Sexuality and the Law Commons^™

Where Art Thou, Privacy: Expanding Privacy Rights Of Minors In Regard To Consensual Sex: Statutory Rape Laws And The Need For A Romeo And Juliet Exception In Illinois, 46 J. Marshall L. Rev. 309 (2012), Jordan Franklin

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Cyber Crime Control: Will Websites Ever Be Held Accountable For The Legal Activities They Profit From?, Ashley Ingber

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The note examines the evolving legal landscape surrounding the liability of online platforms like Craigslist under Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act (CDA). While Section 230 currently shields Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from civil liability for third-party content, courts are increasingly narrowing its protections, particularly when platforms actively influence or profit from illegal activities. Criminal liability remains a significant exception to Section 230 immunity, and future legal developments may further restrict these protections, balancing free speech with accountability for online platforms.

Gender & Sexuality In The Aba Standards On The Treatment Of Prisoners, Margaret Colgate Love, Giovanna Shay

Faculty Scholarship

Over the past three decades, commentators, advocates, and corrections experts have focused increasingly on issues of gender and sexuality in prison. This is due in part to the growing number of women in a generally burgeoning American prison population. It is also attributable to efforts to end custodial sexual abuse and prison sexual violence, which have focused attention on issues relating to women and LGBT prisoners. Also, in part, this heightened attention reflects the influence of growing free-world social movements emphasizing the "intersectionality" of multiple forms of subordination and seeking to secure fair treatment of gay and transgender people.

This …

"U" Stands For Underutilization: The U Visa's Vulnerability For Underuse In The Sex Trafficking Context, Erin Bistricer

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The U Visa, established in 2000 under the Violence Against Women Act (VAWA) reauthorization, was designed to provide legal status to victims of certain crimes, including sex trafficking, without fear of deportation. However, its implementation has been hindered by significant challenges, including delayed regulations, confusion among applicants, and reliance on law enforcement cooperation, which can be a barrier for traumatized victims. While the U Visa offers more flexibility than the T Visa by covering a broader range of crimes and requiring a lower standard of proof, its effectiveness is limited by factors such as annual caps, inadequate state anti-trafficking laws, …

Queer (In)Justice: Mapping New Gay (Scholarly) Agendas, Giovanna Shay, J. Kelly Strader

Faculty Scholarship

The 2011 book Queer (In)Justice surveys involvement of sexual minorities in all phases of the what the authors term the "criminal legal system." It examines the treatment of LGBTQ people as criminal defendants, victims, and prisoners. Queer (In)Justice moves beyond the typical focus of gay rights activists and scholars in the criminal law area to address the everyday treatment of LGBTQ people by police, prosecutors, courts, and corrections authorities. Relying heavily on prison abolitionist movement thinking, the book calls into question reliance on criminal punishment as a means of combating violence against LGBTQ people. Although largely anecdotal, and sometimes over-heated …

Sex, Privacy And Public Health In A Casual Encounters Culture, Mary D. Fan

Articles

The regulation of sex and disease is a cultural and political flashpoint and recurring challenge that law's antiquated arsenal has been hard- pressed to effectively address. Compelling data demonstrate the need for attention—for example, one in four women aged fourteen to nineteen is infected with at least one sexually transmitted disease ("STD"); managing STDs costs an estimated $15.9 billion annually; and syphilis, once near eradication, is on the rise again, as are the rates of HIV diagnosis among people aged fifteen to twenty-four. Public health officials on the front lines have called for paradigm changes to tackle the enormous challenge. …

Student Victims Or Student Criminals? The Bookends Of Sexting In A Cyber World, Todd A. Demitchell, Martha Parker-Magagna

Cardozo Public Law, Policy & Ethics Journal

The article argues that criminalizing sexting as child pornography unfairly victimizes adolescents, contradicting the purpose of laws intended to protect minors. It advocates for a balanced approach that addresses the harm caused by sexting without imposing felony charges, which can have lifelong consequences. The analysis emphasizes that zero-tolerance policies and strict legal responses are ineffective and unjust, as they fail to consider the context of adolescent behavior and the unintended consequences of criminalization.

Restoring Restitution: The Role Of Proximate Causation In Child Pornography Possession Cases Where Restitution Is Sought, Dennis F. Dibari

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Determinants Of Domestic Minor Sex Trafficking And The Urgent Need For A Global Cultural Shift, Karen M. Hoover

Senior Honors Theses

In the United States, an overtly selfish and sexual culture contributes to the spread of human trafficking, thereby requiring a complete culture shift in order to diminish this modern day slavery initiated by the aberrant culture. Sex trafficking of minors in the United States encompasses a variety of factors that facilitate the bondage and brutal enslavement of American children. These children are bought and sold hundreds of times, with no regard for their personal well-being. Major factors such as demand, vulnerability, and America’s induced culture of sex serve to increase the environment that trap children and youth in commercial sexual …

When The Child Abuser Has A Bible: Investigating Child Maltreatment Sanctioned Or Condoned By A Religious Leader, Basyle Tchividjian, Victor Vieth

Faculty Publications and Presentations

In many cases of child sexual and physical abuse, perpetrators use religious or spiritual themes to justify their abuse of a child. Although no known religion in modern culture suggests that sexual abuse is condoned or taught as part of its tenets, some church leaders engage in conduct suggesting the child is equally, if not more to blame than the perpetrator, while also urging immediate reconciliation between the perpetrator and victim. In more than one case, pastors have asked children to confess their own “sins” in being sexually abused and have even required children to “confess” in front of an …

The Association Of Adult Businesses With Secondary Effects: Legal Doctrine Social Theory, And Empirical Evidence, Alan C. Weinstein, Richard Mccleary

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Sex Work By Law: Bedford's Impact On The Municipal Regulation Of Sex Work, Elaine Craig

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The recent Ontario trial decision in Bedford suggests three interrelated principles that municipal law makers should consider when formulating bylaws aimed at regulating sex work. These principles, if upheld on appeal, will inform the constitutionality of both current and prospective bylaws regulating sex work in Canadian cities.

In Bedford, Justice Himel concluded that the constitutionality of laws regulating the sex trade must be determined in a legal context which recognizes the violence faced by sex workers. She confirmed that laws that indirectly make sex work more dangerous and harmful must be consistent with those principles that our legal system, through …

Sex Work By Law: Bedford's Impact On The Municipal Regulation Of Sex Work, Elaine Craig

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The recent Ontario trial decision in Bedford suggests three interrelated principles that municipal law makers should consider when formulating bylaws aimed at regulating sex work. These principles, if upheld on appeal, will inform the constitutionality of both current and prospective bylaws regulating sex work in Canadian cities. In Bedford, Justice Himel concluded that the constitutionality of laws regulating the sex trade must be determined in a legal context which recognizes the violence faced by sex workers. She confirmed that laws that indirectly make sex work more dangerous and harmful must be consistent with those principles that our legal system, through …

Exceptions: The Criminal Law's Illogical Approach To Hiv-Related Aggravated Assaults, Ari Ezra Waldman

Articles & Chapters

This Article identifies logical and due process errors in HIV-related aggravated assault cases, which usually involve an HIV-positive individual having unprotected sex without disclosing his or her HIV status. While this behavior should not be encouraged, this Article suggests that punishing this conduct through a charge of aggravated assault - which requires a showing that the defendant’s actions were a means likely to cause grievous bodily harm or death - is fraught with fallacies in reasoning and runs afoul of due process. Specifically, some courts use the "rule of thumb" that HIV can possibly be transmitted through bodily fluids as …

Using Gender Equality Analysis To Improve The Wellbeing Of Prostitutes, Barbara Havelkova

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The article presents a framework for analyzing prostitution through the lens of gender equality, aiming to improve the wellbeing of prostitutes by offering regulators and judges a tool for evaluation. It challenges the asymmetric legal treatment of prostitutes and clients, arguing that such treatment violates gender equality principles. The framework proposes symmetric treatment or measures benefiting prostitutes to address structural inequalities rooted in gender, class, race, and socioeconomic status. The analysis draws on European and common law jurisdictions, emphasizing the need for gender-conscious policies to ensure fairness and proportionality.

Sex And The Supremes: Towards A Legal Theory Of Sexuality, Elaine Craig

PhD Dissertations

This thesis examines how the Supreme Court of Canada, across legal contexts, has tended to conceptualize sexuality. It focuses primarily on areas of public law including sexual assault law, equality for sexual minorities, sexual harassment and obscenity and indecency laws. There were a number of trends revealed upon reviewing the jurisprudence in this area. First, the Court’s decisions across legal contexts reveal a tendency to conceptualize sexuality as innate, as a pre-social naturally occurring phenomenon and as an essential element of who we are as individuals. This is true whether one is speaking of the approach to gay and lesbian …

Through The Looking Glass: Finding And Freeing Modern-Day Slaves At The State Level, Michelle L. Rickert

Faculty Publications and Presentations

This article delves into the interaction between federal and state laws prohibiting human trafficking. The article advocates for comprehensive human trafficking laws at the state level, including police training, victim aftercare, forfeiture, and prosecution as essential elements. It looks comprehensively at the existing state laws prohibiting human trafficking. Additionally it examines the five existing models for state law and suggests benefits and potential improvements for each model. The article concludes y advocating a holistic law prohibiting human trafficking in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

What Is Due To Others: Speaking And Signifying Subject(S) Of Rape Law, Penelope J. Pether

Working Paper Series

Australian journalist Paul Sheehan's representation of the alleged and convicted immigrant Muslim/Arab rapists he demonises in 'Girls Like You', like his representation of the rape survivors in that text, has much to tell us about the law's production of rape law's speaking and signifying subjects, “real rape” victims and survivors, false accusers and perpetrators. This article uses a variety of texts, including 'Girls Like You', recent Australian rape law jurisprudence and legislative reform, texts involving two controversial recent US rape cases — one from Maryland and one from Nebraska — and a recent UK study on attrition in rape prosecutions, …

Volume 6 Issue 2

The Modern American

No abstract provided.

Public Attitudes Toward Applying Sex Offender Registration Laws To Juvenile Offenders, Jessica M. Salerno, Margaret C. Stevenson, Tisha R. A. Wiley, Cynthia J. Najdowski, Bette L. Bottoms, Rachel A. Schmillen

Psychology Faculty Scholarship

In this chapter, we provide a summary of current registration laws for juvenile sex offenders across the United States and discuss the assumptions that drive these laws. We consider whether these assumptions have been supported or refuted by the research produced on the topic thus far. Then, turning to new data from our own laboratory, we discuss public perceptions of registration laws. This is an important issue because expansion of registry laws to juveniles might be driven by strong public support—or politicians' and policy makers' perceptions that there is public support—for expansion of the registry. As we discuss, research does …

Taking Prevention Seriously: Developing A Comprehensive Response To Child Trafficking And Sexual Exploitation, Jonathan Todres

Vanderbilt Journal of Transnational Law

Millions of children are victims of trafficking and commercial sexual exploitation each year. Governments have responded with a range of measures, focusing primarily on seeking to prosecute perpetrators of these abuses and offering assistance to select victims. These efforts, while important, have done little to reduce the incidence of these forms of child exploitation. This Article asserts that a central reason why efforts to date may not be as effective as hoped is that governments have not oriented their approaches properly toward prioritizing prevention--the ultimate goal--and addressing these problems in a comprehensive and systematic manner. Instead, efforts to date have …

Sects' Offenders: The Inefficacy Of Sex Offender Residency Laws And Their Burdens On The Free Exercise Of Religion, Amol N. Sinha

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Security Council Resolution 1820: An Imperfect But Necessary Resolution To Protect Civilians From Rape In War Zones, Melissa Goldenberg Goldstoff

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The note examines the significance and limitations of UN Security Council Resolution 1820, which recognizes rape as a war crime and a threat to international security. While the Resolution is a crucial step forward in protecting women during armed conflicts, it is argued to be imperfect due to its incomplete implementation mechanisms and potential to undermine earlier resolutions like Resolution 1325, which emphasizes women's roles in peace-building.

How Should Colleges And Universities Respond To Peer Sexual Violence On Campus? What The Current Legal Environment Tells Us, Nancy Chi Cantalupo

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Over the last decade or so, various legal schemes such as the statutes and court or agency enforcement of Title IX and the Clery Act have increasingly recognized that certain institutional responses perpetuate a cycle of nonreporting and violence. This paper draws upon comprehensive legal research conducted on how the law now regulates school responses to campus peer sexual violence to show that schools face much greater liability from failing to protect the rights of campus peer sexual violence survivors than of any other group of students, including alleged assailants. By encouraging their institutions to develop more victim-centered responses to …

Protecting The Party Girl: A New Approach For Evaluating Intoxicated Consent, Christine Chambers Goodman

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Passions We Like… And Those We Don't: Anti-Gay Hate Crime Laws And The Discursive Construction Of Sex, Gender, And The Body, Yvonne Zylan

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

This Article proceeds as follows. In Part II, the author catalogs the history of anti-gay hate crime laws in the United States, describing the rapid spread of state-level laws extending race- and religion-based hate crime laws to LGB people. The Article also provides an overview of federal legislation addressing anti-gay hate crime. In Part III, it examines the policy environment within which anti-gay hate crime laws have been, and continue to be, considered. Specifically, the jurisprudential frameworks that shape, define, and constrain discourses of equality, rights, and social identity are analyzed. The argument is made that the policy environment of …

Silencing Tory Bowen: The Legal Implications Of Word Bans In Rape Trials, 43 J. Marshall L. Rev. 215 (2009), Randah Atassi

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Phases And Faces Of The Duke Lacrosse Controversy: A Conversation, Angela J. Davis, James E. Coleman Jr, Michael Gerhardt, K.C. Johnson

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

The Failure Of Sexting Criminalization: A Plea For The Exercise Of Prosecutorial Restraint, Robert H. Wood

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

The purpose of this Essay is to explore the various legal approaches to the sexting phenomenon through an analysis of a decision by the United States District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania, which granted a temporary restraining order enjoining the prosecution of sexting teens on constitutional grounds, and an examination of current and pending legislative attempts to deal with the sexting phenomenon. Section I describes the facts leading up to the district court decision and its subsequent holding. Section II examines the approaches to sexting prosecution and legislation taken by other states. Section III analyzes the legal issues …

Laws Of Desire: The Political Morality Of Public Sex, Elaine Craig

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

In deciding cases that involve the intersection of criminal law and sexual mores, the courts are faced with the challenge of determining the appropriate moral framework from which to approach simultaneously private and social concerns. In indecency cases, Canadian courts historically employed a communitarian model of sexual morality based on the community’s standard of tolerance. However, the Supreme Court of Canada’s recent jurisprudence affirms a harm-based test, which relies upon and protects the fundamental values enshrined in the Canadian constitution. This article analyzes the Court’s decisions in R. v. Labaye and R. v. Kouri and demonstrates that these cases represent …