When it comes to law practitioners in the United States, there is unspoken societal normality to view private practitioners with a certain gold standard. However, in many cases, when public servants are in the limelight, the societal gaze shifts to this second-hand standard, where many are considered lesser than or “not as good” as their private sector counterparts. When it comes down to it, the practitioners have passed the same/and or similar bar exam (for their respective states) and have gone through the same rigorous education to be where they are today. Both public and private sectors accomplish the same job that is in front of them, but one is paid significantly more, respected higher, and deemed by society the better option. However, clients can not afford the private sector due to privatized rates and are forced to “settle” with the public servant, then by proxy being deemed inadequate and the “loser” in the associated cases prematurely. This notion that there is a stereotype or bias towards public servants needs to be explored to see how pervasive this reality or myth truly is and to explore some of the possible sources for these perceptions.

“Man, the bravest animal and most prone to suffer, does not deny suffering as such: he wills it, he even seeks it out, provided he is shown a meaning for it, a purpose of suffering.” -Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche Juvenile justice reform is a complex and contentious topic. Despite the increased attention and focus throughout the years of looking for more effective ways of dealing with youthful offenders, America is still one of the most punitive countries regarding juvenile crime – averaging nearly 60,000 incarcerated youth daily. In recent years, there has been a trend toward reforming the juvenile justice system to prioritize rehabilitation over exclusion and punishment, with a preference for restorative approaches and strategies instead of traditional exclusionary and punitive responses. However, continued high incarceration rates combined with almost 90 percent recidivism rates suggest these approaches are ineffective and lack the necessary elements to address the underlying causes of juvenile crime or help position our youth for successful reentry or participation in society. As we learn more about adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) and the devastating long-term effects on a child’s development, we recognize a connection between ACEs, toxic stress, and juvenile crime. ACEs refer to adverse or traumatic events that occur during childhood, such as physical, emotional, or sexual abuse, neglect, or household dysfunction. These experiences can pose significant risks to children’s physical and mental health. Toxic stress refers to the chronic exposure to the body’s stress response systems reacting to severe and prolonged adversity, such as child abuse or neglect. Developmental changes in the body and brain due to toxic stress can increase the risk of physical and mental health problems, including anxiety, depression, and substance abuse, and lead to increased negative behaviors and criminal activity. This paper argues that a trauma-informed approach to reform juvenile justice is needed to help survivors of ACEs and toxic stress repurpose their adversity into a tool of opportunity and empowerment. This trauma-informed approach will, in turn, help trauma survivors find purpose in life, alter their perspective of their world, and perform actions and behaviors in service of their goals. Only by including an individualized trauma-informed approach will we finally realize collective juvenile justice reform.

From 2019, a severe acute respiratory coronavirus 2, SARS-CoV-2, began to be a global pandemic. Many high income countries developed different strategies in response. This analysis intends to highlight how the COVID-19 became a global pandemic and the strategies that account for successes and failures. In identifying key policy differences, the high income countries of the United States, New Zealand and France were examined. The analysis found that New Zealand had proactive elimination strategies that proved highly effective, whereas the United States and France both struggled with mitigation factors that resulted in disproportionately higher confirmed cases and mortality rates. The analysis highlights how the airborne virus became a pandemic and then followed public policies’ effectiveness in terms of existing political institutions,and then their ability to be successful in preventing the spread of the virus.

The world of Tloren stands not alone. Tales from history and the lore of fictional settings alike have shaped a fantasy world as immersive as it is fantastical. This thesis catalogues the totality of inspirations behind seven of the major locations depicted in Tloren, the setting of the author’s own fantasy novel. Itself inspired by sensationalist archeological accounts from before the twentieth century, the following is a dissection of each place in exacting detail, weaving together narrative and academic discussion. Ultimately, the totality of inspirations behind Tloren will never be fully explored, yet it is the hope of the author that this thesis both stands alone as an account and guide for other aspiring worldbuilders as well as an appendix within the novel to further contextualize the locations therein.

This thesis seeks to explore issues of media governance and engagement in nations at the margin of democracy, subsequently establishing the basis of a policy framework which can bolster media freedom and enhance the potential for democratic consolidation. The paper conducts a case study on the domestic media markets of Hungary and Poland, and explores foreign-influence efforts in Ukraine. It concludes with an analysis of the policy or market-based tools available to promote and protect media freedom.

Despite countless research reports, research studies, and studies of human psychology verifying that the Reid Method interrogation tactics used by police in the United States cause false confessions, the method is still heavily accepted and used on suspects everyday. This research paper will look into the Reid Method interrogation tactics, their connection to false confessions in order to establish a basis for repealing and replacing the Reid Method with an alternative interrogation technique. This paper will show that the guilt-presumptive nature of the Reid Method leads to innocent individuals falsely confessing and spending years in prison. Evidence of this phenomenon will be shown through research papers, studies, case examples, and an interview with a false confession expert Dr. Richard A. Leo. The Reid Method is problematic and jeopardizes the presumption of innocence for every citizen in the United States and should be repealed by an alternative interrogation technique called P.E.A.C.E in order for justice to be renewed.