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Table Of Contents (V. 31, No. 2)

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Debiasing Criminal Justice, Sandra Guerra Thompson, Nicole Bremner Cásarez

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

The killing of George Floyd by police officers in Minnesota inspired a summer of protests in 2020, followed by a call for racial reckoning and a professed commitment to reform criminal justice. Many have condemned the “systemic racism” reflected in countless demographic measures. From killings of unarmed men by the police at the front end of the criminal justice system to incarceration rates at the back end, the statistics show stark disparities along racial lines. These disparities are held up as evidence of racial bias in the system.

Statements about racial bias may be intended as an indictment of a …

Judges And Mass Incarceration, Carissa Byrne Hessick

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

It seems to have fallen out of fashion to talk about judges as a source of criminal justice reform. Instead, the academic literature now focuses on the role that prosecutors and legislatures have played in mass incarceration. But judges have also played an important role in the phenomenon that has come to be known as mass incarceration. Perhaps more importantly, there are things that judges could do to help reverse that trend.

Judges will sometimes say our system is too harsh. But, in the same breath they tell us the decision to create such a system and the decision to …

The Trump Clemencies: Celebrities, Chaos, And Lost Opportunity, Mark Osler

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

The presidency of Donald Trump may have produced the most chaotic use of the constitutional pardon power in American history. Trump granted clemency to war criminals, to close friends, to celebrities, and to the friends of celebrities, with much of it coming in a mad rush at the end of his single term. Buried beneath this rolling disaster was a brief moment of hope and a lost opportunity: the chance for a restructure of the clemency process in the fall of 2018, enabled by a rare alignment of factors, including Trump’s alienation from the Department of Justice. This Article will …

A World Without Prosecutors, Jeffrey Bellin

Faculty Publications

Bennett Capers’ article Against Prosecutors challenges us to imagine a world where we “turn away from prosecution as we know it,” and shift “power from prosecutors to the people they purport to represent.”

[...]

Capers joins a long line of authors seeking to attack mass incarceration by reducing the role of prosecutors. I agree with these authors that we should dramatically shrink the footprint of American criminal law and ending the war on drugs is a good place to start. But while Capers styles his proposal as a “[r]adical change,” I find the focus on prosecutors in this context decidedly …

Jail Health And Early Release Practices, Brandon L. Garrett, Deniz Ariturk, Jessica Carda-Auten, David L. Rosen

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

Local jails in the United States incarcerate millions of people each year. The COVID-19 pandemic made jail health a pressing public health concern nationally, where releasing individuals from jails occurred across the country in order to prevent pandemic spread. But releases also faced substantial resistance and exposed long-standing challenges in delivering adequate healthcare in jail settings. People in jail have substantially higher levels of medical need than individuals in the general population, with large numbers having serious mental illnesses and substance use disorders. Further, overcrowded conditions and poor healthcare standards and delivery make jails harmful to those already-vulnerable people. What …

Press Freedom Under Attack: 21st Century Threats To Journalists - And Democracy, Human Security Law Center, William & Mary Law School, Reves Center, College Of William & Mary

Other Events & Lectures

No abstract provided.

Checking Out Indefinitely: Supporting Survivors Of Sex Trafficking Alongside Training And Education For Lodging Employees, Alyssa M. Grzesiak

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

There are roughly five million victims of sex trafficking in the United States. Over the course of a decade, over 3,500 instances of human trafficking involved a hotel or motel. Traffickers are relying on unaware lodging establishment employees, as well as complicit employees and managers, to successfully carry out their crimes. Despite the vital role the lodging industry plays in human trafficking, only seven states have implemented mandatory training for hotel and motel employees. This Note posits that the implementation of mandatory training and education programs for employees of lodging establishments could increase awareness and responsiveness to human trafficking, thus …

The Politics Of The Criminal Enforcement Of The U.S. Clean Air Act, Joshua Ozymy, Melissa Jarrell Ozymy

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

Criminal prosecution has always existed in a political context. Democratic and Republican presidents have treated environmental regulation very differently over time and this may have a profound effect on how the criminal enforcement of air pollution laws has proceeded in the United States both historically and in the future. There was enough of a bipartisan consensus to allow the institutionalization of resources for the policing and prosecution of air pollution crimes that began in the 1980s and lasted until the early 1990s, where criminal investigators and specialized prosecutors were hired; institutionalized places for these operations to specialize and collaborate were …

Shaky Science: Shaken Baby Syndrome And Its Disproportionate Impact On False Convictions Of Women Of Color, Shae A. Woodburn

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS) is a controversial diagnosis and an even more controversial basis for conviction. The syndrome is questioned by scientists and doctors who have yet to come to a consensus on its diagnosis. Courts have permitted SBS evidence to be admitted in criminal trials, and many people have been convicted solely on the basis of this controversial diagnosis. This Note seeks to analyze the history of SBS, the conflicts in the medical and scientific community, standards of evidence that permit its admission in court, and how all of these factors converge in a way that disproportionately impacts women …

2022-2023 Supreme Court Preview: Panelist Biographies, Institute Of Bill Of Rights Law, William & Mary Law School

Supreme Court Preview

No abstract provided.

The Imagined Juror: How Hypothetical Juries Influence Federal Prosecutors (Book Review), Jeffrey Bellin

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Biometrics And An Ai Bill Of Rights, Margaret Hu

Faculty Publications

This Article contends that an informed discussion on an AI Bill of Rights requires grappling with biometric data collection and its integration into emerging AI systems. Biometric AI systems serve a wide range of governmental purposes, including policing, border security and immigration enforcement, and biometric cyberintelligence and biometric-enabled warfare. These systems are increasingly categorized as "high-risk" when deployed in ways that may impact fundamental constitutional rights and human rights. There is growing recognition that high-risk biometric AI systems, such as facial recognition identification, can pose unprecedented challenges to criminal procedure rights. This Article concludes that a failure to recognize these …

The Myth Of The All-Powerful Federal Prosecutor At Sentencing, Adam M. Gershowitz

Faculty Publications

Relying on a dataset I assembled of 130 doctors prosecuted for illegal opioid distribution between 2015 and 2019, this Article shows that judges rejected federal prosecutors’ sentencing recommendations over two-thirds of the time. Put differently, prosecutors lost much more often than they prevailed at sentencing. And judges often rejected the prosecutors’ sentencing positions by dramatic margins. In 23% of cases, judges imposed a sentence that was half or even less than half of what prosecutors recommended. In 45% of cases, judges imposed a sentence that was at least one-third lower than what prosecutors requested. In short, prosecutors lost most of …

William & Mary Commencement (May 21, 2022), College Of William & Mary

Commencement Exercises

No abstract provided.

Problematic Ai — When Should We Use It?, Fredric Lederer

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Ending School Brutality, Nicole Tuchinda

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

Children, especially Black children, are killed, traumatized, injured, and terrorized through assaults, solitary confinement, inappropriate handcuffing, and other excessive applications of physical force upon children in public schools. The state employees enacting such maltreatment are not just police. They are mainly teachers, principals, and security guards, and they are given authorization by law for purposes of “educating,” “disciplining,” and “maintaining order” in public schools. Scientific research does not support the use of physical force to improve behavior, however. This Article describes the problem of school brutality, the excessive, unwarranted, and traumatizing use of physical force by state employees upon students. …

From Negative To Positive Algorithm Rights, Cary Coglianese, Kat Hefter

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

We consider this issue here and suggest that the current calls for a negative right to be free from AI could very well transform over time into positive claims that demand the use of algorithmic tools by government officials. In Part I, we begin by sketching the current landscape surrounding the adoption of AI by government. That landscape is characterized by strong activist and scholarly voices expressing a pronounced aversion to the use of digital algorithms—and taking a decidedly negative rights tone. In Part II, we show that, although aversion to complex technology might be understandable, that aversion is neither …

Title Ix & Disparate Impact: The Harmful Effects Of Abstinence-Centric Education, Olivia S. Lanctot

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

Throughout the United States, schools are failing to provide students with comprehensive sex education that equips student with the life skills necessary for healthy relationships. This shortcoming has numerous psychological, emotional, and physical health consequences for the American youth. This Note will focus on how abstinence-centric curricula can influence sexual and teen dating violence. Presently, only one state requires instruction on consent, leaving most students to first encounter consent education or anti-harassment training in higher education institutions or the workplace. In light of the high rates of violence many young people experience before turning eighteen, this instruction often comes too …

Goss V. Lopez As A Vehicle To Examine Due Process Protection Issues With Alternative Schools, Ashton Tuck Scott

William & Mary Law Review

Circuits are split on whether students are entitled to procedural protections before school officials may force them into alternative schools. This Note argues that students facing an involuntary transfer to a disciplinary alternative school are entitled to procedural protections under the Due Process Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Part I explains the trend toward the use of disciplinary alternative schools and the social and educational harms that these schools exacerbate. Part II explores the current circuit split around the procedural due process rights of students facing involuntary transfer to an alternative school. Part III argues that courts should expand the …

A Title Vii Dead End? Machine Learning And Employee Monitoring, Kayla Burris

William & Mary Law Review Online

This Note will argue that Title VII, as courts currently apply the law, does not adequately protect employees from algorithmic discrimination when companies use machine learning to monitor their employees' computers. Part I will provide an introduction to how employee monitoring tools work, how employers are using machine learning in their monitoring programs, and how these programs can discriminate. Because scholars have already done significant work in this area, this Note will not try to replicate this research but will provide an overview of how this discrimination can occur. Parts II and III will then analyze how an employee might …

No Child Left Behind Bars: Applying The Principles Of Strict Scrutiny When Sentencing Juveniles Tried As Adults, Max Chu

William & Mary Law Review

The Commonwealth of Virginia was the first in the nation to pass legislation that provides judges with the discretion to veer away from the mandatory minimum sentence and to impose trauma-informed and age-appropriate sentences for juvenile offenders convicted of felonies and tried as adults. Although Virginia’s new law, House Bill 744 (HB 744), is a pioneering step in the right direction, this Note argues that the law may now provide judges with too much discretion. In other words, HB 744 alone, without more guidance, does not go far enough to protect the rights of juvenile offenders.

Therefore, this Note proposes …

Making The Best From A Mess: Mental Health, Misconduct, And The "Insanity Defense" In The Va Disability Compensation System, Caleb R. Stone

Faculty Publications

The disability compensation system implemented by the Department of Veterans Affairs ("VA") is highly technical and complex. Before veterans reach questions concerning entitlement to benefits or the amount of compensation, they must first achieve basic eligibility for VA benefits. That involves receiving a discharge that is "honorable" for VA purposes. For some former servicemembers seeking benefits, using the VA's "insanity defense" to excuse misconduct leading to a less-than-honorable discharge may be the best avenue for obtaining compensation. The VA insanity provision contemplated in 38 U.S.C. s. 5303(b) and defined in 38 C.F.R. s. 3.354 is the only "defense" that allows …

A Study Of Tribal Communication Frameworks: Some Approaches To Building Partnerships Between Tribal, State, And Local Governments In Virginia, Karly Newcomb, Abigail Sisti

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

This paper discusses options the Commonwealth could consider when evaluating decision-making processes that affect tribes in Virginia, with the goal of improving communication and collaboration between tribal, state, and local governments; and will highlight key case studies from other states and localities that provide precedents. The following options are based on a framework of free, prior, and informed consent, which emphasizes self-determination and an individual right to pursue economic, social, and cultural development. This framework can be applied to decision making and projects for any topic. Moving forward, government-to-government communication will be key to developing solutions to pressing issues such …

Disclosure Of Private Climate Transition Risks, Michael P. Vandenbergh

William & Mary Law Review

This Article identifies a gap in the securities disclosure regime for climate change and demonstrates how filling the gap can improve financial disclosures and accelerate climate change mitigation. Private climate initiatives have proliferated in the last decade. Often led by advocacy groups, these private initiatives have used naming and shaming campaigns and other means to induce investors, lenders, insurers, retail customers, supply chain customers, and employees to pressure firms to engage in climate change mitigation. Based on an empirical assessment of the annual reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) by Fortune 100 firms and the largest firms …

A Safe Culture For Neuroscience, Bruce Waller

William & Mary Law Review

When examining the future impact of neuroscience on the law, the first step requires narrowing the scope of the inquiry: advances in neuroscience are exciting, but the beneficial or harmful effects of those advances will depend on the specific culture in which they occur. In some cultures—such as in Norway or Sweden—integrating advances in neuroscience into the criminal justice system is likely to enhance understanding and improve the treatment of offenders and potential offenders. In the neoliberal culture of the United States, advances are more likely to exacerbate the profound wrongs of the criminal justice system rather than ameliorate them. …

Nohwere, Peter A. Alces, Robert M. Sapolsky

William & Mary Law Review

Imagine the frustration of Samuel Butler’s protagonist, Higgs, with the strange society he encounters in Erewhon:

"Was there nothing which I could say to make them feel that the constitution of a person’s body was a thing over which he or she had had at any rate no initial control whatever, while the mind was a perfectly different thing, and capable of being created anew and directed according to the pleasure of its possessor? Could I never bring them to see that while habits of mind and character were entirely independent of initial mental force and early education, the body …

Not So Objective Indicia: Why Public Polling And Ballot Referenda Could Create A More Concrete Standard For Eighth Amendment Objective Indicia Analysis, Jonathan Marchuk

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

The Eighth Amendment states that “[e]xcessive bail shall not be required, nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and unusual punishments inflicted.” Through the Fourteenth Amendment, these restrictions on punishment are applicable to the states. Over the years, the interpretation of what constitutes cruel and unusual punishment has changed. Cruel and unusual punishments include those punishments that are greatly disproportionate to the committed offense, but what is considered a disproportionate punishment is not a static judgment. Instead, part of the proportionality analysis of the punishment to the crime looks to “the evolving standards of decency that mark the progress of a …

Table Of Contents (V.63, No.4)

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Neuroscience And Criminal Justice: Time For A "Copernican Revolution"?, John S. Callender

William & Mary Law Review

The main purpose of this Article is to argue for a fundamental change in the conceptual orientation of criminal justice: from one based on concepts such as free will, desert, and moral responsibility, to one based on empirical science. The Article describes research in behavioral genetics, acquired brain injuries, and psychological traumatization in relation to criminality. This research has reached a level of development at which the traditional approach to criminality is no longer tenable and should be discarded. I argue that mental health legislation provides a model that could be adapted and applied to offenders.