Law and Society Commons^™

The Current Role Of The Environment In Reinforcing Acts Of Domestic Terrorism: How Fear Of A Climate Change Apocalypse May Strengthen Right-Wing Hate Groups, Hope M. Babcock

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Right-wing extremist organizations, like white supremacists and nativists, are using the environment as a rallying cry to gain supporters of their anti-social agendas. Apocalyptic rhetoric about climate change and the lack of action to combat it has frightened some people into accepting the simplistic, violent worldview of these groups. Although the violence is new, the coupling of racism and anti-immigration rants with environmental goals is not—it is part of our cultural history. This Article provides some background on the threats of environmental and domestic terrorism facing our nation and describes how the present-day rhetoric of fear of an environmental Armageddon …

Secrecy & Evasion In Police Surveillance Technology, Jonathan Manes

Journal Articles

New technologies are transforming the capabilities of law enforcement. Police agencies now have devices to track our cellphones and software to hack our networks. They have tools to sift the vast quantities of digital silt we leave behind on the Internet. They can deploy “big data” algorithms meant to predict where crimes will occur and who will commit them. They have even transformed the humble closed-circuit video camera—and its more recent companion, the body camera—into biometric tracking devices equipped with artificial intelligence meant to pick faces out of a crowd and, eventually, to mine gigabytes of stored footage to automatically …

Liberalism's Identity Politics: A Response To Professor Fukuyama, Athena D. Mutua

Journal Articles

No abstract provided.

Arguing The Algorithm: Pretrial Risk Assessment And The Zealous Defender, Julian Adler, Sarah Picard, Caitlin Flood

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

This article examines the growing use of algorithmic pretrial risk assessment tools in the United States as a response to the systemic inequities of cash bail and mass incarceration. While proponents argue that these tools offer objective, data-driven alternatives to judicial discretion, critics highlight their potential to reinforce racial and economic disparities. Amid this contentious debate, the authors call attention to the underexplored role of public defenders in mitigating the harms—and maximizing the decarcerative potential—of risk assessment algorithms. Drawing on examples from New York and New Jersey, the article outlines four key strategies for defenders: demanding transparency in algorithm design, …

Washington’S Young Offenders: O’Dell Demands A Change To Sentencing Guidelines, Erika Vranizan

Seattle University Law Review

This Note argues that the O’Dell decision was a watershed moment for criminal justice reform. It argues that the reasoning in O’Dell should be seized upon by the legislature to take action to remediate instances in which defendants are legal adults but do not possess the cognitive characteristics of an adult sufficient to justify adult punishment. Given both the scientific impossibility of identifying a precise age at which characteristics of youthfulness end and adulthood begins and the Court’s repeated recognition that these very factors impact culpability, the current approach to sentencing young offenders aged eighteen to twenty-five as adults simply …

The Water Fountain—A True Story, Teresa Reid

University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Rap As A Proxy For Blackness: How The Prosecution Of Rap Lyrics Continues To Unconstitutionally Restrict Free Speech Rights, Austin Vining

University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy

No abstract provided.

The Language Of Harm: What The Nassar Victim Impact Statements Reveal About Abuse And Accountability, Jamie Abrams, Amanda Potts

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

This Article examines 148 Victim Impact Statements that were delivered to the
court in the Larry Nassar criminal sentencing. Larry Nassar was a doctor for the
United States Gymnastics Association and an employee of Michigan State University
who treated elite athletes, predominantly gymnasts. Nassar pleaded guilty to child
pornography and first-degree criminal sexual misconduct charges in Michigan. His
sentencing received worldwide attention as victims delivered impact statements
describing the harm and betrayal of his conduct. Using corpus-based discourse
analysis, this Article examines the complex strategies that the victims deployed to
describe who Nassar was (a doctor, a monster, a friend), …

Raising The Bar On Accessibility: How The Bar Admissions Process Limits Disabled Law School Graduates, Haley Moss

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

Introduction

Think about the steps it takes to get from law school admission through passing the Bar exam. Not only do you have to graduate with your college degree, but you have to take the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT); enroll in law school; potentially take out student loans; do plenty of reading; pass all of your classes; survive a few internships; participate in clinics, practicums and activities; obtain the juris doctor degree; study for weeks and months on end to take the bar exam; and hope for good news to begin your journey as an attorney. While it sounds …

Not Another Tween Tweet: Social Media, Schools, And A Return To Tinker, Benjamin P. Schroff

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

Introduction

In May 2017, a high school student received the news that she made the junior varsity cheerleading squad for her sophomore year. The student then learned that an incoming freshman placed on the varsity squad over her. In response to this, the student posted a picture of herself and a friend on Snapchat, displaying their middle fingers and saying “f school, f softball, f cheer, f everything.” Soon after the student’s post, the coaches of the cheer squad suspended the student for one year, citing the school’s Cheerleading Rules. After the school board refused to get involved, the student’s …

Prospects And Pitfalls: Confronting Sexual Harassment In The Legal Cannabis Industry, Alexis N. Smith, Griffon Toronjo Pivateau

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

I. Introduction

In the last decade, the legal cannabis industry emerged as a fast-growing and complex new market. Legal cultivation of the cannabis plant promises to create tremendous economic opportunities. Further, the new market hints at significant social consequences. Numerous women have entered the field as entrepreneurs, advocates, and employees. Early reports indicate a much higher percentage of women within the cannabis industry than the agricultural industry in general.

Nevertheless, women face challenges and obstacles. The cannabis industry bears the characteristics of a start-up entity, but this entity resides within a market skewed by the federal law banning the cultivation …

Neoliberalism, Violence And Capital Accumulation, Reem M. El Barbary

Theses and Dissertations

This dissertation looks into the violent, self-serving legal (neocolonial) order that revolves around wealth accumulation and the defense and sustainability of the status quo. The starting point and core idea that guides my discussion is the “redemptive” ideological framework and commitment to free market economies and profit-making. I thus look into the narratives upon which an alliance between development, progress, human rights and neoliberalism rests, in a manner that limits and restricts involvement and action; and normalizes and legitimizes suffering, ill-doing and irresponsibility through law. I examine the interdisciplinary and multilayered reality of repression that state sponsored, and supported, bodies …

Black Lives Matter: Trayvon Martin, The Abolition Of Juvenile Justice And #Blackyouthmatter, Nancy E. Dowd

University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy

No abstract provided.

The Dog Walker, The Birdwatcher And Racial Voice: The Manifest Need To Punish Racial Hoaxes, Katheryn Russell-Brown

University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy

No abstract provided.

From Authoritarian Police State To Black-Inclusive Democracy, Melody R. Webb

University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy

No abstract provided.

The Law School Curriculum And The Movement For Black Lives, Teri A. Mcmurtry-Chubb

University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy

No abstract provided.

White Privilege: What It Is, What It Is Not, And How It Shapes American Discussions Of Policing And The Historical Figures We Honor, Neil H. Buchanan

University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Don't Make A Run For It: Rethinking Illinois V. Wardlow In Light Of Police Shootings And The Nature Of Reasonable Suspicion, Edith Perez

University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Finding A New Path: Using The Fifteenth Amendment To Protect The Voting Rights Of Returning Citizens, Ebony Love

University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Do Black Lawyers Matter To The Legal Profession?: Applying An Antiracism Paradigm To Eliminate Barriers To Licensure For Future Black Lawyers, Deshun Harris

University of Florida Journal of Law & Public Policy

No abstract provided.

Artificial States And The Remapping Of The Middle East, Ash U. Bali

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

This Article critically examines arguments tracing contemporary crises in the Arab world to the making of the Arab state system a century ago. A series of popular and scholarly articles occasioned by the recent spate of World War I-related centenaries suggest that new boundaries be drawn in the Middle East to produce more stable nation-states. More specifically, a set of authors has advocated for different borders that would avoid ethno-sectarian conflict by designing relatively homogenous smaller states to replace multiethnic, multisectarian states like Iraq and Syria. Such proposals are significant for the underlying presumptions they reflect concerning the relationship between …

Judging Judicial Appointment Procedures, S. I. Strong

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Over the last several years, judicial appointment procedures in the United States have become increasingly intractable. Members of both parties are seen to engage in political gamesmanship, calling the legitimacy of the appointment process into question and decreasing public confidence in both the legislature and the judiciary. Questions are even beginning to arise about whether and to what extent the United States is complying with the rule of law.

Although numerous solutions have been proposed, one alternative has not yet been considered: international law. As paradoxical as it may seem, the best and perhaps only feasible solution to quintessentially domestic …

These Violent Delights Have Violent Ends: When Livestreaming Turns Deadly, Who Takes Responsibility?, Joseph Palumbo

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Overrepresented Yet Overlooked: Lgbtq Survivors Of Trafficking And The Imperative For The Nordic Approach To Sex Trafficking Laws In The United States, Claire Mooney

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The note argues that LGBTQ survivors of human trafficking are disproportionately affected by inadequate legal frameworks and societal discrimination. It advocates for the adoption of the Nordic Model in the U.S., which criminalizes the purchase of sex while decriminalizing its sale, to better address the needs of LGBTQ survivors and align with international human rights standards.

Forgive Me Father, For I Have Sinned: Explicitly Enumerating Clergy Members As Mandatory Reporters To Combat Child Sexual Abuse In New York, Gabriella Deritis

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

No abstract provided.

The Majoritarian Press Clause, Sonja R. West

Scholarly Works

In early 2018, stories began circulating that something troubling was happening at the United States-Mexico border. The reports claimed that the United States government was separating migrant families and then holding children (as well as adults) by the thousands in crowded, possibly inhumane environments. There were alarming accounts of children who were sick, dirty, hungry, neglected, and sleeping on concrete floors.

Americans, of course, demanded answers: What was happening at these migrant detention centers? Why was it happening? What were the official policies involved? Were the government's actions appropriate? Were they legal? In other words, this was a textbook example …

New Brunswick Needs A Public Inquiry Into Systemic Racism In The Justice System: Nova Scotia Shows Why, Naiomi Metallic

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

No abstract provided.

Politics Of Adversarial Machine Learning, Kendra Albert, Jonathon Penney, Bruce Schneier, Ram Shankar Siva Kumar

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

In addition to their security properties, adversarial machine-learning attacks and defenses have political dimensions. They enable or foreclose certain options for both the subjects of the machine learning systems and for those who deploy them, creating risks for civil liberties and human rights. In this paper, we draw on insights from science and technology studies, anthropology, and human rights literature, to inform how defenses against adversarial attacks can be used to suppress dissent and limit attempts to investigate machine learning systems. To make this concrete, we use real-world examples of how attacks such as perturbation, model inversion, or membership inference …

Legal Risks Of Adversarial Machine Learning Research, Ram Shankar Siva Kumar, Jonathon Penney, Bruce Schneier, Kendra Albert

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Adversarial machine learning is the systematic study of how motivated adversaries can compromise the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of machine learning (ML) systems through targeted or blanket attacks. The problem of attacking ML systems is so prevalent that CERT, the federally funded research and development center tasked with studying attacks, issued a broad vulnerability note on how most ML classifiers are vulnerable to adversarial manipulation. Google, IBM, Facebook, and Microsoft have committed to investing in securing machine learning systems. The US and EU are likewise putting security and safety of AI systems as a top priority.

Now, research on adversarial …

View Corridors, Access, And Belonging In The Contested City: Vancouver’S Protected View Cones, The Urban Commons, Protest, And Decisionmaking For Sustainable Urban Development And The Management Of A City’S Public Assets, Sara Gwendolyn Ross

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Majestic views of mountains, sky, and sea are essential components of the visual and experiential identity of Vancouver, Canada. The experience of these vistas supplements other urban realities, such as suffocating living expenses and inequality. This Article explores a recent example of urban contestation over Vancouver’s view corridors as a shared public resource and public asset. As this Article explores, exclusion from access to public assets that provide meaning to daily life — such as the mountain views in question — damage an urban citizen’s sense of identity and belonging in a city through a hierarchical experience of access and …