Legal Studies Commons^™

Parental Accountability For Children In Florida Examining The Oxymoron Of Parental Liability, Marco Specoli

HIM 1990-2015

This thesis examines the concept of parental liability and the effect it has in deterring juvenile delinquency, with an emphasis on Florida Law. It will also consider the concept's ability to properly compensate victims of juvenile offenses. The thesis focuses on the circumstances in which a parent or guardian may be liable for the actions of a child and how liability insurance law plays a key role in compensating innocent victims. It discusses Florida's public policy of seeking justice by holding parents responsible and the problems that it faces by doing so. The thesis further examines what issues arise when …

Prosecutorial Discretion And Plea Bargaining: Is There A Jury Trial Penalty?, Gina Hall

HIM 1990-2015

As the most powerful position of the courtroom workgroup, the prosecutor plays an essential role in the criminal justice system. From the defendant's initial contact with the criminal court process when the prosecutor makes the charging decision, until sentencing when the prosecutor's recommendation guides judicial discretion, prosecutors hold the power to decide a defendant's fate. Despite the parameters that govern their ability to use discretion, the prosecutor still maintains a significant amount of power to influence crucial decisions with regard to the defendant. The current study addresses the issue of prosecutorial discretion and the ability to mishandle the powers bestowed …

How Money For Legal Scholarship Disadvantages Feminism, Martha T. Mccluskey

Journal Articles

A dramatic infusion of outside money has shaped legal theory over the last several decades, largely to the detriment of feminist theory. Nonetheless, the pervasive influence of this funding is largely ignored in scholarly discussions of legal theory. This denial helps reinforce the marginal position of feminist scholarship and of women in legal theory. Conservative activists and funders have understood the central role of developing community culture and institutions, and have helped shift the prevailing framework for discussion of many questions of theory and policy through substantial investments in law-and-economics centers and in the Federalist Society. Comparing the institutional resources …

Prevention As The Primary Goal Of Sentencing: The Modern Case For Indeterminate Dispositions In Criminal Cases, Christopher Slobogin

San Diego Law Review

This Article contends that properly constituted, indeterminate sentencing is both a morally defensible method of preventing crime and the optimal regime for doing so, at least for crimes against person and most other street crimes.

More specifically, the position defended in this Article is that, once a person is convicted of an offense, the duration and nature of sentence should be based on a back-end decision made by experts in recidivism reduction, within broad ranges set by the legislature. Compared to determinate sentencing, the sentencing regime advanced in this Article relies on wider sentence ranges and explicit assessments of risk, …

Lifting The Cloak: Preventive Detention As Punishment, Douglas Husak

San Diego Law Review

Most of the scholarly reaction to systems of preventive detention has been hostile. Negative judgments are especially prevalent among penal theorists who hold nonconsequentialist, retributivist rationales for criminal law and punishment. Surely their criticisms are warranted as long as we confine our focus to the existing systems of preventive detention that flagrantly disregard fundamental principles of legality and desert. Nonetheless, I believe that many of their more sweeping objections tend to rest too uncritically on doctrines of criminal theory that are not always supported by sound arguments even though they are widely accepted. I will contend that we cannot fully …

Prevention And Imminence, Pre-Punishment And Actuality, Gideon Yaffe

San Diego Law Review

In a variety of circumstances, it is justified to harm persons, or deprive them of liberty, in order to prevent them from doing something objectionable. We see this in interactions between individuals--think of self-defense or defense of others--and we see it in large-scale interactions among groups--think of preemptive measures taken by countries against conspiring terrorists, plotting dictators, or ambitious nations. We can argue, of course, about the details. Under exactly what conditions is it justified to inflict harm or deprive someone of liberty for reasons of prevention? But in having such arguments we agree on the fundamental idea: there are …

A Punitive Precondition For Preventive Detention: Lost Status As A Foundation For A Lost Immunity, Alec Walen

San Diego Law Review

This Article argues that the presumption that an actor will be law-abiding, like the right to liberty itself, can be forfeited by criminal actions. In other words, the point is to argue that a just punishment could involve loss of the status of being a beneficiary of this presumption just as much as it could involve the loss of liberty.

In Part II, I introduce a basic framework for detention consistent with respect for autonomy and locate the lost status view within that framework. In Part III, I spell out the lost status view in more detail and contrast it …

Inchoate Crimes At The Prevention/Punishment Divide, Kimberly Kessler Ferzan

San Diego Law Review

In this Article, I argue that inchoate crimes are best dealt with under a preventive regime. Part II argues that inchoate crimes and preparatory offenses are primarily aimed at preventing a harm and not at punishing those who deserve it. It also revisits concerns with punishing incomplete attempts that Larry Alexander and I have voiced previously. Part III considers Alec Walen's recent proposal to combat terrorism through the criminalization of threats as an inchoate offense. It also addresses general concerns with Walen's proposal and claims that Walen does not resolve the problems with inchoate criminality set forth in Part II. …

A Content Analysis Of Statutory Grounds For Involuntary Termination Of Parental Rights: The Impacts And Susceptibility Of Incarcerated Mothers And Their Children, Holly Marie Duke

Master's Theses

As the myriad of complex circumstances surrounding incarceration and foster care debilitate the parent-child relationship, the likelihood of legal severance between an incarcerated parent and their child increases. Despite the nation’s mounting prison population over the last three decades, the growing interaction between the prison and foster care populations has received minimal attention in the literature. To date, the influence of the statutory grounds for involuntary termination of parental rights on the legal severance between incarcerated parents and their children has been largely ignored. The purpose of this research is to determine the susceptibility of incarcerated parents to the involuntary …

State Super-Maximum Security Policies: An Examination Of Admission Characteristics, Classification Reviews, Mental Health Amenities, And Inmate Privileges, Harry Daniel Butler

Master's Theses

Super-maximum security prisons have flourished within a political environment that endorses tougher criminal sanctions. This punitive evolution has created new problems for correctional agencies attempting to control the “worst of the worst” inmates. Federal courts and researchers have examined the detrimental effects supermax isolation has on inmates’ mental health. This analysis examines forty-two state supermax policies to determine how states admit inmates to supermax custody, the classification review process, the management of inmates with mental illnesses, and the availability of privileges for supermax inmates. Drawing on the concept of the McDonaldization of Justice (Ritzer, 1993), particular attention is given to …

Dangerous Psychopaths: Criminally Responsible But Not Morally Responsible, Subject To Criminal Punishment And To Preventive Detention, Ken Levy

San Diego Law Review

How should we judge psychopaths, both morally and in the criminal justice system? This Article will argue that psychopaths are often not morally responsible for their bad acts simply because they cannot understand, and therefore be guided by, moral reasons.

Scholars and lawyers who endorse the same conclusion automatically tend to infer from this premise that psychopaths should not be held criminally punishable for their criminal acts. These scholars and lawyers are making this assumption (that just criminal punishment requires moral responsibility) on the basis of one of two deeper assumptions: that either criminal punishment directly requires moral responsibility or …

Collaborating With A Killer: The Unique Perspective Of Prison Life From A Man On Death Row, Gordon A. Crews, Angela D. Crews

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

This presentation describes the process and difficulties of developing a collaborative working relationship with Stephen C. Stanko, a man currently serving two death sentences in South Carolina for the murders of two people and the sexual assault and attempted murder of a third. Mr. Stanko and Dr. Gordon Crews first worked together on a book from 2000-2004 when Stanko was serving a 10-year sentence for kidnapping and assault with intent to kill. In April 2005, only 8 months after Stanko was released from that sentence, he committed the crimes for which he is currently facing death. Since then, the Crews’ …

Bad Cops At Home: An Exploratory Study Of Officer-Involved Domestic Violence, Philip M. Stinson, John Liederbach

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Officer-involved domestic violence is a problem that should concern researchers, policymakers, the policing community, and the general public. Yet there is very little research in the area and no official data is available to discern the nature and prevalence of domestic violence in police families. Victims are reluctant to report officer-involved domestic violence and often feel helpless in the criminal justice system where the abuser is employed. This is complicated by provisions of the Lautenberg Amendment of 1996 which prohibit anyone convicted of a crime of domestic violence from carrying a firearm. This study explores 324 cases of state and …

Feminist Advocacy In Community Based Responses To Domestic Violence: Gendered Identity, Ideology And Practices, Andrea J. Nichols

Dissertations

The anti-domestic violence movement began as a feminist grassroots effort. Early feminist advocates relied on survivor-defined and social change practices rooted in feminist identity and ideology. Advocacy has evolved over time, moving from grassroots efforts into professionalized organizations, and now includes collaboration with the justice system in community based responses to domestic violence (CBR). Through inductive analysis of interviews with 26 domestic violence victim advocates and drawing from a gendered organizations framework, I examine how advocates’ feminist identity and ideology shape their practices in CBR. Findings indicate that advocates both resist and reproduce various gendered practices within traditionally feminist anti-domestic …

Finding Historic Indiana Documents In An Online Environment: Civil War Era And Later 19th Century, Bert Chapman

Libraries Research Publications

This presentation provides information on digitally accessing historic Indiana State and U.S. Government documents from the latter half of the 19th century. Examples of these resources include the periodical Indiana Farmer, Indiana Civil War Governor Oliver Morton's telegraph books, the Official Records of the War of the Rebellion, Indiana Adjutant General Reports, and the Brevier Indiana Law Reports covering Indiana General Assembly proceedings. These collections have been digitized by various Indiana libraries including Purdue University, IUPUI, and Indiana University. Accessing these primary source materials will enable users to gain augmented understanding ot the economic, military, and political issues facing Indiana …

Substance Use Behavior Among Early-Adolescent Asian American Girls: The Impact Of Psychological And Family Factors, Lin Fang, Kevin Barnes-Ceeney, Steven Schinke

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications

Confronting developmental tasks and challenges associated with bridging two different cultures, Asian American adolescent girls face increasing risks for substance use. Identifying risk and protective factors in this population is essential, particularly when those factors can inform preventive programs. Guided by family interaction theory, the present cross-sectional study explored the associations of psychological and familial factors with use of alcohol, prescription drugs, and other drugs among early-adolescent Asian American girls. Between August 2007 and March 2008, 135 pairs of Asian American girls (mean age 13.21 years, SD = 0.90) and their mothers (mean age 39.86 years, SD = 6.99) were …

Explaining The "Female Victim Effect" In Capital Sentencing Decisions: A Case For Sex-Specific Models Of Capital Sentencing Research, Tara N. Richards

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

The potential influence of extralegal characteristics on the outcome of post-Furman capital cases (1972) has been a focus of criminal justice researchers and legal scholars. Much of this literature has assessed the impact of victim and defendant race on the likelihood of receiving the death penalty while a relatively underdeveloped body of research focuses on how victim sex may affect capital sentencing decisions. The present study uses focal concerns theory and the chivalry hypothesis to test the potential mediating effect of theoretical variables on the relationship between victim sex and juror capital sentence decision-making. In addition, it uses victim sex …

Human Rights Law And Military Aid Delivery: A Case Study Of The Leahy Law, Winifred Tate

Faculty Scholarship

Explicitly prohibiting US military counternarcotics assistance to foreign military units facing credible allegations of abuses, Leahy Law creation and implementation illuminates the epistemological challenges of knowledge production about violence in the policy process. First passed in 1997, the law emerged from strategic alliances between elite NGO advocates, grassroots activists and critically located Congressional aides in response to the perceived inability of Congress to act on human rights information. I explore the resulting transformation of aid delivery: rather than suspend aid when no “clean” units could be found, US officials convinced their Colombian allies to create new units consisting of vetted …

Summoning The Superheroes: Harnessing Science And Passion To Create A More Effective And Humane Response To Crime. President Travis' Keynote Address On The Future Of Crime Policy, At The National Press Club On October 11, 2011., Jeremy Travis

Publications and Research

No abstract provided.

Forensic Science Forum, San Jose State University

Forensic Science Forum (Justice Studies)

No abstract provided.