In 2012, Trayvon Martin was killed by George Zimmerman, who, after a month-long highly-publicized trial, was acquitted of second-degree murder. In this study, I examine the testimony of Martin's childhood friend and key witness for the prosecution, Rachel Jeantel. Although Rachel Jeantel was an ear witness to the altercation between Zimmerman and…

The First Amendment to the Constitution is a cornerstone of American democracy and students, like all members of the nation, are entitled to its protections. This study investigates the level of knowledge of students' First Amendment rights among secondary preservice teachers in various disciplines and their confidence in dealing with First…

Florida family court mediation programs have typically been assessed with quantitative analysis. To understand the complexity of the experience of being a family mediator, it was necessary to explore how mediators practiced through qualitative research. Metaphors have been considered to be representations of mediators' mental models regarding…

The authors report a validation study of the Teen Court Peer Influence Scale (TCPIS), a newly developed scale, to examine its factor structure, reliability, and evidence of validity. Methods: The scale was disseminated to 202 participants in six teen courts in the state of Florida, and the authors conducted exploratory factor analyses. Content…

Evidence is accumulating that drug court programs appear effective in reducing the substance use and recidivism of drug-involved offenders. As there is no single drug court model, programs vary from site to site and the extent to which individual programs are fully implemented is not well documented. The extent to which drug court programs deliver…

Transjudicialism is a phenomenon where precedents derived beyond a particular venue, such as global, regional, and national courts, serve as legal rationale within sovereign jurisdictions. Transjudicialism is part of a broader trend towards judicial globalization where legal discourses transcend national jurisdictions and supra-national bodies…

The League of Women Voters/Tallahassee responded to an opportunity to research the concerns of Florida's judiciary following the disrupted general election of 2000. It received a grant for the Judicial Independence Project, a project supported by a grant from the Program on Law and Society of the Open Society Institute, from the League of Women…

The primary areas in which Broward County, Florida visiting teachers (one for about 6000 children) serve the schools are student welfare and attendance. Student welfare problems usually fall into one or more of these categories; financial, emotional, scholastic, health. Student attendance problems fall into two categories: truancy and…

A Florida experiment demonstrated that cameras can operate in a courtroom without causing the disruption experienced in previous courtroom cases. The more difficult question--whether the more subtle effects of the camera hamper a fair trial--is open to debate. (GT)

In "Zelman v. Simmons-Harris," the Supreme Court of the US made it clear that governments do not unconstitutionally "establish" religion merely by permitting eligible students to use publicly funded scholarships to attend qualifying religious schools, so long as the students' parents are able to make a "true private…

These 24 self-contained competency-based modules are designed to acquaint Florida adult students with laws they will meet in everyday life; fundamentals of local, state, and federal governments; and the criminal and juvenile justice systems. (The 130 objectives are categorized in the first three levels of the Cognitive Domain and parallel the…

This guide is one of a series in the Quinmester Program to aid high school teachers in planning instructional programs concerning the origins and evolution of our system of law. The purpose of this course of study is to help students understand the rights and responsibilities of citizens under the law; to motivate them to make judgments upon the…

This French language version of "Know Your Laws" consists of 24 self-contained modules designed to acquaint the Florida adult student with laws she/he will meet in everyday life; fundamentals of local, state, and federal governments; and the criminal and juvenile justice systems. (The 130 objectives are categorized in the first three…

This Czechoslovakian language version of "Know Your Laws" consists of 24 self-contained modules designed to acquaint the Florida adult student with laws she/he will meet in everyday life; fundamentals of local, state, and federal governments; and the criminal and juvenile justice systems. (The 130 objectives are categorized in the first…

This Italian language version of "Know Your Laws" consists of 24 self-contained modules designed to acquaint the Florida adult students with law they will meet in everyday life; fundamentals of local, state, and federal governments; and the criminal and juvenile justice systems. (The 130 objectives are categorized in the first three…