Legal Studies Commons^™

Capital And Punishment: Resource Scarcity Increases Endorsement Of The Death Penalty, Keelah E. G. Williams, Ashley M. Votruba, Steven L. Neuberg, Michael J. Saks

Department of Psychology: Faculty Publications

Faced with punishing severe offenders, why do some prefer imprisonment whereas others impose death? Previous research exploring death penalty attitudes has primarily focused on individual and cultural factors. Adopting a functional perspective, we propose that environmental features may also shape our punishment strategies. Individuals are attuned to the availability of resources within their environments. Due to heightened concerns with the costliness of repeated offending, we hypothesize that individuals tend toward elimination-focused punishments during times of perceived scarcity. Using global and United States data sets (studies 1 and 2), we find that indicators of resource scarcity predict the presence of capital …

Violence Is As American As Cherry Pie: Mass Incarceration And Juvenile Violence, Stephen C. Stanko, Gordon A. Crews

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

The purpose of this chapter is to offer “food for thought” regarding an under researched area of juvenile violence causation: the possible connection between steadily increasing incarceration rates and steadily increasing incidents of school violence. Unfortunately, the negative, and sometimes violent, traits individuals develop while incarcerated are often brought out into their lives in society and personal lives, which often involve the raising of children. Research has documented the impacts that being incarcerated can have upon an individual. There is growing research supporting that these newly developed traits and behaviors can easily be imbedded in the children in which they …

Harmless Constitutional Error: How A Minor Doctrine Meant To Improve Judicial Efficiency Is Eroding America's Founding Ideals, Ross C. Reggio

CMC Senior Theses

The United States Constitution had been in existence for almost two hundred years before the Supreme Court decided that some violations of constitutional rights may be too insignificant to warrant remedial action. Known as "harmless error," this statutory doctrine allows a court to affirm a conviction when a mere technicality or minor defect did not affect the defendant's substantial rights. The doctrine aims to promote judicial efficiency and judgment finality. The Court first applied harmless error to constitutional violations by shifting the statutory test away from the error's effect on substantial rights to its impact on the jury's verdict. Over …

The Impact Of Environmental Degradation On The Analysis Of Manufactured Fibers, Alexis R. Weber

Master's Theses

The analysis of fiber evidence involves the ability to link a questioned fiber back to its known source. But before the collection and analysis of questioned fibers, they could be potentially exposed to various environmental conditions for an extended period of time. There has been little research on how manufactured fibers are affected by various environments and if this interaction affects the ability to link a questioned fiber back to its known source. Changes to the manufactured fibers are essential to be aware of, in order to avoid the possibility of erroneous exclusions when performing fiber comparisons. A six-month time …

Assay Development For The Identification Of Species And Bioactive Compounds Of Morinda Citrifolia (Noni) In Dietary Supplements By Rt-Qpcr, Dna Sanger Sequencing And Spectroscopy (Uv-Vis/Ftir), Ricardo L. Fernandez Walker

Master's Theses

Regulation standards for dietary supplements lack greatly. Due to this, fraud during the manufacturing of these products might be committed. Previous investigations on herbal dietary supplements have shown that the main ingredient was not present in most of the herbal supplements tested and that these products also contained other substances not stated in the label The purpose of this study was to develop a fluorescent qPCR assay for the identification of Morinda citrifolia herbal species in dietary supplements. Primers for genetic regions rbcL and matK of M. citrifolia were designed. The potential of novel matK primer showed discrimination potential …

Volume 11, Jacob Carney, Ryan White, Joseph Hyman, Jenny Raven, Megan Garrett, Ibrahim Kante, Summer Meinhard, Lauren Johnson, William "Editha" Dean Howells, Laura Gottschalk, Christopher Siefke, Pink Powell, Natasha Woodmancy, Katharine Colley, Abbey Mays, Charlotte Potts

Incite: The Journal of Undergraduate Scholarship

Table of Contents:

Introduction, Dr. Roger A. Byrne, Dean

From the Editor, Dr. Larissa "Kat" Tracy

From the Designers, Rachel English, Rachel Hanson

Synthesis of 3,5-substituted Parabens and their Antimicrobial Properties, Jacob Coarney, Ryan White

Chernobyl: Putting "Perestroika" and "Glasnot" to the Test, Joseph Hyman

Art by Jenny Raven

Watering Down Accessibility: The Issue with Public Access to Alaska's Federal Waterways, Meagan Garrett

Why Has the Democratic Republic of the Congo outsourced its Responsibility to Educate its Citizens? Ibrahim Kante

Art by Summer Meinhard

A Computational Study of Single Molecule Diodes, Lauren Johnson

Satire of …

Sex, Drugs, And Rock 'N' Roll: What Shall We Ban Next?, Gordon A. Crews, Samantha Leigh Crews

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Music, literature, movies, and all forms of entertainment play an important role in the socialization of adolescents. Present everywhere and easily available, this allows children almost limitless access to questionable entertainment alone or with friends. Parents are unaware of the content of what their children are absorbing because of the use of downloaded music, videos, and literature, and the use of headphones. Research on popular culture/entertainment has explored its effects on schoolwork, social interactions, and particularly behavior. Lyrics have become more explicit in their references to drugs, sex, and violence over the years, particularly in certain genres. And, in turn, …

Immunity Incorporated: All The Injustice That Jeffrey Epstein Can Buy, Janice G. Raymond

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

A Study Of The Kratom Alkaloids And Their Binding To The Μ-Opioid Receptor, Reba Elizabeth Ann Chamblee

Honors Theses

Kratom, a plant commonly found in southeast Asia, has traditionally been used for medicinal treatments. Recently, however, the popularity of the drug has significantly increased due to its euphoric effects, leading to it being used as an alternative to illegal opioids. Several alkaloid compounds have been isolated from the leaves of the plant. The main alkaloids seen are the following five alkaloids: mitragynine, 7-hydroxymitragynine, speciociliatine, speciogynine, and paynantheine. Two alkaloids, mitragynine and 7-hydroxymitragynine, have exhibited high potencies and are potentially even more potent than morphine. Previous studies have indicated that the main mediator of the psychoactive effects is the opioid …

Dismantling Structural Inequality: Lock Ups, Systemic Chokeholds, And Race-Based Policing - A Symposium Summary, Cedric Merlin Powell, Laura R. Mcneal

Faculty and Staff Scholarship

The prominence of the carceral state in American society serves to undermine basic principles of democracy and justice, disproportionately displacing people of color and excluding them from all viable avenues of citizenship.

Law Enforcement Officer Body-Worn Camera Perceptions: Pre And Post Deployment, Benjamin Aaron Straight

Theses and Dissertations

The 2014 fatal police shooting of Michael Brown resulted in (a) a national outcry for police departments to deploy body-worn cameras; and (b) community members and politicians demanding more transparency in the governmental administration of police work. Despite the increased media attention and deployment of body-worn cameras, there is little research on how law enforcement officers perceive body-worn cameras.

The Miami-Dade Police Department implemented a mandatory body-worn camera program on April 20, 2016. The department agreed to a partnership to conduct research on their officers' body-worn camera perceptions. The department internally distributed an electronic survey to 3,313 sworn officers and …

An Analysis Of Selected Clusters Of Fires In Florida (1996 - 2018), Thomas Riley Hall

Theses and Dissertations

Hidden within the day-to-day routine responses of fire departments are possible multiple fires set by individuals in a small area with an unusual frequency. These fires may be the initial announcement of an emerging serial offender who is declaring a wound, an intolerable life situation, or is triggered by unknown events. This study sought to predict incendiary fires within a known cluster by using observable variables, both prior to and after the cluster event. This was done to further our understanding of the characteristics of clusters of intentionally lit fires. This was accomplished by examining the Florida Fire Information Reports …

Respect And The Role It Plays In Explaining The Disproportionate Number Of African-Americans Incarcerated, Tina B. Craddock

Theses and Dissertations

This was a quantitative research study that examined the roles respect and self-esteem play within the African American population. There is no disagreement among social scientists that there is a disproportionate number of African Americans incarcerated. This study attempts to offer one possible explanation. This was a quasi-replication of a study conducted nearly two decades ago using African American adolescent males between the ages of 14 to 18. This research study identified a sample population consisting of African American males and females between the ages of 18 and 50. A cross-sectional analysis was utilized using convenience sampling. The research instruments …

Evidence-Based Practice In Offender Programming: An Examination Of The Crimesolutions.Gov Registry, Mckenzie L. Jossie

UNF Graduate Theses and Dissertations

Offender reentry, felony declassification, and the opioids epidemic have led to quick and widespread implementation of substance abuse and mental health treatment programming in justice settings. This tremendous increase in offender treatment programming has outpaced applied research on program quality and treatment efficacy. This study examined whether designated evidence-based practices are actually delivered in funded treatment initiatives. Secondary data was utilized from the National Institute of Justice’s CrimeSolutions.gov, a national evidence-based practice and program registry. A content analysis methodology examined CrimeSolutions.gov program profiles and topical refereed literature through systematic analysis of five offender treatment evidence-based practices (actuarial screening, co-occurring disorders …

Investigating The Response Criteria Shift Account For The Verbal Overshadowing Effect, Matthew C. Dean

Honors Theses

The present study investigated the impact of response criteria shift effects within the verbal overshadowing effect (VOE). Participants watched a video recording of a burglary and were then given one of two tasks: either 1.) a recall task or 2.) a non- recall task (Tetris). Participants were then shown a two-person lineup and forced to identify the burglar. The results of the experiment indicated that participants who engage in the recall task demonstrate verbal overshadowing, despite being forced to identify from a lineup. Essentially, verbal overshadowing occurs without a shift in response criteria.

Investigating The Binding Of Fentanyl And Fentanyl Analogs To The Μ-Opioid Receptor, Marissa Anne Teske

Honors Theses

In 1960, Dr. Paul Janssen of the Janssen Company synthesized fentanyl. It is a rapid-acting analgesic that, unlike similar analgesics around that time, did not have negative cardiovascular effects. Fentanyl, and its derivatives, are strong μ-opioid receptor agonists. Rates of fatal opioid overdoses involving fentanyl have increases rapidly over the past two decades Due to these increasing concerns related to fentanyl and its derivatives, it is important to not only study fentanyl and its known derivatives, but to also study and understand potential new derivatives and how all these compounds interact with the opioid receptors. This study examined the interactions …

Required, Permissible, And Impermissible Forms Of Federal Judicial Assistance To Self-Represented Litigants: Toward Establishment Of A Judicial Duty Of Reasonable Assistance, Jona Goldschmidt

Criminal Justice & Criminology: Faculty Publications & Other Works

In an effort to assist the judiciary in navigating the seemingly mixed messages coming from the Supreme Court, this paper reviews federal Circuit Court of Appeals case law which discusses required, permissible, and impermissible forms of judicial assistance to SRLs.

Inception: Virtual Space In Memory Space In Real Space, Peter Casey, Rebecca Lindsay-Decusati, Ibrahim Baggili, Frank Breitinger

Electrical & Computer Engineering and Computer Science Faculty Publications

Virtual Reality (VR) has become a reality. With the technology's increased use cases, comes its misuse. Malware affecting the Virtual Environment (VE) may prevent an investigator from ascertaining virtual information from a physical scene, or from traditional “dead” analysis. Following the trend of antiforensics, evidence of an attack may only be found in memory, along with many other volatile data points. Our work provides the primary account for the memory forensics of Immersive VR systems, and in specific the HTC Vive. Our approach is capable of reconstituting artifacts from memory that are relevant to the VE, and is also capable …

Finding Law, Stephen E. Sachs

Faculty Scholarship

That the judge's task is to find the law, not to make it, was once a commonplace of our legal culture. Today, decades after Erie, the idea of a common law discovered by judges is commonly dismissed -- as a "fallacy," an "illusion," a "brooding omnipresence in the sky." That dismissive view is wrong. Expecting judges to find unwritten law is no childish fiction of the benighted past, but a real and plausible option for a modern legal system.

This Essay seeks to restore the respectability of finding law, in part by responding to two criticisms made by Erie and …

The Prevalence Of Hate Crimes Motivated By Sexual Orientation In Florida After The U.S. Supreme Court Legalization Of Same-Sex Marriages, Shawntozi Campbell

Theses and Dissertations

Research on the dynamics of violence has revealed that crimes involving a prejudicial motive often occur in close temporal proximity to a galvanizing event such as elections, terrorist attacks, or unprecedented Supreme Court decisions. Given the particularly contested nature of marriage policy, it is not inconceivable that same-sex marriage recognition might incite retaliatory violence. Same-sex couples were granted the right to marry by the United States Supreme Court in June of 2015. By June 2016, Orlando, Florida experienced the “deadliest incident of violence against LGBTQ people in U.S. history,” after a mass shooting at Pulse nightclub resulted in the death …