Digital Commons Network^™

Perceptions Toward Wrongful Convictions And Needed Reforms In The Criminal Justice System: Does Working Experience In Law Enforcement Matter?, Natalia Ermasova, Aubrey Adams, Lisa Jackson

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"This study proposes to investigate how public views on the wrongful conviction issue are connected with the perceived need for criminal justice reform and whether the professional experience in law enforcement influences these perceptions. This study employs a qualitative research design, deriving its conclusions from the comparative analysis of the survey responses concerning the issue of wrongful convictions and the criminal justice system collected from 45 law enforcement professionals and 35 individuals without such experience. The comparative results reveal that for the respondents without working experience in law enforcement, racial/ethnical bias was one of the most substantial issues of wrongful …

"Nobody Gives A Damn If You Don't Know The Rules": Poverty, Strain, And Crime, Chrystina Y. Hoffman, Dana R. Dillard, Erin King, Angela Blackburn

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"General strain theory posits that individuals commit crimes when they experience negative emotions following various sources of strain. One such source of strain is poverty. In this study, researchers use focus group data and apply a general strain framework to analyze criminal offending during the Missouri Community Action Network's Poverty Simulation© (2022) at a regional comprehensive university in the Southeast region of the United States. A total of 99 undergraduate and graduate students participated in the focus groups at the end of the simulation. Findings support Agnew’s (1992) theory with examples of sources of strain stemming from poverty leading to …

Research Brief: Ghosting In The Realm Of Research: The Realities Of Conducting Social Science Research In The Digital Age, Lena M. Campagna, Angela S. Murolo

Qualitative Criminology (QC)

"Social science research does not occur in a vacuum. Competing for time and attention is the norm in a society that has become more isolated. Because of this, the effects of ghosting are prevalent everywhere. As social scientists, we are not immune to ghosting or its effects. In this research brief, two junior faculty members discuss their efforts to overcome ghosting at every level of the research process and its impact on hiring student workers, knowledge production, and meeting grant funding requirements. Lastly, the authors offer suggestions for overcoming the effects of ghosting and its effect on the challenges of …

Cruz Sánchez Et Al. V. Peru, Rachana Reddi

Loyola of Los Angeles International and Comparative Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Sexual Harassment Silo, Deborah Widiss

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The #MeToo movement exposed the pervasiveness of sexual harassment in employment and made clear that legal remedies were sorely lacking. Federal and state lawmakers responded by passing laws broadening access to court and enhancing remedies; requiring training, policies, and data collection; and modifying substantive harassment law, most commonly by rejecting the requirement that victims prove they were subject to “severe or pervasive” conduct. Although some of these reforms apply to harassment or discrimination on the basis of any protected trait, many create special rights for victims of sexual harassment. Collectively these laws establish what I term “the sexual harassment silo.” …

Breaking Up With The Anti-Hero: How 303(B)(3) Can Help Law Schools Mitigate Their Perennial Devices, Prices, Vices, And Crises, Kelly M. Gamble

Maine Law Review

The American Bar Association’s issuance of Standard 303(b)(3) represents a pivotal shift compelling law schools to adapt their approach to the evolving needs of law students, lawyers, and the profession. The Standard serves as an invitation to re-evaluate the relationship between the primary curriculum and student support frameworks. This Article proposes a comprehensive approach to infuse professional identity development throughout the first year of law school. While professional identity development requires ongoing efforts, sometimes tailored to particular practice interests, this Article contends that all students benefit from early explicit instruction on foundational professional identity competencies. This Article first outlines the …

Racial Discrimination In Retailers' Willingness To Accept Returns: A Field Study, Meirav Furth-Matzkin

Northwestern University Law Review

Black Americans have long faced discriminatory treatment while shopping in retail establishments, including, most notably, being subjected to increased surveillance, inconsistent pricing, and inferior customer service. Little attention, however, has been paid to other post-purchase aspects of retail transactions. Specifically, do Black Americans receive the same treatment as white customers when it comes to performing sellers’ formal policies or contracts? While it is understood that salespeople are often given discretion to deviate from standard form contracts, sometimes departing from the literal terms to satisfy consumers, there has been a notable absence of systematic exploration into how salespeople exercise this authority …

The Market Value Of Partisan Balance, Brian D. Feinstein, Daniel J. Hemel

Northwestern University Law Review

For the past century, Delaware’s constitution has provided that no more than a bare majority of judges on the state’s courts may hail from the same political party. Some scholars and jurists theorize that Delaware’s commitment to a politically balanced judiciary increases the state’s attractiveness to out-of-state corporations and adds value to Delaware-chartered firms. These claims echo a larger literature in law and the social sciences positing that ideological diversity improves decisional quality. Recently, a series of federal court decisions in the case of Adams v. Carney put these claims to the test. In December 2017, a federal district court …

Un©Ertainty And Dis©Omfort, Richard Chused

Northwestern Journal of Technology and Intellectual Property

This essay explores creative works that produce powerful reactions of discernment, hostility, or deep uncertainty from mysterious forms of “blankness.” They all use silence or similarly ineffable qualities to challenge the thoughtfulness and tolerance of audience members. They force us to understand that creativity sometimes manifests itself in strange and bizarre ways that test not only our viewing tolerance, but also our traditional notions of creativity and of intellectual property boundary lines. It is like forcing fully sensory-enabled people to think about creativity in ways that may mimic a small fragment of the daily experience of those with limited sight …

Analisis Kritis Celah Regulasi Investasi Bodong Sebagai Peningkatan Tata Kelola Bisnis Terkait Investasi, Agustin Dea Prameswari

Jurnal Administrasi Bisnis Terapan

The phenomenon of fraudulent investment schemes in Indonesia continues to pose a significant threat to economic stability and business governance. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of existing regulations in preventing fraudulent investments, identify regulatory gaps exploited by perpetrators, and propose strategies to strengthen regulations and improve business governance. A qualitative approach was employed using document analysis, encompassing previous studies, prominent fraudulent investment cases such as MeMiles, Binomo, Fahrenheit, and Robot Trading Net89, as well as relevant regulatory frameworks. The findings reveal that existing regulations, such as Law No. 8 of 1995 on Capital Markets and Law No. 11 …

"I Was Young And Dumb": Why Age Should Be Considered In The Military Discharge Upgrade Process, Ashlyn Anderson-Keelin

Texas A&M Law Review

Approximately 40% of the United States military is no older than 25. Despite the robust and continued prevalence of young people serving in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, and Space Force, no special consideration is explicitly given to a servicemember’s age when considering upgrades for those discharged under less-than-honorable conditions. These young people volunteer to risk their lives, expecting to be honorably discharged and eligible to receive the benefits promised to them during recruitment and enlistment; however, many instead find themselves with a less-than-honorable discharge, thereby barred from the benefits that motivated them to join in the …

Accidental Brady Violations, Adam M. Gershowitz

Texas A&M Law Review

Prosecutors are often seen as the villains of the criminal justice system. And the most villainous thing a prosecutor can do is to commit an intentional Brady violation by withholding favorable and material evidence from the defense. Not surprisingly, there is a wide literature criticizing prosecutors for flagrant misconduct.

But not all Brady violations are intentional. Prosecutors sometimes—perhaps often—commit accidental Brady violations by inadvertently failing to recognize favorable evidence. Because many prosecutors are inexperienced, overworked, and under-trained, they do not recognize exculpatory or impeachment evidence when it is in their files. Additionally, prosecutors also fail to disclose evidence that is …

The Common Threats Of Artificial Intelligence And Privatization, Landyn Rookard

Texas A&M Law Review

Administrative agencies’ growing use of automated decisionmaking tools poses threats to core democratic values, such as agency flexibility, expertise, fairness, transparency, and accountability. But decades of privatization have wrought similar, lasting harms to the United States’ public institutions. This Article argues that the thoughtful criticisms and prescriptions from the burgeoning literature on the government’s use of artificial intelligence should be used to strengthen the scrutiny accorded to privatization.

Specifically, this Article challenges the perception that automated decisionmaking poses a greater threat to public values than privatization. Indeed, the two share several characteristics and goals. These include, for example, a fixation …

Regulating Ai Therapy Chatbots: A Call For Federal Oversight, Carolyn V. Wheeler

Texas A&M Law Review

While artificial intelligence therapy chatbots continue to develop and increase in popularity, there is little regulatory oversight for this burgeoning industry. Regulation is needed because there is a high probability for harm when artificial intelligence is used in the mental health therapy industry, yet there is no consensus on standards that apply. Artificial intelligence therapy chatbots are currently only regulated by indirect, suboptimal liability schemes. State governments could regulate them by considering them human practitioners or telehealth services, or the federal government could regulate them as medical devices. This Comment examines the pitfalls of the lack of artificial intelligence therapy …

Get Educated: Ask, Tell, And Say Gay, Matthew Oster

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

On July 6, 1999, Private Barry Winchell was murdered in his sleep by a fellow soldier for dating a transgender woman. Superiors were aware that Private Winchell was being harassed for dating a transgender woman but took no action to stop it. U.S. Department of Defense Directive 1304.26, commonly referred to as “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” (“DADT”), was the policy for the United States military for nearly two decades beginning in 1993. A policy meant to protect “unit cohesion” instead itself engendered hatred and violence among servicemembers. Unfortunately, government-sanctioned discrimination against the LGBTQ+ community did not end with the …

Power, Responsibility, And Judicial Deference To Police Expertise In Fourth Amendment Decisionmaking, Nicholas A. Kahn-Fogel

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

Courts have long deferred to police expertise in Fourth Amendment decisionmaking, most prominently in their application of the reasonable-person standard in assessments of probable cause and reasonable suspicion. Scholars have often bemoaned such deference as an abdication of the judicial obligation to make independent determinations of Fourth Amendment reasonableness. Nonetheless, the Supreme Court of the United States and lower courts are unlikely to abandon their view of police officers as possessing elevated knowledge, skill, experience, and perceptual abilities that merit judicial consideration in the evaluation of Fourth Amendment probabilities. On the other hand, the Court has tended to assume …

Calling On Congress: Use The Spending Clause To Keep Juveniles In Juvenile Court, Erin Fitzgerald

Pepperdine Law Review

Recently, juvenile justice reformers have had great success in expanding the reach of the juvenile court. Over the last two decades, many states have raised their age of majority, bringing older teens and young adults under the jurisdictional umbrella of the juvenile court. Likewise, many states have amended their transfer statutes, making transferring juveniles from juvenile court to adult criminal court more difficult. The success of these reforms is largely due to the relentless work of dedicated juvenile justice advocates and scholars. The “raise-the-age” movement and work to limit juvenile transfers has undoubtedly helped to retain more youthful offenders within …

Kennedy V. Louisiana And The Future Of The Eighth Amendment, Alexandra L. Klein

Pepperdine Law Review

In 2023, Florida passed a law permitting the imposition of the death penalty for the rape of a child under twelve. Tennessee enacted a similar law in 2024. These laws conflict with Kennedy v. Louisiana, a 2008 decision in which the Supreme Court held that imposing the death penalty for the rape of a child violated the Eighth Amendment’s Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause because it was inconsistent with the evolving standards of decency. Legislators in Florida and Tennessee have expressed their hope that the Supreme Court will overrule Kennedy v. Louisiana. These laws, which resemble state attempts to undo …

Ending The Ai Race: Regulatory Collaboration As Critical Counter-Narrative, Tiffany C. Li

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Religious Freedom And The Status/Conduct Problem In Nondiscrimination Cases, Helen M. Alvaré

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Gatekeeping Screen Time: Configuring The Regulation Of Addictive Technologies And Kids' Privacy Rights, Gaia Bernstein

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

The Empirical Double Standard: Opinion Surveys Across The Civil-Criminal Divide, Kay L. Levine, Bernard Chao

Sturm College of Law: Faculty Scholarship

Across different legal domains, liability doctrines recognize the value of community input. But do courts truly listen to the community's voice when deciding these sorts of cases? This study is the first to explore how courts treat community opinion survey evidence across both civil and criminal law. To that end, we comprehensively examine trademark, false advertising, patent, antitrust, obscenity, death penalty, and Fourth Amendment search cases.

Our research uncovers a significant asymmetry: courts readily admit survey evidence in civil proceedings but systematically exclude it in criminal cases. This asymmetry does not appear to stem from structural differences between civil and …

Community-Driven Policy Solutions To Police Accountability, Rashawn Ray

Brookings Scholar Lecture Series

George Floyd’s death shifted public opinion as 76% of Americans agreed that incidents such as the killing of Floyd are signs of racism within law enforcement. While police reforms such as implicit bias training and body-worn cameras gained public support, they insufficiently address the structural, cultural, and organizational components of policing that can obstruct accountability and contribute to racial disparities in policing. In this lecture, Brooking Senior Fellow Rashawn Ray presents interview, survey, social media, and virtual reality data with police officers, activists, and civilians, and demonstrates state- and city-level databases on police reform legislation. Ray posits that evidence-based policy …

Social Bulimia And The Deportation Pipeline In New York City, David C. Brotherton, Sarah Tosh

Publications and Research

Twenty-seven years after the IIRAIRA in New York City, that iconic destination of migrants has undergone extraordinary challenges to its status as a welcoming refuge to the tired and teeming masses of the globe. In this article, based on recent qualitative and quantitative research, we trace the policing of its migrant communities as the U.S. state has resorted to increasingly punitive measures to regulate the lives of non-citizens regarded as deportable aliens within the rubric of contemporary immigration laws. Findings from the research show that while the city with its long history of immigrant advocacy has in part resisted the …

The Role Of Storytelling In Bisexual Jurisprudence, Eliot T. Tracz

Pace Law Review

This essay examines the unique challenges faced by bisexual individuals in the legal system and explores how storytelling can serve as an effective tool to combat bisexual erasure and stereotyping in jurisprudence. Despite comprising the largest demographic within the LGBTQ community, bisexual individuals are significantly underrepresented in legal discourse and case law. This essay identifies three primary challenges affecting bisexual legal recognition: erasure (the denial of bisexuality as an orientation), stereotyping (harmful assumptions about bisexual individuals), and interest divergence (conflicting priorities with both heterosexual and homosexual communities). Through detailed case analysis, this essay will demonstrate how these challenges have resulted …

Mistaken About Mistakes: Error Analysis As An Untapped Tool For Law School Success, Elissa Jacob

Pace Law Review

Mistakes: everyone makes them, perhaps the new law student more than most. But why do our students continue to make the same errors despite our concerted efforts to prevent them? This article explores this question and provides ideas on how to utilize mistakes to fuel the learning process. Science has proven that the human brain is hardwired to benefit from errors. However, the psychological effects of failing, cultural systems, and the American educational system are frequent barriers to this biological process.

To overcome these obstacles and most effectively employ error analysis, I propose a three-step model. First, professors must lay …

National Origin Bias And U.S. Public Opinion On Supreme Court Nominees: Evidence From A Conjoint Experiment, Christopher P. Dinkel, Andrew Ifedapo Thompson, Marc C. Mcallister

Pace Law Review

As the ultimate arbiter of the interpretation of federal law and the U.S. Constitution, the U.S. Supreme Court has a significant impact on businesses and individuals across an increasingly diverse country. Although the vast majority of the Justices who have served on the Court have been white males, recent Presidents have appointed nominees who have brought greater racial and gender diversity to the Court. Despite these efforts, however, not a single U.S. Supreme Court Justice in the past six decades has been born abroad, even though Americans who were born outside the United States constitute nearly a tenth of the …

The Continuing Risk Of Forensic Error And Fraud, Michael J. Saks

Seton Hall Journal of Legislation and Public Policy

No abstract provided.

You Call That “Smuggling”? Florida’S New Immigrant Travel Restrictions Can Turn Teachers And Grandparents Into Felons, Jennifer Beck

Seton Hall Journal of Legislation and Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Multidisciplinarity And Interdisciplinarity In Law, Yael Efron, Yossi Korazim-Kőrösy, Mohammed S. Wattad

Cleveland State Law Review

This article aims to dismantle walls and barriers, tracking the contemporary trends in law that acknowledge the significant value of interdisciplinary cooperation. We strive to explore how collaborative contemplation on a legal issue, incorporating two or more academic and practical viewpoints, can enhance interactions across multiple disciplines, improve comprehension of intricate problems, and guide interventions. Ultimately, such collaborations can yield an innovative and synergistic knowledge base, fostering the development of new theories capable of explaining complex human phenomena from varied perspectives. These diverse vantage points are expected to generate superior and more fitting outcomes than those achievable by the field …