Law Commons^™

Charging The Poor: Criminal Justice Debt & Modern-Day Debtors' Prisons, Neil L. Sobol

Neil L Sobol

Debtors’ prisons should no longer exist. While imprisonment for debt was common in colonial times in the United States, subsequent constitutional provisions, legislation, and court rulings all called for the abolition of incarcerating individuals to collect debt. Despite these prohibitions, individuals who are unable to pay debts are now regularly incarcerated, and the vast majority of them are indigent. In 2015, at least ten lawsuits were filed against municipalities for incarcerating individuals in modern-day debtors’ prisons. Criminal justice debt is the primary source for this imprisonment.

Criminal justice debt includes fines, restitution charges, court costs, and fees. Monetary charges exist …

Unfinished Equality: The Case Of Black Boys, Nancy E. Dowd

Nancy Dowd

Vulnerabilities and identities theories have an interdependent and symbiotic relationship that is critical to achieve social justice. Vulnerabilities analysis demands the state to explain and correct structural inequalities, while identities theories call for constructs and stereotypes to be confronted, challenged, and transformed in order to achieve justice and equality. An example of the value of both theoretical perspectives is in challenging, uncovering, and demanding action to end the subordination of black boys. Analyzing the situation of black boys, from birth to age eighteen, and the interaction they have with individuals, institutional structures, and culture leads to a conclusion that identity …

The Pope's Rich Bag Of Diversity For Families, John G. Culhane

John G. Culhane

No abstract provided.

Changing The Wind: Notes Toward A Demosprudence Of Law And Social Movements, Lani Guinier, Gerald Torres

Gerald Torres

This essay was influenced by a class on Law and Social Movements that Professors Guinier and Torres taught at the Yale Law School in 2011. This essay was also informed by numerous conversations with Bruce Ackerman regarding his book that is under review in this Symposium. While we are in fundamental agreement with Professor Ackerman’s project, as well as the claims he makes as to the new constitutional canon, we supplement his analysis with the overlooked impact of the lawmaking potential of social movements. In particular, we focus on those social movements that were critical to the legal changes that …

Denying Freedom Rather Than Securing The Country: National Security Is Undermined By Laws Governing Battered Immigrants, Eve Tilley-Coulson

Eve Tilley-Coulson

Relief for battered immigrants is not an obvious national security matter per se, yet remedies are enacted in conjunction with stringent interpretations of immigration law, as though victims pose a security threat. Discrepancies exist between the immigration laws themselves—which attempt to secure the United States from disease, violence, and illegal activity—and the loopholes found within remedies under these laws, unnecessarily removing victims and perpetuating a cycle of fear and abuse. This paper addresses how relief for battered immigrants, when implemented with the priority of protecting national security and immigration legislation, creates and perpetuates negative societal consequences. The economic and societal …