Research on race and sentencing is increasingly moving beyond racial category analyses to include more subtle attributes such as skin tone and facial features. In keeping with this progression, this research examines the extent to which convicted offenders' Afrocentric facial features interact with sex in order to create longer criminal sentences for stereotypically Black males and females. A random sample of Black and White males and females currently serving prison sentences in the state of Oregon were selected for inclusion in the study. A preliminary regression analysis was run in order to determine the effect of broad racial category on sentencing length when controlling for offense characteristics, offense history, and extralegal factors. Additionally, photographs of a sample of 110 Black males and 91 Black females were rated for strength of Afrocentric facial features by undergraduate students. These ratings were averaged to create an Afrocentric rating for each Black individual in the sample. Regression analyses were then conducted for Black individuals in order to determine the effect of Afrocentric facial features and sex on sentence length. Results suggested that although broad racial category is not a significant predictor of sentence length, Afrocentric facial features interact with sex to produce longer sentences for Black males, but not Black females, with stronger Afrocentric facial features. Individuals with the fewest Afrocentric facial features were excluded from the analysis in order to limit the potential misperception of racial category by judges. These findings are consistent with current understandings of feature-trait stereotyping, as well as the focal concerns perspective regarding judicial decision-making.

Assessing the effect of race on crime is an important topic of criminology and criminal justice research. Prior investigations have sought to uncover if racial disparities exist within certain aspects of the criminal justice system, such as arrests, trials, and sentencing. The existing scholarship, however, has largely focused on assessing differences between Black and Hispanic offenders in relation to White offenders. There has been little academic exploration to examine if racial disparities exist among American Indian offenders during criminal justice processing. To address this gap in knowledge, this study analyzes data collected from the United States Sentencing Commission to assess if American Indians receive different sentencing outcomes, when compared to other racial groups. The findings from a series of binary logistic and ordinary least square regression analyses suggest that American Indians are sentenced to prison more often than White, Black, and Hispanic offenders, but receive similar sentence lengths compared to Whites and shorter sentence lengths compared to Blacks and Hispanics. The implications of these results are discussed.

Esta dissertação resulta de uma pesquisa que investigou a interpretação atribuída a orações relativas com um núcleo [+animado], como a fada que molhou, que são ambíguas entre uma leitura de tema (a fada foi molhada) e uma leitura de agente (a fada molhou alguém). A leitura de tema é associada à estrutura absoluta, na qual o verbo transitivo sofre uma mudança de valência: não há argumento agentivo e, consequentemente, não há projeção vP. O verbo não pode checar o Caso acusativo do objeto, forçando o argumento temático a se mover para a posição pré-verbal, onde concorda com o verbo (NEGRÃO; VIOTTI, 2010). Essa estrutura é considerada mais simples do que passivas, por exemplo, uma vez que, nela, o agente não está nem mesmo implícito na sentença. Já a leitura de agente corresponde a uma estrutura em que o objeto não está expresso foneticamente. Em experimentos que eliciaram a produção de relativas de objeto no Português Brasileiro infantil (VIVANCO; PIRES, 2012; GROLLA; AUGUSTO, 2016; RANGEL, 2016), as crianças produziram relativas absolutas para evitar a complexidade estrutural da relativa de objeto. Os adultos raramente as produziram, preferindo as relativas passivas. Dada a alta taxa de produção de relativas absolutas por parte das crianças nesses testes, nosso objetivo foi investigar a preferência das crianças na interpretação de relativas ambíguas. Nós hipotetizamos que a leitura de agente seria preferida, considerando que o parser tende a atribuir lacuna na primeira posição disponível, i.e, a posição de sujeito (PHILLIPS, KAZANINA, ABADA, 2005). Uma vez que a relativa absoluta envolve uma lacuna extra (o tema se move da posição de objeto para a posição pré-verbal: a fada que _ molhou _ ), esta não deverá ser a análise preferida pelo parser. Além disso, o fato de as relativas ambíguas testadas terem um NP [+animado] como núcleo contribui para que este seja interpretado como agente (BECKER, 2014). Foi conduzido um experimento envolvendo a Tarefa de Julgamento de Valor de Verdade, no qual os participantes julgaram relativas de objeto, relativas passivas e relativas ambíguas como verdadeiras ou falsas com base em histórias contadas a eles. Nas relativas ambíguas, ambas as interpretações estavam disponíveis nas histórias, de modo que o julgamento falso se associava à leitura de tema, e o verdadeiro, à leitura de agente. Participaram do teste 46 crianças adquirindo PB (16 3;6-4;6); (30 5;0-5;11) e 26 adultos falantes nativos de PB. Ao contrário do que prevemos, as crianças preferiram a leitura de tema. Já os adultos prefeririam a leitura de agente, embora não tenham rejeitado completamente a leitura de tema. A alta frequência da leitura de tema nos dados das crianças nos leva a descartar a hipótese de que a absoluta seja apenas uma saída à qual as crianças recorrem quando têm de produzir estruturas mais complexas, como as relativas de objeto. O fato de que adultos também acessam essa interpretação evidencia que as absolutas sejam de fato estruturas lícitas no PB. / This dissertation results of a research that has investigated the interpretation of relative clauses with a [+animated] head, as \"the fairy that washed\". These relatives are ambiguous between a theme interpretation (the fairy got washed) and an agent interpretation (the fairy washed someone). The theme interpretation is associated with the absolutive sentence, in which a transitive verb suffers a valence alternation: there is no agent, and consequently, no vP is projected. The verb cannot check the object\'s accusative Case, forcing the theme to move to a pre-verbal position, agreeing with the verb (NEGRÃO; VIOTTI, 2010). The resulting structure is simpler than passives, for example, since the agent is not even implicity expressed in the sentence. The agent interpretation is associated with a structure with the object not expressed phonetically. In experiments eliciting object relative clauses in child Brazilian Portuguese (BrP), children produced absolutive relatives to avoid the structural complexity of the object relative clause (VIVANCO; PIRES, 2012; GROLLA; AUGUSTO, 2016; RANGEL, 2016). Adults rarely produced them, preferring passive relatives instead. Given children\'s high production of absolutive relatives in these experiments, our aim was to investigate children\'s preferences in interpreting ambiguous relative clauses. We hypothesize that the agent interpretation should be preferred, as it enables the parser to assign a gap in the first available position, i.e, the subject position (PHILLIPS, KAZANINA, ABADA, 2005). Since the absolutive relative involve an extra step (the NP theme moves from object to preverbal position: the fairy that _ washed _ ), it should not be the parser\'s preferred analysis. Also, the fact that the ambiguous relatives tested involved a [+animated] NP as the relative head should contribute to this NP will be interpreted as agent (BECKER, 2014). We conducted a truth-value judgment task, in which participants judged object relatives, passive relatives and ambiguous as true or false based on stories told to them. On ambiguous trials, both interpretations were entertained in the stories, with true judgments paired with the theme interpretation and false judgments associated with the agent interpretation. 46 BrP-acquiring children were tested (16 3;6-4;6); (30 5;0-5;11) and 26 adults, native BrP speakers. Contrary to our expectations, children\'s group preferred the theme interpretation. Adults preferred the agent interpretation, although they did not reject theme completely. The high frequency of the theme interpretation in children\'s data leads us to discard the hypothesis that absolutives are just an escape hatch that children resort to when forced to produce more complex structures, as object relatives. The fact that adults also accessed this interpretation brings additional evidence that the absolutive sentences are indeed licit structures in BrP.

Esta pesquisa é focada nos Estudos da Tradução, em diálogo, sobretudo, com filosofias e pensares africanos, europeus, latino-americanos e diaspóricos. A partir da tradução do livro de Bunseki Fu-Kiau -- Cosmologia africana dos bantu-kongo: princípios de vida e vivência --, escrito em inglês, para a língua-cultura (luso)brasileira, foi reconhecida a centralidade das sentenças em linguagem proverbial (kingana), originalmente, apresentadas pelo autor de modo bilíngue (kikongo - inglês). A análise tradutória concentrou-se em tais sentenças, e aspectos fulcrais do pensamento bantu-kongo precisaram somar-se à análise em torno do traduzir, para que se pensasse o seu processo, efetivamente, como interação. Princípios filosóficoculturais tais como o do cosmograma kongo (Dikenga dia Kongo), minika ye minienie (ondas e radiações) e o princípio V são alguns dos vetores relevantes para se pensar o sistema bantukongo, bem como para nele entrar por meio da tradução. A acepção de uma tradução negra surge do contato com as sentenças em linguagem proverbial e seu apelo já histórico por um entendimento das diversas camadas de negritude enquanto resposta legítima a um contexto de hegemonias eurocentradas e opressão, inclusive, epistemológica. Cunhou-se a ideia do tradutor- ndoki ou tradutor-feiticeiro como aquela pessoa que, efetivamente, apreende os encontros éticos enquanto articulações ou trabalho com as linguagens a partir da apreensão do real como algo constituído por partes co-pertencentes que, necessariamente, se intercomunicam. Eis a ideia kongo de totalidade: relação estabelecida entre entes, seres, coisas, imaterialidades existentes em qualquer dimensão de realidade. Percebe-se que as sentenças proverbiais, as quais, em culturas ocidentais, enquadram-se nos estudos da paremiologia, apresentam distinções importantes, no que tange ao que se conhece como provérbios. Tais distinções acontecem em termos estruturais, na sua aplicação, na sua linguagem e performance, na sua contextualização e na sua repercussão social. Por essa razão, optou-se pelo emprego da expressão sentenças em linguagem proverbial (kingana, em kikongo -- língua dos bantu-kongo ou bakongo), em lugar de se utilizar o termo provérbio. No que diz respeito a culturas ocidentais, constatou-se que as sentenças em linguagem proverbial aproximam-se mais dos aforismos, diante do seu prevalente caráter filosófico. No entanto, é preciso atentar para o fato de que filosofias presentes no continente africano (bantu, yoruba, etc.) também são evocadas, a fim de que se configure uma discussão teórica mais simétrica e que, sem pretensões de universalidade ou resolução, possase contribuir para as reflexões sobre o traduzir. / This research focuses on Translation Studies establishing a dialogue between such theoretical field and African, European, Latin-American and black diaspora philosophy. Based on the translation of Bunseki Fu-Kiaus book African Cosmology of the Bantu-Kongo: principles of life and living from English into Portuguese, one verifies that sentences in proverbial language (kingana), which have been introduced by the author in a bilingual form (Kikongo - English), occupy a central role. The translational analysis has focused on these sentences and some core aspects from the Bantu-Kongo general perspective have been necessarily added to the analysis of the translating process as interaction. Philosophical and cultural principles such as the Kongo cosmogram (Dikenga dia Kongo), minika ye minienie (waves and radiations) and the V principle are some of the most relevant mainstays to think about the Bantu- Kongo system as well as to enter such system through translation. The concept of black translation emerges from the contact with the sentences in proverbial language regarding their historical claim to understand the different layers of blackness as a real response to a Eurocentric hegemonic context that is also epistemologically oppressive. It has been conceived the idea of a ndoki or sorcerer translator as the one who apprehends the ethical encounters as articulation and language work from seizing reality as somehing that is constituted by co-belonging parts which necessarily intercommunicate. This is the Kongo idea for totality an established relationship between entities, beings, things and immaterialities that exist in any dimension of reality. It can be seen that the proverbial sentences, which, in Western cultures, fit into the studies of paremiology, present important distinctions in relation to what is known as proverbs. Such distinctions occur in structural terms and also in terms of their usage, language, performance, context and social repercussion. Therefore the expression sentences in proverbial language (kingana in Kikongo, language of the Bantu-Kongo or Bakongo) was adopted instead of proverb. Concerning Western cultures, it has been found that sentences in proverbial language are closer to the aphorisms because of their predominant philosophical character. However, it is important to emphasize that African philosophy especially the Bantu and Yoruba philosophy is also evoked in order to raise a symmetrical theoretical discussion and to collaborate to reflect on translation without the idea of universality and resolution.

This study is a detailed investigation of a number of issues in colloquial Sinhala morphosyntax. These issues primarily concern grammatical relations, argument structure, phrase structure and focus constructions. The theoretical framework of this study is Lexical Functional Grammar.¶Chapter 1 introduces the issues to be discussed, followed by a brief introduction of some essential aspects of colloquial Sinhala as background for the discussion in the following chapters. In Chapter 2 we present basic concepts of the theoretical framework of Lexical Functional Grammar.¶ The next three chapters mainly concern grammatical relations, argument structure and clause structure in colloquial Sinhala. Chapter 3 examines grammatical relations. The main focus lies in establishing the subject grammatical relation in terms of various subjecthood diagnostics. We show that only a very small number of diagnostics are reliable, and that the evidence for subject is weaker than assumed previously. All the subjecthood diagnostics that were examined select the most prominent argument in the argument structure as the subject, i.e. 'logical subject'. However, there appear to be no processes in the language that are sensitive to the subject in the grammatical relations structure, i.e. 'gr-subject'. Further, there is no evidence for other grammatical relations like objects. In Chapter 4 we discuss the agentless construction and related valency alternation phenomena. It was previously assumed that the agentless construction, valency alternation phenomena and the involitive construction are all related. We argue that the agentless construction should be treated as a different construction from the involitive construction. We also show that the agentless construction and the involitive construction have contrasting characteristics, and that treatment of them as separate constructions can account for some phenomena which did not receive an explanation previously. The valency alternation phenomena are related to the agentless construction, therefore there is no valency alternation in involitive constructions. It will be shown that verbs undergoing the valency alternation can be distinguished from the other verbs in terms of the lexical semantic properties of individual verbs. Chapter 5 examines the structure of non-verbal sentences in terms of a number of morphosyntactic phenomena. It was previously argued that verbal sentences and non-verbal sentences in colloquial Sinhala differ in terms of clause structure. However, the present study shows evidence to the contrary.¶ The next two chapters deal with modelling contrastive focus and the phrase structure of the language. Chapter 6 is a detailed analysis of the contrastive focus (cleft) construction in various clause types in the language, and proposes a unified syntactic treatment of contrastive focus. Contrastive focus is in some constructions morphologically encoded, while in others it involves both morphological and configurational assignment of focus. The complex interaction between focus markers and verb morphology in various focus constructions is accounted for by general well-formedness conditions applying to the f-structure, and the principles of Functional Uncertainty and Morphological Blocking. In Chapter 7, we discuss the phrase structure of the language, in particular such issues as its non-configurational nature and the lack of evidence for VP. We propose non-configurational S and some functional projections to account for word order freedom under S and to explain certain morphosyntactic phenomena, such as configurational focus assignment. Finally, Chapter 8 summarises the conclusions made in previous chapters.

Tidigare forskning har visat samband mellan språkanvändning och den uppfattning som kvinnor själva och samhället har om våld och övergrepp. Kvinnor som har blivit utsatta för våld och övergrepp möter ofta misstro och skuldbeläggande från omgivningen, vilket leder till att de inte blir trodda och att förövaren i många fall inte döms. I detta arbete undersöks hur en viss språkanvändning framställer våld och övergrepp på ett sätt som bland annat skuldbelägger offret, och vilka konsekvenser den språkanvändningen får. Metoden för arbetet är diskursanalys, och består av en textgranskning av domar från en svensk tingsrätt. Resultaten visar att rätten beskriver våld och övergrepp på ett sätt som leder till konsekvenser som att våldet döljs, förövarens ansvar minskas samt att offret skuldbeläggs. Resultatet leder till förslag på hur rätten istället ska beskriva våld och övergrepp, för att undvika ovan nämnda konsekvenser. Resultatet mynnar också ut i ett förslag till förändring av svensk lagstiftning, men det konstateras även att denna lagändring möjligtvis måste föregås av en samhällelig förändring i stort. / Earlier research has demonstrated a link between language and the view that women themselves and society have of violence and abuse. Women who have experienced violence and abuse often face suspicion and blame from society, which leads to that they are not believed and that the perpetrator in many cases, is not convicted. This study focuses on how the language used in a Swedish court describes violence and abuse in ways that leads to the blaming of the victim, and the further consequences of that specific use of language. The method used in this thesis is discourse analysis, and the empirical study consists of a text review of court judgements by a Swedish court. Findings are that the court describes violence and abuse in a way that leads to that violence is hidden, the perpetrator's responsibility is reduced and the victim gets blamed. The result leads to suggestions on how the court could describe violence and abuse differently, in order to avoid these negative consequences. The result also points towards a proposal for a change in Swedish law, although this change in the law might possibly be preceded by a change in society in general.

The purpose of this essay is to examine and explain how the Swedish mining court of Stora Kopparberget (the Great Copper Mountain) implemented its judicial legislation between 1641-1682. Questions are asked about which counts of indictments the court tried, which sentences they handed out, in what quantities and how these results looks in comparison with other contemporary courts. The index cards of the court judicial protocols are the primary source of information. The methods are those of quantity- and comparative analysis.The results show that theft of copper ore was the most common crime ransacked by the court. Other common crimes were (in order): sin of omission, transgression of work directions, fights, slander and disdain, trade of stolen ore, failing appearance in court etc.Fines were by far the most common sentence followed by shorter imprisonments, gauntlets, loss of right to mine possession, twig beating, loss of work, penal servitude, banishment, “wooden horse riding” and finally military transcription. Even though previous re-search, in the field of Swedish specialized courts, is almost non existent evidence confirms great similarities between the Stora Kopparberget mining court and Sala mining court. This essay will, hopefully, enrich our knowledge of specialized courts, of 17th century mining industry and society and let us reach a broader understanding of the working conditions of the mountain.

Šiuo metu Lietuvoje gana aktualus lengvatinių PVM tarifų taikymo klausimas. Lengvatinių PVM tarifų poveikis prekių/paslaugų kainai, jų paklausai, naujų darbo vietų kūrimui, valstybės pajamoms – aktuali tema ne tik Lietuvoje, bet ir visoje Europos Sąjungoje. Tai įrodo vis gausėjantys ekonomistų straipsniai mokslo leidiniuose, įvairių institucijų atliekamos PVM lengvatų poveikio analizės. Be to, lengvatinio PVM tarifo taikymo tikslingumas – dažnas visuomenės diskusijų ir žiniasklaidos susidomėjimo objektas. Darbo tikslas – išanalizuoti ir įvertinti lengvatinių pridėtinės vertės mokesčio tarifų taikymo tikslingumą, atliekant analizę. Darbo objektas – lengvatinių pridėtinės vertės mokesčio tarifų taikymas Lietuvoje ir Europos Sąjungoje bei jų poveikis ekonomikai. Darbo tikslui pasiekti buvo iškelti tokie uždaviniai: apibūdinti pridėtinės vertės mokestį, nustatant jo vietą mokesčių sistemoje ir aptariant jo reikšmingumą šalies biudžetui; išanalizuoti pagrindinius teisės aktus, reglamentuojančius pridėtinės vertės mokesčio taikymą Lietuvoje ir Europos Sąjungoje, bei išanalizuoti lengvatinių pridėtinės vertės mokesčio tarifų taikymo reglamentavimą Europos Sąjungoje ir Lietuvoje; išanalizuoti lengvatinių pridėtinės vertės mokesčio tarifų kaitą Lietuvoje; palyginti Lietuvoje ir kitose Europos Sąjungos valstybėse narėse taikomų lengvatinių pridėtinės vertės mokesčio tarifų dydžius ir jais apmokestinamų prekių/paslaugų grupes; palyginti pardavimų, apmokestinamų lengvatiniais... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The effect of the value added tax decrease (VAT) on prices, inquiry, employment and public revenue is subjected regularly to the intensive debate not only in Lithuania, but also in the whole European Union (EU). The importance of reduced VAT effect shows growing number of economic articles, also the application of the reduced VAT is a frequent discussion object in the society and in the media. The goal of the work is to analyze the importance of the application of the reduced VAT sentences. The object of the work is the economic effects of the application of the reduced VAT sentences in Lithuania and in the European Union. To reach a purpose of the work, such tasks are issued: To define VAT and to explain its importance; to analyze the most important VAT laws; to analyze the alternation of the reduced VAT sentences in Lithuania; to compare the reduced VAT sentences in Lithuania and in the EU; to compare the categories of goods and services which are taxed on the VAT sentence in the EU; to compare the interest of the base of the reduced price in the EU; to explain the purposes of the VAT decrease; to analyze the price effects, production effects and occupation effects of VAT decrease; to overlook views of different institutions. In the work such working methods are applied: Analysis of the juridical documents and the nonfiction literature; contents analysis; analysis of the statistical information; Comparative analysis and a review of the electronic data base. Work hypothesis... [to full text]

Lietuvių kalba išsiskiria ne tik turtingu žodynu, bet ir plačiomis galimybėmis mintis reikšti įvairios sandaros sakiniais: vientisiniais (asmeniniais dvinariais ir asmeniniais vienanariais, beasmeniais, asmeninių sakinių modifikacijomis), sudėtiniais (sujungiamaisiais, prijungiamaisiais, bejungtukiais, mišriaisiais). Mokinys, baigęs dešimtą klasę, turėtų išmanyti visas lietuvių kalbos sakinių rūšis, sandarą ir funkcijas, turėtų gebėti laisvai teorines žinias taikyti praktikoje – rašyti ir kalbėti funkcionaliais, įvairios sandaros sakiniais. Darbo tema – mokinių rašinių sakinio sandra ir funkcijos. Kalbant apie rašinius, daug dėmesio skiriama paties rašinio turiniui, stiliui, formai. Mokinių rašinių sakinio sintaksė ir funkcijos yra mažai tyrinėtos, nėra ištirta, kokios sandaros sakiniai mokinių rašiniuose dominuoja, o kokios sandaros vartojami retai, kas gali turėti įtakos mokinių rašinių sakinio struktūrai ir funkcijoms, neaišku, ar su amžiumi, lyginant 9–12 klasių mokinių sakinius, sakinio struktūra sudėtingėja. Ištyrus 60 vyresniųjų klasių (9–12) rašinių, galima pastebėti, kad mokiniai iš tiesų geba vartoti įvairių funkcinių tipų ir įvairios sandaros sakinius. Taip pat galima teigti, kad rašinio žanras turėjo įtakos funkcinių sakinių tipų vartojimui. Sakinių sandara taip tiesiogiai su rašinio žanru ar mokinių amžiumi susijusi nebuvo. Vyresniųjų klasių mokiniai vartojo sudėtingos struktūros sakinių, kurių visiškai nevartojo arba vartojo minimaliai jauniausi iš tirtų... [toliau žr. visą tekstą] / The Lithuanian language is not only prominent in its rich vocabulary but also there are quite a lot of possibilities to express ideas and thoughts using different sentence structures, such as: simple sentences (personal binomial and personal monomial, impersonal, modifications of personal sentences), complex sentences (coordinate, subordinate, parataxis and composite). The tenth form leaver should know all kinds of sentences, sentence structure and its function. He/she should be able to use all his/her theoretical knowledge in practice, it means he/she should be able to speak and write using functional, various sentence structures. The theme of the work – sentence structure and function in schoolchildren‘s essays. Considering essays themselves, a lot of attention is paid to the context, style and form of the essay. There was little research done of sentence syntax and function in schoolchildren’s essays. There was no research done what kind of sentence structure dominate in schoolchildren essays, what sentence structure is rarely used and what makes an influence which sentence structure and function to use. Moreover, it is not clear, if sentence structure becomes more complex according to the schoolchild’s age, comparing schoolchildren’s essays of the 9th–12th form. After examining 60 essays of senior schoolchildren (the 9th–12th form) some statements could be made. Firstly, schoolchildren are really capable of using sentences of various functional styles and different... [to full text]

The objectives of this thesis were to observe how the Canadian youth justice system has dealt with the regulation of the transfer of young offenders to the adult court and how the Canadian statutes have regulated the imposition of adult offences for young offenders. For this, I drew a distinction between two levels of observation: first, I observed the process of "creation of statutes" by the political system. Second, I observed the process of "understanding and interpretation of statutes" by the judicial system. The notion of "political system" includes the legislation enacted by Parliament, parliamentary debates, and reports published by the Government of Canada. The notion of "judicial system" includes the decisions of the Montreal Youth Court. For the first level of observation ("creation of statutes"), I observed and analyzed the work of the political system for the period 1842 to 2012. Starting in 1857, many statutes regulated different aspects of the criminal law system as it applied to young people. The first statute to deal with youth offenders comprehensively and different from adult offenders was the Juvenile Delinquents Act (1908); this statute was replaced by the Young Offenders Act (1982). The current statute is the Youth Criminal Justice Act (2002). With regard to the Juvenile Delinquents Act (1908) and the Young Offenders Act (1982), I observed how the political system regulated the mechanism of transferring a young person to the adult court. This mechanism allowed the youth court to decide a question of jurisdiction: whether the young person would be processed and sentenced within the youth justice system, or whether the young person would be sent to the adult court for him to be dealt with and sentenced therein. With regard to the Youth Criminal Justice Act (2002), I observed how the political system has regulated the imposition of adult sentences by the youth court. This statute replaced the mechanism of transfer under the two previous statutes by the imposition of adult sentences within the youth justice system. For the second level of observation ("the understanding and interpretation of statutes"), I observed how the Montreal Youth Court had understood and interpreted the statutory provision that allowed the youth court to transfer a young person to the adult court for the young person to be dealt with and sentenced therein. My period of observation is from 1911 to 1995. I argue that both the political and the judicial systems have been strongly influenced by the theories of deterrence, denunciation, retribution, and rehabilitation. The influence that each theory has exercised on each system varies. The political system, originally focused on the rehabilitation of young people, has been slowly “contaminated” by the most punitive theories, such as deterrence and denunciation. This shift started in the 70’s and slowly increased over the years. Conversely, while the judicial system does not seem to have been originally influenced by the theories of rehabilitation, its focus has slowly shifted towards this objective as the primary goal of their intervention towards young offenders since the 70’s. However, the “successful rehabilitation” of a young person has become a goal in itself, where “unsuccessful offenders” have been transferred to the adult court and dealt with the adult punitive justice system.