The United States is among one of the only democratic industrialized nations in the world that does not provide guaranteed access to civil representation in cases involving basic human need. This leaves indigent litigants who are at risk of losing their homes or their children left to seek counsel through insufficient pro-bono programs or limited scope legal self-help centers. This thesis provides a history of the struggle for the right to civil counsel, known as Civil Gideon, and explores a variety of proposed solutions to bridge the justice gap for indigent litigants. Despite considerable support for Civil Gideon among scholars and the legal community, the public is unaware of the justice gap- about 80% of Americans assume the right to civil counsel already exists. This thesis conducted two studies to understand possible reasons for this gap between public knowledge and reality and to identify the possibility of manipulating public knowledge through exposure to injustices. The findings from these studies are used to inform a network approach to shape public support for Civil Gideon so that the US court system can truly represent opportunity and equality for all citizens.

This research study analyzes whether or not there is any relationship between sentencing and conviction and certain defendant characteristics in the US legal system. In the midst of a time where the nation is strongly divided politically, the topic is often the center of research projects and discussions in academic journals. Specifically, this research explores the 3 characteristics- race, gender, and socioeconomic status. Within this article, multiple case studies from other journals are cited in which research and experiments have suggested that these factors do have influence on both whether or not a defendant gets convicted or for how long the defendant is sentenced. With these cases in mind, we try to test the theory for ourselves in a survey experiment amongst college students. The survey tests cases with instances of academic dishonesty in university with the defendant characteristics being manipulated for race, gender, and socioeconomic status. However, the results were inconclusive of any sort of link between those characteristics and the "sentencing" in the study.

The existence of the oath in the courtroom can be traced back thousands of years throughout history, but the use, meaning, and effect of the oath in law has changed dramatically. The oath as we know it was once a powerful truth-telling instrument that our ancestors used to call upon a higher power. It was the belief of many that the oath itself was not sworn to man or state, but rather directly to a deity. The oath has since then evolved as a result of ever changing beliefs, fueled by increasing tolerance, shaping the oath into more of a tradition, and less of an edict. For centuries, theorists have attempted to determine whether an oath in court is actually effective at accomplishing its goal. The intent of this thesis is to examine the origin of the oath all the way up to the present day. It will be through a comprehensive study of federal law, state law, case law, articles, and publications that we will better understand the oath as a truth-telling instrument that in recent times has lost its effect. From there, it will be possible to better form a solution to a problem that plagues our courtrooms: perjury, or the act of lying under oath. This thesis will seek to establish the best way for our community to actively work towards ensuring the integrity and effectiveness of our judicial system.

La mobilité internationale des étudiants qui souhaitent suivre une formation supérieure en France ou à l’étranger est en augmentation depuis des années. Le domaine du Français Langue Etrangère a évolué en donnant naissance aux nouvelles approches d’enseignement de la langue française, parmi lesquelles le Français sur Objectif Universitaire. Notre problématique de recherche s’inscrit dans cette optique dans la mesure où elle concerne les étudiants arabophones et allophones inscrits dans l’une des filières de droit en France. Notre analyse des copies d’examens de ces étudiants montre qu’ils ont beaucoup de difficultés au niveau de l’écrit juridique sur le plan linguistique et pragmatique. En plus, les réponses sur le questionnaire que nous avons distribué à ce public d’apprenants met en évidence leurs pratiques rédactionnelles, et nous permet d’apporter des solutions pédagogiques adaptées face aux difficultés rencontrées, ce qui constitue l’objectif principal de notre recherche. Outre le problème au niveau de la production écrite, nous proposons des moyens qui favorisent l’interaction entre les étudiants, les enseignants, et les professionnels appartenant au domaine du droit. / The international mobility of students who wish to pursue higher education in France or abroad has been increasing for several years. This movement continues to create specific demands that universities are called upon to meet by adapting their programs to the new demands of teaching and learning French. This is the reason why the domain of the French as Foreign Language has evolved, giving birth to new approaches to teaching the French language, among which the French for Academic Purpose. Our research problem is in line with this point of view insofar as it concerns the foreign non-francophone and Arabic-speaking students enrolled in Law majors in France. Our analysis of the exam copies of these students shows that they have many difficulties in linguistic and pragmatic in writing. In addition, the answers on the survey that we have distributed to this audience of learners highlights their writing practices, and allows us to provide educational solutions adapted to the difficulties encountered, which is the main objective of our research . In addition to the problem of written production, we propose ways to promote interaction between students, teachers and professionals in the field of law.

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