Legal Studies Commons^™

The Road To Human Emancipation - The Moral And Political Foundations Of Markets, William Shi

CMC Senior Theses

The thesis aims to provide both a real public ideology and the legal and socioeconomic structures to realize Karl Marx’s ideal of human emancipation. Marx argues that in capitalist society, the legal and political superstructure forces the ruling class to represent its interest as the public interest, which legitimizes the massive inequality in resources and social power. To demonstrate how to realize the substantive public interest, the two parts of the thesis have two goals. The first part aims to formulate a rightful candidate to the public ideology of human emancipation, which represents the substantive public interest rather than the …

Judicial Elections, Public Opinion, And Their Impact On State Criminal Justice Policy, Travis N. Taylor

Theses and Dissertations--Political Science

This dissertation explores whether and how the re-election prospects faced by trial court judges in many American states influence criminal justice policy, specifically, state levels of incarceration, as well as the disparity in rates of incarceration for Whites and Blacks. Do states where trial court judges must worry about facing reelection tend to encourage judicial behavior that results in higher incarceration rates? And are levels of incarceration and racial disparities in the states influenced by the proportion of the state publics who want more punitive policies? These are clearly important questions because they speak directly to several normative and empirical …

Effective Laundering Conditions For Ignitable Liquid Decontamination Of Fire Scene Clothing Used By The Bureau Of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, And Explosives, Rebecca K. Whitney

Master of Science in Forensic Science Directed Research Projects

Ignitable liquids such as gasoline and diesel fuel are common accelerants encountered by Certified Fire Investigators (CFIs). These ignitable liquids can be identified by gas chromatography-mass spectroscopy; the presence of particular peaks in appropriate abundances and patterns indicates the presence of compounds found in ignitable liquids. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives (ATF) issues clothing to its CFIs for wear during fire scene investigation. Previous research has identified a method to decontaminate the tools used by CFIs, but no explicit protocol to decontaminate scene clothing has been determined. This study investigated the use of Tide Ultra Stain Release, …

Discrimination Of Colorless Fibers By Uv-Vis Microspectrophotometry And Microspectrofluorimetry, Kialani Killinger

Master of Science in Forensic Science Directed Research Projects

Fiber evidence is frequently encountered in forensic casework, and part of a typical fiber analytical scheme involves the detailed study of the color and other physical properties, optical properties, and chemical composition of the fibers in question. Microspectrophotometry (MSP) is commonly used to provide objective color measurements of fibers, eliminating subjectivity that may be present in visual color examinations. MSP can produce color measurements over the ultraviolet (UV) and visible (VIS) regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, as well as emission spectra from fluorescence measurements. In this research, colorless fibers were analyzed by MSP, using both transmission measurements in the UV-VIS …

Analysis Of Pellet Patterns And Gsr Produced From Judge Taurus Revolvers, Donald Poon

Master of Science in Forensic Science Directed Research Projects

The Taurus Judge is a five-shot revolver designed to fire both 410 Bore shotshells and caliber 45 (Long) Colt cartridges. It is marketed as a self-defense firearm by Taurus. As of 2010, the Taurus Judge was “quickly becoming a popular personal defense firearm”.¹ Although it has become somewhat popular, the Taurus Judge and its various models have not had many distance determination studies completed and there is still a dearth of information on how these handguns compare with shotguns when looking at range of fire determinations. This study focused on: how barrel length affected pellet spread patterns produced by …

Leveraging Data To Reduce Gun Violence: The Cincinnati Experience, Matthew G. Hammer, Tamara D. Herold

Criminal Justice Faculty Research

The year 2020 has amplified demands for more equitable policing, more efficient government, and greater transparency. As police leaders around the world attempt to maintain order and safety during a period of large-scale civil unrest, they must also address criticisms that existing law enforcement practices include biased interventions and reinforce systemic racism. Many law enforcement agencies are also responding to increasing numbers of serious crimes that disproportionately affect society’s most vulnerable communities, while simultaneously facing calls to “defund the police” fueled by accusations that challenge the legitimacy of their policing tactics. The strategies used by agencies to manage protests and …

Crime Place Networks In Las Vegas: A New Violence Reduction Strategy, Tamara D. Herold

Criminal Justice Faculty Research

In 2017, the Las Vegas, Nevada, Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) adopted a series of interventions designed to reduce gang and gun violence across Las Vegas. In partnership with the International Association of Chiefs of Police/University of Cincinnati (IACP/UC) Center for Police Research and Policy and with evaluation funding provided by the Laura and John Arnold Foundation, the LVMPD implemented three violence reduction strategies: (1) focused deterrence (offender notification session); (2) hot spot patrols; and (3) place network investigations (PNI), also known as place-based investigations of violent offender territories (PIVOT), which is the focus here.

Mother Knows Best: A Brief Examination Of The 1982- 2019 Us Mass Shootings Data From Mother Jones’S Investigation, Gordon A. Crews, Garrison A. Crews

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

In the aftermath of the movie theater mass shooting in July of 2012 in Aurora, Colorado, Mother Jones magazine created one of the first open-source databases documenting mass shootings in the United States. They focused on documenting rampage shootings in public places which resulted in four or more victims killed by the attacker(s). Their initial database consisted of incidents between 1982 and 2012, then an additional 54 cases were added to this data base of incidents which occurred between 2013 and August 2019. The purpose of this chapter is to analyze the incidents gathered in this complete database from 1982 …

Mi Casa No Es Tu Casa: Attitudes Of Rio Grande Valley Police Regarding Immigration And Crime, Catherine E. Burton, Gordon A. Crews

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Extremism In Society, Gordon A. Crews

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Acts Of Meaning, Resource Diagrams, And Essential Learning Behaviors: The Design Evolution Of Lost & Found, Owen Gottlieb, Ian Schreiber

Articles

Lost & Found is a tabletop-to-mobile game series designed for teaching medieval religious legal systems. The long-term goals of the project are to change the discourse around religious laws, such as foregrounding the prosocial aspects of religious law such as collaboration, cooperation, and communal sustainability. This design case focuses on the evolution of the design of the mechanics and core systems in the first two tabletop games in the series, informed by over three and a half years’ worth of design notes, playable prototypes, outside design consultations, internal design reviews, playtests, and interviews.

Validation Of The 4-Aminophenol Chemical Test And Analytical Testing Scheme To Distinguish Marijuana And Hemp, Kenna Lewis

Master of Science in Forensic Science Directed Research Projects

With the passing of the 2018 Farm Bill, which legalized hemp, law enforcement agencies and forensic laboratories needed a more efficient testing scheme to differentiate marijuana and hemp Cannabis plants. The validation of the 4-aminophenol chemical test and the subsequent analytical scheme allows for this differentiation to be performed. The evaluation of eighteen different cannabinoids, including acids, demonstrated that compounds with structures similar to tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) produced a blue result and compounds with structures similar to cannabidiol (CBD) produced a pink result. Several titration curves with varying concentrations of cannabinoids indicated a pink result when the THC concentration was less …

Law Enforcement Officers As Victims Of Felonious Killings And Assaults: An Analysis Of The Predictors Of Lethality And The Likelihood Of Officer Assault Or Death, Gabriella Mercado

Theses and Dissertations

This study was designed to explore the predictors of lethality for the outcome of police officer assault with injury and felonious death. Recent news has focused on police brutality and their excessive use of force. Conversely, the inverse relationship has not received much focus. To explore the aforementioned relationship, data from the LEOKA program on 1,375 officers who were feloniously killed or assaulted with serious injury between the years of 2008 and 2017 were examined to determine the statistical significance between several predictor variables and the outcome variable.

Binary logistic regression was used to answer the research questions posed by …

Asd Training: Knowledge, Attitudes & Perceptions Of A South Georgia Police Officer, Heather Banks Mcneal

Theses and Dissertations

This study offered a preliminary look at the evidence to support the benefits of training South Georgia Police Officers on the phenomenon that is autism. Research suggested that there was limited experimental data available regarding why persons with ASD entered the criminal justice system, as well as how to manage them once they are there (Chovanec, 2013). Various regions of the United States embraced the importance of ASD training amongst their law enforcement officers; however, Georgia has only recently taken steps to do the same by the inclusion of a voluntary, online course regarding autism and de-escalation. Participants shared their …

Perceptions Of Barriers In Prosecuting Human Trafficking Cases, Jennifer Nelms

Theses and Dissertations

Human trafficking is a world-wide problem with many barriers. Human trafficking cases are criminal but are also a violation of human rights. Human trafficking victims are lured from their homes based on the allusion from the trafficker of a better life. The victims are then beaten, forces to use drugs, and essentially broken. Once the victim is broken they are forced to perform sexual acts. Due to the initial promises and threats the victims endure, they also suffered from fear of trusting others especially law enforcement as well as other psychological issues similar to that of a domestic violence victim. …

Postconviction Innocence Review In The Age Of Progressive Prosecution, Elizabeth H. Webster

Criminal Justice & Criminology: Faculty Publications & Other Works

The Article examines how prosecutors adopt legal standards, how they evaluate both forensic and non-forensic new evidence of innocence, and how and when they acknowledge innocence—all in the context of the highly discretionary postconviction arena.

The Second Shift.” Female Police Officers And The Struggle Of Work/Life Balance And Promotion, Ashlyn Decruise-Fortune

Theses and Dissertations

This study examined how women in law enforcement maintained a work-life balance with responsibilities such as motherhood, domestic responsibility and other care-taker roles. While there has been some research conducted on female police officers, much of the literature was outdated. Further, many of these studies focused on women’s performance and competence as police officers, and the associated burnout rate of female police officers. Very few studies examined the gender gaps in supervisory positions in relation to the Law Enforcement field within the United States, as well as the continued underrepresentation of women in Law Enforcement. Additionally, previous literature did not …

Drug Users’ Experiences Of A Residential Rehabilitation Program In Western Australia: A Thematic Analysis Of Drug Users Lived Experiences, Michelle Fullam

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

In the last decade, there has been a marked increase in the awareness of drug use and drug-related crime in Australia. As a result, the demand for drug treatment services has increased and 14 recognised government-funded services are now available in Western Australia (WA). The goal of these services is to reduce drug use through full-time intensive programs that are usually residential. This type of drug treatment has been shown to be effective in reducing drug use and promoting pro-social lives post-treatment. However, little is known of the experiences of participants in this type of treatment in WA. As such, …

Quantifying The Need For Supervised Machine Learning In Conducting Live Forensic Analysis Of Emergent Configurations (Eco) In Iot Environments, Victor R. Kebande, Richard A. Ikuesan, Nickson M. Karie, Sadi Alawadi, Kim-Kwang Raymond Choo, Arafat Al-Dhaqm

Research outputs 2014 to 2021

© 2020 The Author(s) Machine learning has been shown as a promising approach to mine larger datasets, such as those that comprise data from a broad range of Internet of Things devices, across complex environment(s) to solve different problems. This paper surveys existing literature on the potential of using supervised classical machine learning techniques, such as K-Nearest Neigbour, Support Vector Machines, Naive Bayes and Random Forest algorithms, in performing live digital forensics for different IoT configurations. There are also a number of challenges associated with the use of machine learning techniques, as discussed in this paper.

More Than Just A Rapper: Mainstream And Alternative Media’S Depiction Of Nipsey Hussle, Jonathan Hazlewood

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

Mainstream and alternative media depict individuals differently from one another. In stories covering African American rappers and homicide victims, mainstream and alternative stories use images, phrases, and people to portray certain ideas to their audience. In terms of mainstream news outlets, stories associate criminality onto African American homicide victims and rappers through labeling them as brutes, focusing on the crimes they commit, and highlighting criminal associations (Aquil, 2018; Cochran, 2015; Dukes & Gaither 2018; Wright & Washington, 2019). While alternative outlets have offered sympathetic and well-rounded representations that depict the life, personal accomplishments, and good deeds of an African American …