The purpose of this study is to explore Muslims’ parenting styles and determine how factors such as religion, education, income, physical and verbal punishment experienced as a child, and the perception of Islamic childrearing influence their parenting styles. The research focuses on the main tenets of parenting in the Islamic tradition such as fatherhood, motherhood, children’s and parent’s rights and responsibilities, discipline methods, and physical punishment. The study also informs the role of marriage in Islam and the adopted concepts and theories of Western sociological literature. Findings show that authoritative parenting was the most predominant parenting style among study participants. The study also revealed that those who frequently read the Qur’an tended to be less authoritarian. Parents that experienced physical punishment as a child and who think Islam allows spanking were more likely to sponsor an authoritarian parenting style. The study findings provide insights into the complex roles of religion and parenting in Muslim groups.

This thesis tests the three hypotheses derived from the written opinion of Justice Thurgood Marshall in Furman v Georgia in 1972. Subjects completed questionnaires at the beginning and the end of the fall 2006 semester. Experimental group subjects were enrolled in a death penalty class, while control group subjects were enrolled in another criminal justice class. The death penalty class was the experimental stimulus. Findings provided strong support for the first and third hypotheses, i.e., subjects were generally lacking in death penalty knowledge before the experimental stimulus, and death penalty proponents who scored "high" on a retribution index did not change their death penalty opinions despite exposure to death penalty knowledge. Marshall's second hypothesis--that death penalty knowledge and death penalty support were inversely related--was not supported by the data. Two serendipitous findings were that death penalty proponents who scored "low" on a retribution index also did not change their death penalty opinions after becoming more informed about the subject, and that death penalty knowledge did not alter subjects' initial retributive positions. Suggestions for future research are provided.

Children with disabilities are at high risk for several forms of maltreatment, including abuse and neglect (Ammerman, Hersen, Van Hasselt, Lubetsky, & Sieck, 1994; Sullivan & Knutson, 1998b), and children with hearing and communication disorders comprise a substantial portion of children at risk (e.g., Sullivan & Knutson, 2000). For example, some literature investigating the parenting practices of parents raising children and adolescents with hearing and communication disorders suggests that these parents have a tendency to use physically harsh discipline practices (Knutson, Johnson, & Sullivan, 2004; Sullivan & Knutson, 1998b). Further, high prevalence rates of emotional and behavioral problems are documented in these youth (e.g., Greenberg & Kusche, 1989; Hindley, 1997; Prizant, Audet, Burke, & Hummel, 1990). Despite these findings, a limited amount of research focuses on understanding factors related to these undesired outcomes. Therefore, this study investigates the relationships among dimensions of parents' psychological functioning and parent-child interactive processes in a culturally diverse, national sample of families raising children and adolescents with hearing and communication disorders. Results suggest that parents' stress, depression, and anxiety as well as parent-child communication and involvement are important correlates of discipline practices and subsequent child behavior in families raising children and adolescents with hearing and communication disorders. Additionally, psychological aggression and parents' depression are highly predictive factors in the use of corporal punishment. Also, psychological aggression and parenting stress are highly predictive of reported youth behavior problems. The information gained from this investigation may provide direction for assessment and therapeutic intervention with parents of children and adolescents who have hearing and communication disorders.

Four groups of 12 rats each received constant medium size rewards of nine 45 mg Noyes pellets prior to nonrewarded (N) and nonrewarded punishment (P) (0.25 rna shock of 0.1 sec duration) trials and either large (L) size rewards of sixteen 45 mg pellets· or small (S) size rewards of two 45 mg pellets following N and P trials in a runway. Following acquisition each of the four groups was randomly subdivided into either continuous N or continuous P extinction conditions. This resulted in a two X two X two completely randomized factorial design with the variables and its levels being L and S Post N reward magnitudes, Lands' Post P reward magnitudes, and N and P extinction conditions. In acquisition, reward magnitude did not significantly affect performance. In extinction, large Post N reward magnitude produced larger resistance to extinction (Rn) than small Post N reward magnitude in the run and in the goal sections of the runway. The Post P reward magnitude did not affect performance in either acquisition or extinction. Higher Rn in the goal speed was reflected by the groups that received large Post N reward magnitude in the N extinction condition relative to the P extinction condition. The results of the present study were basically consistent with Capaldi's sequential theory with regard to Post N reward magnitude but not to Post P reward magnitude.

The death penalty in the US has long been characterized by racist prejudices and mistakes. Previous research suggests that the majority of those executed are intellectually disabled people, black people and the poor. Furthermore, innocent people are too often convicted and executed, those with intellectual disabilities lack adequate protection in the legal process and racism is an inherent part of the criminal justice system. This essay investigates which of the 11 American people, executed in 2021, were particularly exposed or vulnerable to the death penalty from an intersectional perspective. It captures patterns regarding the defendants' identity markers and the discrimination, human rights violations or constitutional violations that occurred in the cases and legal processes, according to the defendants' legal teams. The material consists mainly of legal documents and the research questions are answered through a qualitative text analysis, with Intersectionality and Critical Race Theory as the theoretical framework.  The research show that ten out of 11 cases were problematic or indicated ambiguities. Black people, intellectually disabled people and the poor continue to be discriminated against. Several of the defendants with intellectual disabilities would not be eligible for the death penalty today. In conclusion, black poor men with intellectual disabilities and a history of abuse, along with poor women with mental health issues, intellectual disabilities and a history of abuse, were particularly vulnerable to the criminal justice system, because of the multifaceted discrimination they were exposed to.

While significant scholarly research exists on memorialization and commemoration, little exists on memorials to police officers, prison guards, border agents, and other penal system actors described as "law enforcement" or "peace" officers. This doctoral dissertation helps fill this gap by examining three questions: 1) How is penal system work staged and performed through the dramatic spectacle of national commemoration? 2) How does the memorialization of penal system actors as heroes generate and maintain support for punishment and the social distance between ordinary citizens and individuals in conflict with the law? 3) What myths are constructed and perpetuated through these memorials that legitimize the existence, expansion, and domination of punitive ways of thinking about and responding to criminalized conflict and harms? I explore these questions through a case study of "The Canadian Police and Peace Officers Memorial" (CPPOM) on Parliament Hill in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada through a thematic analysis and thick description of data from over 850 newspaper articles, 40 magazine articles, 19 semi-structured interviews, 18 survey responses, and participant observation at the memorial - including recently created running and cycling events. Rather than just a national day or annual gathering of authorities on the last Sunday in September, I argue that the CPPOM is also an overlooked penal system service, organization, and institution, which is integral to broader and growing attempts by police chiefs and associations, as well as other penal system actors and their families in Canada and the United States, to further expand and entrench penal system practices as central to the Canadian national identity through organizational memories and myths that work to increase support for penal system officers by staging them as prepared, professional, heroic, effective, and united. I reflect on the implications of the findings and future avenues for research on memorials like the CPPOM, whose birth in the late-1970s is shown to stem not simply from the "murder" of a rookie Ottawa police officer as is claimed during the memorial activities today, but also from a lack of preparedness and professionalism in the arrest of the person living with mental illness that led to the death of the rookie officer, as well as other national, local, and structural dilemmas facing penal system actors at the time. In examining and providing a new account of the origins, development, meanings, and role of the CPPOM, I contribute to the demystification, demythologization, and debunking of this national memorial, thus contributing to critical criminology and growing attempts to move beyond the punitive responses it naturalizes and legitimates. Although helping participants heal, connect, and move forward after death - which for some, occurs just one step or pedal stroke at a time - I show how the CPPOM is also a forgetful and misleading performance, which has consistently staged public criticism of policing as unfair and "violent crime" and a perceived lack of respect for police and the law as crises, not of mental illness, addiction, poverty, racism, or the real harms and limitations of policing and punishment themselves, but of a lack of law and order that can only be secured through the further entrenchment of penality and the work of "peace" officers.

Technological innovations such as hypersonic missiles and artificial intelligence represent a dynamic shift in contemporary warfare that invigorates new challenges for political and military decision-makers. The unprecedented and unpredictable speeds and trajectories of a hypersonic missile, in conjunction with the myriad of uncertainties affiliated with AI infiltration, reflect these challenges. An area that has incorporated limited academic research in the context of these systems is evident in Deterrence theory. This research aims to bridge the dearth of knowledge evident in how hypersonic missiles and artificial intelligence challenge Sweden’s deterrence and identify how effective Sweden’s current capabilities and credibility are in adhering to these threats. To achieve this aim, the research utilizes a textual analysis that incorporates empirical material gathered from Swedish reports and policy documents, a literature review, and semi-structured interviews conducted with experts with adequate knowledge in this field. This thesis has uncovered that despite its relatively small size, Sweden has to some extent, successfully developed unique systems and technologies to adhere to hypersonic missiles and AI threats.

This thesis examines convicts who were tried for the crime of 'returning from transportation' at London's Old Bailey courthouse between 1720 and 1780. While there is plenty of historical scholarship on the tens of thousands of people who endured penal transportation to the American colonies, relatively little attention has been paid to convicts who migrated illegally back to Britain or those who avoided banishment altogether. By examining these convicts, we can gain a better understanding of how transportation worked, how convicts managed to return to Britain, and most importantly, what happened to them there. This thesis argues that convicts resisted transportation by either avoiding it or returning from banishment after obtaining their freedom. However, regardless of how they arrived back in Britain, many failed to reintegrate successfully back into British society, which led to their apprehension and trial. I claim that most convicts avoided the death penalty upon returning and that this encouraged more convicts to resist transportation and return home. The thesis examines the court cases of 132 convicts charged with returning from transportation at the Old Bailey and examines this migration home through the eyes of those who experienced it. First, the thesis focuses on convicts in Britain and demonstrates how negative perceptions of transportation encouraged them to resist banishment. The thesis then highlights how convicts obtained their freedom in the colonies, which gave them the opportunity to return illegally. Finally, the thesis shows that returned felons tried to reintegrate into society by relocating to new cities, leading quiet honest lives, or by returning to a life of crime.

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Humans and animals have a widely varying relationship which has been studied at length. Examining our interactions with animals in negative contexts can help us further understand the factors that’s influence the nature of the human-animal relationship, particularly with our most popular companion animals. This study continues the use of a jury design, previously used in studies regarding animal abuse, to examine responses to a scenario of an altercation resulting in a dog biting a person. In this study, 243 undergraduate students read the scenario presented to them and completed a survey examining their judgements of blame and punishment for the incident. In the interest of examining the effects of different variables, participants were randomly presented with 1 of 18 potential scenarios in which the role of the human in potentially provoking the dog, the breed of the dog involved, and the degree of damage inflicted were manipulated. Results showed an avoidance toward making any judgements on the dog’s disposition, neither positively nor negatively. Additionally, some gender differences were discovered in responses related to euthanasia, blame on the owner, and the promotion of an obedience training program. Surprisingly, degree of damage did not have significant effects on responses, while dog breed differences revealed that participants placed greater blame and responsibility on owners of Pit bulls rather than the dog itself, which is potentially explained by the sample’s age demographics. The manipulation of human provocation of the incident proved to have the most significant effect of participant responses of blame and punishment, affecting perceptions of blame attributed to the dog and the victim, as well as the punishments and protections deemed appropriate. The results suggest an emphasis on human component in the perceptions of the human-animal relationship and provide insight on the variables relevant to the relationship.