Law and Society Commons^™

Media Coverage Of Law: Its Impact On Juries And The Public, Valerie P. Hans, Juliet Dee

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Because most of the public has little direct experience with the justice system, public knowledge and views of law and the legal system are largely dependent on media representations. The media provide many lessons about law and justice. In the average American household, a TV set is on for over 7 hours each day, and individual members of the family watch television for about 3 hours. Television news and police and crime dramas account for a substantial amount of incidental learning about the nature of the legal system. Newspapers and films also contribute to the public's knowledge and attitudes about …

Mandatory Pro Bono, Roger C. Cramton

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Should lawyers be required to devote a portion of their time or money to public service activities? This issue, commonly referred to as "mandatory pro bono," is much discussed these days. The purpose of this article is to illuminate the policychoices before the profession by surveying the arguments for and against mandatory pro bono.

Time And Property In The American Republican Legal Culture, Gregory S. Alexander

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Modern historians including J.G.A. Pocock and Gordon Wood have demonstrated the degree to which revolutionary American political discourse incorporated "civic republican" notions of virtue, property, and citizenship that promoted stable land ownership and active political participation. These historians also have argued that the republican view soon gave way to the now-dominant liberal view that champions the alienability of property and private over public life. Professor Alexander argues that this history is too neat. In fact, American republicanism contained unreconciled "dialectical" tensions—between individual rights and societal goals, stability of ownership and wealth redistribution, historical continuity and change—that, though now expressed in …

Conceiving Due Process, Cynthia R. Farina

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The American Jury At Twenty-Five Years, Valerie P. Hans, Neil Vidmar

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The year 1991 marks the twenty-fifth anniversary of the publication of Harry Kalven, Jr. and Hans Zeisel's classic work, The American Jury. Arguably one of the most important books in the field of law and social science, this research monograph began the modrn field of jury studies and deeply influenced contemporary understanding of the jury as an institution.

In this essay we assess the book from the vantage point of a quarter- century. First, we provide a historical backdrop by reviewing the activities of the University of Chicago's Jury Project that led to the publication of The American Jury …

Social Science And The Courts: The Role Of Amicus Curiae Briefs, Ronald G. Roesch, Stephen L. Golding, Valerie P. Hans, N. Dickon Reppucci

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Social scientists have increasingly become involved in the submission of amicus curiae or "friend of the court" briefs in legal cases being decided by state and federal courts. This increase has triggered considerable debate about the use of briefs to communicate relevant social science research. This article evaluates the strengths and weaknesses of various methods of summarizing social science research for the courts. It also reviews the procedures for submitting briefs developed by the American Psychology-Law Society which, in collaboration with the American Psychological Association, has submitted its first brief in Maryland v. Craig, a case recently decided by …

Law And The Media: An Overview And Introduction, Valerie P. Hans

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Although occasional articles on law and the media have been published in Law and Human Behavior, this special issue is the first collection of articles on the topic to appear in the journal. By publishing some of the most recent work on issues in law and the media, we hope to draw the attention of psycholegal scholars to questions in this fertile research area that deserve theoretical and empirical study.

Law and the media have become inescapably intertwined. Because a relatively small proportion of the public has direct experience with the justice system, public knowledge and views of law …

Talking About Difference: Meanings And Metaphors Of Individuality, Gregory S. Alexander

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This paper discusses the relationship between communitarianism and difference theory. Specifically, it focuses on the rhetorical practices that have created an apparent conflict between difference theory and communitarianism. My purpose is to suggest why this conflict dissolves when community and difference are understood as strategic rhetorics that share a common political vision.

Democracy, Counterinsurgency, And Human Rights: The Case Of Peru, Angela Cornell, Kenneth Roberts

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The wave of authoritarianism that swept over Latin America in the 1960s and 1970s focused international attention on the human rights violations committed by military dictatorships. As most Latin American nations experienced transitions to democratic rule in the 1980s, hopes were raised that human rights would be more widely respected. Nevertheless, it is questionable whether a regime change from dictatorship to democracy necessarily entails renewed respect for human rights. Does redemocratization represent a fundamental change in the exercise of political authority—that is, in relations between the state and civil society—or are there conditions under which democratic institutions and constitutional norms …

Dilemmas Of Group Autonomy: Residential Associations And Community, Gregory S. Alexander

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

We are a society of groups. De Tocqueville's observation that the principle of association shapes American society remains as valid today as it was in the mid-nineteenth century. For us, as for others, the vita activa is participation in a seemingly limitless variety of groups. The importance of group activity in our national character has strongly influenced the agenda of political questions that recur in American political and legal theory. One of the fundamental normative questions on this agenda concerns the proper relationship between groups and the polity. To what extent should the polity foster connections between associations and the …

Legal Implications Of Epilepsy, H. Richard Beresford

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Physicians who care for patients with epilepsy may function as agents or targets of social control. As agents, they may assist in the identification and control of epileptic drivers, may provide information that enables fair and appropriate job placements for epileptic persons, and give testimony that helps the legal system resolve issues relating to the liability of epileptic persons for harm attributed to seizures or interictal behavioral disturbances. As targets, they may be charged with negligent failure to diagnose, treat, or inform about epilepsy or its associated problems, with failure to exercise due care in protecting persons harmed by their …

Freedom, Coercion, And The Law Of Servitudes, Gregory S. Alexander

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

What do we want from a restatement of servitude law? Doctrinal simplification presents one obvious objective. Property teachers and their students commonly observe that the law of servitudes is a mess. However, doctrinal simplification surely does not present the only objective of the restatement. Developing a unified body of servitude doctrine, by itself, merely creates a sense of aesthetic coherence. Presumably the project aims at achieving more than just that. Law reformers generally seek to enhance the legal system's substantive coherence. At this level--developing a set of substantively coherent doctrinal practices--I am skeptical about the servitude restatement project.

A restatement …

An Analysis Of Public Attitudes Toward The Insanity Defense, Valerie P. Hans

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Results from a public opinion survey of knowledge, attitudes, and support for the insanity defense indicate that people dislike the insanity defense for both retributive and utilitarian reasons: they want insane law-breakers punished, and they believe that insanity defense procedures fail to protect the public. However, people vastly overestimate the use and success of the insanity plea. Several attitudinal and demographic variables that other researchers have found to be associated with people's support for the death penalty and perceptions of criminal sentencing are also related to support for the insanity defense. Implications for public policy are discussed.

Some Considerations Which May Lead Lawmakers To Modify A Policy When Adopting It As Law, Robert S. Summers

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Trouble With Lawyers (And Law Schools), Roger C. Cramton

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Public Opinion Of Forensic Psychiatry Following The Hinckley Verdict, Dan Slater, Valerie P. Hans

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The authors obtained opinions of forensic psychiatry in a community survey following the not guilty by reason of insanity verdict in the Hinckley trial. A majority of respondents expressed little or no confidence in the specific psychiatric testimony in the Hinckley trial and only modest faith in the general ability of psychiatrists to determine legal insanity. Respondents' general and specific attitudes were strongly related. Younger people and women were more positive in their views of psychiatry in the courtroom.

"Plain Crazy:" Lay Definitions Of Legal Insanity, Valerie P. Hans, Dan Slater

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The 1982 Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity (NGRI) verdict in the trial of John Hinckley, Jr., would-be assassin of President Reagan, again has brought to the forefront long-standing public dissatisfaction in the United States with the insanity plea. In the wake of the Hinckley verdict, proposals for reform or abolition of the insanity defense have been submitted to both houses of the U.S. Congress and to state legislatures throughout the nation (Cunningham, 1983). Fueling this reform movement is apparent public dissatisfaction with the insanity plea as it is currently defined.

In contrast to voluminous literature concerning legal and psychiatric …

Cameras In The Courts: Can We Trust The Research?, Dan Slater, Valerie P. Hans

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

In several recent court cases, television viewers throughout the nation were able to see excerpts of actual trial testimony on network newscasts. These opportunities for camera coverage have come about as a result of the U.S. Supreme Court's 1981 decision in Chandler v. Florida. In that case the Court ruled that each state was free to determine whether to permit "extended media coverage," including camera coverage, in its courts, and to set appropriate guidelines for such coverage. Before adopting permanent rules for camera coverage, most states have conducted one year tests — which they have called "experiments" — during …

John Hinckley, Jr. And The Insanity Defense: The Public's Verdict, Valerie P. Hans, Dan Slater

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Public furor over the Not Guilty by Reason of Insanity verdict in the trial of John Hinckley, Jr. already has stimulated legal changes in the insanity defense. This study documents more systematically the dimensions of negative public opinion concerning the Hinckley verdict. A survey of Delaware residents shortly after the trial's conclusion indicated that the verdict was perceived as unfair, Hinckley was viewed as not insane, the psychiatrists' testimony at the trial was not trusted, and the vast majority thought that the insanity defense was a loophole. However, survey respondents were unable to define the legal test for insanity and …

Methodological Issues In The Evaluation Of "Experiments" With Cameras In The Courts, Dan Slater, Valerie P. Hans

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Evaluations of "experiments" of extended media coverage of the courts, i.e., cameras in the courts, have relied upon survey research. The authors argue that such evaluations have been inadequate and future evaluations need to compare conventional media coverage vs. extended media coverage using field experimental research designs.

Why Legal Services For The Poor?, Roger C. Cramton

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Crisis In Legal Services For The Poor, Roger C. Cramton

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Ordinary And The Extraordinary In Institutional Litigation, Theodore Eisenberg, Stephen C. Yeazell

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Institutional litigation, in which courts are requested to oversee the operation of large public institutions, has been frequently attacked as a departure from the traditional model of litigation. In this Article, Professors Eisenberg and Yeazell argue that the procedures and remedies employed in institutional litigation are not unprecedented but have analogues in older judicial traditions. Nor, they assert, do the doctrines of separation of powers and federalism present any obstacles to institutional litigation. They conclude that the novelty lies in the newly created substantive rights which courts are asked to enforce.

Barriers To Effective Public Participation In Regulation Of The Legal Profession, Charles W. Wolfram

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Lessons Of Watergate, Roger C. Cramton

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

The Why, Where And How Of Broadened Public Participation In The Administrative Process, Roger C. Cramton

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The actions of federal administrative agencies – rules, orders, licenses, loans, grants, contracts, and the like – have enormous effects on individuals and groups. Yet affected persons and groups are not always accorded the opportunity to participate in decision making procedures that affect them. Mr. Cramton argues that broadened public participation will improve administrative decisions and give them greater legitimacy and acceptance. After discussing the types of proceedings in which public participation is desirable and the limitations that should be placed upon it, Mr. Cramton evaluates various proposals for assuring the desired degree of public participation.

The Technique Element In Law, Robert S. Summers

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Driver Behavior And Legal Sanctions: A Study Of Deterrence, Roger C. Cramton

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

What are the consequences of the application of legal sanctions? How can these consequences be determined? This Article attempts to explore these questions in the limited field of highway safety, examining the available evidence and indicating areas where further investigation is essential. Although conclusions with respect to the general deterrent effect of traffic laws do not emerge, the parameters of the problem are defined and plausible hypotheses suggested.

The Problem Of The Drinking Driver, Roger C. Cramton

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Everyone talks about the drinking driver, and everyone thinks he knows what to do about him. But, Professor Cramton says, the scientifically reliable knowledge we now are acquiring indicates that our legal approaches of deterrence and punishment fail to strike at the heart of the problem and are ineffective. He offers some suggestions for a new course.

From Common Law Logic-Chopper To Land-Use Planner: Eulogy For The Lawyer As Social Engineer, E. F. Roberts

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.