Legal Studies Commons^™

Using The Microbiome To Assess The Health Status Of The Individuals Recovered From The East Marshall Street Well, Arian Karim

Master of Science in Forensic Science Directed Research Projects

In 1994, during the construction of the Kontos Building on the Medical College of Virginia Campus, a well on East Marshall Street was discovered to contain artifacts and human remains of African descent. Upon archaeological analysis by the Smithsonian, the ancestral remains can be dated back to the mid-19th century, when grave robbing and the use of cadavers for anatomical purposes [BS1] in medical schools were common. The human oral microbiome is the second largest human microbiota, containing over 600 species of organisms. Dysbiosis of the oral microbiome can lead to the overgrowth of pathogenic species, resulting in illness and …

Overcoming The Effects Of Oily Contaminants On Dna Extraction Efficiency Using Dna Iq™ System, Elizabeth G. Gillece

Master of Science in Forensic Science Directed Research Projects

In forensic science DNA extraction and purification are crucial to DNA analysis as evidentiary items vary in DNA quantity and quality. In casework the goal to is maximize DNA yield, remove PCR inhibitors, and develop a full profile while preserving evidence. Extraction methods are developed to target the DNA for optimal isolation. Solid-phase extraction is advantageous as it can extract DNA from a variety of tissue types, it is amenable to automation, and it provides quick and efficient purification of DNA. Solid-phase extraction methods may have complications with contaminants that hinder the quantity and quality of the DNA recovered. In …

Quantitation And Visualization Of Epithelial Cells On Cartridge Cases, Paige Kibler, Christopher Ehrhardt, Katherine M. Philpott, Jody H. West, Stephanie Walcott

Master of Science in Forensic Science Directed Research Projects

Fired cartridge cases are a common type of evidence submitted to forensic DNA profiling but are challenging to analyze because they usually contain only trace amounts of biological material. As such, there is a significant need in caseworking units for new screening techniques to determine if biological material is present and is in high enough quantity to attempt DNA profiling. The goal of this study was to test a new method for quickly visualizing biological material on cartridge cases. Biological deposits were created by handling fired and unfired cartridge cases through a series of conditions. The biological material was collected …

The Evaluation Of Semen Extraction Efficiency And Recovery From Reusable Menstrual Underwear, Caitlyn Spencer

Master of Science in Forensic Science Directed Research Projects

A new type of undergarment and feminine product is being submitted to crime laboratories as evidence for sexual assaults: menstrual underwear is underwear that have absorbency and leak-proof abilities and can be washed and re-worn multiple times. The goal of this research was to determine if semen and sufficient DNA could be recovered from reusable menstrual underwear and used to obtain quality DNA profiles. Three menstrual underwear brands of Hanes, Knix, and Thinx were evaluated. Simulated post-coital samples were deposited onto three pairs of each brand of underwear. One pair of each brand was analyzed unwashed, another set was washed …

The Determination Of Ethanol And Phosphatidylethanol (Peth) In Donated Packed Red Blood Cells, Jordan E. Keller

Master of Science in Forensic Science Directed Research Projects

This research investigates the safety and reliability of blood donations by examining the presence of ethanol and phosphatidylethanol (PEth) in packed red blood cells (pRBCs). As blood donation is integral to healthcare, ensuring the safety of blood products is paramount. Current protocols focus on screening for infectious diseases, such as hepatitis C and human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), but do not routinely asses alcohol consumption, which can significantly impact patient outcomes. As a direct indicator of alcohol consumption, ethanol can affect blood quality, interfere with medical treatments, and present legal issues, such as false conclusions or assumptions. Ethanol detection methods include …

Evaluating Pre-Trial Programs Using Interpretable Machine Learning Matching Algorithms For Causal Inference, Travis Seale-Carlisle, Saksham Jain, Courtney Lee, Caroline Levenson, Swathi Ramprasad, Brandon Garrett, Sudeepa Roy, Cynthia Rudin, Alexander Volfovsky

Faculty Scholarship

After a person is arrested and charged with a crime, they may be released on bail and required to participate in a community supervision program while awaiting trial. These ‘pretrial programs’ are common throughout the United States, but very little research has demonstrated their effectiveness. Researchers have emphasized the need for more rigorous program evaluation methods, which we introduce in this article. We describe a program evaluation pipeline that uses recent interpretable machine learning techniques for observational causal inference, and demonstrate these techniques in a study of a pre-trial program in Durham, North Carolina. Our findings show no evidence that …

False Accuracy In Criminal Trials: The Limits And Costs Of Cross Examination, Lisa Kern Griffin

Faculty Scholarship

According to the popular culture of criminal trials, skillful cross-examination can reveal the whole “truth” of what happened. In a climactic scene, defense counsel will expose a lying accuser, clear up the statements of a confused eyewitness, or surface the incentives and biases in testimony. Constitutional precedents, evidence theory, and trial procedures all reflect a similar aspiration—that cross-examination performs lie detection and thereby helps to produce accurate outcomes. Although conceptualized as a protection for defendants, cross-examination imposes some unexplored costs on them. Because it focuses on the physical presence of a witness, the current law of confrontation suggests that an …

The Right To A Glass Box: Rethinking The Use Of Artificial Intelligence In Criminal Justice, Brandon L. Garrett, Cynthia Rudin

Faculty Scholarship

Artificial intelligence (“AI”) increasingly is used to make important decisions that affect individuals and society. As governments and corporations use AI more pervasively, one of the most troubling trends is that developers so often design it to be a “black box.” Designers create AI models too complex for people to understand or they conceal how AI functions. Policymakers and the public increasingly sound alarms about black box AI. A particularly pressing area of concern has been criminal cases, in which a person’s life, liberty, and public safety can be at stake. In the United States and globally, despite concerns that …

The Brady Database, Brandon L. Garrett, Adam M. Gershowitz, Jennifer Teitcher

Faculty Scholarship

The Supreme Court’s landmark ruling in Brady v. Maryland turns sixty this year. The Brady doctrine, which requires the government to disclose favorable and material evidence to the defendant, is one of the most frequently litigated criminal procedure issues. Yet, despite decades of Brady cases in federal and state courts, we still know relatively little about how Brady claims are litigated, adjudicated, and what such claims can tell us about the criminal justice system writ large. Scholars are in the dark about how often Brady violations occur, whether it is primarily the fault of prosecutors or the police, whether violations …

Compensating Exonerees In The United States, Brandon L. Garrett, Luke Mears

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Liberty, Safety, And Misdemeanor Bail, Brandon L. Garrett, Sandra Guerra Thompson, Dottie Carmichael, David Shi, Songman Kang

Faculty Scholarship

The highest volume of cases in the U.S. criminal system are misdemeanors, and every day, hundreds of thousands of people are detained pretrial in such low-level cases. In policy and in politics, pretrial rules have swung between a focus on protecting constitutional rights and the public safety dangers posed by releasing arrestees. The Supreme Court’s ruling in United States v. Salerno sought to promote a balance between protecting individual due process rights and public safety interests. A central constitutional and pressing policy question is what trade-off exists between pretrial liberty and reoffending. The highest profile jurisdiction to examine that question …

Judging Firearms Evidence, Brandon L. Garrett, Eric Tucker, Nicholas Scurich

Faculty Scholarship

Firearms violence results in hundreds of thousands of criminal investigations each year. To try to identify a culprit, firearms examiners seek to link fired shell casings or bullets from crime scene evidence to a particular firearm. The underlying assumption is that firearms impart unique marks on bullets and cartridge cases, and that trained examiners can identify these marks to determine which were fired by the same gun. For over a hundred years, firearms examiners have testified that they can conclusively identify the source of a bullet or cartridge case. In recent years, however, research scientists have called into question the …

Open Access And U. S. Federal Information Policy, Eric Harbeson

Copyright, Fair Use, Scholarly Communication, etc.

Federal agencies are directed, as a matter of United States Federal policy, to provide free, immediate public access to peer-reviewed scholarly publications that are produced with support from Federal research grant funding. Because copyright vests in the author of the work, agencies must have permission from the author in order to provide that access. A government-wide regulation, in place since 1976, constitutes one possible source for the needed permission. The “Federal Purpose License” provides that, as a condition of Federal funding, grant recipients issue the granting agency a non-exclusive license to use all works subject to copyright and either developed …

Mainstream Media Portrayal Of Banishment And Nation-Imposed Punishment, Keely Ormond

Theses and Dissertations (Comprehensive)

“In a traditional village, we wouldn’t have a teepee with no door on it and throw somebody in there. We wouldn’t cast them out, because banishment meant death. What we had to do was restore relationships” – Ryan Beardy (Thorpe, 2022).

The following project examines the representation of Indigenous traditions, customs, and issues in Canadian mainstream media. Specifically, this project is interested in the portrayal of banishment as an Indigenous practice in Canadian mainstream news outlets. This project is based on an interpretive paradigm informed by grounded theory and concepts of media framing, postcolonialism, settler colonialism and restorative justice. Nineteen …

Jury Decision-Making: Do Racial Attitudes And Victim And Offender Race Make A Difference?, Charlotte A. Kettyle, Ellen S. Cohn

Honors Theses and Capstones

No abstract provided.

Volume 6, Issue 1 (2023) Criminal Justice Agents And Responsibility, Colleen Berryessa, Elizabeth Griffiths, Kaitlen Hubbard, Deena A. Isom, Kateryna Kaplun, Hiuxuan Li, Siyu Liu, Esther Nir, Heather L. Scheuerman, Rachel Schumann, Sandy Xie, Carolyn Yule

International Journal on Responsibility

This special issue of the International Journal on Responsibility (IJR) advances scholarship on the various ways responsibility infuses the roles of criminal justice agents. As the inaugural issue of my tenure as Editor-in-Chief, Volume 6 deepens our understanding of responsibility in the context of the criminal justice system, thereby fulfilling IJR’s aim and scope. Specifically, the articles highlight issues of responsibility within each component of the criminal justice system: police, courts, and corrections.

Do Judges Understand Technology? How Attorneys And Advocates View Judicial Responsibility In Cyberstalking And Cyberharassment Cases, Kateryna Kaplun

International Journal on Responsibility

As new technologies emerge and are increasingly used to commit interpersonal cybercrimes like cyberstalking and cyberharassment, the legal system lags in assisting victims in obtaining justice in these types of experiences. This qualitative research study explores how attorney and advocate interviewees from Illinois, New Jersey, and New York view judges’ responsibility to the law in cyberstalking and cyberharassment cases. This study finds three themes: judges’ lack of understanding of technology and its harms, discretion, and law on the books versus law in action as important factors and frameworks that contribute to why judges do not consider the importance of technology …

A Quantitative Study On The Impact Of Covid-19 On Drug Treatment Courts, Derek J. Kingsbury

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The purpose of this research study was to investigate how the COVID-19 pandemic impacted drug treatment courts (DTCs) in Pennsylvania. DTCs were created as an alternative to the traditional court system by allowing those convicted of a drug offense to receive treatment. Just as these DTCs were dealing with the opioid crisis, a new obstacle occurred in the form of the COVID-19 pandemic, forcing DTCs to adapt to the quickly evolving and changing mandates and policies implemented by the federal and local governments. The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on these essential DTCs was examined using a therapeutic jurisprudence perspective. …

Understanding Lived Experiences Of Correctional Officers' Reintegration Back Into The Work Environment Post-Assault, Claudette Duggins

Doctoral Dissertations and Projects

The researcher explored the experiences of correctional officers assaulted by inmates, focusing on the impact of such assaults on their reintegration into the work environment. The researcher sought to understand how these experiences affect officers' attitudes, behaviors, and decision-making, which could impact the safety and security of the institution and the public. A qualitative approach using a phenomenological research design was employed to understand the lived experiences of assaulted correctional officers. Data emerged through participant interactions, capturing their personal experiences and perspectives. The qualitative method was chosen over a quantitative approach as it allowed for an in-depth understanding of the …

The Influence Of Prior Legal Background On Judicial Sentencing Considerations, Esther Nir, Siyu Liu

International Journal on Responsibility

State court judges are influenced by a myriad of factors during criminal case processing. To study the influence of prior legal background on judicial decision-making at sentencing, we performed in-depth qualitative interviews of 39 trial court judges presiding over criminal cases in a Northeastern U.S. state. We find that judges are influenced by their former legal experiences and most judges are cognizant of this influence. While certain sentencing considerations are prioritized for almost all judges (e.g., criminal history, seriousness of the offense), prioritization and processing of many other sentencing criteria are correlated with prior legal background. Former defense attorneys tend …