Digital Commons Network^™

School Of Law Commencement: May 7, 2011, University Of North Dakota

UND Commencement Programs

School of Law Commencement program from May 7, 2011.

Mid-Atlantic Ethics Committee Newsletter, Spring-Summer 2011

Mid-Atlantic Ethics Committee Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Fortuity And Forensic Familial Identification, Natalie Ram

All Faculty Scholarship

On July 7, 2010, Los Angeles police announced the arrest of a suspect in the Grim Sleeper murders, so called because of a decade-long hiatus in killings. The break in the case came when California searched its state DNA database for a genetic profile similar, but not identical, to the killer’s. DNA is inherited in specific and predictable ways, so a source-excluding partial match might indicate that a close genetic relative of the matching offender was the Grim Sleeper. California’s apparent success in this case has intensified interest in policymaking for source-excluding partial matching. To date, however, little information about …

Nova Lawyer: 2010-2011 - A Year In Review, Nova Southeastern University - Shepherd Broad Law Center

Nova Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Prospective Student Information Booklet (2010-11), Florida State University College Of Law

Prospective Student Information Booklets

Booklet containing curriculum and course information for future law students.

On The Connection Between Law And Justice, Anthony D'Amato

Faculty Working Papers

What does it mean to assert that judges should decide cases according to justice and not according to the law? Is there something incoherent in the question itself? That question will serve as our springboard in examining what is—or should be—the connection between justice and law. Legal and political theorists since the time of Plato have wrestled with the problem of whether justice is part of law or is simply a moral judgment about law. Nearly every writer on the subject has either concluded that justice is only a judgment about law or has offered no reason to support a …

Quieting Cognitive Bias With Standards For Witness Communications, Melanie Wilson

Scholarly Works

Last year, as part of a project to revise the ABA Criminal Justice Standards for Prosecution and Defense Functions, the ABA Criminal Justice Section initiated round-table discussions with prosecutors, criminal defense lawyers, and academics throughout the United States. The Standards under review provide aspirational guidance for all criminal law practitioners. This Article stems from the Criminal Justice Section's undertaking. It considers the wording, scope, and propriety of several of the proposed changes that address lawyer-witness communications. It begins with a discussion of the effects of cognitive bias on these communications and explains why carefully tailored standards may lessen the detrimental …

The Case For Clear And Convincing Evidence: Do Our Laws Value Property Over Children?, Tricia P. Martland

Justice Studies Faculty Publications

Our laws reflect our values. What we value, we make laws to protect. In this article, Tricia Martland describes the child custody statute in North Dakota, which is the only state to use “clear and convincing” standard of evidence. This means that children will not be placed with parents with a history of domestic violence unless there is clear and convincing evidence of their rehabilitation. Other states deem the clear and convincing standard too stringent. Yet this standard is often used with regard to property title. Do our laws indicate that we value things over children? Changing policy to apply …

Collateral Damage: The History Of United States Case Law On Today's Military Hunger Strike Doctrine, Adrian Mora

Yale Medicine Thesis Digital Library

HYPOTHESIS/AIMS: In the Global War on Terror (GWOT), hunger strikes by detainees in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba have been managed by military physicians through force feedings. This thesis answers the question of how did the United States justify its current practice of force feeding prisoners against prevailing medical ethics? The author hypothesizes that U.S. case law history of approximately 1979 to 1997 enabled the current military doctrine to force feed international detainees in GWOT.

METHODS: A qualitative and comprehensive review of the relevant literature was undertaken. The sources used for conclusive analysis included press releases, ethics commentary, law reviews, medical association …

Engendering Injustice: Drug Laws, Drug Economies, And The Marginalization Of Women In New York State, Kate Mcgee

American Studies Senior Theses

On November 8, 1983, Elaine Bartlett left her apartment in Harlem, and headed to Grand Central Station. There, she met her boyfriend, Nate. They were headed to the Monte Mario Hotel in Albany. To any bystander, they may have looked like any other couple. But Elaine Bartlett knew different. That’s because she had a four-ounce bag of cocaine stuffed down the front of her pants. In 1983, Bartlett was a twenty-six year old woman with four children. A male friend, George Deets—although she knew him as Chris at the time—told her that if she delivered the drugs, she could earn …

Excerpts Of Speech By Robert A. Butterworth, Douglas Ray

St. Thomas Law Review

This speech was presented on November 12, 2010, at St. Thomas University School of Law in Miami Gardens, Florida.

Guy Lancaster On Genocide: A Normative Account. By Larry May. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2010. 283 Pp., Guy Lancaster

Human Rights & Human Welfare

A review of:

Genocide: A Normative Account. By Larry May. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. 2010. 283 pp.

The Endangered Species Act V. The United States Department Of Justice: How The Department Of Justice Derailed Criminal Prosecutions Under The Endangered Species Act, Ed Newcomer, Marie Palladini, Leah Jones

Animal Law Review

Historically, in prosecutions under the Endangered Species Act (ESA), to prove the element “knowingly” the government only had to prove that a defendant intentionally killed an animal that turned out to be endangered or threatened, not that the defendant knew the identity of the species or the endangered or threatened status of the animal when it was killed. Jury instructions to this effect were repeatedly upheld. Then, in a brief filed with the U.S. Supreme Court for McKittrick v. U.S., the federal government, unprompted, unnecessarily, and without explanation, said that it would not use this jury instruction in the future …

Animal Violence Court: A Therapeutic Jurisprudence-Based Problem-Solving Court For The Adjudication Of Animal Cruelty Cases Involving Juvenile Offenders And Animal Hoarders, Debra L. Muller-Harris

Animal Law Review

Cases involving cruelty to animals are currently handled by the traditional criminal courts. These courts, however, are not effective at punishing animal abusers or protecting animal victims. Although all states have laws criminalizing various forms of animal cruelty, the reality is that most cruelty cases are not prosecuted; even when cruelty cases are successfully prosecuted, punishments are weak. This Comment proposes the creation of an Animal Violence Court, using juvenile animal abusers and adult hoarders as ideal candidates for a pilot animal cruelty justice system. The Animal Violence Court will provide for the ongoing safety and care of animal victims, …

The Connection Between Animal Abuse And Family Violence: A Selected Annotated Bibliography, Sharon L. Nelson

Animal Law Review

This Selected Annotated Bibliography assembles legal and social literature that examines the link between domestic violence and animal abuse. Drawing from an ever-growing body of written works dedicated to the issue, the Bibliography presents the works that are most informative and useful to the legal community. These include case studies, current and proposed legislation, and social services guides that address the occurrence of and response to the animal cruelty-family violence correlation. In doing so, the Bibliography creates a resource that will prove helpful to a variety of legal practitioners, law makers, and professionals within the criminal justice system, and will …

State Animal Use Protection Statutes: An Overview, Jen Girgen

Animal Law Review

Although much attention has been given to the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act, a federal statute enacted to deter and punish extra-legal animal rights activism, comparatively little attention has been afforded the various state versions of this law. This Article is an attempt to help remedy this deficit. It offers a comprehensive overview of existing state animal use protection statutes and describes legislative trends in this area.

Front Matter

Animal Law Review

Front Matter includes Title Page, Masthead, advisors, and Table of Contents for Animal Law Review Volume 17, Issue 2, 2011.

Racial Profiling-Separate And Unequal Keeping The Minorities In Line - The Role Of Law Enforcement In America, April Walker

St. Thomas Law Review

This article will explore the history of modern policing and examine police brutality at the early stages of the implementation of law enforcements in this country. Also, this article will address whether race, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or ethnicity contributes to higher incidents of police brutality and review common misconceptions by the public about police brutality and retaliation against citizens who report police brutality. This article will define the term qualified immunity and highlight its application towards police officials and district attorneys, while also analyzing highly publicized cases and their dispositions. Lastly, this article will address possible solutions to combating …

Fear Itself: The Impact Of Allegations Of Gang Affiliation On Pre-Trial Detention, K. B. Howell

St. Thomas Law Review

This article addresses the impact of alleged gang membership at the initial detention/bail determination for three reasons. First, the right to non-excessive bail is guaranteed by the Eighth Amendment. Second, although the impact of trial testimony about gangs presents a number of issues meriting exploration, the vast majority of criminal cases are either dismissed or resolved by plea. This is particularly so when charges are less serious. When misdemeanors or low-level felonies are charged, the incarceration of the defendant on excessive pre-trial bail will alter negotiation dynamics such that a defendant is likely to plead guilty in order to obtain …

Florida's Adoption Of The Uniform Power Of Attorney Act: Is It Sufficient To Protect Florida's Vulnerable Adults, Rebecca C. Bell

St. Thomas Law Review

This article evaluates the effectiveness of the Florida Power of Attorney Act ("Florida's Act") in providing additional protections for Florida residents executing a power of attorney, while maintaining the principal's autonomy. Part II provides the development and purposes of the UPOAA, which appealed to the drafters of the Florida Act. Part III details the benefits and limitations of the UPOAA and the Florida Act's modifications as related to the agent's duties, authorities, and liabilities. Florida's modifications of the UPOAA, however, require improvement to further protect the principal. Finally, Part IV examines the weaknesses that remain in the durable power of …

Republicanism And The Foundations Of Criminal Law, Richard Dagger

Political Science Faculty Publications

This chapter makes a case for the republican tradition in political philosophy as a theory that can provide a rational reconstruction of criminal law. It argues that republicanism offers a reconstruction of criminal law that is both rational and plausible. In particular, it shows that republicanism can help us to make sense of three important features of criminal law: first, the conviction that crime is a public wrong; second, the general pattern of development of criminal law historically; and third, the public nature of criminal law as a cooperative enterprise. To begin, however, it explains what republicanism is and why …

An Institutionalization Effect: The Impact Of Mental Hospitalization And Imprisonment On Homicide In The United States, 1934-2001, Bernard E. Harcourt

Faculty Scholarship

Previous research suggests that mass incarceration in the United States may have contributed to lower rates of violent crime since the 1990s but, surprisingly, finds no evidence of an effect of imprisonment on violent crime prior to 1991. This raises what Steven Levitt has called “a real puzzle.” This study offers the solution to the puzzle: the error in all prior studies is that they focus exclusively on rates of imprisonment, rather than using a measure that combines institutionalization in both prisons and mental hospitals. Using state-level panel-data regressions over the 68-year period from 1934 to 2001 and controlling for …

Rape In Prison: A Hidden Epidemic, Mark L. Wefers

Master's Theses and Capstones

America's prisons are filled. The war on crime has created a bulging prison system. Inside the jails and prisons, crime -- especially rape -- occurs every day. Traditionally, the rape of prisoners in the American prison system was either ignored or the subject of bad jokes. Recently, serious inquiry has begun into the incidence of sexual assault behind prison walls. This study examines prison rape. Using data generated as a result of the Prison Rape Elimination Act, along with statistics from national databases and testimony from victims of prison rape and their advocates, this study suggests that the incidence of …

Failed Constitutional Metaphors: The Wall Of Separation And The Penumbra, Louis J. Sirico Jr.

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Investing In The Business Against Human Trafficking: Embracing The Fourth P - Partnerships, Maudisa Mcsween

Intercultural Human Rights Law Review

This article recognizes that the fight against human trafficking is a global one, with the business of human trafficking intersecting many legal and social constructs, and as such, it should be tackled with all available mechanisms - legal, social, moral, community, and religious. More importantly, the integration, communication, and involvement of government, non-government, private, faith-based, social, and civil sectors are critical elements to successfully combat this scourge against human dignity. Part I of this article will discuss the legal construct of partnerships and the dynamic of private-public partnerships. Part II will focus on the laws and provisions in domestic, international, …

Climate Torts And Ecocide In The Context Of Proposals For An International Environmental Court, Patrick Foster

Dissertations and Theses

"This thesis is an exploration of two questions that are neither novel nor lacking in exploration: Is an International Environmental Court (IEC) needed? Is such a court feasible? Proposals for an IEC have a rich history, are well founded and numerous. On the issue of necessity, this thesis attempts to pull together historical and current information on two distinct areas of international environmental law and use these analyses to contextualize the need for an international environmental tribunal. Arguments for and against an IEC are presented within a discussion of environmental diplomacy. This thesis begins with a legal discussion of potential …

Domestic Violence: The Use Of Pro-Arrest Policies And Mandatory Prosecutions, Amy L. Beck

Senior Honors Theses

Domestic violence is a crime that affects millions of American families. Traditionally,
domestic violence was recognized by the general population and the courts as being a
private issue that should be handled within the boundaries of the family. Law
enforcement and the judicial system played a minimal role and generally maintained a
hands off policy in relation to domestic violence cases. Adding to this mentality of
privacy, the Fourth Amendment to the Constitution prohibits entering a residence without
probable cause. The Minneapolis domestic violence experiment attempted to measure
which police response was most beneficial. In order to empower victims and …

Saving Haiti's Children From Hell, W. Harren H. Binford

Intercultural Human Rights Law Review

Haiti's devastating earthquake in January 2010 left thousands of children orphaned and tens of thousands separated from their families. Following the earthquake, foreign militaries, nongovernmental agencies, humanitarian aid workers, missionaries, and volunteers descended en masse on the poorest country in the Western Hemisphere to help the victims, especially children, in the midst of the disaster. Unfortunately, some of those who came to help Haiti's children showed little regard for the domestic and international legal protections in place to protect child victims of disaster. As a result, these individuals, organizations, and governments added additional layers of chaos and alienation to these …

Symposium: Bob Dylan And The Law, Foreword, Samuel J. Levine

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

Lawyer - Winter 2010, Seattle University School Of Law

Lawyer

• Professor Bryan Adamson on Obama Muslim Rumors
• Out of the Ashes: Professor Marilyn Berger's Powerful Film
• Scholarship Recipients Committed to Social Justice, Diversity
• A New Voice for Justice: Dean Mark Niles Inspired by Law School's Mission