Law Commons^™

Military Justice: The Forgotten Jurisdiction In Capital Punishment, Erica C. Medley

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

The military capital punishment scheme for murder in peacetime is unconstitutional. It does not meet the Eighth Amendment’s requirement of heightened reliability for capital cases because it fails to include a trial by jury. The Supreme Court identified concerns about court-martial panels compared to juries in Reid v. Covert and United States ex rel. Toth v. Quarles. These concerns are exacerbated by the research from the Capital Jury Project regarding how the race and gender of jurors can affect capital sentencing determinations. Specifically, as the number of white males increases on a jury, the likelihood of a death sentence increases. …

Sentencing Insurrection, Kevin Lapp

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

On January 6, 2021, an estimated two thousand people broke police lines and breached the U.S. Capitol building in an effort to prevent the certification of the 2020 presidential election results. Over one thousand people have been charged with various crimes for their actions that day, from misdemeanor trespassing charges to felony assault with a weapon and seditious conspiracy. Relying on publicly available sources, this Article presents results from an analysis of the first 514 people to have been sentenced in federal court for crimes committed on January 6. The result is a snapshot of the insurrectionists, the charges they …

The Unknowns Of The Knowledge Requirement: Revisiting The Deliberate Indifference Standard In Prisoner Healthcare, Malina J. Simard-Halm

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

In the 1976 decision Estelle v. Gamble, the Supreme Court held that “deliberate indifference” to significant health needs of prisoners violated the Eighth Amendment. The standard’s knowledge requirement, however, ensured that prisoners were not guaranteed healthcare under the constitutional standard; rather, the constitutionality of healthcare in prisons would be tethered to the mental state of prison officials. This Article seeks to demonstrate that correctional standards of healthcare occupy an incoherent space in constitutional law. By analyzing the legal standard and the application of the knowledge requirement, this Article exposes the theoretical inconsistency and inadequacy of the deliberate indifference standard—and …

Proof Beyond A Reasonable Doubt Doesn't Exist: Except As An Emergent Property Of A Complex Adaptive System, Ronald J. Allen, Nicolas Elliott-Smith

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

The pursuit of knowledge is undergoing a transformation. Scientists and scholars are rejecting standard reductionist efforts, popularly captured by “the scientific method” and embracing the framework of complexity theory and complex adaptive systems. That framework is invaluable to understand both the law of evidence and the nature of Anglo-American legal systems. It also has significant implications for the ongoing debate over the concept of law. This Article demonstrates how “proof beyond a reasonable doubt” (BARD) does not exist in any knowable form, except as an emergent property of a complex adaptive system—the criminal process. First, what constitutes BARD will vary …

Probation Without A Home: How Probation Maintains Barriers To Successful Completion While Homeless, Olivia K. Babin

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

Following the Supreme Court’s decision in Grants Pass v. Johnson, national attention is being brought to discussions about the criminalization of homelessness and the experiences of homeless people in the criminal legal system. Community supervision (probation and parole) is an oft-forgotten portion of the criminal justice system, despite there being nearly triple the number of people on parole or probation than the number of people incarcerated in the United States. Probation specifically is seen as an alternative to incarceration. Some view it as a more humane punishment than incarceration; others believe probation is far too lenient and sentenced too often. …

Institutional Structures Of Penal Inequality, Alexandra Natapoff

Journal of Criminal Law and Criminology

The U.S. penal apparatus is a bundle of wildly divergent practices. Police in some cities use more force than others. Prosecutors in some jurisdictions file charges automatically while others screen carefully. Public defenders in some counties lack zeal while others provide high quality representation. Offices that share the same name and perform the same basic legal functions—“police,” “prosecutor,” “public defender,” “criminal court”—actually operate according to highly disparate legal, professional, and normative standards. These differences give rise to a stratified criminal process in which a minority of defendants and cases are handled lawfully with attention and care, while a much larger …

Islamic Finance, Commercial Law, And Economic Justice: Apocalyptic Challenges To The Global Order, Ali Rod Khadem

Emory International Law Review

This Article engages with the heated debates about the Islamic finance industry, which range from praise as an ethical model of ESG principles to sharp criticism as a vehicle for financing terrorism. Offering a novel lens, this Article examines several case studies of Islamic thinkers and movements that have disrupted global politics, exploring how they deploy apocalyptic ideology to promote vastly different visions of future economic orders. Some of these case studies reinterpret key concepts from Islamic commercial law—like unjust enrichment, limited liability partnerships, insurance, almsgiving, and inheritance—while others call for a return to abandoned practices, such as slavery, discriminatory …

Accommodating Disabilities During Arrests: Toward A Model Law To Improve Police Response To Mental Health Crisis, Michael Harel

Emory International Law Review

Policing people with mental illness (PWMI) presents a persistent global challenge. Although PWMI do not have a greater propensity for violence, they are disproportionately killed during police encounters. Using Australia as a case study, this Comment argues that use-of-force laws are inadequate in these situations because they defer excessively to officer discretion—failing to account for how officers often escalate encounters with PWMI by neglecting appropriate crisis-response tactics or by misperceiving PWMI behavior as violent, even when that behavior reflects mental health symptoms rather than actual threats. Current legal standards often excuse such perceptions, but properly trained officers should be expected …

The Public Policy Exception In Choice Of Law, Symeon C. Symeonides

Emory International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Dedication: Josephine Hardin Memorial, Volume 40 Staff & Previous Editors-In-Chief

Emory International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Crimes Of The Past, Present, And Future: Considering The Global Problem Of Microplastic Pollution And The Potential For Success Within The Public Trust Doctrine, Rose Heppner

Emory International Law Review

Microplastic pollution is a global and transboundary issue—one that international states have failed to properly address through regulatory bodies, multilateral treaties, and nonbinding conventions. Despite efforts by the international community to reduce plastic pollution, the problem has been exacerbated exponentially year over year by an ever-expanding plastic industry. The U.N. Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution is currently leading discussions for the most promising solution: a binding treaty targeting the full lifecycle of plastic. Unfortunately, pro-plastic industry groups and lobbyists have been granted a seat at the table, and negotiations have yet to produce a final treaty draft.

Although legislation …

“Glory Days Well They’Ll Pass You By,”: Major League Baseball’S 1994-1995 Strike: A Legacy Of Damage And Failed Recovery, Peter Galati

Student Works

No abstract provided.

Let This Sleeping Dog Lie: The Dormant Commerce Clause Has No Business Limiting Registration-Based Jurisdiction, Samuel Brownsword

Student Works

No abstract provided.

From Conflict Prevention To Contract Intervention: Revisiting The Founding Purpose Of The Pca In An Evolving World Of International Arbitration, Kevin Mckenzie

Student Works

No abstract provided.

Hidden In Plain Sight: Plyler V. Doe Under Siege, Dana Kit

Student Works

No abstract provided.

The Advertising Pipeline: Priming Today’S Youth To Be Tomorrow’S Heavy Rollers, Alison Opdyke

Student Works

No abstract provided.

Once Upon A Crime In America: Time For The Wire Act To Do The Disappearing Act, Alex Sieburth

Student Works

No abstract provided.

J. Robert Martin Papers, 1947-1990 Guide And Inventory

J. Robert Martin Papers, 1947-1990

No abstract provided.

25th Anniversary Report, Law And Government Institute

Law and Government Institute Collections

The Law and Government Institute is one of Widener University Commonwealth Law School's signature programs. The Institute focuses on the complex intersection of legislation, regulation, public policy, and the law.

The celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Institute in 2024 prompted the development and issuance of this report. It discusses the history and leadership of the Institute, provides an overview of the Institute's programs, and presents the results of a recent survey of Institute alumni.

This report covers activities and events through the end of the 2024-25 academic year.

2025 Children's Legislative Report Card, Children's Advocacy Institute, University Of San Diego School Of Law

Children's Legislative Report Card

No abstract provided.

What’S So Compelling About Diversity Anyway?: How The Affirmative Action Diversity Rationale Was Built To Fail Under Today’S Equal Protection Doctrine, Fariza Hassan

Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality

No abstract provided.

2025 Annual Report, Children's Advocacy Institute, University Of San Diego School Of Law

CAI Annual Reports

No abstract provided.

Supreme Court Preview 2025 (Flyer), Institute Of Bill Of Rights Law, William & Mary Law School

Supreme Court Preview

No abstract provided.

Busting Ghosts: How Regulatory Gaps Fail To Address Ghost Guns, And What Can Be Done Post-Bruen, Wyatt Lutenbacher

Minnesota Journal of Law & Inequality

No abstract provided.

De-Policing: An Updated Empirical Analysis Of Crime And Federal Police Reform, Stephen Rushin, Griffin Sims Edwards

Faculty Publications & Other Works

This Article builds on prior work by empirically analyzing the effect of federal intervention in local police departments on crime and clearance rates, using updated data and methodologies.

Congress passed 34 U.S.C. § 12601 (formerly 42 U.S.C. § 14141) in 1994 to give the United States Attorney General the authority to seek equitable relief against local and state law enforcement agencies engaged in patterns or practices of misconduct. Since its passage, the Department of Justice has investigated and intervened into dozens of American police departments, including some of the largest police departments in the country. Federal intervention represents one of …

Limits On Traffic Stops: Saving Lives By Constraining Police Authority, Jeannine Bell, Stephen Rushin

Faculty Publications & Other Works

This Article considers how policymakers can more effectively constrain police authority during traffic stops to reduce racial disparities and prevent unnecessary violence.

We begin by chronicling the power granted to police officers during traffic enforcement and the harms generated by this discretionary power. Under existing criminal procedure, police officers have considerable authority to stop motorists for any technical violation of the traffic code, even if the stated justification is a pretext for investigating an unrelated hunch or suspicion. After stopping a motorist, existing doctrine gives police the ability to question them, search their vehicles under numerous circumstances, arrest drivers for …

Delay, Deny, Tax, Samuel D. Brunson

Faculty Publications & Other Works

Health insurance companies are having a moment in the United States. Their moment involves widespread public objections to their seemingly random and increasing willingness to deny coverage and reimbursement to insureds. These denials are in large part not part of a program to improve health coverage but, rather, to reduce insurance companies’ expenses and, in turn, increase their profits.

There is broad consensus that something has to change. The public demands it. Bipartisan groups of senators and representatives have investigated it. Even the health care industry acknowledges that something needs to change. To actually make the health care system better …

A New Johnson Amendment: Subsidy, Core Political Speech, And Tax-Exempt Organizations, Samuel D. Brunson

Faculty Publications & Other Works

Seven decades ago, Congress enacted the so-called Johnson Amendment. This provision of tax law forbids tax-exempt public charities from endorsing or opposing candidates for office. Under the plain language of the Internal Revenue Code, an organization that violates the Johnson Amendment does not qualify as tax-exempt.

The legislative history underlying the Johnson Amendment is sparse, and it provides few clues as to Congress’s reason for enacting it. In the ensuing years, though, it has become clear that Congress does not want to subsidize campaigning activities, and this has become the most convincing justification for the Johnson Amendment. However, the design …

Robots And (Indian) Reservations: A Jurisdictional Nightmare Waiting To Happen, Adam Crepelle

Faculty Publications & Other Works

Advances in artificial intelligence are expanding the possibilities of robots. Indeed, robots are now engaging in numerous activities previously thought to require human cognition, such as driving cars and diagnosing diseases. Scholars have published numerous articles examining the intersection of law and robots across myriad fields. However, legal scholarship has yet to explore the relationship between robots and federal Indian law. This is a significant oversight because there are 574 federally recognized tribes and over fifty-six million acres of Indian country. Thus, legal issues involving tribes and robots are inevitable. This is the first law review article dedicated to exploring …

Visible Learning: Adapting Primary And Secondary Pedagogical Approaches To Legal Education, Dawn Young

Faculty Publications & Other Works

As a new generation of students, Generation Z, enter law school, educators must continually adapt and improve to be the most effective in their roles. While traditional teaching methods like Socratic dialogue, the case method, and experiential learning are all valuable to varying degrees, law professors can gain further insight by exploring additional teaching approaches.

As law professors welcome Gen Z to their classrooms, how can they ensure they are adapting to the needs of this cohort? Could gaining an understanding of Gen Z’s prior educational experiences provide law professors with additional insight?

This Article argues that law professors can …