Digital Commons Network^™

Criminal Justice Interventions For Individuals With Mental Health Disabilities: A Systematic Literature Review, Fidelis Azeke, Nassrine Noureddine

Pacific Journal of Health

In the criminal law, with few exceptions, for a finding of guilt, the physical act and the state of mind to commit the offense must be present at the time of the commission of the offense. People with mental disabilities often lack the state of mind required to commit the offense for which they are eventually charged for and or convicted. This paper examines the effectiveness of some past and present criminal justice system interventions that addresses the mental health disabilities of criminal offenders pre-adjudicative proceedings. A systematic review of the literature was used to examine past and present criminal …

How To Punish Your Least Favorite Online Influencer: Wellness Checks As Swatting And Their Disproportionate Impact On Marginalized Creators, Tara Blackwell

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

Marginalized online creators are vulnerable to attacks using digital means of harassment including traditional swatting as well as the abuse of wellness checks that can act as swatting. Enabled by permissive Supreme Court 4th Amendment jurisprudence, malignant online actors have taken advantage of the ramshackle system of wellness checks that sends armed police officers with little training and even less compassion to the doors of individuals with reported mental health crises. This Note focuses on two polarizing influencers who have been subject to wellness check swatting after being very open about their mental health statuses online. This Note argues that …

Policy Analysis Report: Later Class Start Time For Adolescents, Lee Anne Brannon

Journal of Multicultural Affairs

This policy analysis offers possible solutions to the problem of early school start times across the United States. The average start time in middle and high school campuses is earlier than the recommended start time outlined by medical professionals. This report offers the rationale and research-based evidence to help schools understand the need for later start times, as developmentally appropriate for adolescent students.

All Dogs Are Emotional Support Animals: The Timely Need To Reconsider The Rights Of Renters To Have Dogs Under The Fair Housing Act, Leigh Cummings

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

The lack of pet-friendly housing options in the United States and the current web of property-owner-imposed restrictions unfairly prevents renters and lower-income individuals and families from benefitting from dog companionship. The recent confusion and stigma around the term “emotional support animal” has led to misinterpretation of the requirements of a reasonable accommodation request under the Fair Housing Act. Interpreting “assistance animal” under the Fair Housing Act as a blanket classification that applies to all dogs would reverse this current bias. Restrictions should promote responsible pet caretaking, not limit dog ownership. Considering recent heightened protections for dogs in other areas of …

Navigating The Legal Landscape Of Mental Health In The Workplace: Insights For The Dental Practice, Gary Chamberlin Milr, Jd

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Dealing with an employee’s mental health situation poses complex challenges for human resource professionals. Dental practices, typically run by busy dentists or administrative managers, often lack a human resource professional and the legal expertise needed to navigate the intricacies of employment laws pertaining to mental health disabilities. Moreover, mental health issues in the workplace are sensitive, private matters that intersect with disability and leave laws and are still associated with cultural stigmas despite evolving societal attitudes. This article provides specific scenarios that give insights into the legal issues when managing dental office employees with mental health conditions. Readers should address …

Mental Health In The Dental Workplace: Recognizing Signs, Communicating Concern, And Sharing Resources, Karen M. O'Brien, Karoline J. Trovato

The Journal of the Michigan Dental Association

Dentists face numerous concerns in the workplace, including stress, burnout, anxiety, and depression. Mental health concerns affect the workplace in profound ways, including engagement in and quality of work and patient care, the level of productivity, and health care costs. Recognizing mental health concerns is an important first step in assisting dentists and their staff in receiving needed assistance from mental health professionals. Steps that dentists can use to communicate their concerns and share resources are provided. Finally, a prevention model is presented to promote mental health and workplace well-being in the practice of dentistry.

It Is Time For Family Courts To Be More Aware Of Parental Mental Illness And Substance Abuse, Elaina Larson

Child and Family Law Journal

Since the COVID-19 pandemic and previous years, the mental health and substance abuse crises in Florida are growing at an unprecedented rate.¹ With substantive due process rights under the Fourteenth Amendment as a substantial roadblock, the Florida courts are reluctant to adequately address the mental health and substance abuse needs of individuals.² This issue is especially difficult in cases involving the termination of parental rights, leaving children in damaging environments with unfit parents suffering from severe mental illness and substance abuse.³ To prevent children from growing up under negative conditions and developing mental health problems as well, …

The Next Gerneration Professional: An Opportunity To Reframe Legal Education To Center Student Wellness, Benjamin Afton Cavanaugh

Hofstra Law Review

The article discusses the challenges of mental wellness and mental health in legal education, particularly in law schools. It highlights issues like depression, anxiety, and stress among students and legal professionals. It emphasizes the need for reform in legal education to address these mental health concerns and advocates for a more comprehensive approach to promote well-being in the field.

Mental Health, Law School, And Bar Admissions: Eliminating Stigma And Fostering A Healthier Profession, Natalie C. Fortner

Arkansas Law Review

Part II of this Comment explores the current state of mental health in the legal profession and the shortcomings of state bar associations, lawyer assistance programs “LAPs”), and courts applying the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”) in combating the profession’s mental health problem. Part III then examines practical steps the profession can take at the law school level that will aid in eliminating the stigma associated with seeking mental health treatment in the legal profession, thus addressing the problem at its source.

Psychedelic Drugs & The Prior Art Problem, Anneli E. Kawaoka

Indiana Law Journal

For the first time since the War on Drugs began in the 1970s, researchers have returned to the promise of psychedelic drugs for treating the growing mental health crisis in the United States. As research into psychedelic drugs as a conventional treatment method for mental health conditions grows, so does the number of filings at the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office for psychedelic-related patents. But the decades-long lapse in the development of psychedelic drugs creates the risk that low-quality psychedelic patents will issue, giving limited monopolies to companies that have not truly innovated in the psychedelic space. In this Note, …

High Anxiety: Racism, The Law, And Legal Education, Elayne E. Greenberg

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

Conspicuously absent from the United States’ ongoing discourse about its racist history is a more honest discussion about the individual and personal stressors that are evoked in people when they talk about racism. What if they got it wrong? The fear of being cancelled -- the public shaming for remarks that are deemed racist -- has had a chilling effect on having meaningful conversations about racism. What lost opportunities!

This paper moves this discussion into the law school context. How might law schools rethink their law school curricula to more accurately represent the role systemic racism has played in shaping …

Trauma-Informed (As A Matter Of) Course, Natalie Netzel

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

Law students are impacted by trauma and law professors are in a position to help by adopting a trauma-informed approach as a matter of universal precaution. The 2021 Survey of Law Student Well-Being (“SLSWB”) revealed that over twenty percent of responding law students meet criteria that indicate they should be evaluated for post-traumatic stress disorder (“PTSD”). The study also revealed that almost fifty percent of responding students reported an important motivation for attending law school was experiencing a trauma or injustice. Put differently, law schools are full of law students who have experienced trauma, many of whom are actively struggling …

Forced Disclosures: The Reality Transgender People Face In Entering The Legal Field, Eden Yerby, Makayla Thomas

Roger Williams University Law Review

No abstract provided.