Digital Commons Network^™

Informed Bystanders' Duty To Warn, Gilat J. Bachar

Minnesota Law Review Vols. 106:2 onward (2021-present)

Should bystanders with credible knowledge about prospective harm owe a duty of care to future victims? This urgent question comes up in various contexts, from former employers who withhold information about a serial harasser to data brokers who are silent about stalkers that track personal information. Under established common law, the “No Duty to Act” (“no-duty”) rule generally does not require bystanders to warn strangers. Carving out an exception to this rule decades ago, Tarasoff v. Regents of the University of California imposed a duty on a mental health professional to warn a prospective victim about the risk posed by …

Lawyering In The Age Of Artificial Intelligence, Jonathan H. Choi, Amy B. Monahan, Daniel Schwarcz

Minnesota Law Review Vols. 106:2 onward (2021-present)

We conducted the first randomized controlled trial to study the effect of AI assistance on human legal analysis. We randomly assigned law school students to complete realistic legal tasks either with or without the assistance of GPT-4, tracking how long the students took on each task and blind-grading the results.

We found that access to GPT-4 only slightly and inconsistently improved the quality of participants’ legal analysis but induced large and consistent increases in speed. AI assistance improved the quality of output unevenly—where it was useful at all, the lowest-skilled participants saw the largest improvements. On the other hand, AI …

Definite Convictions: United States V. Alt And The Seventh Circuit's Prohibition On Defining "Beyond A Reasonable Doubt", Samuel Busiman

Minnesota Law Review Vols. 106:2 onward (2021-present)

The Seventh Circuit prohibits judges and attorneys from defining “beyond a reasonable doubt” to jurors. While United States v. Alt crystalized this prohibition in early 2023, the circuit has effectively banned definition of the phrase for much longer. Yet, a growing consensus of psychological research into the standard reveals that when left undefined, it fails to protect criminal defendants from uncertain convictions that violate the requirements of due process. What’s more, the phrase was never supposed to serve as a standard of proof in the first place—its historical origins reveal it functioning to assuage the spiritual concerns of early Christian …

Abortion Access For Incarcerated People Post-Dobbs, Kate Bock

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization has fundamentally altered the legal landscape regarding abortion access. Though abortion rights for all people across the United States have now been eliminated or are in jeopardy, incarcerated people are a particularly vulnerable group, given the way carceral institutions restrict autonomy and the drastic health implications of an unwanted pregnancy while confined. Before Dobbs, detained people retained the constitutional right to an elective abortion while incarcerated. To remedy violations of this right, women brought claims under the Fourteenth Amendment and the Eighth Amendment. In a post-Roe world, however, incarcerated folks denied abortion …

We Have Lost Our Minds: Bioethics After Dobbs, Teneille R. Brown

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

This article examines the paradoxical treatment of autonomy in American healthcare law. While autonomy has become the dominant principle in medical ethics and neoliberal market philosophies, pregnant people have been systematically denied this same autonomy through increasingly restrictive abortion statutes. Using the rhetoric of “informed consent,” abortion-restrictive statutes ironically pervert the animating principles behind the doctrine—rendering it almost meaningless.  I argue that this contradiction stems from the dehumanization of pregnant people who seek abortions, particularly through the denial of their capacity to have individual, complex mental states and feelings. Drawing on moral psychology, the article demonstrates how pregnant people are …

Corporate Purpose: A Management Concept And The Role Of Contract Design, Silvie Rohr

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Rhetoric And Reality Of Shareholder Profit Maximization, Claire Hill

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

Reflections On Corporate Governance At Work, Claire Hill

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

Love At First Swipe: How Dating Apps Compromise User Privacy And Data Protection, Anjali K. Purohit

North Carolina Journal of Law & Technology

No abstract provided.

Is Sunlight The Best Disinfectant? The Role Of Regulation In Addressing Cybersecurity Concerns, Reagan Leverett

Vanderbilt Law Review

The technological landscape in the United States is changing rapidly, and this transformation carries with it unprecedented challenges for administrators, companies, and investors alike. In particular, cybersecurity concerns are growing in light of the new opportunities for cyber malfeasance in this landscape—opportunities to pillage corporate databases and exploit the sensitive consumer information housed therein. For administrators, these new threats challenge prevailing regulatory frameworks and demand novel solutions. For companies, this landscape brings financial and reputational threats. For stakeholders, the cyber era presents the risk of investment losses and, in some cases, loss of personal data.

The Securities and Exchange Commission …

Juror Privacy Via Anonymity, Jayne S. Ressler

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Navigating The Technological Wave In Maritime : Examining Safety Culture In The Era Of Sustainability And E-Navigation, Mithilesh Kumar

World Maritime University Dissertations

No abstract provided.

Innocence Lost: The Dangers Of Life Imprisonment For Children At Whose Pleasure: D.B. (A Juvenile) V. The People [2024] Zmca 339 (18 December 2024), Samantha Smit, Louis Koen

SAIPAR Case Review

This piece examines the Zambian Court of Appeal's decision to overturn a life imprisonment sentence imposed on juvenile offenders, replacing it with detention ‘at the President's pleasure.’ The commentary explores the legal implications of this discretionary sentence, drawing parallels with similar controversies in other African jurisdictions, particularly Kenya, where such sentences have been criticized for undermining constitutional rights and the doctrine of separation of powers. The authors argue that ‘detention at the President's pleasure’ can effectively amount to an indefinite sentence, raising concerns about the uncertainty of imprisonment duration for child offenders. They suggest that the Zambian court missed an …

Rwu Law Alumni Newsletter November 2024, Roger Williams University School Of Law

RWU Law

No abstract provided.

If Lived Experience Could Speak: A Method For Repairing Epistemic Violence In Law And The Legal Academy, Terrell Carter, Rachel Lopez

Minnesota Law Review Vols. 106:2 onward (2021-present)

Terrell Carter grew up only a stone’s throw from Drexel University, the institution of higher learning where the other coauthor of this Article, Rachel López, would find her academic home years later. Even as a child, Terrell remembers feeling like other institutions that were miles away, like State Correctional Institution Graterford where he would spend most of his adult life, were much more proximate. Paradoxically, he would later come to learn that behind the walls of institutions like Drexel, academics like Rachel would develop ideas and theory that would shape his fate and define his existence behind other walls. Through …

Fallout And Fiduciary Duty, Russell Powell

UC Law Business Journal

No abstract provided.

Dismantling A Marketplace For Private Violence: Reclaiming The Modern Weapons Of War To Forestall Filibusters Of The Web, Rachel Dodge

Vanderbilt Law Review

Civilian military activism is a challenge that U.S. policymakers have struggled with since the Founding. The United States’ first answer to this issue was the Neutrality Act of 1794, which embodied the young nation’s rejection of private violence and fear of being dragged into international conflicts by overzealous citizens. For decades, the Neutrality Act remained an important tool in the government’s repertoire and was amended to close newfound loopholes and respond to evolving technologies. In the mid-1800s, however, the government’s enforcement efforts waned, culminating in a period where the acts of the government and those of the governed bled together …

The Consequences And Constitutionality Of Training Police To Blame Victims, Margareth Etienne, Richard H. Mcadams

William & Mary Law Review

A common technique in American interrogations is “moral minimization,” in which investigators excuse or justify the suspect’s criminal behavior on moral grounds. A surprising type of moral minimization is explicit victim-blaming, which includes blaming the victim by endorsing negative stereotypes on the basis of gender, race, religion, or sexual orientation, what we call victim-blaming-bystereotype. No one has previously considered the policy wisdom or constitutionality of this technique. We explore the unintended consequences. One cost is the secondary victimization of those who suffer from crime, especially when they discover how detectives have disparaged them. The second is the effect on the …

Bridging Gaps. The Role Of School Leaders In Implementing The Mckinney-Vento Act For Homeless Student Success, Brian Jones

Electronic Theses and Dissertations

This qualitative narrative inquiry explores the role of school leaders in implementing the McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (MKVA) within a public school district in West Texas. The study addresses the challenges school leaders face in supporting homeless students and the strategies they employ to ensure academic success and socio-emotional well-being. Drawing on Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory and Bertalanffy’s general systems theory, the research examines how school leaders' personal understandings and professional experiences influence MKVA provisions' implementation. The study employs semistructured interviews and reflective journals to gather participant data, followed by a member-checking process to enhance the accuracy and credibility of …

You're Sending The Wrong Message: Sexual Favoritism And The Workplace, Paige I. Bernick

Tennessee Journal of Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

Fixing A Broken System: Reconciling State Foreclosure Law With Economic Realities, Yianni D. Lagos

Tennessee Journal of Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

Federal Rules Of Evidence 413, 414, And 415: Fifteen Years Of Hindsight And Where The Law Should Go From Here, Bryan C. Hathorn

Tennessee Journal of Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

The Troubling Case(S) Of Noncitizens: Immigration Enforcement Through The Criminal Justice System And The Effect On Families, Juan C. Quevedo

Tennessee Journal of Law and Policy

No abstract provided.

Dictionaries Denied: Information Poverty In Michigan Prison Libraries, Nicholas Norton, Meghan Mcgowan

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

In June of 2022, the Michigan Department of Corrections (“MDOC”) made national news when NPR reported that non-English language dictionaries were banned in state prisons. The rationale for this policy was specious—with an MDOC spokesperson stating: “If certain prisoners all decided to learn a very obscure language, they would be able to then speak freely in front of staff and others about introducing contraband or assaulting staff or assaulting another prisoner.” For instance, Spanish and Swahili dictionaries were restricted or banned based on safety, even though both languages are spoken by millions of people. Dictionaries and other reference materials …

Referenda To Secure The Rights Of Incarcerated People, Jaclyn Kurin

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

In May 2021, Allegheny County became the first jurisdiction in U.S. history to ban solitary confinement at a jail by voter referendum. This article covers the drafting, passing, implementing, and litigating of voter referenda to ban solitary confinement and the use of weapons in correctional facilities in Pennsylvania. The benefits of voter referenda extend beyond recognizing the legal rights of those incarcerated and reducing mistreatment. This article explains how prior community engagement with key issues involving the Allegheny County Jail (“ACJ”) paved the way for the referendum’s success. Specifically, in the year leading up to the Allegheny County referendum, …

Don't Be Cruel: Cruelty, Complicity, Self-Knowledge, And Growth, Sherman J. Clark

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

The papers in this symposium, and the larger body of scholarship to which this symposium is a contribution, ask us to attend to the often brutal and inhumane conditions in American jails and prisons. But why should we do that? Why should we confront the suffering of the incarcerated? Why should we ask ourselves whether that suffering is unjust, unnecessary, or even unconstitutional? The main reason, of course, is that we want to remedy those injustices. We care about the suffering of our fellow human beings, and people do not cease to be our fellow human beings merely because …

The Santa Clara, 2024-10-31, Santa Clara University

The Santa Clara

No abstract provided.

Don’T Be Cruel: Cruelty, Complicity, Self-Knowledge, And Growth, Sherman J. Clark

Articles

The papers in this symposium, and the larger body of scholarship to which this symposium is a contribution, ask us to attend to the often brutal and inhumane conditions in American jails and prisons. But why should we do that? Why should we confront the suffering of the incarcerated? Why should we ask ourselves whether that suffering is unjust, unnecessary, or even unconstitutional? The main reason, of course, is that we want to remedy those injustices. We care about the suffering of our fellow human beings, and people do not cease to be our fellow human beings merely because they …

Medical Consensus On Gender Affirming Care's Critical Impact On Incarcerated Black Transgender Women, John Parsi

Journal of Law and Health

In Kosilek v. Spencer the U.S. Court of Appeals for the First Circuit adopted The World Professional Association of Transgender Health Standards of Care (WPATH SOC) as medical consensus on gender affirming care and held that Michelle Kosilek could access gender affirming care but that she did not meet the criteria for gender affirming surgery. In Gibson v. Collier the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit with a sparse record and no expert testimony denied Vanessa Lynn Gibson access to gender affirming surgery and incorrectly claimed that Kosilek did not support the WPATH SOC as representing the medical …

Developing Thick Skin: Pediatric Eczema In Vulnerable Communities And Fda Regulation Of Cosmetic Products, Abayomi Jones Md, Jd

Journal of Law and Health

Eczema is a common yet serious inflammatory skin condition affecting millions of children in the United States. Dark skin and/or African-American ethnicity are risk factors for increased eczema severity, most likely due to systemic racism expressed as lower socioeconomic status, increased environmental toxin exposure, decreased access to adequate medical care, and infrequent implementation of early intervention practices. Skin-directed management of eczema for caregivers is critically important for improving clinical outcomes of children with eczema. Skin-directed management of eczema includes avoidance of allergens and appropriate moisturization of skin, which warrants evaluation of cosmetic products like lotions, creams and oils essential for …