Digital Commons Network^™

Religious Law And Women's Human Rights: Reflections Upon The African Human Rights System, Julia L. Ernst

UC Law SF International Law Review

In many countries, governments have permitted the application of religious laws and have delegated judicial authority to religious courts. These practices may violate women's human rights for at least four reasons. First, women are barred from leadership positions within many religious institutions, and are therefore prevented from helping interpret the religious precepts and develop the law that is being applied by the religious courts. This exclusion of women violates their right to participate in governance, democracy, and decision-making, which are essential components of law-making. Second, women are excluded from serving as judges on religious courts, thereby calling into question the …

Out Of The Shadows: Deferred Action For Childhood Arrivals, Deferred Action To Parents Of Americans And Lawful Permanent Residents, And Executive Prosecutorial Discretion In Immigration Law, Olga Y. Kuchins

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

Currently, more than eleven million undocumented immigrants live and work in the United States unlawfully. The Administration's effort to bring undocumented immigrants out of the "shadows" under the deferred action programs, while constitutional, is merely a Band-Aid-a temporary solution to Congress' unsuccessful efforts to pass legislation that addresses the issue of undocumented immigrants head on. This Note contextualizes the Obama Administration's deferred action programs within the larger framework of prosecutorial discretion in immigration law.

Section I lays the foundation for the Administration's decision to implement Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals ("DACA") by discussing some of the major developments in United …

Personal Experiences Of A Deaf Law Student, With Updated Foreword, Alice Mcgill

UC Law SF Journal on Gender and Justice

This article highlights the author's experience as a deaf individual. What began as a challenge in law school became a greater challenge in the legal profession. However, the author highlights, with the passage often American Disabilities Act, that legal landscape has changed drastically in both positive and negative ways. With new technology, new types of discrimination, and new forms of education, the author notes how much her life has changed since law school and how she has become to appreciate the Deaf community in new ways.

Reforming High-Stakes Police Departments: How Federal Civil Rights Will Rebuild Constitutional Policing In America, Ivana Dukanovic

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

Over the past two decades, the Justice Department has untaken dozens of topdown interventions of local police departments plagued with unconstitutional policing. From Albuquerque, New Mexico, to Ferguson, Missouri, the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division has instituted reform in departments exhibiting patterns or practices that violate individuals' constitutional rights. The government's tool for imposing such reform and oversight on local, state power is a twenty-three-year-old statute: 42 U.S.C. 14141. This Note proposes that § 14141 is the change agent for rebuilding constitutional policing in America.

But with change comes challenge, and many pushback departments continue to resist reform. The Note …

Completing Government Speech's Unfinished Business: Clipping Garcetti's Wings And Addressing Scholarship And Teaching, Edward J. Schoen

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

This article examines two major developments stemming from the U.S. Supreme Court decision in Garcetti v. Ceballos, in which the Court ruled: Statements made by public employees pursuant to their official duties are not protected by the First Amendment. Furthermore, the Court disclaimed whether or not its ruling applied to scholarship of teaching. First, this decision has triggered an avalanche of circuit court decisions dismissing 42 U.S.C. § 1983 employment retaliation claims, because the courts usually determined the expression was derived from the government employee's actual duties. Second, the disclaimer has created inconsistency and doubt in assessing § 1983 public …

The American Bar Association's Criminal Justice Mental Health Standards: Revisions For The Twenty-First Century, Christopher Slobogin

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

The American Bar Association's revision of its Criminal Justice Mental Health Standards ("Standards"), promulgated in August 2016, tackles a wide range of issues concerning the involvement of people with mental disabilities in the criminal justice system. Consisting of over ninety black letter provisions, the Standards address diversion and specialized courts; the role of mental health professionals, the police, lawyers and correctional officials in cases involving people with mental disabilities; and the law and processes associated with competency, insanity, commitment, and capital and non-capital sentencing. This article describes the genesis of the Standards and explains their content, organized in terms of …

The Real-World Fourth Amendment, Brent E. Newton

UC Law Constitutional Quarterly

The Fourth Amendment's protections against unreasonable searches and seizures have resulted in a massive body of appellate case law, including several hundreds of decisions by the Supreme Court and many thousands of decisions by the lower courts. The Article, written by a former long-time public defender, provides a comprehensive and accessible survey of the Fourth Amendment as applied to recurring real-world situations in which a police officer or other governmental official engages in a search or seizure of property or a person. The Article addresses both "substantive" and "remedial" aspects of the Fourth Amendment in both criminal prosecutions and civil …

Asylum And Terrorism: The Death Of Human Rights Law?, Moria Paz

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Multiplication Effect Of Legal Insurance, Ben Depoorter, Jef De Mot, Michael G. Faure

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Juvenile Life Without Parole In Law And Practice: Chronicling The Rapid Change Underway, John Mills, Anna M. Dorn, Amelia Courtney Hritz

Faculty Scholarship

This Article provides a comprehensive examination of juvenile life without parole ('"LWOP") both as a policy and in practice. Beginning in 2010, the U.S. Supreme Court has repeatedly held that the Eighth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution restricts the reach of JLWOP sentences, first prohibiting it for non-homicide offenses, then proscribing its mandatory application for any offense, and, in 2016, clarifying that it may only be imposed in the rare instance in which a juvenile's homicide demonstrates his or her "irreparable corruption. " The legislative responses to these cases have been to either abandon or restrict JLWOP's application. These legislative …

Beyond Legality: Understanding The Legitimacy Of Executive Action In Immigration Law, Ming Hsu Chen

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Marijuana Legalization. Initiative Statute.

Initiatives

Legalizes marijuana under state law. Creates commission to regulate and license marijuana industry. Applies general retail sales taxes to marijuana, unless medical or dietary exemptions apply. Permits excise taxes on certain marijuana sales, up to 15% of retail price, and storage, up to 10% of wholesale price. Prohibits discrimination based on marijuana use. Restricts marijuana testing for job applicants and employees, or penalizing employees for off-duty use, unless they are in safety-sensitive occupations. Permits local regulation of marijuana businesses, including ban or limit on number with voter approval. Exempts medical marijuana collectives from licensing requirements. Summary of estimate by Legislative …

Marijuana Legalization. Initiative Statute.

Initiatives

Legalizes marijuana under state law. Creates commission to regulate and license marijuana industry. Applies general retail sales taxes to marijuana, unless medical or dietary exemptions apply. Permits excise taxes on certain marijuana sales, up to 15% of retail price, and storage, up to 10% of wholesale price. Prohibits discrimination based on marijuana use. Restricts marijuana testing for job applicants and employees, or penalizing employees for off-duty use, unless they are in safety-sensitive occupations. Permits local regulation of marijuana businesses, including ban or limit on number with voter approval. Exempts medical marijuana collectives from licensing requirements. Summary of estimate by Legislative …

Three Strikes Law. Pre-1994 Strikes. Initiative Statute.

Initiatives

Provides that serious or violent felonies committed before passage of the three strikes law in 1994 do not count as strikes toward three strikes sentencing. Drops definition of crimes that count as strikes for purpose of three strikes law. Requires resentencing for certain three strikes inmates (and certain two strikes inmates) who committed pre-1994 serious and/or violent felonies. Applies savings from sentencing changes to low-income middle and high schools, California Community Colleges, University of California, and prison rehabilitation programs. Removes crime of criminal threats from list of serious felonies that may not be plea-bargained. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst …

Public Employees. Pension And Retiree Healthcare Benefits. Initiative Constitutional Amendment.

Initiatives

Amends California Constitution to impose restrictions on employer contributions toward cost of pension and retiree healthcare benefits for new public employees, including those working in K-12 schools, higher education, hospitals, and police protection. Bars government employers from contributing amount more than 11% of an employee’s base compensation (13% for safety employees) toward cost of pension and retiree healthcare benefits for public employees hired after January 1, 2019, and from paying more than one-half cost of such new public employees’ pension and retiree healthcare benefits, unless higher portion is first approved by voters. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director …

Marijuana Legalization. Initiative Statute.

Initiatives

Legalizes marijuana under state law. Creates office and commission to license and regulate marijuana industry. Imposes state taxes of $2 per square foot of marijuana cultivation, $1 to $15 per ounce of marijuana production, 10% of retail sales price for edible marijuana products and concentrated extracts, and 5% for other retail sales. Imposes additional 5% local tax on retail sales. Exempts medical marijuana from some taxation. Provides for collection of taxes by State Board of Equalization. Authorizes resentencing and destruction of records for prior marijuana convictions. Allows limited local regulation of marijuana. Eases state restrictions on industrial hemp farming. Summary …

Marijuana Legalization. Initiative Statute.

Initiatives

Legalizes marijuana and hemp under state law. Designates state agencies to license and regulate marijuana industry. Imposes state excise tax on retail sales of marijuana equal to 15% of sales price, and state cultivation taxes on marijuana of $9.25 per ounce of flowers and $2.75 per ounce of leaves. Exempts medical marijuana from some taxation. Establishes packaging, labeling, advertising, and marketing standards and restrictions for marijuana products. Allows local regulation and taxation of marijuana. Prohibits marketing and advertising marijuana to minors. Authorizes resentencing and destruction of records for prior marijuana convictions. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of …

Databasing Delinquency, Kevin Lapp

UC Law Journal

Technological advances in recent decades have enabled an unprecedented level of surveillance by the government and permitted law enforcement to gather, store, and retrieve in real time enormous amounts of data. After nearly a century of limited record-making and enhanced confidentiality regarding juveniles, these data collection practices have quickly expanded to include youth. This Article uncovers the vast extent of modern data collection and distribution about juveniles by the criminal justice system from juvenile sex offender registration and their inclusion in gang and DNA databases, to schools turned into mandated law enforcement informants, to police and courts increasingly sharing juvenile …

Medical Marijuana. Initiative Statute.

Initiatives

Bans all privately owned medical marijuana cultivation sites and dispensaries. Creates state-owned/operated dispensaries, and a single state-owned/operated site for medical marijuana cultivation, testing, and processing. Allows local governments to ban or restrict the number and location of state-owned dispensaries. Establishes packaging, lab testing, and potency standards for medical marijuana. Sets minimum age for medical marijuana use, at 21. Requires adoption of strict standards to govern physician medical marijuana recommendations for their patients. Specifies marijuana blood-content levels that establish driving under the influence. Retains current prohibition on recreational use of marijuana. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance …

Tax Extension To Fund Education. Initiative Constitutional Amendment.

Initiatives

Extends by twelve years the temporary personal income tax increases enacted in 2012 on earnings over $250,000 (for single filers; over $500,000 for joint filers; over $340,000 for heads of household). Allocates these tax revenues 89% to K-12 schools and 11% to California Community Colleges. Bars use of these revenues for administrative costs, but provides local school governing boards discretion to decide, in open meetings and subject to annual audit, how these revenues are to be spent. Beginning in 2019, exempts these revenues from annual transfers to the state budget stabilization account. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director …

Uc Hastings Open Space Inventory, Sustainable Uc Hastings

Long Range Campus Planning Archive

No abstract provided.

Marijuana Legalization. Initiative Statute.

Initiatives

Legalizes marijuana under state law. Creates commission to license and regulate marijuana industry. Establishes procedures for resentencing of persons convicted of nonviolent marijuana offenses. Imposes state excise tax on marijuana of $.42 per gram of dried marijuana and $2.00 per gram of concentrated marijuana. Imposes temporary additional state excise tax of 2.5% on marijuana retail sales. Permits local taxes of up to 10% on marijuana sales, with voter approval. Provides for collection of marijuana taxes by Board of Equalization. Exempts medical marijuana from some taxation. Limits local regulation of marijuana. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance …

Three Strikes Law. Pre-1994 Strikes. Initiative Statute.

Initiatives

Provides that serious or violent felonies committed before passage of the three strikes law in 1994 do not count as strikes toward three strikes sentencing. Drops definition of crimes that count as strikes for purpose of three strikes law. Makes changes to the law that allowed resentencing for certain three strikes inmates; does not extend expired deadline to petition for resentencing. Declares that purpose of imprisonment includes rehabilitation. Removes crime of criminal threats and some first-degree burglaries from list of serious felonies that may not be plea-bargained. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and Director of Finance of fiscal impact …

"Community Restoration Act Of 2016 To Regulate, Control And Tax Cannabis"

Initiatives

No abstract provided.

Incentivizing Excellence: A Suggestion For Merit-Based Reductions From A Twenty-Six-Year Federal Prison Insider, Michael Santos

UC Law Journal

America’s prison population has soared since the early 1970s, when a commitment to mass incarceration began. We now incarcerate more people than any other nation. Further, recidivism rates show that the longer we expose people to “corrections,” the less likely those people become to emerge as law-abiding, contributing citizens. As Justice Kennedy has said, our nation incarcerates far too many people, and they serve sentences that are far too long. We can improve the outcomes of our nation’s prison system by incentivizing a pursuit of excellence, creating mechanisms through which people in prison can earn freedom in gradually increasing levels …

New York City Rules! Regulatory Models For Environmental And Public Health, Jason J. Czarnezki

UC Law Journal

Scholars have become increasingly interested in facilitating improvement in environmental and public health at the local level. Over the last few years, former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and the New York City Council have proposed and adopted numerous environmental and public health initiatives, providing a useful case study for analyzing the development and success (or failure) of various regulatory tools, and offering larger lessons about regulation that can be extrapolated to other substantive areas. This Article, first, seeks to categorize and evaluate these “New York Rules,” creating a new taxonomy to understand different types of regulation. These “New …

Piercing The Privacy Veil: Toward A Saner Balancing Of Privacy And Health In Cases Of Severe Mental Illness, Jorgio Castro

UC Law Journal

On November 19, 2013, Virginia state senator and former candidate for governor Robert Creigh Deeds suffered a high-profile attack from his son, who had been diagnosed with schizophrenia, resulting in permanent injuries to himself and his son’s self-inflicted death. On June 16, 2015, Senator Deeds addressed Congress to highlight one of the biggest challenges to providing adequate intervention and support for his son—the HIPAA Privacy Rule’s restriction on the release of protected health information to family caretakers. Senator Deeds’s high-profile story emerged as a national indication of a serious problem: the immense difficulty experienced by families trying to obtain critical …

Marijuana Legalization. Initiative Statute.

Initiatives

Legalizes under state law marijuana possession, production, cultivation, transportation, manufacture, processing, and sale. Creates commission to license and regulate the marijuana industry. Establishes procedures for resentencing of persons convicted of nonviolent marijuana offenses. Imposes excise tax on marijuana of $.50 per gram of dried marijuana, $2.00 per gram of concentrated marijuana, and $3.30 per gallon of liquid marijuana-infused products. Permits local taxes of up to 10% on marijuana sales, with voter approval. Provides for collection of marijuana taxes by Board of Equalization. Exempts medical marijuana from some taxation. Limits local regulation of marijuana. Summary of estimate by Legislative Analyst and …

Marijuana Legalization. Initiative Statute.

Initiatives

Legalizes marijuana under state law. Creates commission to regulate and license marijuana industry. Applies general retail sales taxes to marijuana, unless medical or dietary exemptions apply. Permits excise taxes on certain marijuana sales, up to 15% of retail price, and storage, up to 10% of wholesale price. Prohibits discrimination based on marijuana use. Bars marijuana testing for job applicants and employees, or penalizing employees for off-duty use, unless they are in safety-sensitive occupations. Permits local regulation of marijuana businesses, including ban or cap with voter approval. Exempts medical marijuana collectives from licensing and local zoning. Summary of estimate by Legislative …

Developing Drop Discipline: Training And Testing Operators Of Small Unmanned Aircraft Systems, Henry H. Perritt Jr., Eliot O. Sprague

UC Law Science and Technology Journal

This is the third in a series of articles about drones by the co-authors. The first, Drones, introduces the subject and explores the technologies that makes microdrones so useful and so inexpensive. It provides an overview of technological, economic, political, and regulatory issues that the second article and this one explore more deeply. The second article, Law Abiding Drones, argues that the character of microdrones justifies simplified regulation as consumer products, with automated flight control and safety systems that make flying them easy, compared with airplanes and helicopters. This article focuses on the question of operator qualifications. It does not …