Law and Society Commons^™

Access To Justice As Access To Data, Tanina Rostain

Northwestern University Law Review

This Keynote Address, delivered in celebration of the launch of SCALES, discusses the importance of making local and state court data available for research on the functioning of the American civil justice system. It describes the regulatory and administrative challenges of obtaining high-quality data from courts. It calls for a concerted effort among researchers and policymakers to develop open-source technologies for the development of case management systems and data infrastructure. And it urges researchers to foster a collaborative research ecosystem based on broadly sharing court data.

Felony Disenfranchisement And Voter Turnout: Randomized Trials In Iowa And Washington, Alexander Billy, J.J. Naddeo, Neel U. Sukhatme

Northwestern University Law Review

Prior to the 2022 midterm elections, we conducted large-scale randomized controlled trials in Iowa and Washington aimed at increasing voter turnout among newly enfranchised individuals with past felony convictions. Alongside national and grassroots partners, we designed and implemented experiments to ascertain the effectiveness of alternative outreach mechanisms, including targeted mailers and digital ads. We did not detect statistically significant or economically meaningful effects on voter registration or turnout; most observed effects were precise nulls. The absence of measured impact is likely attributed to low digital engagement with our online ads as well as extensive voter outreach already conducted by our …

Settlement As Construct: Defining And Counting Party Resolution In Federal District Court, Charlotte S. Alexander, Nathan Dahlberg, Anne M. Tucker

Northwestern University Law Review

Most civil cases settle. Yet generating a definitive settlement rate presents complex definitional and empirical problems, both in what should count as a settlement and how to count it. This Essay makes three contributions to better understanding and defining settlement. First, we propose a flexible, empirically informed, operationalizable definition of settlement as party resolution. Second, we exploit a new federal litigation data source to count party resolutions using machine learning models trained on 11 million docket sheet entries. Third, we offer new findings on party resolution frequency and distribution in the federal courts. Settlement is more widely and differently deployed …

Prosecutorial Data Transparency And Data Justice, Caitlin Glass, Kat M. Albrecht, Perry Moriearty

Northwestern University Law Review

The U.S. criminal legal system is notoriously racialized. Though Black and Latinx people make up less than 30% of U.S. residents, they constitute more than 50% of the nearly two million people currently in U.S. prisons and jails. For decades, research has indicated that one group of decision-makers has had an outsized influence on these numbers: prosecutors. From whom to charge to what sentences to recommend, no actor plays a greater role in determining who goes to prison in this country. Highly subjective and lacking in formal guidance and accountability, prosecutorial decisions are especially vulnerable to racial bias. They are …

Lawyerless Litigants, Filing Fees, Transaction Costs, And The Federal Courts: Learning From Scales, Judith Resnik, Henry Wu, Jenn Dikler, David T. Wong, Romina Lilollari, Claire Stobb, Elizabeth Beling, Avital Fried, Anna Selbrede, Jack Sollows, Mikael Tessema, Julia Udell

Northwestern University Law Review

Two Latin phrases describing litigants—pro se (for oneself) and in forma pauperis (IFP, as a poor person)—prompt this inquiry into the relationship between self-representation and requests for filing fee waivers. We sketch the governing legal principles for people seeking relief in the federal courts, the sources of income of the federal judiciary, the differing regimes to which Congress has subjected incarcerated and nonincarcerated people filing civil lawsuits, and analyses enabled by SCALES, a newly available database that coded 2016 and 2017 federal court docket sheets. This Essay’s account of what can be learned and of the data gaps demonstrates the …

Can Human Rights Be Reconciled With Citizenship: Reconsidering Marx's Zur Judenfrage Today, David Ingram

Philosophy: Faculty Publications and Other Works

This essay critically re-examines Marx’s youthful analysis of the separation of church and state and his complex views about the function of rights in the modern state. I argue that Marx’s condemnation of Christian nationalism and endorsement of citizenship for Jews is consistent with his view that the modern, secular state cannot emancipate itself entirely from religiosity, as evidenced by the continuing legacy of nationalism and cultural identity politics today. Although Marx correctly follows Hegel in identifying modernity with a structural differentiation between civil society and state, I argue that he misunderstands the nature of this separation and, along with …

The Dangers Of Terrorist Organizations Using Deepfakes And Ways To Confront, Mohammad Bedeir

Journal of Police and Legal Sciences

Societal reliance on digital data and cyber technology has increased, and an amazing boom in the field of artificial intelligence technologies has occurred in recent years, resulting in the rapid integration of artificial intelligence into daily life, through smart devices and smart cities, and although this has many advantages, as it is used in the entertainment and media industries, it also represents an increasing vulnerability to cyberattacks, which may manifest itself in deepfake attacks.

The researcher relied on the descriptive analytical approach, with the aim of describing the phenomenon under research, studying it from its various dimensions and aspects, and …

Capitalism And The Challenge Of Inequality, Andrzej Rapaczynski

Faculty Scholarship

Rapidly rising income and wealth inequality in the United States and other Western countries has been commonly identified as an inherent and nefarious feature of the capitalist system. In fact, however, rising inequality within the economically advanced countries has been accompanied by both a significant relative improvement of the economic and social position of the previously disadvantaged groups, such as women and ethnic minorities, and an unprecedented reduction of the inequalities between the people living in the advanced countries and the rest of the world. This change is largely due to the phenomenon of globalization that brought the advantages of …

Women Police Chiefs: A Self-Perception Of Women Officers In Law Enforcement, Tianshi Hao, Jesse Llamas, Kayleigh Axtell, Anshu Lal, Michael Llamas, Mira Fadel, Amor Roma

Education Division Scholarship

A large body of literature substantiates women’s difficulties integrating into all levels of law enforcement. To understand the experiences of women police officers in the force, and to understand how law enforcement leaders view the role of women in leadership positions, this study focused on the perception of six women police officers–specifically, women police chiefs towards women who already assumed leadership positions, overcame challenges entering law enforcement and advancing into leadership positions, and collected their input on organizational decisions, policy, and recruitment of women officers. This study employs a qualitative phenomenological methodology and interviews six women police chiefs in depth. …

Rawls, Game Theory, And The Multiple Meanings Of Equality, David Crump

St. Mary's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Emotion Regulation Strategies And Perceived Emotional Intelligence: The Effect Of Age., Iwanna Sepiadou

Adultspan Journal

The aim of this study was to investigate the relationship between perceived emotional intelligence and the reported use of cognitive reappraisal and expressive suppression. We also investigated the possible effects of age on the aforementioned variables. The total sample consisted of 379 people (158 men, 220 women, 1 unreported). Across participants, 273 were young (20-39 years old) and 106 were middle-aged (40-65 years old). We found statistically significant positive correlations between the dimensions of perceived emotional intelligence and the reported use of cognitive reappraisal and negative primarily correlations between the dimensions of perceived emotional intelligence and the reported use of …

Liberation Chronicles: Reformulating Black Liberation In The Face Of Persistent Oppression, Nia P. Gadson

Honors College Theses

Liberation movements for Black people have been prominent throughout American history. Chattel slavery and Jim Crow laws caused centuries of anti-black oppression. They continuously evolved into other anti-black structures – mass incarceration, predatory loan companies, and healthcare inequalities, to name a few – that require us to address these issues still today. The most recent Black liberation movement, Black Lives Matter, experienced a brief uptick in support after George Floyd’s murder but, overall, failed to address these issues. This thesis outlines three approaches to Black liberation in the U.S. to determine the most effective. First, drawing on Frederick Douglass’ autobiographies, …

Settler Colonialism And Ecosystem Change: How Ideology Has Shaped Minnesota’S Environments, Sarah E. Hobby

History Honors Projects

The formation of a uniquely American land ethic—defined by European political history and Christian biblical doctrine and forged through systems of dispossession—is central to the creation of environments within the United States today. Using Minnesota as a microcosm to understand how settler colonial interactions played out all across the United States, this paper analyzes connections between violent dispossession of Indigenous people and the degradation of environments. By understanding how Ojibwe and Dakota people think about and have shaped Minnesotan lands throughout their history and comparing Indigenous land-ethics to the Euro-American-settler land ethic, this paper evaluates the role that ideology and …

There Is No More New Frontier: Analyzing Wildfire Management Efforts In The United States, Morgan D. Gafford

Journal of Legislation

Congress needs to address the major wildfire problem by enacting more legislation that works alongside state governments and their own fire management goals. It is time for Congress to take wildfire suppression legislation more seriously and move it beyond the introductory phase. It is time for Congress and the other branches of the federal government to work together. It is time for everyone—but especially Congress—to fully comprehend the detrimental effects the most severe fires have on the environment, society, and the economy.

Silencing And Surveillance: The Struggle Of Same-Sex Desire In The Shadow Of The 20th-Century Police State, Ethan Dunn

Honors Program: Senior Projects (Public)

This paper investigates the intersection of social perceptions of vice and gender norms in shaping the policing of sexual orientation and sexuality during the turn of the twentieth century. Employing a legal analysis rooted in the law and society movement and critical legal studies, this study examines how social anxieties surrounding vice and vice crimes prompted swift legislative measures at both federal and state levels, resulting in statutes characterized by broad language that granted extensive discretion to law enforcement officials and judges. The emergence of morals and vice police squads further intensified the targeting of individuals who deviated from prevailing …

Where Do Families Come From? The Law Of Family Definition, Katharine Baker

BYU Law Review

Why does the law recognize families? Sometimes family recognition serves to foster cooperative communities in which sharing norms, more than the market or the government, determine rights and obligations. These communities often take care of dependents and serve as important sources of individual self-determination and pluralism. At other times, family delineation serves a corrective purpose, when it forces family members who are not sharing with each other to do so. At still other times, family delineation serves a distributive purpose, as when the law uses “family” definition to distribute resources to determine an intended beneficiary. This use of “family” for …

Immigration, Moral Panics, And Punishment: The Impact Of Media Coverage And Public Interest On Jail Incarceration, Faraneh Shamserad

Dissertations

Despite extensive empirical evidence showing that immigration does not lead to increases in crime, the purported immigration and crime link has been used to buttress increasingly punitive immigration policies over the past few decades. While previous studies have explored the role of enforcement practices for punishment, this dissertation delves into the mechanisms through which immigrants are transformed into “criminal subjects” and the consequences for punishment at the local level. By integrating moral panic theory with research on immigration, crime, and punishment, I propose that the inflammatory language surrounding immigration in media and public discourse has punitive consequences for immigrants. Moreover, …

A Performative Model For Conducting Critical Race Analysis: Josephine Baker, Modern Dance, And Utilizing Narrative To Transform Legal Doctrine, Patrick C. Brayer

Faculty Works

This article proposes a performative model for analyzing the relationship between race and law by integrating narrative, modern dance, and performance as interpretive tools. Focusing on Josephine Baker’s activism and her 1952 return to St. Louis, the paper demonstrates how storytelling and artistic expression can expand legal scholarship and transform understandings of racial injustice. By bridging legal studies with performance, African American history, and cultural analysis, the work illustrates how embodied expression provides new pathways for confronting structural racism, transgenerational trauma, and the pursuit of social justice.

Protecting The Beanstalk: Folklore As Traditional Cultural Expressions, Ainsley E. Marlette

The University of Cincinnati Intellectual Property and Computer Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Loose Ends In Singapore Equal Protection Doctrine, Wei Yao, Kenny Chng

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

A trilogy of landmark Singapore Court of Appeal decisions has defined the landscape of constitutional equal protection doctrine in Singapore: Lim Meng Suang, Syed Suhail and Tan Seng Kee. While this trio of cases has laid the doctrinal foundation for the constitutional right to equality in Singapore, three loose ends remain for clarification. First, what is the relationship between the legal tests articulated in Syed Suhail and Lim Meng Suang? Second, what is the relationship between both steps in the Syed Suhail test? Third, what is the distinction between the Syed Suhail test and the common law judicial review ground …

Mapping Land Ownership As Part Of The Caste Census Could Uncover Key Patterns About Power, Resources, Sudheesh Rc

Popular Media

Extract:

Land remains the most important asset for Indians, but at the same time, ownership is highly skewed by caste.... Caste censuses can reveal crucial patterns in how power in India is enmeshed in land. Most importantly, the caste census has the potential to bring land reform back to political agendas.

"They Are Usually Borderline Homeless": Exploring The Nexus Of Homelessness, Housing Instability, Successful Reentry, And Long-Term Reintegration, Emily Troshynski, Carolyn Willis

Criminal Justice Faculty Research

For previously incarcerated persons, affordable and safe housing options are scarce. Barriers to securing housing include federal mandates (i.e., eligibility requirements) as well as local rules and regulations (i.e., zoning and ordinances). When housing is available, disclosing criminal history on applications impacts individuals’ chances to rent (Philips & Spencer, 2013). A lack of a consistent rental history, no personal and/or employment references, and securing capital to cover security deposits are added challenges. Since parole rules direct ex-convicts not to associate with others that have a criminal record, living with partners, friends, and family members may not be an option. Research …

Legal, Policy, And Environmental Scholars Discuss Global Food Systems At Indiana Law Symposium, James Owsley Boyd

Keep Up With the Latest News from the Law School (blog)

The Indiana University Maurer School of Law and its Indiana Journal of Global Legal Studies are hosting scholars from around the country Friday and Saturday (Jan. 19-20) for an interdisciplinary discussion on one of the world’s most prevalent problems—food insecurity.

Data from the World Bank estimate more than 780 million people around the world suffered from chronic hunger in 2022. As climate change affects agricultural production and water accessibility, the problem could worsen in coming years.

“A Fragile Framework: How Global Food Systems Intersect with the International Legal Order, the Environment, and the World’s Populations” will bring together legal, policy, …

Decentralizing The Nigerian Police Force: A Plausible Approach To Hinterland Securities, Amobi P. Chiamogu, Uchechukwu P. Chiamogu

Journal of African Conflicts and Peace Studies

The structure of the Nigerian police has overtime depicted a centralized composition that negate principles of power sharing in a federal system of government. The complexities and diverse nature of policing in Nigeria remains the bane to effective and virile administration and management of the organization. The office of the Commissioner of Police vis-à-vis those of State Governors spell contradictions in power configuration from both the Constitution and the Police Act. The enactment of vigilante services and neighbourhood watches by state governments are indicative of a failing security system especially at the component units of the Nigerian federation. The hinterlands …

Anglo-Saxon Res Judicata Culture For Civil Law Systems, Cesare Cavallini

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

One traditional aspect distinguishing the common law system from the civil law one lies in the perceived disparities in the inspiration of the law-making process. The Anglo-Saxon system typically grounds its rules in explicit and discernible policies spanning social, anthropological, and economic realms directly relevant to the circumstances. In contrast, the civil law tradition frequently necessitates a fixed conceptual framework, sometimes detached from the practical needs of society. Or, at least, this dynamic persisted until recent changes prompted by the “doing business” model, which has timidly ascended to the forefront of the State agenda, particularly across Europe, notably in Italy. …

Body. Freedom. Choice: Creating Artwork In Post-Roe America, Erin Sedra

Graduate Theses/Dissertations

I knew from a young age that I never wanted children. Whenever I expressed my disinterest in motherhood, I was often met with bewilderment, disapproval, and hostility. The church I was raised in taught me that my value and worth as a woman directly correlated with the power of my birthing hips. This fundamentalist upbringing has significantly shaped my relationship with my femininity, my body, and my artwork. When I feel powerless, turning to my art gives me a sense of control and self-expression. This body of work began as a reaction to the overturning of Roe v. Wade and …

Repurposing The United Nations Trusteeship Council To Govern The Establishment Of Outer Space Settlements, Andrew Wulf

Northwestern Journal of International Law & Business

Current existing international law and treaties on outer space do not address or regulate private actors’ property claims or human settlements in outer space. American companies such as SpaceX and Blue Origin, as well as countries like the United States, Russia, and China, are seeking to create colonies on the Moon and Mars. However, there is no international legal authority to allow or regulate this. In order to legitimize and control this impending outgrowth of human settlements, this paper proposes that the U.N. Trusteeship Council be repurposed to govern non-state actors’ claims of outer space property.

First, this paper explains …

Gender In The Making Of The Constitution: Proposals For A Feminist Inquiry Into Indian Constitutional History, Achyut Chetan

National Law School Journal

A feminist inquiry into the framing of the Indian Constitution must retrieve and see the interventions of the women members of the Constituent Assembly for what they historically represent, namely, a feminist authorial voice that was developed over a period of time by the pre-Independence women’s movement in India. For a proper understanding of this voice, we must understand the gendered character of the Constituent Assembly, its architecture, its procedures, the dynamics of the gendered relations among its members, and above all, the performative aspects of the debates. This inquiry must also investigate the language employed by the members and …

Identifying Youth Appeals In Alcohol Alternative Social Media Content Through Framing, Melina Oneal

West Chester University Master’s Theses

Proposed regulations for alcohol advertising prevent beverage companies from targeting people under the legal drinking age. However, similar regulations for alcohol alternative beverages are less explored, which could allow alcohol alternative products to create awareness for alcoholic beverages among youth. Alcohol alternatives beverages, including no-alcohol and low-alcohol products, are increasing in popularity and can function as compliments to alcoholic products to decrease the total alcohol volume consumed or as substitutes for alcoholic products. Framing theory can be operationalized through the Content Appealing to Youth Index, an index of content elements found in research literature to be appealing to youth, to …

Strictly Intersectional Scrutiny: A Recommendation For Transforming The Epc To Highlight Queer Black Women, Kayla M. Richardson

Undergraduate Honors Theses

The purpose of this thesis is to explore the interpretation of the Equal Protection Clause by the Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) and how this interpretation can become more intersectional for Black queer women. This question is explored within the scope of two theoretical frameworks: Derrick Bell’s theory of interest convergence and Kimberlé Crenshaw’s theory of intersectionality. This project examines whether any factors compel SCOTUS to be more intersectional in its approach to the Fourteenth Amendment. Simultaneously, this study also considers what social contexts make SCOTUS more likely to focus on the interests of the oppressor, a demographic …