Human Rights Law Commons^™

Relentless Atrocities: The Persecution Of Hazaras, Mehdi J. Hakimi

Michigan Journal of International Law

As one of the main ethnic groups in Afghanistan, Hazaras are Farsi-speaking and mostly Shi’a Muslims in a predominantly Sunni Muslim country. They are also distinguishable by their Asiatic appearance. Throughout Afghanistan’s history, Hazaras have suffered considerably under different regimes, enduring recurring massacres, enslavement, and forced displacement. Despite Afghanistan’s accession to the Rome Statute in 2003, the plight of Hazaras has not improved. Indeed, the assaults on Hazaras have only intensified in recent years, impacting virtually every aspect of their lives.

This article argues that the recent and ongoing attacks against Hazaras constitute a crime against humanity. In particular, I …

Just-Right Government: Interstate Compacts And Multistate Governance In An Era Of Political Polarization, Policy Paralysis, And Bad-Faith Partisanship, Jon Michaels, Emme M. Tyler

Indiana Law Journal

Those committed to addressing the political, economic, and moral crises of the day— voting rights, racial justice, reproductive autonomy, gaping inequality, LGBTQ rights, and public health and safety—don’t know where to turn. Federal legislative and regulatory pathways are choked off by senators quick to filibuster and by judges eager to strike down agency rules and orders. State pathways, in turn, are compromised by limited capacity, collective action problems, externalities, scant economies of scale, and—in many jurisdictions—a toxic political culture hostile to even the most anodyne government interventions. Recognizing the limited options available on a binary (that is, federal or state) …

The Court And Capital Punishment On Different Paths: Abolition In Waiting, Carol S. Steiker, Jordan M. Steiker

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

The American death penalty finds itself in an unusual position. On the ground, the practice is weaker than at any other time in our history. Eleven jurisdictions have abandoned the death penalty over the past fifteen years, almost doubling the number of states without the punishment (twenty-three). Executions have declined substantially, totaling twenty-five or fewer a year nationwide for the past six years, compared to an average of seventy-seven a year during the six-year span around the millennium (1997-2002). Most tellingly, death sentences have fallen off a cliff, with fewer the fifty death sentences a year nationwide over the past …

Table Of Contents

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Table Of Contents

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Editor's Note, Peyton Holahan

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

To commemorate the accomplishment of abolition and to look back at Virginia’s long and complicated history with the death penalty, the Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice’s 2021–2022 Symposium titled Revoking Irrevocable Punishment centered around Virginia’s long, complex, and sorrowful path toward abolition. From February 10 to February 11 of 2021, the Journal organized and moderated seven panels that addressed various components of the death penalty discourse in Virginia, past and present.

Severe Mental Illness And The Death Penalty: A Menu Of Legislative Options, Richard J. Bonnie

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

In 2003, the American Bar Association established a Task Force on Mental Disability and the Death Penalty to further specify and implement the Supreme Court’s ruling banning execution of persons with intellectual disability and to consider an analogous ban against imposing the death penalty on defendants with severe mental disorders. The Task Force established formal links with the American Psychological Association, the American Psychiatric Association, and the National Alliance on Mental Illness and the final report was approved by the ABA and the participating organizations in 2005 and 2006. This brief article focuses primarily on diminished responsibility at the time …

The Gross Injustices Of Capital Punishment: A Torturous Practice And Justice Thurgood Marshall’S Astute Appraisal Of The Death Penalty’S Cruelty, Discriminatory Use, And Unconstitutionality, John D. Bessler

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

Through the centuries, capital punishment and torture have been used by monarchs, authoritarian regimes, and judicial systems around the world. Although torture is now expressly outlawed by international law, capital punishment—questioned by Quakers in the seventeenth century and by the Italian philosopher Cesare Beccaria and many others in the following century—has been authorized over time by various legislative bodies, including in the United States. It was Beccaria’s book, Dei delitti e delle pene (1764), translated into French and then into English as An Essay on Crimes and Punishments (1767), that fueled the still-ongoing international movement to outlaw the death penalty. …

Does The Death Penalty Still Matter: Reflections Of A Death Row Lawyer, David I. Bruck

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

This talk was given by Professor David Bruck for the Frances Lewis Law Center at Washington and Lee University School of Law, April, 2002. It is a follow-up to “Does the Death Penalty Matter?,” given by Professor Bruck as the 1990 Ralph E. Shikes Lecture at Harvard Law School.

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Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

No abstract provided.

Religious Ministers And The Scope Of Their Rights To Non-Discrimination In Employment, R. George Wright

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

The First Amendment is currently thought to bar ministerial employees from any recourse against their religious employer under a wide variety of non-discrimination statutes and other forms of legal protection. The typical critique of this state of affairs seeks to narrow the class of persons who count as ministerial employees. This paper focuses instead on an important, and peculiar, aspect of the ministerial exception doctrine. At present, the law generally prohibits any recovery by ministerial employees for employment discrimination by their religious employer even where the employer’s reasons for the discrimination have nothing to do with any religious doctrine, belief, …

Being In The Room Where It Happens: Celebrating Virginia’S First Female Law Clerks, Anne Rodgers, Todd C. Peppers

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

The first female law clerk was hired in 1944. However, the entry of women into the law clerk profession was met with sexism. The accomplishments of the first few female law clerks also received little attention. This article seeks to rectify this historical injustice by highlighting the accomplishments of Virginia’s first female law clerks: Doris Bray, Jane Caster Sweeney, and Penelope Dalton Coffman. Doris Bray clerked for Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals Judge J. Spencer Bell in 1967. Jane Caster Sweeney clerked for Federal District Court Judge Oren Lewis from 1960 to 1962. Penelope Dalton Coffman clerked for Virginia Supreme …

Transforming The Future Of Work By Embracing Corporate Social Justice, Andrea Giampetro-Meyer

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

Professionals from Generations Y (millennials) and Z (Gen Z or zoomers) expect their employers to embrace diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI). They want to work for companies that support individuals of various races, ethnicities, religions, abilities, genders, and sexual orientations. Professionals from these generations are seeking employers that have created a diverse workforce, clear promotion track, and a commitment to dismantling systemic racism. Companies that want to attract top talent are making DEI a priority. They are also implementing action plans to demonstrate their serious commitment to DEI because millennials and zoomers are quick to recognize and criticize performative approaches. …

Bailing On Cash Bail: A Proposal To Restore Indigent Defendants’ Right To Due Process And Innocence Until Proven Guilty, Cydney Clark

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

The practice of cash bail in the United States is changing. For the past few decades, the cash bail system is abandoning pretrial release and shifting the burden to the defendant thereby abandoning innocence until proven guilty. Bail hearings are increasingly less individualized and discriminatory because of risk assessment tools and judicial discretion without requiring justification, leading to indigent defendants facing unprecedented detainment solely for not being able to afford bail, and thus, violating due process of law. This Note focuses on two 2021 decisions: the California Supreme Court’s decision in In re Humphrey, ruling to partially maintain cash bail, …

Do Not Touch My Data: Exploring A Disclosure-Based Framework To Address Data Access, Francis Morency

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

Companies have too much control over people’s information. In the data marketplace, companies package and sell individuals’ data, and these individuals have little to no bargaining power over the process. Companies may freely buy and sell people’s data in the private sector for targeted marketing and behavior manipulation. In the justice system, an unchecked data marketplace leaves black and brown communities vulnerable to serious data access issues caused by predictive sentencing, for example. Risk assessment algorithms in predictive sentencing rely on data on individuals and run all relevant data points to provide the likelihood that a defendant will recidivate low …

The Counterintuitive Court: How The Supreme Court’S Punitive Damages Jurisprudence Endangers Marginalized Communities, Anne Rodgers

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

Punitive damages are awarded in civil suits to deter intentionally reckless and grossly negligent behavior. The goal of punitive damages is to punish the tortfeasor and protect the public from future misconduct. However, the Supreme Court’s recent jurisprudence on punitive damages reflects a shift towards protecting businesses from what the Court perceives as an arbitrary taking under the Due Process Clause. This Note argues that these decisions are dangerous, especially for marginalized communities. This Note begins by defining punitive damages and common criticisms of punitive damages awards. This Note then discusses the role of the Supreme Court in reviewing punitive …

Removing White Hoods From The Blue Line: A Legislative Solution To White Supremacy In Law Enforcement, Hope Elizabeth Barnes

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

On May 25, 2020, George Floyd took his final breaths. His death at the hands of multiple Minneapolis police officers was recorded by witnesses and viewed by millions. The public response to Floyd’s death was immediate and powerful. Americans were demanding change on a greater scale than ever before. The problem with policing is not Derek Chauvin, or the Minneapolis Police Department, but rather with the very institution. White supremacy is alive and well in American policing. This Note begins by examining the historic connection between white supremacist groups and law enforcement agencies. This Note then evaluates existing standards of …

Changing The Game: The Emergence Of Nil Contracts In Collegiate Athletics And The Continued Efficacy Of Title Ix, Leeden Rukstalis

Washington and Lee Journal of Civil Rights and Social Justice

On June 30, 2021, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA”) suspended a 115-year prohibition on college athletes’ ability to profit from the use of their names, images, and likenesses (“NIL”). Historically, NCAA eligibility was determined by an athlete’s amateur status. Student athletes forewent compensation to preserve a line between professional and college sports. Today, the NCAA’s novel NIL policy recognizes an athlete’s right to publicity and allows them to share in the billions of dollars it generates every year. According to estimates, college athletes earned $917 million in the first year of NIL activity. By 2023, the NIL market is …

Human Rights, Trans Rights, Prisoners’ Rights: An International Comparison, Tom Butcher

Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy

In this Note, I conduct an international comparison of the state of trans prisoners’ rights to explore how different national legal contexts impact the likelihood of achieving further liberation through appeals to human rights ideals. I examine the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, India, Argentina, and Costa Rica and show the degree to which a human rights framework has been successful thus far in advancing trans prisoners’ rights. My analysis also indicates that the degree to which a human rights framework is likely to be successful in the future varies greatly between countries. In countries that are hesitant …

How Many More Brazilian Environmental Defenders Have To Perish Before We Act? President Lula's Challenge To Protect Environmental Quilombola Defenders, Sarah Dávila A.

William & Mary Environmental Law and Policy Review

The Global South has been historically marginalized and continues to suffer from systemic oppression, impeding the realization of their human rights. Afro-descendants and other minority populations in the Global South live in disproportionately environmentally unsafe conditions and are disproportionately more vulnerable to climate change and environmental harm. One of those populations are Quilombolas. Quilombolas are Brazilian Afro-descendant communities who continue to fight to protect their community rights to ancestral lands, natural resources, and survival as a people. The Brazilian government under former Brazilian President Bolsonaro engaged in a persistent and systematic campaign to target, attack, and kill defenders, including Quilombola …