Digital Commons Network^™

The Shadow Defendants, Mariam A. Hinds

Faculty Scholarship

Although the overrepresentation of men, specifically Black men and men of color, in the criminal legal system is well documented, the people who support these men, especially women, have garnered less attention. Women who are proximate to system-involved men—mothers, grandmothers, sisters, daughters, girlfriends, and wives—are invisible actors in the criminal legal system who perform critical tasks and provide essential support. They appear in court to demonstrate a person’s family and community ties, use their assets as collateral for bail, deposit money in commissary accounts, maintain social ties during imprisonment through letters and visits, and bear the burden of filling the …

Heat Camps: Juvenile Curfews, Extreme Heat & The Eighth Amendment, Norrinda Brown

Faculty Scholarship

For decades, in the summertime, America has confined certain of its youth in what are essentially open-air heat camps. In city after city, camp-form is established through the enactment of warm-weather juvenile curfews which keep the youth at home or in state-sponsored centers during summer nights and, increasingly, during days as well. Local governments justify these curfews with general notions of “public safety,” including to protect the youth they confine. But the laws are not benevolent. Reducing youth mobility by curfew results in exclusion, oversurveillance, and potentially lethal heat punishment of the youth, possibly in violation of the Eighth Amendment. …

Federal Open Data As An Artificial Intelligence Resource, Erik Stallman, Aniket Kesari

Faculty Scholarship

In the 2010s, the open government data movement—a confluence of government transparency and open source advocacy—succeeded in making most federal data disclosed by default and free of restriction on downstream use. However, keen-eyed observers noted a “new ambiguity” in open government data policies.

Abolitionism, Artificial Intelligence, And Non-Reformist Reform, Youngjae Lee

Faculty Scholarship

Prison abolitionism has gained significant prominence in criminal law scholarship, while artificial intelligence (AI) has emerged as a transformative force across society. Two schools of thought have arisen regarding their intersection. Some scholars contend abolitionists should welcome AI technologies to reduce the carceral state’s reach. Critics view these tools skeptically, arguing that they lead to biased surveillance and incarceration practices. Using this debate as an example, this article seeks to illuminate the distinction between reformist and non-reformist reforms. The article argues that abolitionists’ criticism of reformists as agents of oppression risks alienating potential allies and discouraging progressive interventions in pivotal, …

“Digital Integrity”: Defending The Judicial Integrity In The Digital Age, Guy Alon, Doron Menashe, Guy Itzhak Sender

Touro Law Review

Recent revelations have shown that the protection of the Fourth Amendment in the digital age is inadequate. Despite well-known exclusionary rules regarding evidence obtained by illegal search and seizure, current trends in the digital age and the law of evidence resulted in courts that tend to include such evidence, and by doing so, create significant risk of both substantive and procedural errors and hence increase the potential for wrongful convictions. To address the matter and try to empower and modernize the protection given by the Fourth Amendment, this article suggests performing a revolution in the law of evidence in the …

Private Religious Schools And Disability Discrimination, Kevin Timpe

Touro Law Review

In the lead-up to the passing of the Americans with Disabilities Act (“ADA”), religious institutions and organizations lobbied to be exempt. Because they were successful in securing an exemption to most of the ADA’s requirements, religious private schools maintain the legal right to refuse admission to disabled students or to fail to give them various legal protections. After considering the arguments given in its favor, the paper critiques this exemption on moral grounds. It then suggests that these considerations should lead to a reexamination of the legal right such schools have to discriminate against disabled individuals, especially in those cases …

Criminal Procedure Without Consent, Kate Weisburd

Faculty Scholarship

Scholars and advocates have long argued that a person’s consent to a warrantless police search is often so inherently coerced, uninformed, and shaped by race, class, gender, citizenship status, and disability that to call it a “choice” is fiction. This critique is not limited to police searches based on consent. Waiving rights and consenting to otherwise unconstitutional state action permeates criminal procedure. The definition of a seizure, the third-party doctrine, custodial confessions, plea bargains, and agreements to alternatives to incarceration (such as GPS ankle monitoring) all hinge on the idea of voluntary choices—choices that are often just as coerced and …

Innocent Until Proven Newsworthy: Reviving The Tort Of Publication Of Private Facts In The Media Ride-Along Era, Hanna Doudican

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

Remediating Public Health Crises Through Litigation: Lessons From Oklahoma In The Tobacco And Opioid Epidemic Litigations, Caroline Beckworth

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

If Memory Serves: Navigating Cognitive Impairment Within Congress, Gracemary R. Zizzo

Oklahoma Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Prosecutor Vacancy Crisis, Adam M. Gershowitz

BYU Law Review

There is a prosecutor vacancy crisis in the United States. Prosecutors are quitting in droves and there are few applicants to replace them. In Houston and Los Angeles, more than 15% of prosecutor positions are open. In Detroit, the vacancy rate exceeds 20%. In Alameda, 25% of prosecutor positions are empty. And in Miami, a staggering 33% of prosecutor positions are unfilled. The situation is equally dire in many large and small counties across the nation.

Drawing on data and interviews from more than two-dozen district attorney’s offices, this Article documents how low salaries, massive caseloads, lack of remote work …

Looking Past Manufactured Crisis Narratives: Grounded Solutions For The Border And Beyond, Monika Y. Langarica

San Diego Law Review

This Article presents a solutions-oriented approach to engaging with the complex landscape of political, legal, and humanitarian issues at the United States-Mexico border. It proceeds in three parts. Part II illustrates the counterproductive effects of the border crisis narrative in localities across the interior of the country and in recent negotiations in Washington, D.C. Part III discusses effective border interventions grounded in local expertise, including examples which demonstrate that while federal preemption forbids states from interfering with immigration enforcement, states are within their rights to enact policies and stand up efforts to improve the reception and treatment of immigrants in …

Deadly Deterrence: Border Patrol Authority, Pursuits, And Deported Witnesses, Shaw Drake

San Diego Law Review

Since 1994, the United States has perpetrated a border policy based on the idea that tougher enforcement will mean fewer people will cross the border—termed “prevention through deterrence.” But this idea has never fulfilled its stated aim and has turned into something resembling a border ideology rather than a border policy based in fact and reality. The results have been deadly.

This Article examines a small slice of the results of this deadly border policy as it looks at Border Patrol vehicle pursuits and the deportation of those who witness Border Patrol misconduct. It also provides an overview of the …

The Uses Of The Border, Salvador G. Sarmiento

San Diego Law Review

It is a good and necessary time to discuss “American Law at the Border” to better understand and engage with the politics and laws ostensibly addressing U.S. borders. Let’s hope it is also an exercise in understanding the borders of U.S. law itself—the limits, the periphery, and the jagged edges. A discussion on American law at the border should make clear that what is considered at the margins—starting with migrant labor—is central to U.S. economic, legal, and political life.

The first section of this Article will discuss the political uses of the border, beginning with the most recent example of …

New York Times V. Sullivan: A Civil Rights Story, Samantha Barbas

Texas A&M Law Review

The 1964 Supreme Court decision in New York Times v. Sullivan established the “actual malice” rule in libel law, requiring that in order to win a libel suit, a public official must show that a defamatory statement was false and that the speaker made the statement knowing that it was false or “with reckless disregard of whether it was false or not.”

Sullivan involved a libel suit brought by segregationist Alabama officials against the New York Times (“Times”) and leaders of the civil rights movement. Sullivan arose from sectional battles over civil rights and integration in the 1960s. An all-white …

We The People, But Not You: The Eighth Circuit Says Undocumented Immigrants Are Not Part Of “The People” Who May Bear Arms, Caleb Kearney

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Volume 7 (2024) Artificial Intelligence And Responsibility, Arwa Alnajashi, Danielle Derise, Philip L. Frana, David Mcgraw, Amanda Sawyer, Tatjana Titareva, Raafat Zaini, Allie Zombron

International Journal on Responsibility

The seventh volume of the International Journal on Responsibility (IJR) arrives at a crucial moment in the evolution of artificial intelligence and its integration into our academic and social fabric. As we witness the rapid advancement and deployment of AI systems across various domains, this special issue examines the multifaceted dimensions of responsibility surrounding AI technology, with a particular focus on its role in higher education and broader societal implications.

The articles in this volume contribute to our understanding of responsibility through diverse lenses, from classroom implementation to ethical design considerations. Together, they fulfill IJR’s central mission of exploring “Who …

Ghost Guns: A Case Study On The Tension Between Public Exigencies And Statutory Construction, Bradley Krause

Catholic University Law Review

Administrative agencies often navigate public policy issues while simultaneously handling complex and highly technical matters. When facing a public emergency, how should courts interpret these agencies’ authorizing statutes? What rules of thumb exist to guide the courts? This Comment answers these questions through a case study on ongoing litigation pertaining to a recent ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms) regulation. The regulation, targeted towards ghost guns (also known as “privately manufactured firearms”), seeks to incorporate these weapons within pre-existing definitions in the ATF’s authorizing statute, the Gun Control Act of 1968 (GCA). In spite of challenges to the regulation, …

The Search For Unenumerated Fundamental Rights, Alina Sluzhyvenkova

Student Theses and Dissertations

There are certain rights that are explicitly enumerated in the Constitution, e.g., right to bear arms, right to free speech, right to a speedy and public trial. There are also rights that aren’t specifically written out but are nevertheless enjoyed by people nationwide. Rights that aren’t explicitly mentioned in the Constitution, but which are fundamental to are called the unenumerated rights. Unenumerated rights are just as important and can be derived from natural law, enumerated rights, the Ninth Amendment, precedents, judicial opinions, and substantive due process.

Substantive due process is a principle guaranteed by the Fifth and Fourteenth Amendments, which …

Seizing Welfare From The Bankrupt, Michael D. Sousa

University of Cincinnati Law Review

The earned income tax credit (EITC) is currently the largest means-tested antipoverty program in the United States that assists low-income working families surviving along the edges of poverty. A central component of the national welfare system, the EITC has lifted millions of families with children out of poverty and has produced myriad benefits for their everyday lives. But most of the poor and near-poor endure in the low-wage labor market and often lead turbulent financial lives, plagued by precarious employment along with deleterious material and psychological constraints in budgeting for daily expenses. For the segment of these families also burdened …

Community Justice Workers: Part Of The Solution To Alaska's Legal Deserts, Joy Anderson, Sarah Carver, Dr. Robert Onders

Alaska Law Review

Legal deserts—large geographic areas where there are few or no attorneys—are found throughout the United States, including Alaska. These deserts are a major contributor to the access to justice gap. Further compounding the scarcity of legal resources in these areas, many people living in legal deserts cannot afford legal help, even when a lawyer is available. Legal aid organizations have struggled to overcome these challenges in meeting the legal needs of low-income Americans and are often forced to turn away as many people as they are able to help. Alaska Legal Services Corporation (ALSC) is responding to this challenge in …

Justice Beyond The State, Kirsten Matoy Carlson

Alaska Law Review

For decades the intersectionality of extreme rurality and cultural difference has led scholars and tribal leaders to advocate for recognition of local authority as a solution to the justice gap in rural Alaska. Local control often means developing courts in and extending jurisdiction to Alaska Native villages. This Article evaluates strengthening tribal courts or justice systems through restorations of jurisdiction as a way to address access to justice issues in Alaska Native villages. It argues that restorations of jurisdiction and the development of tribal justice systems must ensure that Alaska Natives define the justice provided in their communities. Restorations of …

Alaska's Healthcare Markets: The Free Market Is Nota "Cure", Katie Raya

Alaska Law Review

Healthcare reform in the United States requires a nuanced approach to improve quality and access while managing costs—a challenge particularly pronounced in Alaska. Despite being the highest spender on healthcare globally, the U.S. fails to deliver commensurate health outcomes, with Alaska exemplifying these systemic issues. The state faces the highest healthcare costs in the nation yet performs poorly in quality and access metrics. This situation has prompted urgent legislative scrutiny of existing policies, such as the Certificate of Need (CON) Law and the 80th Percentile Rule. This Note critically evaluates the argument that deregulating Alaska's healthcare market will lead to …

Old, Not Odd: Running Laches Against The States And The Future Of Antitrust After New York V. Meta Platforms, Frank Schulze

Michigan Law Review

In New York v. Meta Platforms, Inc., the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit applied equitable laches to an antitrust lawsuit brought by forty-six state attorneys general, holding that they had not brought their claims in their role as law enforcers. Meta Platforms is the latest in a line of cases that has characterized antitrust actions by state attorneys general as non-public and non-governmental. But this characterization is in tension with the historical role of state attorneys general in enforcing the antitrust laws and undermines the original design of the federal antitrust statutes as supplements to …

Humanizing The Mexican Migrant, April Guevara Espinoza

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

Given the past election season and craze about the “immigration crisis,” it is of paramount importance to reflect on how and why migrants, particularly Mexican migrants, are positioned as “less than” in our society. Immigration is more than a political platform issue; it concerns real people whose real lives are affected. Mexican migrants are used as political scapegoats for any and all issues in the United States whether it be increased crime rates, a lack of available jobs, or overall poor economic conditions. They are dangerously mischaracterized and stereotyped as “criminals” and “national security threats.” These labels are inextricably tied …

“All They Did Was Change The Name”: Evaluating Reforms To Solitary Confinement, Laura Mcfeely

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

In the last decade, the United States has seen a wave of efforts to greatly reduce or eliminate the use of solitary confinement. In the light of growing international recognition that such treatment amounts to torture, these efforts are certainly encouraging and have contributed to a reduction of the number of people held in long-term isolation. But it is worthwhile to examine the extent of these reforms and what solitary confinement now looks like in states that have implemented such changes.

A robust literature exists on the harms of solitary confinement and ideas for reforming or eliminating its use. This …

Calls Grow To Give New York's Ccrb More Power, Despite Police Resistance, Stephen Wentzell, Anastasia Tomkin, Moses Bustos, Olivia Graffeo

Capstones

This group capstone project, which was completed in the Criminal Justice Reporting Lab, is an investigative article exploring the current state of New York City’s Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB). Through more than a dozen interviews with complainants, board members, politicians, law enforcement, and others, the article highlights the push for the CCRB to have the authority to enforce disciplinary measures against police who are found to have engaged in misconduct. The article is accompanied by a video, with captions available in English and Spanish, that features bodycam footage from an incident involving police and our central compelling character who …

The Mass Murder Epidemic Of The United States: Policy, Reflections, And The Way Through, Isaiah Johnson

Dissertations, Theses, and Projects

This work is an in-depth look at American culture and how the culture has shaped gun policies in the U.S. I also examine various policies that could be used to mitigate mass shootings in the United States, as well as some of the reasons these incidents have become so prevalent.

Institutions Matter: How So?, Alper Duman

Markets, Globalization & Development Review

This paper examines the influential theory of Daron Acemoglu, Simon Johnson, and James Robinson (AJR) on the role of institutions in economic development, highlighting its strengths, limitations, and areas for further research. A central contribution of their work is the emphasis on power and conflict in institutional formation and change.

The theory's focus on the interplay between inequality, political power, and institutional change provides a valuable framework for understanding development trajectories. This paper also considers critiques of AJR's work, including the lack of robustness of the positive correlation between inclusive institutions and economic performance in lower-income countries and the significant …

Hanover Insurance Co. V. Hayward: Imposition Of Punitive Damages In Addition To Criminal Sanctions, David P. Silk

Maine Law Review

In Hanover Insurance Co. v. Hayward, the Maine Supreme Judicial Court, sitting as the Law Court, addressed the issue whether punitive damages may be awarded against a defendant who has been criminally convicted for the conduct giving rise to the punitive damages claim. Although it affirmed the superior court's decision not to allow the award of punitive damages, the Law Court concluded that the imposition of criminal sanctions did not by itself bar punitive damages. Instead, the court indicated that criminal punishment is merely one factor to consider in determining whether an award of punitive damages would serve a meaningful …