Digital Commons Network^™

The Effect Of Police Quota Laws, Stephen Rushin, Griffin Sims Edwards

Faculty Publications & Other Works

This Article examines the effect of state laws restricting the use of police quotas. Police quotas describe the establishment of a predetermined number of traffic stops, citations, or arrests that officers must make within a particular time period. Some police supervisors have historically used quotas to ensure adequate productivity by officers. However, critics argue that quotas incentivize officers to engage in unnecessary, and in some cases, unconstitutional, coercive behavior. Numerous states across the country have enacted laws banning or limiting the use of police quotas.

This Article analyzes a dataset of traffic and pedestrian stops from eleven law enforcement agencies …

The Importance Of Policing, Stephen Rushin

Faculty Publications & Other Works

This Article argues that, if effectively regulated, policing represents a fundamentally important social institution that advances the community interest in public safety, justice, equality, and the rule of law.

In recent years, a significant and growing body of legal scholarship has called for the shrinking of police responsibilities, the defunding of police budgets, or the complete abolition of local police departments. A countervailing body of scholarly literature has questioned the wisdom of some of these proposals, arguing that they could unintentionally make policing worse or have unintended public safety effects.

This Article enters this debate by affirmatively defending the importance …

Reprieves Return: Minnesota's Decision To Awaken The Reprieve, Mary Fee, Monica Shaffer

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

Election Integrity And The First Amendment: A Statutory Analysis Of States' Regulations Of Election Deepfakes, Steven Carver

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

Minnesota's Criminalization Of Assisted Suicide: A Failure To Protect Minnesota Citizens' Right To Free Speech, Haley M. Bauman

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Myth Of The Guilty Suspect: Confession, Narrative, And Political Assent, Susan L. Tanner

Mitchell Hamline Law Review

No abstract provided.

From Streets To Stats: A Statistical Analysis Of The Quantity Of Illegal Narcotics Seized In The United States, Zachary T. Strickland

Tenor of Our Times

This study aims to determine how seven different variables affect the total quantity of illegal narcotics seized. These seven variables include four dichotomous and three continuous variables, each striving to teach readers how they relate to the quantity of narcotics seized across specific states. My goal for this project is to figure out if there is any relationship to help law enforcement fight the war on drugs. With the continuing apparent rise of this war, this study is crucial in determining potential relationships between a state's characteristics and the quantity of illegal narcotics they forcibly take possession of. I further …

Covid-19 Sports Competition Lockdowns, Return-To-Play Decisions, And Participation Requirements: A Retrospective Review And Future Medicolegal Framework, Matthew J. Mitten, Laurel C. Montag, Abigail C. Barnett

Marquette Sports Law Review

No abstract provided.

Should Your Buzz Support The Fuzz? A Discussion On Recreational Cannabis Generated Revenue And Its Place In Municipality Budgets In An Era Of Heightened Scrutiny Of Local Law Enforcement, N. Farid

Student Works

No abstract provided.

A Twenty-First Century Duck Test: Assessing State Action Doctrine And The Future Of The First Amendment In The Era Of Social Media, Dylan A. Lembo

Student Works

No abstract provided.

Animal Abuse The Gateway Crime: The Need For Statewide Animal Abuse Registries, Nina Stefanelli

Student Works

No abstract provided.

New Jersey’S Bear Hunting Policy Is Too Hunter-Friendly And Should Be Reformed, Tianyi Zhu

Student Works

No abstract provided.

Police Accountability In Expungement Processing In New Jersey: The Past, Present, And Future, Jahmir Sterling

Student Works

No abstract provided.

The Problem With The United States For-Profit Cash Bail System And Why State Legislatures Should Stop Putting Profits Over People And Not Let Fear Prevent Bail Reform, Jake Collins

Student Works

No abstract provided.

Faithful Parenting: An Analysis Of Religious Exemptions To Child Neglect Laws And Vaccine Mandates Under The First Amendment, George Schneider

Student Works

No abstract provided.

A Second Chance At Success: Using “Second Look” Laws To Modify Sentences Of Juvenile Offenders, Sophia M. Adams

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

“Second look” sentencing laws allow incarcerated individuals to petition to have their sentences reexamined and potentially reduced after they have served a significant period of incarceration. This rehabilitative relief is conditioned upon an offender showing that they have made meaningful positive changes while incarcerated and would not pose a threat to their community if released. Implementing second look laws is particularly appropriate in the context of offenders who have committed crimes as juveniles. The U.S. Supreme Court has recognized that juvenile offenders are less culpable than their adult counterparts and psychological science supports this conclusion. This Comment examines and compares …

A Critical Assessment Of The First Step Act’S Recidivism-Reduction Measures, Raquel Wilson

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

The First Step Act of 2018 (“FSA”) is the most impactful federal sentencing reform of the past 40 years. While the Act represents a partial resurgence of the rehabilitative model of imprisonment, which had fallen out of favor decades before, it also represents a missed opportunity to fully integrate evidence-based rehabilitation programs for those offenders who pose the greatest risks to public safety.

The public has a strong interest in reducing recidivism, particularly among violent offenders, most of whom will be released from federal prison eventually. The FSA incentivizes participation in evidence-based, recidivism-reducing programs offered by the Bureau of Prisons …

Estate To State: Pay-To-Stay Statutes And The Problematic Seizure Of Inherited Property, Brittany L. Deitch

University of Colorado Law Review

Pay-to-stay statutes allow states to recover their incarceration-related expenditures from those who are currently or have formerly been incarcerated. Mass incarceration is expensive, and states have aimed to shift this financial burden from their taxpayers and government coffers to the individuals who experience incarceration. Although pay-to-stay laws take many forms, in general, they authorize the government to seek recompense for an individual’s incarceration costs from the currently or formerly incarcerated person’s assets and income. Many states permit the seizure of inherited property to satisfy this legal financial obligation. Pay-to-stay laws have survived constitutional challenges thus far, but some state legislatures …

Lexisnexis’S Contract With Ice As Unjust Enrichment, Lizzie Bird

University of Colorado Law Review

For $22.1 million, LexisNexis is currently helping Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) surveil, detain, and deport noncitizens. Like other data brokers, LexisNexis’s role in the collection and sale of personal information has largely been ignored by regulators, judges, and the public. A recent lawsuit against LexisNexis in Illinois includes, among other claims, a claim of unjust enrichment. This often misunderstood and unpopular claim has a complex history which presents both a barrier to relief and an opportunity for advocates to push courts to clarify the doctrine. This Note examines the history of the theory of unjust enrichment, surveys its recent …

Police Vigilantism, Nadia Banteka

Scholarly Publications

This Article uncovers a critical yet unexplored dimension of policing: the strategic oscillation of police officers between their roles as state actors and private individuals, and its significant implications for police accountability frameworks. As officers toggle between these two roles to their legal advantage, they exploit a deep, systemic flaw in the structural design of policing. Tracing the trajectory of policing from its vigilante origins to its institutionalized form today, this Article argues that contemporary policing merges state-sanctioned power with vestiges of vigilantism to blur the public-private divide. This duality enables a form of state-sanctioned vigilantism through which officers exploit …

Coasting North: The Problem With The Jones Act For The Offshore Wind Industry And A Remedy From Canada, Sarah Macleod Nagle

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

This Note is organized into three parts to examine how the Jones Act hampers the U.S. wind energy industry’s construction of offshore wind farms by requiring that only U.S. vessels transport materials from U.S. ports to the wind farms. The Note proposes a license modeled on Canada’s Coasting Trade Act (“CTA”) to allow non-U.S.-flagged vessels to participate in wind turbine construction. Part I will address the development of cabotage law in the United States, the creation of the Jones Act, and its impact on offshore wind. Part II surveys Canada’s cabotage laws, which culminated in the passage of the CTA …

Anonymous & Unregulated: Why A Product Of Privacy Needs Regulation, Yuliana Reyes

Nova Law Review

No abstract provided.

Enhancing Academic Performance Or Stimulant Misuse: How Opioid Regulation Strategies Can Address The Escalating Stimulant Epidemic, Gabriela Gonzalez

Nova Law Review

No abstract provided.

From The Fox To Onlyfans: The Changing Landscape Of Property Law, Vicenc Feliu

Nova Law Review

No abstract provided.

My Body, My Choice, My Data: Information Privacy After Dobbs, My Kim Ong

University of San Francisco Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Childhood Sexual Assault Pandemic: California Must Do Better, Monica Chinchilla

University of San Francisco Law Review

No abstract provided.

Climate Change And Voter Outreach: The Irs's Prohibition On Political Campaign Activity And Climate Nonprofits, Natalie C. Negrelli

Colorado Environmental Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Progressive Facade: How Bail Reforms Expose The Limitations Of The Progressive Prosecutor Movement, Sarah Gottlieb

Washington and Lee Law Review

Progressive prosecutors have been acclaimed as the new hope for change in the criminal legal system. Advocates and scholars touting progressive prosecution believe that progressive prosecutors will use their power and discretion to address systemic racism and end mass incarceration. Just as this hope has arisen, however, so have concerns that meaningful change cannot be enacted within the criminal system by the very actors whose job it is to incarcerate. This Article highlights these concerns by looking at the bail reforms enacted by four different progressive prosecutors and analyzes the initial promises made, the actions taken to reform and eliminate …

Punishing Gender, Erin Collins

Law Faculty Publications

As jurisdictions across the country grapple with the urgent need to redress the impact of mass incarceration, there has been renewed interest in reforms that reduce the harms punishment inflicts on women. These "gender-responsive" reforms aim to adapt traditional punishment practices that, proponents claim, were designed "for men." The push to change how we punish based on gender, while perhaps well intentioned, is misguided. As abolition feminist principles reveal, these gender-responsive practices not only reify traditional gender norms, but also strengthen the operation of the carceral state. This Article catalogs the ways in that the gender-responsive approach currently influences various …

The Necessity Of Restorative Justice Within Prisons, Sarah J. Pietrowski

Law Student Publications

In the era of mass incarceration, it is vital to reexamine the prison system to identify not only its weaknesses, but its successes. Successes in correctional systems are often measured by a reduction in recidivism rates, and in states where restorative justice practices have been implemented in prisons, recidivism rates have exhibited a significant decrease, affirming the necessity of restorative justice practices in prisons. Additionally, restorative justice not only helps victims of crime feel that their voices are heard and that the one who harmed them will experience personal growth, but it is preferred by the majority of victims as …