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Full-Text Articles in Law

#Metoo And Mass Incarceration, Aya Gruber Jan 2020

#Metoo And Mass Incarceration, Aya Gruber

Publications

This Symposium Guest Editor’s Note is an adapted version of the Introduction to The Feminist War on Crime: The Unexpected Role of Women’s Liberation in Mass Incarceration (UC Press 2020). The book examines how American feminists, in the quest to secure women’s protection from domestic violence and rape, often acted as soldiers in the war on crime by emphasizing white female victimhood, expanding the power of police and prosecutors, touting incarceration, and diverting resources toward law enforcement and away from marginalized communities Today, despite deep concerns over racist policing and mass incarceration, many feminists continue to assert that gender crime …


Who's Afraid Of Judicial Activism? Reconceptualizing A Traditional Paradigm In The Context Of Specialized Domestic Violence Court Programs, Jennifer L. Thompson Nov 2017

Who's Afraid Of Judicial Activism? Reconceptualizing A Traditional Paradigm In The Context Of Specialized Domestic Violence Court Programs, Jennifer L. Thompson

Maine Law Review

The Specialized Domestic Violence Pilot Project (Pilot Project), implemented in York and Portland in July and August 2002, is the result of the collaborative efforts of the District Court system, law enforcement, prosecutors, members of the defense bar, and various community agencies offering services to victims and perpetrators. District court judges are largely responsible for overseeing the changes in court procedures and implementing the new protocols in domestic violence cases. The Pilot Project, and the changes it is making to the role that courts play in domestic violence cases, represents a significant departure from the procedures followed by traditional court …


Rethinking Domestic Violence, Rethinking Violence, Aya Gruber Jan 2014

Rethinking Domestic Violence, Rethinking Violence, Aya Gruber

Publications

No abstract provided.


Re-Problematizing Anger In Domestic Violence Advocacy, Deborah Cantrell Jan 2013

Re-Problematizing Anger In Domestic Violence Advocacy, Deborah Cantrell

Publications

Feminist advocacy commits wholeheartedly to a woman’s autonomous choices about how to respond to domestic violence, prioritizing a woman’s own lived experiences and her own assessments of her needs and goals over other supposedly “objective” assessments. Feminists robustly privilege individual choices of women in part as a way of revealing anti-woman bias in the dominant, patriarchal legal system as well to reject male constructions of feminine behavior. In feminist domestic violence advocacy, scholars and advocates have argued that a woman’s autonomous choices include capacious choices about the kinds of emotions that a woman might express about being subjected to abuse. …


Neofeminism, Aya Gruber Jan 2013

Neofeminism, Aya Gruber

Publications

Today it is prosaic to say that "feminism is dead." Far from being moribund, feminist legal theory is breaking from its somewhat dogmatic past and forging ahead with new vigor. Many modern feminist legal scholars seek innovative ways to better the legal, social, and economic status of women while simultaneously questioning some of the more troubling moves of second-wave feminism, such as the tendency to essentialize the woman's experience, the turn to authoritarian state policies, and the characterization of women as pure objects or agents. These "neofeminists" prioritize women's issues but maintain a strong commitment to distributive justice and recognize …


A "Neo-Feminist" Assessment Of Rape And Domestic Violence Law Reform, Aya Gruber Jan 2012

A "Neo-Feminist" Assessment Of Rape And Domestic Violence Law Reform, Aya Gruber

Publications

No abstract provided.


Renegotiating The Social Contract, Jennifer S. Hendricks Jan 2012

Renegotiating The Social Contract, Jennifer S. Hendricks

Publications

This review of The Supportive State: Families, Government and America’s Political Ideals highlights Maxine Eichner’s important theoretical contributions to both liberal political theory and feminist theory, applauding her success in reforming liberalism to account for dependency, vulnerability, and families. The review then considers some implications of Eichner’s proposals and their likely reception among feminists. It concludes that The Supportive State is a sound and inspiring response to recent calls that feminist theory move from being strictly a school of criticism to developing a theory of governance.


Expanding Protective Order Coverage., Kellie K. Player Jan 2012

Expanding Protective Order Coverage., Kellie K. Player

St. Mary's Law Journal

The Texas legislature should eliminate the relationship requirement for a protective order. Although the Texas legislature passed the Kristy Appleby Act, which expanded the definition of dating violence, some victims of domestic violence may still be unable to qualify for a protective order. Specifically, some third-party individuals in a love triangle may not be eligible to receive a protective order. In Texas, a potential or current victim of domestic abuse needs to demonstrate a relationship with the perpetrator. Despite the broadened definition of relationship, some potential victims may still be unable to meet this burden. If the person cannot, they …


The Feminist War On Crime, Aya Gruber Jan 2007

The Feminist War On Crime, Aya Gruber

Publications

One of the most celebrated successes of the feminist movement is its lasting impact on domestic violence criminal laws. Today, society has moved from discourse characterizing domestic abuse as legitimate or merely a private problem to a belief that battering is a heinous crime, more egregious than garden-variety assault. I know all too well how far the pendulum has swung, having practiced as a public defender in the District of Columbia domestic violence system. Day after day, prosecutors proceeded with cases against the wishes of victims, resulting in the mass incarceration of young black men. Could this have been the …


The Punishment Of Dixie Shanahan: Is There Justice For Battered Women Who Kill?, Leigh Goodmark Mar 2006

The Punishment Of Dixie Shanahan: Is There Justice For Battered Women Who Kill?, Leigh Goodmark

ExpressO

The article explores the prevailing theories justifying criminal punishment in the United States through the lens of the case of Dixie Shanahan, an Iowa woman who was sentenced to fifty years imprisonment for killing her abusive spouse after nineteen years of battering. The article begins with a detailed examination of the life of Dixie Shanahan and places her within the context of the literature on battered women who kill. The piece then looks at both retributivist and utilitarian justifications for punishment and concludes that only a retributivist rationale justifies the punishment of Ms. Shanahan and other battered women who kill, …


Covering Women And Violence: Media Treatment Of Vawa's Civil Rights Remedy, Sarah F. Russell Jan 2003

Covering Women And Violence: Media Treatment Of Vawa's Civil Rights Remedy, Sarah F. Russell

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

This Article analyzes how newspapers described and characterized the civil rights provision over the past decade and shaped the public discourse about the law. The author examines how lower federal courts, and eventually the Supreme Court, categorized the VAWA remedy when deciding whether Congress had acted within its commerce powers. After considering why there may have been resistance in the press and in the courts to VAWA's categorization of violence against women as a civil rights issue, the author concludes by examining the remedies that have been introduced at the state and local level for victims of gender-motivated violence, and …


Supreme Court Of Nevada, Administrative Office Of The Courts, Nevada Domestic Violence Resource Manual, Mary E. Berkheiser Jan 2000

Supreme Court Of Nevada, Administrative Office Of The Courts, Nevada Domestic Violence Resource Manual, Mary E. Berkheiser

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.


Ending Male Privilege: Beyond The Reasonable Woman, Stephanie M. Wildman Jan 2000

Ending Male Privilege: Beyond The Reasonable Woman, Stephanie M. Wildman

Michigan Law Review

A Law of Her Own: The Reasonable Woman as a Measure of Man by Caroline A. Forell and Donna M. Matthews aspires to provide a solution for an enigmatic jurisprudential problem - the systemic failure of the legal order to recognize and to redress the injuries that women experience. Feminist scholars have agreed that, for women, the legal separation of public and private spheres often insulates from legal review behavior that harms women. But even in the so-called public sphere, women suffer harms that remain invisible and unnamed. The authors identify four legal arenas in which the "spectrum of violence …


The Lautenberg Amendment: Congress Hit The Mark By Banning Firearms From Domestic Violence Offenders Comment., Polly Mccann Pruneda Jan 1999

The Lautenberg Amendment: Congress Hit The Mark By Banning Firearms From Domestic Violence Offenders Comment., Polly Mccann Pruneda

St. Mary's Law Journal

Immediate action is critical to preserve the goals of the Lautenberg Amendment to protect victims of domestic violence from future abuse and their abusers. Incidents of gun-related domestic violence are not uncommon in the United States. Statistics show that domestic violence takes one life every three days and the combination of guns and domestic violence cause more deaths than incidents which are not associated with guns. In 1996, Congress attempted to find a solution to this problem. The Lautenberg Amendment, enacted pursuant to Congress’ Commerce Clause power, seeks to protect individuals from gun related injury or death occurring within domestic …


Feminism And Defending Men On Death Row Symposium: Thoughts On Death Penalty Issues 25 Years After Furman V. Georgia., Phyllis L. Crocker Jan 1998

Feminism And Defending Men On Death Row Symposium: Thoughts On Death Penalty Issues 25 Years After Furman V. Georgia., Phyllis L. Crocker

St. Mary's Law Journal

In this Essay I explore the relationship between being a feminist and representing men on death row. It is appropriate to engage in this inquiry in considering how the law has developed in the twenty-five years since Furman v. Georgia. During that time both Furman and the advent of feminist legal theory have required a restructuring in the way we think about two fundamental legal questions: for death penalty jurisprudence, how and why we sentence individuals to death; and for feminist jurisprudence, how the law views crimes of violence against women. The relationship between these two developments becomes apparent when …


Title Iii Of The Violence Against Women Act: The Answer To Domestic Violence Or A Constitutional Time-Bomb Comment., Yvette J. Mabbun Jan 1997

Title Iii Of The Violence Against Women Act: The Answer To Domestic Violence Or A Constitutional Time-Bomb Comment., Yvette J. Mabbun

St. Mary's Law Journal

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) was enacted in 1994 to combat the growing and widespread epidemic of domestic violence. Congressional committees assigned to study this epidemic found that violent attacks by men topped the list of dangers to an American woman’s health. In an attempt to raise society’s awareness of the problem of violence against women and to ameliorate the victimization of women, Congress enacted VAWA. Specifically, Title III of VAWA establishes a federal civil right for victims of violent, gender-motivated crimes. These provide victims with either injunctive or monetary compensation. Consequently, there have been questions about the constitutionality …


The Subjection Of Women . . . Still: Unfulfilled Promises Of Protection For Women Victims Of Domestic Violence Comment., James Martin Truss Jan 1995

The Subjection Of Women . . . Still: Unfulfilled Promises Of Protection For Women Victims Of Domestic Violence Comment., James Martin Truss

St. Mary's Law Journal

Throughout American history, women have fought to realize a full and independent legal identity, equal to men. Nonetheless, issues such as domestic violence have often remained obscured due partly to the judicial system’s reluctance to intrude into “family matters.” Although courts have long-since renounced the common-law rule which allowed a husband to discipline his wife, the plight of the battered woman remained largely ignored by courts and legislatures. The pervasiveness and severity of domestic violence are widely documented. On June 1, 1991, the Texas Supreme Court created the Gender Bias Task Force of Texas (Task Force) to consider whether gender …


Equality Theory, Marital Rape, And The Promise Of The Fourteenth Amendment, Robin West Jan 1990

Equality Theory, Marital Rape, And The Promise Of The Fourteenth Amendment, Robin West

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

During the 1980s a handful of state judges either held or opined in dicta what must be incontrovertible to the feminist community, as well as to most progressive legal advocates and academics: the so-called marital rape exemption, whether statutory or common law in origin, constitutes a denial of a married woman's constitutional right to equal protection under the law. Indeed, a more obvious denial of equal protection is difficult to imagine: the marital rape exemption denies married women protection against violent crime solely on the basis of gender and marital status. What possibly could be less rational than a statute …