Legal Studies Commons^™

An Examination Of The Interactions Of Race And Gender On Sentencing Decisions Using A Trichotomous Dependent Variable, Tina L. Freiburger, Carly M. Hilinski-Rosick

Peer Reviewed Publications

This study examined how race, gender, and age interact to affect defendants’ sentences using a trichotomized dependent variable. The findings indicate that the racial and gender disparity found in sentencing decisions was largely due to Black men’s increased likelihood of receiving jail as opposed to probation. The results also show that being young resulted in increased odds of receiving probation over jail for White men and for women but resulted in decreased odds for Black men. Separate analysis of incarceration terms to jail and prison further reveal that legal factors had a greater impact on prison than on jail sentence …

Technology Corner: Visualising Forensic Data: Evidence Guidelines (Part 2), Damian Schofield, Ken Fowle

Research outputs 2013

Visualisation is becoming increasingly important for understanding information, such as investigative data (for example: computing, medical and crime scene evidence) and analysis (for example, network capability assessment, data file reconstruction and planning scenarios). Investigative data visualisation is used to reconstruct a scene or item and is used to assist the viewer (who may well be a member of the general public with little or no understanding of the subject matter) to understand what is being presented. Analysis visualisations, on the other hand, are usually developed to review data, information and assess competing scenario hypotheses for those who usually have an …

The Influence Of Prior Relationship On Perceptions Of Stalking: A Comparison Of Laypersons, Nonspecialist Police Officers And Specialist Police Officers, Adrian J. Scott, Keri Nixon, Lorraine Sheridan

Research outputs 2013

The current research examined the influence of prior relationship on perceptions of stalking, and compared the perceptions of laypersons, nonspecialist police officers, and specialist police officers. Two studies employed experimental designs where participants were presented with one of three vignettes in which the nature of the prior relationship was manipulated so that the perpetrator and victim were portrayed as strangers, acquaintances, or ex-partners. Participants comprised 101 nonspecialist police officers and 108 laypersons in Study 1, and 49 specialist police officers and 49 nonspecialist police officers in Study 2. Findings indicate that nonspecialist police officers and laypersons shared the common misperception …

Understanding Perceptions Of Stalking: The Impact Of Additional Contextual Information Regarding The Breakdown Of Relationships, Simon C. Duff, Adrian J. Scott

Research outputs 2013

Purpose: Perception research has demonstrated that people view stranger stalkers to be more persistentand dangerous than ex-partner stalkers. Although these findings are consistent with the outcome of legal processes where stranger stalkers are more likely to be convicted, they contrast with the findings of national surveys and applied research where ex-partner stalkers represent the most persistent and dangerous relational subtype. The aim of the current study is to further examine the influence of prior relationship on perceptions of stalking by considering the impact of additional contextual information regarding the breakdown of ex-partners’ relationships for the first time.

Design/methodology/approach: In this …

Framing And Perceptions Of Stalking: The Influence Of Conduct Severity And The Perpetrator-Target Relationship, Adrian J. Scott, Nikki Rajakaruna, Lorraine P. Sheridan

Research outputs 2013

Research has demonstrated that the way in which questions are presented (i.e. framed) has the capacity to influence responses to subsequent questions. In the context of stalking, perception research has often been framed in terms of whether or not particular behaviours constitute stalking. The current research investigates whether the framing of the opening question (question frame), conduct severity and the perpetrator target relationship influence perceptions of stalking. Two studies employed experimental 3 3 independent factorial designs: one to examine question frame and conduct severity, the other to examine question frame and the perpetrator target relationship. Participants in both studies (total …

Secondary Victims' Perceptions Of Justice : Implications For Forensic Psychology, Benjamin Bannister

Theses: Doctorates and Masters

An emerging area of study has begun to look at the perceptions of justice of the family and friends of crime victims – or, secondary victims. It is important to improve understanding of secondary victims’ experiences of justice, partly because knowledge about how they perceive justice may help forensic psychologists assist them more effectively. This research attempted to assess how well existing justice theories could account for secondary victims’ perceptions of justice, and also help determine what is important to them. Using the largely ignored group of secondary victims of non-sexual violent crime, the research consisted of two interrelated stages. …

Research Brief One-Sheet No.6: Officers Arrested For Drunk Driving, Philip M. Stinson, John Liederbach, Steven L. Brewer, Natalie E. Todak

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Cases involving police who drive drunk are part of the larger problem of driving under the influence (DUI). The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention report that alcohol-impaired traffic accidents kill over 10,000 people annually, accounting for nearly one-third of all traffic-related deaths in the United States (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 2011). But, cases that involve police who drive drunk (or, Police DUIs) should also be recognized as a phenomenon that presents unique problems. Police DUI's have the potential to weaken public trust and the legitimacy of strategies designed to mitigate drunk driving, because the drunk driver in …

The Value Of An Interdisciplinary Education For Prospective Law Students, Ian J. Drake

Department of Political Science and Law Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

Undergraduate pre-law education must prepare prospective law students for the challenges of law school and the law school admissions process. Although law school does not require a prerequisite course of study, it is my contention that the optimal undergraduate preparation consists of interdisciplinary liberal arts education. Such a pedagogical approach allows for students to understand law in the context of society and its practice beyond the theoretical fundamentals taught in most law schools. Many law school faculty favor interdisciplinary education in law school and law admissions officials stress liberal arts education for undergraduates. Accordingly, the optimal pre-law undergraduate education should …

Communicative Content And Legal Content, Lawrence B. Solum

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This essay investigates a familiar set of questions about the relationship between legal texts (e.g., constitutions, statutes, opinions, orders, and contracts) and the content of the law (e.g., norms, rules, standards, doctrines, and mandates). Is the original meaning of the constitutional text binding on the Supreme Court when it develops doctrines of constitutional law? Should statutes be given their plain meaning or should judges devise statutory constructions that depart from the text to serve a purpose? What role should default rules play in the interpretation and construction of contracts? This essay makes two moves that can help lawyers and legal …

Technology Corner: Visualising Forensic Data: Evidence (Part 1), Damian Schofield, Ken Fowle

Research outputs 2013

Visualisation is becoming increasingly important for understanding information, such as investigative data (for example: computing, medical and crime scene evidence) and analysis (for example: network capability assessment, data file reconstruction and planning scenarios). Investigative data visualisation is used to reconstruct a scene or item and is used to assist the viewer (who may well be a member of the general public with little or no understanding of the subject matter) to understand what is being presented. Analysis visualisations, on the other hand, are usually developed to review data, information and assess competing scenario hypotheses for those who usually have an …

Reduction Of Observable Robbery And Larceny-Theft In The Twelve Largest Cities In The United States From 1980 To 2009, Andrew J. Costello

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

The reduction in crime rates that occurred in large cities across the United States (US) over the course of the past two decades has been the subject of much speculation and research. However, there have been no definitive empirical studies that conclusively determine the causes for this phenomenon. The goal of this study is to identify the impact of certain factors to the reduction of crime in large US cities that occurred over the past two decades by examining data over a thirty-year period (1980-2009). The identification of contributing factors may allow government officials, both on a local and national …

Forensics Far More Than What’S Seen On Tv, Aldemaro Romero Jr.

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Life And Health Outside Prison, Tiffany Amorette Young

Open Access Theses & Dissertations

This qualitative study explores the subjective understandings of formerly incarcerated individuals' experiences of health and healthcare prior to, during, and post release. The study incorporates in depth ethnographic interviews, participant observation, and life charting to formulate a holistic understanding of how incarceration has impacted the health and lives of the participants recruited for this study. All participants were incarcerated for a minimum of one year in the U.S. prison system. This interdisciplinary study contributes to the fields of sociology, criminology, and public health, and builds on the literature of race, health, and corrections in the United States.

Towards Engaged Scholarship, John R. Nolon, Michelle Bryan Mudd, Michael Burger, Kim Diana Connolly, Nestor Davidson, Matthew Festa, Jill I. Gross, Lisa Heinzerling, Keith H. Hirokawa, Tim Iglesias, Patrick C. Mcginley, Sean Nolon, Uma Outka, Jessica Owley, Kalyani Robbins, Jonathan Rosenbloom, Christopher Serkin

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Structural Overdelegation In Criminal Procedure, Anthony O'Rourke

Journal Articles

In function, if not in form, criminal procedure is a type of delegation. It requires courts to select constitutional objectives, and to decide how much discretionary authority to allocate to law enforcement officials in order to implement those objectives. By recognizing this process for what it is, this Article identifies a previously unseen phenomenon that inheres in the structure of criminal procedure decision-making.

Criminal procedure’s decision-making structure, this Article argues, pressures the Supreme Court to delegate more discretionary authority to law enforcement officials than the Court’s constitutional objectives can justify. By definition, this systematic “overdelegation” does not result from the …

Indiana, Bert Chapman

Libraries Faculty and Staff Scholarship and Research

Provides an overview of key Civil War developments in Indiana and how this conflict impacted Indiana.

Assessing The Readability Of Capital Pattern Jury Instructions, Rachel Small, Judith Platania, Brian L. Cutler

Arts & Sciences Faculty Publications

Data obtained from the National Assessment of Adult Literacy (2003) indicate that 29% of adults have a Basic level of prose literacy. Prose literacy refers to the knowledge and skills needed to comprehend and use information from continuous texts, such as editorials, news stories, and instructional materials. In the current study we examined each state’s capital sentencing instructions for their readability using a highly reliable word-analysis tool. We found that reading levels of sentencing instructions significantly surpassed the reading comprehension abilities of American adults. All but three states’ instructions were above the twelfth grade reading level. In addition, legal principles …

Seeing Is Believing: The Csi Effect Among Jurors In Malicious Wounding Cases, Corey Call, Amy K. Cook, John D. Reitzel, Robyn D. Mcdougle

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

With the popularization of television crime shows that focus heavily on forensic science, such as CSI and its spin-offs, concerns about a new threat to jury trials have emerged in recent years. Dubbed the “CSI effect,” this phenomenon has reportedly come to influence the way jurors perceive forensic evidence at trials based on the way forensic evidence is presented on television. While the CSI effect has been the topic of much discussion throughout the popular press, the CSI effect has seldom been empirically tested. In this study, we present a selection of media accounts as well as criminological and …

Cutting The Bread, Frans G. Von Der Dunk

Space, Cyber, and Telecommunications Law Program: Faculty Publications

Why the draft Treaty on the Prevention of the Placement of Weapons in Outer Space, the Threat or Use of Received Force against Outer Space Objects (PPWT) will not work—whereas the Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities may.

Distinguished Historical Geography Lecture: Carceral Space And The Usable Past, Karen M. Morin

Faculty Journal Articles

No abstract provided.