Legal Studies Commons^™

Living And Dying On Death Row In America, Angela D. Crews, Gordon A. Crews

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

- Much written on capital punishment in America, but very little research on the persons serving these death sentences - Initial results from survey of more than 3,200 death row prisoners in the U.S. and material from a "behind-the-scenes" personal narrative from a death row prisoner in South Carolina. - Qualitative personal reflections (“life lessons”) from prisoners and a quantitative examination of coping mechanisms they use to deal with living and dying on death row

The Regrettable Clause: United States V. Comstock And The Powers Of Congress, H. Jefferson Powell

San Diego Law Review

In this Article, I argue that in Comstock, the Court encountered one of the oldest and most basic constitutional issues about the scope of congressional power--whether there are justiciable limits to the range of legitimate ends Congress may pursue. The Justices, without fully recognizing the fact, were taking sides in an ancient debate, and in doing so, they inadvertently reopened an issue that ought to be deemed long settled.

Socioeconomic Rights And Theories Of Justice, Jeremy Waldron

San Diego Law Review

This Article considers the relation between theories of justice - such as John Rawls's theory - and theories of socioeconomic rights. In different ways, these two kinds of theories address much of the same subject matter. But they are quite strikingly different in format and texture. Theories of socioeconomic rights defend particular line-item requirements: a right to this or that good or opportunity, such as housing, health care, education, and social security. Theories of justice tend to involve a more integrated normative account of a society's basic structure, though they differ considerably among themselves in their structure. So how exactly …

Independent Counsel In Insurance, Douglas R. Richmond

San Diego Law Review

Mention the term "independent counsel" to many lawyers and they think immediately of the process whereby the Attorney General of the United States requests a panel of federal judges to appoint an Independent Counsel to investigate and prosecute crimes by government officials. Business lawyers may think of "independent counsel" in the context of counsel for independent directors on a corporate board in connection with select matters. For most litigators, however, the term "independent counsel" describes a lawyer engaged to defend an insured at a liability insurer's expense in a case in which the liability insurer has lost the right to …

Chemical Processing Of Fingerprints On Thermal Paper, Megan Elizabeth Dutton

Master's Theses

This research seeks to determine how well muriatic acid and acetic acid fuming develop the thermal side of thermal paper using aged prints. Additionally, the research seeks to determine how well ninhydrin develops the paper side of thermal paper using aged prints after exposure to the fuming. Twenty-four random individuals placed a total of thirty sets of fingerprints per person on thermal paper over a 10-day period. Each set of fingerprints consisted of three fingerprints on the thermal side of paper and three fingerprints on the nonthermal side of paper. During the 30 to 40-day time period, however, more specifically …

A Statistical Examination Of Friction Ridge Skin Patterns In The Interdigital, Hypothenar, And Thenar Areas Of The Palms, Kristin Ann Pilgrim

Master's Theses

Friction ridge skin, which is only located on the fingers, palms, and soles of the feet, has been used in the identification of individuals before the beginning of the twentieth century. A majority of the information known about friction ridge skin has been accumulated through the extensive research of fingerprints. Studies have been conducted to statistically categorize general patterns located on the fingerprints in order to include or exclude an individual for identification purposes. Although fingerprints offer great insight into the importance of friction ridge skin in forensic science, palm print patterns and characteristics have been relatively ignored. Therefore, a …

Examining The Effect Of Changes In The Peer Group On Attitudes: A Longitudinal Study, Dena C. Carson

Dissertations

Peer interactions are an important part of adolescence and have been the focus of much research in both psychology and criminology. The relationship between peer behavior and a youth’s own behavior has been demonstrated multiple times in prior research. Little is known, however, about how peer behavior may affect individual attitudes. This is surprising given that many prevention programs, particularly skills building programs, focus on changing and shaping individual attitudes to change/prevent behavior. This dissertation partially addressed this gap by focusing on the relationship between peer behavior and individual attitudes. This dissertation accomplishes three main goals through the use of …

The Economy-Crime Relationship Revisited: The Significance Of Recent Macroeconomic Conditions And Social Policy Changes For Child Poverty And Youth Violence Trends, White Nicole

Dissertations

The relationship between economic deprivation and violent crime has been one of the most widely studied in the field of criminology, yet little is known about the impact of recent macroeconomic conditions and welfare reform policies on the poverty-youth violence relationship. Therefore, the current study utilizes data from the 1993-2004 National Crime Victimization Survey to assess the association between poverty and youth violent victimization trends variously disaggregated by race, ethnicity, and family structure, and the impact of welfare reform and macroeconomic conditions on this relationship. In addition, the potential impact of welfare reform on the individual-level relationship between poverty and …

Stereotype Threat In Criminal Interrogations: Why Innocent Black Suspects Are At Risk For Confessing Falsely, Cynthia J. Najdowski

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

Little theoretical attention has been paid to evidence that Blacks are overrepresented in samples of false confessors compared to Whites. One possible explanation is that innocent Black suspects experience stereotype threat in interrogations and that this threat causes Black suspects to experience more arousal, self-regulatory efforts, and cognitive load compared to White suspects. These psychological mechanisms could lead innocent Black suspects to display more nonverbal behaviors associated with deception and, ironically, increase the likelihood that police investigators perceive them as guilty. In response, investigators might engage in more coercive tactics and exert more pressure to confess on Black suspects than …

Executions In America: How Constitutional Interpretation Has Restricted Capital Punishment, Andrea Paone

Pell Scholars and Senior Theses

In upholding the constitutionality of capital punishment, the United States Supreme Court has utilized a strict construction interpretation of the Fourteenth Amendment's Due Process Clause, which has led the opponents of capital punishment to abandon the Due Process approach and look to the Eighth Amendment, for which the justices utilize a loose construction interpretation.

Differences In Community Policing Definitions Of County And City La W Enforcement Agencies In Colorado, Jenna J. Slabaugh

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

While community policing has been around for decades and is widely adopted in law enforcement agencies throughout the US, there is no one accepted definition of this philosophy. This has led to departments around the country defining community policing differently. This comparative study utilized content analysis to compare the community policing definitions in county and city agencies located in Colorado. Further, a comparative analysis determined whether the type of agency influences how a department defines community policing. Survey research was be used to collect data for this study and a combination of quantitative and qualitative methods were employed.

Animal Assisted Therapy: The Perception Of Animal Assisted Therapy Clinicians Regarding Active Participation In Treatment Therapies Of Juveniles In Detention Center Settings, Julia M. Lowe

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

Juvenile delinquent facilities have witnessed an increase in youthful offenders experiencing mental health disorders. Mental health clinicians have been required to implement new forms of mental health treatments to address the rise in this special population of juveniles. Animal Assisted Therapy (AAT) has become a popular form of treatment in detention facilities. Qualitative data collection was administered using a focus group of three participants to examine clinicians' perceptions of juvenile participation during AAT. Clinicians perceived increased participation of juveniles participation in AAT. Clinicians also witnessed changes in juvenile behaviors within the detention facility, indicating juveniles participating in AAT were more …

Media Perception Of Excessive Police Force Based On Unemployment Rate: An Analysis Of Colorado Springs, Denver, And Pueblo, Jennifer Meckstroth

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

Excessive police force is reported in newspaper articles throughout the country on a regular basis. The purpose of this project was to determine whether the unemployment rate of a city had an effect on how the media perceives excessive police force in local newspapers. A content analysis of articles combined from Colorado Springs, Denver, and Pueblo examined the current perception of police in the media and how the unemployment rate effects how the media portrays excessive police force. The results of this study analyzed how the newspaper are analyzed the results determine whether a city with high a unemployment rate …

Using John Grisham's The Innocent Man To Create A Significant Learning Experience For Undergraduate Students In A Psychology And The Law Course, Emily Stark

Psychology Department Publications

Imagine a man, suffering from alcoholism and schizophrenia, drifting through his small town, known mostly for getting thrown out of bars. When a graphic murder occurs, this man’s name gets linked to the victim, and police focus on him as a suspect. Although there is no evidence against him, a combination of poor police work and a town’s desire for closure lead to this innocent man being convicted of the crime and sentenced to death. Down to his last appeal, after spending 12 years on death row, a fair and honest judge is finally convinced to take a closer look …

Prevention Of Identity Theft: A Review Of The Literature, Portland State University. Criminology And Criminal Justice Senior Capstone

Criminology and Criminal Justice Senior Capstone Project

With advances in technology and increases in impersonal electronic transactions, identity theft IT) is becoming a major problem in today’s society. One may ask why IT is growing in America. The answer is simple, as a review of literature reveals: IT is extremely hard to detect, prevent, and prosecute.

There are many ways people can protect themselves, their identities and secure their personal information; many do not concern themselves with this knowledge, however, until they become victims of this crime, themselves. With advances in technology, offenders are often turning to new methods to access information and use it for financial …

Bad Girls Of Art And Law: Abjection, Power, And Sexuality Exceptionalism In (Kara Walker’S) Art And (Janet Halley’S) Law, Adrienne D. Davis

Women, Gender & Sexuality Studies Faculty Research

This paper seeks to make some connections between legal theorist Janet Halley and contemporary artist Kara Walker. It compares their recent oeuvre to show how both reject understandings of the interplay of sex, power, and subordination proffered by conventional "justice projects" - specifically civil rights’ and feminism’s articulations of bodily violence and violation as key modes of racial and gender injury and subordination. Neither of these two is the first to dispute such accounts of injury and identity; yet, what distinguishes them is that both attempt to ground their theoretical and aesthetic indictments in the notion of abjection, or the …

The Demographics Of Healthcare Fraud In South Florida, Jennifer K. Pond

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

Health care fraud is a large problem in this country. Experts in the field estimate that 3-10% of all health care expenditures in the United States are fraudulent (National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association, n.d., Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2009). "Financial losses due to health care fraud are estimated to range from $70 billion to a staggering $234 billion a year" (The National Health Care Anti-Fraud Association, 2010). With this problem identified, it is important to identify and isolate possible influences and factors which perpetuate this type of fraud. Using South Florida as the subject area and health care fraud as …

Medical Marijuana Centers And Urban Resident's Perception Of Crime In Their Neighborhood, Maura L. Scherrer

Regis University Student Publications (comprehensive collection)

Due to the ambiguity of constitutional amendments, multiple state legislations, and municipal ordinances, medical marijuana has become quite a contentious subject. Despite the fact that many Americans approve the use of medical marijuana, they are opposed to medical marijuana centers opening in their own neighborhoods. People are concerned about the "element" that these centers bring into their neighborhoods as a result of increased pedestrian and vehicle traffic, loitering, open display of drug usage, and the fear of organized crime; comparable to the theory of broken windows, where crime is invited into a community when the wrong element is allowed to …

Effect Of Crime Type, Citizenship Status, Ethnicity, And Location Of Interrogation On Perceptions Of Enhanced Interrogation Techniques, Brianna Correira

Honors Senior Capstones and Theses

The current study asks when, if ever, is it acceptable to use "enhanced" interrogation techniques? A mostly White (90.4%), female (55%) sample of 240 participants read a vignette describing an Italian or Saudi Arabian suspect, who was a U.S. citizen or illegal immigrant, who was interrogated on either a U.S. army base or abroad for one of two crimes: child molestation or terrorism. The study failed to find the hypothesized interaction that participants would be more likely to endorse the use of harsh interrogation tactics when the suspect was Saudi Arabian, an illegal immigrant, accused of terrorism, and interrogated abroad. …

Ios Mobile Device Forensics: Initial Analysis, Rita M. Barrios, Michael R. Lehrfeld

Annual ADFSL Conference on Digital Forensics, Security and Law

The ability to recover forensic artifacts from mobile devices is proving to be an ever-increasing challenge for investigators. Coupling this with the ubiquity of mobile devices and the increasing complexity and processing power they contain results in a reliance on them by suspects. In investigating Apple’s iOS devices -- namely the iPhone and iPad -- an investigator’s challenges are increased due to the closed nature of the platforms. What is left is an extremely powerful and complex mobile tool that is inexpensive, small, and can be used in suspect activities. Little is known about the internal data structures of the …