Digital Commons Network^™

Reputational Regulation, Kishanthi Parella

Duke Law Journal

When organizations act in ways that offend the public interest, parties seeking to change that behavior traditionally turned to litigation to force these organizations to reform, whether by command or consent. For example, following Brown v. Board of Education , “structural reform litigation” forced large-scale organizations, from school boards to prisons, to change their practices. Similarly, federal prosecutors have used agreements with large corporations to introduce significant structural reforms.

This Article identifies an alternative strategy for organizational change that relies on the indirect reputational effects of litigation. Under this approach, organizational change does not result from court order or parties’ …

Police Union Contracts, Stephen Rushin

Duke Law Journal

This Article empirically demonstrates that police departments’ internal disciplinary procedures, often established through the collective bargaining process, can serve as barriers to officer accountability.

Policymakers have long relied on a handful of external legal mechanisms like the exclusionary rule, civil litigation, and criminal prosecution to incentivize reform in American police departments. In theory, these external legal mechanisms should increase the costs borne by police departments in cases of officer misconduct, forcing rational police supervisors to enact rigorous disciplinary procedures. But these external mechanisms have failed to bring about organizational change in local police departments. This Article argues that state labor …

Victims’ Rights In An Adversary System, Erin C. Blondel

Duke Law Journal

The victims' rights movement argues that because the outcome of criminal prosecutions affects crime victims, the justice system should consider their interests during proceedings. In 2004, Congress passed the Crime Victims' Rights Act (CVRA), giving victims some rights to participate in the federal criminal justice system. This Note probes both the theoretical assumptions and practical implications of the CVRA. It demonstrates that the victims' rights movement revisits a long-acknowledged tension between adversary adjudication and third-party interests. It shows, however, that American law has resolved this tension by conferring party or quasi-party status on third parties. Despite some pro-victims rhetoric, Congress …

International Law And State Socialization: Conceptual, Empirical, And Normative Challenges, Ryan Goodman, Derek Jinks

Duke Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Early Role Of The Attorney General In Our Constitutional Scheme: In The Beginning There Was Pragmatism, Susan Low Bloch

Duke Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Author Index

Duke Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Title Index

Duke Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Independent Agencies: Form And Substance In Executive Prerogative, Glen O. Robinson

Duke Law Journal

Among other things, the Supreme Court's decision in Morrison v. Olson, 1 upholding Congress's authorization of independent counsel to investigate and prosecute high-ranking government officials for violation of federal criminal laws, presumably will chill speculation that the Supreme Court is prepared to rethink the constitutionality of the independent agencies. Prior to the 1980s the constitutionality of the independent agencies had generally been thought secure on the strength of Humphrey's Executor. 2 Despite recurrent criticism of that decision, 3 there was no basis to think it was especially vulnerable. The Court's recent fascination with separation of powers, 4 however, invited speculation …

Decreeing Organizational Change: Judicial Supervision Of Public Institutions, Donald L. Horowitz

Duke Law Journal

In the last fifteen years or so, courts have issued a small but significant number of decrees requiring that governmental bodies reorganize themselves so that their behavior will comport with certain legal standards. Such decrees, addressed to school systems, prison and mental hospital officials, welfare administrators, and public housing authorities, insert trial courts in the ongoing business of public administration. In this article, Professor Horowitz traces the origins, characteristics, and consequences of organizational change decrees. He finds their roots in an unusually fluid and indeterminate system of procedural forms and legal rules, a system hospitable to the impact of changing …

Eunomics And Justice, Joseph Lazar

Duke Law Journal

No abstract provided.