Spatial databases store geometric objects and capture spatial relationships that can be used to represent key features of the human face. One can search spatial databases for these objects, and seek the relationships between them, using fuzzy logic to provide a natural way to describe the human face for the purposes of facial characterization. This study focuses on community perception of short, average, or long nose length. Three algorithms were used to update community opinion of nose length. All three methods showed similar trends in nose length classification which could indicate that the effort to extract spatial data from images to classify nose length is not as crucial as previously thought since community consensus will ultimately give similar results. However, additional testing with larger groups is needed to further validate any conclusion that spatial data can be eliminated.

O conceito da discricionariedade, quando aplicado na compreensão do sistema de justiça criminal e das instituições nele inseridas, tem produzido grande quantidade de debates acadêmicos e institucionais. Em geral, tal ideia é reconhecida enquanto um elemento de tensão no âmbito dos processos de aplicação da lei no moderno Estado Democrático de Direito. Ela tem sido usada, mais especificamente, para designar momentos em que há alguma ruptura ou ruído nos procedimentos racionais e formais do sistema de justiça. Apesar desse sentido mais geral do termo, não é possível obter nas literaturas especializadas, em especial das ciências sociais e das ciências jurídicas, definições precisas, muito menos consensuais, para essa ideia. Notavelmente, foi nos países de língua inglesa em que esse debate alcançou maiores nuances. Ali, a discricionariedade ora foi considerada um aspecto inerente da forma de se aplicar a lei, podendo produzir justiça ou injustiça. Ora foi entendida como um resquício de formas pré-modernas de administração da justiça, sendo necessária eliminá-la. Ainda, foi definida como um conceito a ser descartado, seja por não conseguir delimitar precisamente o fenômeno que procura descrever, ou por tentar definir algo que na verdade se encontra em outro nível de análise. Já no Brasil não é possível falar em termos de um debate sobre o conceito da discricionariedade, pois aqui vem se adotando diferentes conceitos para descrever os fenômenos geralmente enquadrados por essa ideia, como arbitrariedade e seletividade. Os objetivos dessa pesquisa, portanto, são realizar uma síntese bibliográfica crítica dos debates nesses dois conjuntos de literatura, subdivididos, por sua vez, de acordo com a matriz disciplinar de cada pesquisa; estabelecer os pontos de contato e de separação entre cada uma delas; e, por fim, indicar os temas que se abrem a partir disso para a melhor compreensão do sistema de justiça criminal brasileiro. Assim, verifica-se, em maior grau, distanciamentos entre os dois grandes grupos de pesquisas em função sobretudo da configuração específica do sistema de justiça brasileiro, baseado na civil law, e de sua doutrina, em comparação com o sistema da common law. Mesmo assim, também se argumenta que a incorporação da gramática da discricionariedade, conforme delineada aqui, pode ser produtiva para o avanço da compreensão do sistema de justiça brasileiro. Por fim, indica-se o Ministério Público enquanto objeto privilegiado para a realização dessa tarefa, pois nessa instituição se expressam mais nitidamente as tensões identificadas em ambas literaturas, tanto na sua constituição organizacional, quanto na sua configuração doutrinária. Além disso, afirma-se também que o Ministério Público tem sido palco de um movimento de aproximação com seu correlato da common law, o que torna ainda mais produtiva a adoção da gramática da discricionariedade para sua análise. / Discretion is a key concept to understand the criminal justice system and its institutions. It is also the focus of a large number of academic and institutional controversies. This phenomenon is generally acknowledged as a source of tension to the processes of law enforcement associated with the democratic state governed by the rule of law. More precisely, discretion has been used to describe defective aspects of justices rational and formal procedures. Despite this general statement, social sciences and law studies are far from asserting an unequivocal definition of discretion. If one looks through researches published in English, he will find numerous differences. Discretion is sometimes described as an intrinsic feature of law enforcement that can equally provide fair or unfair consequences. It is also sometimes described as a residual feature of pre-modern administration of justice that has to be suppressed. Finally, some researches argues that discretion is a concept that must not be used since it cannot precisely describe a single phenomenon. Or because it attempts to describe something that simply do not belong to its level of analysis. Yet, Brazilian researches provide a different scenario. Discretion it is not as often used as in the previous case. The phenomena frequently understood as discretion is more commonly described by concepts such as arbitrariness or selectivity. Henceforth, the objectives of this research are: provide a research synthesis of this controversial field; compare the Brazilian literature to the English literature by means of a critical approach; and, at last, point out the questions arose by such comparison and that can be helpfully used to interrogate Brazilian justice system. Therefore, it will be argued that the different comprehensions found between Brazilian and English studies are due to the specific development and configuration of their justice system, each one being based upon different traditions (common law or civil law). However, it will also be argued that the adoption of the grammar of discretion by Brazilian researchers may result in the advance of the comprehension of its justice system. Finally, it will be pointed out that the Ministério Público (Brazils public prosecutors office) is a key institution at which discretion framework can be usefully applied. Especially because this institution clearly express the controversies and tensions previously identified in its organizational and doctrinaire constitution. Finally, it will be argued that the Ministério Público is also at the center of a movement towards its approximation with the common law prosecutors office.

Este trabalho estuda a desjudicialização da execução por quantia enquanto técnica de aceleração do processo, de modo a avaliar sua possibilidade e funcionalidade para a melhora da atual crise de sobrecarga enfrentada pelo Poder Judiciário. O trabalho apoiou-se principalmente em revisão bibliográfica, análise de dados estatísticos e em pesquisa de campo realizada junto a um cartório judicial. Está dividido em três capítulos, dispostos da seguinte forma. O primeiro capítulo desenvolve o conceito de desjudicialização da execução para, em seguida, analisar o histórico e momento atual das codificações brasileiras de processo civil, identificando, em cada caso, movimentos de desjudicialização. Posteriormente, pontua os principais aspectos do devido processo legal atual que têm relevância para o estudo da desjudicialização. Após, analisa os dados estatísticos acerca da sobrecarga do Poder Judiciário, dando ênfase ao impacto dos processos executivos nos gabinetes e cartórios judiciais. O segundo capítulo estuda procedimentos executivos esparsos do ordenamento brasileiro que também fazem uso da desjudicialização, bem como a utilização da técnica em ordenamentos estrangeiros. O terceiro e último capítulo analisa, primeiramente, de modo geral e abstrato, qual a viabilidade de se utilizar as diversas formas de desjudicialização à luz dos aspectos relevantes do devido processo legal destacados no primeiro capítulo. Finalmente, com base no diagnóstico de sobrecarga do Poder Judiciário do primeiro capítulo, aponta as características e os principais elementos para se aplicar a desjudicialização de forma mais incisiva no procedimento geral de execução por quantia, de modo a contribuir com a melhora da crise de morosidade enfrentada pelo Poder Judiciário. De forma conclusiva, pode-se dizer que a desjudicialização é técnica compatível com o devido processo legal e que uma iniciativa desjudicializada que crie uma alternativa para os cartórios judiciais pode ser um primeiro passo para que, dentre outras melhorias, seja possível um progressivo alívio no fluxo de processos levados ao Judiciário / This study analyzes the possibility and functionality of the de-judicialization of debt enforcement as a technique to accelerate the procedure, with the purpose of reducing the overload of court cases faced by the judiciary system. The study relied on extensive review of the literature, statistical data analysis and field research carried out in a notary public office. The text is divided into three chapters. The first one develops the concept of de-judicialization of the enforcement, with the subsequent analysis of the Brazilian codifications of the civil process through the history to the present, identifying, in each case, movements of de-judicialization. It also presents the main aspects of the present due process of law, that are relevant for the study of the de-judicialization and analyses statistical data on the court system overload, emphasizing the impact of the executive proceedings on chambers and notary public offices. The second chapter presents Brazilian sparse executive proceedings that also make use of de-judicialization, as well as the use of the technique abroad. The third chapter analyses, first, in a general and abstract point of view, the viability of using the different forms of de-judicialization, as per relevant aspects of the due process of law referenced in the first chapter. Finally, based on the diagnose of overload of the court system presented in the first chapter, it`s appointed characteristics and main elements for the implementation of de-judicialization in a more effective way in the general proceeding of debt enforcement, as a way to reduce the lengthy of the Brazilian courts. Conclusively we can say that de-judicialization, is a technique that meets the due process requirements and represents a de-judicialized initiative that provides an alternative for the notary public offices, which may become a first step, among others, to a progressive relief in the flow of cases brought to the judiciary system.

Durante o século XX, o Brasil procurou reduzir ou eliminar a discriminação contra a população negra por meio de legislações punitivas com a finalidade de coibir a discriminação direta. O Estatuto da Igualdade Racial (Lei n.º 12.288/10) inova o ordenamento jurídico trazendo, explicitamente, a modalidade da discriminação indireta, que tem como um dos seus fundamentos a discriminação/racismo institucional. Pretendemos investigar a discriminação contra os negros, no contexto da segurança pública, sob a perspectiva desta modalidade de discriminação (institucional). A linha condutora de nossa pesquisa tem como eixo central a íntima ligação entre Democracia e Direitos Humanos, o que significa dizer que, nos regimes democráticos, é obrigação do Estado garantir a segurança pública com o devido respeito aos direitos humanos e o pleno exercício da cidadania. A partir destas premissas, passaremos a investigar quem são as maiores vítimas de um padrão de violência praticado por agentes responsáveis pela segurança pública e que atinge os cidadãos comuns. Segundo as estatísticas, os negros são vítimas costumeiras de perseguição, tortura e morte, além de mais numerosos na população carcerária. O racismo institucional na segurança pública é discutido, num primeiro momento, levando-se em consideração aspectos jurídicos, históricos e sociológicos relevantes para a compreensão da violência policial incidente sobre a população negra (crime, criminologia, segurança pública, polícia e sua relação com a questão racial no Brasil) e, num segundo momento, a partir de uma perspectiva jurídica, como uma forma de discriminação indireta. / During the twentieth century, Brazil sought to reduce or eliminate discrimination against the black population through punitive legislation in order to inhibit direct discrimination. The statute of Racial Equality (Law n.º 12.288/10) innovates the Law bringing the explicit form of indirect discrimination, which is a foundation of discrimination/ institutional racism. We intend to investigate discrimination against blacks in the context of public safety, from the perspective of this type of discrimination (institutional). The guiding principle of our research is the central axis of the intimate connection between Democracy and Human Rights, which means that, in a democracy regime, is the states obligation to ensure public safety with total respect for human rights and full citizenship. From this premises, we will investigate who is the biggest victims of a pattern are of violence committed by officials responsible for public safety and that affects ordinary citizens. According to statistics, blacks are usual victims of persecution, torture and death, and they are the bigger population in prison. Institutional racism in public safety is discussed at first, acknowledging account legal, historical and sociological studies important to the understanding of police violence incident on the black population (crime, criminology, public safety, police and its relationship to the racism in Brazil), and, second, from a legal perspective, as a form of indirect discrimination.

La garde républicaine, entre 1871 et 1914, corps de gendarmerie atypique, constitue une unité militaire mixte, regroupant des formations à cheval et d’autres à pied, dont le service essentiel est municipal. Les objectifs de cette thèse sont de préciser sa filiation avec les unités qui l’ont précédée, de définir ses spécificités en terme d’organisation, de fonctionnement et d’infrastructures, de décrypter et de disséquer son service intérieur et municipal afin de le confronter à celui des autres régiments de l’armée et légions de gendarmerie, de situer la place de ces « gardiens de la cité » au sein de la gendarmerie de l’époque et de la comparer à celle tenue par notre actuelle garde républicaine.En trois parties, cette thèse détaille successivement :- les composantes de la garde, infanterie et cavalerie, son organisation régimentaire et son administration, ses différents rouages et sa composition, son recrutement, sa symbolique et ses uniformes ;- sa vie quotidienne, sa formation militaire et municipale, ses casernes, sa discipline ;- la police de la voie publique à Paris et les forces qui l’assurent, l’influence du préfet de police sur la garde, ses différents services, son utilisation au maintien et au rétablissement de l’ordre.L’hypothèse de travail est de constater à quel point la garde républicaine de la Belle Époque diffère de l’actuelle garde, si proche d’elle par ses silhouettes, ses représentations, ses traditions, son implantation, si éloignée par son unique vocation de garde présidentielle, protectrice des institutions de la République. / The Republican Guard, between 1871 and 1914, an atypical unit of the French Gendarmerie (military police), is comprised of joint military forces, combining horseback and foot patrols, which is mainly on duty in the city of Paris. The goals of this thesis are to specify its connection to the previously existing units, describe its specific character in terms of organization, operations and infrastructures, to decipher and dissect its domestic and municipal service in order to compare it with that of other French military regiments and Gendarmerie legions, to define the role of these “guardians of the city” within the Gendarmerie of this period and compare it with that of our current Republican Guard.Divided into three parts, this thesis consecutively examines :- the components of the Guard’s infantry and cavalry, its regimental organization and administration, its various inner mechanisms and composition, its recruitment, symbolism and uniforms;- its daily life, military and municipal training, barracks and discipline;- the public roadway police in Paris and the forces which ensure it, the influence of police headquarters on the Guard, its role in maintaining and reestablishing order.The working hypothesis is to show how different the Republican Guard of the Belle Epoque is compared to the current Guard, so similar to it in its shape, performances, traditions, and establishment, so far-removed in its sole purpose of presidential guard, guardian of the French Republic’s establishments.

O conceito da discricionariedade, quando aplicado na compreensão do sistema de justiça criminal e das instituições nele inseridas, tem produzido grande quantidade de debates acadêmicos e institucionais. Em geral, tal ideia é reconhecida enquanto um elemento de tensão no âmbito dos processos de aplicação da lei no moderno Estado Democrático de Direito. Ela tem sido usada, mais especificamente, para designar momentos em que há alguma ruptura ou ruído nos procedimentos racionais e formais do sistema de justiça. Apesar desse sentido mais geral do termo, não é possível obter nas literaturas especializadas, em especial das ciências sociais e das ciências jurídicas, definições precisas, muito menos consensuais, para essa ideia. Notavelmente, foi nos países de língua inglesa em que esse debate alcançou maiores nuances. Ali, a discricionariedade ora foi considerada um aspecto inerente da forma de se aplicar a lei, podendo produzir justiça ou injustiça. Ora foi entendida como um resquício de formas pré-modernas de administração da justiça, sendo necessária eliminá-la. Ainda, foi definida como um conceito a ser descartado, seja por não conseguir delimitar precisamente o fenômeno que procura descrever, ou por tentar definir algo que na verdade se encontra em outro nível de análise. Já no Brasil não é possível falar em termos de um debate sobre o conceito da discricionariedade, pois aqui vem se adotando diferentes conceitos para descrever os fenômenos geralmente enquadrados por essa ideia, como arbitrariedade e seletividade. Os objetivos dessa pesquisa, portanto, são realizar uma síntese bibliográfica crítica dos debates nesses dois conjuntos de literatura, subdivididos, por sua vez, de acordo com a matriz disciplinar de cada pesquisa; estabelecer os pontos de contato e de separação entre cada uma delas; e, por fim, indicar os temas que se abrem a partir disso para a melhor compreensão do sistema de justiça criminal brasileiro. Assim, verifica-se, em maior grau, distanciamentos entre os dois grandes grupos de pesquisas em função sobretudo da configuração específica do sistema de justiça brasileiro, baseado na civil law, e de sua doutrina, em comparação com o sistema da common law. Mesmo assim, também se argumenta que a incorporação da gramática da discricionariedade, conforme delineada aqui, pode ser produtiva para o avanço da compreensão do sistema de justiça brasileiro. Por fim, indica-se o Ministério Público enquanto objeto privilegiado para a realização dessa tarefa, pois nessa instituição se expressam mais nitidamente as tensões identificadas em ambas literaturas, tanto na sua constituição organizacional, quanto na sua configuração doutrinária. Além disso, afirma-se também que o Ministério Público tem sido palco de um movimento de aproximação com seu correlato da common law, o que torna ainda mais produtiva a adoção da gramática da discricionariedade para sua análise. / Discretion is a key concept to understand the criminal justice system and its institutions. It is also the focus of a large number of academic and institutional controversies. This phenomenon is generally acknowledged as a source of tension to the processes of law enforcement associated with the democratic state governed by the rule of law. More precisely, discretion has been used to describe defective aspects of justices rational and formal procedures. Despite this general statement, social sciences and law studies are far from asserting an unequivocal definition of discretion. If one looks through researches published in English, he will find numerous differences. Discretion is sometimes described as an intrinsic feature of law enforcement that can equally provide fair or unfair consequences. It is also sometimes described as a residual feature of pre-modern administration of justice that has to be suppressed. Finally, some researches argues that discretion is a concept that must not be used since it cannot precisely describe a single phenomenon. Or because it attempts to describe something that simply do not belong to its level of analysis. Yet, Brazilian researches provide a different scenario. Discretion it is not as often used as in the previous case. The phenomena frequently understood as discretion is more commonly described by concepts such as arbitrariness or selectivity. Henceforth, the objectives of this research are: provide a research synthesis of this controversial field; compare the Brazilian literature to the English literature by means of a critical approach; and, at last, point out the questions arose by such comparison and that can be helpfully used to interrogate Brazilian justice system. Therefore, it will be argued that the different comprehensions found between Brazilian and English studies are due to the specific development and configuration of their justice system, each one being based upon different traditions (common law or civil law). However, it will also be argued that the adoption of the grammar of discretion by Brazilian researchers may result in the advance of the comprehension of its justice system. Finally, it will be pointed out that the Ministério Público (Brazils public prosecutors office) is a key institution at which discretion framework can be usefully applied. Especially because this institution clearly express the controversies and tensions previously identified in its organizational and doctrinaire constitution. Finally, it will be argued that the Ministério Público is also at the center of a movement towards its approximation with the common law prosecutors office.

Assessing the perceptions that students have of the university police officers charged with ensuring student safety is important to maintaining the overall safety of the campus. The current study sought to assess the relationship between student perceptions of university police and the fear of crime felt by students while on campus. Data collection was conducted through a survey methodology using a convenient sample of students in which a self-report survey was sent to the university email addresses of all students enrolled in a southeastern university (n=260). Through the employment of a scale developed to assess the perceptions of university police legitimacy and a similar scale to assess fear of crime, the results of the study demonstrate a relationship exists between the variables. The relationship strengthens when demographics are controlled for. This study was designed to add to the limited amount of research examining perceptions of university law enforcements.

Drawing on original research on the effectiveness of a therapeutic community (TC) in reducing recidivism among juvenile male offenders, Correctional Rehabilitation and Therapeutic Communities: Reducing Recidivism Through Behavior Change provides a comprehensive review of the current state of drug treatment for the offending population, especially the link between juvenile offending and substance abuse. The book assesses the factors predicting successful completion of treatment as well as the methodological limitation of previous TC program reviews, and suggests policy implication and routes for future research. Using improvements such as multiple outcome criteria, long-term follow-up, matching groups on risk and needs, and the employment of a standardized instrument to measure program quality, Correctional Rehabilitation assesses the degree to which participation in the TC affects antisocial attitudes and reduces delinquency. Readers will explore how TCs can be designed to influence adolescent drug offenders and ultimately reduce recidivism. This book is essential reading for students, researchers, practitioners, and other stakeholders focusing on the development of treatment programs. / https://dc.etsu.edu/etsu_books/1145/thumbnail.jpg

Autism spectrum disorder (ASD) is currently one of the most researched of all childhood developmental disorders and is receiving attention in many domains including popular media, social sciences, education, and medicine. The purpose of this dissertation was to design and provide initial psychometric evidence for a scale that measures police officer self-efficacy for working with individuals with ASD. Psychometric properties of a scale designed to measure knowledge of ASD were also explored. Data from 620 police officers actively serving in the United States were collected in two separate phases. A 13-item scale was created to measure police officer self-efficacy for working with individuals with ASD. Results from both phases indicated that the scale represented a unidimensional construct. Police officer knowledge of ASD was significantly and positively related to self-efficacy. Knowing more about officers’ knowledge and beliefs in their own capabilities to work with individuals with ASD can help inform future police education and training efforts.

Public safety radio dispatchers incontrovertibly have to manage multiple tasks at any given time, from relaying lifesaving information to field units, to simultaneously overseeing several monitors and keeping up with the radio transmissions in a timely manner. Interestingly, however, the underlying cognitive abilities necessitated for performing such tasks have not been thoroughly investigated. To begin understanding the cognitive faculties that underlie dispatching tasks, we gauged cognitive ability measures relevant to dispatcher duties and introduced Working Memory Capacity (WMC) as underlying the differentiation on performance. The four general dispatcher cognitive factors identified by Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST) literature, were Reasoning, Perceptual, Memory, and Verbal. This study substantiated the relationship that higher WMC had on increased performance of the four factors; WMC was a strong predictor of overall cognitive task accuracy. This study also measured dispatcher abilities detached from any dispatcher-like duties, to better explore the cognitive underpinnings without the confound of dispatcher-like tasks within the measures. High and low WMC group comparisons also revealed accuracy differences in cognitive abilities, task switching costs, and dual-task interference. Overall, this study provides support for WMC’s executive functioning as a key underlying mechanism determining dispatcher cognitive ability level.