Digital Commons Network^™

Juvenile Justice After Graham V. Florida: Keeping Due Process, Autonomy, And Paternalism In Balance, Kristin N. Henning

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Legal disputes involving children invariably evoke a complex matrix of issues such as child and adolescent capacity, individual rights and autonomy, parental authority, and in the criminal justice context-diminished culpability for a minor's actions. While it is difficult to identify a clear and cohesive jurisprudence regarding the balance between children's autonomy and children's vulnerability across Supreme Court cases, a series of cases over the last decade, including Roper v. Simmons, Graham v. Florida, and J.D.B. v. North Carolina, offer a more consistent view of children as vulnerable, malleable, and in need of protection, at least in the …

Lessons From Social Psychology For Complex Operations, Rosa Brooks

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This short essay looks at several social forces that powerfully affect human behavior, often trumping individual “character,” personality, knowledge, and even deeply held moral beliefs. Specifically, this essay looks briefly at issues of obedience, conformity, and group polarization, discussing the ways in which they can affect and distort individual behavior. Ultimately, this essay suggests, understanding these dynamics can have important implications for how we think about counterinsurgency and stability operations.

National Security In The Information Age, Rosa Brooks

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The information environment has been changing right along with the broader security environment. Today, the information environment connects almost everyone, almost everywhere, almost instantaneously. The media environment has become global, and there’s no longer such thing as “the news cycle” —everything is 24/7. Barriers between US and global publics have virtual disappeared: Everything and anything can “go viral” instantly, and it’s no longer possible to say one thing to a US audience and another thing to a foreign audience and assume no one will ever set the statements side by side. The Pakistani military has a very clear idea of …

De-Concentrating Poverty: De-Constructing A Theory And The Failure Of Hope, Michael R. Diamond

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Since the late 1980s, led by William Julius Wilson’s The Truly Disadvantaged, scholars have been writing about the social problems caused by the concentration in residential communities of high levels of poverty. Even before Wilson’s book, government policy, which previously had resulted in racially and economically segregated communities, had begun to shift towards de-concentration. The consent decree in Hills v Gautreaux, and the HOPE VI and Moving to Opportunity Programs all pointed towards de-concentration of poverty. Commentators have suggested both benign and not-so-benign reasons for the policy shift.

There were a variety of quite hopeful goals promoted by …

Decoupling Employment, Marcia L. Mccormick

All Faculty Scholarship

The protected class approach to employment discrimination has not solved the problem of discrimination or of a just distribution of resources. Not only do race and sex prejudice continue to exist, but material and subjective disadvantage continues to be strongly linked to race and sex. While our laws have made social changes, progress on those changes stalled in the 1980s. Some might even say that the protected class approach to discrimination has actually entrenched inequality more deeply into our social fabric.

This Article seeks a purpose-driven approach to finding solutions to the problems of discrimination, asking why it is that …

Workplace Reform In A Jobless Recovery, Marcia L. Mccormick

All Faculty Scholarship

In 2012, the United States was recovering from a recession and policy makers were debating how to solve the country’s economy. This essay looks at the labor and employment reforms (or lack thereof) of President Obama’s first term, and the differing views of the role of government in creating jobs. The article challenges us to think beyond the two solutions commonly discussed: de-regulation and a “New Deal” program.

There are ways current lawmakers could come together to help protect jobs. Some of the solutions offered by the article include using automatic contribution plans, promoting part-time work, and giving employees more …

Breaking The Cycle Of “Unequal Treatment” With Health Care Reform: Acknowledging And Addressing The Continuation Of Racial Bias, Ruqaiijah A. Yearby

All Faculty Scholarship

Since the Civil War access to health care in the United States has been racially unequal. This racially unequal access to health care remains even after the passage of Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 (“Title VI”) and the election of an African-American President. Both of these events held the promise of equality, yet the promise has never been fulfilled. Now, many hail the passage of the Patient Protection and Affordable Health Care Act (“ACA”) as the biggest governmental step in equalizing access to health care because it has the potential to increase minority access to health …

A Horrible Fascination: Segregation, Obscenity, & The Cultural Contingency Of Rights, Anders Walker

All Faculty Scholarship

Building on current interest in the regulation of child pornography, this article goes back to the 1950s, recovering a lost history of how southern segregationists used the battle against obscenity to counter the Supreme Court’s ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. Itself focused on the psychological development of children, Brown sparked a discursive backlash in the South focused on claims that the races possessed different cultures and that white children would be harmed joined a larger, regional campaign, a constitutional guerilla war mounted by moderates and extremists alike that swept onto cultural, First Amendment terrain even as the frontal …

The Hidden Limits Of The Charitable Deduction: An Introduction To Hypersalience, Lilian V. Faulhaber

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Behavioral economics introduced the concept of salience to law and economics. In the area of tax policy, salience refers to the prominence of taxes in the minds of taxpayers. This article complicates the literature on salience and taxation by introducing the concept of “hypersalience,” which is in many ways the mirror image of hidden taxation. While a revenue-raising tax provision must be hidden for taxpayers to underestimate their tax bill, a revenue-reducing tax provision – such as a deduction, exclusion, or credit – must be more than fully salient for taxpayers to underestimate their tax bill. In other words, the …

The Tragedy Of The Carrots: Economics & Politics In The Choice Of Price Instruments, Brian Galle

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Externalities are one of the most fundamental market-failure justifications for government action, and pigouvian taxes and subsidies are standard tools for correcting them. Even so, neither the legal nor economic literatures offer any comprehensive account of when policy makers should prefer one to the other. This Article takes up that task. Prior efforts to distinguish between “carrots” and “sticks” have generally been limited to the context of pollution regulation, and I show here that even those are incomplete. I also extend the analysis to the case of positive externalities, where there is no prior literature to speak of. Overall I …

The Federal Rules Of Civil Settlement, J. Maria Glover

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure were originally based upon a straightforward model of adjudication: Resolve the merits of cases at trial and use pretrial procedures to facilitate accurate trial outcomes. Though appealing in principle, this model has little relevance today. As is now well known, the endpoint around which the Federal Rules were structured — trial — virtually never occurs. Today, the vast majority of civil cases terminate in settlement. This Article is the first to argue that the current litigation process needs a new regime of civil procedure for the world of settlement

This Article begins by providing …

Developing The Substantive Best Interests Of Child Migrants: A Call For Action, Andrew I. Schoenholtz

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This Article attempts to accomplish two goals. First, it provides an overview of what is known and unknown about international child migrants. While this Conference will focus to some degree on child migrants in the United States, this Article shows how significant this phenomenon is around the world. Therefore, this Article provides data and points out the research gaps surrounding this issue.

Equally significant is the lack of legal and policy tools available for governments to respond well and in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child ("CRC") to the children themselves. First, informed by social science …

Knowledge, Attitudes Toward Corporations, And Belief In A Just World As Correlates Of Tort Reform Attitudes, Molly J. Walker Wilson, Ruth H. Warner

All Faculty Scholarship

Recent legislation in tort law has resulted in such changes as states capping punitive and non-economic damages as well as abolishing the collateral source rule and joint and several liability. The purpose of the present research is to examine attitudes toward changes in tort law. We asked American adults about their attitudes toward the civil justice system and its players, experiences in the civil justice system, and belief in a just world. We found that a more negative attitude toward litigation and juries, higher belief in a just world, and a more positive attitude toward corporations and doctors predicted a …

Cyber Commodification, Miriam A. Cherry

All Faculty Scholarship

When it comes to commodification on the Internet, it is a wild, wild World Wide Web. Researching encyclopedia articles for Wikipedia is an unpaid labor of love, but connecting to your friends on Facebook is a $100 billion enterprise. Newspaper classified advertisements are definitely commercial, but their equivalent on Craigslist was mostly non-commercial – until the Delaware Chancery Court stepped in. Selling your organs is prohibited in the United States, whereas selling hair promises to rescue third-world citizens from poverty. Selling sex is illegal as prostitution, but selling adultery online is a hot new business model. And a small company …

Plowing In Hope: A Three-Part Framework For Incorporating Restorative Justice Into Sentencing And Correctional Systems, Lynn S. Branham

All Faculty Scholarship

This essay proposes the adoption of a three-part framework to effectuate fundamental changes in conventional sentencing and correctional constructs, making restorative justice a mainstay of sentencing and correctional systems. First, federal, state, and local governments would authorize the imposition of what would be – in name, purpose, and content – “restorative sentences.” The growing, processing, and distribution of locally grown foods in low-income neighborhoods particularly afflicted by crime is an example of what could become a prevalent restorative sentence. The essay outlines a number of steps to be undertaken by jurisdictions in order to realize the goals of restorative sentencing. …

Vol. 41, No. 1: Title Page, Denver Journal Of International Law & Policy

Denver Journal of International Law & Policy

No abstract provided.

Policing School Discipline, Catherine Y. Kim

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Neuroscience And The Child Welfare System, Clare Huntington

Faculty Scholarship

Increasingly, scholars and policymakers are calling for programs that take a preventive approach to child abuse and neglect, rather than our current tendency to respond only after a crisis. There are significant social and economic arguments supporting this shift. The Nurse-Family Partnership, developed by David Olds and discussed in this symposium, illustrates how specific investments in family functioning can lower rates of child abuse and neglect, leading to a host of positive outcomes for children and society, from greater educational attainment to less involvement in the criminal justice system. Thinking about child well-being more broadly, the Nobel laureate James Heckman …

Front Matter

Modern Psychological Studies

No abstract provided.

In The Mind Of The Predator: The Possibility Of Psychological Distress In The Drone Pilot Community, Matthew S. Lowe, James T. Gire

Modern Psychological Studies

In light of the increasing use of Remotely Piloted Aircraft (RPA), commonly known as drones, and the equally increasing prevalence of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among U.S. veterans of recent wars, this study investigated the possible effects of piloting a drone aircraft and PTSD. Using a simulated drone aircraft in a computer game, the results showed that participants who simulated a drone attack and viewed the post-drone attack video reported significantly higher distress than those who viewed only the post-drone attack video. Females also showed higher distress levels than males. These results suggest the potential risks of psychological trauma even …

Perceptions Of Social Decisions Made By Individuals Of Different Ages, Roberta Sutton, Lisa S. Wagner, Kathleen E. Cook

Modern Psychological Studies

This study examines the perceptions that individuals have about the social decisions of others and the role that age plays in these perceptions. In this study, older and young adults read a vignette in which Clare (either 80 or 20-years-old) chose a social partner (either close friend or new acquaintance). Older adults rated Older Clare more favorably when she chose a close relationship and they rated Younger Clare more favorably when she chose the new experience. Young adults showed more mixed results. Unlike older adults, young adults rated Older Clare more favorably when she chose the new experience rather than …

An Investigation Of Gender, Perceived Gender-Barriers To A Future Occupation, And Academic Achievement Among Delinquent Adolescents, Lee A. Hand, Hilary M. Anton-Stang, Zena R. Mello

Modern Psychological Studies

The current study assesses perceptions of gender-related barriers to a future occupation and its association with academic achievement among delinquent adolescents aged 12-19 years old. It was hypothesized that the perception of gender related barriers to a future occupation would have similar effects on male and female adolescents' academic achievement. Data included self-reported perceived barriers to a future occupation and academic achievement. Results indicated that females and males reported similar amounts of perceived barriers to a future occupation. Regression analysis indicated the relationship between perceived barriers and academic achievement varied across gender. For males, more perceived gender-barriers were associated with …

The Ecological Validity Of The Self-Explanation Effect: The Deleterious Effect Of Music On Self-Explanations, Jason Geller, Robert J. Calin-Jageman

Modern Psychological Studies

One of the most powerful ways to boost learning is to require students to self-explain—to generate written or verbal explanations of their study material as they are studying. Although self-explaining is known to enhance learning across a wide range of ages and study materials, this empirical work has focused almost exclusively on optimal study conditions. Here we explore if selfexplaining is similarly effective in the presence of background music, a distraction students commonly elect to incorporate into their study routines. In the first study, 32 university students were asked to learn about neuronal action potentials while we varied both self-explaining …

The Art Of Work Autonomy: A Test Of Its Influence On Job Embeddedness, Qian Jiang, Chris W. Wright, Amy Smith

Modern Psychological Studies

Mitchell, Holtom, Lee, Sablynski, and Erez (2001) demonstrated that Job Embeddedness is connected to intent to leave and voluntary turnover in employment. Previous researchers have also found that Work Autonomy predicts variables similar to Job Embeddedness (Mitchell et al., 2001). We investigated the factors that impact why people stay at their jobs by examining the relationship between Work Autonomy and Job Embeddedness. Data from 190 currently or previously employed participants were collected. As hypothesized, Work Autonomy was strongly correlated with on/off-the-job fit, on/off-the job sacrifice, on-the-job links and overall Job Embeddedness. However it was not correlated with off-the-job links. Implications …

Self-Handicapping Mediates Between Impulsiveness And Self-Discipline, Jessica M. Mckinney, Kyle D. Maxwell, Richard L. Metzger

Modern Psychological Studies

Self-handicapping, while not a very acknowledged tendency, is very prevalent today. Especially among students of any grade level, the behavior prevents many from reaching their full potential. The purpose of this experiment was to see how Selfhandicapping mediated between Impulsiveness and Self-discipline which can later be used by teachers to help students with this phenomenon. A short survey was given to psychology undergraduate students at the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga whose age ranged from 18-44 and were predominantly Caucasian. Self-handicapping was found to mediate between Impulsiveness and Self-discipline (r = .512) compared to Impulsiveness and Self-discipline (r= .288) without using self-handicapping …

Associations Between The Peer Group And Sex-Role Orientations Among College-Age Men, Daniel L. King, Preston R. Bost

Modern Psychological Studies

Because research has identified that sex role orientation is flexible in response to environmental factors such as the peer group, the current study attempted to investigate whether sex-role orientation varies as a function of the peer group, operationalized by the type of institution (single-sex vs. co-educational) one attends. Using the Bern Sex Role Inventory (BSRI) as a measure of sexrole endorsement, researchers sampled male participants attending a small, single-sex, Mid-western liberal arts institution and male participants from a small, co-educational, Mid-western liberal arts institution. Sex-role orientations were differently distributed at the two institutions. Specifically, more masculine individuals were observed at …

Confirming The Dynamic Model Of Working Memory, Keith Christopher Weitze

Modern Psychological Studies

The study of working memory capacity has resulted in a plethora of research that has obsequiously polarized professionals into two groups: one that favors a static model of working memory and the other, a dynamic model of working memory. This paper analyzes three areas related to working memory capacity to help confirm the dynamic model of working memory. A neuroanatomical analysis of an individual's brain undergoing a working memory task illustrates converging brain-centers that process information from multiple modalities, thereby, bolstering the dynamic model. Through a careful consideration of the role of inhibitory control on working memory capacity, an argument …

The Effect Of Music Genre On A Memory Task, Darragh Bugter, Randy Carden

Modern Psychological Studies

This study examined the effects of two different music genres and silence on a memory task Sixty participants were randomly assigned to three groups which were exposed to rap music, classical music or silence while playing the Concentration game. The number of flips needed to complete the Concentration game was measured and served as the memory score. Results of a one-way analysis of variance detected a significant difference between the groups. A planned post hoc analysis found that the classical music group completed the Concentration game in significantly fewer flips than the rap group.

Smiley Face Symbols: Students' Reactions As A Function Of A Professor's Request To Meet, Alyssa A. Radford

Modern Psychological Studies

The college years are a period during which students transition from a parent-oriented environment to one in which they take greater responsibility for their personal and social development. Nonetheless, parents remain a lasting influence on children during these years. Attachment theorists have examined the degree to which attachment history with parents influences ones later interpersonal relationships and perceptions of others. For example, college students' attachment styles influence how they interpret a professor's request to meet (Perrine & King, 2004). The present research examined how securely and insecurely attached students differ in their reactions to a professor's written request to meet …

How Willing Are We To Lower Our Standards? Mate Preferences As A Function Of Mate Value And Faithfulness History, Laura Loyola, Theresa E. Didonato

Modern Psychological Studies

This study sought to determine how the mate value and revelation of faithfulness history could affect mate preference. It was predicted that faithfulness would be more important over mate value for a long-term relationship, and the opposite would be so for short-term relationships. Using a between-subjects experimental design, participants evaluated a hypothetical partner of high, similar, or low mate value that had a faithful or unfaithful past. Results revealed that people cared most about faithfulness for a long-term relationship when that person also had a similar or high degree of mate value. For short-term relationships people cared more about the …