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Three Presentations To Address CJ-Related Issues, Opportunities
Nov. 14, 2014
SHSU Media Contact: Beth Kuhles
The College of Criminal Justice will host three speakers who will share their experiences with the Texas Attorney General’s Office, conspiracy theories and criminal justice in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Karen Martin, victim assistance coordinator for the Texas Attorney General’s Office, will kick off the series with her “Real Talk w/CJ” presentation on Tuesday (Nov. 18), at 2 p.m. in the Criminal Justice Center’s Hazel B. Kerper Courtroom.
Martin’s job is to aid victims in criminal cases, focusing mainly on surviving family members in capital murder cases. Occasionally, that means accompanying the victim’s family to the execution.
“You are a familiar voice, a familiar person,” said Martin, who has worked in victim services since 1995. “Most of the victims’ families I have never met in person, but they, at times, want me to be there to the end. I am honored by that.”
In capital cases, Martin often works with families for years, notifying them about legal proceedings in cases or outcomes of appeals. She often accompanies family members to trials or hearings and advises them about financial and counseling assistance available through the Crime Victims Compensation Fund. She informs them the rights of victims in the system and about the victim impact statement, which provide a voice for the families in sentencing, plea bargains and parole.
“They really just want information,” Martin said. “People really want to be kept up to date on what’s happening."
In addition to the Attorney General’s Office, Texas law enforcement departments and district attorneys’ offices are required to have liaisons to assist victims of violent crime through the criminal justice process. To make newly appointed victim liaisons and victim assistance coordinators aware of provisions for victims, Martin also serves as a trainer for law enforcement liaisons, prosecutor offices and advocates working with agencies that assist crime victims.
Martin said she loves her job and has been very successful at leaving the work at the office.
“My job is very rewarding,” she said. “I love to help victims, and I love to do the training, and I am really good at leaving it at work. There are boundaries; however, some cases make more of an imprint, and some people call more often than others and I get to know them well."
Her presentation also will be available live on the web at cjcenter.org/live.
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Scott Radnitz |
On Thursday (Nov. 20), Scott Radnitz—associate professor in the Henry M. Jackson School of International Studies and director of the Ellison Center for Russian, East European, and Central Asian Studies at the University of Washington—will discuss “’Birthers, Truthers, and Soros's Jackals:’ American and Post-Soviet Conspiracy Theories.”
His Liberty and Security Lecture Series presentation will begin at 1 p.m. in the Bill Blackwood Law Enforcement Management Institute of Texas Building Room 220.
Conspiracy theories are very popular these days, yet they have been around for a long time, according to Radnitz. While we may be most aware of American conspiracy theories, conspiracy beliefs are even more widespread in less free states where the lack of transparency and accountability allows suspicion and distrust to fester.
Radnitz will compare conspiracy theories in the U.S. and the former Soviet Union in order to explain why people believe them and provide insight into their effects on security, politics and society.
Radnitz has conducted research in Central Asia and the Caucasus since 2002 and conducts research on post-Soviet politics, covering such topics as protests, authoritarianism, identity, and state building.
He is the author “Weapons of the Wealthy: Predatory Regimes and Elite-Led Protests in Central Asia” and has published articles in Comparative Politics, Comparative Political Studies, Journal of Democracy, Europe-Asia Studies, National Interest, Foreign Policy, and Slate.
Radnitz received his doctorate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2007 and has held postdoctoral fellowship at Belfer Center at Harvard and the Kennan Institute.
The lecture is sponsored by the Department of Security Studies and the American Democracy Project.
Finally, on Nov. 24, one of the leading young scholars in crime and justice in Bosnia and Herzegovina will offer a special presentation on recent developments and issues in his country.
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Almir Maljevic |
Professor Almir Maljevic—associate dean for international relations and a faculty member for criminal justice, criminology and security studies at the University of Sarajevo—will address crime statistics, the reform of criminal legislation and challenges that the criminal justice system faced in BiH following the war.
The discussion will begin at 2:30 p.m. in the CJ Center’s Kerper Courtroom.
The BiH region declared its independence from the former Yugoslavia in 1992, followed by years of ethnic unrest among the country’s Bosniak, Croat and Serb populations.
As the German Academic Exchange Service scholar, Maljevic spent three years at the Max-Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law in Freiburg, Germany. Maljevic has published extensively in English, Bosnian, and German languages on the issues of corruption, organized crime and juvenile delinquency.
Throughout his career, Maljevic served as project manager, researcher, consultant, or legal/criminal justice expert for various governmental and international organizations such as the Council of Ministers of BiH, United Nations Development Programme BiH, Max-Planck Institute for Foreign and International Criminal Law, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, and Open Society Institute New York.
The presentation will be followed by a colloquium for graduate students in the Bates Room.
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