A Systematic Review Of Restorative Justice In Criminal Contexts, Sigifredo Castell Britton

Journal of Social, Behavioral, and Health Sciences

Restorative justice has gained growing attention within criminal justice reform as a practical alternative to approaches centered only on punishment. It emphasizes accountability, dialogue, and community reintegration, offering a different way to understand how change in behavior takes place. This systematic review examined quantitative evidence from 34 studies, selected from an initial pool of 112 records identified through databases such as Google Scholar, ProQuest, JSTOR, and institutional repositories. The studies assessed a range of interventions, including victim-offender mediation, diversion programs, community conferencing, and in-prison initiatives, which allowed comparison across different settings and populations. Across these studies, 79.4% reported statistically significant …

Rethinking International Armed Conflict: Legal Challenges In The Age Of Hybrid Warfare, Oleksandr Havryshuk, Roman Hryshchenko

Brooklyn Journal of International Law

The binary classification of armed conflicts under international humanitarian law (IHL) — distinguishing international armed conflicts (IACs) from non-international armed conflicts (NIACs) — was forged in the aftermath of World War II and increasingly fails to capture the realities of twenty-first century warfare. Hybrid tactics, cyber operations, the proliferation of private military companies (PMCs), the expanding role of non-state actors, and the near-disappearance of formal declarations of war have eroded the analytical utility of the existing framework, generating legal uncertainty and weakening protections for affected populations. This Article critically examines the conceptual foundations of IAC as set out in Common …

No Place For Success Stories: Challenging The Sex Offender Exclusion In New York City's Fair Chance Housing Law, Abby Connell

Brooklyn Law Review

As criminal justice reform gains widespread political appeal, people convicted of sex crimes remain outside of mainstream discourse about who deserves protection from the collateral consequences of criminal system involvement. As one example, New York City’s recently enacted Fair Chance Housing Law prohibits criminal record discrimination in housing but leaves people convicted of sex crimes outside of its protection. In New York, people convicted of sex crimes face unique barriers to housing due to a complex web of federal and state laws that restrict access to safe, stable, and affordable housing. Like other New Yorkers with criminal records, people on …

Blurred Lines: Did Booker Change Federal Sentencing Outcomes?, Hugh M. Mundy

Pace Law Review

This article considers whether United States v. Booker, the 2005 Supreme Court decision that replaced the then-mandatory federal sentencing guidelines system with an advisory scheme, had any enduring impact on sentencing outcomes. Commemorating Booker’s recent twentieth anniversary requires a balancing act: at once, recognizing the decision’s watershed impact while avoiding claims of lasting change where little exists. The criminal defense community hailed the ruling as a kind of liberation from the guidelines’ dispassionate rigidity. Today, while most lawyers and defendants would still prefer the current system, a legitimate question exists about Booker’s actual effect on federal sentencing. I propose that …

Advocacy Matters, Richard Collins

American Indian Law Journal

The Supreme Court’s 2022 Castro-Huerta decision was wrong on the points it discussed. It was doubly wrong for a reason it ignored. But the latter error was shared because all briefs and the dissenting opinion ignored it as well. The question presented was whether a nineteenth-century federal Indian country statute provided for exclusive federal jurisdiction over interracial crimes, or for concurrent authority with states. The Court held that the statute allowed concurrent jurisdiction. But it ignored the fact that Congress and the Court, until fairly recently, avoided concurrent federal-state jurisdiction over crimes. Had the self-styled originalist Justices taken their theory …

Stability At Stake: The Effects Of Overturning Chevron On Indian Gaming, Evan Callahan

American Indian Law Journal

The Supreme Court’s decision in Loper Bright to overturn Chevron Deference marks a significant change in administrative law and could have drastic consequences for the regulation of Indian gaming in the United States. This Note explores the implications of such a shift, emphasizing the importance of maintaining stability in the highly regulated gaming industry. Many stakeholders, including operators, investors, regulatory agencies, and patrons, may face significant uncertainty without doctrines such as Chevron Deference. Without agency expertise in interpreting statutes, the Court may instead directly influence the regulation of Indian gaming in the United States, presenting challenges and uncertainties for all …

Reading Between The Treaties: Why The Supreme Court Must Honor The Indian Canons Of Construction, Amelia R. Wimmer

American Indian Law Journal

This Note critically examines the Indian canons of construction as interpretive tools employed by the United States Supreme Court in cases involving treaties and statutes with Tribal Nations. Ultimately tracing their origins to Worcester v. Georgia, this Note explores how the Indian canons were designed to protect tribal sovereignty, ensure the liberal construction of ambiguous provisions in favor of tribes, and prevent the abrogation of tribal land and rights. Shifts in interpretive philosophy and the rise of textualism have led to a checkered application of the Indian canons across courts. However, a continued application of the Indian canons is necessary …

The Federal Trust ​​​Responsibility ​And Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction: Restoring Justice In Tribal Nations​​​ ​, Sofia Sallas

American Indian Law Journal

Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction (SDVCJ), enacted through the Violence Against Women Act, was designed to address jurisdictional gaps that long allowed non-Indian perpetrators of domestic violence in Indian Country to evade accountability. Yet despite restoring Tribal authority, SDVCJ remains significantly under-implemented. This Note argues that this failure is not merely a policy shortcoming, but a legal one. Congress restored Tribal criminal jurisdiction while conditioning its exercise on federal funding, coordination, and institutional support. Federal agencies, however, have failed to provide the consistent infrastructure necessary for SDVCJ to function in practice. These failures breach the federal trust responsibility, which imposes …

Table Of Contents

American Indian Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Tribal Nations As Lords Of The Fee: A Common Law Argument For Tribal Discretion In Spending Federal Forfeiture Funds, Kent A. Anderson

American Indian Law Journal

Federal criminal forfeiture is a powerful tool meeting at the nexus of criminal law and property law. Courts justify its use based on its English common law history. After seizing and selling assets, the federal government doles out payments from its Assets Forfeiture Fund to cooperating law enforcement agencies through equitable sharing agreements that bind recipients to use funds for law enforcement purposes. Tribal Nations have compelling legal and policy arguments for their entitlement to greater access to and discretion over forfeiture funds obtained through seizures in Indian country. These legal arguments are grounded in: (1) federal criminal forfeiture’s failure …

September 2024 – August 2025 Case Law On American Indians, Thomas P. Schlosser

American Indian Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Volume 49 Masthead

Seattle University Law Review

Volume 49 Masthead

Reimagining Legal Education: The Transformative Power Of Small-Group Instruction, Michael I. Meyerson

Seattle University Law Review

Legal education is failing its students. Those entering their first year of law school have greater anxiety and less developed reading and writing skills than ever before. The traditional large Socratic class, which was never the most effective teaching method, has become increasingly counterproductive.

This Article contends that small-group instruction provides the opportunity for superior teaching, especially for first-year law students. Recent scholarship in active learning, educational psychology, and students’ mental health demonstrates the limitations of the traditional large Socratic class experience. Building on that theoretical foundation and informed by sustained classroom experience, this Article argues that small-group pedagogy more …

The Preventative Care Gap: Completing The Aca’S Vision For Health, Abby Nagaich

Seattle University Law Review

This Note examines the preventive care mandate under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and the legal, political, and practical challenges that threaten its effectiveness. While the ACA significantly expanded access to no-cost preventive services, gaps remain—particularly in behavioral health, obesity management, and equitable service delivery. Ongoing litigation, potential administrative rollbacks, and shifting political leadership further destabilize this critical component of public health policy.

This Note argues that for the ACA to fulfill its original promise—and for any health framework to succeed—preventive care must be redefined as a comprehensive, early intervention approach grounded in both systemic access and patient education. It …

Land Without Legacy: The Case For Market-Based Appraisals On Hawaiian Home Lands, Alexis C. Owens

Seattle University Law Review

The Hawaiian Homes Commission Act of 1920 (HHCA) was enacted to restore Native Hawaiians to ancestral lands and promote long term economic self-sufficiency. More than a century later, that promise remains unfulfilled. This Note argues that a central but overlooked barrier lies in the HHCA’s mandated use of the replacement cost appraisal method, which systematically undervalues homestead properties by excluding market forces. In one of the most expensive housing markets in the United States, this approach suppresses home equity, the primary means of intergenerational wealth building, and restricts beneficiaries’ access to credit and financial stability. By severing the connection between …

International Law’S Forgotten Refugees—Palestinian Refugees In Egypt

Seattle University Law Review

This Article examines the legal and humanitarian crisis facing Palestinian refugees who have fled to Egypt amidst the ongoing violence in Gaza. While escaping active conflict, these refugees face systemic barriers to employment and education, rendering their living conditions precarious and unsustainable. The unique legal status of Palestinian refugees stems from the fact that they have been excluded from the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, leaving them without any meaningful international protection. This exclusion is rooted in the political complexities of the Palestinian struggle for self-determination and reflects a fragmented legal framework that prioritizes limited humanitarian aid over …

How The Dod Discourages Military Families From Seeking Mental Health Counseling, Christina Welch

Seattle University Law Review

The Department of Defense’s (DoD) administration of the Exceptional Family Member Program (EFMP) presents significant barriers to mental health care access for military spouses and children. This paper explores how the EFMP, though designed to support military families with special needs, inadvertently creates barriers to mental health treatment. Military family members often do not seek mental health treatment to avoid the program's mandatory enrollment requirements. Military family members often view enrollment in the program undesirable because enrollment can restrict the pool of potential future duty assignment locations that are available to service members.

The lack of comprehensive data collection by …

Brief Of Evidence – Bill C-16 Protecting Victims Act, Emma Cunliffe

All Faculty Publications

This brief focuses specifically on the proposal in Bill C-16 to create a new criminal offence of coercive control and the absence of any correlate defence for offences committed by a person who is subject to coercion. Reviewing evidence from research in other jurisdictions that have adopted such an offence (Scotland, England and Wales, and the Australian jurisidictions of NSW and Queensland), as well as Canadian research, there is abundant evidence to suggest that more criminal law, including new offences, will not necessarily increase women’s safety; and in fact, can be predicted to expose women to greater risk of harm …

2025, Richard Delgado

Seattle University Law Review

"In a cutting and provocative social critique in one of the more extended Rodrigo Chronicles, Richard Delgado in 2025 employs skillful narrative—one of CRT’s many contributions to legal scholarship —to tell a gripping story of just how far the nation has descended into darkness with President Trump’s re-election. In Delgado’s vision, law professors—along with other political opponents of the President: immigrants, people of color, LGBTQ+ people, women, the underserved—have targets on their backs."

-excerpt from Kevin Johnson's review of 2025

Veiled Justice: Secularism And The Hijab Across Democracies, Mohamed ‘Arafa

Seattle University Law Review

For much of 2022, Iran was gripped by widespread protests led by women who openly challenged the regime’s authority, particularly its compulsory veiling laws, following the death of Mahsa Amini in police custody. Women around the globe came around and showed solidarity with the women in Iran. However, in non-Islamic countries and societies, one can still make out many prejudices and stereotyping connected to the question of whether and to what extent veiling is mandatory for women according to Shārīe’ā law. Is wearing the hijab a choice, or rather, an essential religious practice that religious Muslim women need to obey? …

Rewriting The Playbook: The X’S And O’S Of The House Settlement And The Future Of Student-Athletes’ Voice In Their Compensation, Matthew K.V. Glazer

Seattle University Law Review

Since the formation of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the 1900s, collegiate athletes (student-athletes) have been prohibited from using their own name, image and likeness (NIL) for profit. But on July 1, 2021, the NCAA changed course and began allowing student-athletes to profit from their own NIL. In the past few years, U.S. college athletics have undergone significant changes, most notably introducing monetary compensation for student-athletes’ NIL. While these changes were long overdue and ultimately beneficial, they have significantly disrupted the landscape of college sports, giving rise to numerous challenges that some experts have compared to the “Wild …

Mr. Trump Goes To Washington Part Ii: A Review Of Richard Delgado's 2025, Kevin Johnson

Seattle University Law Review

Richard Delgado’s The Rodrigo Chronicles have captivated a generation of law students and legal scholars.  Mapping the terrain of race, racism, and Critical Race Theory (CRT), the skillful, and long-running narrative series stands as a testament to Delgado’s dedication to justice for all.

The Rodrigo Chronicles are simply one of Delgado’s many intellectual contributions and part of an unparalleled scholarly legacy.  As one of the founders of CRT, he produced a landmark body of scholarship –authoring the field's primary text,  making the argument for the regulation of hate speech,  forcefully challenging the Black/white binary of civil rights that long dominated …

Off-Label Neuroimaging, Jane C. Moriarty

Law Faculty Publications

The growth of neuroimaging evidence in the courtroom is consistent with the increased reliance on technical and machine-based specialties at trial. Litigants routinely seek to introduce neuroimaging evidence in both civil and criminal trials to supplement traditional medical, psychiatric, and psychological opinion testimony. A substantial portion of neuroimaging evidence is still in the developmental stage—what I term “off-label neuroimaging.” Unsurprisingly, evaluating the reliability of developing neuroimaging poses challenging questions for gatekeeping courts. Among the complex evidentiary issues neuroimaging presents for courts and litigants, this Article considers one foundational question: How should courts determine whether neuroimaging evidence is sufficiently reliable for …

The Gender Of International Criminal Law, Caroline L. Davidson

Michigan Journal of International Law

Notwithstanding the recognition of select gender-based crimes as international crimes and the International Criminal Court’s prosecutors’ professed commitment to seeking justice for gender-based crimes, core doctrines of international criminal law (ICL) obstruct accountability for gendered violence. This article identifies the overlooked gendered implications of a few substantive pillars of ICL: a de facto insistence on a connection to war (“war fetish”), a preoccupation with powerful men, and a focus on the “mastermind” of the crime to the exclusion of other culpable perpetrators.

These substantive pillars, some long-standing and some more recently erected, obscure the vast landscape of gender-based crimes and …

Sexual Communications, Digital Intimacy, And The Extremely Limited Admissibility Of Evidence Of A Complainant’S Intention To Consent, Elaine Craig

Dalhousie Law Journal

Research indicates that women are less likely than men to have any intention of actually engaging in the sexual activities they communicate about digitally, and men are more likely than women to assume that sexual text messages indicate an intention to engage in sex “in real life.” Sexting often reflects a highly stylized, performance-based, uninhibited and sometimes disinhibited form of discourse that distinguishes it from in-person communications. It is frequently open to interpretation and only rarely can these communications reasonably be said to reveal a reliable and non-discriminatory inference about a complainant’s actual sexual intentions for the future, let alone …

‘Insistent’ Objectors: The (Ab)Use Of Procedural Defenses Before The International Court Of Justice, Damian A. Gonzalez-Salzberg, Eoin Campbell

Michigan Journal of International Law

Procedural defenses refer to tactical devices that object to either a court’s jurisdiction or to the admissibility of an application, aimed at stopping a court from deciding on the merits of a case or, at least, at limiting the scope of its decision. From its creation in June 1945 and up to the end of 2024, the International Court of Justice (“ICJ”) has adjudicated 101 cases, with almost 80% of them featuring procedural defenses raised by states. These defenses have not only been plentiful, but have been extremely effective, leading to the ICJ’s refusal to decide on the merits of …

Understanding Victim Experiences Within The Criminal Justice System, Carmen Hardin, Caron Lott

Journal of Criminal Justice and Law

This study explores crime victims’ perceptions of participation in criminal justice proceedings. In all, eight (8) interviews and 314 surveys of crime victims were conducted in Arkansas.  Among crime victims, 92% reported the crime to the police, 76% felt the case’s outcome served justice, 78% would be okay attending court again, 45% felt very safe in court, and 38% strongly agreed that their needs and wishes were considered in court.   Three main themes emerged from the interviews: 1) impact of crime victimization on individual needs, 2) perceived access to mental and physical well-being support, and 3) perceptions of crime victims …

A Blind Eye To Justice: Blind Pleas In The American Courtroom, Meghan Koza, Makayla Nolen, Stuti Kokkalera

Journal of Criminal Justice and Law

Over 90% of criminal court cases are decided through plea negotiations, rather than through a jury or bench trial. Within the broader context of plea negotiations is the use of a “blind” or “open” plea, where defendants consent to the court’s decision without a chance to participate in the bargaining process. In entering blind pleas, defendants must waive constitutional trial rights with the hope that they will be given a more lenient sentence but are largely left in the dark during the process. This study aims to provide a national overview of the utilization of blind pleas in the United …

The Three (3) Eras Of Compstat, Through Cultural Change. Lessons From The Past, Present And Future, Kevin Brown

Student Theses

Abstract

Using data and information from respondent surveys of current and former NYPD police executives, this study examines the cultural change, impact, and effectiveness of the NYPD’s CompStat system from the perspective of superior officers who have participated in it since its inception. CompStat was introduced in 1994 by NYPD, Police Commissioner, William Bratton.  Achieving cultural change in any police organization can be a monumental task, requiring CompStat’s transformational methods of data-driven accountability and four core principles that are aligned with organizational transformation evidence: timely intelligence, rapid deployment, effective tactics, and relentless follow-up.  This research explores how these principles have …