Thesis (Ph. D.)--Florida State University, 2005. / Advisor: Dr. Gary Kleck, Florida State University, School of Criminology and Criminal Justice. Title and description from dissertation home page (viewed Sept. 27, 2005). Document formatted into pages; contains ix, 138 pages. Includes bibliographical references.

Thesis (M.S.)--University of Alabama at Birmingham, 2007. / Description based on contents viewed June 26, 2007; title from title screen. Includes bibliographical references (p. 38-41).

That police have special moral obligations to protect others is an important moral consideration which is largely absent from discourse about the moral permissibility of police killings of civilians in self-defence. I argue that police officers, at least when acting ex officio, face a special justificatory burden such that the set of conditions under which a police officer may permissibly kill a civilian in self-defence is more tightly constrained than the set of conditions under which a civilian may kill a fellow civilian in self-defence. In other words, police officers' right to kill in self-defence is attenuated by their special moral obligation to protect others. I provide three arguments for this claim. First, police have a special obligation to protect others, even at risk to themselves. Thus, there are some situations in which, compared to a civilian, an officer must tolerate an elevated level of risk of harm to herself before she is justified in resorting to defensive harm. Second, police have a derivative obligation to minimise imposing harm on those whom they have undertaken to protect. It is a greater wrong to harm those to whom one has special moral duties. Thus, compared to the civilian, the police officer must give greater moral weight to the possibility that she is facing an innocent or non-responsible threat. The third argument rests on the view that the right to self-defence derives from the right protect oneself. I show that the special moral obligations of police officers attenuate this right and, derivatively, attenuate their right to self-defence as well. / Master of Arts / Discussions about the morality of police killings of civilians in self-defence lack an important consideration; they fail to take into account the fact that police have special moral obligations to protect others. I argue that this special obligation interferes with police officer’s self-defence rights. Because of this, the set of conditions under which it is morally permissible for a police officer kill a civilian in self-defence is more tightly constrained than the set of conditions under which it is morally permissible for a civilian may kill a fellow civilian in self-defence. I provide three arguments for this claim. First, police have a special obligation to protect others, even at risk to themselves. Because of this, there are some situations in which, compared to a civilian, an officer must tolerate an elevated level of risk of harm to herself before she is justified in resorting to defensive harm. Second, police have an obligation to minimise imposing harm on those whom they have undertaken to protect. This obligation is derived from police officers’ obligation to protect others, because it is a greater wrong to harm those to whom one has special moral duties. Thus, compared to the civilian, the police officer must give greater moral weight to the possibility that she is facing an innocent or non-responsible threatener (that is, an individual who threatens harm but who is either innocent, or is not responsible for the threat that they pose). The third argument rests on the view that the right to self-defence derives from the right protect oneself. I show that the special moral obligations of police officers attenuate this right and, derivatively, attenuate their right to self-defence as well.

This study tested the hypotheses that perceived risk of victimization had a stronger effect than actual exposure to victimization risk on handgun ownership and that this relationship was stronger for women than men. Perceived and actual risks of victimization have been discussed with respect to handgun ownership, but a general consensus in the literature was lacking and recent empirical research was scarce. Crime rates and respondents' social characteristics were used as proxy measures for victimization risk, while fear of crime measured perceived risk of victimization. Three sets of models were estimated, the first with a pooled sample of men and women, the second and third on samples separated by gender. Binary logistic regression was utilized to compare the predictive power of these two major correlates of handgun ownership and observe how their effects varied by gender. Data were drawn from the National Opinion for Research Center's (NORC) Cumulative General Social Surveys (GSS) for the years 1986 through 2008. Predictors of victimization risk, especially gender and regional crime rate, had strong effects on handgun possession, while perceived risk had no effect on handgun possession. Results also demonstrated that while women were more likely to fear crime, they were not necessarily more or less likely than men to obtain handguns in response to that fear. / Master of Science

The concept and legal consequences of the transgression of the limits of self-defense and necessity The object of this diploma thesis is criminal institute of self-defense and necessity and legal consequences of their transgression. These circumstances excluding the illegality release an act of person, who prevents a directly imminent danger or attack, from illegality as an element of the crime. We find the importance and indispensability of these institutes in possibility of use of self-help in favor of the protected interests, without a threat of penal sanction. This work is mainly focused on situations where legal conditions and limits of self- defense and necessity were transgressed, which caused their criminal liability. Even here it is desirable to apply more benevolent approach towards the offender than to other perpetrators of common crimes, because otherwise self-defense and necessity is considered a positive phenomenon. After a brief introduction, in the first part of this diploma thesis, the author deals with circumstances excluding the illegality in general and with the concept of illegality itself. In the second part, the author deals with the definition of the term and conditions of necessity and mainly focuses on explanation of the unclear and questionable elements of necessity. In...

THE NOTION AND LEGAL CONSEQUENCES OF EXCEEDING THE NEED FOR SELF-DEFENSE AND DESTITUTION The subject of this thesis are the notion and the legal consequences of exceeding the need for self-defense and destitution (excess). Both of those situations exclude illegality in the case of fulfillment of certain conditions assuring the right of an individual defend him-self in case of an attack, in other words in situations where there is a threat to interests protected by the criminal statute. The consequence of the fulfillment of the conditions of destitution and self- defense is the exclusion not only of criminal liability of the defendant but equally the illegality of his act. In these situations, we therefore are not dealing with a criminal act. This characteristic therefore in consequence makes destitute and self-defense into notions of great importance in the area of criminal liability. The aim of this thesis is to focus on both of the notions mentioned above, mainly in regard of situations where we are faced with the exceeding of the allowed limits and therefore to fully elaborate on and detail the parameters of the notion of excess and the legal consequences linked to it. The term excess will be regarded from the point of view of theories, legal treatment and jurisprudence, as their approach and...

The Notion and Legal Consequences of the Transgression of Exceeding the Limits of Self-defense and Distress Diploma thesis called "The Notion and Legal Consequences of the Transgression of Exceeding the Limits of Self-defense and Distress" is based on Criminal Code, Act N. 40/2009 Coll., as applicable to 1 December, 2011. The thesis deals with legitimate self-defense and distress, as two circumstances excluding illegality, which belong to basic human rights, that everyone can by himself avert attack or danger threatening his interest protected by the Criminal Code. Thesis's insight of legitimate self-defense and distress is based on situations when person exceeds allowable bounds of legitimate self-defense and distress, and it's behavior becomes lawless and punishable. First part deals with circumstances excluding illegality as a term including legitimate self-defense and distress. Second part is based on actual characteristic and conditions of legitimate self-defense, together with specification of statutory legal limits of behavior in legitimate self-defense and distress. In following third part concepts of exceeding limits of legitimate self-defense and distress are analyzed in detail. There is a description how acting person can extravagate these limits. Nonobservance of time limits,...

The concept and legal consequences of the transgression of the limits of self-defense and necessity The thesis is based on the criminal institutes of necessity and self-defense. The aim of the thesis is to analyse the concept of necessity and self-defence, set limits to those institutes, define cases of transgression of these limits and describe legal consequences of excess. The thesis is drawn as the analysis of current legislation regulating necessity and self- defense. Given that everyone can make use of these institutes, the thesis concentrates on the fact that the legislation in this matter should be comprehensible and expedient for the acting person and contains a thorough analysis of case-law. The comparative method is used to the lesser extent, Czech legislation is compared with legislation of some other European countries. A part of the thesis concentrates on the frequent de lege ferenda suggestions. In author's opinion, the enactment of these suggestions would help to promote legal certainty and extend the possibility to act in necessity and self-defense. The thesis is divided into an introduction, three main parts, which are further divided into chapters and subchapters, and a conclusion. Part one defines the concept of illegality as a requirement of commiting a crime, then the...

Orientador: Jean Cristtus Portela / Banca: Arnaldo Cortina / Banca: Marina Célia Mendonça / Banca: Elizabeth Harkot-de-La-Taille / Banca: Vera Lúcia Rodella Abriata / Resumo: Componente fixa da página A2 Seção Opinião, do Jornal Folha de S. Paulo, a charge é, de acordo com Riani (2002), uma das primeiras atrações buscadas pelo leitor do periódico. Ao apresentar a figurativização de uma cena do cotidiano de forma lúdica e muitas vezes nonsense, o enundicador acaba por se esconder no ninho do risível, onde tudo é possível e, dessa maneira, pode garantir seu espaço para criticar as cenas do cotidiano. Buscando entender a forma como a charge constrói o ator discursivo na página de opinião do jornal impresso e ainda suas estratégias argumentativas, serão tomadas como córpus charges políticas do artista Jean Galvão, veiculadas no jornal Folha de S. Paulo, na página A2, seção Opinião, durante os quatro anos do primeiro mandato da presidente do Brasil Dilma Rousseff. Esta tese pretende abordar a charge como texto verbovisual, mais especificamente, as charges políticas, à luz da semiótica plástica, de modo a delimitar os contornos de uma semiótica da charge, que, além de tratar do texto verbovisual em si, reflita sobre sua circulação e relação com os tipos de texto que a cercam. Para tanto, apresentaremos no âmbito da semiótica uma definição para o gênero charge, buscando entender suas relações e especificidades em relação à História em Quadrinhos e à Caricatura. Utilizaremos como aporte teórico Fontanille (1999) e Greimas e Courtés (2008). Em seguida, nos pautaremos na semiótica discursiva, mais especificamente nas metodologias disponíveis ... (Resumo completo, clicar acesso eletrônico abaixo) / Abstract: Included as one of the sections of the newspaper, the page A2 Opinião (Opinion Section) of Folha de S. Paulo, the cartoon is, according to Riani (2002), the first attraction searched by the reader. When it presents a scene by means figurativization using the humor and sometimes the non-sense mode, the enunciator can find shelter in a nest where everything is possible and because of this one can keep his/her space to criticize the daily scenes. In order to understand the way that the cartoon build the discursive actor in the opinion section of the newspaper and so the ways to the argumentation, we are going to take as corpus with political cartoons created by Jean Galvão and presented in Folha de S. Paulo, in page A2, Opinion Section, during the 4 years of the first term of president Dilma Rousseff. We intend to study the cartoon as a verbal-visual text, more specific the political cartoons, using Semiotics of the Plastic Arts, trying to delimit the boundaries of a semiotic for the cartoon, that more than show the verbal-visual text, can meditate about the relation with other kinds of text that are nearby. In order to achieve that goal, based on the semiotic theory, we are going to use a definition for the genre cartoon, which we want to understand its relations and specifies when compared to comics and caricatures. As theoretical framework for these concepts we are going to use Fontanille (1999) and Greimas and Courtés (2008). After that we will be based on a ... (Complete abstract click electronic access below) / Doutor

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