Sport, War and Democracy in Classical Athens

This article concerns the paradox of athletics in classical Athens. Democracy may have opened up politics to every class of Athenian but it had little impact on sporting participation. The city’s athletes continued to drawn predominantly from the upper class. It comes as a surprise then that lower-class Athenians actually esteemed athletes above every other group in the public eye, honoured them very generously when they won, and directed a great deal of public and private money to sporting competitions and facilities. In addition athletics escaped the otherwise persistent criticism of upper-class activities in the popular culture of the democracy. The research of social scientists on sport and aggression suggests this paradox may have been due to the cultural overlap between athletics and war under the Athenian democracy. The article concludes that the practical and ideological democratization of war by classical Athens legitimized and supported upper-class sport

Problem Solving Courts and Race: An Examination of Community Courts and the Impact of Race

The United States currently leads the world in incarcerations rates. The dramatic increase of using prison as a response to most criminal offenses has called for new and innovative practices. Problem solving courts have been leading the way by incorporating evidence-based practices in the courtroom to find alternatives to incarceration. However, although problem solving courts are receiving praise for their innovative ways, they have seemed to fail at adequately addressing the racial disparities so prevalent in the U.S. criminal justices system. This dissertation seeks to understand how race can play a role in problem solving courts, by specifically evaluating community courts. Community courts are courts that focus on low-level offenses in the communities where they reside. Although community courts have been around for nearly twenty years, they have not been extensively examined. The project seeks to understand how community courts operate and their theoretical foundations. However, more importantly, this qualitative project sheds light on how race can influence program outcomes among its participants. Three community courts were observed over a three month period that included participant observations and interviews with key courtroom personnel such as judges, lawyers, and clinicians. Hopefully the results of this study can begin to expand the conversation of race and its role within courtroom settings