Law Commons^™

Science, Public Bioethics, And The Problem Of Integration, Orlando Carter Snead

O. Carter Snead

Public bioethics — the governance of science, medicine, and biotechnology in the name of ethical goods — is an emerging area of American law. The field uniquely combines scientific knowledge, moral reasoning, and prudential judgments about democratic decisionmaking. It has captured the attention of officials in every branch of government, as well as the American public. Public questions (such as those relating to the law of abortion, the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, and the regulation of end-of-life decisionmaking) continue to roil the public square.

This article examines the question of how scientific methods and principles can and …

Science, Public Bioethics, And The Problem Of Integration, Orlando Carter Snead

O. Carter Snead

Public bioethics — the governance of science, medicine, and biotechnology in the name of ethical goods — is an emerging area of American law. The field uniquely combines scientific knowledge, moral reasoning, and prudential judgments about democratic decisionmaking. It has captured the attention of officials in every branch of government, as well as the American public. Public questions (such as those relating to the law of abortion, the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, and the regulation of end-of-life decisionmaking) continue to roil the public square.

This article examines the question of how scientific methods and principles can and …

A Fair And Implicitly Impartial Jury: An Argument For Administering The Implicit Association Test During Voir Dire, Dale Larson

Dale K Larson

While many refer to jury selection as a science, others—perhaps more accurately—liken the process to voodoo. The jury consulting industry has exploded over the last thirty years, with many attorneys paying large amounts for voir dire for erratic and unpredictable results and a general inability to detect bias accurately in potential jurors. One explanation for these poor results, even when using the latest findings in the scientific jury selection field, is that the tools currently available to attorneys and jury consultants give us only a partial picture of the individuals in question. Currently, voir dire consists of oral questioning and …

An Interdisciplinary Framework For Understanding And Cultivating Law Student Enthusiasm, Emily Zimmerman

Emily Zimmerman

Anecdotal evidence abounds about the loss of enthusiasm experienced by law students. Law review articles too note this loss of enthusiasm and the demoralization of law students that occurs during their time in law school. However, although the loss of law student enthusiasm is frequently noted, little has been done to systematically analyze law student enthusiasm. Existing literature does not provide a definition of "law student enthusiasm" or a foundation of theory and research for understanding law student enthusiasm and its significance in legal education.

In an effort to fill the gap in our understanding of law student enthusiasm, this …

Adequate (Non)Provocation And Heat Of Passion As Excuse Not Justification, Reid Griffith Fontaine, Jd, Phd

Reid G. Fontaine

For a number of reasons, including the complicated psychological nature of reactive homicide, the heat of passion defense has remained subject to various points of confusion. One persistent issue of disagreement has been whether the defense is a partial justification or excuse. In this Article, I highlight and categorize a series of varied American homicide cases in which the applicability of heat of passion was supported although adequate provocation (or significant provocation by the victim) was absent. The cases are organized to illustrate that even in circumstances in which there is no actual provocation, or the provocation is not sourced …

The Dilemma Of The Vengeful Client: A Prescriptive Framework For Cooling The Flames Of Anger, Robin Slocum

Robin Slocum

Lawyers are presented with a challenging dilemma when counseling angry clients who seek to use the legal system as a weapon for vengeance. Legal scholars have argued that lawyers should, where appropriate, dissuade their angry clients from litigation strategies that are immoral or arguably unethical. However, angry clients are remarkably resistant to appeals based on morality and reason. Thus, it is not surprising that lawyers have been largely ineffective in their efforts to dissuade angry clients from using the legal system as a battlefield. Instead, lawyers often reluctantly defer to clients whose judgment is impaired by their emotional reactivity.

This …

Loneliness As A Partial Mediator Of The Relation Between Low Social Preference In Childhood And Anxious/Depressed Symptoms In Adolescence, Reid Griffith Fontaine, Chongming Yang, Virginia Salzer Burks, Kenneth A. Dodge, Joseph M. Price, Gregory S. Pettit, John E. Bates

Reid G. Fontaine

This study examined the mediating role of loneliness (assessed by self-report at Time 2; Grade 6) in the relation between early social preference (assessed by peer report at Time 1; kindergarten through Grade 3) and adolescent anxious/depressed symptoms (assessed by mother, teacher, and self-reports at Time 3; Grades 7–9). Five hundred eighty-five boys and girls (48% female; 16% African American) from three geographic sites of the Child Development Project were followed from kindergarten through Grade 9. Loneliness partially mediated and uniquely incremented the significant effect of low social preference in childhood on anxious/depressed symptoms in adolescence, controlling for early anxious/depressed …