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Articles 1 - 7 of 7
Full-Text Articles in Law
“Second Looks, Second Chances”: Collaborating With Lifers Inc. On A Video About Commutation Of Lwop Sentences, Regina Austin
“Second Looks, Second Chances”: Collaborating With Lifers Inc. On A Video About Commutation Of Lwop Sentences, Regina Austin
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In Pennsylvania, life means life without the possibility of parole (“LWOP”) or “death by incarceration.” Although executive commutation offers long serving rehabilitated lifers hope of release, in the past 20 years, only 8 commutations have been granted by the state’s governors. This article describes the collaboration between an organization of incarcerated persons serving LWOP and the law-school-based Penn Program on Documentaries and the Law that produced a video supporting increased commutations for Pennsylvania lifers. The article details the methodology of collaborative videomaking employed, the strategic decisions over content that were impacted by the politics of commutation, and the contributions of …
A Dose Of Color, A Dose Of Reality: Contextualizing Intentional Tort Actions With Black Documentaries, Regina Austin
A Dose Of Color, A Dose Of Reality: Contextualizing Intentional Tort Actions With Black Documentaries, Regina Austin
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This article describes the way documentary films can provide important cultural context in the assessment of tort claims. This kind of contextual analysis exposes the social conditions that drive legal disputes. For example, in the case of Klayman v. Obama, Larry Klayman claimed that Black Lives Matter, among other defendants, was liable for various intentional torts (including intentional infliction of emotional distress) by fomenting hostility toward the police in black communities. The court dismissed the case but declined to hold Klayman liable for sanctions. One documentary film, I Am Not Your Negro, locates Klayman’s claims in a historical …
The Loving Story: Using A Documentary To Reconsider The Status Of An Iconic Interracial Married Couple, Regina Austin
The Loving Story: Using A Documentary To Reconsider The Status Of An Iconic Interracial Married Couple, Regina Austin
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The Loving Story (Augusta Films 2011), directed by Nancy Buirski, tells the backstory of the groundbreaking U.S. Supreme Court case, Loving v. Virginia, that overturned state laws barring interracial marriage. The article looks to the documentary to explain why the Lovings should be considered icons of racial and ethnic civil rights, however much they might be associated with marriage equality today. The film shows the Lovings to be ordinary people who took their nearly decade long struggle against white supremacy to the nation’s highest court out of a genuine commitment to each other and a determination to live in …
"Not Just A Common Criminal": The Case For Sentencing Mitigation Videos, Regina Austin
"Not Just A Common Criminal": The Case For Sentencing Mitigation Videos, Regina Austin
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Sentencing mitigation or sentencing videos are a form of visual legal advocacy that is produced on behalf of defendants for use in the sentencing phases of criminal cases (from charging to clemency). The videos are typically short (5 to 10 minutes or so) nonfiction films that explore a defendant’s background, character, and family situation with the aim of raising factual and moral issues that support the argument for a shorter or more lenient sentence. Very few examples of mitigation videos are in the public domain and available for viewing. This article provides a complete analysis of the constituent elements of …
Super Size Me And The Conundrum Of Race/Ethnicity, Gender, And Class For The Contemporary Law-Genre Documentary Filmmaker, Regina Austin
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 Next "New Wave": Law Genre Documentaries, Lawyering In Support Of The Creative Process, And Visual Legal Advocacy, Regina Austin
The Next "New Wave": Law Genre Documentaries, Lawyering In Support Of The Creative Process, And Visual Legal Advocacy, Regina Austin
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Unlike law-related feature films, law-related documentary or nonfiction films have rarely been the subject of legal scholarship, nor have they been extensively used as teaching tools throughout the law school curriculum. The lack of interest in such films is explained by a number of popular misconceptions about documentaries, such as their “genre-lessness” or the lack of common threads running through the films that facilitate critical reception; the elusive nature of documentary truth; the films’ fixation on victimization and by necessity the exploitation of the films’ subjects; and the lack of practical payoff for law students and lawyers from critically studying …
Speaking Volumes: Musings On The Issues Of The Day, Inspired By The Memory Of Mary Joe Frug, Regina Austin, Elizabeth M. Schneider
Speaking Volumes: Musings On The Issues Of The Day, Inspired By The Memory Of Mary Joe Frug, Regina Austin, Elizabeth M. Schneider
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No abstract provided.