Law Commons^™

Revisiting Immutability: Competing Frameworks For Adjudicating Asylum Claims Based On Membership In A Particular Social Group, Talia Shiff

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) defines a refugee as any person who has a “well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion.” An emerging issue in U.S. asylum law is how to define the category “membership of a particular social group.” This question has become ever-more pressing in light of the fact that the majority of migrants seeking asylum at the U.S.-Mexico border are claiming persecution on account of their “membership in a particular social group.” The INA does not define the meaning of “particular social group” and …

Critiquing Matter Of A-B-: An Uncertain Future In Asylum Proceedings For Women Fleeing Intimate Partner Violence, Theresa A. Vogel

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The #MeToo movement has brought renewed attention to the impact of gender inequality on our society’s ability to provide protection to women from physical and sexual violence, including intimate partner violence. Despite advances in legal protections and increased resources to prevent, prosecute, and bring an end to intimate partner violence, in the absence of true efforts to combat gender inequality as a whole, intimate partner violence will continue to pervade our society. The discussion of gender inequality’s impact on the treatment of intimate partner violence must expand beyond the violence that occurs in the United States to gender inequality’s impact …

Why Guidance From The Supreme Court Is Required In Redefining The Particular Social Group Definition In Refugee Law, Liliya Paraketsova

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

One of the most debated topics in refugee law has been the meaning of particular social group (PSG)—one of the five categories used to claim refugee status. In 2006, the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA) adopted a narrower PSG definition. Since that adoption, a circuit split has persisted over the meaning of PSG. Two circuits in particular have continually refused to adopt this definition—even when the BIA attempted to revise the definition in response to their criticism. This Note proposes a reform that would include a compromise between the two current definitions of PSG by rejecting the BIA’s particularity requirement …

Human Rights And Cybersecurity Due Diligence: A Comparative Study, Scott J. Shackelford

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

No company, just like no nation, is an island in cyberspace; the actions of actors from hacktivists to nation-states have the potential to impact the bottom line, along with the human rights of consumers and the public writ large. To help meet the multifaceted challenges replete in a rapidly globalizing world—and owing to the relative lack of binding international law to regulate both cybersecurity and the impact of business on human rights—companies are reconceptualizing what constitutes “due diligence.” This Article takes lessons from both the cybersecurity and human rights due diligence contexts to determine areas for cross-pollination in an effort …

The Civil Redress And Historical Memory Act Of 2029: A Legislative Proposal, William J. Aceves

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

During the extant “War on Terror,” U.S. and foreign nationals who did not engage in hostilities were detained and mistreated abroad by the United States or by other countries with the acquiescence of the United States. These individuals were accused of being terrorists or were suspected of associating with terror groups, but they were, in fact, innocent. They were eventually released and were never charged by the United States with any crime. Despite their innocence, the United States has failed to provide them with any form of redress for their mistreatment. The Bush, Obama, and Trump administrations refused to apologize …

Discretionary (In)Justice: The Exercise Of Discretion In Claims For Asylum, Kate Aschenbrenner

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Section 208(a) of the Immigration and Nationality Act provides that asylum may be granted to an applicant who meets the definition of a refugee-that is, someone who has been persecuted or has a well-founded fear of future persecution in her own country on account of race, religion, nationality, political opinion, or membership in a particular social group. Asylum is a discretionary form of relief which means that the United States government is not required to grant asylum to every refugee within the United States but instead may decide whether or not to do so. This Article sets out in Part …

Lessons From Hurricane Katrina: Prison Emergency Preparedness As A Constitutional Imperative, Ira P. Robbins

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Hurricane Katrina was one of the worst natural disasters ever to strike the United States, in terms of casualties, suffering, and financial cost. Often overlooked among Katrina s victims are the 8,000 inmates who were incarcerated at Orleans Parish Prison (OPP) when Katrina struck. Despite a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans, these men and women, some of whom had been held on charges as insignificant as public intoxication, remained in the jail as the hurricane hit, and endured days of rising, toxic waters, a lack of food and drinking water, and a complete breakdown of order within OPP Wien the …

"I'Ll Try Anything Once": Using The Conceptual Framework Of Children's Human Rights Norms In The United States, Bernardine Dohrn

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

International human rights law provides norms, concepts, and standards of immediate and practical value to attorneys for court-involved children in the United States. The conceptual framework of the comprehensive rights of the child is broadly congruent with, or closely related to, the strongest aspects of US. constitutional law and practice. The expansive language of children's human rights offers an historic opportunity: new tools and a more comprehensive context in which to change how we think about young people in conflict with the law, children in state custody, and children in related legal settings. The challenge is to use these fresh …

The Eighteenth Birthday Of The Convention Of Rights Of The Child: Achievements And Challenges, Jaap E. Doek

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Although the U.N. Convention on the Rights of the Child has produced positive results in many countries, the United States remains one of the few nations that has not signed on to this treaty. This Essay will begin by describing the content of the treaty. This Essay will discuss the achievements, challenges, and solutions resulting from the treaty in the areas of child poverty, violence against children, and child labour. Given the positive results produced in other countries, this Essay will conclude with an invitation to the United States to join the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

State Legislation And Human Trafficking: Helpful Or Harmful?, Stephanie Richard

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Human trafficking is the modern day form of slavery. Despite the fact that thousands of people are trafficked into the United Sates each year, the majority of U.S. citizens are not aware of the nature and extent of this problem. In 2000, the U.S. government passed the Victims of Trafficking and Violence Protection Act (VTVPA) to combat this grave human rights abuse. This federal legislation takes a comprehensive approach to addressing the problem of human trafficking in the United States by acknowledging that effective prosecution cannot occur without safeguards and benefits for trafficking victims. To this end, the VTVPA enumerates …

Asylum, Social Group Membership And The Non-State Actor: The Challenge Of Domestic Violence, Michael G. Heyman

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article argues that the current approaches to asylum claims based on "social group" membership under the U.N. convention Relation to the Status of Refugees are deeply flawed. The Refugee Convention confers asylum on persons persecuted for their membership in a particular social group. Courts have struggled with the boundaries of the social group definition, and there appears to be no coherent way to reconcile all of the court decisions on what groups qualify as social groups under the Refugee Convention.

This Article suggests that courts adopt a consistent definition of what constitutes a social group. The definition proposed in …

The Qualities Of Mercy: Maximizing The Impact Of U.S. Refugee Resettlement, Daniel J. Steinbock

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Resettlement in the US. bestows a life changing benefit on thousands of overseas refugees. Because American refugee acceptance can never reach more than a tiny fraction of the world's millions of persecuted or oppressed, however, allocating this bounty requires the US. to choose the lucky few from the worthy many. Since the creation in 1980 of a permanent program of refugee resettlement, three different, and often conflicting, purposes have contended for its trove of immigration-like admissions slots. These are the removal of people from danger or hardship, the furtherance of a cluster of foreign policy objectives, and the facilitation of …

Russian Compliance With Articles Five And Six Of The European Convention Of Human Rights As A Barometer Of Legal Reform And Human Rights In Russia, Jeffrey Kahn

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Note examines two of Russia's obligations under the European Convention on Human Rights (ECHR): the Article 5 right to liberty and security, and the Article 6 right to a fair trial to gauge Russian compliance with European human rights norms. These articles lie at the heart of systematic legal reform in the Russian Federation. This Note defends the thesis that the agonizingly slow progress of judicial reform and the advancement of human rights in Russia is a function of the inevitable lag of conceptual norms behind institutional reform. Part I explores the weak place of the rule of law …

The United Kingdom Bill Of Rights 1998: The Modernisation Of Rights In The Old World, Clive Walker, Russell L. Weaver

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Into a steadfastly conservative constitutional landscape, the United Kingdom Parliament has now introduced a Bill of Rights, the Human Rights Act of 1998, which takes effect in October 2000. The Act provides for a full catalogue of civil and political rights which are enforceable by the courts. This development raises two questions in evaluating the future of English law. First, does this signify the dawn of a new British radicalism? And second, why has it happened now? In answering these questions in relation to England and Wales, Part I of this Article provides an introduction to the traditional treatment of …

Spare The Rod, Embrace Our Humanity: Toward A New Legal Regime Prohibiting Corporal Punishment Of Children, Susan H. Bitensky

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This article proceeds from the simple premise that hitting children hurts them-even when the hitting does not rise to the level of child abuse as traditionally conceived. There is convincing evidence that corporal punishment is a hidden cruelty in child rearing that has serious adverse consequences for its victims and society at large. Yet forty-nine states permit parental corporal punishment of children and approximately half of the states permit such punishment in elementary and secondary schools The main purpose of this Article is to question the advisability of continuing the legalized status of corporal punishment of children in the United …

A Call For Reform Of Recent Immigration Legislation, Jason H. Ehrenberg

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 and the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 dramatically limit the procedural rights of aliens who have been convicted of serious crimes. Consequently, aliens who have immigrated to the United States to escape persecution in their homelands are deported without adequate hearing or appeal. This Note argues that the laws violate international obligations and Constitutional law. It advocates amending the laws to give the Attorney General discretion over deportation decisions, eliminating retroactive application of deportation for aggravated felons, and reinstating judicial review of deportation or exclusion decisions.

A Proposal To The Hanodaganyas To Decolonize Federal Indian Control Law, Robert B. Porter

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

In this Article, cast in the form of a letter to President William Jefferson Clinton, Professor Porter argues for the decolonization of federal Indian control law. After detailing the religious and colonialist roots of early Supreme Court decisions dealing with the Indian nations and giving an overview of the evolution of federal Indian policy, Professor Porter argues for the decolonization of federal Indian control law on several grounds: 1. the world community has rejected colonialism policies; 2. federal Indian control law denies basic human rights of self-determination; 3. colonization has partially succeeded in destroying the Indian nations; and 4. decolonization …

Mail-Order Brides: Gilded Prostitution And The Legal Response, Eddy Meng

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Note explores the international mail-order bride industry where women from Asia and other developing countries are trafficked to men in Western industrialized countries. The author discusses the commonalities between the mail-order bride traffic and other forms of sexual exploitation, as well as the cultural and historical forces and the gender, ethnic, and class subordination which together fuel the demand for Asian Pacific mail-order brides. In the United States, the potential for exploitation is made greater in that immigrant brides face a threat of deportation during the first two years of residence via immigration laws. Given the inequalities between consumer-husbands …

Prurient Interest And Human Dignity: Pornography Regulation In West Germany And The United States, Mathias Reimann

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article examines the regulation of pornography in West Germany and compares it to regulation in the United States. Part I provides an overview of the legal framework- constitutional and statutory-of pornography regulation in West Germany. Part II then traces the evolution of the concept of human dignity as a standard for defining pornography in West Germany, and Part III illustrates the practical impact of the idea in two widely debated recent cases. Part IV argues that West Germany's human dignity approach to pornography regulation raises important questions about how to view pornography, but that cultural and constitutional differences between …

European Integration Through Fundamental Rights, Jochen Abr. Frowein

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The conception of fundamental rights as natural rights of human beings developed in European legal thinking mainly in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. John Locke, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and also Immanuel Kant should be mentioned. But it was in the new world that the principles of fundamental human rights were first put into practice. A little more than ten years after the first American declarations, the "Declaration des droits de l'homme et du citoyen" was adopted in Paris; it remains part of French constitutional law today. But, unlike the development in the United States, the French guarantees could not be enforced …