Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: One of the most controversial inclusions of victims in the criminal justice system can be found during the sentencing of offenders?when, in certain circumstances, victims are allowed to share their stories in the form of victim impact statements. This process has been defended by some as beneficial for victims as well as victims’ families. By telling their stories in court, victims are said to gain a modicum of control over their lives through the narration of their grief. However, it has also been suggested that victims’ narratives are influenced more by the ideological climate of the criminal justice system than by the needs?of victims themselves. This paper examines the role of victim impact statements in the criminal justice system. More specifically, this research discusses how victims’ voices are managed in the courtroom, including the rules that regulate these stories.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Activists occupy unique and potentially powerful positions in relation to the organizations with which they share issues of mutual concern. Most contemporary approaches to exploring organizational relationships are useful for capturing the state of a focal organizational relationship at a single point in time or over a limited period at best. Such approaches have limited utility for research involving multiple relationships over an extended timeframe. While organizational relationships are almost exclusively studied and understood using the perceptions of the parties in the relationships, this study describes organization-activist relationships using observable relationship processes, that is, information flows. Organizations and activists signal the state of their relationships in their information flows, specifically public statements about their shared issues of concern that are reported by the news media. It is from these published relationship-signaling statements that the state of these relationships at multiple intervals is interpreted and measured using a conflict continuum. This paper reports the findings of the analysis of relationship-signaling statements made by Australia’s major banks and their activist publics and published by the media from 1981 to 2001. It involved the content analysis of more than 6, 500 newspaper articles. The findings of this study call into question the value of advice that encourages organizations to deal with issues by seeking to avoid engaging with their activist publics and by downplaying issues in the media.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The Internet has transformed organizations’ communicative behavior, the social system, and perhaps the values embedded within both. Organizations have been impacted by these changes within society, especially related to globalization and increased behavioral expectations. To cope with these external influences, organizations grapple with the question of ‘who we are’ as evidenced in publicized statements of values. Further, corporate values statements, available on organizations’ websites, are strongly influenced by internal and external messages within the social system. Results from a semantic network analysis of the 2005 list of Forbes Global 2000 presented an accurate picture of the values of the current global economic system. North American, European, and Asian corporations were examined. Within the North American data, successful organizational functioning predominated with an external focus on all stakeholders. References to moral expectations of society tempered performance-related goals and reinforced the image of traditional American work ethic. The European data also emphasized organizational functioning and stakeholders. Superior performance, future-orientation, and accountability to society, emerged as important components. The data also linked culture, of which values are embedded, to organizational survival. In the Asian data, a long-term orientation and collectivistic dimension prevailed. Harmony and balance underlie all references to organizational operations. Though variations within all data sets appear, they focus on organizational functioning. Attention to the customer, as a value, was addressed within the context of performance, integrity, and balance. With the exception of the Asian data set, with its emphasis on balance, all stressed future, success-oriented approaches. A recognition of internal and external stakeholders predominated, along with an eye to global, social, and environmental concerns.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: Although rape shield laws prohibit the defense from introducing evidence pertaining to the past sexual history or character of the victim, these laws do not always serve their intended purpose. Defense attorneys may ask questions that are directly correlated with these concepts in an effort to paint a negative view of the victim. Even if such questions are challenged and overruled, the jury has already been exposed to the information. However, the victim does have the right to introduce a victim impact statement (VIS) during the sentencing phase of the trial. Although the process varies across jurisdictions, the VIS typically contains information pertaining to the impact of the offense on the victim including physical, financial, and mental harm. It is possible that the presentation of a VIS may correct the character damage associated with violations of the rape shield. This presentation will focus on an analysis of the rape shield legislation and their efficacy in protecting the victim. The literature concerning VIS will also be presented as a potential safeguard against violation of these laws. Finally, the impact on the jury will be examined through a review of the literature examining various social psychological constructs such as the social value of the victim and cognitive-experiential self-theory in jury decision making.

Publication Type: Conference Paper/Unpublished Manuscript
Abstract: The President�s use of signing statements is examined rhetorically. Three levels of ambiguous communication are identified and explored: Imposed Ambiguity, Multiple-Message Ambiguity, and Symbolic Ambiguity. All of the current discussion of ambiguity has focused on only the first variety. The findings of this thesis point to the intentional use of ambiguity by the Bush Administration in its signing statements and open the door for other forms of communicative inquiry.