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2009

Journal

Civil Rights and Discrimination

Equal Protection

Articles 1 - 3 of 3

Full-Text Articles in Law

Discriminatory Acquittal, Tania Tetlow Oct 2009

Discriminatory Acquittal, Tania Tetlow

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

This article is the first to analyze a pervasive and unexplored constitutional problem: the rights of crime victims against unconstitutional discrimination by juries. From the Emmett Till trial to that of Rodney King, there is a long history of juries acquitting white defendants charged with violence against black victims. Modem empirical evidence continues to show a devaluation of black victims; dramatic disparities exist in death sentence and rape conviction rates according to the race of the victim. Moreover, just as juries have permitted violence against those who allegedly violated the racial order, juries use acquittals to punish female victims of …


Separate But Unequal - When Overcrowed: Sex Discrimination In Jail Early Release Policies, Lara Hoffman Apr 2009

Separate But Unequal - When Overcrowed: Sex Discrimination In Jail Early Release Policies, Lara Hoffman

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

It is currently constitutional to house male and female prisoners in separate jail facilities based solely on gender. But is it also constitutional to provide separate early release policies to male and female prisoners convicted of the same crime, in the same county, and sentenced to the same length of time based solely on gender and separate housing arrangements? For decades, jail officials in many counties have released some prisoners before the end of their judicially mandated sentences to relieve overcrowding and meet budget constraints. A small study of jails around the country conducted as research for this Article reflects …


How The Diversity Rationale Lays The Groundwork For New Discrimination: Examining The Trajectory Of Equal Protection Doctrine, Michael A. Helfand Mar 2009

How The Diversity Rationale Lays The Groundwork For New Discrimination: Examining The Trajectory Of Equal Protection Doctrine, Michael A. Helfand

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

This Article advocates differentiating between two distinct categories of equal protection cases. The first-what I have termed indicator cases-are instances where courts consider whether there are sufficient factual indications to demonstrate the existence of aprimafacie equal protection violation. The second-violation casesare instances where courts consider, having already determined the existence of an equal protection violation, whether there is a good enough justification for a prima facie equal protection violation. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court has not differentiated between these two different types of cases. This has led to a string of decisions where the Supreme Court has erroneously looked for justifications …