Digital Commons Network^™

The 1999 Amendments To The Jimmy Ryce Involuntary Civil Commitment For Sexually Violent Predators' Treatment And Care Act: A Dangerous Example Of Reactionary Legislation, Jay Lechner

University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Silencing Culture And Culturing Silence: A Comparative Experience Of Centrifugal Forces In The Ethnic Studies Curriculum, Steven W. Bender

Faculty Articles

Using the metaphor of silencing, Professor Margaret Montoya documents the irrelevance of race, gender, and socio-historical perspectives both in legal education and, more broadly, in legal discourse. Although others have invoked this metaphor, Professor Montoya's charting of the physical, rather than merely metaphorical, space of silence moves beyond this legal literature in several respects. Viewing silence not just as dead space, Professor Montoya enlivens and colors silence and other nonverbal aspects of communication as positive cultural traits. She demonstrates how silence can be used as a pedagogical tool (a centrifugal force) in the classroom and in client interviews to bring …

Advocacy Of The Establishment Of Mental Health Specialty Courts In The Provision Of Therapeutic Justice For Mentally Ill Offenders, Leroy L. Kondo

Seattle University Law Review

This Article explores the establishment of mental health courts as a partial solution to the perplexing societal problem that relegates mentally ill offenders to a "revolving door" existence in and out of prisons and jails.This inescapable situation results from a paucity ofeffective humanitarian policies, laws, and procedures for treating such medically disordered defendants. The establishment of mental health specialty courts is investigated as a potential means of addressing the complex legal issues and psycho-sociological problems faced by the judicial system in dealing with mentally ill offenders.

Therapeutic Jurisprudence In The Appellate Arena: Judicial Notice And The Potential Of The Legislative Fact Remand, A.J. Stephani

Seattle University Law Review

This Article begins with a modest objective and ends with an ambitious one. First, it asserts that appellate courts are an appropriate forum for considering the therapeutic impact of the law strand of therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ) scholarship. TJ's character as a "field of social inquiry" is especially suited to the appellate courts' task of formulating new rules of law and choosing among competing policy objectives when resolving opposing normative principles.

Social Norms And The Legal Regulation Of Marriage, Elizabeth S. Scott

Faculty Scholarship

Americans have interesting and somewhat puzzling attitudes about the state's role in defining and enforcing family obligations. Most people view lasting marriage as an important part of their life plans and take the commitment of marriage very seriously. Yet any legal initiative designed to reinforce that commitment generates controversy and is viewed with suspicion in many quarters. For example, covenant marriage statutes, which offer couples entering marriage the option of undertaking a modest marital commitment, are seen by many observers as coercive and regressive measures rather than ameliorating reforms.

The law tends to reflect – and perhaps contributes to – …

Toward The Restorative Constitution: A Restorative Justice Critique Of Anti-Gang Public Nuisance Injunctions, Joan W. Howarth

Scholarly Works

Gang members from elsewhere congregated on lawns, on sidewalks, and in front of apartment complexes at all hours. They displayed a casual contempt for notions of law, order, and decency -- openly drinking, smoking dope, sniffing toluene, and even snorting cocaine laid out in neat lines on the hoods of residents' cars. San Jose prosecutors responded by obtaining and enforcing a broad injunction against the gangs and their members, based on the finding that the gangs' activities constituted a public nuisance. California prosecutors have sought such anti-gang public nuisance injunctions since 1987. Their constitutionality was in doubt for ten years …

The Rise And Fall Of Affirmative Action Injury Selection, Avern Cohn, David R. Sherwood

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

The U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan has historically experienced difficulty in achieving jury compositions that truly represented the surrounding community. In response, the Authors share their insight as to how the court instituted a "balancing" program. By reducing the number of white names in the jury wheel, the balancing program successfully incorporated more minorities into the jury system. The Authors further discuss the Sixth Circuit decision, United States v. Ovalle, which marked the end of the balancing program.

The Globalisation Of Crime, Mark Findlay

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

As with many emergent themes in today's society, globalisation is simple and complex. Put simply, it is the collapsing of time and space; the process whereby through mass communication, multi-national commerce, internationalised politics, and transnational regulation we seem to be moving inexorably towards a single culture. The more complex interpretation of globalisation is as paradox - wherein there are as many pressures driving us in the direction of the common culture as those keeping us apart.

Culture And Crime: Kargar And The Existing Framework For A Cultural Defense, Nancy A. Wanderer, Catherine R. Connors

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Silencing The Guns In Haiti, Elizabeth Mensch

Buffalo Law Review

Book review of Irwin Stotzky's Silencing the Guns in Haiti: The Promise of Deliberative Democracy

The New Chinese Criminal Justice System, Daniel C. Turack

Cardozo Journal of International and Comparative Law

The article examines the significant legal reforms in China's criminal justice system enacted in 1996 and 1997, aiming to transition from "rule by man" to "rule of law." It evaluates whether these reforms have enhanced personal freedoms and aligned the system with international standards, comparing the pre-1996 legal framework with the revised Criminal Law and Law of Criminal Procedure.

Zoning In Florida Under The Religious Freedom Restoration Acts: What City Officials Should Watch Out For In Defending Their Ordinances Against Freedom Of Religion Claims, Steven D. Ginsburg, Natalie J. Carlos

St. Thomas Law Review

Mr. Justice Holmes, speaking for the Supreme Court in Schenck v. United States, stated: "The most stringent protection of free speech would not protect a man in falsely shouting fire in a theater and causing a panic." Today we revisit this theme in the context of a religious organization's right to build its houses of worship in neighborhoods whose elected representatives have determined are inappropriate locations for churches and synagogues. Does a religion have the right to disregard general zoning laws of neutral application, claiming its beliefs are in conflict and burdened, and asserting they have a superior right to …

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act As A Threat To Global Harmony, Steven R. Salbu

Michigan Journal of International Law

Focusing primarily on the pragmatic and moral perils of cultural imperialism, I also alluded very briefly to a "political peril" that arises from the FCPA. This peril consists of the added risk of cross-national hostility that is attributable to officious and overreaching legislation across national borders. This article will examine the political hazard in greater detail, explaining why the proliferation of FCPA-style legislation unjustifiably increases the threat to global harmony.

Practicing Medicine Without A License: Legislative Attempts To Mandate Chemical Castration For Repeat Sex Offenders, 32 J. Marshall L. Rev. 381 (1999), Lisa Keesling

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Sobriety In A Post‐Genocidal Society: Good Neighborliness Among Victims And Aggressors In Rwanda?, Mark A. Drumbl

Scholarly Articles

Now as Rwanda begins to mourn the firth anniversary of its genocide, it should also celebrate the fifth anniversary of its survival. As time passes, Rwanda enters a stage of social and historical development which can be referred to as the "post-genocidal" stage. Some would say that Rwanda is actually in an intra-genocidal phase, given the persistence of Hutu rebel insurrection throughout the country, specifically in the Ruhengeri prefecture of the north-west. Although the merits of this classification can be debated, fatalistically characterizing Rwanda to be intra-genocidal assumes an ability to look in the future, a task no scholar is …

(Er)Race-Ing An Ethic Of Justice, Anthony V. Alfieri

Articles

No abstract provided.

Inside The Aclu: Activism And Anti-Communism In The Late 1960s, Allen K. Rostron

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

Between National And Post-National: Membership In The United States, T. Alexander Aleinikoff

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

This essay argues that the concept of post-nationalism does not precisely explain the American concept of citizenship. This is due to the strict construction of the nation state in American constitutional theory, the ineffective role of international human rights norms in American jurisprudence, and the extension of protection to non-citizens based on territorialist rationales. For these reasons, the author suggests that denizenship is a more appropriate way of viewing the American citizenship model, and is one that explains how notions of personal identity can be transnational while still justifiable within traditional nation-state constructs.

Introduction, Michigan Journal Of Race & Law

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

The last Supreme Court decision addressing the use of race in admissions to institutions of higher education, Bakke v. Regents of the University of California, affirmed that the role of diversity in colleges and universities is both essential and compelling. Since Bakke, opponents and proponents have wrestled with ideology and theory, but have never had the benefit of a comprehensive theoretical framework that has been tested by reliable empirical data. The University of Michigan has drawn on several of the nation's leading, and most respected, researchers and scholars, to develop such a framework and verify its legitimacy with …

Juvenile Crime And Punishment: An Analysis Of The "Get Tough" Approach, Shannon F. Mclatchey

University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy

The purpose of this note is to explore the current state of the juvenile justice system and its “get tough on juvenile crime” approach, as well as some alternatives to the current system. Part II examines the history of the juvenile court, the philosophy behind the creation of a separate system for juvenile offenders, and two U.S. Supreme Court cases that altered the nature of the juvenile court. Part III utilizes recent cases to illustrate the methods by which juveniles are transferred to adult court. Part IV discusses the problems and controversies surrounding transfer of juveniles to adult court. Part …

Mirrored Silence: Reflections On Judicial Complicity In Private Violence, Zanita E. Fenton

Articles

Tracy and John had been married for seven years. They were so in love when they met at college. He brought her flowers and wanted to spend all of his free time with her. Everything was perfect. But it seemed to become increasingly tumultuous as soon as they got married, two years later. He didn't just want to spend all of his time with her; he had to know what she was doing every waking moment of the day. He had to approve of her activities and her friends. He called her at work every day. If she wasn't at …

The Courage Of Our Convictions, Sherman J. Clark

Michigan Law Review

This article argues that criminal trial juries perform an important but inadequately appreciated social function. I suggest that jury trials serve as a means through which we as a community take responsibility for - own up to - inherently problematic judgments regarding the blameworthiness or culpability of our fellow citizens. This is distinct from saying that jury trials are a method of making judgments about culpability. They are that; but they are also a means through which we confront our own agency in those judgments. The jury is an institution through which we as individuals take a turn acknowledging and …

Transnational Critical Race Scholarship: Transcending Ethnic And National Chauvinism In The Era Of Globalization, Ibrahim J. Gassama

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

Eric Yamamoto's article, Critical Race Praxis: Race Theory and Political Lawyering Practice in Post-Civil Rights America, brings a needed perspective to scholarship seeking to place domestic social justice struggles within the context of a broader and more complex mix of forces at play. While Yamamoto does not highlight a critical transnational perspective in this particular article, he writes from a perspective that presumes transnational analysis is essential in making sense of the socio-economic and political forces affecting our lives as individuals and members of multiple, intersecting communities. The local, the national, and the international are inextricably bound and present …

A Socio-Legal History Of Florida's Juvenile Transfer Reforms, Henry George White, Charles E. Frazier, Lonn Lanza-Kaduce

University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy

This article is intended to provide a socio-legal history of the transfer laws in Florida, not only the recent reforms but also transfer provisions dating back nearly fifty years. Multiple changes involving a mix of instrumental expressive, and systems or institutional factors have occurred during this time. The goals of our analysis are to explore the underlying reasons for Florida’s transfer reforms in particular and to improve our understanding of the dynamics of legal reform in general.

Juvenile Transfers In Florida: The Worst Of The Worst?, Lonn Lanza-Kaduce, Charles E. Frazier, Donna M. Bishop

University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy

The purpose of this article is to examine what is needed to assess the issues of fairness and effectiveness, which are central to the rationales underpinning transfer policies. We start by considering the adequacy of the data that most often used to learn about transfer. We then report the findings from an in-depth study of local records. This field research illustrates how complex information gathering is on matters relevant to transfer. We then use the more detailed processing information gained from our study of local records to profile transfer cases and assess the comparability between criminal court transfers and their …

Using Violence As Social Control: Applying A Theory Of Conflict Management To Juvenile Disputes, Marian J. Borg

University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy

This article seeks to contribute both to the empirical evaluations of Black’s theory and to the literature on adolescent violence. It bridges these two area by examining the utility of Black’s theory of conflict management for explaining the use of violence in conflict situations between juveniles, an area in which Black’s propositions have not yet been systematically evaluated. The analysis focuses only on violence used to further a robbery, theft, or other predatory crime. Black’s theory is used as a basis for identifying social variables that increase the likelihood of using violence as a conflict management technique. A 1995 data …

Analyzing Juvenile Justice Policy: A Critical Review, Tonya Aultman-Bettridge

University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy

This article reviews a variety of perspectives that have been applied to the study of the juvenile justice system in more recent years. While not meant as an exhaustive summary of the literature on juvenile justice, this article outlines a number of different frames of reference that have been used in the analysis of policies aimed at chronic, serious and/or violent juveniles offenders, with a particular emphasis on framing the nature of the current controversy and debate. Starting with the social science of 1970s, which supported the “nothing works” doctrine of juvenile offender treatment, this work review and summarizes existing …

The Appeal Provision Of Florida's Criminal Punishment Code: Unwise And Unconstitutional, Robert Batey, Stephen M. Everhart

University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy

This article addresses whether this startling new appeal provision in Florida’s Criminal Punishment Code is constitutional: Can the state give itself the right to appeal downward departure sentences but deny the reciprocal right of the defendant to appeal upward departure sentences? Part II of this article sets the background for answering this question by briefly sketching the history of sentencing guidelines in Florida, and how the new appeal provision undermines the wise policy behind those guidelines. Part III then outlines the infirmities of the new appeal provision under the double jeopardy, right-to-appeal, due process, and proportionality provisions of both the …

Toward A More Utilitarian Juvenile Court System, Rod Smith

University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Enhancing Autonomy For Battered Women: Lessons From Navajo Peacemaking, Donna Coker

Articles

In this Article, Professor Donna Coker employs original empirical research to investigate the use of Navajo Peacemaking in cases involving domestic violence. Her analysis includes an examination of Navajo women's status and the impact of internal colonization. Many advocates for battered women worry that informal adjudication methods such as Peacemaking ignore domestic hierarchies of power and thus facilitate the batterer's ongoing violence against the victim. Those who endorse the use of Navajo Peacemaking and other systems of restorative justice believe that such processes are better equipped to cut through the batterer's denial and victim blaming and are more likely to …