Digital Commons Network^™

Is America Becoming A Nation Of Ex-Cons?, John A. Humbach

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Recent rates of mass incarceration have become a concern, but those rates are only part of the challenge facing (and posed by) the American criminal justice system. An estimated 25% of the U.S. adult population already has a criminal record and, with new felony convictions churning out at a rate of a million per year, America is well on its way to becoming a nation of ex-cons. Already, the ex-offender class is the nation’s biggest law-defined, legally discriminated-against minority group, and it is growing. The adverse social implications of this trend remain unclear and the critical demographic tipping point is …

The Inclusive Human Trafficking Checklist: A Dialectical Methodology Of Measurement, Maria C. Almario

Theses and Dissertations--Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology

The identification of victims of human trafficking and consequential service provision is characterized by a significant disconnection between the estimated prevalence of this issue and the number of cases identified. The current dissertation introduces the Inclusive Human Trafficking Checklist (IHTC) as a screening measure, evaluates the appropriateness of the instrument, evaluates whether there are differences in assessment based on the participant’s profession, level of knowledge, and training, and assesses if users of the instrument perceive it as useful. A total of 201 participants were asked to rate three vignettes predetermined by experts to qualify as a either human trafficking case …

Unsophisticated Sentencing, Miriam H. Baer

Faculty Scholarship

This essay, written for the Wayne Law Review’s 2014 Symposium on white collar crime and sentencing, examines the rising popularity of the “sophisticated means” enhancement under Section 2B1.1 of the United States Sentencing Guidelines. Over the past decade, the rate at which federal courts apply the enhancement in criminal fraud cases has more than tripled. This Essay considers several possible explanations for the enhancement’s increasing prevalence, including the possibilities that: (i) fraud offenders as a whole have become more sophisticated; (ii) federal prosecutors are investigating and charging more sophisticated frauds; and (iii) the enhancement’s meaning has, over time, gradually expanded …

Timing Brady, Miriam H. Baer

Faculty Scholarship

Criminal discovery reform has accelerated in recent years, triggered in part by the prosecution’s widely perceived failure to abide by its constitutional obligation, articulated in Brady v. Maryland, to disclose exculpatory evidence. Practitioners and academics, disillusioned by the Supreme Court’s hands-off approach, have sought reform along three axes: legislatively expanding criminal discovery’s scope, increasing the degree and likelihood of prosecutorial sanctions, and altering the organizational dynamics that encourage prosecutors to withhold exculpatory evidence.

None of these approaches, however, addresses the issue of timing and its effect on prosecutors. Over the course of a prosecution, incentives to withhold evidence develop, and …

Transition To Independence: A Phenomenological Study Of Foster Care Alumni Pursuing A College Degree, Erica W. Martin

Department of Conflict Resolution Studies Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation explored the experiences of foster care alumni pursuing a college degree and the perceptions and meanings they attribute to those experiences. This phenomenological study explored the conflicts that may impair foster care alumni from achieving postsecondary educational goals. The researcher conducted face-to-face interviews with 10 foster care alumni in the Central Florida area. The findings were based on the following research question: What are the obstacles to postsecondary achievement for foster care alumni who are currently pursuing or would like to pursue a degree at a two-or-four-year university? Scholarly literature and four theoretical frameworks support the analysis of …

Categories Of Exclusion: The Transformation Of Formerly Incarcerated Women Into “Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents” In Welfare Processing, Megan Welsh

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

For people who have just been released from incarceration, the work of getting out and resuming life on the outside often includes numerous institutional contacts. Applying for and maintaining public assistance—cash aid and food stamps, commonly referred to as welfare— is a central component of what I call “reentry work.” I argue that discourses around welfare and punishment have perpetuated the erasure of formerly incarcerated women’s experiences. Utilizing an institutional ethnographic perspective, I show how the work of applying for and maintaining welfare is organized around a standardized textual discourse of children, and women as caretakers of children. Formerly incarcerated …

Review Of Can’T Catch A Break: Gender, Jail, Drugs, And The Limits Of Personal Responsibility. Susan Starr Sered And Maureen Norton-Hawk. Reviewed By Brandy Henry, Brandy Henry

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Susan Starr Sered and Maureen Norton-Hawk, Can’t Catch a Break: Gender, Jail, Drugs, and the Limits of Personal Responsibility. University of California Press (2014), 216 pages, $29.95 (paperback).

Review Of Ghettoside: A True Story Of Murder In America. Jill Leovy. Reviewed By John Decarlo., John Decarlo

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Jill Leovy, Ghettoside: A True Story of Murder in America. Spiegel & Grau (2015), 386 pages, $28.00 (hardcover).

Review Of Café Culture In Pune: Being Young And Middle Class In Urban India. Teresa Platz Robinson. Reviewed By Michael Gilbert, Michael Gilbert

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

Teresa Platz Robinson, Café Culture in Pune: Being Young and Middle Class in Urban India. Oxford University Press (2014), 320 pages, $55.00 (hardcover).

A Heated Debate: Theoretical Perspectives Of Sexual Exploitation And Sex Work, Lara Gerassi

The Journal of Sociology & Social Welfare

The theoretical and often political frameworks of sexual exploitation and sex work among women are widely and enthusiastically debated among academic and legal scholars alike. The majority of theoretical literature in this area focuses on the macro perspective, while the micro-level perspective regarding causation remains sparse. This article provides a comprehensive overview of the philosophical, legal, and political perspectives pertaining to sexual exploitation of women and girls and addresses the subsequent controversies in the field.

Understanding The Victim-Offender Overlap: An Exploratory Study, Christine Kay Hannis

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

The strong and consistent relationship between criminal involvement and victimization is one of the most persistent documented findings within criminological research. The current problem associated with this relationship involves the lack of studies on the nature and extent of why this overlap exists, with even less research focusing on the perspectives of the offenders who identify themselves as victims. The current study attempts to better understand the victim-offender overlap by analyzing the experiences of criminal offenders who also identify as victims of crime, within the context of various theoretical perspectives. Various themes emerge to elaborate on the nature of the …

When The Story Is Too Good To Be True: A Lawyer's Role In Resisting The Lure Of Narrative, Jeanne Kaiser, Scott Brown

Western New England Law Review

No abstract provided.

Professional Ethics—The High Risk Of Going Green: Problems Facing Transactional Attorneys And The Growth Of The State-Level Legal Marijuana Industries, Ian Wagemaker

Western New England Law Review

No abstract provided.

No More Band-Aid Solutions: Improving Immigration Reform By Addressing The Root Causes Of Mexican Migration And Refining Foreign Direct Investment, Molly E. Kammien

Brooklyn Law Review

No abstract provided.

Qualified Immunity And Post-Release Supervision: Defining A Right, Connor O'Shea

Brooklyn Law Review

No abstract provided.

National Security Whistleblowing Vs. Dodd-Frank Whistleblowing: Finding A Balance And A Mechanism To Encourage National Security Whistleblowers, Stephen Coleman Tily

Brooklyn Law Review

No abstract provided.

(Re)Conceptualizing Insider Trading: United States V. Newman And The Intent To Defraud, J. Kelly Strader

Brooklyn Law Review

No abstract provided.

"I Know My Client Would Never Hurt His Daughter, But How Can I Prove It?": A Lawyer's Guide To Defending Against Child Sexual Assault Accommodation Syndrome Evindence, Rebecca Naeder

Brooklyn Law Review

No abstract provided.

Improving The Federal Procedure For Imposing Recycled Conditions Of Supervised Release, Jonathan R. Myers

Brooklyn Law Review

No abstract provided.

An Impaired State Of The Law: Why New York's Approach To Linguistic Minorities And Roadway Safety Is Shortsighted, Shaunak Shah

Brooklyn Law Review

No abstract provided.

Breaching And Entering: When Data Scraping Should Be A Federal Computer Hacking Crime, Myra F. Din

Brooklyn Law Review

The Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA) is a federal statute designed to combat computer hacking. The Act proscribes accessing data without authorization. Federal circuits have interpreted “authorization” both broadly and narrowly, resulting in a circuit split. Whereas the First, Fifth, and Eleventh Circuits have held that misuse of computer access can constitute hacking under the CFAA, the Fourth and Ninth Circuits have held that scrapers must circumvent a code or technical barrier in order to satisfy the CFAA’s mens rea requirement. This note focuses on the conduct of data scrapers. Scrapers are computer programs that aggregate data from various …

Restructuring Clemency: The Cost Of Ignoring Clemency And A Plan For Renewal, Rachel E. Barkow, Mark Osler

University of Chicago Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Child Quasi Witness, Richard D. Friedman, Stephen J. Ceci

University of Chicago Law Review

No abstract provided.

Programming Errors: Understanding The Constitutionality Of Stop-And-Frisk As A Program, Not An Incident, Tracey L. Meares

University of Chicago Law Review

No abstract provided.

Two More Ways Not To Think About Privacy And The Fourth Amendment, David Alan Sklansky

University of Chicago Law Review

No abstract provided.

Juvenile-Sex-Offender Registration: An Impermissible Life Sentence, Robin Walker Sterling

University of Chicago Law Review

No abstract provided.

How The Fourth Amendment And The Separation Of Powers Rise (And Fall) Together, Aziz Z. Huq

University of Chicago Law Review

This Essay explores an entanglement of ends and means between two seem-ingly disparate parts of the Constitution: the Fourth Amendment and the separation of powers. Not only do these two elements of the Constitution share a common ambition; they are also intertwined in practical operation. The vindication of Fourth Amendment interests, however defined, depends on a measure of institutional differentiation between the branches of government. That predicate, however, has eroded over time. In its absence, difficult questions arise about how Fourth Amendment values are best implemented and whether their realization will in the end hinge on private rather than on …

Naming Men As Men In Corporate Legal Practice: Gender And The Idea Of “Virtually 24/7 Commitment” In Law, Richard Collier

Fordham Law Review

This Article seeks to reframe and turn the conversation about gender equity in the legal profession on its head, taking up Hannah Brenner’s recent call to reconceptualize problems and rethink solutions around gender equity in the profession. It does so by moving beyond the frame of the retention of women and exploring selected aspects of the gendered practices of men in relation to this notion of the ideal legal professional in large transnational “city” law firms. The Article traces how particular ideas about men and gender are, on closer examination, implicated in a broader recasting of lawyer professionalism within the …

The Mirage Of Immigration Reform, Marcia A. Yablon-Zug

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Women And Children: The Cutting Edge Of International Law, Radhika Coomaraswamy

American University International Law Review

No abstract provided.