Law Commons^™

From Theory To Practice: A True-Crime Podcast, Lauren V. Peckham

Senior Honors Projects

The Criminal Element is an innovative, victim-centered podcast that bridges the gap between criminological theory and real-world criminal cases. The podcast is designed as an educational resource for undergraduate Criminology and Criminal Justice students, alongside general audience members interested in learning more about criminological theory. Through the lens of true crime, this podcast is an engaging exploration of foundational and advanced theories while avoiding sensationalism and exploitation, a prevalent problem among true crime media. Each episode connects criminological theoretical concepts – such as strain, social learning, and social disorganization – to contemporary and historical cases, providing listeners with accessible and …

Graduate School Blog - April 2025 Volume 1, Cynthia Haynes

UofM Grad School Blog

The April 2025 UofM Graduate School Blog highlights a month full of events, stories, and celebrations, beginning with Dr. Deborah Tollefsen’s personal graduate school journey, shared during the “Is Graduate School Right for Me?” virtual workshop an inspiring narrative of resilience, mentorship, and finding purpose through education. This edition also spotlights Graduate Student Appreciation Week, featuring a robust lineup of events such as a virtual town hall, resume and job market workshop, student social and awards ceremony, study session, and social dinners all designed to support, celebrate, and connect the UofM graduate student community. With opportunities to hear from …

Inge Viermetz, Woman Acquitted At Nuremberg, Diane Marie Amann

Scholarly Works

Conventional narratives tend to represent the post-World War II international criminal proceedings as a men’s project, thus obscuring the many women who participated, as lawyers, journalists, analysts, interpreters, witnesses, and defendants. Indeed, two women stood trial before Nuremberg Military Tribunals. This article examines the case of the only woman found not-guilty: Inge Viermetz, who had been an administrator at Lebensborn, the Nazi SS adoption and placement agency. The article outlines the prosecution’s child-taking case against Viermetz, as well as her successful gendered self-portrayal as a conventionally feminine caregiver. With references to Professor Megan A. Fairlie, at whose memorial symposium it …

Round Table (Part 2) Book Review: From Discrimination To Death: Genocide Process Through A Human Rights Lens, Regina M. Paulose

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

Round Table (Part 1) Book Review: From Discrimination To Death: Genocide Process Through A Human Rights Lens, James A. Tyner

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

Round Table (Part 3) Book Review: From Discrimination To Death: Genocide Process Through A Human Rights Lens, Andrew Woolford

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

Round Table (Part 4) Book Review: From Discrimination To Death: Genocide Process Through A Human Rights Lens, Melanie O'Brien

Genocide Studies and Prevention: An International Journal

No abstract provided.

Mapping Trends In Gender-Inclusive Legal Language Between Circuit Courts In The United States, Juliette M. Rhinow

Student Publications

This study examines the use of gender-inclusive legal language in federal circuit court opinions in the United States between 2020 and 2024, with a focus on how judicial political ideology influences linguistic behaviors. Drawing on postmodern feminist theory and utilizing content analysis, the research compares six federal circuit courts by coding 46 court opinions for inclusive and exclusive linguistic practices related to transgender and non-binary individuals. Inclusive practices included the use of self-identified names and pronouns, affirming decisions, and acknowledgment of transgender identities, while exclusive practices involved misgendering, outdated terminology, and restrictive rulings. Results show that progressive circuits demonstrated significantly …

Truth, Fiction, And Abolition, Xiao Wang, Samuel Weiss

Michigan Law Review

A review of Chain-Gang All-Stars. By Nana Kwame Adjei-Brenyah.

Constitutional Iconoclasm, Andrew J. Lanham

Michigan Law Review

A review of The Constitutional Bind: How Americans Came to Idolize a Document That Fails Them. By Aziz Rana.

Some Realism About Originalism, William J. Novak

Michigan Law Review

A review of Memory and Authority: The Uses of History in Constitutional Interpretation. By Jack M. Balkin.

Nanaboozhoo Died For Your Sins, Matthew L.M. Fletcher

Michigan Law Review

A review of Custer Died for Your Sins: An Indian Manifesto By Vine Deloria, Jr.

From Civic Duties To Democratic Mandates: The Theoretical Framework Of Mill And Tocqueville On Compulsory Voting In The U.S., Olivia Claire Luttrell

Undergraduate Honors Theses

This thesis examines the treatment of jury duty and voting in the United States through the philosophical framework of John Stuart Mill and Alexis de Tocqueville. While jury duty is legally mandated, voting remains optional, despite both civic responsibilities being foundational to democratic participation. This research explores the historical, theoretical, and practical implications of voting becoming compulsory in the United States, as it is in other democratic nations. The analysis includes a comparative case study of the impact of Australia’s mandatory voting to evaluate whether it could become compulsory in the U.S. Both philosophers offer insightful knowledge on the role …

Review Of In A Human Voice, Jean Keller

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Katharine Drexel And The Sisters Who Shared Her Vision, Annie Huey

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of Laboratories Of Autocracy: A Wake-Up Call From Behind The Lines, Neal Allen, Philip Pfeiffer

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of God's Resistance: Mobilizing Faith To Defend Immigrants, Anna Peterson

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of Ordinary Whites In Apartheid Society: Social Histories Of Accommodation, Gary Prevost

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of Portraits Of Peacemakers: Americans Who Tell The Truth, Rosemarie Pace

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of Making A Way Out Of No Way, Walter W. Hill Jr.

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

Review Of Pope John’S Pacem In Terris And The Call For Global Governance, Thomas Massaro

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

New Cold War, New Anti-Nuclear Activism (Webinar), - Kroc Institute For International Peace Studies

The Journal of Social Encounters

The nuclear freeze movement of the early 1980s demonstrated the power of grassroots activism to influence national defense and security policy at the height of the Cold War. Today, the world is threatened by a new global arms race as the United States, Russia, China, and other nuclear weapons states are rebuilding and enhancing their arsenals, including new missile deployments. In the face of worsening nuclear dangers, grassroots movements are once again advocating for nuclear disarmament and justice.

This webinar, which took place February 11, 2025 discussed the efforts and impact of local government officials, religious leaders, and international networks …

Christian Ethics And Business Leadership, Jon Armajani

The Journal of Social Encounters

This essay discusses the ethical principles of listening, community, stewardship, and interreligious and intercultural understanding with respect to business leadership. It opens by discussing definitions of ethics and their relevance to businesses and business leaders. It continues by providing a description of the consulting company Accenture’s ethical principles and practices, as positive examples. The essay provides Arthur Andersen and its work with Enron and WorldCom, both of which went bankrupt in the early 2000s, as examples of the failures that occur when ethical principles are not practiced. Then, the essay states that Christianity and the Benedictine tradition constitute a basis …

Toward Integral Security: How Environmental Protection Was Incorporated Into The United Nations System And Why It Matters Today And Tomorrow, Patricia M. Mische

The Journal of Social Encounters

How did the United Nations - an international organization built on 19^th century worldviews and state-centric structures, integrate 21^st century challenges of environmental protection into its mission and programs? The UN Charter includes no mandate for environmental protection. Ecological integrity was not included in the scope of peace and security held by member states when they ratified the UN Charter. Yet, despite this and other historical, philosophical and structural limitations, the UN became the leading body for the development of global environmental policy.

Community-Based Research And Catholic Higher Education In Solidarity: Embracing The Risks And Gifts Of Interdependence, Linda Land-Closson

The Journal of Social Encounters

With common ground in the work of solidarity and the common good, Community-Based Research (CBR) and Catholic Higher Education (CHE) can be brought into a mutually beneficial dialogue. Accordingly, this article serves first as a reminder of the radicality of solidarity, second as a callout to CHE for often falling short of solidarity-in-action, third as an invitation for CHE to offer understandings of solidarity as discernment tools to mitigate harm in the changing field of CBR, and finally as an invitation to CBR to be aware of and continue promoting solidarity through good judgment.

Intergenerational Dialogue And Inquiry For Collective Healing, Social Justice And Communal Well-Being: A Reflection On Conceptions, Processes And Practices, Scherto Gill

The Journal of Social Encounters

This paper explores how intergenerational dialogue and inquiry (IDI) may help break the silence about past brutality and contribute to collective healing, social justice and communal well-being. The specific historical contexts that it is concerned with are transatlantic slavery and colonisation, and the continued legacies of contemporary racism. Global communities impacted by these tragedies often experience silence between the generations about the trauma resulting from the atrocity, often exacerbated by present day discrimination. In considering the case study of IDI in communities on four continents, this paper further analyses the processes involved in breaking the cycles of silence, and remembering …

Right To Education And Access To Schooling: Understanding The Role Of Students’ Transportation Challenges In Selected Junior Secondary Schools In Ilorin, Nigeria, Usman Bolaji Abdulkadir, Egbinola Temitope Anuoluwa

The Journal of Social Encounters

No abstract provided.

The Curious Case Of Japanese Denim, Aaron Francis Ward

Japanese Society and Culture

From its humble beginnings as wholly utilitarian workwear in the 19^th century, to its modern rise to high-fashion, the ubiquity of denim, particularly in the form of jeans, has had a fascinating journey in its little-over-150-year history (Beazley, 2015). Of note has been the recent rise in popularity of Japanese denim. Since the end of the Second World War, Japan seems to have had an insatiable demand for Americana (Marx, 2023). Yet, if considered in the sociohistorical context of Japanese-American relations, this ought to be highly improbable. The current paper examines the sociological nature of Japanese denim from semiotic …

Application Of Philosophy In Substantive Due Process Analysis Focusing On Washington V. Glucksberg, Amelia Schwensen

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

Substantive due process is widely regarded as the most convoluted and controversial legal concept. For years, the court has struggled to interpret and apply value-based terms in the Fourteenth Amendment, as these terms contain deeper significance beyond the words. Additionally, the court must balance expanding the law to enshrine the abstract values of substantive due process and limiting its interpretation so that it is not “creating law” or imposing its personal beliefs on its decision. This push and pull of defending values and maintaining legitimacy has created significant issues in substantive due process analysis and is the background and basis …

The Limits Of Law: Lessons For Collective Bargaining, Eric J. Scarffe, Daniel Saunders

Journal of Collective Bargaining in the Academy

This paper elucidates some features of law that generally go overlooked in collective bargaining. Using examples from collective bargaining agreements at universities in Florida, we unearth how assumptions about the nature of law (championed by the conservative legal movement) may undermine the ability for unions to influence the material working conditions at their universities. We believe negotiators need to reject these assumptions, and embrace an approach to ‘bargaining as pedagogy,’ which emphasizes the need for faculty and administrators alike to arrive at shared understandings of what the law means (be it the collective bargaining agreement, university policy, or state statute).