Over the last several decades, multiple schools of thought have emerged regarding what impacts judicial decision making. In contrast to the classic legal model, studies have argued alternatively that judges are policy actors who rule consistent with their political attitudes; that behavioral traits such as race, gender and socialization influence judicial conduct, both consciously and unconsciously; that whatever policy interests judges may have, these are moderated by institutional constraints and strategic considerations; and that judges are subject to some common cognitive shortcuts in decision making, although they may be moderated or present differently than in the general population in light of their training and experience. Most of these studies, particularly in political science, have tended to focus on Supreme Court or appellate decisions on politically salient subject matter such as the scope of the Fourth Amendment or racial discrimination. The cognitive studies, by comparison, have primarily used experimental conduct, often with artificially extreme variations between legal and factual issues to assess the impact of legal training. Other than field review articles, most have focused on a single potential explanatory variable such as ideology, gender or legal training. To date, there has been very limited study of the more routine tasks judges engage in at the trial court level such as pre-trial evidentiary rulings or comparative assessments of the relative explanatory power of factors drawn from multiple approaches to decision making. The present study involved both a qualitative and quantitative assessment of Federal district court decisions on the admissibility of expert witnesses. Employing thematic analysis of all cases involving a substantive analysis of this issue from 2010-2015 in nine district courts, a default pattern emerged that judges are reluctant to exclude experts except in extreme cases. Moreover, judges appear to have adopted several practices consistent with minimizing the cognitive burden of decision making. These findings suggest that judges are acting consistently with legal norms and the broad outlines of legal precedent, but in a manner which may lead to sub-optimal outcomes in some circumstances. Quantitative analysis of the same data suggests that judges are subject to a variety of significant influences including legal precepts, political ideology and cognitive heuristics in different settings. Moreover, the influence of issues such as ideology appear to be associated with some courts and not others, with circuit level precedent being the most obvious intervening factor to explain the difference. The circuit level impacts on behavior and several other findings in this study suggest that much more nuance is present than is normally acknowledged in the study of judicial decision making. The results of this study also suggest policy makers should account for cognitive tendencies in crafting legal standards and precedents as well as legal education. Finally, it posits that practitioners can maximize their odds of success on motions to exclude expert witnesses through similar awareness of what influences judicial conduct, especially but not limited to cognitive limitations in rendering judgments under time constraints and conditions of uncertainty.

Thesis (LLM) --University of Limpopo, 2007 / Refer to document

Thesis (LL. M)--York University, 2002. / "Graduate Programme in Law." Includes bibliographical references (leaves 157-168). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/yorku/fullcit?pMQ75397.

Thesis (M.P.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 96-99).

Thesis (M.P.A.)--University of Hong Kong, 1995. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 96-99). Also available in print.

Magister Legum - LLM / The Constitution 1995 of the Republic of Uganda is silent on how to admit evidence obtained through human rights violations in Uganda. The decided cases are inconsistent in the way courts have dealt with this evidence. This research establishes how jurisdictions like South Africa, Canada, Kenya, Zimbabwe and Hong Kong deal with evidence obtained as a result of human rights violations. It establishes the position of international law on evidence obtained through human rights violations. The research then employs the comparative study to establish the status of evidence obtained through human rights violations in Uganda. This study helps in the improvement of the practice of evaluating evidence in courts, by providing recommendations to policy makers and judicial officers in the criminal justice system on how to handle evidence at the pretrial stages in order to greatly attempt to contain the consequences of this evidence.

Submitted by Nadir Basilio (nadirsb@uninove.br) on 2016-06-14T17:42:40Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Sergio Pereira Braga.pdf: 759589 bytes, checksum: fc81c29639eaa4af67cd9e161a2f3d42 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2016-06-14T17:42:40Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Sergio Pereira Braga.pdf: 759589 bytes, checksum: fc81c29639eaa4af67cd9e161a2f3d42 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2013-12-11 / This study aims to identify alternatives that may help reduce the slowness of justice. Begins the analysis describing the causes of the slowness of justice and their overlaps as well as the effects of this delay in the face of the fundamental guarantee of reasonable duration of proceedings and challenges to its implementation , it will also read from CNJ's goals and resolutions . Then presents the evolution of public administration in Brazil, as well as the main features of administering justice through the prism of efficiency, whose concepts and meanings for public management are not the same private management. Finally, we analyze the organizational and behavioral changes necessary for the management of the judiciary is a choice of magistrates , with special emphasis on the role of leadership as a factor promoting the convergence of the group's efforts for the realization of true reform we need, that is, the posture of public, essential for concepts such as motivation, leadership , profit and teamwork are recognized and reputed valid by public managers with effective impact in practice and in the management of the public good. The research made use of the inductive method and technique of the research literature. / O presente estudo tem por objetivo apontar alternativas que possam contribuir para a redução da morosidade da justiça. Inicia-se a análise descrevendo-se as causas da morosidade da justiça e suas imbricações, bem como os efeitos dessa delonga em face da garantia fundamental da duração razoável do processo e os desafios colocados à sua efetivação, leitura que se fará também a partir das metas e resoluções do CNJ. Em seguida, apresenta-se a evolução da administração pública no Brasil, bem como as principais características da gestão da justiça sob o prisma da eficiência, cujos conceitos e significados para a gestão pública não são os mesmo da gestão privada. Finalmente, são analisadas as mudanças organizacionais e comportamentais necessárias para que a gestão do Poder Judiciário seja uma opção dos magistrados, com especial destaque para o papel da liderança como fator de promoção da convergência dos esforços do grupo para a realização da verdadeira reforma que precisamos, qual seja, a da postura dos agentes públicos, essencial para que conceitos como motivação, liderança, no resultado e trabalho em equipe sejam reconhecidos e reputados válidos pelos gestores públicos com impactos efetivos na prática e no manejo do bem público. A pesquisa realizada serviu-se do método indutivo e a técnica de pesquisa utilizada foi a bibliográfica.

"A well functioning judiciary is a central element of civil society. It is the sole adjudicator over the political, social and economic spheres. Judiciaries in many African countries suffer from backlogs, delays and corruption. In countries such as Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana, Tanzania, and Uganda, speedy resolution of disputes is becoming increasingly elusive. Although many African countries have constitutional provisions against delay, and have identified congestion, excessive adjournments, local legal culture and corruption as some of the major causes of delay, nevertheless, the problem continues to be a feature in African Courts. In Nigeria, the average period to commence and complete litigation is six to ten years. In some instances, the litigation period is even longer. For example, in the case of Ariori v. Muraimo Elemo proceedings commenced in October 1960 and took 23 years to reach the Supreme Court of Nigeria. In South Africa, despite many programs and projects in place to solve the problem, delay in the administration of justice is still a problem. Appraising the extent of the problem, Penuell Maduna addressing the National Judges Symposium stated: “The public is perturbed by substantial backlogs in the criminal courts and in finalising prosecutions...” Mindful of the increase of this problem, especially in view of the consequences it poses, this study perceives a need to eradicate delay in the administration of justice. Thus, this study analyses the problem of delay in Nigerian and South African Courts with a view to ascertaining the nature, extent and causes of delay in the two countries, and suggests possible solutions to the problem. South Africa and Nigeria were chosen because they have similar judicial systems and experience delays in judicial proceedings." -- Chapter 1. / Prepared under the supervision of Mr. Abraham J. Hamman, Faculty of Law, University of Western Cape, South Africa / Thesis (LLM (Human Rights and Democratisation in Africa)) -- University of Pretoria, 2005. / http://www.chr.up.ac.za/academic_pro/llm1/dissertations.html / Centre for Human Rights / LLM

The sub judice rule is a media law practice that is currently often in the spotlight. Editors and journalists are constantly furiously speaking out against this rule that limits their freedom of expression in an attempt to assure the accused's fair and proper trial. Practitioners of the law, on the other side, say the sub judice rule is indispensable to the proper administration of justice. The rule, which much prevents the media from interfering with a pending case, causes confusion under journalists, as it is not consistently applied. Judges often warn the media against the violation of the rule during a high profile case, but those who do break the rule are not charged with contempt of the court. The aim of this study is to determine how Beeld, the Afrikaans daily newspaper, applies the sub judice rule in his reporting. The way in which this leading paper handles the rule is of importance to other journalists as well as the readers. The origin, development and function of the rule are also examined. It was established that Beeld did not contravene the sub judice rule as unceremoniously as a few other newspapers. Beelds violations of the rule were different experts' nuanced interpretations thereof. These violations is more based on the perception that the court's independence and worthiness must be upheld in the public eye than on the rule's actual function to guard against the interfering in the due course of a case. / Thesis (M.A. (Communication Studies))--North-West University, Potchefstroom Campus, 2007

This dissertation examined the relationship between support services for adult survivors of sexual assault and judicial outcomes. Specifically, this study explored survivors' willingness to participate in the judicial process. Although "victim unwilling to participate" is the primary reason given by the police for cases not progressing to prosecution, we know little about most aspects of survivors' willingness to participate in the judicial process, especially beyond initial reporting of the assault. The steps to prosecution are dependent on one another yet a survivor's willingness to participate in these steps is a fluid process. The primary research question explored was Are there clusters of survivors according to their responses to specific items on a Willingness to Participate scale? Additional research questions focused on differences among possible clusters of survivors. A semi-structured interview protocol was completed with 46 survivors of adult sexual assault. Cluster analysis was conducted and three clusters emerged. Findings suggest that support services were helpful to those who were highly willing to participate but that willingness was insufficient to influence judicial outcomes. Future research concerning judicial outcomes in sexual assault cases should focus on strategies to dispel myths about rape among survivors, within the judicial system, and with potential jurors as a means of improving both survivor participation and judicial outcomes.