Law Commons^™

Food In Prison: An Eighth Amendment Violation Or Permissible Punishment?, Natasha M. Clark

Honors Thesis

This piece analyzes aspects such as; Eighth Amendment provisions, penology, case law, privatization and monopoly, and food law, that play into the constitutionality of privatized prisons using food as punishment. Prisoners have protection from excessive bail and fines and from cruel and unusual punishment, as per the 8^th Amendment; however, deprivations such as restricted diets and harm caused by them is only a valid violation if the prisoner can prove deliberate indifference. Privatization of the prison industry has led to reduced quality, choice, and diversity in areas such as food, which comes at a detrimental cost to prisoners. Serving …

Innovative Collaboration To Further Community Self-Determination, Matthew Currie, Amaha Sellassie

Biennial Conference: The Social Practice of Human Rights

The built urban environment is the product of more than a century of policy decisions that have both intentionally discriminated and have had the effect of discriminating, against African Americas, immigrants, the work class, low income individuals and other undesirables. While more than fifty years have passed since the passage of civil rights legislation in the United States, individuals in today’s cities are living out our discriminatory legacy.

In Dayton, Ohio, a new movement has risen from the community to disrupt the legacy of de jure and de facto discrimination by the collaborative efforts of the impactive individuals, neighborhood leaders, …

Gender, Nutrition, And The Human Right To Adequate Food: Toward An Inclusive Framework, Anne C. Bellows

Food Systems Summit 2015

The food crisis of 2008 was not an isolated incident or unique event from which the world economy and food security has re-stabilized. Rather, as Valente and Suárez Franco (2010, 455) state, "[the 2008 food crisis] is not new for more than 840 million people who have constantly been subjected to hunger over the last thirty years, millions of whom died of malnutrition and associated diseases, or had their quality of life severely affected by the consequences of malnutrition." Although estimates of food insecurity differ, the geography and socio-demographic profile of the food insecure remains unaltered (FAO, WFP, IFAD 2012; …

Food Deprivation: A Basis For Refugee Status?, James C. Hathaway

Articles

It is commonplace to speak of those in flight from famine, or otherwise migrating in search of food, as “refugees.” Over the past decade alone, millions of persons have abandoned their homes in countries such as North Korea, Sudan, Ethiopia, Congo, and Somalia, hoping that by moving they could find the nourishment needed to survive. In a colloquial sense, these people are refugees: they are on the move not by choice, but rather because their own desperation compels them to pursue a survival strategy away from the desperation confronting their home communities.

The question addressed here is whether persons in …

Food: A Human Rights Issue Ignored In Sociology, Kathryn Strother Ratcliff, Trisha Tiamzon

Societies Without Borders

Mainstream sociology, including the sociology of health, has been remiss by ignoring food as an important human right both in the United States and globally. This article documents the neglect of food as a topic of sociological inquiry and argues for the centrality of a sociological lens in understanding food as a human right. Sociological ideas are important in understanding forces which have encouraged the globalization of food production and distribution, decreased the equality of access to nutritious food, and threatened core human rights. Sociologists as teachers and researchers need to become academic activists on this important human rights topic.

Freedom From Food: On The Need To Restore Fdr’S Vision Of Economic Rights In America, And How It Can Be Done, Evgeny Krasnov

Evgeny Krasnov

Within the U.S. policy discourse, it has long been taken for granted that the body of human rights law does not—and should not—include economic rights, which include the right to adequate food, shelter, and health care. This is an irony of history, since the origins of modern-day economic rights law lie in the policies advocated by the U.S. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

This Article argues that (1) the common justifications for neglecting economic rights are not sound; (2) there is a pressing need to recognize economic rights in the United States; and (3) the best way to do so is …

Energy Security, Green Job Creation, And Youth Innovation, Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Prof. Elizabeth Burleson

Global energy demand is likely to increase by 45 percent by 2030. Climate change will threaten existing employment and necessitate new green jobs. Funding has gone towards such renewable energy technologies as wind and solar; such fuel economy options as second-generation hybrids, plug-in electrics, and fuel cell vehicles; increased appliance efficiency; and such water-efficient farming methods as drip irrigation. Youth innovation can play a powerful role in achieving sustainable development. Nobel Peace Prize winner Professor Muhammad Yunus has demonstrated how micro finance in the form of small loans can help poor people start or expand entrepreneurial endeavors. Government funded research …

Migration, Development, And The Promise Of Cedaw For Rural Women, Lisa R. Pruitt

Michigan Journal of International Law

Part I of this Essay provides an overview of the rural-to-urban migration phenomenon, a trend the author calls the urban juggernaut. This Part includes a discussion of forces compelling the migration, and it also considers consequences for those who are left behind when their family members and neighbors migrate to cities. Part II explores women's roles in food production in the developing world, and it considers the extent to which international development efforts encourage or entail urbanization. Part III attends to the potential of human rights for this population, analyzing the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination …

Statement Of Jeanne M. Woods And Hope Lewis Prepared For The Hearings Of The United Nations Special Rapporteur On Extreme Poverty, Dr. Arjun Sengupta On The Aftermath Of Hurricane Katrina, Hope Lewis, Jeanne Woods

Hope Lewis

This Statement was submitted to the UN Independent Expert on Human Rights and Extreme Poverty, Dr. Arjun Sengupta in the aftermath of the Hurricane Katrina disaster on the Gulf Coast of the United States in 2005. The Statement, submitted during the Independent Expert’s fact-finding visit, expresses concern about the extensive and alarming human rights implications of United States federal, state and local government policy and activities before, during, and after Hurricane Katrina. The Statement argues that the inadequate response of government officials at all levels reflects the impact of “globalization in miniature” on the poor and other vulnerable and subordinated …

The Hunger Trap: Women, Food, And Self-Determination, Christine Chinkin, Shelley Wright

Michigan Journal of International Law

The authors examine the relationship of international law and food to women by first presenting seven stories of women from different situations, geographical locations, and conditions of affluence or poverty. These individual stories illustrate in a concrete way the circumstances of individual women's lives and their relationship to food and hunger. They are, to some extent, representative of women generally. We then examine the international legal framework and the provisions of international law that might be relevant to relieving the reality of hunger and women's vulnerability to food deprivation.