Law and Society Commons^™

Inherent Racial Biases Woven Into America’S Criminal Justice Institutions: A Reexamination Of To Kill A Mockingbird, Joshua B. Lanphear

Joshua B. Lanphear

This is article considers the concept of inherent racial biases woven into America’s criminal justice institutions as reflected in Harper Lee’s novels To Kill a Mockingbird and Go Set A Watchman. Mockingbird—published in 1960, but set in the 1930s, in the fictitious racist-south of Maycomb, Alabama—portrays this concept through the trial of Tom Robinson, a sympathetic African American accused of raping the white Mayella Ewell. Key representatives of Maycomb’s institutions—Officer Heck Tate, Judge John Taylor, Mr. Gilmer, Atticus Finch, and Tom’s jury—perpetuate these inherent racial biases throughout Tom’s experience with the criminal justice system until he is ultimately killed under …

Forced Migration, The Human Face Of A Health Crisis, Lawrence O. Gostin, Anna E. Roberts

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Nearly 60 million refugees, asylum-seekers and internally displaced persons (IDPs) fled their homes in 2014, predominately from war-torn Syria, Afghanistan and Somalia. The global response to assisting this vulnerable group has been wholly incommensurate with the need given the profound health hazards faced by forced migrants at each stage of their journey. The majority of forced migrants are housed in lower-income countries that do not have the infrastructure to assist the significant numbers of individuals who are crossing their borders and the humanitarian organizations who seek to assist in the response are grossly underfunded and under-resourced.

Countries have varying responsibilities …

Addressing Barriers To Cultural Sensibility Learning: Lesson From Social Cognition Theory, Andrea A. Curcio

Andrea A. Curcio

Understanding subconscious biases, their pervasiveness, and their impact on perceptions, interactions, and analyses, helps prepare lawyers to represent people from cultural and racial backgrounds different from their own, and to address both individual and institutional injustice. Two law student surveys suggest many students believe lawyers are less susceptible than clients to having, or acting upon, stereotypes or biases. The survey results also indicate that many students suffer from bias blind spot – i.e. they believe that while others cannot recognize when they are acting based upon stereotypical beliefs and biases, the students know when they are doing so. The survey …

We Don’T Always Mean What We Say: Attitudes Toward Statutory Exclusion Of Juvenile Offenders From Juvenile Court Jurisdiction, Tina Zotolli, Tarika Daftary Kapur, Patricia A. Zapf

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

In the United States, juvenile offenders are often excluded from the jurisdiction of the juvenile court on the basis of age and crime type alone. Data from national surveys and data from psycholegal research on support for adult sanction of juvenile offenders are often at odds. The ways in which questions are asked and the level of detail provided to respondents and research participants may influence expressed opinions. Respondents may also be more likely to agree with harsh sanctions when they have fewer offender- and case-specific details to consider. Here, we test the hypothesis that attitudes supporting statutory exclusion laws …

Taxes And Self-Identity, Samuel Donaldson

Samuel A. Donaldson

No abstract provided.

Rule 412 Laid Bare: A Procedural Rule That Cannot Adequately Protect Sexual Harassment Plaintiffs From Embarrassing Exposure, Andrea A. Curcio

Andrea A. Curcio

No abstract provided.

Addressing Barriers To Cultural Sensibility Learning: Lesson From Social Cognition Theory, Andrea A. Curcio

Andrea A. Curcio

Understanding subconscious biases, their pervasiveness, and their impact on perceptions, interactions, and analyses, helps prepare lawyers to represent people from cultural and racial backgrounds different from their own, and to address both individual and institutional injustice. Two law student surveys suggest many students believe lawyers are less susceptible than clients to having, or acting upon, stereotypes or biases. The survey results also indicate that many students suffer from bias blind spot – i.e. they believe that while others cannot recognize when they are acting based upon stereotypical beliefs and biases, the students know when they are doing so. The survey …

Taking It To The Streets: Putting Discourse Analysis To The Service Of A Public Defender's Office, Clark D. Cunningham, Bonnie S. Mcelhinny

Clark D. Cunningham

No abstract provided.

Adventures In The Zone Of Twilight: Separation Of Powers And National Economic Security In The Mexican Bailout, Russell D. Covey

Russell D. Covey

No abstract provided.

Bridging The Quality Gap With Medical-Legal Partnerships, Lisa Bliss, Sylvia Caley, Robert Pettignano

Sylvia B. Caley

No abstract provided.

Deadly Waiting Game: An Environmental Justice Framework For Examining Natural And Man-Made Disasters Beyond Hurricane Katrina [Abstract], Robert D. Bullard

Robert D Bullard

Presenter: Robert D. Bullard, Ph.D., Professor of Sociology, Clark Atlanta University 1 page.

Recidivism Recourse: Cracking Down On Florida's Sexually Violent Predators, Nicole Canha

Barry Law Review

No abstract provided.

Self-Sufficiency: The Approach Welfare Reform Should Take In Order To Remedy The Shortcomings Of Past Efforts, Ashley Carroll

Journal of the National Association of Administrative Law Judiciary

This comment will explain the evolution of welfare reform, present some proposals that others have suggested in order to remedy the problems the current system has, and suggest a way to best serve those of a lower socio-economic status. Part II explains the background on welfare reform and why the reform that occurred during the Clinton administration was so revolutionary. It will explain how the progress in the Clinton administration impacted the effectiveness of welfare reform. Part III details how the current welfare programs in place impact the United States, and how the changes by the Obama administration contrast with …

Eliminate Stingy Benevolence, Cassady Brewer

Cassady V. Brewer

No abstract provided.

Gift Horses, Choosy Beggars, And Other Reflections On The Role And Utility Of Social Enterprise Law, Cassady V. Brewer

Cassady V. Brewer

The U.S. law of social enterprise is growing rapidly. Since 2008, one-half of all U.S. states have modified their business law to establish special legal forms designed for social enterprise. Meanwhile, even with twenty-five states adopting special laws for social enterprise, the legal debate surrounding social enterprise continues. Rather than rehashing that debate, this essay sets forth the author’s personal perspective on the role and utility of social enterprise. The essay argues that, except in limited circumstances, social enterprise is superior to traditional philanthropy when it comes to solving longstanding humanitarian or environmental problems. U.S. business law thus should continue …

New Markets Tax Credits Stimulate Community Development, Michael Lehmann, Cassady Brewer

Cassady V. Brewer

No abstract provided.

Tales Of Color And Colonialism: Racial Realism And Settler Colonial Theory, Natsu T. Saito

Natsu Taylor Saito

More than a half-century after the Civil Rights Era, people of color remain disproportionately impoverished and incarcerated, excluded and vulnerable. Legal remedies rooted in the Constitution’s guarantee of equal protection remain elusive. This article argues that the “racial realism” advocated by the late Professor Derrick Bell compels us to look critically at the purposes served by racial hierarchy. By stepping outside the master narrative’s depiction of the United States as a “nation of immigrants” with opportunity for all, we can recognize it as a settler state, much like Canada, Australia, and New Zealand. It could not exist without the occupation …

Human Trafficking And Film: How Popular Portrayals Influence Law And Public Perception, Jonathan Todres

Jonathan Todres

No abstract provided.

Same-Sex Marriage, Political Backlash And The Case For Going Slow, Eric Segall

Eric J. Segall

No abstract provided.

Forging Successful Non-Profit Partnerships Following Crisis And Disaster: O.C. Haley Boulevard's Story, John T. Marshall

John Travis Marshall

No abstract provided.

Dr. Panopticon, Or How I Stopped Worrying And Learned To Love The Drone, Caren Morrison

Caren Myers Morrison

Of all the ways the government has to watch us, unmanned aerial vehicles, commonly known as drones, best capture the visceral fear of the all-seeing surveillance state. Because drones are becoming increasingly tiny, inexpensive, and powerful, they could enable a new species of universal surveillance, turning our cities into a modern version of Bentham’s panopticon. But this essay, written for the criminal justice symposium issue of the JCRED, is not about the alarming consequences of surveillance technology. Instead, it seeks to explore whether there is anything useful to be learned from the possibility of continuous mass surveillance. Not just useful …

We Don't Need More Laws Protecting Our Privacy From Drones?, Caren M. Morrison

Caren Myers Morrison

No abstract provided.

How The Right To Speedy Trial Can Reduce Mass Pretrial Incarceration, Zina Makar

All Faculty Scholarship

Kenny Johnson1 was thirty-two years old when he was released from a Baltimore City jail— almost three years after his arrest in October 2012. Johnson was not serving a sentence, but these three years were spent under pretrial detention. He had been denied bail. Johnson’s case was a rollercoaster of delays and uncertainty, particularly towards the end of his pretrial incarceration. The need for certainty convinced Johnson to plead guilty—he could not stand knowing that his pretrial incarceration could be indefinite and he wanted to be sure he was going home, guilty or not guilty.

Between the time he was …

Reflections On Current Attempts To Revise International Legal Structures: The North-South Dialogue-Clash Of Values And Concepts, Contradictions And Compromises, Pedro Roffe

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Sovereignty, This Strange Thing: Its Impact On The Global Economic Order, Kazuaki Sono

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Improving The International Legislative Process, Paul C. Szasz

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Symposium - The Future Of International Law: Thoughts On The Next Forty Years (Forward), Dean Rusk

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents, Georgia Journal Of International And Comparative Law

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

The New Affirmative Action After Fisher V. University Of Texas: Defining Educational Diversity Through The Sixth Amendment's Cross-Section Requirement, Adam Lamparello, Cynthia Swann

Adam Lamparello

Skin color and diversity are not synonymous, and race provides no basis upon which to stereotype individuals or groups, regardless of whether the reasons are malevolent or benign.

Affirmative action policies in higher education should focus on the things that individuals have overcome, not the traits that individuals—and groups—cannot change. Currently, the opposite is true, as such policies typically equate racial diversity with educational diversity, thereby precluding consideration of factors such as family and personal background, life experience, and the overcoming of adversity that would result in true educational diversity. This is not to say that race is irrelevant, …

Breast Implants As Beauty Ritual: Woman's Sceptre And Prison, Julie M. Spanbauer

Julie M. Spanbauer

In the past several years, various publications, including medical literature, television reports, newspaper articles, and even a book written by a physician and editor of a prestigious medical journal, have delivered roughly the same message to the public about silicone gel breast implants: they do not cause disease. According to these publications, the issue is all but closed. They claim that the earlier litigation documenting the dangers of silicone and the misdeeds of surgeons, as well as exposing greedy and fraudulent behavior of corporations such as Dow Coming, was apparently either in error or was itself a fraud perpetrated upon …