspective bias affects attitudes towards use of force incidents. Results suggest that the bias has more effect on those without actual experience of police work. In particular, …

“A Victim Is A Victim:” Lgbt Blindness Among Victim Assistance Workers, Michael C. Lasala, James P. Fedor

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"LGBT crime victims underutilize victim assistance services because they fear secondary victimization by homophobic and insensitive workers and organizations. However, assessment of the perceptions and competence of those working with these populations is largely absent from the literature. To address this gap, we qualitatively investigated 83 victim assistance workers and administrators regarding their practices with LGBT victims. Overall, respondents believed that a victim’s sexual orientation or gender identity was irrelevant, which was well-meaning but potentially perpetuated a type of LGBT cultural blindness to the needs of these populations, not dissimilar to color blindness among some white service providers toward African …

“Driver’S License, Military Id, And Proof Of Registration And Insurance, Please”: Officer Discretion Surrounding Traffic Stops On An Air Force Installation, Steven L. Holman, Don Hummer

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Officer discretion is an oft-debated topic in American culture today. A plethora of research has been conducted on how local, county, and state law enforcement officers use their discretionary authority specific to enforcement of moving violations and the initiation of traffic stops, however to date, no such work has been conducted on a policing entity within the United States military. Through observational ride alongs and unstructured discussion with participants, this study breaks that barrier and assesses how one particular Air Force installation’s law enforcement officers exercise their authority."