Digital Commons Network^™

Inside The Black Box Of Prosecutor Discretion, Megan S. Wright, Shima Baradaran Baughman, Christopher Robertson

Faculty Scholarship

In their charging and bargaining decisions, prosecutors have unparalleled and nearly-unchecked discretion that leads to incarceration or freedom for millions of Americans each year. More than courts, legislators, or any other justice system player, in the aggregate prosecutors’ choices are the key drivers of outcomes, whether the rates of mass incarceration or the degree of racial disparities in justice. To date, there is precious little empirical research on how prosecutors exercise their breathtaking discretion. We do not know whether they consistently charge like cases alike or whether crime is in the eye of the beholder. We do not know what …

Second Amendment Realism, Michael Ulrich

Faculty Scholarship

In District of Columbia v. Heller, the Supreme Court declared a constitutionally protected individual right to keep and bear arms. Subsequently, the scope of the right has been hotly debated, resulting in circuit splits and lingering questions about what, exactly, the right entails. Despite these splits, the Court has denied certiorari to the myriad gun cases to land on its doorstep. But the balance of the Court has shifted, and likely, too, its willingness to hear these cases. Among the most pressing questions in Second Amendment jurisprudence is the constitutionality of public carry restrictions. With a constitutional challenge inevitable given …

Raps Sheet, April 2022, Retirement Association Of Portland State

RAPS Sheet: Monthly Newsletter

No abstract provided.

Vancouver Climate Adaptation Strategy, Jodi Mescher, Jenna Cangialosi, Jai Daniels, Trevor Luu, Ellen Mickle, Jamie Shalvey

Master of Urban and Regional Planning Workshop Projects

This report is intended to be used internally by the City to guide climate adaptation policies in conjunction with the Climate Action Plan (see right). Key elements of this report include an analysis of the City’s climate change risks and populations most vulnerable to climate change, a review of best practices from other cities, insights from community engagement, and recommended strategies for supporting climate adaptation.

...Of Cabbages And Kings, Spring 2022, Emeriti Society, University Of The Pacific

Emeriti Newsletter: "...Of Cabbages and Kings"

"...Of Cabbages and Kings" is the newsletter of the University of the Pacific Emeriti Society. Read more about the Emeriti Society of Pacific by clicking here.

Deterring Illegal Firearms In The Community: Special Needs, Special Problems, And Special Limitations, Geoffrey S. Corn

Cardozo Law Review

Gun violence is no longer just a crime-control problem in the United States; it is a public health crisis. This crisis is most acute in densely populated and economically challenged communities. The threat of becoming the intended or innocent victim of gun violence in these communities has become so pervasive that it only seems to make the headlines when the numbers are truly shocking to the general public. Sadly, these numbers have become the norm for the residents of these communities. Government bears a responsibility to leverage every lawful measure to mitigate this safety hazard, no differently than it does …

Getting To Phi: The Case For Excusatory Derogations From Iccpr Rights, Benjamen F. Gussen

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

This Article highlights the need for excusatory derogations from human rights. Currently, there is exclusive reliance on justification when upholding derogations from International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights ("ICCPR ) rights. In contrast, an excusatory derogation accentuates the requisite international policy intervention to assist national and subnational governments toward a proportional response to public emergencies. The right to mobility under the ICCPR, and its renditions in the constitutions of Australia and Canada, are used to illustrate this proposition. Border closures in response to the coronavirus pandemic provide context to elucidate how different types of public emergencies dictate different approaches …

Advance To The Nearest Dispensary: How Quebec's Marijuana Monopoly Is A Model For Future Legalized States, Jason Levine

Cardozo International & Comparative Law Review

The note argues that a state-run monopoly model for marijuana sales, inspired by Quebec's approach, could more effectively promote public health and reduce black-market competition compared to the current license authorization model used in U.S. states like Colorado and California. By centralizing control over pricing, distribution, and product regulation, a monopolistic structure could address challenges such as high taxes, slow transition phases, and the dominance of illegal markets. The analysis draws parallels to alcohol sales frameworks and highlights how a government-run system could avoid federal tax burdens under Section 280E of the Internal Revenue Code.

Leveling The Playing Field In Custody Proceedings In New York City Family Court: Enforcing The Rights Of All Parents To Notice And An Unbiased Opportunity To Enforce Their Fundamental Right To Parent Their Child, Dana Gambardella

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The note argues that the Administration for Children's Services (ACS) in New York City systematically fails to notify non-respondent fathers, particularly Black fathers, of their rights and opportunities to participate in child welfare proceedings. This practice violates their fundamental constitutional right to parent and disproportionately affects low-income Black families, perpetuating racial and economic disparities in the child welfare system. The note advocates for systemic reforms, including increased accountability for ACS and the establishment of a private right of action for aggrieved parents.

The Ballad Of The "White" Collar Criminal: An Examination Of The Intersection Of Race And Gender In Federal White-Collar Sentencing And Possible Implications Of The Findings, Taylor Tesher

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The note argues that racial and gender disparities exist in federal white-collar crime sentencing, particularly affecting Black women, who often receive harsher sentences compared to their white counterparts. It highlights cases like Felicity Huffman and Kelley Williams-Bolar to illustrate these disparities and calls for reforms to address the lack of transparency and consistency in sentencing.

Factors For Thriving In Law Enforcement, Kelly K. Wedley

Doctor of Education (Ed.D)

The purpose of this non-experimental and quantitative study was to evaluate the degree to which law enforcement officers perceive themselves as thriving. The sample for this study was convenient, non-probable, and purposive and comprised of 214 law enforcement officers from one large law enforcement agency in the State of Florida. The study’s researcher-constructed survey instrument was determined to be internally consistent and reliable. A one sample t-test was used to assess the statistical significance of study participant mean score response to perceptions of thriving and the results were statistically significant. The use of between-subjects analytic techniques was used to compare …

Equal Speech Protection, Francesca L. Procaccini

Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications

Political speech is not special. No type of speech is. First Amendment doctrine ubiquitously claims to value speech on a hierarchy, with political speech occupying the highest and most-protected position, followed by commercial speech and speech on private matters, with low-value speech on the bottom, least-protected rung. This hierarchy is a myth. The true but hidden framework of free speech law is actually one of equal speech protection. All speech, including political speech, receives comparable protection--and that level of protection is quite moderate across the board. Specifically, the equal protection speech receives permits the state to regulate speech in order …

V.1 Spring 2022, Center For Arts & Language, Students Of Risd, Risd Archives

All Student Newspapers

v.1 is a publishing platform for the ongoing work, ideas, discussions, debates, and aspirations of students at the Rhode Island School of Design. The Spring 2022 issue contains writings divided into five categories: ecosystems, homes, archaeologies, explorations, and new constructions. Writings touch on urban ecology, wilderness, physical and mental health, identity, and other topics. Visual work is also present in this issue.

Fourth Amendment Infringement Is Afoot: Revitalizing Particularized Reasonable Suspicion For Terry Stops Based On Vague Or Discrepant Suspect Descriptions, Caroline E. Lewis

William & Mary Law Review

In Terry v. Ohio, the Supreme Court granted law enforcement broad power to perform a limited stop and search of someone when an officer has reasonable suspicion that the person is engaged in criminal activity. The resulting “Terry stop” created a way for police officers to investigate a suspicious person without requiring full probable cause for an arrest. The officer need only have “reasonable suspicion supported by articulable facts” based on the circumstances and the officer’s policing “experience that criminal activity may be afoot.” Reasonable suspicion is—by design—a broad standard, deferential to police officers’ judgment. Law enforcement officers …

Abandoned And Derelict Vessels In The Commonwealth: How To Improve Virginia's Adv Program, Anthony Cusato

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

Vessels abandoned or lost by their owners can get stuck on a shoreline or in a marsh, aimlessly float adrift, or sink in a waterway. As the number of ADVs [abandoned and derelict vessels] increases, efforts to address them similarly intensify. Typically, state government agencies handle most ADVs, and their approaches to ADV control and removal vary widely across jurisdictions. Virginia faces an increasing number of ADVs and can learn from other states to improve its approach. This paper examines the current Virginia ADV program and considers how it can be amended to make it more effective. It then identifies …

Tribal Communities And State And Local Governments: Existing Relationships, Mikayla Mangle

Virginia Coastal Policy Center

Tribal and state/local governments have maintained a unique and crucial relationship throughout the United States’ history. Today, state and federally recognized Tribes sometimes face obstacles when attempting to implement projects due to state or local government opposition and vice versa. Federally recognized Tribes are sovereign, self-governing entities on equal footing with state governments. State recognized tribes, on the other hand, may not be equal to state governments, depending on the state laws regarding tribal state recognition. State recognized tribes do not have the same benefits as federally recognized tribes in that the tribe’s status is recognized by the state but …

The Importance Of Public Space During The Covid-19 Pandemic With A Case Study Of The City Of Kalamazoo’S Kik Pool, Natalie Baker

Honors Theses

No abstract provided.

Federal Sentencing Guidelines: The Continuous Line Between Unwarranted Disparities And Institutional Discretion In Federal Sentencing, Miaya Scott

Research Papers

In 1984, the Federal Sentencing Reform Act was signed into law. This act of reformation set a new standard of mandatory minimum federal sentencing guidelines for anyone who was convicted of an unlawful crime. Under the Federal Sentencing Reform Act, Congress created a new agency, the United States Sentencing Commission. As a bi-partisan, independent agency, the United States Sentencing Commission set the standard of guidelines with the objective to decrease unwarranted disparities within the federal system. Federal Supreme Court cases like United States v Booker overturned federal guidelines moving them mandatory to advisory based on a Sixth Amendment violation. With …

Shadow Nursing Home Ownership: How A Failure In Government Oversight Of For-Profit Nursing Homes In New York Has Allowed Profits To Balloon And Standards Of Care To Plummet, Marissa Espinoza

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

Complex corporate nursing home structures have become commonplace in for-profit nursing home ownership. These structures, designed to shield owners from regulation and liability, allow owners to evade public scrutiny by obscuring the identify of true owners and allow the true owners to direct revenue to other companies they own or benefit from, such as staffing agencies, payroll businesses, and management companies. This has led to a deterioration in the standard of care for nursing home residents, society's most vulnerable population, while providing a boon in profits for the true owners. Money that should be spent on care is instead diverted …

The Impact Of Framing On Natural Gas Pipeline Siting In Virginia, Ritvik Shukla

Theses and Dissertations

Natural gas has become a major share of energy consumption in the U.S. over the past two decades. This rise has resulted in considerable investment in the natural gas pipeline network so that the supply can be maximized. However, pipeline infrastructures, much like other fossil fuel energy infrastructures and activities, have an uneven distribution of benefits and costs across different regions. In regions where natural gas activities and infrastructure are being developed, local communities can become increasingly dependent on natural gas systems for stable revenue and employment. Such communities risk becoming “locked in” to carbon energy at a time when …

The Submission Of A Section 513(G) Request For Information, Morgan Ashley Lano

Theses and Dissertations

The Food and Drug Administration designates all medical devices into one of three general classes contingent on their intended use, indications for use, and potential risk to the user. This classification dictates the further path the device must take to be approved for the commercial market. Section 513(g) of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (21 U.S.C. 360c(g)) is submitted in order to gain the agency’s unofficial classification and suggested regulatory requirements. The Coagulation Companion (MicroVide) is a device designed to fluorescently quantify a key enzyme involved in the coagulation cascade, plasmin, in pediatric patients. clot formation and degradation …

Bans With No Bite: Why Racial Profiling Bans Are Unable To Create Racial Justice In Policing, Rebecca Yin

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Surviving Child Pornography: Fifty Years On, Jeanette M. Westbrook

Dignity: A Journal of Analysis of Exploitation and Violence

No abstract provided.

Racist History And The Second Amendment: A Critical Commentary, Patrick J. Charles

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Against Criminal Law Localism, Brenner M. Fissell

Faculty Publications

Scholars have long called for greater localism in criminal justice as a response to the crises of racialized mass incarceration and over-policing. A downward shift of power to smaller local governments is thought to maximize an array of values, including liberty, equality, and efficient experimentation, and also to allow for criminal justice to better reflect societal viewpoints. In making these claims, localists have at times either explicitly included control over substantive criminal law in their devolutionary project, or have overlooked that more general calls for localism would presumably include this power.

This Article critiques substantive criminal law localism, arguing that …

What Are The Factors Affecting African American High School Students' Decision For Applying To The University Of Central Florida?, Janet Martin

Dissertations

The number of African Americans enrolling in higher education has seen a steady decrease in recent years due to factors that act as barriers. This study examined these factors and their influence based on the students’ perspectives. The study design was based on the post-positivist paradigm and the quantitative methodology was used. Urban high school students were surveyed to determine their thoughts on the barriers they experienced as they applied to college. The Google survey included sixteen questions that required yes/no responses, Likert-scale responses, and short responses. The data were analyzed using logistic regression and Chi-square analysis. The results showed …

Stigma Towards Offenders Diagnosed With Mental Illness, Christina N. Yocca

Student Theses

Mental health stigma is a key factor to what makes members of the community who are diagnosed with mental illness feel like outcasts to the “normal” population. This study investigated the relationship between right-winged beliefs and offenders diagnosed with mental illness. Sigma as it relates to mental health, offenders, and right-winged beliefs have been studied separately before, but there is a lack of information on the stigma that the public has towards offenders who struggle with their mental health and the possible predictors of stigma towards this group. Overall, this study aimed to further research in the intersectionality of stigmatized …

Reflections On Law Student Mental Health By A Dean Of Students After 25 Years, David Jaffe

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Your faculty need to be educated about how to refer students, how to speak with students who pop into their office. Your Dean, writ-large nationally, Deans need to have the willingness, and again, the bravado, the willingness to go to the faculty and say, "You need to be part of this movement." Whatever that may mean. I would love to see every faculty member taking 30 seconds at the beginning of every class for students to breathe. Thirty seconds of breathing. If you've never done it, do it at home today, deep breaths, and see what it feels like. I …

Understanding The Relationship Between Black Chicago Youth And Chicago Drill Music Culture, Dan'iel Tamirra Kendricks

Dissertations

Chicago is most noted as a beautiful, Midwestern city, set to the backdrop of Lake Michigan, with skyscrapers and the bustling energy of the downtown Magnificent Mile. The “Tale of Two Cities,” Chicago is a city full of hope, opportunity, and potential for some, but a city plagued with poverty, violence, disinvestment, and hopelessness for others. There has been a significant increase in the awareness of the violence happening across Chicago. The emergence of social media has provided a direct and unfiltered view of the reality of violence the city has faced on an ongoing basis. Crimes such as shootings, …

Prosecutorial Nonenforcement And Residual Criminalization, Justin Murray

Articles & Chapters

In recent years a small but influential group of locally elected prosecutors committed to criminal justice reform have openly refused to enforce various criminal laws—laws prohibiting marijuana possession, sentence enhancements, laws authorizing the death penalty, and much more—because they see those laws as unjust and incompatible with core reform objectives. Condemned by many on the political right for allegedly usurping the legislature’s lawmaking role and praised by many on the left for bypassing dysfunctional state legislatures in favor of local solutions, these prosecutorial nonenforcement policies are commonly said to have the same effect as nullifying, or even repealing, the laws …