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Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities

Lessons From China's Response To Covid-19: Shortcomings, Successes, And Prospects For Reform In China's Regulatory State, Jacques Delisle, Shen Kui Jan 2020

Lessons From China's Response To Covid-19: Shortcomings, Successes, And Prospects For Reform In China's Regulatory State, Jacques Delisle, Shen Kui

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China’s response to COVID-19 offers a case study of law, the regulatory state and governance in China. The costly delay in the initial response reflected distinctive features of the Chinese system, including perverse incentives local-level officials face to try to cover up problems, fragmentated institutions and rules, and politically weak public health bureaucracies. After the initial shortcomings, China’s largely successful efforts to contain the pandemic also reflected defining features of the Chinese system, including a highly capable, centralized and authoritarian party-state that could mobilize vast resources, coordinate across fractious institutions, create ad hoc government and party leadership bodies, and deploy …


Informed Consent And The Role Of The Treating Physician, Eric Feldman, Holly Fernandez Lynch, Steven Joffe Jun 2018

Informed Consent And The Role Of The Treating Physician, Eric Feldman, Holly Fernandez Lynch, Steven Joffe

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In the century since Justice Benjamin N. Cardozo famously declared that “[e]very human being of adult years and sound mind has a right to determine what shall be done with his own body,” informed consent has become a central feature of American medical practice. In an increasingly team-based and technology-driven system, however, who is — or ought to be — responsible for obtaining a patient’s consent? Must the treating physician personally provide all the necessary disclosures, or can the consent process, like other aspects of modern medicine, take advantage of specialization and division of labor? Analysis of Shinal v. Toms, …


Baby M Turns 30: The Law And Policy Of Surrogate Motherhood, Eric A. Feldman Jan 2018

Baby M Turns 30: The Law And Policy Of Surrogate Motherhood, Eric A. Feldman

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This article marks the 30th anniversary of the Supreme Court of New Jersey’s Baby M decision by offering a critical analysis of surrogacy policy in the United States. Despite fundamental changes in both science and society since the case was decided, state courts and legislatures remain bitterly divided on the legality of surrogacy. In arguing for a more uniform, permissive legal posture toward surrogacy, the article addresses five central debates in the surrogacy literature.

First, should the legal system accommodate those seeking conception through surrogacy, or should it prohibit such arrangements? Second, if surrogacy is permitted, what steps can be …


Criminal Law And Common Sense: An Essay On The Perils And Promise Of Neuroscience, Stephen J. Morse Dec 2015

Criminal Law And Common Sense: An Essay On The Perils And Promise Of Neuroscience, Stephen J. Morse

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This article is based on the author’s Barrock Lecture in Criminal Law presented at the Marquette University Law School. The central thesis is that the folk psychology that underpins criminal responsibility is correct and that our commonsense understanding of agency and responsibility and the legitimacy of criminal justice generally are not imperiled by contemporary discoveries in the various sciences, including neuroscience and genetics. These sciences will not revolutionize criminal law, at least not anytime soon, and at most they may make modest contributions to legal doctrine, practice, and policy. Until there are conceptual or scientific breakthroughs, this is my story …


Neuroscience And The Future Of Personhood And Responsibility, Stephen J. Morse Mar 2013

Neuroscience And The Future Of Personhood And Responsibility, Stephen J. Morse

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This is a chapter in a book, Constitution 3.0: Freedom and Technological Change, edited by Jeffrey Rosen and Benjamin Wittes and published by Brookings. It considers whether likely advances in neuroscience will fundamentally alter our conceptions of human agency, of what it means to be a person, and of responsibility for action. I argue that neuroscience poses no such radical threat now and in the immediate future and it is unlikely ever to pose such a threat unless it or other sciences decisively resolve the mind-body problem. I suggest that until that happens, neuroscience might contribute to the reform of …


"Let 'Em Play" A Study In The Jurisprudence Of Sport, Mitchell N. Berman Jan 2011

"Let 'Em Play" A Study In The Jurisprudence Of Sport, Mitchell N. Berman

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No abstract provided.


Contingent Valuation Studies And Health Policy, Matthew D. Adler Jan 2010

Contingent Valuation Studies And Health Policy, Matthew D. Adler

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This short comment argues that both cost-benefit analysis (CBA) and cost-effectiveness analysis (CEA) should be seen as imperfect tools for evaluating health policy. This is true, not only for extra-welfarists, but even for welfarists, since both CBA and CEA can deviate from the use of social welfare functions (SWF). A simple model is provided to illustrate the divergence between CBA, CEA, and the SWF approach. With this insight in mind, the comment considers the appropriate role of contingent-valuation studies. For full text, please see: http://www.law.upenn.edu/cf/faculty/madler/workingpapers/578A59B6d01.pdf.


Mental Disorders And The "System Of Judgmental Responsibility", Anita L. Allen Jan 2010

Mental Disorders And The "System Of Judgmental Responsibility", Anita L. Allen

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No abstract provided.


Allowing Patients To Waive The Right To Sue For Medical Malpractice: A Response To Thaler And Sunstein, Tom Baker, Timothy D. Lytton Jan 2010

Allowing Patients To Waive The Right To Sue For Medical Malpractice: A Response To Thaler And Sunstein, Tom Baker, Timothy D. Lytton

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This essay critically evaluates Richard Thaler and Cass Sunstein’s proposal to allow patients to prospectively waive their rights to bring a malpractice claim, presented in their recent, much acclaimed book, Nudge: Improving Decisions about Health, Wealth and Happiness. We show that the behavioral insights that undergird Nudge do not support the waiver proposal. In addition, we demonstrate that Thaler and Sunstein have not provided a persuasive cost-benefit justification for the proposal. Finally, we argue that their liberty-based defense of waivers rests on misleading analogies and polemical rhetoric that ignore the liberty and other interests served by patients’ tort law rights. …


Determinism And The Death Of Folk Psychology: Two Challenges To Responsibility From Neuroscience, Stephen J. Morse Jan 2008

Determinism And The Death Of Folk Psychology: Two Challenges To Responsibility From Neuroscience, Stephen J. Morse

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No abstract provided.


Super Size Me And The Conundrum Of Race/Ethnicity, Gender, And Class For The Contemporary Law-Genre Documentary Filmmaker, Regina Austin Jun 2007

Super Size Me And The Conundrum Of Race/Ethnicity, Gender, And Class For The Contemporary Law-Genre Documentary Filmmaker, Regina Austin

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According to director Morgan Spurlock, the idea for "Super Size Me," the hugely popular documentary that explored the health impact of fast food, originated from a news report about Pelman v. McDonald’s, one of the fast food obesity cases. Over the course of his month-long McDonald’s binge, Spurlock became the literal embodiment of fast-food’s ill-effects on the seemingly generic American adult physique. Spurlock’s take on the subject, however, ignores the circumstances that contributed to the overweight conditions of the Pelman plaintiffs who were two black adolescent females who ate their fast food in the Bronx. One of them was homeless …


The Non-Problem Of Free Will In Forensic Psychiatry And Psychology, Stephen J. Morse Mar 2007

The Non-Problem Of Free Will In Forensic Psychiatry And Psychology, Stephen J. Morse

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This article demonstrates that there is no free will problem in forensic psychiatry by showing that free will or its lack is not a criterion for any legal doctrine and it is not an underlying general foundation for legal responsibility doctrines and practices. There is a genuine metaphysical free will problem, but the article explains why it is not relevant to forensic practice. Forensic practitioners are urged to avoid all usage of free will in their forensic thinking and work product because it is irrelevant and spawns confusion.


The Uneasy Entente Between Legal Insanity And Mens Rea: Beyond Clark V. Arizona, Stephen J. Morse, Morris B. Hoffman Jan 2007

The Uneasy Entente Between Legal Insanity And Mens Rea: Beyond Clark V. Arizona, Stephen J. Morse, Morris B. Hoffman

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There is uneasy tension in the criminal law between the doctrines of mens rea and the defense of legal insanity. Last term, the Supreme Court addressed both these issues, but failed to clarify the relation between them. Using a wide range of interdisciplinary materials, this article discusses the broad doctrinal, theoretical, and normative issues concerning responsibility that arise in this context. We clarify the meaning of mental disorder, mens rea and legal insanity, the justification for and the relation between the latter two, and the relation among all three. Next we consider the reasoning in Clark, and for the most …


Originalism And Its Discontents (Plus A Thought Or Two About Abortion), Mitchell N. Berman Jan 2007

Originalism And Its Discontents (Plus A Thought Or Two About Abortion), Mitchell N. Berman

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No abstract provided.


Addiction, Genetics, And Criminal Responsibility, Stephen J. Morse Jan 2006

Addiction, Genetics, And Criminal Responsibility, Stephen J. Morse

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No abstract provided.


Mandatory Waiting Periods For Abortions And Female Mental Health, Jonathan Klick Jan 2006

Mandatory Waiting Periods For Abortions And Female Mental Health, Jonathan Klick

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Proponents of laws requiring a waiting period before a woman can receive an abortion argue that these cooling off periods protect against rash decisions on the part of women in the event of unplanned pregnancies. Opponents claim, at best, waiting periods have no effect on decision-making and, at worst, they subject women to additional mental anguish and stress. In this article, I examine these competing claims using adult female suicide rates at the state level as a proxy for mental health. Panel data analyses suggest that the adoption of mandatory waiting periods reduce suicide rates by about 10 percent, and …


Atypical Pneumonia And Ambivalent Law And Politics: Sars And The Response To Sars In China, Jacques Delisle Jan 2004

Atypical Pneumonia And Ambivalent Law And Politics: Sars And The Response To Sars In China, Jacques Delisle

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No abstract provided.


Econometric Analyses Of U.S. Abortion Policy: A Critical Review, Jonathan Klick Jan 2004

Econometric Analyses Of U.S. Abortion Policy: A Critical Review, Jonathan Klick

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No abstract provided.


The Effect Of Abortion Legalization On Sexual Behavior: Evidence From Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Jonathan Klick, Thomas Stratmann Jun 2003

The Effect Of Abortion Legalization On Sexual Behavior: Evidence From Sexually Transmitted Diseases, Jonathan Klick, Thomas Stratmann

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Unwanted pregnancy represents a major cost of sexual activity. When abortion was legalized in a number of states in 1969 and 1970 (and nationally in 1973), this cost was reduced. We predict that abortion legalization generated incentives leading to an increase in sexual activity, accompanied by an increase in sexually transmitted diseases (STDs). Using Centers for Disease Control data on the incidence of gonorrhea and syphilis by state, we test the hypothesis that abortion legalization led to an increase in sexually transmitted diseases. We find that gonorrhea and syphilis incidences are significantly and positively correlated with abortion legalization. Further, we …


Inevitable Mens Rea, Stephen J. Morse Jan 2003

Inevitable Mens Rea, Stephen J. Morse

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No abstract provided.


Rationality And Responsibility, Stephen J. Morse Jan 2000

Rationality And Responsibility, Stephen J. Morse

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No abstract provided.


Neither Desert Nor Disease, Stephen J. Morse Jan 1999

Neither Desert Nor Disease, Stephen J. Morse

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No abstract provided.


Crazy Reasons, Stephen J. Morse Jan 1999

Crazy Reasons, Stephen J. Morse

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No abstract provided.


The Nature Of Blacks' Skepticism About Genetic Testing, Dorothy E. Roberts Jan 1997

The Nature Of Blacks' Skepticism About Genetic Testing, Dorothy E. Roberts

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No abstract provided.


Biology, Justice, And Women's Fate, Dorothy E. Roberts Jan 1996

Biology, Justice, And Women's Fate, Dorothy E. Roberts

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No abstract provided.


A Feminist Social Justice Approach To Reproduction-Assisting Technologies: A Case Study On The Limits Of Liberal Theory, Joan C. Callahan, Dorothy E. Roberts Jan 1996

A Feminist Social Justice Approach To Reproduction-Assisting Technologies: A Case Study On The Limits Of Liberal Theory, Joan C. Callahan, Dorothy E. Roberts

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No abstract provided.


Blame And Danger: An Essay On Preventive Detention, Stephen J. Morse Jan 1996

Blame And Danger: An Essay On Preventive Detention, Stephen J. Morse

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No abstract provided.


Brain And Blame, Stephen J. Morse Jan 1996

Brain And Blame, Stephen J. Morse

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No abstract provided.


The Genetic Tie, Dorothy E. Roberts Jan 1995

The Genetic Tie, Dorothy E. Roberts

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No abstract provided.


Crime, Race And Reproduction, Dorothy E. Roberts Jan 1993

Crime, Race And Reproduction, Dorothy E. Roberts

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No abstract provided.