Law Commons^™

Victims As Instruments, Rachel J. Wechsler

Faculty Publications

Crime victims are often instrumentalized within the criminal legal process in furtherance of state prosecutorial interests. This is a particularly salient issue concerning victims of gender-based violence (GBV) because victim testimony is typically considered essential for successful prosecution of these types of crimes. Since the U.S. Supreme Court's 2004 decision in Crawford v. Washington, courts require declarants to be available for cross-examination on "testimonial" hearsay evidence. Consequently, criminal legal actors are further incentivized to employ highly coercive practices aimed at securing GBV victims' participation in the criminal legal process as evidentiary tools. These practices include arresting and incarcerating victims through …

Using "Norms" To Change International Law: Un Human Rights Laws Sneaking In Through The Back Door, Troy A. Rule

Faculty Publications

For decades, multinational businesses have self-regulated their operations with respect to human rights, largely unfettered by international law. In recent years, however, human rights groups have advocated that the United Nations (“UN”) create clear legal obligations for multinationals respecting their human rights-related conduct. At least partly due to the substantial burden such obligations could place on international businesses, these efforts by human rights proponents have proven largely fruitless--until now.On August 13, 2003, the UN Sub-commission on the Promotion and Protection of Human Rights adopted the Norms on the Responsibilities of Transnational Corporations and Other Business Enterprises with Regard to Human …

Book Review: Freedom Of Religion Under The European Convention On Human Rights, S. I. Strong

Faculty Publications

Oxford University Press has initiated a new series on the European Convention on Human Rights and, in light of recent world events, could not have found a more timely first installment than Carolyn Evans's book on freedom of religion. However, the choice of topics is sound even when one sets aside the current interest in the interplay between law and religion.

Book Review: Women Under The Law: The False Promise Of Human Rights, S. I. Strong

Faculty Publications

Though McColgan's book promises much, it fails to persuade the reader for several reasons. First, a number of the examples used to demonstrate the inferiority of entrenched rights actually suggest the opposite. The second reason why McColgan fails to persuade results from her forcing constitutional arguments where there are none. The third problem with this book is its failure to extrapolate its arguments about women to other disadvantaged groups.

Despite these shortcomings, there is much in McColgan's book to recommend it. Her prose is fluid, her presentation of US and Canadian law, particularly regarding abortion, is extensive, and her arguments …

Social Investing And The Lessons Of South Africa Divestment: Rethinking The Limitations On Fiduciary Discretion, Robert H. Jerry Ii, O. Maurice Joy

Faculty Publications

Part I of this Article defines social investing and briefly reviews the South Africa divestment movement which has brought questions about the legality of social investing to the fore. Part II comments upon existing statutory and common law limitations on the discretion of trustee-investors to adopt policies of social investing. Part III analyzes the empirical research on the extent to which preclusion of a set of investment opportunities may impair the performance of a typical trustee-investor's portfolio, both with respect to rate of return and risk. Part IV explores the implications of the empirical evidence analyzed in Part III for …