<p> Since deinstitutionalization, the responsibility for mentally ill members of society has shifted to the criminal justice system in a process of trans-institutionalization or &ldquo;criminalization of mental illness&rdquo; (Slate &amp; Johnson, 2013, p. 28). Though various groups have been studied to ascertain their perception of mentally ill individuals and offenders, previous research focuses largely on students of psychology, social work, and medicine. Little research has been conducted regarding the perceptions of criminal justice students toward mental illness, despite the increasing involvement of the criminal justice system in treating and handling mentally ill individuals in the past thirty years. This exploratory research serves as a replication to a study which was conducted by Thompson, Paulson, Valgardson, Nored, and Johnson (2014). </p>

<p> Gender-linked language penalizes women by both systematically devaluing women&rsquo;s speech and limiting its form and content. In 1975, Robin Lakoff claimed that gender-linked language was a key diagnostic for gender equality within society. Forty years later, this interdisciplinary analysis brings together feminist, legal justice, sociological, and linguistic perspectives to examine the courtroom testimony of female domestic violence victims for compliance with gender-linked language norms and subsequent success in obtaining protective orders. Testimony was evaluated for compliance with Mulac&rsquo;s Gender-Linked Language Effect (GLLE) as well as additional variables uncovered through research and experience. Results showed that all petitioners used female-linked variables at a consistent rate but that those who used more male-linked variables received fewer protective orders. The results of this analysis will serve to inform judges and legal professionals in their evaluation of women&rsquo;s narratives without bias, fill a gap in research on the effects gender-linked language in courtroom testimony, and uncover the presence of the GLLE in everyday life. Most importantly, this analysis provides a rationale for eliminating gender-linked language as an extralegal barrier to protection helping to ensure that all citizens receive equal protection from the Court regardless of gender.</p>

<p> Responses to sex offenders often involve collective campaigns that target political and criminal justice systems rather than individual offenders. Scholars have described these community responses as part of a broader moral panic, but that interpretation generally overlooks differences in the form of responses across places. This dissertation uses data from case studies of three California towns to examine how local political and legal contexts contribute to variation in community responses to violent sex offenders. I argue that communities' orientations to authority shape how they respond to perceived injustices. </p><p> I introduce my main arguments and overarching concepts in chapter one. Then, in chapter two, I explore why communities deploy moral authority in service of their collective goals. Moral authority is an endogenous source of community power, and moral claims emerge within formal institutional contexts that allow for and even encourage morally based arguments. Because these institutions limit the effectiveness of moral claims, communities sometimes turn to other mobilization strategies. Chapter three shows how an orientation to political authority as a source of entitlement contributed to one community rallying around political mobilization. I contrast this case with a second community in which an orientation to political authority as a source of alienation contributed to ambivalence toward political strategies. In chapter four, I argue that the third community's orientation to legal authority as a source of protection contributed to litigation as the centerpiece of their response. I compare this case to the second community in which legal authority was perceived as a source of control, which facilitated indifference toward legal mobilization. </p><p> This research contributes to a new perspective on participation in moral panic as a contemporary form of civic engagement. By illuminating the social processes underlying the relationships between communities and formal institutions, my findings have implications for understanding community responses to crime, legal and political mobilization, collective action, and social control within communities. More practically, this research can inform discussions about how community members should be involved in decision-making about sex offender reintegration.</p>

<p>Life course criminology seeks to explain the factors that lead and deter individuals from engaging in persistent later-life criminality. However, the cultivation of marijuana has yet to be tested by life course related means. This thesis uses data from both the Marijuana Growers' Survey and the Belgian Marijuana Growers' Survey to examine the extent that life course related variables are associated with transitions within marijuana growers. Results suggest little support for life course related variables, and instead suggest that motivations are more important in dictating transitions associated with an increase in profit and operations. Implications of these results are discussed and policy recommendations are made. </p>

<p> With overwhelming public support, pressure has been mounting on police departments to improve accountability and public trust by equipping their officers with body worn cameras (BWCs) to reduce police violence and hold officers responsible for excessive use of force, unjustified shootings, and other forms of misconduct. As police departments have begun to employ BWCs, however, concerns have risen regarding the application of this new technology and its potential to benefit police officers more so than the communities they serve. This study focuses on the city of Chicago&rsquo;s recently implemented Body Worn Camera Pilot Program. The goals of this study were to determine if racial demographics could predict which of Chicago&rsquo;s 22 police districts received BWCs during its pilot program, and whether and to what extent BWCs and the racial makeup of those districts influenced the arrest to crime ratios within them. A preliminary analysis revealed crime rates were not a statistically significant predictor for whether a district received BWCs. There was, however, an association between race and BWCs, where majority white police districts were much less likely to receive the technology. Standard multiple regressions indicate that as the white population percentage increases, arrests decrease. This finding was statistically significant at the .05 alpha level while controlling for the crime rate and BWC implementation. Three-way mixed ANOVA models were run to compare arrest to crime ratios pre- and post-BWC implementation for overall crime, serious crime, violent crime, non-index crime, and property crime. Although no significant two- or three-way interactions were found in any of the ANOVA models, when plotting the pre- and posttest arrest ratios there were noticeable differences between control and experimental groups across race.</p><p>

<p> Municipal broadband implementations are restricted in some way by 19 states, with other states proposing restrictions. In analyzing the different state laws, there are three categories of restrictions: bans on providing services, administrative restrictions, and economic restrictions. The most common restriction is to require municipalities to create separate funds for communication services, there are 21 different economic restrictions implemented. Most states implement more than one type of restriction and do not fall into just one category. The effect of the restrictions varies depending on the market conditions and the status of the LEC (Local Exchange Carrier), and the number of municipal electric companies present within the state. The restrictions in most states passed after the first large scale municipal network was proposed. This made it difficult to measure the effect of the restrictions on either broadband adoption or fiber to the home (FTTH) rates.</p>

Thesis (J.S.D.)--Columbia University, 2005. / (UnM)AAI3188729. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 66-09, Section: A, page: 3437. Adviser: Mark Barenberg.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, 2005. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 66-07, Section: B, page: 3960. Adviser: Wendy Packman.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--Pacific Graduate School of Psychology, 2005. / Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 66-08, Section: B, page: 4534. Adviser: Wendy Packman.

Resumo: Nessa pesquisa, realizo uma análise sociológica sobre o conceito de estado de direito e mostro as implicações da adoção desse conceito para a formação de uma visão própria do mundo social. Mostro que, se observarmos o estado de direito como uma construção coletiva operada no campo maior do poder, e não como uma formulação doutrinária gerada apenas no universo acadêmico das faculdades de direito, o estado de direito portará muitos significados diferentes, ambíguos e mesmo contraditórios. Mas será precisamente por essas qualidades que serão tão decisivos para a manutenção de uma identidade do poder estatal sob seu emblema. Para compreender o processo histórico através do qual o signo do estado de direito encontra sua supremacia, realizei uma sociologia histórica sobre a ascensão global das elites jurídicas no campo do poder em meio ao processo de decadência do regime militar e a concomitante redemocratização dos anos 1990. Para compreender a ampla gama de significados do estado de direito, decorrentes do caráter coletivo de sua formação, analisei um conjunto extenso de artigos de opinião sobre criminalidade, violência de estado e segurança pública publicados no principal jornal impresso brasileiro desde aquela época, a Folha de S. Paulo. Esses artigos foram escritos por uma variedade expressiva de representantes de elites de diferentes campos sociais, mas prevalentemente por sujeitos com formação acadêmica em direito. Ao reconhecer algumas estruturas compartilhadas entre a maior parte dos debatedores na formação de seus argumentos e discursos, a despeito de tantas diferenças aparentes entre suas perspectivas políticas, busquei os elementos estruturantes de uma teorização própria do social na perspectiva juridicista. / Abstract: In this research, I perform a sociological analysis of the concept of rule of law and demonstrate the implications of this concept in the formation of a particular vision of the social universe. I demonstrate that, if we focus on its construction as a collective one, operated at the major field of power more than a doctrinaire formula generated mainly inside the academic universe of the law universities the rule of law will hold many different, ambiguous and even contradictory meanings. But it is precisely because of this quality that it will be decisive for the conservation of a state power identity under its emblem. To understand the historical process through which the rule of law symbol reaches its supremacy, it was necessary to perform a historical sociology on the global ascension of legal elites in the field of state power, at the historical process of decay of the military regime and further redemocratization at the 1990s. To understand the amplitude of meanings of the rule of law that stems from its collective character, Ive analyzed an extent ensemble of articles published on the most important brazillian newspaper since that time, the daily Folha de S. Paulo. Those articles were written by an expressive variety of elite members from different fields, but most prevailingly individuals with a law formation. As I recognized some structures shared by most of those who appear at these debates, despite of apparently different political perspectives, I sought the structurant elements of a theorization of society under this juridicist perspective.