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Full-Text Articles in Law

"Zoning Bias Ii: A Study Of Oregon's Zoning Commission Composition Restrictions", Jerry L. Anderson Nov 2006

"Zoning Bias Ii: A Study Of Oregon's Zoning Commission Composition Restrictions", Jerry L. Anderson

Jerry L. Anderson

This article summarizes an empirical survey of Oregon planning commissions, to determine whether Oregon's occupational restrictions on commission appointments are working. An earlier survey found that zoning boards in Iowa were heavily populated with white-collar occupations, with many having a direct or indirect connection to land development work. Oregon's occupational restrictions appear to have reduced the number of appointees who are tied to development, but the commissions are still skewed toward white-collar representation. The article concludes that legal restrictions should be tightened to achieve the goal of broader occupational distribution.


Confronting Conventional Thinking: The Heuristics Problem In Feminist Legal Theory, Nancy Levit Jan 2006

Confronting Conventional Thinking: The Heuristics Problem In Feminist Legal Theory, Nancy Levit

Nancy Levit

The thesis of The Heuristics Problem is that the societal problems about which identity theorists are most concerned often spring from and are reinforced by thinking riddled with heuristic errors. This article first investigates the ways heuristic errors influence popular perceptions of feminist issues. Feminists and critical race theorists have explored the cognitive bias of stereotyping, but have not examined the ways probabilistic errors can have gendered consequences. Second, The Heuristics Problem traces some of the ways cognitive errors have influenced the development of laws relating to gender issues. It explores instances in judicial decisions in which courts commit heuristic …