Texas Law Review

Journal containing articles, notes, book reviews, and other analyses of law and legal cases

A study of changes in the ratings of relevant concepts on semantic differential scales by Borstal boys

SIGLEAvailable from British Library Document Supply Centre- DSC:D70180/81 / BLDSC - British Library Document Supply CentreGBUnited Kingdo

U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform

The U.S. Commission on Immigration Reform was created by Congress to assess U.S. immigration policy and make recommendations regarding its implementation and effects. Mandated in the Immigration Act of 1990 to submit an interim report in 1994 and a final report in 1997, the Commission has undertaken public hearings, fact-finding missions, and expert consultations to identify the major immigration-related issues facing the United States today.LBJ School of Public Affair

Race against democracy: a case study of the Mail & Guardian during the early years of the Mbeki presidency, 1999-2002

This thesis examines the 1998 complaint of racism against the Mail & Guardian, a leading exponent of South Africa's alternative press in the 1980s, and important contemporary producer of investigative journalism. The study is framed within a cultural studies approach, analysing the Mail & Guardian as constituted by a 'circuit of production': its social context, production, texts, and audiences. The thesis makes three main arguments. First, that the claim of racism cannot be understood outside of a consideration of both the changing political milieu, and subtle changes within the Mail & Guardian itself. Significant social changes relate to the reconfiguration of racial and class identities wrought by the 'Mbeki state'. Within the Mail & Guardian, the thesis argues for the importance of the power and subjectivity of the editor as a key 'factor' shaping the identity of the paper, evidenced in its production practices and textual outputs. In this regard, the thesis departs from a functionalist analysis of particular 'roles' within the newsroom, drawing instead on a post-structuralist approach to organisational studies. Based on this production and social context, the thesis examines key texts which deal with aspects of South Africa's social transformation, and which exemplify aspects of the Mail & Guardian's reporting which led to the complaint of racism by the Black Lawyers Association (BLA) and the Association of Black Accountants (ABASA). Their complaint was that the Mail & Guardian's reporting impugned the dignity of black people, and in so doing was a violation of their rights to dignity and equality which are constitutionally guaranteed. However, as freedom of the press is also guaranteed by the South African constitution, their complaint to the South African Human Rights Commission (SAHRC) resulted in public debate about these contending rights. My second argument relates to the jurisprudential approach to racism, and the related issue of affirmative action, which informed the complaint against the paper. Contrary to the 'normative', liberal approach to these issues, this thesis highlights Critical Race Theory as the jurisprudential basis for both the claimants' accusation of racism against the Mail & Guardian, and aspects of its implicit use in South African human rights adjudication. The thesis argues that in failing to recognise these different philosophical and political bases of legal reasoning, the media, including the Mail & Guardian, in reporting on these matters failed in their purported role of serving the public interest. The thesis concludes by applying Fraser's critique of Habermas's notion of a single, bourgeois public sphere to journalism, thereby suggesting ways in which the critiques of some of the Mail & Guardian's own journalists could be employed to enlarge its approach to journalism - giving voice to constituencies seldom heard in mainstream media

Living with leber hereditary optic neuropathy: Exploring experiences and perceptions of a disruptive mitochondrial condition

This thesis explores the experiences and perceptions of people living with Leber hereditary optic neuropathy (LHON) and the healthcare professionals charged with diagnosing and treating the condition. LHON is the first disease linked to a mitochondrial mutation, characteristically resulting in bilateral sight loss over a period of 6‒12 weeks from the initial onset and predominantly (but not exclusively) affecting young men in their teens and early twenties. As with other mitochondrial conditions, there is currently no cure for LHON, and treatment options to slow the progress of the condition are limited. Qualitative research exploring the effect of LHON following a sudden and dramatic loss of sight has been absent from the literature. Addressing this gap, my study involves: (1) semi-structured interviews (N=41) with affected men and women, mothers who carry the condition, and genetic ophthalmologists; (2) participant observation over a period of nine months in two genetic ophthalmology clinics located in UK hospitals. Drawing upon key theoretical and empirical contributions from medical sociology and beyond, such as the work of Bury (1982) and Charmaz (1983), I explore the past, present and future lives of people with LHON by describing their chronic illness trajectory. Drawing predominantly on the interview data, I document their experience of the initial symptoms of sight loss, the challenges of receiving a formal diagnosis (as an uncertain, contested and often misdiagnosed condition), the aftermath of receiving a genetic diagnosis for participants and their wider family, and the disruption to everyday, mundane moments in people’s daily lives. Moreover, I unpack how people restore their former self-images (Charmaz 1987, 1991), gain control over their lives, and regain some sense of ‘normality’ (Davis 1995), whilst also reflecting on future aspirations with respect to treatment options and reproductive imaginaries. To conclude, I acknowledge how my thesis contributes to knowledge by uncovering the multi-faceted experience of people living with sudden bilateral sight loss—a group who have, thus far, been invisible in the sociological literature

Social work with airports passengers

Social work at the airport is in to offer to passengers social services. The main methodological position is that people are under stress, which characterized by a particular set of characteristics in appearance and behavior. In such circumstances passenger attracts in his actions some attention. Only person whom he trusts can help him with the documents or psychologically