Military veterans are disproportionately represented in United States (U.S.) jails and prisons, with nearly 10% of current inmates being veterans. Veterans’ criminal justice involvement is often precipitated by underlying mental health and substance abuse that are connected to their military service. Veterans’ treatment courts are the judicial response to a need for more coordinated provision of mental health and substance abuse services to veterans involved in the criminal justice system. Modeled after drug courts and mental health courts, veterans treatment courts are a judicial innovation that aim to honor the service of veterans by providing them an alternative to incarceration. There are currently 551 veterans’ treatment courts in 42 states throughout country, including five in Kentucky. This exploratory descriptive study uses Andersen’s healthcare utilization model and a social control theoretical perspective as a framework to examine veterans’ treatment court outcomes from a sample of participants (N=58) in Kentucky. Univariate and bivariate analyses were used to provide a description of the sample and to examine relationships between personal characteristics and during-program occurrences and the outcomes of program completion and criminal recidivism. The findings of this study indicate that gender, sanctions, drug screens, and treatment sessions each have a significant association with program completion, and both age and housing status have a significant association with recidivism. Findings for each outcome variable are discussed, along with possible explanations, as well as limitations of the study, implications of this research for social work practice, and suggestions for future research.

Conciliation Abstract This diploma thesis is devoted to a detailed analysis of the issue of conciliation, which can be considered as one of the alternative methods of dispute resolution and differs significantly from other methods by participation of the court in seeking agreement. The thesis is divided into four parts. The first one deals with the definition of the term conciliation or court settlement within the meaning of § 99 of the Civil Procedure Code, although the institute is different, the conciliation procedure is largely interlinked. The second part describes the location of the reconciliation institute within the civil process and also deals with the excursion into the history of reconciliation. The third part deals with the practical applicability of the conciliation procedure. Attention is also given to its subjects, a detailed analysis of the phases of the proceedings, the possibilities of remedy or the question of the effects of reconciliation. Finally, the fourth part focuses on the comparison of the current state of reconciliation with its concept in a substantive intent to the new Civil Judicial Code. Primarily, descriptive and analytical methods, in part also comparative methods, are used in the work. The aim of the thesis is a detailed analysis of the described problems, with an...

According to the Colorado Judicial Branch, 78 problem-solving courts operate in the 20 judicial districts in Colorado. The Summit County and Eagle County drug court programs are located in Colorado's Fifth Judicial District and have not been previously studied. Evaluating treatment programs for effectiveness contributes to social change because it ensures individuals in need of treatment are receiving the proper services. The Eagle County drug court program had 117 participants and the Summit County drug court program had 33 participants. The Summit County Drug Court used 2 cognitive behavioral therapies: moral reconation therapy and strategies for self-improvement and change. The Eagle County Drug Court used the new Planting Seeds: A Client-Centered Approach to Addiction Treatment program in conjunction with mandatory 12-step support group participation as the basis for their treatment intervention. All participants in both groups completed a pre- and posttest Level of Service Inventory-Revised assessment, which measured the risk of recidivism, and the Adult Substance Use Survey-Revised to assess the severity of their substance use disorder. The data were analyzed using an analysis of covariance and a linear mixed-effects model; posttest Level of Service Inventory-Revised scores served as the dependent variable. Results indicated that successfully completing treatment significantly lowered the risk of recidivism, and that the Eagle County participants were more likely than the Summit County participants to successfully complete treatment. This study contributes to social change by advancing a new intervention that assists in keeping individuals who are in need of services in treatment longer, which in turn lowers their risk to reoffend.

En droit judiciaire privé, la distinction du fait et du droit est censée fonder la répartition des rôles entre les parties et le juge sur la matière litigieuse et la délimitation du contrôle de cassation. Au premier abord, cette distinction, historique et adoptée par de nombreux systèmes juridiques, semble évidente voire élémentaire. Du point de vue de la théorie du droit elle trace une frontière entre le fait, au sens d'évènement, et la norme selon un critère de normativité. Cependant, cette simplicité n'est qu'apparente car, en droit judiciaire privé, il n'existe pas une mais plusieurs distinctions. Afin de s'adapter à la réalité processuelle, en matière d'office du juge, elle devient la distinction des domaines du droit et du fait, le premier comprenant les activités juridiques, qui portent sur les règles de droit, et le second les activités factuelles ayant pour objet les éléments de faits. En matière de cassation, elle devient la distinction entre les questions de fait, qui portent sur l'appréciation des faits, et les questions de droit qui concernent l'application du droit. Pourtant, la multiplication des niveaux de distinction ne suffit pas à la rendre opérante : le juge joue un rôle dans le domaine factuel tandis que les parties ont des obligations dans celui du droit ; la Cour de cassation contrôle des questions de fait tandis qu'elle abandonne certaines questions de droit. Puisque la distinction est dépourvue de fondement normatif, il convient de s'en détacher pour revenir aux textes qui déterminent précisément le rôle de chacun dans le procès civil et réalisent un équilibre des rôles. Son caractère inopérant en matière de cassation incite à la remplacer par le véritable critère de compétence : la distinction de l'arrêt et de l'affaire qui fait apparaître le réel objet du contrôle : l'opération juridictionnelle. / In Private Judicial Law, the distinction between the fact and the law is supposed to found the distribution of the roles between the parties and the judge concerning the contentious matter and the delimitation of the cassation control. At first, this historical distinction, adopted by numerous legal systems seems obvious, and even elementary. In terms of the theory of law, it draws a border between the fact, meaning the event, and the norm according to a criterion of normativity. However, this simplicity is only apparent,as, in Private Judicial Law, there is no single distinction, but several differentiations. In order to adapt to the processual reality, as regards the judge's function, it becomes the distinction between sectors of the law and the fact, the first sector including the legal activities, which deal with the rules of law, the second sector refering to the factual activities aiming at the matters of facts. As far as cassation is concerned, it becomes the distinction between the question of fact which focus on the appreciation of the facts and the question of law which deal with the enforcement of the law.Yet the multiplication of the levels of distinction is not sufficient to make it operating : the judge plays a part in the factual field whereas the parties have some obligations in the fields of law ; the Court of Cassation controls questions of fact whereas it gives up certain questions of law. Since the distinction is devoid of normative basis, it is necessary to break away to come back to the texts which precisely determine the role of each party in the civil trial and achieve a balance of the roles. The inoperative nature of the distinction encourages to replace it with the real criterion of competence : the distinction between the judgement and the case which reveals the real object of the control : the jurisdictional operation.

Recent years have witnessed an increase in the phenomenon of highly publicized trial in China. There have been studies exploring the relationship between the media and the political system, especially the judicial system in China. Scholarship on this topic has shown that the Chinese media are playing an increasingly important role in sustaining the regime. Specifically, they are becoming more influential over the outcomes of court cases and have developed to one of the most important actors in China's legal system (Wang & Tan, 2008; Liebman, 2005, 2010; Stockmann &Gallagher, 2011). The media-court relationship provides insights into China's politics, and more importantly, reflects the logics and rationale behind the Communist Party-state's governance. This thesis aims to contribute to existing knowledge on the functioning of the Chinese judicial system using as a case study, the trial of Yao Jiaxin, a young man prosecuted for a particularly heinous murder. This case study explores the dynamic relationship between the media and the courts in China under the framework of the “governmentality” of the Chinese Communist Party. The findings showed that the relationship between the media and the courts is changing, and the public has become an important actor in this relationship. As such, both the media and the courts are now more responsive to public opinion. This new dynamic is attributed to China’s evolution to a governmentality of “soft authoritarianism,” which is enabled by the Internet, mainly online forums and social media platforms in China. However, Yao’s case also suggested some limitations of China’s governmentality. First, social actors including the media and the court are facing challenges in achieving a balance between being responsive to the public and maintaining their professional integrity. Secondly, “soft” authoritarianism is only a means to an end, not an end in itself. Individual interests are expected to be sacrificed for the sake of collective interests under this governmentality.

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This thesis analyzes the technical definition of the crime of persecution for the purpose of prosecutions at the International Criminal Court. The provisions on the crime of persecution are found in Article 7(1)(h) and Article 7(2)(g) of the Rome Statute and Article 7(1)(h) of the Elements of Crimes. Lack of clarity is a difficulty with these provisions. The writer analyzes the provisions by pooling together primary and secondary sources and drawing on the customary international law that has emerged from the ad-hoc International Criminal Tribunals established between 1945 and 2003.

This thesis aims to assess the role played by disagreement in the High Court???s constitutional law decisions. It does so firstly by considering the theoretical arguments in favour of allowing expression of dissent and those which urge judicial restraint and observance of precedential values. The tensions between change and conformity, and also the individual and institutional aspects of adjudication, intersect when the Court divides. The complex nature of disagreement on a multimember judicial body is further examined in the context of devising an empirical methodology for the quantification of dissent on the High Court. The thesis selects a period of a little over twenty years for detailed examination. Within that timeframe, it measures the prevalence and nature of disagreement amongst the Justices of the Court, with particular emphasis upon constitutional cases. From these results, various streams of opinion are examined for subsequent significance. In particular, the thesis contrasts the practice of persistent dissent from the Court???s approach to an issue, with those occasions when a minority Justice yields to the demands of stare decisis. The impact of dissent upon the development of the Court???s constitutional interpretation is evaluated. Although the study finds that direct reversals in the law in favour of an earlier dissent occur very rarely, it argues that dissents may still exercise a powerful influence on the Court???s pronouncements. The contribution which minority opinions make to judicial deliberation is to inevitably alter the context of the Court???s decision. Consideration of two specific case studies illustrates that this may result in the law taking a more moderate path or may actually lead to greater efforts by a majority to strengthen the cogency of its approach. In either scenario, dissent plays a far more subtle role than suggested by the myth of a ???Great Dissenter??? and the dramatic redemption of his or her lone opinions. To only assess the value of dissenting judgments against that standard is to fail to appreciate the true nature of their influence in many cases and their importance to the work of the High Court.

In January 1975, Chevalier College, Bowral, and Elm Court, Moss Vale, schools for boys and girls respectively situated six kilometres apart, began discussions about extending their present combination in the senior school to full co-education in a fully combined high school. Chevalier would become the senior partner and take over administration of the combined school. In 1975, support was sought from religious communities, teaching staffs and parents involved, and detailed planning began in several committees. The next year brought conflict. For reasons so frequently associated with resistance to change, such as loss of power and identity, intensified by thoughtlessness from Chevalier, the Elm Court community began to resist and work against the amalgamation. The diocesan education authorities, appealed to by the local sisters, suggested an alternative proposal to replace the amalgamation. However, after further consideration by the superiors of the sisters at Elm Court, and helped by more careful consideration from Chevalier, the project finally went ahead. The major decisions concerned with the amalgamation were made by the superiors of the two religious orders concerned, and then by the school headmaster, assisted by his councils. There was very little real involvement of the local community of parents, or of the students. With the crisis successfully weathered, prospects seem bright for 1977, especially if the lessons learnt during the conflict are remembered.

Talking to a computer is hard. Large vocabulary automatic speech recognition (ASR) systems are difficult to use and yet they are used by many people in their daily work. This thesis addresses the question: How is ASR used and made usable and useful in the workplace now? To answer these questions I went into two workplaces where ASR is currently used and one where ASR could be used in the future. This field work was done with designing in mind. ASR dictation systems are currently used in the Australian Public Service (APS) by people who suffer chronic workplace overuse injuries and in the Hansard department of Parliament House (Hansard) by un-injured people. Analysing the experiences of the users in the APS and at Hansard showed that using an ASR system in the workplace follows a broad trajectory that ends in the continued effort to maintain its usefulness. The usefulness of the ASR systems is �performed into existence� by the users with varying degrees of success. For both the APS and Hansard users, they use ASR to allow work to be performed; ASR acts to bridge the gap between otherwise incompatible ways of working. This thesis also asks: How could ASR be used and made usable and useful in workplaces in the future? To answer this question, I observed the work of communicating sentences at the ACT Magistrates Court. Communicating sentences is a process that is distributed in space and time throughout the Court and embodied in a set of documents that have a co-ordinating role. A design for an ASR system that supports the process of communicating sentences while respecting existing work process is described. Moving from field work to design is problematic. This thesis performs the process of moving from field work to design, as described above, and reflects the use of various analytic methods used to distill insights from field work data. The contributions of this thesis are: � The pragmatic use of existing social research methods and their antecedents as a corpus of analyses to inspire new designs; vi � a demonstration of the use of Actor-Network Theory in design both as critique and as part of a design process; � empirical field-work evidence of how large vocabulary ASR is used in the workplace; � a design showing how ASR could be introduced to the rich, complicated, environment of the ACT Magistrates Court; and, � a performance of the process of moving from field work to design.