This study examined how decision-making training related to the Drug Evaluation and Classification (DEC) Program was transferred to law enforcement officers, referred to as drug recognition experts (DRE), for use in identifying and assessing impaired drivers. Specifically, this study explored how particular factors observed as part of the DEC Program’s decision-making process influence the DRE’s prediction of a drug category that was impairing a suspected impaired driver in the enforcement environment. Quantitative and qualitative methods were utilized to better understand the complexity of the DRE’s decision-making. Factors observed from 199 drug influence evaluations (DIE) were used as a basis for the quantitative analysis. In addition, feedback gleaned from the interviews conducted with six DREs was analyzed to identify themes that described the perceptive influence of those same factors on the DRE’s prediction of a drug category. The DREs classified 88.4% of the DIEs correctly when compared to the toxicology results according to the criteria set-forth in the DEC Program’s Administrator’s Guide. The accuracy rates at the drug category level were 82.9% for Depressants and Cannabis, 80.9% for Stimulants, 96.5% for Dissociative Anesthetics, and 81.9% for Narcotic Analgesics. The results of the study showed that the DREs employed their DEC Program training appropriately, but reportedly used a subset of factors as a basis for their predictions. The quantitative analysis indicated that the factors the DRE expected to observe when a particular drug category was present in the toxicology results were documented as present on the DIE report by the DRE. In contrast, only a subset of those factors was unique to that drug category. The qualitative feedback from the DREs indicated that they rely on a subgroup of factors, such as those related to the eyes, as the main basis for their decision-making. The DREs also emphasized their consideration of the totality of evidence as major driver in their decision-making. The DEC Program provided an interesting opportunity to explore the transfer of decision-making training. Based on the results of this study, the DEC Program can improve the transfer of training by targeting DRE’s motivation to transfer training into practice, the transfer design, and the climate in which the DRE transfers their learning into performance.

This study examined how decision-making training related to the Drug Evaluation and Classification (DEC) Program was transferred to law enforcement officers, referred to as drug recognition experts (DRE), for use in identifying and assessing impaired drivers. Specifically, this study explored how particular factors observed as part of the DEC Program’s decision-making process influence the DRE’s prediction of a drug category that was impairing a suspected impaired driver in the enforcement environment. Quantitative and qualitative methods were utilized to better understand the complexity of the DRE’s decision-making. Factors observed from 199 drug influence evaluations (DIE) were used as a basis for the quantitative analysis. In addition, feedback gleaned from the interviews conducted with six DREs was analyzed to identify themes that described the perceptive influence of those same factors on the DRE’s prediction of a drug category. The DREs classified 88.4% of the DIEs correctly when compared to the toxicology results according to the criteria set-forth in the DEC Program’s Administrator’s Guide. The accuracy rates at the drug category level were 82.9% for Depressants and Cannabis, 80.9% for Stimulants, 96.5% for Dissociative Anesthetics, and 81.9% for Narcotic Analgesics. The results of the study showed that the DREs employed their DEC Program training appropriately, but reportedly used a subset of factors as a basis for their predictions. The quantitative analysis indicated that the factors the DRE expected to observe when a particular drug category was present in the toxicology results were documented as present on the DIE report by the DRE. In contrast, only a subset of those factors was unique to that drug category. The qualitative feedback from the DREs indicated that they rely on a subgroup of factors, such as those related to the eyes, as the main basis for their decision-making. The DREs also emphasized their consideration of the totality of evidence as major driver in their decision-making. The DEC Program provided an interesting opportunity to explore the transfer of decision-making training. Based on the results of this study, the DEC Program can improve the transfer of training by targeting DRE’s motivation to transfer training into practice, the transfer design, and the climate in which the DRE transfers their learning into performance.

Thesis (M.A.) -- University of Texas at Arlington, 2008.

This thesis identifies the convergence between John Dewey's ideas regarding the public and the evolution of law enforcement practices. There are four areas covered, those being responses to major shifts in cultural activities and assumptions, learning as continuous, Dewey's ethics and the role of discretion in law enforcement, and community as participatory and inclusive. Dewey's ideas in these four areas are explained and examples are provided that demonstrate the convergence. Particular attention is given to the changes brought about by the migration from the professional model to the community policing model. The thesis also claims that both models are necessary for law enforcement to have a sufficient repertoire to provide their services and that deciding which model to use should be based on what the task is. It also states that law enforcement should be open to future developments that can improve how law enforcement services are provided.

The main purpose of the thesis is to explore the role of colonial police forces in anglophone Africa in the period between 1947 and 1964/5 when the transition from colonial dependencies to independent nation-states took place. The police are an important component of all modern states. It is argued in the thesis that the police formed one of the key foundation stones of the colonial state in Africa. The question of how to deal with colonial police forces in the post World War Two period severely tested policy makers both in Whitehall and in the individual territories. The related problems of the role of the military forces also arose. On the one hand, there was perceived to be a need sharply to increase the strength of the police, as well as to militarise them and radically to improve intelligence systems. This was as a result of what was seen as the growing threat of communism and because of civil disorders, usually inspired by nationalist sentiment, such as those in Accra in 1948. On the other hand, there was a desire to insulate the police from political interference with the advent of self-government in the various territories. As decolonisation proceeded, it was seen that the cherished 'Westminster Model' of government would fail if the police were not constitutionally safeguarded. It was thought that if urgent action was not taken, 'police states' would emerge throughout anglophone Africa after colonial rule was terminated. In the event successful policies were not readily forthcoming, and British administered territories did enter Independence without proper safeguards that might have regulated and controlled the position of the police. The legacy has been a devastating one for much of Africa.

This thesis examines the criminal law's treatment of women who kill their abusive partners through a theoretical framework developed from queer theory and social justice. More specifically, in relation to queer theory, the thesis considers the work ofJudith Butler and her notions of gender as performativity, cultural intelligibility, materialisation and resignification. The model of social justice used is drawn from the work of Iris Marion Young. One particular aspect of her model of social justice is considered to be pertinent: cultural imperialism. Cultural imperialism maintains that an injustice in the form of domination and oppression is committed when inferior social groups are constructed from the outside by the dominant social group and where their particular characteristics are rendered 'Other'.The thesis applies the work of these two authors to a number of criminal cases in order to analyse the following issues: the construction of a woman's identity by the legal system; the existence of differences between women - particularly racial, cultural and ethnic differences - and the possibility of achieving justice within the existing criminal law. The thesis scrutinises Court of Appeal judgments and provides a close reading of two cases: Zoora Shah, who remains convicted for murder, and Diana Butler, who was, on retrial, convicted for manslaughter on the grounds of diminished responsibility.I argue that the murder/manslaughter and custody/probation distinctions are linked to the unintelligible/intelligible gender distinction. I further argue that in those cases in which a manslaughter conviction is achieved, the result can be seen to be both at once just and unjust. Whereas it may be 'legally just' when compared to cases involving men who have killed their partners, it is also 'socially unjust' due to the cultural imperialistic manner in which a woman's identity is constructed. Furthermore, the thesis highlights that, in addition to prevailing gender scripts to which women must conform, there also exists racial regulatory scripts which impact upon the construction of a woman's identity and her perceived cultural intelligibility. Attention is also paid to the instability of meaning which is considered to provide an opportunity for subversive transformation.In the conclusion the thesis forwards an overview of a proposed defence, which is based upon a reformulation of the battered woman syndrome and the defence of duress. This defence is considered to offer a more socially just outcome for womenwho kill.

No description available.

Military confrontations in many parts of the world raise concerns regarding the treatment of prisoners of war. Whilst the regime of prisoners of war under international law is clearly codified in the 1949 Geneva Convention relating to the treatment of prisoners of war, questions arise, particularly from western thinkers, regarding their treatment under Islamic law. This thesis attempts to fill this gap in the literature. The legal status of prisoners of war as presented in the Quran and Sunna and interpreted by prominent Islamic scholars is analysed and compared with the Geneva Convention provision is examined.The discussion begins in Chapter One with an examination of the context in which the issue of prisoner of war status arises. The concept and legitimacy of war are discussed and the rules of war, as well as relations between Islamic and non-Islamic States areexamined. In Chapter Two, the definition of the term 'prisoners of war' in each legal system is examined, and the classes of people excluded from the definition areconsidered. Chapter Three investigates the legal status of prisoners of war from the moment of capture, with reference to the coercion of prisoners of war to reveal military secrets protection inside the camps, the labour and financial status of prisoners of war,and the right to food and clothing, to communication with the outside world, to medical attention and to freedom of religious practice. There follows in Chapter Four a discussion of the ways in which capture may be terminated.The thesis shows that Islam provides for the just and humane treatment of prisoners of war and its rules are in general consistent with the provisions of international law. There are, however, some differences, such as the Islamic provision on enslavement attributable to differences in historical context. Such discrepancies however, have either been removed by changing custom, or can be resolved by analogy and by application of the general rules of just and humane treatment. There is, therefore, no reason why an Islamic country should not conform with the generally accepted principles of international law on the treatment of prisoners of war.

No description available.

No description available.