Law Commons^™

Race And Bankruptcy: Explaining Racial Disparities In Consumer Bankruptcy, Edward R. Morrison, Belisa Pang, Antoine Uettwiller

Faculty Scholarship

African American bankruptcy filers select Chapter 13 far more often than other debtors, who opt instead for Chapter 7, which has higher success rates and lower attorneys’ fees. Prior scholarship blames racial discrimination by attorneys. We propose an alternative explanation: Chapter 13 offers benefits, including retention of cars and driver’s licenses, that are more valuable to African American debtors because of relatively long commutes. We study a 2011 policy change in Chicago, which seized cars and suspended licenses of consumers with large traffic-related debts. The policy produced a large increase in Chapter 13 filings, especially by African Americans. Two mechanisms …

Risk As A Proxy For Race: The Dangers Of Risk Assessment, Bernard E. Harcourt

Faculty Scholarship

Actuarial risk assessment in the implementation and administration of criminal sentencing has a long history in this country – a long and fraught history. Today, many progressive advocates promote the use of actuarial risk assessment instruments as part of a strategy to reduce the problem of "mass incarceration." Former Attorney General Eric Holder has called on the U.S. Sentencing Commission to hold hearings to further consider the matter of risk assessment and prediction tools in sentencing and parole.

The objective – to reduce our massive over-incarceration in this country – is critical and noble. But risk assessment tools are simply …

Symposium: Current Issues In Community Economic Development: Foreword: Entrepreneurship, Race, And The Current Environment For Community Economic Development, Eric J. Gouvin

Faculty Scholarship

On March 30, 2007, the Western New England College School of Law and the School of Business jointly hosted the second annual academic conference on Current Issues in Community Economic Development, sponsored by the Western New England College Law and Business Center for Advancing Entrepreneurship. The Conference promotes the two primary goals of the Law and Business Center: (1) to provide technical legal and business assistance to entrepreneurs and (2) to sponsor educational and outreach events focused on entrepreneurship and economic development. The Law and Business Center is a unique resource in Western Massachusetts. The combination of legal and business …

Foreword: Law, Business, And Economic Development - Current Issues And Age-Old Battles, Eric J. Gouvin

Faculty Scholarship

On March 24, 2006, the Western New England College School of Law and School of Business jointly hosted the First Annual Academic Conference sponsored by the Western New England College Law and Business Center for Advancing Entrepreneurship. The Conference capped a year of exciting developments at the Law and Business Center, which is the College's contribution to the entrepreneurship infrastructure in the greater Springfield, Massachusetts area. Economists have understood for some time that small businesses are an important engine of economic development and vitality. Across the United States, 25 million small businesses employ more than half the country's workers, create …

Gendered Shades Of Property: A Status Check On Gender, Race & Property, Laura M. Padilla

Faculty Scholarship

This article explores the relationship between gender, race and property.Women in the United States continue to be economically disadvantaged, and women of color are even more disadvantaged. This article will open with a review of laws, past and present, which have shaped women's rights to own, manage and transfer property. It will then provide a status check of where women, including women of color, stand in the United States relative to the rest of the population vis-a-vis income and other indicators of economic well-being. The article will then discuss why economic inequality persists, trotting out the usual reasons of discrimination …