The purpose of this study was to analyze juveniles' attitudes toward the police and how their attitudes were affected by prior victimization and delinquency, controlling for race, gender, and city of residence. All variables used in this study came from the Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.) data collected by Esbensen (1999). The analysis indicated that females held more favorable attitudes toward the police than males, Whites held more favorable attitudes toward the police than non-Whites, and juveniles living in small rural/suburban areas held more favorable attitudes than those living in large urban areas. The major finding of this study was that a spurious relationship existed between prior victimization and attitudes toward the police with delinquency being the true predictor of juveniles' attitudes. A possible explanation for this finding is that those juveniles at the greatest risk of victimization are the same ones committing the majority of the delinquent acts.

The purpose of this study was to analyze the factors that affect the use of marijuana by juveniles and how outside influences such as peer pressure, race, parental influence, and prevention programs such as the Drug Abuse Resistance Education (D.A.R.E.) contribute to the use of marijuana by juveniles. All of the variables used in this study came from the Gang Resistance Education and Training (G.R.E.A.T.) data collected by Esbensen and Osgood (1999). The analysis indicated that juveniles are most influenced by their peers such as friends, that African American juveniles would be less likely than Whites and Hispanics to become regular users of marijuana, that juveniles living with both parents would be less likely to use marijuana compared to those with alternative living conditions, and that the programs such as the D.A.R.E. program would have little long-term effect on marijuana usage by juveniles.

While the process of restorative justice is fairly new, several programs have been implemented globally and found to be effective in various aspects over the past 30 years. Very little empirical research has been gathered from these global programs though members of the criminal justice community as well as members of the general public have expressed interest in learning more about the programs and effectiveness and opinions of the programs. This study takes a closer look at what victims have expressed as being important to them regarding the criminal justice system, and satisfaction with how their cases are handled in both traditional court proceedings as well as through restorative justice processes.

This study was undertaken in an attempt to investigate the impact of family, threatened egotism, and reciprocity on a person’s use of intimate violence. Threatened egotism proposes that aggression is the result of high but unstable self-esteem, which is conceptualized as high self-esteem coupled with high narcissism. Self-report questionnaires were administered to randomly selected cluster samples of 423 college students, 147 males and 276 females. The mean age is approximately 22 with 93% indicating they are White and 7% non-White. While no support was found for threatened egotism, violence witnessed in the family of origin and reciprocity were found to significantly impact intimate violence. Analyses conducted separately for males and females indicate that these factors operate differently based on gender.

Bullying is a form of peer violence needing extensive research to help understand the differences in gender for the prevention of such behavior. Most research has been performed in school settings and in a quantitative manner. This study was conducted by six researchers in an after-school facility with a qualitative approach. A minimum of 15 hours per researcher was spent observing behaviors and 20 interviews were performed. A grounded theory approach was used for the analysis of data which tend to show more similarities than differences in the way children bully as well as their perceptions of bullying.

Police executives must be responsive to the needs of the citizens in order to receive their cooperation. This study used survey responses from 190 residents of the unincorporated part of Washington County, Tennessee, to measure citizens' satisfaction with the services provided by the Washington County TN Sheriff's Office, and to determine what services and special components of the Sheriff's Office were important to them. A significant difference was found in satisfaction with police services when compared by race, polite treatment by the police, type of contact with police, and night walking safety. However, no significant difference was found in satisfaction with police services when compared by socioeconomic status, fair treatment by the police, visibility of patrol cars in neighborhoods, and prior victimization. It was also found that the citizens felt the greatest needs of their Sheriff's Office were more officers and more jail and administrative office space.

Nowadays, one of the issues of concern that brought on by the aging population is legal disputes that have been increasing in number every year. One core problem in these legal disputes involves handwriting identification. There are however not many previous studies in China that have been concentrated on this field. Hence, the study on elderly Chinese subjects' handwriting has an extremely broad potential value for its application for academic usage and practical meaning. This study uses an empirical technique, gathering first hand data and analysing them by employing proper methods. There are 7 handwriting features and characteristics that have been found in the study to represent the key characteristics of the elderly Chinese subjects' handwriting. They are: Pen pressure, occurrence rate of traditional Chinese words, letter size, poor structure, tremor, half-way stop sign, and towing sign at beginning and end of strokes.

The history of privileged communication and the evolvement of the psychotherapist-patient privilege are explored. The psychotherapist-patient relationship is a relatively modern relationship. New laws concerning child abuse and neglect, and the reporting requirements of child sex offenders have begun to shape the application of privileged communication within the psychotherapist-patient. These laws exist at the federal level and throughout each of the fifty states. The effects of abrogating privileged communication for child sex offenders in the psychotherapist relationship are explored. Withdrawal of the privilege creates distrust and hinders open communication within this relationship and prevents sex offenders from receiving needed treatment. The effectiveness of treatment to sex offenders, and particularly child sex offenders, by a psychotherapist is explored. The research shows that those treated by a psychotherapist have a lower recidivism rate than those who do not receive treatment. Recommendations include a change in current federal and Florida state laws that will allow sex offenders to receive proper treatment by a psychotherapist while still protecting children from harm

Since the acknowledgement of the entrapment defense by the Supreme Court in the case of Sorrells v. United States 287 U.S. 435 (1932) there have been discussions on how it should be applied. There are two schools of thought for the application of the entrapment defense. One is the objective test and the other is the subjective test for entrapment. The subjective test focuses on the defendant's predisposition while the objective test focuses on the activity of the government. The federal courts and thirty eight states use the subjective test for entrapment. Florida is one of the states that use the subjective test for entrapment. The majority of this study is focused on the history and application of the entrapment defense, with a focus on the state of Florida. The study will aim to examine the ramifications of applying a subjective test for entrapment. Furthermore, this study will shed some light on problems with the way the entrapment defense is applied in Florida. This study has led to new ideas about how and why a new test for entrapment should be embraced by the courts in Florida.

A unique characteristic of Earth is that it is the only planet in the solar system where water is known to exist. Seventy one percent of the earth is comprised of water with the largest body of water being the ocean. Everyone is very dependent on this water source and therefore, it becomes important, if not vital, to protect the ocean from unnecessary pollutants. Unfortunately, as the presence of manmade vessels in the ocean has increased it has become very difficult and costly to protect the ocean and prevent it from becoming polluted. One particular industry that has been heavily criticized for their disposal of waste into the ocean is the cruise ship industry. Although, there are many vessels that dispose of waste into the ocean this is an industry that has been surrounded by a lot of controversy regarding this issue. This may be attributed to the vast number of cruise vessels traveling in the ocean, making this industry a very visible one to the public. This thesis will examine the effect of the cruise ship industry on the ocean and if current laws are regulating this industry in a sufficient manner. The purpose of this thesis is to analyze these regulations in order to determine whether the government must place more stringent regulations on the cruise ship industry. It will examine the growth of the cruise ship industry in relation to the implementation of new guidelines to keep up with this growth. It will also analyze the current enforcement of these regulations to determine if the cruise ship industry is complying with current laws. This thesis will explain whether the government is doing all it can to protect the ocean or if the government needs to take a more active role in implementing new regulations.