Digital Commons Network^™

Answering The Call From Victims Of Dating Violence: Georgia’S New Dating Violence Law, Sydney K. Parish

Georgia Criminal Law Review

Dating violence is a topic that has garnered increased awareness in recent days, both in the media and in the legal field. Many states have begun to pass legislation in attempt to address this issue and provide relief for victims of dating violence. In the summer of 2021, the state of Georgia passed House Bill 231, what later became known as Georgia’s Dating Violence law. This Article first examines our nation’s history of intimate partner violence to show why dating violence legislation was so desperately needed and how these legislative reforms have attempted to heal a system that for so …

Garrity Immunity And The U.S. Armed Forces, Bretton H. Laudeman, Gabriel J. Chin

BYU Law Review

The U.S. military is one of the nation’s largest and most important public employers. Given the unique nature of military service, the service branches have a strong interest in ensuring the integrity of their ranks. Yet the military lacks a critical force-management tool used by every other public employer to investigate workplace misconduct: the ability to demand answers to potentially incriminating questions under Garrity v. New Jersey, 385 U.S. 493 (1967). The Garrity solution, known as “Garrity immunity,” strikes a critical balance between the government’s interests in workplace oversight and accountability with the employee’s Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination by …

Title Theft, Stewart E. Sterk

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

Real property owners across the country have been targeted by scammers who prepare deeds purporting to convey title to property the scammers do not own. Sometimes, the true owners are entirely unaware of these bogus transfers. In other instances, the scammers use misrepresentation to induce unsophisticated owners to sign documents they do not understand.

Property doctrine protects owners against forgery and fraud—the primary vehicles scammers use in their efforts to transfer title. Owners enjoy protection not only against the scammers themselves, but generally against unsuspecting purchasers to whom the scammers transfer purported title.

Recovery of title, however, involves costs and …

P*Law 2024, Center For Public Service Law

2023–2024 Flyers

This document outlines the full schedule for P*LAW Week 2024 at Cardozo School of Law, hosted by the Center for Public Service Law. Held from January 29 to February 1, the week featured panels, workshops, and student-led presentations on critical public interest topics, including immigration, incarceration, housing justice, student debt, reproductive rights, and exoneration. With contributions from legal professionals, alumni, faculty, and students, the events provided education, mentorship, and career development opportunities for those pursuing paths in public interest law.

Second Look Myopia: State Sentencing Reform And The Local Prosecutorial Response, Alexandra Harrington

Journal Articles

This Article advises caution against over-reliance on local prosecutors’ offices to effect second-look reforms and to filter cases worthy of review. Using the lens of New York’s recent second-look law, the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act (DVSJA), I analyze the ways in which the local prosecutor can serve as a functional barrier to statewide implementation of sentencing reform. The New York State Legislature enacted the DVSJA—after advocacy from hundreds of directly impacted individuals, stakeholders, and organizations and after significant opposition from only the District Attorneys’ Association—to change the way the State sentences survivors of domestic violence. The DVSJA also allows …

Memories Of An Affirmative Action Activist, Margaret E. Montoya

Seattle University Law Review

Some twenty-five years ago, the Society of American Law Teachers (SALT) led a march supporting Affirmative Action in legal education to counter the spate of litigation and other legal prohibitions that exploded during the 1990s, seeking to limit or abolish race-based measures. The march began at the San Francisco Hilton Hotel, where the Association of American Law Schools (AALS) was having its annual meeting, and proceeded to Union Square. We, the organizers of the march, did not expect the march to become an iconic event; one that would be remembered as a harbinger of a new era of activism by …

Forbidden Purposes: A New Path For Limiting Criminalization, Raff Donelson

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

Activists and scholars have often complained that the American criminal justice system makes choices about criminalization and sentences based on nefarious reasons. For instance, critics have claimed that criminalization and sentencing decisions are made to provide cheap prison labor to the government or private industry, to boost the private prison industry, to offer employment in rural communities in the form of jobs managing correctional facilities, or to empower police to harass undesirables and remove them from public spaces. These accusations are very alarming, and the evidence may not confirm activists’ worst suspicions. But, supposing the extraordinary evidence could be adduced, …

Second Look Myopia: State Sentencing Reform And The Local Prosecutorial Response, Alexandra Harrington

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

This Article advises caution against over-reliance on local prosecutors’ offices to effect second-look reforms and to filter cases worthy of review. Using the lens of New York’s recent second-look law, the Domestic Violence Survivors Justice Act (DVSJA), I analyze the ways in which the local prosecutor can serve as a functional barrier to statewide implementation of sentencing reform. The New York State Legislature enacted the DVSJA—after advocacy from hundreds of directly impacted individuals, stakeholders, and organizations and after significant opposition from only the District Attorneys’ Association—to change the way the State sentences survivors of domestic violence. The DVSJA also allows …

The Sociology Of Bail Reform: Crime, Social Interaction, And Offender Experiences In Rurality., Scott Kevin Turner

Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Problem Reports (ETD)

The study sought to explore the impact of the New York State “Bail Reform Act of 2019,” in rurality. It examined some of the legislative goals of the law, the claim that it caused crime, and offender experiences in rurality. Secondary data was used to map the rural crime landscape and primary data was collected from offenders during face to face interviews. The study was framed using deterrence and opportunity approaches and situated within the broader field environments; legislative, courtroom, and community. The research failed to find support for the claim that bail reform caused crime. Instead, it revealed that …

Do Judges Understand Technology? How Attorneys And Advocates View Judicial Responsibility In Cyberstalking And Cyberharassment Cases, Kateryna Kaplun

International Journal on Responsibility

As new technologies emerge and are increasingly used to commit interpersonal cybercrimes like cyberstalking and cyberharassment, the legal system lags in assisting victims in obtaining justice in these types of experiences. This qualitative research study explores how attorney and advocate interviewees from Illinois, New Jersey, and New York view judges’ responsibility to the law in cyberstalking and cyberharassment cases. This study finds three themes: judges’ lack of understanding of technology and its harms, discretion, and law on the books versus law in action as important factors and frameworks that contribute to why judges do not consider the importance of technology …

Exploring The Importance Of Criminal Legal Aid: A Canadian Perspective, Trevor C. W. Farrow, Marcus Pratt

Articles & Book Chapters

There is a growing global recognition that, in order to address the current access to justice crisis, more research, together with a better understanding of data, is needed. This article, through an examination of existing legal aid research primarily in the area of criminal law, explores some of what we know and do not know about the relative benefits and costs of providing different kinds of criminal legal aid services. Although not a comprehensive review of all available research, this article identifies data strengths and gaps and the need for further research and reforms.

Mitigation Reports In Capital Cases: Legal And Ethical Issues, Russell Stetler, W. Bradley Wendel

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

The mitigation investigation that is essential in every capital case requires a multidisciplinary team. The duty to conduct this investigation is clearly established federal law, as well as an ethical obligation of counsel. The mitigation evidence that is uncovered is of vital importance to the rights of the individual accused of a capital offense, but also to reliable outcomes since all decisionmakers—including prosecutors, jurors, and judges—need the most complete and accurate picture of the person facing the punishment of last resort. This Article discusses some of the unique legal and ethical issues affecting the documentation of this investigation. The Authors …

Twenty Years After Krieger V Law Society Of Alberta: Law Society Discipline Of Crown Prosecutors And Government Lawyers, Andrew Flavelle Martin

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Krieger v. Law Society of Alberta held that provincial and territorial law societies have disciplinary jurisdiction over Crown prosecutors for conduct outside of prosecutorial discretion. The reasoning in Krieger would also apply to government lawyers. The apparent consensus is that law societies rarely exercise that jurisdiction. But in those rare instances, what conduct do Canadian law societies discipline Crown prosecutors and government lawyers for? In this article, I canvass reported disciplinary decisions to demonstrate that, while law societies sometimes discipline Crown prosecutors for violations unique to those lawyers, they often do so for violations applicable to all lawyers — particularly …

The Mob Lawyer's Constitution, Sara Mayeux

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

This article reconstructs the constitutional rhetoric of mob lawyers, as well as drug lawyers and other icons of the high-priced criminal defense bar, from the 1970s through the 1990s-the heyday of federal organized crime prosecutions and thus, of the lawyers who defended against them. Drawing upon pop-culture sources including archival television footage, magazine features, newspaper coverage, and ghost-written mass-market memoirs, the article pieces together the constellation of soundbites through which mob lawyers disseminated their views. As the subjects of frequent media coverage, these lawyers advanced a coherent and distinctive (if crude) set of ideas about the proper relationship between individuals, …

Race Ethics: Colorblind Formalism And Color-Coded Pragmatism In Lawyer Regulation, Anthony V. Alfieri

Articles

The recent, high-profile civil and criminal trials held in the aftermath of the George Floyd and Ahmaud Arbery murders, the Kyle Rittenhouse killings, and the Charlottesville "Unite the Right" Rally violence renew debate over race, representation, and ethics in the U.S. civil and criminal justice systems. For civil rights lawyers, prosecutors, and criminal defense attorneys, neither the progress of post-war civil rights movements and criminal justice reform campaigns nor the advance of Critical Race Theory and social movement scholarship have resolved the debate over the use of race in pretrial, trial, and appellate advocacy, and in the lawyering process more …

Creating A People-First Court Data Framework, Lauren Sudeall, Charlotte S. Alexander

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Most court data are maintained--and most empirical court research is conducted--from the institutional vantage point of the courts. Using the case as the common unit of measurement, data-driven court research typically focuses on metrics such as the size of court dockets, the speed of case processing, judicial decision-making within cases, and the frequency of case events occurring within or resulting from the court system.

This Article sets forth a methodological framework for reconceptualizing and restructuring court data as "people-first"-centered not on the perspective of courts as institutions but on the people who interact with the court system. We reorganize case-level …

Prison Housing Policies For Transgender, Non-Binary, Gender-Non-Conforming, And Intersex People: Restorative Ways To Address The Gender Binary In The United States Prison System, John G. Sims

University of Richmond Law Review

“[I]t was the end of the last quarter of 2019 where I was able to drop the lawsuit against the correctional officer who had sexually harmed me when I knew . . . that the carceral state is not the way for me to find healing . . . . I was not going to seek my transformation and restoration through this system.”

Each year, rhetoric and legislation attacking transgender, non-binary, gender non-conforming and intersex individuals seemingly grows louder. Many political institutions in the United States perpetuate and enable the oppression of these individuals, one of which is the United …

Kekosongan Hukum Acara Dan Krisis Access To Justice Dalam Kasus-Kasus Pemberhentian Kepala Daerah/Wakil Kepala Daerah Di Indonesia, Arasy Pradana Azis

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Law Number 23 Year 2014 on Regional Government (Law No. 23/2014) provides that the Regional Head or Deputy Regional Head may be dismissed in the middle of his term by certain reasons. The law also regulates a strict process, including the involment of the Supreme Court (MA) in it. MA provides a judicial test of the opinion of the Regional House of Representatives (DPRD) as the initiator of the dismissal processl. The involvement of the Supreme Court is a consequence of the strengthening of the legitimacy of the Head of Region/Deputy Head of Region, which is now elected directly by …

The Juris Master: A Proposal For Reducing Excessive Public Defender Caseloads, Blake Comeaux

Senior Honors Papers / Undergraduate Theses

The US public defense system is underfunded, understaffed, and underdelivering on the Constitutional promises of the 6^th Amendment, the right to a fair and speedy trial. This state of our public defense system results in monstrous impacts for indigent defendants nationwide. Through indefinite delays in litigation, being abandoned in jail while sitting on waiting lists for public defenders, and being outright denied representation, indigent defendants are deprived of their rights. Beyond just defendant neglect, our current system puts immense strain on public defenders, prosecutors, and state budgets. In an attempt to combat this current state of affairs, this paper …

A Business Doing Pleasure: Combating Sex Trafficking By Decriminalizing Sex Work, Annalise Leonelli

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

On the night police officers pounded on Yang Song’s door, she ran to the balcony of her fourth-floor apartment, which overlooks 40th Road in Flushing, Queens. Four years earlier, she had arrived at John F. Kennedy Airport with a dream of opening a restaurant. After a waitressing job failed, as well as a short-lived Chinese fast-food venture, she took a massage therapy course. There, she learned about a “lucrative opportunity” on 40th Road.

Flushing’s underground sex economy has been notorious for years. In fact, massage parlor arrests across the United States consistently lead back to addresses in Flushing. Because …

The Analysis Of Transitional Justice Initiatives And The Flaw Of Prosecution On The Past Human Rights Violation In Indonesia (Tanjung Priok Case), Junaedi Saibih, Elwi Danil, Kurnia Warman, Nani Mulyati

Indonesian Journal of International Law

The political transition from the New Order era to Reform Era has initiated questions to the transitional government about transitional justice initiatives. This chapter discusses the theoretical perspectives on transitional justice that have been developed by many scholars in their publications. Besides the theoretical perspectives about transitional justice, this chapter also discusses transitional justice elements, the forms, and the institution of justice in transitional regimes. The discussion in this chapter is important as a measurement of the transitional government initiatives to reach political stability and reconciling with the past. The explanation about the forms and the element of justice then …

Federal Law Enforcement Reform: Depoliticization Into A Constitutional Framework To Restore Public Confidence, Christopher J. Boosey

Senior Honors Theses

This thesis proposes that there is a lack of public confidence in federal law enforcement agencies and that this is because these agencies have become political weapons, investigating individuals rather than crimes, in violation of the U.S. Constitution. Following multiple scandals, from the historical targeting of the Civil Rights movement to present attempts to designate parents critical of school administrators as domestic terrorists, wholesale reform of these agencies is urgent. Therefore, this thesis will address the issue of politicization, political corruption, and the lack of adherence to constitutional principles through the problem, significance, and solution method. This thesis will first …

Gender Registration And International Law: Are Gender Markers Necessary?, Mika D'Angelo

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

The note critically examines the necessity and implications of gender markers on identification documents under international law, arguing that current practices disproportionately burden transgender and gender-diverse individuals. It contends that the registration of gender often fails to align with international human rights standards, perpetuating discrimination and administrative violence. The analysis advocates for a reevaluation of gender registration to ensure it respects self-determination and privacy rights while addressing practical concerns.

“Title Ix Isn’T For You, It’S For The University”: Sexual Violence Survivors’ Experiences Of Institutional Betrayal In Title Ix Investigations, Katherine Lorenz, Rebecca Hayes, Cathrine Jacobsen

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

Institutional betrayal occurs when an institution fails to appropriately respond to harm experienced by a member of the institution, such as by failing to act or by mishandling cases. The concept has been applied to higher education institution’s (HEI’s) response to students who experience sexual violence, particularly Title IX investigations, showing that institutional betrayal is common among student survivors. Yet, to our knowledge, institutional betrayal in HEI Title IX investigations has not been qualitatively explored. We conducted interviews of graduate and undergraduate student sexual violence survivors (n=21) who participated in a Title IX investigation at a U.S. HEI to understand …

Insider Expungement, Brian M. Murray

Utah Law Review

Like many phases of the criminal justice system, insiders dominate the practice of expungement and there is little to no involvement of the broader community. Recently, scholars in favor of democratization in criminal justice have called for enhanced public involvement during policing, charging, bail determinations, plea-bargaining, and sentencing to improve accountability, transparency, and democratic participation. This Article is the first to extend this critique to decision-making during the expungement process. It conveys how expungement always has been the province of insiders and how recent expungement reforms, while broadening some substantive expungement remedies, double down on this paradigm. Procedures are implemented …

The Art World Of Digital Assets: How Non-Fungible Tokens Create A Loophole In Anti-Money Laundering Regulations, Sofia Aizenman

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Political Subdivisions, Homelessness, And Vacancy: How Missouri’S Use Of Logrolling Passed House Bill 1606, Kateri Busiek

SLU Law Journal Online

In June of 2022, Governor Parson signed into law House Bill 1606. HB 1606 contains a diverse set of provisions concerning county financial statements, unlawful camping on state-owned property, and penalties for landowners of vacant property. In this article, Kateri Busiek discusses how House Bill 1606 violates the Missouri Constitution.

Crying Wolves, Paper Tigers, And Busy Beavers—Oh My!: A New Approach To Pro Se Prisoner Litigation, Justin C. Van Orsdol

Arkansas Law Review

To say that the United States is infatuated with incarceration would be a gross understatement. As a result of “tough on-crime” laws, the United States has “the largest prison population in the world, with more than 2.3 million persons behind bars on any given day” and it “also has the world’s highest per capita rate of incarceration” with a rate that is “five to ten times higher than those of other industrialized democracies like England and Wales . . . . Canada . . . , and Sweden.” Due in part to prison population increases, the conditions of U.S. prisons …

The World Moved On Without Me: Redefining Contraband In A Technology-Driven World For Youth Detained In Washington State, Stephanie A. Lowry

Seattle University Law Review

If you ask a teenager in the United States to show you one of their favorite memories, they will likely show you a picture or video on their cell phone. This is because Americans, especially teenagers, love cell phones. Ninety-seven percent of all Americans own a cell phone according to a continuously updated survey by the Pew Research Center. For teenagers aged thirteen to seventeen, the number is roughly 95%. For eighteen to twenty-nine-year-olds, the number grows to 100%. On average, eight to twelve-year-old’s use roughly five and a half hours of screen media per day, in comparison to thirteen …

Scotus On Immigration: A Review Of Recent Decisions & What's To Come

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The symposium discusses recent Supreme Court decisions on immigration, focusing on cases that address issues such as mandatory detention, limits on judicial review, and the expansion of executive discretion. These rulings have significant implications for immigration law and practice, particularly in areas of detention, due process, and the ability of federal courts to review immigration-related decisions.