Digital Commons Network^™

The Legacy Of Trayvon Martin—Neighborhood Watches, Vigilantes, Race, And Our Law Of Self-Defense, Mark S. Brodin

Marquette Law Review

Reflecting back a decade later, what is the enduring significance of the Trayvon Martin case—a Black teenager whose life is violently cut short, and a legal system that accepted his death without consequence? The poet Elizabeth Alexander speaks of “The Trayvon Generation” of Black youth who have grown up in the haunting shadow of his killing, and the anguished parents who cannot protect their children from such a fate. America’s first Black president spoke for them: “When I think about this boy, I think about my own kids. If I had a son, he’d look like Trayvon,” Barack Obama told …

2023-March-01-Etsu Expands Focus On Community-Engaged Learning And 'Real-World' Experience, University Marketing And Communication, East Tennessee State University

ETSU News

A partnership with the Johnson City Police that allows students to shadow officers. 

A project with Bristol’s Steele Creek Park where students organized a natural history of the park.  

Work with the ETSU Research Corporation that afforded students the opportunity to create webpages and produce videos and social media advertisements for a large-scale event. 

For those who think college is all about required reading and lectures, East Tennessee State University is urging them to think again. 

These projects and many more are at the center of ETSU’s focus on providing community-engaged learning opportunities as part of the institution’s Quality Enhancement …

Spectrum, Volume 50, Issue 5, Sacred Heart University

Newspapers (Obelisk & Spectrum)

Highlights include: A Slice of Politics with Senator Blumenthal -- MSU the Target of Another Mass Shooting in 2023 -- Car Break-Ins Affecting SHU Students -- Opportunities with iHub -- An Internship that Gives Back to the Community -- Student Nurses Helping Make a Change -- Men’s Volleyball Makes Statement NEC Win

March 1, 2023 Faculty Senate Minutes, University Of South Carolina

Faculty Senate

No abstract provided.

Continuing Principled Sentencing Reform And Winding Back Mass Incarceration Against The Backdrop Of America’S Surge In Violent Crime, Mirko Bagaric, Jennifer Svilar, Brienna Bagaric

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents - Vol. 47, Spring 2023

Southern Illinois University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Decision To Confess Falsely Twenty-Five Years Later: Windows And Walls In Empirical Psychological And Legal Scholarship, Richard A. Leo

Denver Law Review

No abstract provided.

Vol. 100, No. 3: Full Issue, Denver Law Review

Denver Law Review

No abstract provided.

Infrastructure, Jurisdiction, Extractivism: Keywords For Decolonizing Geographies, Shiri Pasternak, Deborah Cowen, Robert Clifford, Tiffany Joseph, Dayna Nadine Scott, Anne Spice, Heidi Kiiwetinepinesiik Stark

Articles & Book Chapters

No abstract provided.

Ensuring Equity In Education: End Exclusionary Discipline To Protect All Students Access To Learning, Emma Daugherty, Dominika Dyminski, Lacey Erickson, Carly Manderfeld

Master of Social Work Student Policy Advocacy Briefs

A student's race, disability status and previous history of discipline are leading factors associated with being subjected to exclusionary discipline. This contributes to a negative cycle of discipline for our Black, Indigenous, and other students of color (BIPOC) and students with disabilities. This cycle prevents BIPOC and students with disabilities from learning, growing, and reaching their full potential. Minnesota must disrupt this negative disciplinary cycle by ending subjective disciplinary practices and investing in practices that promote an equity and a healthy school environment for all students.

Let My People Go, Part One: Black Rebellion And The Second Amendment Political Necessity Defense, Kindaka Sanders

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

This Article argues that when an individual or group acts to protect a government-assailed constitutional right by criminal means, the doctrine of political necessity may serve as a constitutionally protected defense. The doctrine of political necessity builds on the common law doctrine of necessity. The necessity doctrine, also referred to as the “choice of evils” defense, exonerates an individual who creates a social harm to allay a greater harm to herself or others. Both state and federal courts have been especially reluctant to allow the use of the necessity defense in cases with political implications, in which the defendant acts …

“Hey, Google, What Are The Elements Of Homicide By Vehicle In The First Degree?”: The Supreme Court Of Georgia Reinforces The Prohibition On Extrajudicial Information Considered By A Jury In Criminal Trials, Savannah Hall

Mercer Law Review

In a criminal trial, the presentation of evidence and the instruction of law to the jury are of crucial importance to ensure that a person is only convicted based upon sound understandings of the factual and legal framework under which they were charged. The complexities surrounding the rules of evidence are in place so that jurors are only allowed to consider the facts and testimony permissible under the rules of evidence, meaning it is of utmost importance for the jury to consider solely those things which a judge deems admissible, relevant, and helpful to understanding the case. However, given the …

Noncitizen Harboring And The Freedom Of Association, Shalini Bhargava Ray

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Insuring Justice, Allyson E. Gold

North Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Legal Ethics Of Family Separation, Milan Markovic

Faculty Scholarship

On April 6, 2018, the Trump administration announced a “zero tolerance” policy for individuals who crossed the U.S. border illegally. As part of this policy, the administration prosecuted parents with minor children for unlawful entry; previous administrations generally placed families in civil removal proceedings. Since U.S. law does not allow children to be held in immigration detention facilities pending their parents’ prosecution, the new policy caused thousands of children to be separated from their parents. Hundreds of families have yet to be reunited.

Despite a consensus that the family separation policy was cruel and ineffective, there has been minimal focus …

Justice System Contact And Health: Do Immigrants Fair Better Or Worse Than The Native-Born After Arrest, Probation, Or Incarceration?, Casey T. Harris, Michael Nino, Zhe (Meredith) Zhang, Mia Robert

Sociology and Criminology Faculty Publications and Presentations

Despite decades of both macro- and micro-level studies showing immigration to be unassociated or negatively linked to crime, research examining the consequences of justice system contact among immigrants has been comparatively underdeveloped. The current study examines whether justice system contact (arrest, probation, and incarceration) is linked to poorer health and, in turn, whether there were differences in how justice system contact is related to immigrant versus native-born health. Using data from multiple waves of the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health (Add Health), we construct both ordinal and Poisson regression models predicting poor self-rated health and the prevalence …

Diversity And Disconnection: Does An Online Setting Affect Student’S Understanding Of Privilege, Oppression, And White Guilt?, Shannon Mcqueen

Political Science Faculty Publications

Should educators teach diversity courses in online formats? Courses covering sexism, racism, ethnocentrism, or homophobia are increasingly part of the curriculum requirements for college students. This study compares student surveys from six sections of the author’s introductory Diversity in Politics course; three of these sections are taught asynchronously online, and three are taught in a face-to-face setting. Results reveal no difference between online and face-to-face students’ understandings of privilege and oppression, sense of belonging, or white guilt. However, although all Republican students increased their understanding of privilege and oppression from this course, Republican students uniquely entered the course with less …

Diamond's Hidden Gems - Study Spaces, Diamond Williams, Ucf Libraries

Libraries' Documents

With the end of the Spring 2023 semester right around the corner, finals are much closer than we like to think they are. Preparing for these exams are half the battle, especially when we can't find peace and quiet at our respective homes, nor can we void ourselves of the distractions of the student union and nearby cafes.

I can help with that!

Policing Pregnancy "Crimes", Valena Beety, Jennifer Oliva

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization held that there is no right to abortion healthcare under the United States Constitution. This Essay details how states prosecuted pregnant people for pregnancy behaviors and speculative fetal harms prior to the Dobbs decision. In this connection, it also identifies two, related post-Dobbs concerns: (1) that states will ramp up their policing of pregnancy behaviors and (2) that prosecutors will attempt to substantiate these charges by relying on invalid scientific evidence. This Essay examines the faulty forensic science that states have used to support fetal harm allegations and reminds …

Evaluating Congress's Constitutional Basis To Abolish Felony Disenfranchisement, James E. Lauerman

Washington Law Review

In the past three years, members of Congress unsuccessfully introduced a series of federal voting rights legislation, most recently the Freedom to Vote Act. One goal of the legislation is to abolish felony disenfranchisement. Felony disenfranchisement is the practice of revoking a citizen’s right to vote due to a prior felony conviction. The Freedom to Vote Act aims to restore voting rights for every citizen who has completed their prison sentence. A ban on felony disenfranchisement would be historic, as the practice stretches back to ancient Greece and Rome. Moreover, the United States Supreme Court consistently upholds the practice by …

Reforming Prior Conviction Impeachment, Anna Roberts, Julia Simon-Kerr

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Reintegration Of Foreign Terrorist Fighter Families: A Framework Of Best Practices For The U.S., Austin C. Doctor, Haroro J. Ingram, Devorah Margolin, Andrew Mines, Lorenzo Vidino, National Counterterrorism Innovation, Technology, And Education Center, Program On Extremism, George Washington University

Reports, Projects, and Research

This report outlines a comprehensive framework of best practices in the reintegration of foreign terrorist fighter spouses and children (i.e., “the FTF family”). It collates and synthesizes a suite of interlocking principles to guide reintegration policy and implementation, covering practical challenges and programmatic objectives, the organizational structure and process of reintegration management in the U.S. context, the role of strategic communications and trauma-informed care, and the use of specialized risk assessment tools. Drawing on original work conducted in previous investigative streams, this report combines scholarly analyses from both theory and practice, interviews with practitioners and stakeholders, case study investigations, and …

Vicarious Trauma Via The Observation Of Extremist Atrocities: A Rapid Evidence Assessment, Matthew Crayne, Neil Shortland

Reports, Projects, and Research

Bottom Line Up Front (BLUF): Members of the DHS workforce and terrorism researchers are systematically exposed to the propaganda, ideologies, and psychologies of actors who seek to launch terrorist attacks. This content is inherently value-laden and possibly personally troubling, causing these individuals to confront potential violations of their “sacred” or “protected” values such as the preservation of life (e.g., Tetlock et al., 2000). Here we present the result of a Rapid Evidence Assessment (REA) which sought to review research across multiple fields of work in which individuals are exposed to traumatic imagery, or events. This REA found that there is …

Defeating De Facto Disenfranchisement Of Criminal Defendants, Neil Sobol

Faculty Scholarship

In a democracy, voting is not only an important civic duty but also a right that governments owe to their citizens. However, by operation of law, forty-eight states deny voting rights to individuals based on criminal convictions. Activists and scholars attack de jure disenfranchisement as an improper collateral consequence that disproportionately impacts people of color. Although recent years show substantial reforms to reenfranchise defendants, an estimated 5.17 million defendants remained ineligible to vote in 2020.

While efforts to address de jure disenfranchisement remain necessary, a problem that has received considerably less attention is the de facto disenfranchisement of criminal defendants …

Grandma Got Arrested: Police, Excessive Force, And People With Dementia, Rashmi Goel

University of Richmond Law Review

Recent events have shone a light on the particular vulnerability of people with dementia to police violence. Police are arresting people with dementia and using excessive force to do it—drawing their firearms, deploying tasers, and breaking bones.

To date, little attention has been paid to the burgeoning number of people with dementia, one of society’s most vulnerable populations, and their experiences with the criminal justice system. This Article examines how dementia leads people to engage in activity that appears criminal (shoplifting (forgetting to pay), and trespass (wandering), for instance) and the disproportionate response of police. In several cases where people …

“Fundamental Fairness”: Finding A Civil Right To Counsel In International Human Rights Law, Meredith Elliott Hollman

University of Richmond Law Review

Every other Western democracy now recognizes a right to counsel in at least some kinds of civil cases, typically those involving basic human rights. The World Justice Project’s 2021 Rule of Law Index ranked the United States 126th of 139 countries for “People Can Access and Afford Civil Justice.” Within its regional and income categories, the United States was dead last. The United Nations and other international treaty bodies have urged the United States to improve access to justice by providing civil legal aid. How did we fall behind, and what can we learn from the rest of the world? …

Error Aversions And Due Process, Brandon L. Garrett, Gregory Mitchell

Michigan Law Review

William Blackstone famously expressed the view that convicting the innocent constitutes a much more serious error than acquitting the guilty. This view is the cornerstone of due process protections for those accused of crimes, giving rise to the presumption of innocence and the high burden of proof required for criminal convictions. While most legal elites share Blackstone’s view, the citizen jurors tasked with making due process protections a reality do not share the law’s preference for false acquittals over false convictions.

Across multiple national surveys sampling more than 12,000 people, we find that a majority of Americans consider false acquittals …

Reflecting On Fifty Years Of Southern Illinois University School Of Law: Training Lawyers For The Twenty-First Century While Staying True To Its Origin, Camille M. Davidson

Southern Illinois University Law Journal

No abstract provided.

One Step Further: Why Investing In Prison Programming And Treatment Is Key To Passing Criminal Justice Reform, Madeline Todd

Southern Illinois University Law Journal

In 2018, Congress passed the First Step Act ("FSA 2018"), which is considered one of the most applaudable efforts in modern history, aiming to reduce federal prison populations. While the Act has made progress in decreasing incarceration rates over the last few years, the pace of reform to reverse the nearly forty-year-long effect of the "War on Drugs" is slow. Past attempts, such as shortened sentences, provide a temporary solution but ultimately fail to keep the prisoner from reoffending.

A comprehensive evaluation of what produces significant results that would expedite the end of mass incarceration is timely due. This Note …

The Legal Ethics Of Family Separation, Milan Markovic

University of Richmond Law Review

On April 6, 2018, the Trump administration announced a “zero tolerance” policy for individuals who crossed the U.S. border illegally. As part of this policy, the administration prosecuted parents with minor children for unlawful entry; previous administrations generally placed families in civil removal proceedings. Since U.S. law does not allow children to be held in immigration detention facilities pending their parents’ prosecution, the new policy caused thousands of children to be separated from their parents. Hundreds of families have yet to be reunited.

Despite a consensus that the family separation policy was cruel and ineffective, there has been minimal focus …