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A Tale Of Election Day 2008: Teaching Storytelling Through Repeated Experiences, Serge A. Martinez, Stefan H. Krieger Sep 2009

A Tale Of Election Day 2008: Teaching Storytelling Through Repeated Experiences, Serge A. Martinez, Stefan H. Krieger

Stefan H Krieger

The article was inspired by a one-day project November 4, 2008, when we supervised a number of clinic students representing voters who had been denied the right to vote. As they represented client after client, we noticed significant improvement in their storytelling skills over a very short period, despite having little training in storytelling theory or techniques. Using our Election Day project as a starting point, the article questions the dominant pedagogical model for teaching storytelling, which focuses primarily on teaching storytelling and narrative theory. We propose a new method, based on cognitive science findings about experiential learning, that emphasizes …


Reconceptualizing Prosecutorial Misconduct Through Moral Disengagement Theory: A Social Cognitive Approach, Lawton P. Cummings Sep 2009

Reconceptualizing Prosecutorial Misconduct Through Moral Disengagement Theory: A Social Cognitive Approach, Lawton P. Cummings

Lawton P Cummings

This Article argues that certain key structural factors within the prosecutorial system in the United States lead to prosecutorial misconduct by systematically encouraging “moral disengagement” in prosecutors. “Moral disengagement” refers to the social cognition theory developed by Albert Bandura and others, which identifies the mechanisms that operate to disengage an individual’s moral self-sanctions that would otherwise inhibit the individual from engaging in injurious conduct. Empirical studies have shown that a person’s level of moral disengagement, as a dispositional trait, is an accurate predictor of the person’s level of aggression and anti-social behavior, and that an individual’s level of moral disengagement …


The Incentives Matrix: The Comparative Effectiveness Of Rewards, Liabilities, Duties And Protections For Reporting Illegality, Yuval Feldman Sep 2009

The Incentives Matrix: The Comparative Effectiveness Of Rewards, Liabilities, Duties And Protections For Reporting Illegality, Yuval Feldman

Yuval Feldman

Social enforcement is becoming a key feature of regulatory policy. Increasingly, statutes rely on individuals to report misconduct, yet the incentives they provide to encourage such enforcement vary significantly. Despite the clear policy benefits that flow from understanding the factors that facilitates social enforcement, i.e., the act of individual reporting of illegal behavior, the field remains largely understudied. Using a series of experimental surveys of a representative panel of over 2000 employees, this article compares the effect of different regulatory mechanisms - monetary rewards, protective rights, positive obligations, and liabilities - on individual motivation and behavior. By exploring the interplay …


An Act Of Resistence: Reconceptualizing Andrea Yates' Killing Of Her Children, Shelby A.D. Moore Aug 2009

An Act Of Resistence: Reconceptualizing Andrea Yates' Killing Of Her Children, Shelby A.D. Moore

Shelby A.D. Moore

The definition of domestic violence is broad and includes physical as well as psychological and sexual abuse. The legal system, however, gives considerably less attention to these latter forms of abuse. One reason for the relative neglect of these types of domestic abuse is the assumption that physical abuse causes more harm than do psychological and sexual abuse. In reality these forms of abuse may have a far greater impact on their victims. Apart from physical abuse, greater attention must be given to those who suffer on-going psychological and sexual abuse at the hand of a spouse or intimate partner. …


An Act Of Resistence: Reconceptualizing Andrea Yates' Killing Of Her Children, Shelby A.D. Moore Aug 2009

An Act Of Resistence: Reconceptualizing Andrea Yates' Killing Of Her Children, Shelby A.D. Moore

Shelby A.D. Moore

The definition of domestic violence is broad and includes physical as well as psychological and sexual abuse. The legal system, however, gives considerably less attention to these latter forms of abuse. One reason for the relative neglect of these types of domestic abuse is the assumption that physical abuse causes more harm than do psychological and sexual abuse. In reality these forms of abuse may have a far greater impact on their victims. Apart from physical abuse, greater attention must be given to those who suffer on-going psychological and sexual abuse at the hand of a spouse or intimate partner. …


An Act Of Resistence: Reconceptualizing Andrea Yates' Killing Of Her Children, Shelby A.D. Moore Aug 2009

An Act Of Resistence: Reconceptualizing Andrea Yates' Killing Of Her Children, Shelby A.D. Moore

Shelby A.D. Moore

The definition of domestic violence is broad and includes physical as well as psychological and sexual abuse. The legal system, however, gives considerably less attention to these latter forms of abuse. One reason for the relative neglect of these types of domestic abuse is the assumption that physical abuse causes more harm than do psychological and sexual abuse. In reality these forms of abuse may have a far greater impact on their victims. Apart from physical abuse, greater attention must be given to those who suffer on-going psychological and sexual abuse at the hand of a spouse or intimate partner. …


Legal Reading And Success In Law School: Law Students With Attention Deficit Disorder (Add), Leah M. Christensen Aug 2009

Legal Reading And Success In Law School: Law Students With Attention Deficit Disorder (Add), Leah M. Christensen

Leah M Christensen

The new reality in legal education is that a certain percentage of our students will come to us with ADD or with another learning disability, either disclosed or undisclosed. Yet there has been little empirical research on how law students with learning disabilities read and understand the law. This study examined how three law students with ADD read a judicial opinion. The results suggested a relationship between successful law school performance and the use of problematizing and rhetorical reading strategies; and less successful law school performance and the use of default reading strategies. Further, the results suggest that law students …


Judging Jena's Da: The Prosecutor And Racial Esteem, Andrew Taslitz Jun 2009

Judging Jena's Da: The Prosecutor And Racial Esteem, Andrew Taslitz

Andrew E. Taslitz

In the Jena 6 case, six African-American high school students were arrested for assault charges allegedly arising out of a series of confrontations between black and white students stemming from a black student's sitting under the "white tree" on school grounds. The Jena prosecutor successfully arranged for one of the Jena 6 to be tried as an adult, where he was convicted and exposed to the potential of a very harsh sentence. The prosecutor did not, however, proceed, or not proceed as harshly, against several white students who were purportedly involved in violence or threats of violence against black students. …


The Neuropsychology Of Justifications And Excuses: Some Problematic Cases Of Self-Defense, Duress And Provocation, Theodore Y. Blumoff May 2009

The Neuropsychology Of Justifications And Excuses: Some Problematic Cases Of Self-Defense, Duress And Provocation, Theodore Y. Blumoff

Theodore Y. Blumoff

In a famous address to the Aristotelian Society, Professor J. L. Austin provided dictum that has become a part of the conventional wisdom in the jurisprudence of our criminal law. His thesis simultaneously acknowledges the evident moral distinction between justifications and excuses, on the one hand, and the tendency, on the other, for the two doctrines to overlap and confound. From the perspectives of moral philosophy and jurisprudence, the distinction is clear. Justifications are socially approved (or, at least, not disapproved); excuses are not approved, but they obtain because the actor’s conduct reflects a substantial (and therefore judicially acknowledged) cognitive …


Promoting, Prescribing, And Pushing Pills: Understanding The Lessons Of Antipsychotic Drug Litigation, Douglas Mossman, Jill Louise Steinberg Mar 2009

Promoting, Prescribing, And Pushing Pills: Understanding The Lessons Of Antipsychotic Drug Litigation, Douglas Mossman, Jill Louise Steinberg

Douglas Mossman

Ineffectiveness of prescription drugs, hidden drug hazards, and advertising violations have led to several drug recalls and numerous lawsuits against pharmaceutical companies in recent years. These suits have involved several varieties of medications, but psychoactive medications have figured especially prominently. A recent $1.4 billion settlement by Eli Lilly & Company related to improper promotion of its top-selling drug olanzapine included the largest individual corporate criminal fine in U.S. history. Improper promotion is far from the sole reason why olanzapine and other “second-generation” antipsychotic (SGA) drugs have become so successful. Rather, the widespread adoption of SGAs represents a collective judgment error …


Incompetence To Maintain A Divorce Action: When Breaking Up Is Odd To Do, Douglas Mossman, Amanda N. Shoemaker Feb 2009

Incompetence To Maintain A Divorce Action: When Breaking Up Is Odd To Do, Douglas Mossman, Amanda N. Shoemaker

Douglas Mossman

The law has well-established provisions for handling divorce actions initiated on behalf of persons already adjudged incompetent or by competent individuals against incompetent spouses. But how should a court respond if a mentally ill petitioner who is competent to manage most personal affairs seeks to divorce a spouse for bizarre, very odd, or crazy-sounding reasons? Whether to allow a divorce action when the petitioner is motivated by psychotic ideas about a spouse is a matter addressed in just a few published cases, and then only indirectly. Largely unanswered are questions about whether domestic relations courts have the authority to stop …


“Why Rebottle The Genie?”: Capitalizing On Closure In Death Penalty Proceedings, Jody L. Madeira Feb 2009

“Why Rebottle The Genie?”: Capitalizing On Closure In Death Penalty Proceedings, Jody L. Madeira

Jody L Madeira

Closure, though a term with great rhetorical force in the capital punishment context, has to date evaded systematic analysis, instead becoming embroiled in ideological controversy. For victims who have rubbed the rights lamp for years, inclusion in capital proceedings and accompanying closure opportunities are perceived as a force with the potential to grant wishes of peace and finality. Scholars, however, argue for rebottling the closure genie lest closure itself prove false or its pursuit violate a defendant’s constitutional rights. In order to effectively appraise the relationship of closure to criminal jurisprudence, however, and thus to decide whether and to what …


"Let's Do The Time Warp Again": Assessing The Competence Of Counsel In Mental Health Conservatorship Proceedings, Grant H. Morris Jan 2009

"Let's Do The Time Warp Again": Assessing The Competence Of Counsel In Mental Health Conservatorship Proceedings, Grant H. Morris

Grant H Morris

Thirty years ago, I wrote an article on mental health conservatorships in California and the role of counsel for persons for whom a conservatorship has been proposed. Data was gathered on the performance of attorneys in court hearings conducted in San Diego County Superior Court. The data revealed that lawyers representing proposed conservatees were inactive and ineffective in representing their clients’ interests. The lawyers did not consider themselves advocates in an adversary process in which conservatorship was to be avoided. A year after the article was published, the California Supreme Court, citing that article as authority for the “paternalistic attitude” …


An Attack On Self-Defense, Reid G. Fontaine Jan 2009

An Attack On Self-Defense, Reid G. Fontaine

Reid G. Fontaine

Debate about the distinction between justification and excuse in criminal law theory has been lively during the last thirty years. Questions as to the nature and structure of various affirmative defenses continue to be raised, and the doctrine of self-defense has been at the center of much discussion. Three main articulations have been advanced: a purely objective theory, a purely subjective theory, and an objective/subjective hybrid. In the present Article, I support a hybrid model and propose a three-requirement framework that delineates the criteria that must be met to satisfy self-defense as a legitimate justification. Because this three-requirement framework raises …


On The Boundaries Of Culture As An Affirmative Defense, Reid Griffith Fontaine, Eliot M. Held Jan 2009

On The Boundaries Of Culture As An Affirmative Defense, Reid Griffith Fontaine, Eliot M. Held

Reid G. Fontaine

A “cultural defense” to criminal culpability cannot achieve true pluralism without collapsing into a totally subjective, personal standard. Applying an objective cultural standard does not rescue a defendant from the external imposition of values—the purported aim of the cultural defense—because a cultural standard is, at its core, an external standard imposed onto an individual. The pluralist argument for a cultural defense also fails on its own terms—after all, justice systems are themselves cultural institutions. Furthermore, a defendant’s background is already accounted for at sentencing. The closest thing to a cultural defense that a court could adopt without damaging the culpability …


Development Of Response Evaluation And Decision (Red) And Antisocial Behavior In Childhood And Adolescence, Reid Griffith Fontaine, Chongming Yang, Kenneth A. Dodge, Gregory S. Pettit, John E. Bates Jan 2009

Development Of Response Evaluation And Decision (Red) And Antisocial Behavior In Childhood And Adolescence, Reid Griffith Fontaine, Chongming Yang, Kenneth A. Dodge, Gregory S. Pettit, John E. Bates

Reid G. Fontaine

Using longitudinal data on 585 youths (48% female; 17% African American, 2% other ethnic minority), the authors examined the development of social response evaluation and decision (RED) across childhood (Study 1; kindergarten through Grade 3) and adolescence (Study 2; Grades 8 and 11). Participants completed hypothetical-vignette-based RED assessments, and their antisocial behaviors were measured by multiple raters. Structural equation modeling and linear growth analyses indicated that children differentiate alternative responses by Grade 3, but these RED responses were not consistently related to antisocial behavior. Adolescent analyses provided support for a model of multiple evaluative domains of RED and showed strong …


Psychological Barriers To Gasoline Taxation, Shi-Ling Hsu Jan 2009

Psychological Barriers To Gasoline Taxation, Shi-Ling Hsu

Shi-Ling Hsu

No abstract provided.


Judgment, Identity, And Independence, Cassandra Burke Robertson Jan 2009

Judgment, Identity, And Independence, Cassandra Burke Robertson

Cassandra Burke Robertson

Whenever a new corporate or governmental scandal erupts, onlookers ask “Where were the lawyers?” Why would attorneys not have advised their clients of the risks posed by conduct that, from an outsider’s perspective, appears indefensible? When numerous red flags have gone unheeded, people often conclude that the lawyers’ failure to sound the alarm must be caused by greed, incompetence, or both. A few scholars have suggested that unconscious cognitive bias may better explain such lapses in judgment, but they have not explained why particular situations are more likely than others to encourage such bias. This article seeks to fill that …


We Don’T Want To Hear It: Psychology, Literature And The Narrative Model Of Judging, Kenworthey Bilz Jan 2009

We Don’T Want To Hear It: Psychology, Literature And The Narrative Model Of Judging, Kenworthey Bilz

Kenworthey Bilz

The “narrative” model of legal judging argues that legal decision makers both do and should render judgments by assembling sensible sto-ries out of evidence (as opposed to using Bayesian-type, linear models). This model is usually understood to demand that before one may judge a situation, one must give the parties the opportunity to tell their story in a manner that invites, or at least allows, empathy from the judger. This Article refers to this as the “inclusionary approach” to the narrative model of judging. Using psychological research in emotions and perspective-taking and the more intuitive techniques of literary criticism, this …