Digital Commons Network^™

Serving The Homeless: Evaluating The Effectiveness Of Homeless Shelter Services, Robert L. Fischer

Faculty Scholarship

The effects of homeless assistance services at the local level are tremendously difficult to ascertain. In this study, a four-month sample of homeless persons served by a local homeless shelter and case management program were contacted nine to eleven months after receiving services. The findings suggest that the program had some initial success in assisting the homeless clients to locate housing within the first year after leaving the shelter. However, the housing costs paid by these formerly homeless were quite high, with nearly three-quarters of them spending forty percent or more of their income on housing.

Medical Error Reporting: Professional Tensions Between Confidentiality & Liability, Wendy K. Mariner, Frances H. Miller

Faculty Scholarship

Improving patient safety depends on a sophisticated understanding of what can jeopardize it. Reports of adverse patient events and "near misses" constitute valuable information that can foster that understanding. Knowing what has gone wrong in the past facilitates the search for systems improvements, which can prevent recurrence. Unfortunately, providers have been generally unenthusiastic about reporting medical error, whether from a sense of shame, from a fear of liability and institutional sanctions, or from anxiety about reputation and relationships with peers. This Issue Brief lays out the factors that may affect reporting, and explores the limited evidence about whether providers' confidentiality …

Property Law: 2001 Survey Of Florida Law, Ronald B. Brown, Joseph M. Grohman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Drug Designs Are Different, Aaron Twerski, J. A. Henderson

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

A 2001 Employment Law Odyssey: The Invasion Of Privacy Tort Takes Flight In The Florida Workplace, Michael Z. Green

Faculty Scholarship

Computer use has exploded over the last twenty years. Even more rapid growth of technology throughout the 1990s has culminated with the dynamic and exponentially increasing use of the Internet. This technology spurt has led the way to many more business opportunities. With those increasing opportunities more problems have arisen, especially with protecting privacy on a domestic and an international scale after the European Union Directive. The European Union Directive created a profound impact on multinational employers, especially those in the U.S., by requiring guarantees that all private information gathered by companies doing business in countries that are members of …

Mary Joe Frug's Postmodern Feminist Legal Manifesto Ten Tears Later: Reflections On The State Of Feminism Today, Elizabeth M. Schneider, Regina Austin

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Section 1983'S And Laws Clause Run Amok: Civil Rights Attorney's Fees In Cellular Facilities Siting Disputes, Clive B. Jacques, Jack M. Beermann

Faculty Scholarship

In this article, we argue that enforcing the TCA against state and local zoning authorities raises serious legal concerns, especially if such enforcement is via a § 1983 "and laws" action. In particular, we argue that courts should not award attorney's fees under § 1988 to providers who prevail in claims alleging violation of TCA section 704. First, we argue that this is not an appropriate "and laws" claim because the TCA's cell siting provisions, in the main, do not create rights that are enforceable via § 1983 action. Further, in our view Congress did not intend that providers be …

The Wonderful World Of Genetics, George J. Annas

Faculty Scholarship

Review of Future Perfect: Confronting Decisions about Genetics (2001) by Lori B. Andrews

Building Community, Recognizing Dignity: Beyond The Ada, Karen H. Rothenberg, Alan D. Hornstein

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

The Hormesis Challenge For Environmental Health Regulators, Michael S. Baram

Faculty Scholarship

The hormesis hypothesis provides that human, animal or plant exposure to a low external dose of a hazardous chemical substance or physical agent may have beneficial health outcomes'. For example, human exposure to a precisely defined, low external dose of a carcinogenic pollutant in the workplace or ambient environment may lead to an internal dose or concentration, which stimulates a dormant defense mechanism that inhibits the growth of tumors.

Human Rights And Development In The 21st Century: The Complex Path To Peace And Democracy, Douglas Lee Donoho

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Epa At Thirty: Fairness In Environmental Protection, Eileen Gauna

Faculty Scholarship

This Article looks at how EPA is managing the fairness issue in a discrete but highly charged context: permit issuances that affect heavily impacted communities. This Article first provides a discussion of how fairness-oriented reform might evolve within the permit process. This section also examines permit issuances that were appealed to the U.S. Environmental Appeals Board (EAB) on environmental justice grounds. Proceeding one step beyond environmental law, the Article looks at how EPA is responding to claims of disparate impact under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act. However, rather than focus on the intricacies of legal doctrine under Title …

Prosecuting Conduit Campaign Contributions - Hard Time For Soft Money, Robert D. Probasco

Faculty Scholarship

In recent years, there have been several high-profile prosecutions for violations of the Federal Election Campaign Act, involving contributions nominally by one individual but funded or reimbursed by another individual deemed to be the true contributor. Prosecutions of these “conduit contribution” cases have been surprising in at least three significant respects. First, the prosecutions have been based on violations of FECA’s reporting requirements and may not have involved any violations of the substantive prohibitions or limitations of contributions. Second, the defendants were the donors rather than campaign officials who actually filed reports with FECA. Third, the cases were prosecuted as …

Public International Law: Environmental Law, Gilbert M. Bankobeza, Susan Biniaz, Clare Breidenich, Melanne Andromecca Civic, Gabriel E. Eckstein, David Favre, Paul E. Hagen, Teresa Hobgood, Karissa Taylor Kovner, Gregory F. Maggio, Howard Mann, Darlene A. Pearson, Margaret F. Spring, Katherine E. Mills, David W. Wagner, John Barlow Weiner

Faculty Scholarship

Noteworthy international activity relating to the environment occurred in a wide variety of fora in 2000. This chapter provides brief updates on some of the most significant developments. Though by no means a comprehensive review, the chapter reflects the wide sweep of issues and large number of entities now involved in the development of international environmental law, at the start of this new century. It also reflects how critical and complex this international work is, and how much remains to be done.

A Survey Of Federal Agency Responses To President Clinton’S Executive Order Number 12898 On Environmental Justice, Eileen Gauna, Denis Binder, Colin Crawford, M. Casey Jarman, Alice Kaswan, Catherine A. O'Neill, Clifford Rechtschaffen, Bradford C. Mank, Robert R.M. Verchick

Faculty Scholarship

In an effort to address the well-documented and serious problem of environmental justice in the United States, President William J. Clinton issued Executive Order (EO) No. 128981 on February 11, 1994. The EO represented the culmination of a century of rapid changes in society's attitudes toward the placement of hazardous facilities in poor, disadvantaged, and minority communities, as well as the denial of services to these communities. This survey examines the impact of the EO on federal agencies. Environmental justice is not a problem unique to the late 20th century. Majoritarian societies have historically discriminated against minority groups.3 For example, …

Brief For The American Association On Mental Retardation, The Arc Of The United States, The American Orthopsychiatric Association, Physicians For Human Rights, The American Network Of Community Options And Resources, The Joseph P. Kennedy, Jr. Foundation, The Judge David L. Bazelon Center For Mental Health Law, And The National Association Of Protection And Advocacy Systems As Amici Curiae, April Land, James W. Ellis, Christian G. Fritz, Michael B. Browde

Faculty Scholarship

The American people first became aware of the issue of mental retardation and the death penalty around the time of this Court’s decision in Penry. In the intervening years, all available forms of evidence demonstrate an unmistakable national consensus that people with mental retardation should not be executed. Petitioner, as well as other supporting amici, will present this Court with the compelling clinical, moral, and constitutional reasons why such executions violate the Eighth Amendment. Amici American Association on Mental Retardation (AAMR) et al. offer a somewhat different perspective. Since the Court’s evaluation of whether a national consensus exists is essentially …

Lochner Redeemed: Family Privacy After Troxel And Carhart, David D. Meyer

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Privatization And Political Accountability, Jack M. Beermann

Faculty Scholarship

This article is an attempt to draw some general connections between privatization and political accountability. Political accountability is to be understood as the amenability of a government policy or activity to monitoring through the political process. Although the main focus of the article is to examine different types of privatization, specifically exploring the ramifications for political accountability of each type, I also engage in some speculation as to whether there are there situations in which privatization might raise constitutional concerns related to the degree to which the particular privatization reduces political accountability for the actions or decisions of the newly …

Legal Issues In Hiv/Aids Prevention And Treatment In The Russian Federation – Summary And Conclusions Of The Boston University Hiv/Aids Project, Wendy K. Mariner

Faculty Scholarship

The Russia Federation faces an urgent need to control the spread of HIV. Although infection has been concentrated primarily among high risk groups so far, the risk that it will spread rapidly throughout the general population is growing daily. Controlling the HIV epidemic requires leadership and strategies that are somewhat different from traditional infectious disease control models because there is no vaccine yet available to prevent disease and people spread infection by engaging in activities that are hidden from public view and not susceptible to simple prohibitions.

Boston University conducted several studies as part of USAID’s HIV/AIDS Strategy to assist …

Conjoining International Human Rights Law With Enterprise Liability For Accidents, Anita Bernstein

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Florida's Foster Care System Fails Its Children, Timothy L. Arcaro

Faculty Scholarship

This article will attempt to draw attention to the pervasive problem of child sexual abuse in foster care by identifying circumstances that contribute to sexual victimization. Hopefully the discussion will illuminate the plight of child victims of sexual abuse and generate discourse on a new paradigm of protection initiatives for foster children. Part I of the article will explain child protection proceedings and how children enter the foster care system. Part II will describe common characteristics of state foster care systems. Part III will discuss traditional notions of child sexual abuse and their illusory application in the context of sexual …

Consent To The Use Of Stored Dna For Genetics Research: A Survey Of Attitudes In The Jewish Population, Marc D. Schwartz, Karen H. Rothenberg, Linda Joseph, Judith Benkendorf, Caryn Lerman

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Pragmatism For A Changing American Family, David D. Meyer

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

What Doctors Can Learn From Lawyers About Conflicts Of Interest, Nancy J. Moore

Faculty Scholarship

Some physicians are receiving financial incentives for enrolling their patients in clinical studies, while others have financial interests in companies that will profit from the products under investigation. These practices are arguably permissible under both applicable law and codes of medical ethics. Further, physicians are not required even to disclose their financial conflicts when advising patients to enroll in a clinical experiment. This article explores differences between the medical and legal professions' treatments of conflicts of interest in order to explain 1) why physicians have failed to adequately address conflicts not only in clinical research, but also in other aspects …

Trusting Doctors: Tricky Business When It Comes To Clinical Research, Frances H. Miller

Faculty Scholarship

This article examines the troublesome ethical dilemmas arising out of physician conflicts of interest in the context of research on human beings. It focuses on the inevitable conflict between the objectives of clinical investigators and those of their human subjects to illuminate subtle divergences of interest in doctor-patient relationships that patients often do not recognize - or want to believe. Once perceived, however, these potentially corroding conflicts can stun research subjects and their families, and leave them feeling deeply betrayed by their clinicians. The article concludes that a researcher's substantial financial conflicts constitute material information which, absent compelling circumstances, the …

Indian Tribes, Civil Rights, And Federal Courts, Robert D. Probasco

Faculty Scholarship

A citizen’s civil rights include protections against certain actions by three different governments – federal, state, and tribal. If the federal or a state government violates your civil rights, you can seek a remedy in federal court, including injunctive or declaratory judgment and damages. But the Supreme Court decided in Santa Clara Pueblo v. Martinez that that – other than habeas corpus relief – you cannot challenge a civil rights violation by an Indian tribe in federal court. The decision has resulted in a significant amount of controversy and proposals that Congress explicitly grant such jurisdiction. This article reviews the …

Protection Of Traditional Knowledge, Srividhya Ragavan

Faculty Scholarship

Knowledge has been the most coveted possession of mankind since the industrial revolution. The industrial boom after the World Wars has highlighted the importance of the so-called intellectual knowledge. Recently, the importance of knowledge that has been in the public domain (and, therefore, accessible) has come into question. The pattern of evolution of society, has been marked by a process by which the societies in developed countries have moved towards a more technological orientation. Consequentially, some traditional knowledge, including traditional practices, has been left behind and newer practices that are better, or at least considered better, are being used. Knowledge …

The Role Of Law In Russian Health Reform: Report To The United States Agency For International Development, Wendy K. Mariner, Frank G. Feeley

Faculty Scholarship

True reform necessarily entails new law. In the newly independent Russian Federation, law has played a formative role in efforts to reform the health care system. Both historically and structurally, the health care system in Russia is more dependent on legal authorization than that in most Western industrialized countries. Reforms that providers might institute independently elsewhere are not likely to happen in Russia without specific laws authorizing them. Policy makers often formulate the substance of policy in the context of developing legislation, instead of drafting legislation to codify settled policy decisions. Thus, identifying and developing suitable laws has become an …

Voting And Nursing Home Residents: A Survey Of Practices And Policies, Joan L. O'Sullivan

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Epa And Its Sisters At 30: Devolution, Revolution, Or Reform?, Rena I. Steinzor

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.