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Imperfect Insanity And Diminished Responsibility, Lea Johnston Jan 2024

Imperfect Insanity And Diminished Responsibility, Lea Johnston

UF Law Faculty Publications

Insanity’s status as an all-or-nothing excuse results in the disproportionate punishment of individuals whose mental disorders significantly impaired, but did not obliterate, their capacities for criminal responsibility. Prohibiting the trier of fact from considering impairment that does not meet the narrow definition of insanity contradicts commonly held intuitions about mental abnormality and gradations of responsibility. It results in systemic over-punishment, juror frustration, and, at times, arbitrary verdicts as triers of fact attempt to better apportion liability to blameworthiness.

This Article proposes a generic partial excuse of Diminished Responsibility from Mental Disability, to be asserted as an affirmative defense at the …


The Federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act: Statutory Requirements, Regulations, And Need (Especially In Post-Dobbs America), Deborah Widiss Jan 2024

The Federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act: Statutory Requirements, Regulations, And Need (Especially In Post-Dobbs America), Deborah Widiss

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The federal Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, enacted in December 2022, is landmark legislation that will help ensure workers can stay healthy through a pregnancy. It responds to the reality that pregnant workers may need small changes at work, such as permission to sit periodically, carry a water bottle, relief from heavy lifting, or reduced exposure to potentially dangerous chemicals. Workers may also need schedule modifications or leave for prenatal appointments, childbirth, or post-partum recovery, or accommodations to address medical conditions related to pregnancy or childbirth.

Previously, federal sex discrimination law and federal disability law sometimes required employers to provide such …