Law Commons^™

Double Jeopardy, The Federal Sentencing Guidelines, And The Subsequent-Prosecution Dilemma, Elizabeth T. Lear

UF Law Faculty Publications

The choice to embrace a real-offense regime probably constitutes the single most controversial decision made by the Federal Sentencing Commission in drafting the Federal Sentencing Guidelines ("Guidelines"). Real-offense sentencing bases punishment on a defendant's actual conduct as opposed to the offense of conviction. The Guidelines sweep a variety of factors into the sentencing inquiry, including criminal offenses for which no conviction has been obtained. Under the Guidelines, therefore, prosecutorial charging decisions and even verdicts of acquittal after jury trial may have little impact at sentencing.

Long before the adoption of the Guidelines, courts bent on rationalizing the real-offense regime devised …

If Black Is So Special, Then Why Isn't It In The Rainbow?, Sharon E. Rush

UF Law Faculty Publications

In the modern day, defining "family" becomes less of a theoretical debate when one's own family unit is different from the traditional married, middle-class mother and father with their biological children. For non-traditional families, redefining family takes on enormous practical significance and may actually enable people to create families. Laws permitting transracial adoptions and surrogacy are illustrative. Moreover, a broader definition of family provides greater legal security to non-traditional families. Without such legal protection, non-traditional families live in fear of traditional laws tearing them apart. Rather than using a standard that promotes hegemony in custody disputes, decisionmakers should become aware …

Pragmatism Applied: Imagining A Solution To The Problem Of Court Congestion, Michael L. Seigel

UF Law Faculty Publications

Can we improve the efficiency of jury trials? If so, would this reduce the problem of court congestion? Is there any reason to favor this approach over those that seek to avoid jury trials altogether?

This Article attempts to answer these difficult questions. It does so by articulating and then employing a methodology suggested by recent scholarly ruminations about the philosophy of pragmatism and its implications for legal scholarship and practice. Although pragmatism does not provide "right answers" to questions of legal doctrine-indeed, it rejects the notion that such things exist-it does provide some guidance in formulating the search for …

Building Bridges - Latinas And Latinos At The Crossroads: Realities, Rhetoric And Replacement, Berta E. Hernández-Truyol

UF Law Faculty Publications

This essay uses the narrative form to share experiences from one latina's perspective. The author aspires to show how latinas/os, a magnificently diverse group, can be a critical factor in building the bridges that can move the stubborn, static oppositionality (normative) perspective towards a "true universalist" approach. I suggest latinas/os can do this because our diverse backgrounds have equipped us with a multiple perspective viewpoint.

Out In Left Field: Cuba’S Post-Cold War Strikeout, Berta E. Hernández-Truyol

UF Law Faculty Publications

This Article studies the Cuban situation in four parts. First, it reviews whether Cuba actually fits basic expectations of "Third World country" status. As discussed in Part I, the figures of social and human development indicators, as well as economic development figures, reveal that Cuba does not match the definition neatly. Its health, education, and welfare figures rival those of industrial states. Economic development figures, however, paint a completely different picture. Economic considerations certainly permit labelling the island as a "developing country," particularly since the onset of the 1986 recession, as exacerbated by the demise of communism and Cuba's consequent …

When The Cure For The Fourth Amendment Is Worse Than The Disease, Tracey Maclin

UF Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

A Pragmatic Critique Of Modern Evidence Scholarship, Michael L. Seigel

UF Law Faculty Publications

This Article contends that strict adherence to optimistic rationalism has blinded evidence scholars to the reality that the law of evidence is as indeterminate as all other areas of the law. At its core is not a single goal -- the attainment of truth -- but a number of important, complex, and, alas, competing considerations. Answers to questions concerning the appropriate configuration of evidence doctrine cannot be deduced from a unitary principle; indeed, they cannot be deduced at all. Rather, arguments about evidence doctrine must be conducted in the realm of "practical reason." Practical reason is the process through which …

Reorganization Realities, Methodological Realities, And The Paradigm Dominance Game, Lynn M. Lopucki

UF Law Faculty Publications

The comments I present here pertain to two subjects. The first is the Warren and Westbrook attack on "arm chair theorists' and the response of the Conferees to this attack. The second is the problem of sample selection and its relationship to regularized data gathering.

The Descent Of Political Theory And The Limitations Of Legal Tolerance, Charles W. Collier

UF Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Mesoamerican Biological Corridor: The Legal Framework For An Integrated, Regional System Of Protected Areas, Thomas T. Ankersen

UF Law Faculty Publications

This article first briefly examines the historical basis for the recent movement toward regional environmental integration in Central America. Part II discusses the biological, economic and cultural rationales for a regional, protected-areas system. With this background, Part III reviews the current international law framework for biodiversity conservation. Part IV examines the extent to which existing models of international and regional cooperation incorporate modern scientific principles of conservation biology, such as island biogeography, into their legal framework. Finally, Part V surveys alternative international law approaches for an integrated, regional, protected-areas system to achieve the region's stated goal of preserving an “effective …