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Series

2009

Law and Society

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Articles 1 - 8 of 8

Full-Text Articles in Law

Getting Real About Race And Prisoner Rights, Michael B. Mushlin Jan 2009

Getting Real About Race And Prisoner Rights, Michael B. Mushlin

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article explores the nexus of two stories central to contemporary American jurisprudence and--for tens of millions of citizens--central to the American experience: the rise of the “carceral state” through steep increases in the incarceration of non-whites, and the decline, over the very same period, in legal protections for prisoners. The Article suggests that these two stories cannot be considered in isolation from one another. Nearly everything we know about race from the social sciences suggests that, in the highly pressured context of prison life, racial tensions will play a role in the decisions that guards and administrators make concerning …

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Marketing Mothers' Milk: The Commodification Of Breastfeeding And The New Markets For Breast Milk And Infant Formula, Linda C. Fentiman Jan 2009

Marketing Mothers' Milk: The Commodification Of Breastfeeding And The New Markets For Breast Milk And Infant Formula, Linda C. Fentiman

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This paper explores the commodification of women and biological processes, the confusion of scientific evidence with social agendas, and the conflict between marketing and public health. I assert that key actors in the healthcare marketplace - government, businesses, and doctors – have acted to enable weak medical and scientific evidence to be manipulated by ideological and profit-making partisans in a poorly regulated market. I focus on the unique role of the medical profession, which has acted with government and the private sector to shape the markets in human milk and infant formula. In a striking parallel to the pharmaceutical industry, …

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A Suggested Solution To The Problem Of Intestate Succession In Nontraditional Family Arrangements: Taking The "Adoption" (And The Inequity) Out Of The Doctrine Of "Equitable Adoption", Irene D. Johnson Jan 2009

A Suggested Solution To The Problem Of Intestate Succession In Nontraditional Family Arrangements: Taking The "Adoption" (And The Inequity) Out Of The Doctrine Of "Equitable Adoption", Irene D. Johnson

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Part I of this Article examines the doctrine of equitable adoption, focusing on its deficiencies in addressing some of the issues of the modern family. Part II considers the specific issue of intestate succession, the way that the equitable adoption doctrine falls short in providing a consistent rational result of heirship in the modern family, and the reasons for expanding inheritance rights to “family members” claiming an intestate share despite the fact that they were not born into or legally adopted into the family arrangement. Part III proposes answers to these difficult problems, suggesting a statutory provision defining “child,” for …

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Using Local Knowledge To Shrink The Individual Carbon Footprint, Katrina Fischer Kuh Jan 2009

Using Local Knowledge To Shrink The Individual Carbon Footprint, Katrina Fischer Kuh

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Entire texts have been devoted to exploring the meaning of the term “lifestyle” and sociological understandings of lifestyle are complex and nuanced.For present purposes, however, a more simple articulation of the term will suffice. Lifestyle can mean “mode of living,” including “patterns of action” and “patterns of ways of living.” Without rendering judgment, one observation that can fairly be made about the current lifestyles and associated behaviors of Americans is that they indirectly and directly lead to the emission of a high volume of greenhouse gases (“GHGs”).7 Although an American diplomat is said to have remarked in preparing for …

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In The Name Of Fetal Protection: Why American Prosecutors Pursue Pregnant Drug Users (And Other Countries Don't), Linda C. Fentiman Jan 2009

In The Name Of Fetal Protection: Why American Prosecutors Pursue Pregnant Drug Users (And Other Countries Don't), Linda C. Fentiman

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

For more than three decades, American prosecutors have been bringing criminal prosecutions against pregnant women based on their use of drugs while pregnant, with charges ranging from child abuse or neglect to murder. Almost all of these women are poor, and the vast majority are also women of color--many with histories of childhood sexual or physical abuse and mental disability. In all but three states-Alabama, Kentucky, and South Carolina--such prosecutions have been declared unconstitutional or the resulting convictions have been overturned. Nonetheless, prosecutions continue to be brought, in what can only be described as a crusade against pregnant women in …

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Feminizing Capital: A Corporate Imperative, Darren Rosenblum Jan 2009

Feminizing Capital: A Corporate Imperative, Darren Rosenblum

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

This Article argues that Norway’s Corporate Board Quota Law (“CBQ”) fosters a productive symbiosis between the public and private spheres. Recent studies indicate that higher numbers of women in executive positions result in stronger rates of corporate return on equity (“ROE”). Countries with higher levels of women's political representation also tend to have higher levels of economic growth. Increasing women's workforce participation outside the home can drive overall economic growth. These factors prompted the CBQ's proponents to argue for the economic imperative of women's corporate leadership. The CBQ will not only ameliorate gender inequality, but will bring new life to …

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The Case For A Criminal Law Theory Of Intentional Infliction Of Emotional Distress, Leslie Yalof Garfield Jan 2009

The Case For A Criminal Law Theory Of Intentional Infliction Of Emotional Distress, Leslie Yalof Garfield

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Words hurt! Recent news stories about cyber bulling make clear that a word can cause as much pain as a punch. Unfortunately, the law redresses those who suffer injury from harmful speech through a series of seemingly innocuous remedies, including financial remuneration or retribution through minimal criminal penalties. The law stops, however, at imposing the same type of criminal punishment on those who intend to cause emotional harm through words, as it does those who intend to cause physical harm. In other words, legislatures and courts have been unwilling to elevate an actor’s intentional use of harmful words to the …

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Social Factoring The Numbers With Assisted Reproduction, Bridget J. Crawford Jan 2009

Social Factoring The Numbers With Assisted Reproduction, Bridget J. Crawford

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

In late winter 2009, the airwaves came alive with stories about Nadya Suleman, the California mother who gave birth to octuplets conceived via assisted reproductive technology. Nadya Suleman and her octuplets are the vehicles through which Americans express their anxiety about race, class and gender. Expressions of concern for the health of children, the mother’s well-being, the future of reproductive medicine or the financial drain on taxpayers barely conceal deep impulses towards racism, sexism and classism. It is true that the public has had a longstanding fascination with multiple births and with large families. This is evidenced by a long …

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