Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The procedural system of Islamic Criminal Law has been, either constructively or destructively, mounted with criticisms. One of the reasons for these criticisms is assumingly based on lack of incorporating the objective of Islamic Law through ‘intertexualizing’ the textual evidences on one hand and failure to extrapolate all sources available for ‘dynamizing’ the Shariah legal system.

In Islamic criminal system, certainty of the criminal intent and action “mens rea and actus reus” carries vital roles in adjudication and thus, for delivering justice especially in cases that involve harsh punishment such as huduud and qisaas} (fixed and retaliative punishments)

“Islamic legal maxims” is one of the sources which aphoristically subsumes all the spectrums that purpose of Shariah is all about. There are five basic Islamic legal maxims on which the tenet of Islamic law is based. Among others is the maxim “al yaqiin laa yazuul bi al-shakk” (certainty cannot be repelled by doubt.).

This article is aimed to address how this legal maxim and its sisters can be explored to ensure justices in Islamic criminal procedure. In doing so, the maxim and related ones will be explained. To make it more empirical some criminal cases published or judged in some Islamic countries will be evaluated.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: To even the least astute observer of modern electoral politics it is obvious that television advertising has become an important—perhaps the most important—means for candidates to communicate with citizens. How electoral campaigns generally and television advertising specifically are viewed in terms of their contribution to representative democracy is very much dependent on how well these exercises serve to inform citizens about candidates’ ideological orientations and issue positions.In this paper I seek to extend our knowledge of the impact of candidates’ political commercials by examining their impact on citizens’ certainty and knowledge of 1998 House candidates’ ideological orientations. This research addresses the question of whether candidates’ issue advertisements lead citizens to believe they have learned something important about the ideological positions of candidates for the House of Representatives, and whether in fact they did learn something about their ideological orientation.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Review Method: Peer Reviewed
Abstract: Sociologists concerned with inequalities in education often puzzle over the mismatch between the educational expectations and college attendance of students with low socioeconomic status (SES). While researchers have explored many of the obstacles to college enrollment that low-SES students face, few have attempted to capture a concept that social reproduction theorists like Bourdieu propose is central to class reproduction: that perceptions of opportunities and the means to achieve goals differ according to socioeconomic background. I explore the concept of certainty of college attendance as a rough and imperfect operationalization of this concept. Using data from the National Educational Longitudinal Study (NELS), I show that variation in certainty is related to socioeconomic status, with higher SES students being more certain of their chances of attending college than those with lower SES. Using multinomial logistic regression models, I show that certainty about college accounts for some, but not all, of the gap in college attendance by SES among those who expect to attend college. Finally, I find that proficiency test scores, significant others’ influences and friends’ values, and a student’s occupational expectations and career values can account for a large portion of the variation in certainty about college attendance by SES.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This paper explores how safety practices in a scientific organization are inseparable from the way scientists interpret the objects of their practice. Through safety practices, scientists not only seek to protect themselves from the pathological aspects of their material environment but also from the moral and agential attributes of this environment. Through safety practices, the meaning scientists attribute to laboratory objects emerges as a negotiated phenomenon. This coupling between the objects’ moral and agential statuses and safety practices makes adaptation to an alternative set of practices – defined by the management of this organization in collaboration with an external agent – particularly problematic. This paper is based on a three-month observation of a biology laboratory going through a change in safety procedures. It explores the role of materiality on organizational culture and work practices and shows that workplace culture emerges in part through the ongoing adaptation of workers to their physical and social environment.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: This study explored the role of the communication of commitment, commitment level, and relationship uncertainty on perceptions of relationship quality and stability. Data collected from 230 people in romantic relationships indicated people more strongly committed reported less uncertainty, greater use of commitment indicators, and more positive feelings about their relationship. Also, those with greater commitment and less uncertainty sustained their relationship over a period of four months. Implications as well as limitations are discussed.