Law Commons^™

Delinquent By Reason Of Poverty, Tamar R. Birckhead

Tamar R Birckhead

This Article, written for the 12th Annual Access to Equal Justice Colloquium, explores the disproportionate representation of low-income children in the United States juvenile justice system. It examines the structural and institutional causes of this development, beginning with the most common points of entry into delinquency court—the child welfare system, public schools, retail stores, and neighborhood police presence. It introduces the concept of needs-based delinquency, a theory that challenges basic presuppositions about the method by which children are adjudicated delinquent. It argues that at each stage of the process—from intake through adjudication to disposition and probation—the court gives as much …

Blue-Collar Crime: Conspiracy, Organized Labor, And The Anti-Union Civil Rico Claim, Benjamin Levin

Scholarship@WashULaw

This Article provides an historically-rooted analysis of a recent spate of civil RICO complaints arising from labor union organizing campaigns. The Article historicizes contemporary civil RICO suits against labor unions by analogizing to nineteenth century conspiracy prosecutions of unions. In tracing this history of organized labor’s social standing, the Article addresses the cultural framing of the union and its place in political and cultural discourse over the past century. The civil RICO complaints have received limited scholarly attention mainly focusing on issues of federal preemption; this Article argues for a broad reading of the cases as a way to understand …

Life Cycles Of American Legal History Through Bob Dylan's Eyes, Laurie Serafino

Laurie B. Serafino

This article discusses how America's passage through cycles of change that correlate to patterns of discrimination and revolution, as illustrated in the lyrics of Bob Dylan, is represented in American law. It examines, from a legal perspective, Bob Dylan's ideas on social policy and change, and identifies periods in American history during which the nation was "put on the cross, died, and was resurrected."

This examination emphasizes certain key players in U.S. history, who were admired by Dylan for being honorable and fair, standing up for the underdog, and fighting hard against their enemies. These key players include Thaddeus Stevens, …