A Voice for One, or a Voice for the People: Balancing Prosecutorial Speech Protections with Community trust

Prosecutors, as representatives of the public in the criminal justice system, are the sole advocates for “the People” in a criminal case. Thus, prosecutors are expected to maintain a particular level of integrity that would ensure a fair and just representation of the People. Despite this expectation, the wide discretionary authority prosecutors hold makes it virtually impossible to regulate their conduct. Furthermore, the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution protects many expressions of viewpoints, and such protections extend—albeit to a limited degree—to prosecutors, thereby giving them even more discretion in how they decide to handle their own cases. Nonetheless, the U.S. Supreme Court has not interpreted the First Amendment to protect prosecutors whose words evidently contravene the functions of the prosecutor’s office. Rather, a prosecutor may be terminated if the office finds that the prosecutor’s speech undermines the office’s interests. What the law does not address, however, is the extent to which the First Amendment protects prosecutors whose unfavorable viewpoints do not affect their individual performance within the workplace but nonetheless detract from the community’s trust in the prosecutor’s office. This Note examines the state of the First Amendment as it applies to prosecutors within the scope of their employment and utilizes the underlying principles to expand the discussion to prosecutorial speech beyond the scope of their employment. Ultimately, this Note proposes that prosecutorial speech should be regulated not only by the effect the speech has on the office’s functions but also by the adverse effect the speech has on the community’s trust in the prosecutor and the office to pursue justice in an unbiased manner

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Multiple Query Optimization on the D-Wave 2X Adiabatic Quantum Computer

The D-Wave adiabatic quantum annealer solves hard combinatorial optimization problems leveraging quantum physics. The newest version features over 1000 qubits and was released in August 2015. We were given access to such a machine, currently hosted at NASA Ames Research Center in California, to explore the potential for hard optimization problems that arise in the context of databases. In this paper, we tackle the problem of multiple query optimization (MQO). We show how an MQO problem instance can be transformed into a mathematical formula that complies with the restrictive input format accepted by the quantum annealer. This formula is translated into weights on and between qubits such that the configuration minimizing the input formula can be found via a process called adiabatic quantum annealing. We analyze the asymptotic growth rate of the number of required qubits in the MQO problem dimensions as the number of qubits is currently the main factor restricting applicability. We experimentally compare the performance of the quantum annealer against other MQO algorithms executed on a traditional computer. While the problem sizes that can be treated are currently limited, we already find a class of problem instances where the quantum annealer is three orders of magnitude faster than other approaches

Challenges and Opportunities for Women’s Land Rights in Post- Conflict Northern Uganda

Since the late 1980s to 2006, the northern region of Uganda underwent an armed conflict between the government of Uganda and the rebel group led by Joseph Kony. The conflict displaced virtually the entire population in the region, and by 1990 people were living in Internally Displaced peoples’ camps. As the war winds up, many people have left the camps returning to their former villages. The journey back home has not been easy, however. For women in particular, many are facing a lot of challenges especially related to access, ownership and use of land. Using data that was qualitatively gathered in two IDP camps in Gulu district, northern Uganda, the paper examines these challenges. It argues however that despite the challenges, opportunities do exist that can be exploited, if there is commitment by various stakeholders, to ensure that women access, own and use land in the return process.armed conflict, women, land rights, IDPs, reconstruction