Legal Studies Commons^™

On-Duty Fatal Police Shootings:Patterns Of Officers Charged With Murder Or Manslaughter, 2005-2020, Chloe Wentzlof, Philip M. Stinson

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Presentation at the Annual Meeting of the Midwestern Criminal Justice Association in Chicago, IL, on September 24, 2021.

Detecting Child Sexual Abuse Images: Traits Of Child Sexual Exploitation Hosting And Displaying Websites, Enrique Guerra, Bryce G. Westlake

Faculty Research, Scholarly, and Creative Activity

Background
Automated detection of child sexual abuse images (CSAI) often relies on image attributes, such as hash values. However, electronic service providers and others without access to hash value databases are limited in their ability to detect CSAI. Additionally, the increasing amount of CSA content being distributed means that a large percentage of images are not yet cataloged in hash value databases. Therefore, additional detection criteria need to be determined to improve identification of non-hashed CSAI.
Objective
We aim to identify patterns in the locations and folder/file naming practices of websites hosting and displaying CSAI, to use as additional detection …

Career Preparedness: Perspectives From C&Cj Alumni At An Scu, Tracey Woodard, Courtney Mcdonald

Teacher-Scholar: The Journal of the State Comprehensive University

State comprehensive universities (SCUs) feature degree programs designed to help graduates achieve their career aspirations. Criminology and Criminal Justice (C&CJ) programs have become popular at SCUs, in part because students are inspired by media portrayals of law enforcement to work in the criminal justice field. Yet little is known about how C&CJ alumni of SCUs perceive their educational experiences. For this exploratory study, an online survey was distributed to alumni of a Southern SCU C&CJ program. Alumni were asked about their perceptions of their own career preparedness following graduation and their satisfaction with the C&CJ program. Overall, alumni were satisfied …

The Effects Of Family Structure Stability And Parenting Practices On Juvenile Delinquency: Variations By Immigrant Generational Status And Race/Ethnicity, Lanmeng Ma

Doctoral Works at the University of New Haven

While the important role of various psychosocial factors in the development of criminality has long been acknowledged, many researchers, criminologists and criminal justice professionals firmly believe that family is specifically at the core. The purpose of this dissertation is to examine the relationships among family structure stability, parenting practice dimensions, and concurrent/subsequent delinquent behaviors, both theoretically and empirically. This study investigates how immigrant generational status and racial/ethnic disparities modulate associations between the stability of family structure, aspects of parenting practices, and adolescent delinquency, using a nationally representative sample from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health). …

Legal Positivism As A Theory Of Law’S Existence: A Comment On Margaret Martin’S "Judging Positivism", Jorge Luis Fabra-Zamora

Journal Articles

This comment critically examines the conception of legal positivism that informs Margaret Martin’s interesting and multilayered challenge against the substance and method of this intellectual tradition. My central claim is that her characterization of the substantive theory of legal positivism sets aside a more fundamental and explanatory prior dimension concerning the positivist’s theory of the existence of legal systems and legal norms. I also argue that her understanding of the positivist’s descriptive methodology as a nonnormative project is too demanding and overlooks both the relationships between law and morality recognized by contemporary legal positivists and the pivotal distinction between internal …

The Victims’ Voices: A Routine Activity Approach To Jail And Prison Victimization, Victor St. John

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The study explores the occurrence of victimization while incarcerated in American jails and prisons. Consistent with the Routine Activity Approach – which explains that victimization occurs due to the convergence of a suitable target and a motivated offender in time and space, and the absence of a capable guardian, handler, and place manager –, this study investigates the applicability of the approach within the correctional setting, namely the influence of place management, access to informal guardians, and the victims’ perception of correctional officers’ capability on preventing victimization (the formal guardian). A mixed methods design was employed, analyzing 87 semi-structured interviews …

Does Exposure To Interviewer Feedback Bias Observer Perceptions Of The Suspect? A Test Of Two Pathways To A Feedback Effect, Aria Amrom

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Confronting suspects with feedback, such as “We know you are lying, you need to tell us the truth,” during an interrogation is a common tactic used by police. Can this feedback influence the perceptions of factfinders who later observe video recordings of these sessions? Amrom et al. (2020) proposed two pathways through which feedback might affect observers: a direct feedback pathway by which observers infer the suspect’s credibility from the interviewer’s feedback, and an indirect misattribution pathway by which observers infer credibility from the suspect’s feedback-induced change in demeanor. Given the increasing frequency with which interrogations are video recorded for …

Evaluation Of The Potential Of Automated Sem-Eds Analysis For The Discrimination Of Inorganic Soil Particles, Anna S. Duggar

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Soil, that complex mixture of minerals, organic particles, chemicals, and anthropogenic materials, is ubiquitous and easily transferred, which gives it forensic relevance. Forensic soil analysis has traditionally included the identification and comparison of both organic and inorganic components, the inorganic portion being most commonly examined by light microscopy and other instrumental techniques. Predominantly, the inorganic materials in soil are naturally-occurring minerals, contributed as grains from the surrounding bedrock, which gives a soil its regional character. That parent material then undergoes physical, chemical, and anthropogenic changes producing wide geographic variation within a single region. This variation forms the basis for potential …

Examining Probation And Judicial Adherence To The Nyc Disposition Matrix, Susruta Sudula

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Decisions made by criminal justice professionals in the juvenile justice system can have long-lasting and far-reaching impacts on youth. Structured decision-making (SDM) models, such as disposition matrices, seek to reduce unwarranted disparity and ensure uniformity in sentencing, while still safeguarding public safety and improving youth outcomes. This dissertation is the first to review the New York City (NYC) Disposition Matrix. Using bivariate and multivariate analyses, the present study examines factors that predict probation and judicial adherence to the matrix and provides some reasons for probation deviations. It also explores whether matrix recommendations and judicial adherence predict rearrests.

Findings demonstrate that …

Legal Education In Indonesia, Adriaan Bedner, Jacqueline Vel

The Indonesian Journal of Socio-Legal Studies

Many of the discussions about legal education in Indonesia are similar to the ones conducted in other countries. They reflect the tension between a liberal legal education on the one hand and a vocational training on the other, as well as the tension between a legal education preparing students for legal practice and one preparing them for a broad range of generalist positions. However, we argue that legal education in Indonesia is also marred by problems of the legal system itself and by a lack of communication between its constituent parts – the judiciary, the legislative, the bar, public prosecutors, …

The Value And Scope Of The Term Femicide, Robert Brannon

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

The term femicide is useful in naming a wide range of sexist killings of women by men, just as “genocide” and “sexual harassment” named these respective other crimes and civil violations. Definitions and example of killings that are, and are not, femicides clarify the scope of the term. A number and variety of misogynistic killings of women can be documented. There is evidence that learning of the term of femicide has helped women to see and to combat femicides in their spheres. The term femicide has been embraced by the United Nations and by eight Latin American countries to date.

Must Consent Be Informed? Patient Rights, State Authority, And The Moral Basis Of The Physician's Duties Of Disclosure, D. Robert Macdougall

Publications and Research

Legal standards of disclosure in a variety of jurisdictions require physicians to inform patients about the likely consequences of treatment, as a condition for obtaining the patient’s consent. Such a duty to inform is special insofar as extensive disclosure of risks and potential benefits is not usually a condition for obtaining consent in non-medical transactions.

What could morally justify the physician’s special legal duty to inform? I argue that existing justifications have tried but failed to ground such special duties directly in basic and general rights, such as autonomy rights. As an alternative to such direct justifications, I develop an …

Editorial Foreword Ijsls Volume 1 Number 1, Sulistyowati Irianto

The Indonesian Journal of Socio-Legal Studies

No abstract provided.

Why Does An Ex-Offender Reoffend?, Jacob Rybak

Symposium of Student Scholars

What leads to an offender to go back to prison? Iowa has collected data tracking recidivism to evaluate the effectiveness of its programs for released offenders. This data set includes the following for all of the offenders: age groups, type of release (parole vs being discharged at the end of their sentence), race, sex, year of release, supervising district, original offense, and whether they recidivated. For the offenders who return to prison, the data set includes measures on days to return, type of recidivism (technicality or new crime), and what the specific offense was that caused their return.

In the …

Sanctuary In The City Of Brotherly Love: Probing The Effectiveness And Broader Implications Of Philadelphia’S Sanctuary City Policies, Thomas A. Koenig

Gettysburg Social Sciences Review

Amidst the already fraught politics of immigration, “sanctuary” policies, whereby state and local law enforcement agencies limit their cooperation with federal immigration enforcement authorities to varying degrees, have emerged as a particularly contentious issue. This paper sifts past the political vitriol surrounding the issue of “sanctuary” and uses original survey research in Philadelphia to answer a straightforward question: Are these policies working? That is, are the city of Philadelphia’s sanctuary policies actually building trust between its undocumented residents and local law enforcement, thereby laying the groundwork for higher rates of crime reporting and safer communities? My results from a survey …

Parental Incarceration And The Costly Effects On Their Children, Briana Rae Zocher

Master of Arts in Criminal Justice Leadership

The purpose of this project is to bring awareness to the silent victims associated with parental incarceration – their children. Throughout this project, the focus will be aimed towards promoting the education of the effects of parental incarceration and the impact it has on their children in a variety of compacities and how those settings influence incarceration amongst children of incarcerated parents. In addition, this paper will discuss parental incarceration in three different lens views: administrative, ethical, and legal. First, the administrative lens pertaining to leadership and evolution to successful leadership, especially the critical component of crisis communication strategy. Second, …

Cocaine, Cocaethylene And Ethanol In Postmortem Blood Submitted To The New York City Office Of Chief Medical Examiner, Jada T. Alexis

Student Theses

Cocaine overdose deaths are on the rise in the United States. This increase may be due to the co-consumption of cocaine with other drugs. When cocaine is ingested in conjunction with alcohol, a specific metabolite called cocaethylene forms. Information regarding cocaethylene, specifically its interpretive value in post-mortem cases, has not been widely studied. Data from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner in New York City revealed that there were 195 cases in 2017 positive for cocaethylene. These cases were most likely to involve black (42.1%) males (79.5%) in Manhattan (28.2%) aged 50 - 59 (34.4%). Most of the cases …

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (Lvmpd) Budget Review, Fiscal Years 2018-2021, Olivia K. Cheche, Elia Del Carmen Solano-Patricio, Caitlin J. Saladino, William E. Brown Jr.

Criminal Justice

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s (LVMPD) annual budget increased every fiscal year (FY) from 2018 to 2021. Using data provided by the LVMPD’s final budget reports for FY 2018 to 2021, this Fact Sheet details LVMPD funding increases and summarizes budget expenditures by unit and area command.

Forensic Artifact Finder (Forensicaf): An Approach & Tool For Leveraging Crowd-Sourced Curated Forensic Artifacts, Tyler Balon, Krikor Herlopian, Ibrahim Baggili, Cinthya Grajeda-Mendez

Electrical & Computer Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications

Current methods for artifact analysis and understanding depend on investigator expertise. Experienced and technically savvy examiners spend a lot of time reverse engineering applications while attempting to find crumbs they leave behind on systems. This takes away valuable time from the investigative process, and slows down forensic examination. Furthermore, when specific artifact knowledge is gained, it stays within the respective forensic units. To combat these challenges, we present ForensicAF, an approach for leveraging curated, crowd-sourced artifacts from the Artifact Genome Project (AGP). The approach has the overarching goal of uncovering forensically relevant artifacts from storage media. We explain our approach …

Forensicast: A Non-Intrusive Approach & Tool For Logical Forensic Acquisition & Analysis Of The Google Chromecast Tv, Alex Sitterer, Nicholas Dubois, Ibrahim Baggili

Electrical & Computer Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications

The era of traditional cable Television (TV) is swiftly coming to an end. People today subscribe to a multitude of streaming services. Smart TVs have enabled a new generation of entertainment, not only limited to constant on-demand streaming as they now offer other features such as web browsing, communication, gaming etc. These functions have recently been embedded into a small IoT device that can connect to any TV with High Definition Multimedia Interface (HDMI) input known as Google Chromecast TV. Its wide adoption makes it a treasure trove for potential digital evidence. Our work is the primary source on forensically …