The American public has shown growing concern for the protection of aesthetic values on private and public lands. For private lands, the protection of aesthetic qualities must be coupled with use rights inherent in property ownership under American law. One of the earliest models to protect such values on private lands was the use of "police power" to regulate the appearance of new development in selected districts. This has most frequently been accomplished by including design guidelines in zoning ordinances. This study examines history, relevant law and literature, and the content of design guidelines in zoning ordinances. The content analysis was designed to investigate both design elements and trends over time existed. The findings from the content analysis suggest that the use of design guidelines are increasing for contemporary areas and communities as well as historic districts. Also, that the design guidelines are becoming increasingly specific in the design elements included.

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Three historic communities with varying levels of social, economic and historic preservation issues are studied in the following chapters to determine motivations for negotiating community benefits agreements (CBAs), and to determine motivations for the specific benefits outlined within each community’s respective CBA. The case study research examines the historic preservation language within each CBA as well as how the development itself and the other benefits prescribed in the CBAs will positively or negatively impact each community. The case study communities demonstrate that CBAs can be used as historic preservation planning and implementation tools. By including thoughtful and transparent community benefits language, a community will be able to use the tools – i.e. financing, technical assistance, advice and guidance, etc. – provided to them within the CBA to successfully carry out the benefits promised within the CBA. / Department of Architecture

Over the last several decades, researchers have documented how impaired reasoning by adult offenders impeded the intelligent waiver of Miranda rights. Logically, it stands to reason that juveniles – who are developmentally less mature and have less life experience than their adult counterparts – would possess even greater impairment, thereby heightening their risk for invalid Miranda waivers. Juvenile Miranda research supports this notion; with some researchers finding that psychosocial maturity, among other factors, affect a juvenile’s understanding of their rights. Yet, relatively few studies have examined its relation to Miranda reasoning and decision-making. Thus, the current study investigated the specific role of maturity in juveniles’ Miranda comprehension and reasoning. Participants included 236 legally-involved juveniles recruited from either a juvenile detention center or a juvenile justice alternative education program. The effects of psychosocial maturity were examined on a variety of Miranda-related measures and assessed a broad range of Miranda abilities. It was found that, in general, immature juveniles performed more poorly on all Miranda measures as compared to their mature counterparts. However, the impact of maturity varied considerably depending on the ability. Specifically, maturity was most important in the context of Miranda reasoning. As a novel addition to the literature, the current study also investigated the effects of developmental timing on maturity (i.e., immaturity-delayed versus immaturity-expected) on Miranda abilities.

The right to be let alone has been developing throughout history to offset the seemingly relentless encroachments by government in efforts to regulate "morality," and by governmental and/or business uses of technological advancements to control the individuals privacy. Thus, the espoused constitutional right of privacy has come to be the way for individuals (and groups) to stave off society's attempts to control or divert the individual from his right to be let alone. This work examines both state and federal court cases in an attempt to show that privacy has come to be a basic, constitutional right to be used against society's intrusions in areas of personal and sexual privacy.

Millions of custodial suspects waive their rights each year without the benefit of legal counsel. The question posed to psychologists in disputed Miranda waivers is whether this waiver decision was, knowing, intelligent, and voluntary. Mental health professionals must be aware of potential barriers to Miranda comprehension to provide expert opinions regarding a defendant's competency to waive rights. The current study examined how Miranda warning reading level, length, and method of administration affects Miranda comprehension. Recently arrested detainees at Grayson County Jail were administered oral and written Miranda warnings from the Miranda Statements Scale (MSS; Rogers, 2005) to measure their comprehension of the warnings. Surprisingly low levels of Miranda comprehension were found for most warnings. For all warnings at or above 8th grade, a substantial minority (27.1% - 39.6%) of defendants exhibited failed (i.e., < 50% understanding) Miranda comprehension. Regardless of other variables, oral administrations resulted in a substantially larger number of defendants with failed Miranda comprehension. Implications for public policy and clinical practice are discussed.