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Foreword Symposium: Interdisciplinary Perspectives On Fear And Risk Perception In Times Of Democratic Crisis:, Christina E. Wells, Jennifer K. Robbennolt Nov 2004

Foreword Symposium: Interdisciplinary Perspectives On Fear And Risk Perception In Times Of Democratic Crisis:, Christina E. Wells, Jennifer K. Robbennolt

Missouri Law Review

The terrorists attacks on September 11, 2001, the implentation of the USA PATRIOT ACT, and the government's indefinite detention of "enemy combatants" have all sparked renewed interest in the balance between security and liberty in times of crisis. Recently, legal scholars have debated topics ranging from the constitutionality and wisdom of the government's responses to terror to the appropriate roles for institutional actors and the public in national security decisions. While these debates have contributed enormously to the public discussion that is the foundation of a democratic society, they have not completely captured the complexities of governmental responses to crisis. …


Fear And Risk In Times Of Crisis: The Media's Challenge, Richard C. Reuben Nov 2004

Fear And Risk In Times Of Crisis: The Media's Challenge, Richard C. Reuben

Missouri Law Review

With five to ten minutes to comment at the very end of an intellectually exhilarating two-day symposium, I am quite frankly tempted to say "You know, they've all got a point," and leave it at that. But this has been an important discussion, and in this comment I'd like to at least try to make a small contribution to it.


Hearing The Danger Of An Armed Felon- Allowing For A Detention Hearing Under The Bail Reform Act For Those Who Unlawfully Possess Firearms, Matthew S. Miner Apr 2004

Hearing The Danger Of An Armed Felon- Allowing For A Detention Hearing Under The Bail Reform Act For Those Who Unlawfully Possess Firearms, Matthew S. Miner

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article advocates an interpretation of the Bail Reform Act that affords courts the ability to hold detention hearings in gun crime cases to evaluate defendants' potential danger to the community. According to an interpretation advanced by some courts, gun possession offenses do not constitute "crimes of violence" within the meaning of the Act and therefore those charged with such crimes, even ifth ey have a prior felony conviction, are not subject to pre-trial detention. Arguing against this approach, the Article looks to the Bail Reform Act, the relevant federal case law, and the alarming statistics concerning the growing use …


Vanishing Vaccinations: Why Are So Many Americans Opting Out Of Vaccinating Their Children?, Steve P. Calandrillo Jan 2004

Vanishing Vaccinations: Why Are So Many Americans Opting Out Of Vaccinating Their Children?, Steve P. Calandrillo

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Vaccinations against life-threatening diseases are one of the greatest public health achievements in history. Literally millions of premature deaths have been prevented, and countless more children have been saved from disfiguring illness. While vaccinations carry unavoidable risks, the medical, social and economic benefits they confer have led all fifty states to enact compulsory childhood vaccination laws to stop the spread of preventable diseases. Today, however, vaccines are becoming a victim of their success-many individuals have never witnessed the debilitating diseases that vaccines protect against, allowing complacency toward immunization requirements to build. Antivaccination sentiment is growing fast in the United States, …


The Virtues Of Uncertainty In Law: An Experimental Approach, Tom Baker, Alon Harel, Tamar Kugler Jan 2004

The Virtues Of Uncertainty In Law: An Experimental Approach, Tom Baker, Alon Harel, Tamar Kugler

Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law

No abstract provided.


Fear Assessment: Cost-Benefit Analysis And The Pricing Of Fear And Anxiety, Matthew D. Adler Jan 2004

Fear Assessment: Cost-Benefit Analysis And The Pricing Of Fear And Anxiety, Matthew D. Adler

Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law

Risk assessment is now a common feature of regulatory practice, but fear assessment is not. In particular, environmental, health and safety agencies such as EPA, FDA, OSHA, NHTSA, and CPSC, commonly count death, illness and injury as costs for purposes of cost-benefit analysis, but almost never incorporate fear, anxiety or other welfare-reducing mental states into the analysis. This is puzzling, since fear and anxiety are welfare setbacks, and since the very hazards regulated by these agencies - air or water pollutants, toxic waste dumps, food additives and contaminants, workplace toxins and safety threats, automobiles, dangerous consumer products, radiation, and so …


Fear, Irrationality, And Risk Perception, Henry L. Chambers, Jr. Jan 2004

Fear, Irrationality, And Risk Perception, Henry L. Chambers, Jr.

Law Faculty Publications

This brief commentary makes two points. The first is that fear can play multiple roles in any decision-making process. The second is that accurately determining whether reactions to fear are irrational is a complex task. Though neither point necessarily requires that symposium participants abandon their positions, together they suggest that extreme care is necessary in developing policy prescriptions based on the claim that fear can trigger irrationality.


Fear Assessment: Cost-Benefit Analysis And The Pricing Of Fear And Anxiety, Matthew D. Adler Jan 2004

Fear Assessment: Cost-Benefit Analysis And The Pricing Of Fear And Anxiety, Matthew D. Adler

Faculty Scholarship

Risk assessment is now a common feature of regulatory practice, but fear assessment is not. In particular, environmental, health and safety agencies such as EPA, FDA, OSHA, NHTSA, and CPSC, commonly count death, illness and injury as costs for purposes of cost-benefit analysis, but almost never incorporate fear, anxiety or other welfare-reducing mental states into the analysis. This is puzzling, since fear and anxiety are welfare setbacks, and since the very hazards regulated by these agencies - air or water pollutants, toxic waste dumps, food additives and contaminants, workplace toxins and safety threats, automobiles, dangerous consumer products, radiation, and so …


Risk Regulation, Endogenous Public Concerns, And The Hormones Dispute: Nothing To Fear But Fear Itself?, Howard F. Chang Jan 2004

Risk Regulation, Endogenous Public Concerns, And The Hormones Dispute: Nothing To Fear But Fear Itself?, Howard F. Chang

Faculty Scholarship at Penn Carey Law

The dispute between the United States and the European Union (EU) regarding the EU ban on meat imports treated with hormones raises the question: How should regulators respond to public fears that are disproportionate to the risks as evaluated by experts in risk assessment? If regulators cannot eliminate public fears through education, then there is some social benefit from regulations that reduce the feared risks and thereby reduce public anxiety and distortions in behavior flowing from that anxiety. These considerations imply that we cannot simply ignore public fears that technocrats would deem "irrational." On the other hand, there is the …


Risk Management For The Age Of Information – The New Financial Order: Risk In The 21st Century, Robert J. Shiller, Princeton University Press, 2003, Michael Pereira Jan 2004

Risk Management For The Age Of Information – The New Financial Order: Risk In The 21st Century, Robert J. Shiller, Princeton University Press, 2003, Michael Pereira

Fordham Journal of Corporate & Financial Law

No abstract provided.