Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 1 - 7 of 7

Full-Text Articles in Law

Juvenile Death Sentence Lives On... Even After Roper V. Simmons, Akin Adepoju Dec 2014

Juvenile Death Sentence Lives On... Even After Roper V. Simmons, Akin Adepoju

University of Massachusetts Law Review

This article begins with a discussion of the Supreme Court’s decision to abolish the death penalty as applied to individuals convicted of crimes they committed before they turned 18 and proceeds with a detailed exposition of worldwide standards of juvenile sentencing. Part I of this note briefly discusses the history and purposes of the juvenile justice system in the United States. Further, there is a general discussion on the constitutionality of life without parole sentences, which provides an overview of the inconsistencies between Federal and State Courts’ approaches when sentencing juveniles to life without parole. Part II analyzes the international …


Supermax’S Kryptonite? Wilkinson V. Austin: The Due Process Challenge To Ohio’S Super-Maximum Security Prison, Adam Miller Dec 2014

Supermax’S Kryptonite? Wilkinson V. Austin: The Due Process Challenge To Ohio’S Super-Maximum Security Prison, Adam Miller

University of Massachusetts Law Review

This note discusses the Supreme Court’s holding in Wilkinson that OSP’s system for inmate placement in its Supermax facility does not violate the Equal Protection Clause. Part II will summarize OSP’s purpose and condition, and will focus on Ohio’s New Policy regarding inmate placement. Part III will examine Supreme Court precedent and the Court’s conclusions of law in determining whether inmates have a protected liberty interest in avoiding assignment to OSP and the due process implications of the inmate selection process to OSP. Part IV will question the Supreme Court’s disregard of the adverse mental effects in inmates subjected to …


In Impartiality We Trust: A Commentary On Government Aid And Involvement With Religion, Thomas J. Cleary Dec 2014

In Impartiality We Trust: A Commentary On Government Aid And Involvement With Religion, Thomas J. Cleary

University of Massachusetts Law Review

Ultimately, because true neutrality is not possible, nearly all government interaction with religion is to some degree friendly or hostile. One could argue, therefore, that government interaction with religion is inherently friendly or hostile in nature. As a consequence, establishing neutrality as the ideal misses the mark and has produced a swinging pendulum in the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence. At one end of its arc the pendulum produces hostility towards religion and at the other end of the arc it produces friendliness towards religion. This is reflected in case law and in both early and modern government practices. Ultimately, the pendulum …


Spreading Democracy Everywhere But Here: The Unlikely Prospect Of Foreign National Defendants Asserting Treaty Violations In American Courts After Sanchez-Llamas V. Oregon And Medellin V. Dretke, Miriam F. Miquelon-Weismann Dec 2014

Spreading Democracy Everywhere But Here: The Unlikely Prospect Of Foreign National Defendants Asserting Treaty Violations In American Courts After Sanchez-Llamas V. Oregon And Medellin V. Dretke, Miriam F. Miquelon-Weismann

University of Massachusetts Law Review

To squarely address this decisional quagmire, this article examines the binding effect of ICJ orders, entered pursuant to its compulsory jurisdiction, on American courts; earlier decisions of the Supreme Court penalizing foreign nationals for failing to timely raise individual treaty claims; the effect on treaty enforcement in domestic courts after the executive branch’s recent foreign policy decision to withdraw from compulsory ICJ jurisdiction; the current policy disputes dividing the United States and the ICJ; and, the national interest, or lack thereof, in treaty compliance. The article concludes that the government’s current claim that a “long standing presumption” exists to prevent …


Computer Programs Under The United States Intellectual Property System: Sui Generis Legislation Is Needed, Joseph Francis Agnelli, Iii Dec 2014

Computer Programs Under The United States Intellectual Property System: Sui Generis Legislation Is Needed, Joseph Francis Agnelli, Iii

University of Massachusetts Law Review

Section I of this article explores the different avenues of intellectual property protection presently available for computer software here in the United States. Section II then discusses how the European Community has resolved the computer program crisis under European intellectual property law. Lastly, section III will illustrate why sui generis legislation would be the paramount way for Congress to attack the intricacy that is created by computer programs under American intellectual property law.


History Repeats Itself: Parallels Between Current-Day Threats To Immigrant Parental Rights And Native American Parental Rights In The Twentieth Century, Vinita B. Andrapalliyal Apr 2014

History Repeats Itself: Parallels Between Current-Day Threats To Immigrant Parental Rights And Native American Parental Rights In The Twentieth Century, Vinita B. Andrapalliyal

University of Massachusetts Law Review

Immigrant parents are currently burdened with unique risks to their parental rights, risks that bear little relation to their ability to care for their children. Recent developments in family and immigration law, historical cultural prejudices against non-Western parenting traditions, and poor immigrants’ limited access to the U.S. legal system are largely to blame. This Note explores the inadequacies in our legal system contributing to the struggles of immigrant parents to maintain family unity and connects the current situation to the disproportionate number of terminations of parental rights within the Native American community in the mid-twentieth century. It suggests that a …


Anaerobic Digestion As A Renewable Energy Source And Waste Management Technology: What Must Be Done For This Technology To Realize Success In The United States?, Blake Anthony Klinkner Apr 2014

Anaerobic Digestion As A Renewable Energy Source And Waste Management Technology: What Must Be Done For This Technology To Realize Success In The United States?, Blake Anthony Klinkner

University of Massachusetts Law Review

Anaerobic digestion technology uses microorganisms to consume waste and produce methane gas, which serves as a source of clean renewable energy. Although anaerobic digestion is widely used for both purposes throughout the rest of the world, it is rarely applied in the United States. This Article explains the scientific processes of anaerobic digestion. It then discusses how anaerobic digestion has been used throughout history and among societies as a waste management technology and source of renewable energy. The Article continues by addressing the legal aspects of anaerobic digestion, examining the reasons why it is not widely used in the United …