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Duke Law

Law and Contemporary Problems

Human rights

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Full-Text Articles in Law

Prevalence, Societal Causes, And Trends In Corporal Punishment By Parents In World Perspective, Murray A. Straus Apr 2010

Prevalence, Societal Causes, And Trends In Corporal Punishment By Parents In World Perspective, Murray A. Straus

Law and Contemporary Problems

No abstract provided.


Corporal Punishment And The Cultural Defense, Alison Dundes Renteln Apr 2010

Corporal Punishment And The Cultural Defense, Alison Dundes Renteln

Law and Contemporary Problems

No abstract provided.


Legitimacy And Effectiveness Of A Grassroots Truth And Reconciliation Commission, Jill E. Williams Apr 2009

Legitimacy And Effectiveness Of A Grassroots Truth And Reconciliation Commission, Jill E. Williams

Law and Contemporary Problems

Williams describes the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) process that was put into place in Greensboro NC. That process was set up to address community hostilities that had been festering for more than twenty years, since the 1979 killings of black protesters by Ku Klux Klansmen and American Nazis. In that case a grassroots-initiated TRC was formed to address the community problems, but it was not backed by the local government and it lacked the ability to grant amnesty or to subpoena witnesses. Community members had very different views regarding the necessity and likely helpfulness of the TRC. She concludes …


The Reach Of Rights: “The Foreign” And “The Private” In Conflict-Of-Laws, State-Action, And Fundamental-Rights Cases With Foreign Elements, Jacco Bomhoff Jul 2008

The Reach Of Rights: “The Foreign” And “The Private” In Conflict-Of-Laws, State-Action, And Fundamental-Rights Cases With Foreign Elements, Jacco Bomhoff

Law and Contemporary Problems

No abstract provided.


International Delegation And State Sovereignty, Oona A. Hathaway Jan 2008

International Delegation And State Sovereignty, Oona A. Hathaway

Law and Contemporary Problems

Hathaway rebuts the claim that state sovereignty almost always suffers when states delegate authority to international institutions. Critics of delegation err, she contends, by overemphasizing the costs but losing sight of some of the substantial benefits of cooperation. She considers the challenge to sovereignty posed by international delegation by focusing on recent debates over the influence of international legal commitments on domestic governance.


The Institutionalist Implications Of An Odious Debt Doctrine, Paul B. Stephan Jul 2007

The Institutionalist Implications Of An Odious Debt Doctrine, Paul B. Stephan

Law and Contemporary Problems

Sovereigns incur debts, and creditors look to the law to hold sovereigns to their obligations. In legal terms, the question is whether to recognize and define an odious debt defense through a treaty or national legislative acts, on the one hand, or through the decisions of authoritative dispute-settlement bodies, whether international arbitral organs or domestic courts. Moreover, others may think that odious debt doctrine as a means can optimize the social welfare generated by sovereign-debt contracts. Here, Stephan examines the social welfare in the economic sense but attacks the problem from a different direction and concludes that no satisfactory mechanism …


White (House) Lies: Why The Public Must Compel The Courts To Hold The President Accountable For National Security Abuses, Eric K. Yamamoto Apr 2005

White (House) Lies: Why The Public Must Compel The Courts To Hold The President Accountable For National Security Abuses, Eric K. Yamamoto

Law and Contemporary Problems

The warning of a threat to national security has been used throughout US history as a means for the US government to execute repressive actions. Even today, the judiciary must take responsibility for defending citizens against such potential abuses by the executive branch.


Racial Auditors And The Fourth Amendment: Data With The Power To Inspire Political Action, Andrew E. Taslitz Jul 2003

Racial Auditors And The Fourth Amendment: Data With The Power To Inspire Political Action, Andrew E. Taslitz

Law and Contemporary Problems

Taslitz discusses the current practice of racial auditing as a method of police regulation. Racial auditing relies on the strategy of using independent investigators to disseminate data about an organization to broader publics. Racial auditors, however, are not accountants but rather human rights organizations.


The International Criminal Court: Issues For Consideration By The United States Senate, Patricia Mcnerney Jan 2001

The International Criminal Court: Issues For Consideration By The United States Senate, Patricia Mcnerney

Law and Contemporary Problems

McNerney states that many in Congress who oppose the International Criminal Court are also some of the stronger advocates of the US speaking out against human rights abuses around the world. Rather than advocating the creation of an international criminal court that attempts to take decision making authority away from governments and invalidate the rule of law, however, they argue that more should be done to facilitate extradition of criminals to stand trial where they are accused.


The Letter Of The Law: The Scope Of The International Legal Obligation To Prosecute Human Rights Crimes, Michael Scharf Oct 1996

The Letter Of The Law: The Scope Of The International Legal Obligation To Prosecute Human Rights Crimes, Michael Scharf

Law and Contemporary Problems

While international criminal conventions are limited in their application, there is growing recognition of a duty for states to do something to give meaning to human rights.


Arresting Impunity: The Case For Universal Jurisdiction In Bringing War Criminals To Accountability, Christopher C. Joyner Oct 1996

Arresting Impunity: The Case For Universal Jurisdiction In Bringing War Criminals To Accountability, Christopher C. Joyner

Law and Contemporary Problems

One means to enhance the prospects for bringing indicted war criminals to justice is to promote adoption of the principle of universality as the legal basis for prosecutorial jurisdiction.


International Crimes: Jus Cogens And Obligatio Erga Omnes, M. Cherif Bassiouni Oct 1996

International Crimes: Jus Cogens And Obligatio Erga Omnes, M. Cherif Bassiouni

Law and Contemporary Problems

There are both gaps and weaknesses in the various sources of International Criminal Law in norms and enforcement modalities. A comprehensive international codification would solve these problems, but this is not forthcoming.


Introduction, M. Cherif Bassiouni Oct 1996

Introduction, M. Cherif Bassiouni

Law and Contemporary Problems

Efforts to work against the practice of impunity for major international crimes and violations of fundamental human rights and to develop international guidelines against the practice are discussed.


Purging The Past: The Current State Of Lustration Laws In The Former Communist Bloc, Mark S. Ellis Oct 1996

Purging The Past: The Current State Of Lustration Laws In The Former Communist Bloc, Mark S. Ellis

Law and Contemporary Problems

Lustration laws are used in the nations of the former communist bloc to determine whether suspected individuals collaborated with the former state security service. An overview is presented of the current status of such laws.


International Guidelines Against Impunity: Facilitating Accountability, Madeline H. Morris Oct 1996

International Guidelines Against Impunity: Facilitating Accountability, Madeline H. Morris

Law and Contemporary Problems

Reasons for a consistent pattern of compromise when it comes to impunity for international crimes and human rights violations are discussed. Guidelines are presented for facilitating accountability for these crimes.


Lessons From The Americas: Guidelines For International Response To Amnesties For Atrocities, Douglass Cassel Oct 1996

Lessons From The Americas: Guidelines For International Response To Amnesties For Atrocities, Douglass Cassel

Law and Contemporary Problems

The impunity enjoyed by perpetrators of human rights violations, thanks in part to amnesty laws, is summarized. The international community should adopt guidelines to assist their own officials in responding to future amnesties.


Searching For Peace And Achieving Justice: The Need For Accountability, M. Cherif Bassiouni Oct 1996

Searching For Peace And Achieving Justice: The Need For Accountability, M. Cherif Bassiouni

Law and Contemporary Problems

Despite a high level of mass violence in the post-war years, there have been few prosecutions at the international or national level. Impunity for such crimes is a betrayal of human solidarity with the victims.


Legal Responses To Genocide And Other Massive Violations Of Human Rights, W. Michael Reisman Oct 1996

Legal Responses To Genocide And Other Massive Violations Of Human Rights, W. Michael Reisman

Law and Contemporary Problems

The international community could halt the proliferation of genocides by arresting them before, or at least while they are happening, by any means necessary. Instead, the focus is on actions after the fact.


Combating Impunity: Some Thoughts On The Way Forward, Naomi Roht-Arriaza Oct 1996

Combating Impunity: Some Thoughts On The Way Forward, Naomi Roht-Arriaza

Law and Contemporary Problems

Some of the tasks needed to be done by legal scholars and advocates to combat impunity in cases of massive violations of human rights are discussed. Pathways for implementation of these ideas are many and overlapping.


The Canadian Constitutional Approach To Freedom Of Expression In Hate Propaganda And Pornography, Kathleen Mahoney Jan 1992

The Canadian Constitutional Approach To Freedom Of Expression In Hate Propaganda And Pornography, Kathleen Mahoney

Law and Contemporary Problems

Canadian courts are in the process of challenging existing thought about the constitutional protection of freedom of expression. Establishing equality requires reciprocity of respect and parity of regard for physical dignity and personal integrity. Canadian Supreme Court decisions on pornography are discussed.


The Dimensions Of American Constitutional Equality, J. Harvie Wilkinson Iii Jan 1992

The Dimensions Of American Constitutional Equality, J. Harvie Wilkinson Iii

Law and Contemporary Problems

Liberty and equality are the hallmark characteristics of any legal order. Constitutional equality in the US is discussed. The rights of equality are not economic in nature, and they are not subject to strictly majority rule.


Transnational Freedom Of Speech: Legal Aspects Of The Helsinki Final Act, Jordan J. Paust Jan 1982

Transnational Freedom Of Speech: Legal Aspects Of The Helsinki Final Act, Jordan J. Paust

Law and Contemporary Problems

No abstract provided.


Advancing Human Rights Through The United Nations, John W. Halderman Apr 1979

Advancing Human Rights Through The United Nations, John W. Halderman

Law and Contemporary Problems

No abstract provided.