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The current study aimed to explore peoples’ experiences of social and organisational justice, and in doing so asked three central questions. The first focused on whether there was a relationship between the different dimensions of justice, and the second on the commonalties and differences in peoples’ perceptions of justice. The third question looked at whether demographic variables, as markers of social identity, were predictive of such justice perceptions. The study was quantitative in nature, and made use of a non-experimental, partially exploratory, cross-sectional design. Four hundred and eight six employees of a large South African manufacturing organisation completed a self report questionnaire containing questions about a range of biographic, domestic, financial, employment, and religious information, as well as two measures of social and organisational justice perceptions. Once preliminary analyses were carried out to ensure the psychometric properties of the measuring instruments and explore the data set, two key statistical procedures were used to answer the research questions, namely a cluster analysis and a Chi Squared Automatic Interaction Detection or CHAID analysis. Results of these analyses provided some evidence to argue that justice perceptions in different contexts, while not strongly related, cannot be seen in isolation from another, and that a more integrative or reciprocal approach to understanding different justice perceptions needs to be adopted. Further, the results of the cluster analysis demonstrated that a range of key justice concerns differentiated groups from another, including collective versus individual concerns, personal versus impersonal events, as well as concerns related to the different types of relationships that exist. Finally, the CHAID analysis provided some indication of which demographic variables were the best determinants of social and organisational justice perceptions, and the ways in which demographic variables interacted with one another in relation to peoples’ experiences of justice.

The courts are recognised as playing an increasingly important role in the realisation and concretisation of socio-economic rights. However, the implications of these activities for notions of voice, engagement and access to decision-makers and those in power, are largely not understood. This study seeks to address key questions around what type of platform for engagement the courts are providing for more marginalised groups beyond sites of redress, as well as to consider the impacts of court cases, decisions and remedies on policy, practice and the everyday life of urban residents. The study utilises a comparative approach between India and South Africa, and examines two seminal court cases - one in Delhi, the Sealings Case, and the other in Johannesburg, the Olivia Road Case. The case studies demonstrate that the litigants’ decision to go to court is, in part, closely linked to the failure of representative democracy and is influenced by the coalitions and alliances of urban actors. Furthermore, the case studies look at the court as a site of engagement between citizens, residents and the state in order to see what benefits or dangers exist when engaging in litigation. The case studies further provide some insights into the implications of being denied access to the courts and how alternative modes of power-seeking and voicing issues come to the fore. Lastly, the case studies offer an account of the consequences of litigation and looks at the impact of court cases on policy, policy-making process, practice and the lives of citizens and notes that these are not only highly differentiated but also extremely unpredictable. In making sense of the role of the court in urban governance, the study argues for a conceptualisation of courts as institutions of hegemony, and pushes Gramsci’s notion to explain courts and court cases as platforms on which litigants can promote their own hegemonic or counter-hegemonic project. However, courts are not neutral containers in which these politics unfold; rather they are engaged actors with their own agendas and hegemonic visions, which they seek to enforce through the decisions that they make and the roles that they carve out for themselves within the urban governance terrain.

This research study used negative binomial regression to examine the individual and interactive effects of deterrence and procedural justice on frequency of offending counts among serious juvenile offenders. To test the research question, this study utilized the Pathways to Desistance study to test the efficacy of the integration of deterrence theory and procedural justice theory. Deterrence theory is grounded in the classical school of criminology and its rational choice perspective. It argues that individuals will weigh the costs and benefits associated with a criminal act and choose to act in such a manner that will maximize benefits and minimize costs (Cullen & Jonson, 2012). A growing body of research suggests that fairness (i.e., procedural justice) process within the criminal justice process can be effective in the fight against crime, disorder, and recidivism. Procedural justice, sometimes referred to as procedural fairness, refers to perceived fairness within the criminal justice process, even when outcomes are not viewed as favorable (Gold & Bradley, 2013). It accomplishes this by fostering a “buy-in” to laws and directives that enhances cooperation and consent.Because laws are only as good as our ability to enforce them, substituting procedural justice for deterrence would essentially remove the teeth from such laws. However, that does not preclude the development of a theoretical integration of the two. Specifically, such an integration might be more effective in reducing crime and disorder than each would be able to achieve on its own. To test the research question, this study integrated the theories of deterrence and procedural justice and examined whether the additive interaction of procedural justice and deterrence predicted decreased offending counts to a greater extent than what was obtained separately.Study results indicated that overall, deterrence, procedural justice, and their interaction all predicted decreases in offending. That said, overall findings suggested their interaction more consistently supported decreases in offending. That said, study findings also suggested that deterrence was driving the predictions of decreased frequency of offending counts with procedural justice playing a supportive role. Thus, the recommendation is that procedural justice should be integrated into the current deterrence framework. This can be accomplished through training criminal justice actors in the nuances of procedural justice that can be incorporated into their interactions with citizens to foster immediate acceptance and long-term compliance.

Throughout most of human history, justice has been perceived as an extremely important virtue. The primary objective of this study is to investigate the meaning of justice with a focus on a particular subject—pricing, specifically as it pertains to healthcare. In addition to the primary goal, there are also some secondary objectives: uncovering the procedure of healthcare pricing, revealing the role of government in achieving justice of healthcare pricing, and identifying the influential factors that affect the formation of people’s understanding of justice regarding healthcare pricing. The findings indicate that the equity perspective and the perspective of the need principle have substantial influence on the formation of people’s understanding of justice with regard to healthcare pricing. From the equity perspective, people believe that a just healthcare pricing should be reasonably based on cost. From the need principle perspective, people believe that just healthcare pricing should guarantee the affordability of healthcare, especially basic care. In regard to the role of government, a majority of participants believe that the government-market mixed mechanism is the most just pricing mechanism and government should play the role of a regulator. Government interventions should strive toward assisting the spontaneous forces of the market competition. Finally, findings in this study state that the participants’ general belief of distributive justice exerts a significant effect upon their understanding of justice regarding healthcare pricing. However, there is no one-to-one correspondence between these two. These findings prove that people have the tendency to treat healthcare as a special good and view justice of healthcare pricing as a particular subject to which the general belief of distributive justice may not be applicable. By focusing on justice of healthcare pricing, this study bridges the research gap and contributes to the literature on ethical study of pricing. The identifications of the popularly shared understanding of justice regarding healthcare pricing and the proper role of government provide important reference information to governments and policy makers, enlightening people with new solutions to some pressing healthcare issues.

This thesis is an attempt to determine the precise meaning of Plato's notion of justice, as it applies to an individual human being. Specifically, it asks how the Republic's definition of justice as the proper ordering of the parts of a whole must manifest itself in the actual life of a just individual. This amounts to an examination of Plato's conception of the philosophic life. This issue arises, in part, due to a recent trend, exhibited by some of the most influential commentators on Plato, to seek a social, or practical, dimension of philosophic activity. That is, these commentators assume that if Plato's account of the truly just life is to be deemed credible, he must propose, as an essential element of such a life, a course of public and/or political action to be engaged in. Some scholars accuse Plato of failing to meet this criterion of a proper account of the just life, while others try to find evidence to support the claim that Plato did meet it. It is the claim of this thesis that Plato neither did, nor wished to, make 'moral behaviour', as such, an intrinsic part of the philosophic, or just, life. Rather, I argue that Plato is deliberately overturning the ordinary understanding of justice in favour of a conception of the purely contemplative life as the most just. My argument proceeds by way of an analysis of the interpretations of three prominent Plato scholars: David Sachs, Gregory Vlastos, and Terence Irwin. By exposing their misinterpretations of various key passages in Plato's texts, I bring to light the proper interpretation of 'Platonic justice', thus clarifying one of the Republic's central aims, namely to establish exactly why the philosophic life is the best, most just, and happiest life. / Thesis / Master of Arts (MA)

Prior research examining criminogenic risk and need suggests that dynamic factors (i.e., criminogenic needs) are best suited for intervention and treatment as they are changeable over time. Thus, dynamic factors can be targeted to reduce the likelihood of recidivism among youth in the juvenile justice system. The assessment of needs is critical as it allows for the prediction of future delinquency and the ability to provide appropriate services/treatment for juvenile offenders. Several studies have shown that youth present with multiple needs and that these needs differ by gender. Therefore, the current study utilized a sample of adjudicated youth under community supervision from all counties in Florida from 2007 to 2015. Latent class analysis was employed to create need profiles based on dynamic factor domains from the Community Positive Achievement Change Tool (C-PACT). The relationships between the need classes and various justice-related factors and outcomes (i.e., race/ethnicity, age, risk level and static risk factors, change in dynamic needs, and recidivism) were also assessed. Furthermore, the analyses were conducted separately for males and females to examine for possible gender differences. Findings demonstrate that there are different multiple needs that present within males and females. With a few exceptions, the latent classes do not predict recidivism. However, the gender-specific subgroups do predict change in dynamic needs. Based on the findings, theoretical and practical implications are discussed that focus on the use of risk assessment instruments and rehabilitation in the juvenile justice system. Directions for future research are also discussed.

The current research focuses on the risk factors for bully profiles, antisocial behavior across profiles, and patterns of bullying behavior over the span of four school years. The sample was comprised of 1,817 middle school students from seven school districts. Latent profile analysis, multivariate regression techniques, and latent transition analysis were used to meet the five objectives of this study: 1) identify unique subgroups of youth based on responses to different bully experiences, 2) determine similarities and differences in risk factors that are associated with bully experiences, 3) examine antisocial behavior across identified bully profiles, 4) determine if membership in bully profiles is stable or changes over time, and 5) assess the similarities and differences in the risk factors associated with transition patterns over four time points. Results indicated that unique subgroups of youth exist based on bully perpetration and bully victimization experiences. Similarities and differences arose in the risk factors that were associated with bully experiences and transition patterns. However, across the identified bully profiles, antisocial behavior did not vary once time order was established. These results have important implications for research, practice, and policy, which are discussed.

The overall goal of this dissertation is to examine how the built and natural environment influences how potential criminals identify crime sites to offend within. Guided by the theoretical principles of crime site selection and crime pattern theory, this study specifically focuses on the crimes of street robbery and commercial burglary in three unique study locations—Atlanta, GA, Fayetteville, NC, and Rochester, NY. The data for this study were collected from multiple publicly available data repositories. Of these repositories, criminal incident data for the dependent variables were gathered from the National Policing Institute's Police Data Initiative. Data for the independent variables, which are representative of the built and natural environment, were collected from various open-source public and governmental agencies. To assess the influence of the built and natural environment on crime site selection, several techniques were employed. First, general spatial patterns were mapped using both kernel density estimation (KDE) and directional distribution analysis. Subsequently, temporal trends were identified by separating the data into several temporal units of analysis, including by meteorological season, weekday/weekend, and four-hour block increments. To assess multivariate relationships, two machine learning techniques were used: multivariate clustering and random forest classification. In alignment with prior literature, findings indicate that criminal incidents for both street robbery and commercial burglary cluster spatially and temporally. Of note, there are seasonal trends identified within the data, as well as trends relating to the time of day. Results from the multivariate clustering analysis reveal several unique spatial clusters of variables within each study location. The random forest classification and regression analysis rank ordered the importance of independent variables in their relationship to the criminal incidents in question. This ordering varied considerably depending on the temporal unit of analysis in question, which suggests the spatial predictors of street robbery and commercial burglary differ by season, weekday and weekend, and time of day. These results hold theoretical, methodological, and practical implications within the scope of environmental criminology.

Questioned document examination, particularly handwriting/handprinting identification, lends itself readily to unintended bias on the part of the examiner. Questioned document examination is one of the few forensic science areas that depends primarily on a subjective analysis by the examiner. Most questioned document examiners attempt to render analyses as objectively as possible by using sophisticated measuring techniques. However, complete objectivity cannot be achieved because of the situation in which the document examiner is summoned for analyses, and the fact that most of the identification process involves a subjective opinion of the examiner. There exists some concern over the amount of unintended bias among document examiners. In any handwriting comparison, one can point out both similarities and dissimilarities of the writing habits. If the samples are pictorially similar, it becomes easier to point out similarities. A preconceived conclusion that 'the suspect wrote or did not write the document' based on the situation and social interaction finds an easier outlet when the samples are pictorially similar or dissimilar. There should be more than one sample of handwriting exemplars submitted for analysis. When possible, true examplars as well as request exemplars should be submitted to control for possible disguising of handwriting. By following these suggestions, a document examiner and submitting agency (police or attorney) can inhibit the amount of bias that may lead to erroneous conclusions by the examiner.