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Throughout the twentieth century, many behaviors previously considered criminal or immoral were instead defined as medical problems. This process is often referred to as the medicalization of deviance. Like many other behaviors once considered deviant, drug and alcohol abuse has been medicalizing, in a process that accelerated during the latter half of the twentieth century. Despite this movement along the path toward medicalization, drug use, and alcohol use to a lesser extent, are still also sanctioned and managed by the criminal justice system, resulting in a medical-legal-moral hybrid definition of these issues. Today we find instances where these two institutions overlap significantly. At the same time, their mutual involvement in defining and managing drug use is inconsistent. This research uses a qualitative research design to study how this medical-legal-moral hybrid definition of drug use and addiction is discussed and negotiated by various institutions that label and manage individuals who use drugs. I examined this issue by conducting interviews and observations in Philadelphia's Drug Treatment Court as well as in two outpatient drug treatment programs. Results indicate that individuals in both settings frame addiction as a "disease," although the definition is ambiguous and inconsistent. The court and the treatment programs use similar language and methods for assessing substance abuse and how to deal with it. Both also extend the definition of "addiction" to include aspects not directly related to the consumption of drugs or alcohol but to the "drug lifestyle" that includes selling drugs. Still, in neither location is a comprehensive, clear definition of "addiction" promoted and used consistently. This ambiguity results in an overlap of therapeutic and punitive methods to handle the individual's drug usage. In addition, both settings benefit from their interaction and cooperation in managing individuals with substance abuse problems, indicating that rather than moving toward a purely "medical" way of dealing with substance abuse, or placing the issue more firmly in the realm of the criminal justice system, the current mix of moral, criminal and medical methods of labeling and managing substance abuse problems may be more stagnant than the medicalization of deviance thesis suggests. / Sociology

No

Using a mixed methodology, the effectiveness of an 8-week modification of Landreth's (1991) 10-week group filial therapy training model was investigated with parents (n = 5) court-ordered for remedial parenting services due to physical abuse and/or neglect of their school-age children. A comparison group (n = 3) concurrently received an 8-week parent education course. Three primary questions were explored. Do filial therapy group participants demonstrate a greater decrease in child physical abuse potential and parenting stress following training when compared to parent education group participants? In addition, do filial therapy group participants show evidence of stronger parent-child relationships following training when compared to participants in the parent education group? Pre- and post-measures were utilized, and anecdotal and qualitative data were also collected. Following the analysis of both the quantitative and qualitative data, it was determined that the group quantitative results detracted from the richness of the qualitative findings, and the former were subsequently dropped. Instead, individual pre- and posttest quantitative scores, along with the anecdotal data, were compiled to create participant profiles that provided additional descriptive information to the emergent focus group themes. Due to the size of the sample (N = 8), findings were only preliminary and merit further study. Participants demonstrated social desirability in their assessment responses; therefore, it is recommended that qualitative or mixed methodology, as well as multiple measures of each construct, be incorporated to combat this phenomenon in future studies with this population. Results of this study further suggested that there are clinical benefits to utilizing a mixed sample of both court- and self-referred participants. In addition, the court-mandated population is heterogeneous and requires multiple treatment options coupled with screening protocol for appropriate treatment assignment. Future filial therapy research with this population should provide greater support to participants in conducting filial therapy sessions, as well as alternative ways of documenting these sessions. In addition, it is proposed that a combination of individual and group filial therapy models that is longer-term would be more effective with this population than the 8-week model used. / Ph. D.

The general purpose of this study was to both evaluate the effectiveness of filial therapy and describe the filial treatment process with parents court-referred for maltreatment. In filial therapy, parents learn basic play therapy skills in a group format that they implement in weekly home play sessions. They then generalize these skills into their parenting. Three research questions guided the quantitative portion of this investigation: (1) Is filial therapy effective at reducing the child abuse potential of parents court-referred for maltreatment? (2) Is filial therapy effective at reducing parenting stress for parents court-referred for maltreatment? (3) Is filial therapy effective at strengthening the parent-child relationship for parents court-referred for maltreatment? Qualitative data about parents' experience in the filial group was also collected and addressed the following questions: (1) How does the filial therapy process affect participants? (2) How does the filial therapy process affect treatment outcome? (3) What changes, in addition to those measured quantitatively, are reported by parents. The experimental group participants (n=7) received 8 weeks of filial therapy (modified from Landreth's (1991) 10-week model) in 1-1/2 hour weekly sessions. The control group (n=5) received a local agency's standard treatment. Parents completed two instruments, the Parenting Stress Index (PSI) and the Child Abuse Potential Inventory (CAP). Analyses of covariance indicated that parents significantly reduced there parenting stress and strengthened the parent-child relationship. Although parents did not significantly reduce their child abuse potential in this study, those results were based on an incomplete analysis. Most of the pre-test CAP scores for parents in the experimental group (6 of 7) were invalid as a result of excessive "faking good responses." As a result, only post-test scores could be compared between the experimental and control groups. The qualitative data revealed that parents made important changes during the filial therapy process. / Ph. D.

The purpose of this study was to review state and federal court cases from 1982 through February 1998 in which tenured public school teachers were terminated for incompetence. This study provided a current analysis of judicial opinions of teacher incompetence as a follow-up to Shackleford's (1982) study in which she reviewed state and federal termination cases from 1958 through 1981. Four research questions guided the study based on the examination of 107 court cases. The study provided a current judicial definition regarding the term "incompetency" and also provided a legal frame of reference from which one could imply teacher incompetence. The following conclusions were derived from the analysis of court cases examined in this study. 1. The term "teacher incompetency" does not have a decisive judicial definition. Consequently, teachers may be terminated for multiple reasons of incompetency. 2. Courts have indicated that teachers should not be terminated for arbitrary or capricious reasons, but for just and reasonable cause. 3. The foremost purpose of teacher evaluation is remediation, not termination. Courts have indicated that teachers should be provided adequate time to 'find a solution to a problem. 4. Teachers must be provided adequate notice of the intent to terminate with a sufficiently detailed statement to inform the teacher of the allegations and charges so the teacher can prepare an adequate defense. 5. Teachers have a due process right to a fair hearing in which school officials must be able to exhibit a preponderance of evidence that the teacher is incompetent. 6. During hearings, teachers must be given an opportunity to crossexamine witnesses, testify, and present testimony of other witnesses and other relevant evidence. 7. A school board's termination of teachers for incompetence will not be sustained if a teacher's rights, guaranteed by the United States Constitution or state laws, are violated. 8. Teacher incompetency must be measured by the same standards required of others performing the same or similar duties. / Ph. D.

The establishment of the International Criminal Court (ICC) through the signing of the Rome Statute in July, 1998 created the first permanent criminal court under international law. The Court stands in stark contrast to previous international criminal tribunals not simply because of its permanent nature, but also because it places the individual, not states, responsible under international law. It is, however, this independent, permanent nature of the Court which sparked fears within the society of states that the Court may in some manner serve to erode the state sovereignty. The purpose of this work is to address this basic concern. The aim of the work is to address the concept of sovereignty by first examining standard perceptions of sovereignty and then to move the discussion into an institutionalist construction of the term. Once accomplished, I then apply a set of criteria for evaluating sovereignty to the basic structures of the ICC in order to explore what the potential impact of the ICC may be on the institution of state sovereignty. In the end, I find that the institution of sovereignty is not threatened by the presence of the Court. In fact, the institution of sovereignty may be in some ways bolstered by the Court in that the Court embodies a new set of principals with regards to the appropriate relationship between the state and the individual. / Master of Arts

Yes

Yes

America is diverse in its culture of ideas and ways of life. This makes for a complex negotiation of issue positions and justifications when attempting to resolve public issues. It is essential therefore, that organizations not only understand but also cater to and adapt to the variety of cultural expectations and interpretations that may guide their various stakeholder publics when creating messages about controversial issues. One of the most controversial issues our society faces today is affirmative action. The rationales for the different stances people take on this topic vary greatly, revealing both opportunities and barriers to resolve a long-standing, contentious political issue. This thesis describes and analyzes reactions to two 2003 Supreme Court cases that examined the University of Michigan's affirmative action admissions policies: Gratz, et al. v. Bollinger, et al. and Grutter et al v. Bollinger, et al. The cases were the first time the Supreme Court had addressed affirmative action since the 1978 Bakke case. It was also the first time that the Court would debate whether or not diversity is truly a compelling state interest and what constitutes a fair and legal process by which to achieve it. Mediated accounts of the debate were examined in order to offer insight into contemporary interpretations of a recurring issue. By looking at how the media framed the issue, policymakers, politically-involved citizens, public relations practitioners can better understand the political climate in which they work, and thereby allowing them to better craft their communication efforts. Cultural Topoi, developed from Cultural Theory was used as a lens through which to examine the complexity of American political principles in these cases and values in this changing landscape of social expectations and public policy. / Master of Arts