Digital Commons Network^™

A Social Prescription For Loneliness: How Regulation Can Help Prevent A Tsunami Of Health Problems Through Social Connection, Laura C. Hoffman

Georgia State University Law Review

In May 2023, the U.S. Surgeon General declared loneliness a public health crisis. Despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, research has demonstrated that historically, social isolation and loneliness have been long-term influencers of negative health consequences prior to the pandemic. Even in our post-pandemic world, things have not improved and in fact, worsened. The significance of social connection to an individual’s health and overall well-being is evident and more frequently being recognized through the social determinants of health (SDoH).

One of the more recent developments in this area has been doctors routinely evaluating their patients for social isolation and …

Line Warming: Improperly Influencing Voters Or Mitigating The Effects Of Voter Suppression?, Elizabeth Ellen Gordon

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Sex On Trial, Nathalie Greenfield, Sandra L. Babcock

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

On January 21, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court recognized in Andrew v. White that the State’s introduction of sexualizing evidence in a woman’s capital trial may violate due process. In Brenda Andrew’s case, prosecutors presented evidence about her sexual relationships, clothing, and style of underwear as proof that she was guilty of capital murder. Our research, supported by a grant from the National Science Foundation, reveals for the first time that the prosecution’s tactics in Brenda Andrew’s case were far from unique. Based on a systematic review of the trial transcripts of every woman currently on death row in the …

The Post-Process Apostasy: Canaries, Calculators And Cathedrals, Thomas O. Main

University of the Pacific Law Review

No abstract provided.

Understanding Victim Experiences Within The Criminal Justice System, Carmen Hardin, Caron Lott

Journal of Criminal Justice and Law

This study explores crime victims’ perceptions of participation in criminal justice proceedings. In all, eight (8) interviews and 314 surveys of crime victims were conducted in Arkansas.  Among crime victims, 92% reported the crime to the police, 76% felt the case’s outcome served justice, 78% would be okay attending court again, 45% felt very safe in court, and 38% strongly agreed that their needs and wishes were considered in court.   Three main themes emerged from the interviews: 1) impact of crime victimization on individual needs, 2) perceived access to mental and physical well-being support, and 3) perceptions of crime victims …

International Advice, Mature Democracies And The Venice Commission, Maartje De Visser

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

The aim of this article is to explore the role and practice of constitutional advice-giving as it relates to mature democracies. More precisely, this article considers how the Venice Commission – the official advisory body for constitutional matters of the Council of Europe – exercises its mandate vis-à-vis such democracies through the delivery of country-specific Opinions, based on a close reading of all such Opinions rendered between 2002 and 2024. It examines the substantive focus of those Opinions, the way they engage with constitutional experiences elsewhere, as well as the tone of the assessment and the approach taken in formulating …

Lessons Learned: Helping Researchers Help The Intelligence Community, Sydney Rose Rothstein, Kristen Patel, Arthur Paul Pedersen

Public Administration - All Scholarship

The present paper argues that decades of debate have not established whether Analysis of Competing Hypotheses (ACH) works in intelligence analysis. Reviewing more than fifty English-language studies and commentaries from 2025 – 2026, it identifies only eight empirical, direct tests of ACH relevant to intelligence work, none of which demonstrates success or failure at improving analytic decision-making. It traces a conceptual error in these otherwise methodologically sound experiments to Richards J. Heuer Jr.’s 1999 Psychology of Intelligence Analysis: researchers conflated Heuer’s account of satisficing with confirmation bias and evaluated individual accuracy, belief change, or hypothesis ranking rather than whether …

Calvip Cohort 4 Local Evaluation Report: Peace And Justice Law Center’S Legal Services To Support Gang Desistance, Nyla Baxter-Williamson Ma, Kirsten Chaplin Ma, Tori Luna Ma, Topher Mcdougal Phd

Kroc IPJ Research and Resources

This Local Evaluation Report assesses the implementation and outcomes of the Peace and Justice Law Center’s Legal Services to Support Gang Desistance (LSSGD) project, funded by the California Board of State and Community Correction’s California Violence Intervention and Prevention Program (CalVIP) Grant, Cohort 4. Through LSSGD, PJLC sought to provide direct legal services to current or formerly gang-involved individuals, as well as those treated by law enforcement as gang-involved, to reduce legal obstacles to desistance, expand access to lawful employment, promote family stability, and improve trust in legal institutions. The Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice (Kroc IPJ) …

Threats And Political Violence, J. Richard Broughton

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Privacy As A Democratic Guardrail: A Case For Fourth Amendment Constraints On Micro-Targeted Rhetoric, Susan Tanner

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Investigating The Detection Ability Of Presumptive Bloodstain Testing Through Concealment Obstacles, Skye E. Lehr

Student Theses

Bloodstain detection can provide valuable information on the ability of presumptive tests. When perpetrators seek to alter the scene of violent crimes to interfere with investigations or flee from justice, crime scene investigation becomes more complex. In this analysis, scenarios where bloodstain evidence is attempted to be removed by household cleaners and covered up by acrylic or oil-based paint, are tested using luminol and Kastle-Meyer direct testing. These bloodstains have been altered by bleach, dish soap or all-purpose cleaner and covered under multiple layers of acrylic or oil-based paint. Evidence is documented both photographically and visually to simulate crime scene …

Dementia, Advance Directives, And Second-Order Volitions, Rand Hirmiz

Research Collection School of Social Sciences

This paper contributes to the ongoing debate over the authority of advance directives in cases where patients with dementia express desires that conflict with their earlier wishes. Drawing on Harry Frankfurt’s concept of second-order volitions, I argue that the preferences of the pre-dementia self (the “then-self”) should, in most cases, take precedence over those of the post-dementia self (the “now-self”) –  particularly in instances where the now-self has lost the capacity to form second-order volitions and is no longer able to meaningfully repudiate prior values and commitments.

The Martha Wright-Reed Act: How The Fcc Took One Step Forward For Communication Equality For Deaf Individuals In Correctional Facilities And How It Could Be Expanded, Ashley Seebold

Seattle University Law Review

For decades, phone companies preyed on incarcerated individuals and their loved ones due to the lack of regulation of jail phone calls.2 In 2021, the average cost of a fifteen-minute jail phone call was about $3.3 In 2022, the average cost rose to $5.74, while some individuals faced an extreme charge of $24.82 for the same amount of time.4 In the early 2000s, consumer advocate and concerned grandmother Martha Wright-Reed called upon the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) to fix the imbalance so she could speak to her incarcerated grandson.5 Eventually, in 2023, the FCC answered her call to action and …

Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems And The Principles Of Distinction And Proportionality, Nicholas Cromie

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Lethal Autonomous Weapons Systems (LAWS) challenge the core principles of International Humanitarian Law (IHL), distinction and proportionality, by delegating life-and-death decisions to algorithms rather than human judgment.  This dissertation examines whether LAWS can conform to these principles and, if so, under what conditions.  Through process tracing, the study traces the historical integration of disruptive weapons technologies, including chemical, biological, nuclear, and armed drones, into IHL-compliant frameworks or their exclusion via prohibition.  Each case reveals distinct pathways: outright bans for indiscriminate or inherently inhumane systems (chemical and biological weapons), normative restraint and limited acceptance despite destructive power (nuclear weapons) and phased …

Sexual Communications, Digital Intimacy, And The Extremely Limited Admissibility Of Evidence Of A Complainant’S Intention To Consent, Elaine Craig

Dalhousie Law Journal

Research indicates that women are less likely than men to have any intention of actually engaging in the sexual activities they communicate about digitally, and men are more likely than women to assume that sexual text messages indicate an intention to engage in sex “in real life.” Sexting often reflects a highly stylized, performance-based, uninhibited and sometimes disinhibited form of discourse that distinguishes it from in-person communications. It is frequently open to interpretation and only rarely can these communications reasonably be said to reveal a reliable and non-discriminatory inference about a complainant’s actual sexual intentions for the future, let alone …

To Lecture Capture Or Not To Lecture Capture? The Answer For Legal Education Appears To Be A “Regulated Yes”, Nikos Harris Kc

Dalhousie Law Journal

The debate over the use of technology in the law classroom is often framed as the necessary use of modern forms of information sharing versus the creation of distractions which undermine deeper learning. One subject of significant debate in law faculties is whether students should have regular access to taped lectures from their courses, often referred to as “lecture capture.” Most universities have systems that can routinely record classes, and there are a number of pedagogical benefits which flow from student use of taped lectures. However, the issue of providing broad access to lecture capture is a complex one which …

The Degradation Of Prices: Platform Power, The Erosion Of Price Comparison, And Rebuilding Comparison Shopping In The Digital Economy, Stephanie T. Nguyen, Shaoul Sussman

Center for Law and the Economy

The ability to know the price of a product or service and then compare prices of similar products or services is a foundational cornerstone of consumer choice and competitive markets. Once, buyers could more easily compare identical products across multiple sellers. However, this process has systematically degraded over time and has become increasingly difficult to do in practice. When prices are a reliable signal of product and market value, consumers can make informed purchasing decisions and sellers can compete for business by offering more attractive prices to consumers. This is a core market force that keeps price levels in check …

Non-Judicial Mechanism For Resolving Past Human Rights Violence In Indonesia; How Does It Redress Women Victims Of Sexual Violence?, Sri Wiyanti Eddyono, Audrey Anggita Ayuningtyas

The Indonesian Journal of Socio-Legal Studies

This paper examines whether the Indonesian government's non-judicial settlement for addressing past gross human rights violations (PGHRV) offers redress for the victims of sexual violence of past human rights violations. Indonesia has grappled to address past human rights violations through formal justice mechanisms. There are about 12 unresolved cases, more than half of which concerning sexual violence during conflict. This paper combined a socio-legal approach with mixed methods to gather data on the issue PGHRV: desk research and interviews with key persons involved in the non-judicial mechanism. Due to the heavy political pressure, the formal judicial mechanism reached a dead …

Rehabilitation Or Retribution? A Socio-Legal Comparison Of Criminal Sanctions And Social Reintegration In Indonesia And Spain, Ridwan Arifin, Izan Mateo Cassandro

The Indonesian Journal of Socio-Legal Studies

This study examines the legal, institutional, and socio-cultural mechanisms influencing the social reintegration of ex-offenders in Indonesia and Spain. Despite a global trend toward rehabilitative approaches, practical implementation reveals significant divergence due to structural, cultural, and economic factors. Indonesia’s penal system, guided by Law No. 22 of 2022 and the new Criminal Code (KUHP), emphasizes statutory rehabilitation and vocational and spiritual programs. However, challenges such as prison overcrowding, limited post-release support, and societal stigma constrain effectiveness. Judicial decisions indicate cautious application of restorative provisions, reflecting both public expectations and institutional limitations. In Spain, rehabilitation is constitutionally entrenched under Article 25(2) …

Social Exclusion Cues And Collective Action Motivation In Environmental Campaigns: The Buffering Role Of Social Support, Hwan-Ho Noh, Warren B. Chik

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This study examines the influence of social exclusion cues on public engagement with environmental campaigns on social media, focusing on how such cues affect advertising attitudes and collective action motivation. Across two experimental studies, we investigated whether low engagement metrics, such as a small number of likes, function as symbolic exclusion cues that reduce perceived public support. The results indicate that social exclusion cues negatively affect advertising attitudes and collective action motivation, ultimately decreasing the intention to engage with the campaign. However, the presence of social support cues, which signal sustained public interest and social endorsement, effectively mitigated these negative …

Policing Sex Trafficking: 'They’Re Never Taught, You Know', Anila S. Duro

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Research shows that victims of sex trafficking are most likely to first come in contact with the police (Baldwin et al, 2011; Twigg, 2017) and at times police have not been able to categorize cases of prostitution as trafficking even when trafficking elements were very clear (Dank et al, 2017; Dempsey, 2017; Farrell & Cronin, 2015). Despite the legal definition of trafficking, the terms prostitution, sex work, and sex trafficking are sometimes used interchangeably by law enforcement, whereas at other times, these words refer to different sets of circumstances and have different criminalization outcomes.  Research in this area is limited …

Here, There, And Absent From The Film: Carving Out A Protection For Trailers In California’S Anti-Slapp Statute, Zach Cogan

Vanderbilt Journal of Entertainment & Technology Law

California’s anti-SLAPP statute is designed to encourage free speech and to prevent litigation that chills participation in public discourse, including the creation and promotion of media. It is a standard industry practice for filmmakers to use trailers to promote their films before the final cut and to gauge the success of certain cinematic elements—such as characters, plot points, and overall tone—so the necessary adjustments can be made before the film is released to audiences. Subjecting studios and filmmakers to litigation for adjusting these relatively minor elements that were present in the trailers will chill this beneficial and standard industry practice. …

Whistleblowers And Trade Secrecy’S Long Shadow, Deepa Varadarajan

Missouri Law Review

Employee whistleblowers expose harmful and unlawful corporate practices, often at great personal cost. Recent examples—including those at Meta, Boeing, OpenAI, Twitter, and Theranos—highlight whistleblowers’ significant societal role. But these examples also showcase the myriad legal uncertainties and obstacles employees face when collecting and disclosing evidence of potentially illegal behavior by their employers.

Taking It Down Or Not Far Enough? Evaluating The Take It Down Act And The Future Of Online Privacy, Camryn Kesselring

Missouri Law Review

Imagine you wake up one morning to notifications from your ex-partner, threatening to post private images of you online. Panicked, you Google your name and are inundated with explicit images of yourself posted to various websites dedicated to “revenge porn.” You reach out to these websites, desperate for removal, but you are met with only automatically generated replies and no assistance from these platforms. At work, you feel the heavy weight of colleagues’ stares. Eventually, calls from clients start to come in, confirming your fears that many are sharing and viewing these images. At the click of a button, your …

2026 Commencement Exercises, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

Commencement Programs

Order of Exercises

Processional:

Felix Wu, JD, PhD, Vice Dean, Professor of Law, Herald

Presiding: 

Selma Botman, PhD, Provost and Vice President for  Academic Affairs, Yeshiva University, Chief Marshal

Rabbi Dr. Ari Berman, President, Yeshiva University

National Anthem: 

Cantor Ira W. Heller, JD, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Class of 2008

Remarks: 

Melanie Leslie, JD, Dean, Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law, Class of 1991

Commencement Address: 

Hon. Rowan D. Wilson, Chief Judge of the State of New York and the New York Court of Appeals

Student Remarks: 

Quentin Decurnes, LL.M. Class Speaker, Class of 2026

Basya Bates, …

Critical Geopolitics And The Reconstruction Of Meaning: A Discourse Analysis Of The 'Terrorism' Label Applied To Hamas By Western Hegemony, Cahaya Mulyani Sakti, M.Hamdan Basyar

Journal of Terrorism Studies

The emergence of Hamas in 1987 cannot be separated from the configuration of modern colonialism and the continuity of occupation that shaped the political reality. Hamas’s early phase was rooted in socio-religious activities through education and community empowerment programs, before evolving into armed resistance against the occupation. The labeling of Hamas as a “terrorist” organization began in the mid-1990s in U.S. legal documents, which subsequently generated debate and gave rise to counter-narratives. This study employs the frameworks of critical geopolitics (Ó Tuathail & Agnew) and the Discourse-Historical Approach (Wodak) to analyze the labeling of Hamas as “terrorist” by Western hegemony. …

Making Noise Through Law: Indigenous Legal Mobilisation Against A Power Plant In “French” Guiana, Pierre Auzerau

Tipití: Journal of the Society for the Anthropology of Lowland South America

In so-called “French” Guiana, or Guyane, the Kali’na village of Atopo Wipi has fought for years against a hydrogen power plant being built on their land. Drawing on ethnographic fieldwork conducted between 2023 and 2024 in Guyane and Western Europe, where I collaborated with various stakeholders to support Atopo Wipi’s resistance to the power plant, my research focuses on the legal dimensions of the Kali’na’s struggle to protect their land. Specifically, this article examines how the Kali’na navigated different normative frameworks, including international human rights standards and French law, to fight the project. Through this analysis, I show how the …

Truth That Lies: How Literal Falsity Lost The Consumer And How To Restore It, Porter Alexander Tynes, Iii

Journal of Intellectual Property Law

The more deceptive the claim, the safer it becomes. Recent false advertising decisions hold that a categorical marketing promise is not literally false so long as it works for someone—even if it fails for ordinary consumers in ordinary use. Under this logic, technical accuracy immunizes practical deception, and truth is measured by theoretical possibility rather than communicative meaning.

This Note argues that this “truth for some” doctrine represents a sharp break from the Lanham Act’s consumer-protection purpose. Decisions such as BPI Sports v. ThermoLife invert the doctrine of literal falsity, transforming it from the Act’s strongest safeguard into a liability …

The Prestige Economy Of Legal Scholarship, Jeffrey A. Katz, Jacob Sandler

Florida Law Review

Law reviews sit at the center of American legal scholarship, but their role is widely misunderstood. They are not peer-reviewed, yet the academy treats their placement decisions as markers of scholarly merit. This Essay argues that law reviews function as participants in a prestige economy—one in which reputation, familiarity, and institutional brand often matter more than substantive judgment. Tracing the student-edited model from its pedagogical origins to its modern professional consequences, this Essay shows how prestige became currency, how that currency shapes editorial and authorial behavior, and why the system strains under political and methodological pressure. It concludes by urging …

Extra Omnes: Analyzing The United States’ And Ireland’S Methods Of Quelling The Criminal Clergy Sexual Abuse Scourge, Dana Aprigliano

Journal of Catholic Legal Studies

(Excerpt)

In late 2008, an Irish businessman was successful in legally preventing sexual assault claims from being brought against him. In explaining why one “victim” should be discredited, the court cited a threat she made against the businessman to make allegations of a sexual nature against him if he did not pay her a sum of money. In particular, she told him that if he did not pay her, she would “have him . . . ’plastered all over the front of the Evening Herald like those p[e]dophile priests.’ ” Although the businessman was not a priest or, as it …