This article examines the concept of terrorism as a social and legal phenomenon, its international legal and criminal-legal characteristics. Highlighted are the main aspects of cooperation of the states and the international community to counter terrorist activities. Terrorism as a social phenomenon is determined by paragraph 1 of article 3 of the…

Beginning with the passage of The Jacob Wetterling Crimes Against Children and Sexually Violent Offender Registration Act in 1994 and Megan's Law in 1996, the federal government and states have passed numerous pieces of legislation to control and restrict those convicted of sex offenses. This study surveyed the attitudes of undergraduate students…

Although a sizable number of studies have gathered information from college students regarding their varying degrees of support for capital punishment, few have explored the underlying rationales behind these students' death penalty support or opposition. In addition, although criminal justice majors have frequently been used as study…

The prediction of dangerousness and the insanity defense are two areas where psychologists provide research-based expertise to the courts. Teachers of psychology can use these topics to capture the attention of students and to show how psychological research and theory can inform and influence the legal system. Specifically, teachers can use the…

Research in legal decision making has demonstrated the tendency to blame the victim and exonerate the perpetrator of sexual assault. This study examined the hypothesis of a special leniency bias in rape cases by comparing them to cases of robbery. N = 288 participants received descriptions of rape and robbery of a female victim by a male…

This article presents a commentary on "Making the Most of Information-Gathering Interviews With Children," in which, according to Jones, Larsson and Lamb provided a helpful overview on memory retrieval and communicative ability and on ways these may be fostered in interviews with children. They explored three interview protocols that have been…

Elizabeth Scott and Laurence Steinberg explore the dramatic changes in the law's conception of young offenders between the end of the nineteenth century and the beginning of the twenty-first. At the dawn of the juvenile court era, they note, most youths were tried and punished as if they were adults. Early juvenile court reformers argued strongly…

This article analyzes the civil commitment models for treating sexually violent predators (SVPs) and analyzes recent civil commitment laws. SVPs are commonly defined as sex offenders who are particularly predatory and repetitive in their sexually violent behavior. Data from policy literature, a survey to all states, and a review of law review…

Emphasis on winning, instead of sportsmanship, and a surge in spectator demand for brute force are factors used to explain why sports are becoming increasingly violent. Legal questions are identified related to sports violence that have emerged from criminal and civil court cases. (SR)

The report begins with a discussion of rape and its victims. It proceeds to more technical information about the filing, preliminary hearings and grand juries, plea bargaining, trial preparation, trial and sentencing information which is geared towards the prosecutor. Finally, the report concludes with appendices presenting sample forms for…

This report presents information from four studies that investigated factors decision makers considered when transferring cases from the juvenile to the criminal justice system. All states have legal mechanisms whereby some juveniles may be transferred from the juvenile to the criminal justice system for prosecution. These decisions fall into…

This report describes the development of the juvenile justice system in the United States. It uses current data to look at where it is heading, and the recent trend of transferring certain juvenile cases to adult criminal court. Section 1 explains that the juvenile justice system was founded on the concept of rehabilitation through individualized…

This booklet reports the deliberations of a panel of 37 judges, prosecutors, and researchers who attended a national conference to consider dealing with repeat juvenile offenders. The five conference sessions focus on: (1) Assessing the Problem: Offense and Offender Characteristics; (2) Processing Offenders: An Empirical Review of Current…

The Supreme Court of California upheld a lower court's ruling in Tarasoff v. Regents of University of California. It stated that a psychotherapist's privilege of privacy based on the need for psychotherapeutic secrecy ends where the public peril begins. (LBH)

This document contains testimony from a Congressional hearing held in New Jersey to examine violent crime against the elderly. Opening statements are presented from committee members Matthew J. Rinaldo, William J. Hughes, Christopher H. Smith, and Dan Mica. Four panels of witnesses testify: (1) two elderly victims of violent crime; (2) federal,…