National Repository of Grey Literature 2 records found  Search took 0.00 seconds. 
Privatization of the California Prison System
Trubačová, Zuzana ; Raška, Francis (advisor) ; Hervey, Norma (referee)
Prison privatization is a hotly debated topic in the United States that has its place in the political agendas of both political parties and generates opinion by various public interest groups. United States has the biggest prison population in the world caused by the harsh sentencing policies that were implemented in the 1980s. California has had the largest criminal justice system in the nation until it was very recently surpassed by Texas. The state of California has been fighting with the overcrowding crisis for three decades. It began contracting out with private prison companies for the management of its prisons in hope it would ease the situation in state prison system that operated at double of its designed capacity. This thesis is a case study that concerns itself with the prison privatization in the state of California. The purpose of this thesis is to evaluate whether contracting with private prisons helped California to solve its overcrowding crisis and whether privately-run prison are a good choice that benefits California society. This goal will be achieved by evaluating existing experience with the private prisons in California's context.
The Changing Legal and Social Status of the LGBT People in the U.S. Since 1990
Sochacký, Jakub ; Hervey, Norma (advisor) ; Young, Ralph (referee)
This paper deals with the role of American courts, specifically their decisions, regarding the rights and social status of LGBT people, which is an acronym standing for lesbians, gay, bisexual and transgender persons. The main finding is that court decisions in favor of LGBTs make lives of such people even more difficult, because authorities in states where such decisions are taken often try to circumvent these decisions using legislative powers. However, in the long term, it seems that courts manage to initiate debates about LGBT-related topics with various arguments that the American society is forced to consider. It appears that in such debates common sense prevails over prejudices and myths. One such myth that was widely accepted by society was that when a child lives with a homosexual in a common household, such child was going to become homosexual him- or herself. This paper also explores an analogy between current efforts of LGBT people to reach full equality and secure anti- discrimination measures for themselves and the struggle for civil rights of African-Americans. Both these groups have faced treatment which suggested that they are second-class citizens. One of the ways society expresses this second-class citizenry is by denying LGBTs access to the institution of marriage arguing it...

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