Law and Race Commons^™

“They Trespass Her Body Like They Trespass This Land” Civil And Criminal Jurisdictional Issues Involving Assaults On Tribal Lands By Non-Indians, Katie P. Gross

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

No abstract provided.

The Birth Of A Nation: A Study Of Slavery In Seventeenth-Century Virginia, Randolph M. Mclaughlin

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

No abstract provided.

Class Houses: Fragility And Disunity In The Ranks Of Academe Or Democratizing The Future Of Legal Education According To The Vision Of Ivan Illich, Monica Teixeira De Sousa

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

No abstract provided.

Building A Fair And Just New York: Decriminalize Transactional Sex, Frankie Herrmann

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

No abstract provided.

Moving Forward After Daca: Student Stories And Town Hall, Hastings Race And Poverty Law Journal

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

No abstract provided.

Masthead

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

No abstract provided.

The Fourth Sector: Creating A For-Profit Social Enterprise Sector To Directly Combat The Lack Of Social Mobility In Marginalized Communities, Carlos Jurado

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

The United States is currently facing record high rates of income inequality and, as a result, there is a general lack of social mobility. This is troublesome for Americans because of the potential disastrous implications for the United States economy. The current state of the American market has enabled an environment where a few elite continue to hoard large amounts of the profits generated by the economy while the lower class has experienced a substantial growth in population with incomparable economic growth. In addition, the middle class has significantly diminished and can soon be rendered ineffective in its role as …

Niños, Niñas Y Adolescentes In Guatemala: Reflections On The Implementation Of The Ley Pina, Stacy Kowalski

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

This Note examines Guatemala’s Ley de Protección Integral de la Niñez y Adolescencia (Law for the Comprehensive Protection of Children and Adolescents, or Ley PINA) and analyzes why this law has not effectively protected the rights of children and adolescents, within the context of historical and structural violence, which contribute to a lack of prioritization of youth in Guatemala. In 2014, the United States experienced a large influx of unaccompanied minors fleeing primarily from Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. A delegate of attorneys and law students traveled to Guatemala to interview child advocates, including government officials, and representatives of non-governmental …

Killing Two Achievements With One Stone: The Intersectional Impact Of Shelby County On The Rights To Vote And Access High Performing Schools, Steven L. Nelson

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

The Civil Rights Movement sought to ensure access to the right to vote and to quality education. Although these two pursuits are historically inseparable, scholars have addressed education and voting rights as separate struggles within one movement. This Article addresses the intersection of educational equity and voting rights by assessing the role of the Supreme Court’s decision in Shelby County v. Holder on Black voters’ ability to participate in the politics of education and educational policy via school board selection processes. This Article argues that the Court’s decision in Shelby County restricted access to political participation for Black voters in …

Fortitude In The Face Of Adversity: Delta Sigma Theta’S History Of Racial Uplift, Gregory S. Parks, Marcia Hernandez

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

The common narrative about the African-American quest for social justice and civil rights during the 20th century consists, largely, of men and women working through

organizations to bring about change. The typical list of organizations includes, inter alia, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, the National Urban League, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. African- American collegiate-based sororities are almost never included in this list. Nevertheless, at the turn of the 20th century, a small group of organizations founded on personal excellence sparked the development and sustaining of fictive-kinship ties and racial …

Police Terror And Officer Indemnification, Allyssa Villanueva

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

Police accountability has quickly pressed to the forefront of national conversations and subsequently, the national political agenda. Increasing prevalence of excessive and lethal use of force by police officers induced this attention. President Obama convened a Task Force on 21st Century Policing, after the Department of Justice conducted several pattern and practice investigation of misconduct following the high‐profile deaths of unarmed Michael Brown and Eric Garner. Their deaths both resulted in no criminal charges against responsible officers. Civil suit was the only option left for officer accountability. This Note addresses the use of 42 U.S.C. §1983 as the common civil …

The Obergefell Marriage Equality Decision, With Its Emphasis On Human Dignity, And A Fundamental Right To Food Security, Maxine D. Goodman

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

Today, the welfare rights movement has faltered. However, the Supreme Court’s recent marriage equality decision, with its emphasis on human dignity, lends hope to the notion that the Court should also acknowledge a right to food security. This Article identifies the role human dignity has served in the Court’s constitutional analysis to acknowledge and protect, for example, rights to privacy, to travel, to be heard, to self‐representation, to marry, to speak freely, and to preserve bodily integrity. According to the Court, these rights are all a part of liberty. Arguably, and as FDR said, “[i]f, as our Constitution tells us, …

Integrate And Reactivate The 1968 Fair Housing Mandate, Courtney L. Anderson

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

The Fair Housing Act of 1968 (“FHA”) was created to eliminate discrimination in the sale, rental and financing of housing, and to mandate affirmative actions be taken to develop fair housing throughout the United States. Numerous scholars and practitioners have lamented both the failure of the FHA to enforce its sections calling for government entities to affirmatively further fair housing, and the narrow interpretation of the FHA. This narrow interpretation has effectively rendered the FHA useless when a plaintiff claims that environmental ills have reduced the value and livability of homes, because these “non‐housing” claims are too far removed from …

La Gran Lucha: Latina And Latino Lawyers, Breaking The Law On Principle, And Confronting The Risks Of Representation, Marc‐Tizoc González

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

In a time when people in the United States have been taking to the streets en masse to protest unjust socio‐legal conditions like police brutality and the draconian enforcement of immigration laws, the time is ripe to reconceptualize what it means to break the law on principle. Twenty five years ago, Harvard Law Dean Martha L. Minow conceptualized “the risks of representation” for lawyers whose clients “entertain breaking the law as one of their strategies for achieving social change.” Responding substantively to Minow’s ideas, Houston Law Professor Michael A. Olivas presented three case studies to illuminate the risks of nonrepresentation, …

Are Asian Americans Now White?, Frank H. Wu

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

After The Hurricane: The Legacy Of The Rubin Carter Case, Judith L. Ritter

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

Rubin "Hurricane" Carter died in the spring of 2014 at the age of seventy-six. He was a top middleweight boxing contender in the early 1960s, twice convicted of a triple homicide, but then freed by a federal court in 1985 after he served nineteen years in prison. This Article recalls his life, the homicide trials, and the constitutional issues that led to his release. The Article makes the point that had Rubin Carter's federal habeas corpus petition been adjudicated under current law, he would have remained behind bars. Congress enacted the Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act in 1996. The …

Can Local Governments Provide Protection To Vulnerable Communities In California A State Which Has Legalized Predatory Payday Lending And Failed To Pass Reform, Krista R. Granen

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

The payday lending industry provides small dollar loans to persons across the United States. Although their product is marketed as temporary, the majority of borrowers cannot repay the underlying amount and exorbitant interest rates within the deceptively advertised time period. As a result, most borrowers remain indebted to payday lenders for approximately half of the year and must forgo basic necessities in order to extricate themselves from payday debt. This Note seeks to clarify the mechanics of payday lending, provide the surrounding historical and legal context, and explain the industry's especially negative impact on low-income and minority communities in California. …

Effectively Implementing Civilian Oversight Boards To Ensure Police Accountability And Strengthen Police-Community Relations, Kevin King

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

The recent killings of Michael Brown and Eric Garner have reignited the debate over curbing police misconduct. Due to United States Supreme Court jurisprudence and the quality of internal affairs investigations there continues to be a void in police oversight. Local governments are often reactive, instead of proactive, when implementing strategies for overseeing police misconduct. On several occasions civilian oversight boards have only formed in reaction to tragic death. When implemented effectively, civilian oversight boards can both help create just police practices and better the civilian complaint process. Unfortunately, some of these boards fail to develop into more than symbols …

Ferguson To Geneva: Using The Human Rights Framework To Push Forward A Vision For Racial Justice In The United States After Ferguson, Justin Hansford, Meena Jagannath

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

As demonstrations under the banner of #BlackLivesMatter continue to erupt around the United States against state-sponsored violence, and as state, local, and federal officials continue to eschew fundamental social change, families and protesters have begun to explore alternative international forums in the search for justice. The Ferguson to Geneva delegation represents a significant event in this internationalist turn. The delegation, consisting of the parents of Mike Brown, Jr. and young Black leaders from Ferguson, chose to air their grievances before the United Nations Committee Against Torture in the fall of 2014. This article reproduces the delegation's "shadow report," which laid …

Talking Israel And Palestine On Campus: How The U.S. Department Of Education Can Uphold The Civil Rights Act And The First Amendment, Yaman Salahi, Nasrina Bargzie

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

A rise in scholarly discussion and campus activism about Israel and Palestine has prompted a wave of civil rights complaints that raise important legal questions under the First Amendment and Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. This Article reviews the U.S. Department of Education's handling of such complaints focused on traditional forms of constitutionally-protected expression, like nonviolent protest, academic panels, film screenings, pamphlets, and flyers. The Article rejects the central premise of these complaints: that students suffer from a hostile educational environment in violation of their civil rights when a particular country or government with which they …

How Police Brutality Harms Mothers: Linking Police Violence To The Reproductive Justice Movement, Arneta Rogers

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

The recent and highly publicized killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed 18-year-old African American and the subsequent grand jury decision not to indict Darren Wilson, the Ferguson, Missouri police officer who killed him, evoked mass social protest, and highly emotional and politically charged social commentary on the racialized effects of police brutality. While the crisis of systemic police violence has historically centered on the harm inflicted on victims of police brutality and, more generally, on the communities where they are from, an agitated group of feminist scholars and reproductive justice advocates have offered a more nuanced appraisal of the harm …

Exonerated, But Not Free: The Prolonged Struggle For A Second Chance At A Stolen Life, Newton N. Knowles

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

It is impossible to imagine being accused of a crime you did not commit. Worse, it is even harder to imagine a jury sentencing you to death or to life in prison when you know you are innocent. Since the rise of DNA evidence, the criminal justice system has been stunned by the newly exposed cases of wrongful conviction. Sadly, in most cases innocent exonerees are released with nothing more than an apology, if even that. Postexoneration compensation varies drastically among the several states and reentry resources are even more scarce or unavailable. Each compensation scheme on its own, however, …

Equal Protection: Immigrants' Access To Healthcare And Welfare Benefits, Mel Cousins

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

The introduction of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996 has led to considerable litigation on the rights of immigrants to healthcare and welfare benefits. There is significant divergence between the approaches adopted by different courts (both federal and state). This divergence is based, in part, on the different statutory schemes involved, as well as different approaches to Equal Protection. However, none of the cases have reached the United States Supreme Court, so the "correct" approach remains unclear. Following the fiscal crisis of 2008, several states moved for increased exclusion of certain immigrants, residing in the country …

Supporting Social Movements: A Brief Guide For Lawyers And Law Students, Jim Freeman

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

In recent years, there has been a surge in grassroots organizing and activism, creating new possibilities for advancing social, racial, gender, and economic justice. As a result, lawyers now have a rare opportunity to help create powerful and sustainable social movements by supporting, strengthening, and amplifying these on-the-ground efforts. However, there is a long history of would-be "movement lawyers" who have inadvertently undermined many promising grassroots-led initiatives. This article summarizes, from a practitioner's perspective, the essential elements of effective movement lawyering and how they can help to avoid the mistakes of the past and promote transformative social change.

The Inmate Export Business And Other Financial Adventures: Correctional Policies For Times Of Austerity, Hadar Aviram

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

The fallout of the financial crisis continues to have major effects across the American correctional landscape. Federal and state budgetary limits have slowed and even reversed what were thought to be ever-rising incarceration rates. While this has successfully led to less punitive policies regarding the death penalty and the war on drugs, incarceration practices have affected punitivism in more complex ways. This article explores the correctional changes prompted by the financial crisis that are being made not at the ballot box, but behind closed doors. The outcomes of negotiations between prison administrators and private service providers, or amongst state governments, …

Sentenced To Die In Prison: Life Without Parole As An Eighth Amendment Violation For All Juveniles And Especially Those Who Have Not Killed, Morgan S. Mcginnis

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

Over the last decade, the Supreme Court of the United States has delivered a series of rulings establishing that juvenile offenders are to have their criminal sentences considered differently from that of adults. Over this span of time, the Court established that it is unconstitutional to sentence a juvenile to the death penalty in any scenario, as well as to life without parole for non-homicide crimes. In the 2012 case of Miller v. Alabama, the Court extended this line of reasoning by declaring that even for juveniles who commit homicides, life without parole may not be imposed as part of …

Forced Evictions, Mass Displacement, And The Uncertain Promise Of Land And Property Restitution In Haiti, Greger B. Calhan

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

Haiti's devastating 2010 earthquake produced human suffering on an unimaginable scale. The disaster's aftermath-marked by widespread displacement, secondary occupation of land, and consequent forced evictions-raises critical questions of land ownership and housing rights. It also provided a testing ground for the body of restitutionary legal norms developed in the decades following the Cold War. Using the earthquake in Haiti as a lens, this article critically examines the development of the restitution model, from its inception in the Balkans conflicts of the 1990s to its current expression in the United Nation's Pinheiro Principles. While the Pinheiro Principles are positive in many …

No To Bratton: A Rejection Of Stop And Frisk, And A Call For Progressive Reform In Oakland, Robert S. Greer Jr.

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

On January 23, 2012, the City of Oakland voted to retain the services of William Bratton, former police chief of both New York and Los Angeles, as a consultant to the Oakland Police Department. Oakland Community members reacted with concern and resistance to the City's decision, largely due to Bratton's promotion of aggressive stop and frisk search techniques. This note provides an analysis of Bratton's appointment in light of the Oakland Police Department's egregious history of constitutional violations and misconduct charges. Additionally, this note explores the empirical and theoretical flaws underpinning aggressive stop and frisk policies, and demonstrates why adopting …

Lessons From Mt. Holly: Leading Scholars Demonstrate Need For Disparate Impact Standard To Combat Implicit Bias, Equal Justice Society, Wilson Sonsini Goodrich & Rosati

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

In 2013, the United States Supreme Court was set to hear oral arguments in Mount Holly v. Mt. Holly Gardens Citizens in Action, Inc. However, weeks before the hearing, the parties settled. Despite the settlement, the arguments raised by plaintiffs and amici remain valuable. Mt. Holly represented the second time in two years that the Supreme Court granted certiorari to decide whether the Fair Housing Act of 1968 ("FHA") allows plaintiffs to bring claims challenging official housing decisions and policies that are not necessarily the result of intentional discrimination, but have a disproportionately harmful impact on minorities or other groups …

What Is Still Radical In The Antislavery Legal Practice Of Salmon P. Chase, Matthew A. Axtell

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

This Article is an in-depth study of the early commercial law career of Salmon P. Chase, U.S. Secretary of Treasury between 1861 and 1864 and President Abraham Lincoln's choice to replace Roger B. Taney (author of the Dred Scott opinion) as the Chief Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. Occasionally portrayed in his latter political career as "the most radical" member of Lincoln's war cabinet, Chase's early law practice is best known for its defense of people of color seeking to escape slavery, at the time earning him the nickname as the "Attorney General for Fugitive Slaves." In recent years, …