Digital Commons Network^™

From Bulwark To Puppet: A Call To Democratize The Archaic Grand Jury, Maris Medina

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

The War On Cannabis, Marla Zappa

Public Interest Law Reporter

Federal legalization of marijuana has the potential to drastically reform the criminal justice system as thousands of Americans face lifelong penalties for simple drug offenses, especially communities of color who are prosecuted at much higher rates compared to white individuals.

Today, possession of marijuana is the leading drug offense for which Americans are arrested.¹ Every year approximately 550,000 individuals are arrested for cannabis offenses, typically possession.² This is because marijuana is the most common illicit drug used in the United States.³ In 2021, over 52.2 million Americans consumed cannabis in some form.⁴ Across the population, marijuana …

Table Of Contents, Public Interest Law Reporter

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

What A Waste: The Prosecution Of Hazardous Substances Crimes During The Trump Administration, Joshua Ozymy, Ph.D., Melissa Jarrell Ozymy, Ph.D.

Public Interest Law Reporter

The Trump Administration went to great lengths to roll back environmental regulatory and enforcement efforts. Yet, researchers know very little about the impact of the Administration on the criminal prosecution of hazardous substance crimes. This study utilizes content analysis of EPA criminal investigations leading to prosecution during the Trump Era to analyze charging and sentencing patterns and illustrate the greater themes that emerged during this period. Prosecutions are dominated by hazardous waste (48%), pesticide (41%), and lead-based paint (11%) crimes. Results show prosecutors were able to pursue crimes involving significant harm and culpable conduct, while securing over $90 million in …

Coercion, Control, And Criminal Law: Rethinking Accomplice Liability And Duress For Intimate Partner Violence Survivor-Defendants, Rachel Still

Public Interest Law Reporter

No abstract provided.

Measuring The Unmeasurable: Foreign Aid And The Rule Of Law, Natallia Karkanitsa

Celebrating WCL Student Authors

This article provides an analysis of the international indexes and rankings that assess and compare the rule of law globally. It first starts with a discussion on the necessity of the international measurements of the rule of law in context of the foreign aid allocation to developing countries. Then, this article defines the rule of law and explains its relationship with governance and human rights. This article further reviews three rule of law indexes from the World Bank, the World Justice Project, and Bertelsmann Stiftung and Sustainable Development Solutions Network, using the position of Belarus in these measurements as a …

Expanding Our Horizons: Reflections On A Compass Of Possibilities, Corinna Barrett Lain

Law Faculty Publications

Once in a great while, I read a piece of literature and know immediately that I am reading something special. I instinctively know that the author is renowned, and I know this without even knowing who wrote whatever it is that I am reading. The words are crisp and clear, and the ideas are so provocative that it is evident that something deeply meaningful has been created, something that people will be thinking about for a long time. Such is the case with Mireille Delmas-Marty’s last lecture at the Collège de France in 2011, recently translated to English, and accompanied …

Prejudice Standards In Washington’S Appellate Courts, Andrew B. Van Winkle

Seattle University Law Review

When an appellate court finds an error to have occurred during a proceeding, the error is not yet subject to correction. In order to merit a remedy, the error must have been sufficiently prejudicial to the aggrieved party’s case. Drawing the line between correctable and non-correctable errors is not an easy task, for it often requires guessing at what was in the minds of jurors and trial judges. To cope with this task, courts have devised various rules and tests for deciding whether an error was likely prejudicial or not. These standards often go by names such as “harmless error,” …

From Criminalizing China To Criminalizing The Chinese, Leo Yu

Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Many scholars have studied the racialization of Asian Americans and found that perpetual foreignness stands at the core of their ascriptive identity. This identity was formed in the 19th century and is also closely related to the dominant society’s racial understanding of ‘the Chinese’—which refers, for the purposes of this article, to people of actual or perceived Chinese descent in the United States. This article investigates this racialization process, with a contemporary lens: What does perpetual foreignness mean to the Chinese in the 21st century?

This Article argues that, for the Chinese, their foreignness in today’s United States means more …

Human Rights In Hospitals: An End To Routine Shackling, Neil Singh Bedi, Nisha Mathur, Judy D. Wang, Avital Rech, Nancy Gaden, George J. Annas, Sondra S. Crosby

Faculty Scholarship

Medical students (NSB, NM, JDW) spearheaded revision of the policy and clinical practice for shackling incarcerated patients at Boston Medical Center (BMC), the largest safety net hospital in New England. In American hospitals, routine shackling of incarcerated patients with metal restraints is widespread—except for perinatal patients—regardless of consciousness, mobility, illness severity, or age. The modified policy includes individualized assessments and allows incarcerated patients to be unshackled if they meet defined criteria. The students also formed the Stop Shackling Patients Coalition (SSP Coalition) of clinicians, public health practitioners, human rights advocates, and community members determined to humanize the inpatient treatment of …

Investigating The Relationship Between Foster Care And Sex Trafficking: What Factors Are Maintaining The Cycle Of Abuse, Shannon M. Budgell

Student Theses

Sex trafficking is a global crime and human rights issue that benefits abusers at the detriment of vulnerable groups, including children involved in the United States welfare system. This meta-synthesis explored the risk factors present within the United States foster care system that expose children to potential victimization. Using qualitative research, the purpose of this study was to review sex trafficking exploitation and analyze the current policies creating this vulnerability in the nation’s child welfare services. Upon completing a systematic literature search, nine studies were included by meeting the following criteria: qualitative or quantitative research studies published in English any …

Walking The Walk: Ex-Prisoners, Lived Experience, And The Delivery Of Restorative Justice, Allely Albert

Articles

Although the role of prisoners and ex-prisoners has recently received significant attention in restorative justice research, the literature typically treats them as the ‘offending’ party within restorative justice processes. This article instead focuses on ex-prisoners as facilitators of restorative justice, highlighting their ability to lead such programmes. Using a case study from Northern Ireland, the article examines the way that experiences of incarceration have directly influenced practitioners’ skills and their ability to uphold restorative justice principles. It is contended that qualities developed and honed in the prison environment ultimately translate to unique characteristics that can improve the restorative process. As …

Religious Liberty, Discriminatory Intent, And The Conservative Constitution, Luke Boso

Utah Law Review

The Supreme Court shocked the world at the end of its 2021–22 term by issuing landmark decisions ending constitutional protection for abortion rights, expanding gun rights, and weakening what remained of the wall between church and state. One thread uniting these cases that captured the public’s attention is the rhetoric common of originalism—a backwards-looking theory of constitutional interpretation focused on founding-era meaning and intent. This Article identifies the discriminatory intent doctrine as another powerful tool the Court is using to protect the social norms and hierarchies of a bygone era, and to build a conservative Constitution.

Discriminatory intent rose to …

Establishing Control Order Regimes: The International Human Rights Law Implications For Pre-Conviction And Post-Release Control Orders, Natalie Garcia

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Control orders are restrictive measures placed on individuals that pose an identified threat to public safety as a component of domestic counterterrorism policy. Control orders and their compliance with International Human Rights Law have been the subject of extensive litigation within the European Court of Human Rights and domestic states courts. Controlling provisions are applied in either the pre- conviction or the post-release stage of a state's criminal procedure. Pre- conviction control orders face significant criticism for the potential conflicts with due process protections of the right to a fair trial and the broader right of liberty. This Note describes …

Takings In Disguise: The Inequity Of Public Nuisance Receiverships In America’S Rust Belt, Anna Kennedy

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

Since they were created in the 1980s in Cleveland, Ohio, public nuisance receiverships have spread across the American Rust Belt. This Note critically analyzes the legal implications of public nuisance receiverships, which involve the intrusion onto private property for public purposes. Despite claims that these actions align with exceptions to due process or public nuisance principles, a deeper examination reveals their fundamental nature as government takings of private property. This Note dissects the legal framework within the context of the Fifth Amendment, debunking the applicability of the public nuisance exception, establishing that receiverships constitute takings, and highlighting conflicts with Anti-Kelo …

“Social Workers By Day And Terrorists By Night?” Wounded Healers, Restorative Justice, And Ex-Prisoner Reentry, Allely Albert

Articles

Common to many post-conflict societies, former political prisoners and combatants in Northern Ireland are often portrayed as security threats rather than as potential contributors to societal peacebuilding processes. This distrust limits their ability to contribute to the transitional landscape and additionally hinders desistance processes during their reentry from prison. Drawing from the work of Maruna, LeBel, and others on “wounded healers,” this article critically examines the restorative justice work of ex-prisoners who have become involved in leadership roles within community based restorative justice. It is argued that such practitioner work can help former combatants overcome many of the challenges typically …

Mitigating Sex Trafficking: Preventative Methods For Reducing Sexual Exploitation, Autumn Rain Monroe

University Honors Theses

In recent years, sex trafficking has become more well-known in the public sphere, generating activism and legislation in an effort to combat this human rights issue. With this increased awareness comes challenges in appropriately understanding sex trafficking. The general public and even lawmakers often do not understand the complete dynamic or complexities of sex trafficking. Definitional inconsistencies make it difficult to provide a universal definition of sex trafficking, contributing to misconceptions involving the methods of entry and the barriers to exiting. Ultimately, this prevents proper identification of victims, hinders the protection of victims, and the implementation of survivor-oriented legislation, meaning …

Racial Discrimination In Jury Selection: The Urgent Need For Sixth Amendment Protections For Black Capital Defendants, Claire Austin

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

In the U.S., death row is made up of a disproportionate number of black persons. In capital trials, black defendants often face all white juries. The deep-rooted racial discrimination in the justice system impacts jury selection because prosecutors use peremptory strikes to remove black jurors from the jury panel. As the law stands today, the Sixth Amendment guarantee of an impartial jury made up of a fair representation of the jury applies only to the pool of jurors called in for jury service, not those who are actually selected to hear the case.

This comment analyzes the Supreme Court decision, …

The War On Drugs Or The War On Drug Users? Supervised Consumption Site In The United States As A Harm Reduction Strategy To Fight The Opioid Epidemic, Mary Crevello

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

Exploring the U.S. response to the opioid crisis, this study critically examines supervised consumption sites (SCSs) as a pragmatic approach. The historical framework of the "war on drugs" is scrutinized, highlighting its limitations and the necessity to shift from punitive measures towards more effective harm reduction strategies. Due to escalating opioid-related fatalities and inadequate harm reduction methods, the potential of SCSs is evaluated for short-term intervention. The Department of Justice's (DOJ) role in facilitating temporary measures to enable SCS operations is assessed, underscoring the urgency for a stable legislative framework to comprehensively address the crisis.

This research advocates for embracing …

International Agreements Shaping Migration Solutions, Camilo Mantilla

Refugee Law & Migration Studies Brief

In an increasingly complex and interdependent state of international relations, international treaty negotiation, adoption, and implementation constitute an important component of global foreign policy and activity of states. International agreements embody sovereign and state-to-state relations and behavior in a global forum. International agreements manifest in ways that vary in form, subject, formalities, parties, scope, forum and many other elements.

Meet Our New Faculty: Yvette Butler, James Owsley Boyd

Keep Up With the Latest News from the Law School (blog)

Associate Professor Yvette T. Butler joined the Indiana Law faculty this summer. She earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota, Morris, and her law degree from The George Washington University Law School.

Victim Protection And The Dynamic Situation Of Human Trafficking: Indonesia Experience, Nathalina Naibaho

Indonesian Journal of International Law

Human trafficking is a global issue. It can arise in the context of national and/or transnational acts and are regulated by national and transnational criminal law mechanisms. However, in trafficking in person cases there are links between human trafficking and other related crimes such as drugs trafficking. Meanwhile, Indonesia has enacted laws which provide mandatory protection for victims of human trafficking. It also has mandatory drug laws which, in some cases, subject to the death penalty. This legislative conflict together with investigative and prosecutorial failure risks the conviction of human trafficked victims who are used as drug dealers in organized …

2023 Summer - Clihhr Newsletter, Cardozo Law Institute In Holocaust And Human Rights (Clihhr)

CLIHHR Newsletters

This Summer 2023 issue of the CLIHHR Newsletter honors the legacy of Benjamin B. Ferencz and reflects on the Institute’s continued commitment to international justice and atrocity prevention. It features tributes to Ferencz’s life and work, updates on student and clinic achievements, including success at the Clara Barton International Humanitarian Law Competition, international fieldwork in Argentina and India, major conferences on sexual and gender-based crimes, faculty engagement in global legal advocacy, and partnerships advancing survivor-centered and intersectional justice. The newsletter highlights CLIHHR’s dedication to human rights education, accountability, and global collaboration.

To The Court Of Last Resort: A Prosecutorial Roadmap In The Aftermath Of State Violence In Chile And Colombia, David F. Scollan

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

A great deal of academic research and writing has been done on the most glaring examples of war crimes and crimes against humanity. But, only a small cadre of authors have endeavored to identify the ‘lower limit’ of when state action qualifies as these heinous acts. This Note strives to add to that area of legal scholarship aimed at bringing instances of in-country state perpetrated violence out from the behind the veil of sovereign police action and into the spotlight to call them what they are: crimes worthy of international condemnation and punishment. Specifically, this Note unpacks two spasms of …

Phr & Clihhr Submission To Sgbc Policy (June 2023), Physicians For Human Rights (Phr), Cardozo Law Institute In Holocaust And Human Rights (Clihhr)

CLIHHR Reports & Policy Submissions

This report was submitted by the Cardozo Law Institute in Holocaust and Human Rights (CLIHHR) and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) in June 2023 as part of the consultation process for the United Nations' policy on addressing sexual and gender-based crimes (SGBC). It offers legal analysis and strategic recommendations to strengthen accountability mechanisms for SGBC under international criminal law. The submission reflects CLIHHR’s ongoing work in advancing human rights and justice for marginalized and vulnerable populations.

Rebraiding Frayed Sweetgrass For Niijaansinaanik: Understanding Canadian Indigenous Child Welfare Issues As International Atrocity Crimes, Alyssa Couchie

Michigan Journal of International Law

The unearthing of the remains of Indigenous children on the sites of former Indian Residential Schools (“IRS”) in Canada has focused greater attention on anti-Indigenous atrocity violence in the country. While such increased attention, combined with recent efforts at redressing associated harms, represents a step forward in terms of recognizing and addressing the harms caused to Indigenous peoples through the settler-colonial process in Canada, this note expresses concern that the dominant framings of anti-Indigenous atrocity violence remain myopically focused on an overly narrow subset of harms and forms of violence, especially those committed at IRSs. It does so by utilizing …

Phr & Clihhr Submission To Icc Otp (May 2023), Physicians For Human Rights (Phr), Cardozo Law Institute In Holocaust And Human Rights (Clihhr)

CLIHHR Reports & Policy Submissions

This report was submitted by the Cardozo Law Institute in Holocaust and Human Rights (CLIHHR) and Physicians for Human Rights (PHR) in May 2023 to the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the International Criminal Court (ICC). It provides legal and strategic recommendations on investigating and prosecuting crimes of sexual and gender-based violence, with an emphasis on survivor-centered approaches and international legal standards. The submission highlights the importance of addressing such crimes within the framework of international justice.

Prostitution And Pornography: Reforming A Perspective, Mayce Combs

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

Happiness is a subjective emotion that can quickly be twisted by the depravity of humanity’s sinful nature. Human trafficking deprives an individual’s natural right to life, liberty, and their pursuit to happiness. Of the two divisions of human trafficking, sex trafficking, especially involving children, is the most despicable and most evolved. The United States and further the state of Virginia is a crucial player in combating human trafficking. While there are currently many successful tactics state governments and nonprofit groups are utilizing in order eliminate human trafficking there are further more intense strategies the Virginia State Government should implement. One …

Mentoring Programs: An Answer To The Cultural & Social Challenge Of Juvenile Rehabilitation, Isaiah Franqui

Helm's School of Government Conference - 2021-2024

The juvenile delinquency epidemic in the United States has been approached using many methods. This paper is an attempt to showcase one method that is often glanced over, but may provide the best solution yet. A new promising outlook for the overall well-being of juveniles within the criminal justice system is the formation of mentoring programs. These programs connect at-risk youth and/or current juvenile delinquents to a mentor who, in turn, can help shift the direction of their lives. They often take place within community centers throughout the day and can present themselves in a number of different methods. Through …

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 …