Law and Society Commons^™

Consider Collateral Consequences: The Inherent Hypocrisy Of Veterans Treatment Courts’ Failure To Dismiss Criminal Charges, Julia W. Williams

Journal of Law and Policy

American veterans are often plagued by psychological and physical injuries, among other hardships, which, when unaddressed, can lead to substance abuse, criminal behavior, and suicide. As public awareness of the difficulties that American veterans face was growing, the problem-solving court movement was also gaining momentum. Largely inspired by therapeutic jurisprudence, an interdisciplinary framework that sees the law as a way to reach therapeutic outcomes, problem-solving courts seek to identify the root causes of criminal behavior and address those causes in ways that promote rehabilitation and reduce recidivism. Veterans Treatment Courts (“VTCs”) emerged when veterans advocacy intersected with the problem-solving court …

Slaying The Serpents: Why Alternative Intervention Is Necessary To Protect Those In Mental Health Crisis From The State-Created Danger “Snake Pit”, Kathleen Giunta

Journal of Law and Policy

The Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 and ongoing reports of police brutality around the United States sparked extensive debate over qualified immunity and the legal protections that prevent police accountability. Individuals experiencing mental health crises are especially vulnerable to police violence, since police officers lack the requisite skills and knowledge to provide effective crisis support during mental health emergencies. Although the state-created danger doctrine was created by the courts as an exception to qualified immunity, it is so rarely applied that individuals harmed or even killed by police are left without legal remedy. This Note explores qualified immunity and …

Foreword: The Role Of The “Victim” In The Criminal Legal System, Kate Mogulescu

Brooklyn Law Review

On September 24, 2021, the Brooklyn Law Review brought together scholars looking at the role of the “victim” in the criminal legal system. Of consideration were the following questions: Who is labeled a victim and how does that impact outcomes and process? Where does the issue of victimization emerge, how is it received and what should the system’s response be? Who gets a voice? And when? Does the existing victim-offender binary further exacerbate a criminal legal system build on misogyny, xenophobia, and white supremacy? The series of articles and essays that make up this issue reflect the symposium’s multidimensional discussion …

Giving Meaning To The Apostrophe In Victim[’]S Rights, Margaret Garvin

Brooklyn Law Review

There is a lack of consistency in how courts interpret the use or placement of an apostrophe on “victim.” While this may seem like a minor grammatical or typological error, it has a tremendous effect on victim’s rights, as it virtually erases the victim due to the confusion over the ownership of said rights. This essay analyzes how the placement of the apostrophe, in cases dealing with subpoenas duces tecum, have led courts to interpret victim rights in multiple ways, but all with the same outcome—excluding the actual victim from consideration. This causes the actual victims, even when the court …

Black Deaths Matter: The Race-Of-Victim Effect And Capital Punishment, Daniel S. Medwed

Brooklyn Law Review

The racial dimensions of the death penalty are well-documented. Many observers assume this state of affairs derives from bias—often implicit and occasionally explicit—against black defendants in particular. Research points to an even more alarming factor. The race of the victim, not the defendant, steers cases in the direction of death. Regardless of the perpetrator’s race, those who kill whites are more likely to face capital charges, receive a death sentence, and die by execution than those who murder blacks. This short Essay adds a contemporary gloss to the race-of-victim effect literature, placing it in the context of the Black Lives …

Mental Illness In The Criminal Justice System: Erasing The Stigma On A Global Scale, Jennifer Rabbino

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

Mental illness has long been misunderstood and severely stigmatized worldwide. For several hundred years, rather than offering prompt and proper treatment, most countries treated mental illness by isolating patients from society. Moreover, that ill treatment remains to this day, with over 90% of the developing world's population living with a mental illness completely untreated and legal systems the world over struggling with how best to treat mentally ill defendants fairly. This Note will scrutinize and compare the treatment of the mentally ill defendants in Western and African nations. It will then focus on the legal systems in Uganda and Ghana …

Lead Us Not Into Temptation: A Response To Barbara Fedders's Opioid Policing, Anna Roberts

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Policing In The Era Of Permissiveness: Mitigating Misconduct Through Third-Party Standing, Julian A. Cook Iii

Brooklyn Law Review

On April 4, 2015, Walter L. Scott was driving his vehicle when he was stopped by Officer Michael T. Slager of the North Charleston, South Carolina, police department for a broken taillight. A dash cam video from the officer’s vehicle showed the two men engaged in what appeared to be a rather routine verbal exchange. Sometime after Slager returned to his vehicle, Scott exited his car and ran away from Slager, prompting the officer to pursue him on foot. After he caught up with Scott in a grassy field near a muffler establishment, a scuffle between the men ensued, purportedly …

Trying To Fit A Square Peg Into A Round Hole: Why Title Ii Of The Americans With Disabilities Act Must Apply To All Law Enforcement Services, Michael Pecorini

Journal of Law and Policy

Police use of force has been subject to greater scrutiny in recent years in the wake of several high-profile killings of African Americans. Less attention, however, has been paid to the increasingly routine violent encounters between police and individuals with mental illness or intellectual and development disabilities (“I/DD”). This is particularly problematic, as police have become the de-facto first responders to these individuals and far too often police responses to these individuals result in tragedy.

This Note argues that the Americans with Disabilities Act requires law enforcement to provide reasonable accommodations during their interactions with and seizures of individuals with …