Legal Theory Commons^™

The Uncertain Psychological Case For Paternalism, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Science, Identity, And The Construction Of The Gay Political Narrative, Nancy J. Knauer

Nancy J. Knauer

This Article contends that the current debate over gay civil rights is, at base, a dispute over the nature of same-sex desire. Pro-gay forces advocate an ethnic or identity model of homosexuality based on the conviction that sexual orientation is an immutable, unchosen, and benign characteristic. The assertion that, in essence, gays are "born that way," has produced a gay political narrative that rests on claims of shared identity (i.e., homosexuals are a blameless minority) and arguments of equivalence (i.e., as a blameless minority, homosexuals deserve equal treatment and protection against discrimination). The pro-family counter-narrative is based on a behavioral …

The Cognitive Components Of Punishment, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski, Forest Jourden

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The Black And White Of Profiling: Sniping On The Sniper Case, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article analyzes the construct of profiling in the aftermath of the arrest of two suspects in the recent sniper attacks perpetrated in the greater Washington, D.C. area.

Is Evolutionary Analysis Of Law Science Or Storytelling?, Jeffrey J. Rachlinski

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

In recent years, some legal scholars have argued that legal scholarship could benefit from a greater reliance on theories of human behavior that arise from biological evolution. These scholars contend that reliance on biological evolution would successfully combine the rigor of economics with the scientific aspects of psychology. Complex legal systems, however, are uniquely human. Law has always been the product of cognitive processes that are unique to humans and that developed as a response to an environment that no longer exists. Consequently, the evolutionary development of the cognitive mechanisms upon which law depends cannot be rigorously modeled or studied …

Trends. Death Penalties For Purveyors Of Death? Not For Many Terrorists, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

This article discusses the nuances surrounding the use of the death penalty in terrorism cases.

Social Contract Theory In American Case Law, Anita L. Allen

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Spinoza And Marx, Eugene W. Holland

Eugene W Holland

This essay explores what replacing Hegel with Spinoza as a philosophical source might do for contemporary Marxism.

The Evidentiary Theory Of Blackmail: Taking Motives Seriously, Mitchell N. Berman

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Terrorism And Legal Competence: A Reader's Opinion, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

A reader, a police officer from a Pacific Basin Country, wishing to remain anonymous, reacts to IBPP article "Terrorism and Legal Competence" (V. 1, No. 1, November 8, 1996), discussing that article's treatment of terrorism and versions of legal competency. Religious as well as intolerance are likewise discussed.

Relativism, Reflective Equilibrium, And Justice, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

THIS PAPER IS THE CO-WINNER OF THE FRED BERGER PRIZE IN PHILOSOPHY OF LAW FOR THE 1999 AMERICAN PHILOSOPHICAL ASSOCIATION FOR THE BEST PUBLISHED PAPER IN THE PREVIOUS TWO YEARS.

The conflict between liberal legal theory and critical legal studies (CLS) is often framed as a matter of whether there is a theory of justice that the law should embody which all rational people could or must accept. In a divided society, the CLS critique of this view is overwhelming: there is no such justice that can command universal assent. But the liberal critique of CLS, that it degenerates into …

Terrorism And Legal Competence, Ibpp Editor

International Bulletin of Political Psychology

The editor examines the concept of legal concept of competency in context of terrorism.

On The Genealogy Of Moral Hazard, Tom Baker

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Justice, Liability, And Blame: Community Views And The Criminal Law, Paul H. Robinson, John M. Darley

All Faculty Scholarship

This book reports empirical studies on 18 different areas of substantive criminal law in which the study results showing ordinary people’s judgments of justice are compared to the governing legal doctrine to highlight points of agreement and disagreement. The book also identifies trends and patterns in agreement and disagreement and discusses the implications for the formulation of criminal law. The chapters include:

Chapter 1. Community Views and the Criminal Law (Introduction; An Overview; Why Community Views Should Matter; Research Methods)

Chapter 2. Doctrines of Criminalization: What Conduct Should Be Criminal? (Objective Requirements of Attempt (Study 1); Creating a Criminal Risk …

The Paradox Of Ideology, Justin Schwartz

Justin Schwartz

A standard problem with the objectivity of social scientific theory in particular is that it is either self-referential, in which case it seems to undermine itself as ideology, or self-excepting, which seem pragmatically self-refuting. Using the example of Marx and his theory of ideology, I show how self-referential theories that include themselves in their scope of explanation can be objective. Ideology may be roughly defined as belief distorted by class interest. I show how Marx thought that natural science was informed by class interest but not therefore necessarily ideology. Capitalists have an interest in understanding the natural world (to a …

Insanity As A Defense: The Bifurcated Trial, David W. Louisell, Geoffrey Hazard

All Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.