This thesis explores the world of physical education and organized sport and the changes to these aspects as a result of legal liability. It focuses on exactly what bearing legal lawsuits have on our education and athletic programs. There have been extensive changes over the past years to the physical education curriculum in the public school system, many the result of legal action. This thesis explains exactly who is liable when a child is injured in an athletic event at school, and further suggests how athletic teachers and coaches can protect themselves against the ever-present threat of legal action. Finally, exploration is made into the world of negligence as it pertains to the sport arena. Anyone connected with the field of sport, be it coach, teacher, or trainer, might benefit by reading this thesis.

The debate over religious expression in the public schools is not a new one, but still, quite interestingly, a controversial one. The landmark decision of Engel v. Vitale in 1962 ignited the nationwide dispute that continues today. Advocates believe that a school- prayer amendment is necessary because it would guarantee students the right to pray and allow religious organizations to receive the same benefits as other school sponsored organizations. A school-prayer amendment, particularly the Religious Freedom Amendment, would provide students an opportunity to share their faith openly and unashamedly with classmates. Why is there a problem with this? Many opponents view a school prayer amendment as not only detrimental to our constitutional principle of separation between church and state, but also unnecessary because students already enjoy the right to pray in public schools. First amendment rights, the history behind school prayer and relevant case law are issues to be discussed in this paper. In addition, solutions to this ongoing debate will be addressed. How would a school-prayer amendment affect our public school system? Would an amendment change the current environment in which our students are even too scared to attend school? Providing answers and exploring the issues raised will be the focus of this thesis.

One of the most heinous crimes committed is that of the serial killer. What causes a person to become a serial killer has created great speculation between sociologists and psychologists. What is known is that serial murder has. become a phenomenon I only the last thirty years. Although heinous in nature, the serial killer is generally not considered psychotic. They are generally intelligent and well spoken. Surprisingly, most serial killers are actually shy. Serial killers actually strip a potential victim of all ''human" characteristics. To the serial killer, the potential victim is nothing more than an object, existing only for himself to use and abuse for his own entertainment. He sees his victims as objects worthy of extreme contempt and vicious abuse. In the mind of a serial killer, nothing is more worthless than the nameless and faceless stranger for whom he sets out to hunt. The serial killer mentally transforms his victims into hateful creatures, therefore justifying his vicious deeds. This outlook does not happen spontaneously or overnight. It is a slow progression that happens over time, usually starting early in life. Theodore Robert Bundy or Ted Bundy was one of the most famous and prolific serial killers ever known. This thesis intends to show the slow progression of his life and the events, that this author concludes, led him to become a serial killer. For Ted Bundy, there was one earth shattering event that splintered his perception of morality and moved him to punish young girls to attain self-gratification. We will explore the life and times of Ted Bundy and conclude as to what and how he turned into a serial killer.

In March 1989, R.J. went to Humana Hospital where he underwent an HIV test. The test indicated that he was HIV positive. Approximately 19 months later after · requesting a new test, R.J. found that he was not HIV- positive. R.J. suffered substantial emotional distress is a result of the false positive test result; he lived in fear for 19 months thinking he was HIV positive. R.J. was denied recovery. How is that possible? The defendants owed a duty to R.J.; that duty was not to inflict upon him any needless Emotional distress. That duty was breached when they incorrectly diagnosed him as being HIV positive. Their breach actually and proximately caused R.J. to suffer damages in the form of emotional distress. The reason for this inequitable result lies in the strict adherence and application of the illogical and outdated Impact Doctrine. The Impact doctrine requires that “before a plaintiff can recover damages for emotional distress caused by the negligence of another, the emotional distress suffered must flow from physical injuries the plaintiff sustained in an impact" The inconsistent application of this rule, along with changes in society and the advances in medicine and psychology, are evidence that the Impact Doctrine no longer serves a purpose in Florida The Florida Supreme Court should follow the trend of other states and liberalize recovery for negligent infliction of emotional distress and create alternative tests of proof for recovery.

The group of technologies known as the Internet has transformed information gathering and sharing in a way never imagined previously. Because of some of the controversial content on the Internet, public university libraries grapple with Internet access issues because of governing university policies, governmental legislation and other types of regulation. The primary purpose of making information available for the furtherance of research and ideas is the cornerstone of the university library's purpose. The First Amendment provides protection against the limitations of government imposed on modes of communication. This protection applies to the Internet as well. The legal system struggles with balancing the modalities of constraint (powers), versus the modalities of protection (rights), when applying the First Amendment to the Internet and access restriction issues. Currently, little case law exists to solidify a unified stance on this technological ''new kid on the block," with issues concerning access in the public library system, or in the university library realm. Just as there are those that would restrict the reading of various printed publications or the viewing of provocative works of art, the restriction of access to the Internet at the university level could well be construed as a twenty-first century form of censorship. The purpose of this study is to investigate the application of the First Amendment to the Internet in relation to access restrictions in university libraries. Further, the access restriction methods employed by the libraries are examined and critiqued, as well as the development and expansion of the Internet as a primary research tool. If the First · Amendment was created for the protection of speech, the protection extends to access of that speech.

The Constitution provides each United States citizen certain rights which cannot be abridged. Among them is the freedom to speak without fear of persecution or prosecution. While there are exceptions when the government finds interests paramount to free expression, on the whole this guarantee ensures that the no person will be punished for expressing his or her views. Another guarantee, implied through Constitutional language, is the right to privacy. To ensure privacy, the United States Congress and several state governments enacted laws that impose harsh penalties for those who secretly record others' private communications. Upon realizing that the true harm comes from the use or disclosure of intercepted material, governments punish those who make such use or disclosure. A problem arises when a person, who neither participated in nor encouraged an "illegal" interception of another's communication, discloses the interception under his or her right to speak freely. Which guarantee rules-the right to free speech, or the right to privacy? This paper centers on a case in which such a conflict arose. The purpose is to demonstrate that whatever positive impact there may exist in allowing the disclosure of certain communications through a First Amendment "clean hands" exception to current interception laws, that impact is outweighed by the need to guarantee that persons will not be subjected to unwanted intrusion into their private conversations for any reason.

From Congress's findings on Equal Opportunity for Individuals with Disabilities, "some 43,000,000 Americans have one or more physical or mental disabilities, and this number is increasing as the population as a whole is growing older" (ADA of 1990). One primary purpose of the Americans with Disabilities Act is to erase the fear that because someone has a mental illness, he or she is a threat. Employers sometimes hesitate, though, to hire individuals with mental illnesses. The ADA, as it is currently written, generally provides an effective guideline for eliminating discrimination against persons with physical and mental disabilities. It requires employers to make reasonable accommodations to meet the needs of otherwise qualified employees, without imposing an undue hardship upon the companies. However, reasonable accommodations for mentally ill individuals in the workplace are not clearly defined. The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate the ADA and to make recommendations, based on case law and other sources, for changes to the ADA to better meet the needs of mentally ill employees in the United States.

In 1996, the United States Congress passed an addition to the United States Code known as the Child Pornography Prevention Act CPP A. This legislation sought to expand child pornography definitions in federal statute to included "virtual child pornography" or material that did not involve the use of a minor in its creation. However, because of the language used by the Congress, the constitutionality of the Act was called into question by the Supreme Court. On April 16th, 2002, the Court ruled on the case of Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition, which directed that two sections of the CPP A be held unconstitutional, and thus, not valid. This leave current federal statutes without any measures against virtual child pornography. A study of this decision reveals the Court support of Congressional intent in the CPPA. The ruling against the Act was simply the result of definitions within the legislation which, the Court felt, could be interpreted in a broad manner. Rather, than rather than exercise judicial authority to more narrowly define the legislation, the Court struck sections of the CPPA. However, despite the Court's decision not to support the CPPA, it depicts a method to salvage the CPP A in the opinions presented by the Justices. By analyzing the case of Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition it may be seen that the Supreme Court recommends a reconstruction of the CPP A. The suggested redefining, if adopted by Congress would provide a new CPP A which would both prevent the spread of virtual child pornography and eliminate constitutional concerns as well.

The laws that make up what society calls copyright are aspects that govern all bodies of art, literature, and creative ideas throughout the world. While this fact is not in dispute, the way people apply the rules of law surrounding copyright is a notoriously hot topic. Copyright allows authors to retain rights to the work they create. Through these laws, authors can own their work seventy years after their death. This pulls into question the length of time works are withheld from the public domain. Initially the market for regulation dealing with copyright concerned copied materials only, which lasted for a period of fourteen years. Copyright now protects written work, music, films, sound recordings, paintings, and some computer programs and chips, just to name a few. The underlying question is how do we as a society allow these works to be released from their protected bonds and regenerate them back into the general population? With such new inventions as the World Wide Web and the increased use of the Internet, the future of copyright has been thrown a curve ball. As civilization become keen on sharing everything from mass media to personal files, law suddenly has to conform at lightning speed in order to keep up. It is here where the focus shifts to how copyright law influences this sharing in a negative way though its attempt to control the dealings of unsuspecting users. The purpose of this thesis is to try to shed some light on these subjects and provide an understanding of how copyright worked its way up to controversial subject matter it is today. From the research examined and data collected, recommendations regarding the future of copyright will be presented.

This thesis will explore the legal process of adoption. Research will show that not only is this process complicated it can also be very cruel. Despite poor attempts to uniform the states' laws with Acts such as the Uniform Adoption Act of 1994. This system is extremely confusing, state, federal, and international adoptions laws. The states are in no way uniform nor have they ever been in their deliverance of adoption laws. There are so many different types of children, different types of adoptions, all kinds of people who are looking to adopt. There is no lucid answer to fundamental questions as to who may place a child for adoption, whose consent is required, who is required to pay for what, when is the consent final, when is there no turning back on a decision or when records are sealed forever. The Uniform Adoption Act made a poor attempt to try to resolve these problems but in actuality all it did was make it even more abstract and more difficult to uniform these laws. The states need to come together and mandate all adoptions laws on the federal level and take the power away from the states.