Law and Race Commons^™

The Deterrence Dilemma: Is It Time For Canada To Abandon General Deterrence As A Sentencing Objective?, Caitlin Salvino

Dalhousie Law Journal

When Canada first codified its sentencing framework in the Criminal Code, Parliament included deterrence as a sentencing objective. The sentencing objective of deterrence encompasses two aspects: specific deterrence for the individual offender and general deterrence for other potential offenders. I engage with the concept of general deterrence and its incorporation into Canadian sentencing law throughout this article. I argue that Parliament should abandon general deterrence as a sentencing objective under the Criminal Code. After reviewing the jurisprudence on general deterrence and conducting a systematic review of its current application in Ontario sentencing decisions, I argue that general deterrence should be …

Ben Crump And Racialized Professionalism, Katherine A. Macfarlane

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

Benjamin “Ben” Crump is the country’s most influential civil rights lawyer. His advocacy led to the arrest and prosecution of George Zimmerman. He has represented the families of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor and many others, negotiating record-breaking settlements despite a body of civil rights precedent that is overwhelmingly pro-defendant. Crump is also a modern lawyer who uses press conferences and social media to advance his clients’ cause. To his clients, he is a lawyer, confidante, and friend. Yet, based on the way national media covers him, his significance isn’t always clear. When his work isn’t being erased, it’s …

Barred From The Profession, Mischaracterized As Unfit By Law, Julia Mizutani

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

There is growing recognition that the bar examination can have racial and social effects when determining who can be an admitted and barred attorney in the United States. This Essay explores the history and current racialized issues with the other portion of bar admission—the character and fitness process. The simultaneously rigid and fluid definition and subjective enforcement of “good moral character” is only one example of how the law continues to reproduce and maintain racial and class hierarchy by creating barriers to entry. This Essay does not come to any direct conclusions or specific solutions. This Essay is a …

The Gatekeepers: How State Bar Associations' Disciplinary Process Is Racialized And Classist, Brooke Girley, Jonathan Barry-Blocker

St. John's Law Review

(Excerpt)

Modern U.S. legal ethics and attorney regulations exist for three ostensible goals: to protect clients from unprofessional lawyers, to compel ethical performance from all licensed attorneys, and to safeguard the legal profession’s freedom to self-regulate. However, a recent study conducted by the California Bar Association revealed attorney regulation is more racialized and classist than these objectives suggest. The study explored attorney disciplinary action and found significant disparities in probation and disbarment along race and class. Put simply, the Bar functioned more to police the “other” than to protect the rights of consumers and the profession. These disparities are not …

Auto Dissertation I, Vol. 1: Breaths Along The Potomac: An Epistolary Art Gallery, Dominic Shodekeh Talifero

Northwestern Law Journal des Refusés

No abstract provided.

Integrating Positive Psychology And Spirituality To Foster Meaning And Well-Being In Older Adults, Crystal Morris

Adultspan Journal

This perspective article explores the integration of positive psychology interventions (PPIs) and spirituality in therapy to foster meaning and well-being in older adults. It highlights exercises such as the positive introduction, positive legacy, character strengths, mindfulness, mindful-based yoga, and a manifestation prayer journaling. The interventions presented are tools to support older adults that may experience depression, difficult life transitions, and the search for renewed meaning. Therapists who integrate PPIs and spirituality into therapy can promote a holistic, non-pathological approach to treatment.

Antiracist Development Institute Workshop At Rwu School Of Law May 5, 2025, Roger Williams University School Of Law

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.

Pretrial Decision-Making In Brazil Under Inter-American Human Rights Law, Thiago Nascimento Dos Reis

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

In recent decades, pretrial detention has been a key contributor to Brazil’s mass incarceration. This is true, despite domestic and international norms limiting pretrial detention to exceptional circumstances and mounting evidence linking it to worse outcomes for arrestees in their criminal proceedings and post-release life prospects. As a longitudinal multivariate pretrial research in Brazil, this Article investigates the key mechanisms and factors that explain pretrial detention in relation to inter-American human rights standards. This Article conducts a quantitative case study of the first one hundred days of detention for all 2,158 non-confidential flagrant arrests in the first eight months of …

Single-Owner Sociedades Within The Corporate Landscape Of Latin America, Nicolás José Muñiz Arias

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

The concept of a sociedad in Latin America has undergone profound changes throughout this century. Following the example set by the French Code de commerce of 1807, the sociedad was initially viewed as a contractual arrangement between two or more partners who make contributions to a business for purposes of sharing in the resulting profit or loss, wherein a plurality of partners was an intrinsic component. Nonetheless, the notion of a sociedad has evolved to entail the establishment of a separate legal entity, making the plurality of partners requirement increasingly obsolete for its formation and/or operation.

This Article describes the …

Rectifying Historical Wrongs: The Case For The Indigenous’ Inherent Right To Self–Govern Child Welfare In Canada, Ariana Kravetz

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

No abstract provided.

Examining The Brazilian Supreme Federal Court’S Expanded Powers In The Bolsonaro Era: A Win For Democracy Or A Turn Toward Autocracy?, Théo G. De Sá-Kaye

University of Miami Inter-American Law Review

As Jair Bolsonaro rose to popularity and was elected the 38th president of Brazil in 2018, the global community grew concerned over his very public disdain for the country’s democratic institutions and admiration for Brazil’s 22-year-long military dictatorship. The Bolsonaro administration was marked by repeated attacks on the judiciary, a heavily criticized response to the COVID-19 pandemic, and, eventually, the storming of Congress and the Brazilian Supreme Court by Bolsonaro’s supporters– mirroring the January 6th insurrection in the U.S. However, the most significant aspect of the Bolsonaro presidency may not lie solely in his actions, but in the response from …

No Lawyer, No Jail: A Critical Case Study Of Pragmatism And The Flaws Of “Purposeful” Decision Making In Argersinger V. Hamlin, Alisa Smith, Sarah K. Stice

Seattle University Law Review

By releasing conference notes and internal communications, Supreme Court Justices provide insight into the otherwise private decisionmaking process, shedding light on how case outcomes and legal reasoning are framed and negotiated. The watershed case of Argersinger v. Hamlin (1972) extended the constitutional right to counsel to some, but not all, misdemeanor defendants. The case was argued twice, and the Court relied on empirical and authoritative sources to answer complex and practical questions about requiring counsel. This case study employs critical discourse analysis to uncover what influenced the Justices’ decisions and how they framed, shaped, and constructed social realities to foreground …

The Race To Erase: Destruction Of Government Documents Undermines Freedom-Of-Information Laws, Frank D. Lomonte

Seattle University Law Review

In August 2019, reporters with Chattanooga’s daily newspaper, the Times Free Press, filed what seemed to be a routine request for access to emails and other public records held by their local county government. The seemingly unremarkable request set the newspaper’s staff on a months-long journey of unpleasant surprises. The first was a demand to pay the county $717 in advance before being allowed to inspect the documents. The second was that—during prolonged haggling over the fee assessment— the county attorney’s office simply destroyed almost all of the disputed records. Third, and most glaringly, the journalists discovered that Tennessee law …

When You’Re Arrested For A Felony In Seattle, You’Ll Meet Me., Austin Field

Seattle University Law Review

In this Essay, Austin Field, a practicing public defender, uses a first-person perspective to describe what it is like to meet a criminal defendant for the first time. He explains the process from start to finish, detailing everything from the way he introduces himself to how bail works.

"I’ll ask you for your name. Most of the time, you tell me. I check your name against my list. On any given day I’m supposed to interview between five and fifteen people. I have a lot of questions for you. We only have about ten minutes."

The Public Square In A Private-Property Obsessed Country: What New York City’S Pops Regulations Get Right And Why Other Cities Should (Mostly) Copy Them, Carson Mcgregor

Seattle University Law Review

When New York City (NYC) was first becoming the metropolitan monolith it is today, it had a problem: the city streets were chock full of skyscrapers, and sunlight, air, and usable open space were at a premium. In response, the City promulgated its first Privately Owned Public Spaces (POPS) regulations, which allowed developers to build skyward in exchange for providing public space on the street level. Unfortunately, in July of 2023, the New York Times (NYT) discovered that New Yorkers received only a fraction of what they were promised. Building owners received billions of dollars’ worth of added floor space, …

Modern Day Colonialism Through HawaiʻI’S Quiet Title And Partition Laws, Cheyann Fujii

Seattle University Law Review

This Note will attempt to highlight important aspects of Hawaiian history to provide readers with a clear picture on how Native Hawaiians are still impacted by colonialism, specifically when plaintiffs bring a quiet title or partition action against Native Hawaiian owners of kuleana lands. Before colonization, the concept of private land ownership did not exist in Hawai‘i, and Native Hawaiians adopted a feudal system by dividing land into geographical areas. Missionaries and businessmen brought Western ideas to Hawai‘i and influenced legislation such as the Great Māhele and the Kuleana Land Act of 1850, which solidified the concept of private property. …

Data Advantage And Merger Review: Can Entrenchment Theory Reform Antitrust Enforcement?, Shin-Ru Cheng

Seattle University Law Review

A merger involving giant digital companies is likely to dampen competition, as it allows those companies to combine and control data access, enabling them to entrench their dominant positions in relevant markets and extend those positions into related markets. While competition law in many jurisdictions aims to prohibit mergers that may substantially lessen competition or create a monopoly, arguably the review of digital mergers is failing because antitrust agencies lack an effective approach to identify data-generated anticompetitive harms. This Article demonstrates that entrenchment theory, recently reintroduced in the 2023 U.S. Merger Guidelines, would help reform the process of antitrust enforcement. …

Table Of Contents, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Table of Contents

Caution: Potholes In E-Scooter Data Collection, Dakota Rakestraw

Seattle University Law Review

Lime scooters keep ending up in major waterways in Washington state metro areas, a testament to the ubiquity of e-scooters in the metropolitan landscape. How they get there is unclear. Why they get there is even murkier. Perhaps the answer lies in the implications of modern geolocation data collection through e-scooters and gaps in current data collection regulation curbing individual liberties.

Since September 2020, electric scooters have run Seattle’s streets and have dramatically overtaken ridesharing bike trips. For example, from September 2020 to September 2021, there were about 1.4 million scooter and bike trips with September 2021 seeing 300,000 scooter …

Machinists Preemption In The New Administrative Law, Andrew J. Ziaja

Seattle University Law Review

This Article assesses Machinists preemption—a labor-specific form of implied field preemption—while freshly considering implications both for and of new developments in administrative law. The radical transformation of administrative law in the Supreme Court, particularly its newfound emphasis on clear-statement rules, provides opportunities to reconsider the Machinists rationale. Aligning with scholars who have called to question the doctrine’s “ossifying” influence on labor and employment policy, it argues that the modern-day version of Machinists preemption clashes with the Supreme Court’s newly constrained view of delegated power and its differing conceptions of the major questions doctrine.

On the other hand, Machinists preemption might …

Volume 48 Masthead, Seattle University Law Review

Seattle University Law Review

Volume 48 Masthead

Defining Deference: Impacts Of Abandoning Chevron On Emerging Technology Governance And Administrative Law, R. Aubrey Davis Iii

Seattle University Law Review

Emerging technologies, particularly Artificial Intelligence (AI), often lead to unforeseen legal outcomes. Notable abuses in areas such as facial recognition, employment bias, and housing discrimination are well known. However, legislative responses to these issues either have been largely reactive or there has been no legislative response at all. In lieu of legislation, agencies have sought to fill the gap. For example, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) recently proposed a rule mandating voter notification for all AI-generated political phone calls citing the Telephone Consumer Protection Act (TCPA) of 1991 as authority. However, the TCPA was originally passed to curtail telemarketing, not …

Intellectual Property Or Modern Folklore? The Problem With Open Gaming Licenses In Tabletop Gaming, Rosie Midget

Seattle University Law Review

This Note addresses how courts and legislatures should address “Open Gaming Licenses” commonly attached to tabletop roleplaying games (TTRPGs), which game publishers use to promote a false image of accessibility—misleading consumers and building goodwill from the misunderstanding. Part I discusses what TTRPGs are, including the defining features of the hobby and culture surrounding it, as well as the unique interplay between publishers and players. Part II explores the question of which elements in a TTRPG system may be subject to copyright protection. Part III examines these elements in practice using Wizards of the Coast’s Dungeons and Dragons TTRPG as a …

The Racial Justice Act: A Real Solution Or A Just Step In The Right Direction?, Addison Lyons

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

The American criminal legal system is built upon racism and inequality. Some effort has been made to critique and correct the impact of those legacies. Although many steps have been taken, racism is far from erased from the legal apparatus. It demands contemporary solutions to contemporary legal dynamics. One of the attempts is the California Racial Justice Act of 2020 (RJA). The RJA has sought to remedy these challenges with a more robust understanding of how racism operates within the criminal legal system. Although the RJA appears to reflect a more nuanced understanding of how race operates, I argue that …

Examining The Relationship Between Legal Frameworks, And Cultural Norms In Domestic Violence Cases In The United States, Ifedolapo Awonuga

2025 Spring Honors Capstone Projects - Archive

Domestic violence is a pervasive and systemic issue that affects millions of people worldwide and has serious repercussions for families, individuals, and society at large. The research investigates how legal frameworks, societal conventions, and cultural values interact to impact the prevalence and resolution of domestic violence in contemporary society. The study looks at the extent institutional biases, social stigma, and deeply ingrained legal policies hinder efficient victim support, prevention, and intervention. The study combines quantitative analysis of case data, public opinion, and survey results with qualitative analysis of legal frameworks and peer-reviewed literature using a mixed-methods design. The two-pronged approach …

The Conversation Continues: The Judiciary’S Evolving Role In Perpetuating Racial Disparities In Addiction Treatment, Sydney Crute

Fordham Law Review

Language is a powerful means of social control, an idea that resonates deeply with court rhetoric as it relates to race. This Note examines the language courts use when discussing cases related to drug use and addiction. During the crack epidemic, when Black individuals represented the race of the primary drug user and drug dealer, courts relied on racially coded language related to crime and fear. Alternatively, during the opioid epidemic, when White individuals represented the race of the primary drug user, courts relied on more neutral language related to the health and well-being of society. Finally, the language courts …

The World Cup As A Racial Rebuilt Project, Khaled A. Beydoun

Utah Law Review

Scholars, particularly Critical Race Theorists, have written trenchantly about the law’s role in racial formation. Yet, while instrumental in this process, the law does not stand alone as a conduit of making race. Particularly for misrepresented groups, like Arabs, who struggle to find existential self-determination between imperial identity impositions, ethnic cleansing, and clashing racial ascriptions, the law fails to create racial categories that reflect their lived realities.

Beyond the asymmetrical landscape of legal ordering, sport stands as a powerful site of racial formation. Sport is where racialization can unfold indigenously, rebelliously, and “from the bottom.” Particularly soccer, a game of …

Editorial Forward

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

No abstract provided.

Hashtags, Handcuffs, And Hush Money: Inequitable Application Of The Fourth Amendment In Electronic Surveillance, Karina Devi Etminani

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

A wealthy executive buries misconduct behind corporate nondisclosure agreements (NDAs) and encrypted devices. Nearby, police wield geofence warrants to sweep the digital footprints of peaceful protesters demanding racial justice. Both scenarios hinge on the same Fourth Amendment but reveal a coin with two faces. For powerful abusers, privacy protections can conceal assault, intimidation, and corruption. For Black activists, rapidly emerging surveillance tools—including biometric scanners, phone “pings,” and social media mining—intensify a long legacy of racially targeted policing. As Jeannie Suk Gersen notes, two recent social movements– #MeToo and Black Lives Matter–reveal that “too much deference to privacy serves male entitlement, …

Masthead

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

No abstract provided.