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Victims And Perpetrators: An Argument For Comparative Liability In Criminal Law, Vera Bergelson

Vera Bergelson

This article challenges the legal rule according to which the victim’s conduct is irrelevant to the determination of the perpetrator’s criminal liability. The author attacks this rule from both positive and normative perspectives, and argues that criminal law should incorporate an affirmative defense of comparative liability. This defense would fully or partially exculpate the defendant if the victim by his own acts has lost or reduced his right not to be harmed. Part I tests the descriptive accuracy of the proposition that the perpetrator’s liability does not depend on the conduct of the victim. Criminological and victimological studies strongly suggest …

The Changes Of Knowledge In Contemporary Chinese Legal Theory(当代中国法学理论学科的知识变迁), Meng Hou

Hou Meng

No abstract provided.

Note: Johnson V. California: A Grayer Shade Of Brown, Brandon N. Robinson

Brandon N. Robinson

For decades, the famous school desegregation case of Brown v. Board of Education and its progeny have supported the notion that a State may not constitutionally require [racial] segregation of public facilities. Indeed, with regard to state-mandated racial segregation, the doctrine of separate but equal has long been considered dead and buried. In February 2005, however, the Supreme Court of the United States in Johnson v. California curiously reopened the segregation question by replacing the post-Brown ban on racial segregation with the strict scrutiny standard of review afforded to all other racial classifications, thereby muddying the once clear doctrinal waters. …

Against Sovereignty: A Cautionary Note On The Normative Power Of The Actual, Patrick Mckinley Brennan

Patrick McKinley Brennan

Drawing on classical and contemporary jurisprudence and political philosophy, this Essay argues that the Roberts Court should seize the next apt moment to abandon the doctrines of “sovereignty” and “sovereign dignity” that the Rehnquist Court developed over the decade that began with the 1996 decision in the Seminole case. Although pursued in service of the laudable goal of “our federalism,” these doctrines work a corruption of our legal, political, and moral self-understanding. As they do so, they distract the Court and the citizenry from the disciplined commitment to the rule of law and legal justice by which a body politic …

The “Csi Effect”: Better Jurors Through Television And Science?, Michael Mann

Michael D. Mann

This Comment explores how television shows such as CSI and Law & Order have created heightened juror expectations in courtrooms across America. Surprise acquitals often have prosectors scratching their heads as jurors hold them to this new "Hollywood" standard. The Comment also analyzes the CSI phenomena by reflecting on past legal television shows that have influenced the public's perception of the legal profession and how the "CSI effect" has placed an even greater burden on parties to proffer some kind of forensic evidence at trial.

The Comment was published in volume 24 of the Buffalo Public Interest Law Journal (2006).

An Essay On Strategies For Facilitating Learning, David Barnhizer

David Barnhizer

There is a convenient assumption among many American law teachers that the existing model of the American law school works effectively. This includes the belief that the dominant methods and goals are not only appropriate and comprehensive but are being achieved. The reality is quite different. Law teachers tend to be amateurs from the perspective of the quality of our teaching. We are largely unaware of the most effective ways to structure a curriculum, integrate course offerings and design and execute individual courses. This essay focuses on goals, strategies and techniques for the facilitation of student learning. It reflects a …

Harmonizing Plural Societies: The Case Of Lasallians, Families, Schools – And The Poor, Patrick Mckinley Brennan

Patrick McKinley Brennan

The modern state characteristically assumes or asserts a monopoly over “group persons” and their right to exist; group persons are said to exist at the pleasure or concession of the state. According to Catholic social teaching, by contrast, these unities of order -- such as church and family, as well as corporations and schools and the like -- are, at least in potency, ontologically prior to the state. Such group persons both constitute conditions of the possibility of human flourishing and, correlatively, impose limitations on the “sovereign” state. Such group persons are not mere concessions of an unbounded state: They …

The Rejection Of Divine Law In American Jurisprudence: The Ten Commandments, Trivia, And The Stars And Stripes, Charles I. Lugosi

Charles I. Lugosi

No abstract provided.

Liberty And Higher Risk Taking, Nimrod H. Aviad

Nimrod Haim Aviad

No abstract provided.

Retribution And Corporate Crime, Kam C. Wong

Kam C. Wong

This paper explores the issue of whether the retribution theory can be applied as a justification for or as an assessment of corporate criminal punishment.

The fact that the white-collar criminals are being treated more leniently is no longer in doubt. The only question is whether the disparity in treatment is justified or more to the point whether it is fair? Issues of fairness in punishment are properly the concerns of retributionists. Ultimately, the question that needs to be answer is: on account of our understanding of the retribution theory what punishment properly fits corporate crimes and criminals? More generally, …

The Alien Tort Statute And The Torture Victims' Protection Act: Jurisdictional Foundations And Procedural Obstacles, Eric A. Engle

Eric A. Engle

Outlines the jurisdictional and procedural obstacles to alien tort claims and claims under the torture victims's protection act and presents solutions to them.

State Action Doctrine And The Principle Of Democratic Choice, Wilson R. Huhn

Wilson R. Huhn

The state action doctrine is somewhat of a mystery to law students, legal scholars, lawyers, and judges. It is a key component of the Fourteenth Amendment--a threshold requirement that must be satisfied before triggering protection of our fundamental rights--but the doctrine itself seems to be curiously without purpose, a collection of arbitrary rules that impede constitutional protection of liberty, equality, and fairness for no good reason. Nearly forty years ago, Professor Charles Black called the state action doctrine “a conceptual disaster area” and characterized scholarly commentary upon it as “a torchless search for a way out of a damp echoing …

Universal Human Rights: A Generational History, Eric A. Engle

Eric A. Engle

The article outlines the generational theory of human rights evolving from first generation procedural individual freedoms from through second generation collective rights to into third generational aspirational goals. That model is generally true but womens rights and rights of non-white persons do not perfectly fit into that model being approximately one or even two generations delayed.

Prophecy And Casuistry: Abortion, Torture And Moral Discourse (Giannella Lecture), M. Cathleen Kaveny

M. Cathleen Kaveny

No abstract provided.

The Uses Of History In The Supreme Court's Takings Clause Jurisprudence, Jonathan R. Lahn

Jonathan R Lahn

No abstract provided.