Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2001. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 238-250). Available also in a digital version from Dissertation Abstracts.

Thesis (M. Phil.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 208-215).

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Chicago, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (p. 104-107). Also available on the Internet.

This work seeks to critically examine the right to legal representation in the South African criminal justice system under a future constitutional dispensation. Extensive attention has been given to how the right to legal representation has been interpreted under the common law. Reference has been made to the united States 6f America's approach to the due process and equal protection clauses in shaping the substantive and procedural content of the right to counsel in criminal proceedings. The importance of legal representation is examined during the pre-trial, trial and sentencing stages of criminal proceedings. A brief comparative examination has been made of the right to legal representation in other foreign jurisdictions, and how the courts have dealt with indigent accused persons facing criminal charges. Proposals from different quarters in South Africa have been discussed in the hope that these proposals may still find a place in the country's final constitution. Finally, the practical implications of a qualified right to free legal representation as provided by the Interim South African Constitution is discussed. Suggestions are also made concerning the approach to be adopted by the courts in the face of judicial precedents which would be in conflict with a new value system under a Bill of Rights after 27 April 1994. / Thesis (LL.M.)-University of Natal, Durban, 1994.

This thesis has explored the relationships that exist between the police and the courts. It hypothesized that a relationship existed between the amount of training police officers received and their attitudes toward the courts. The study traced the history and training programs of the police. It explained the judicial process in criminal cases and examined recent United States Supreme Court rulings of concern to police officers.The basic analytical device was a two part questionnaire. The first section of 23 items attempted to measure officers' attitudes toward the judicial system, court officials, and United States Supreme Court rulings. The second section of 14 items gathered background information about the officers stressing the amount of training they had received. The responses of the 420 officers surveyed and their importance were discussed. No strong statistical significances were obtained to substantiate the hypothesis.

This thesis explores the recent introduction of restorative justice into the youth justice system in England. It examines the historical and political context from which current youth justice policies have emerged and aims to evaluate how this new system is functioning 'on the ground' several years after being implemented. Specifically, the primary aim of the research is to investigate final warnings and referral orders. The findings are based on an in-depth study of one Youth Offending Team (YOT). The research adopted a predominantly qualitative, case study based method utilizing techniques of observation, informal conversations, formal interviews with the young offenders and their supporters as well as with authority figures who are amongst those responsible for policy and practice in the youth justice system. The substantive chapters of this thesis focus on the delivery of final warnings, referral order panel meetings, victim participation, and the structural, cultural and political influences on YOT practice. This research concludes that at present, restorative practices in England are seriously compromised. However, simply because these programmes experience difficulties, they should not necessarily be considered a failure. The present failures in practice are not related to the philosophical foundation of these programmes or even to the way in which they have been set up. Rather, the current shortcomings in practice are due mostly to a failure of implementation on the part of the YOT. The final warning and referral order programmes, if improved, have the potential to become an effective first encounter with the criminal justice system and to impact positively on many first time offenders.

Throughout the nineties a range of factors, not least the series of suicides at Cornton Vale women's prison, highlighted concerns about how the criminal justice system deals with female offenders in Scotland. There has been a review of community-based disposals and the use of custody for women (Scottish Office, 1998a), an Inspection of Cornton Vale was conducted (HMI, 2001), and a Ministerial Group on Women's Offending was set up (Scottish Executive, 2002a). Despite this concern the numbers of female offenders being sentenced to custody has continued to rise. This study sought to examine the nature of criminal justice social work services delivered to female offenders and the way in which ideological and policy shifts have impacted on it. Differences relating to gender, with regard to both practitioners and clients, within the context of criminal justice social work in Scotland,w ere considered.T his included a consideration of the impact of the policy shift from the "welfare" to the "justice" model. Thirty-five interviews were conducted with criminal justice social work staff and material was drawn from 420 Social Enquiry Reports. The study examined practices and policies which relate to how women are supervised, how these relate to the presentation of information in social enquiry reports, and in turn how this may relate to the final court disposal imposed. A discrepancy between policy and practice was identified in that the latter draws on the "welfare" model more than is endorsed by formal policy. This greater emphasis on the "welfare" model applies to work with female offenders in particular. There were concerns amongst criminal justice social work staff that such a difference in approach might be discriminatory. A new "welfare" model of supervision appears to have been adopted in the supervision of female offenders. This model emphasised the importance of the working relationship, between supervisor and client, within which women offenders should be allowed scope for negotiation. Information on female offenders derived from both interviews with criminal justice staff and the data obtained from SERs is used to review social control theory (Hirschi, 1969), as it exists, as an explanation of female offending. Carlen's study (1988) of female offenders suggested that integral to their involvement in offending was a rejection of the controls to which they are subjected and of their gender roles. By contrast the profile of women offenders as identified in this study suggests that women are offending partly in an endeavour to conform to, or at least cope with, their gender roles. Female offenders were reported as having experienced greater adversity and this appears to havee licited a protective response from social workers. This protection began in women's childhoods and is evident in their treatment as adults. The organisation of community service is considered by female social workers to have an inherent gender bias which renders it less suitable for female offenders. These concerns appear to have foundation in terms of an apparent gender bias in the operation of community service schemes. Female offenders sentenced to community service were more likely to have had their SERs compiled by male SER writers, while female offenders sentenced to probation were more likely to have their SERs compiled by female SER writers. Female social workers specifically appear to adopt a stronger welfare orientation when compiling reports on female offenders apparently motivated by an inclination to protect. This has implications for gender specific allocation of work. The effect is not protection if reports arc undermining community service as a possible alternative to custody for women, as appears to be the case when the SER writer is female.

Treatise (Ed. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Texas at Austin, 2007. / Vita. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--Drexel University, 2007. / Includes abstract and vita. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 65-72).