Law and Race Commons^™

Did Booker Increase Sentencing Disparity? Why The Evidence Is Unpersuasive, Sonja B. Starr

Articles

The Sentencing Commission’s recent report on the effects of United States v.Booker makes a number of very worri- some claims.The most alarming is that the gap in sen- tences between otherwise similar Black and White men has nearly quadrupled: from 4.5 percent before Booker, to 15 percent after it, to 19.5 percent after United States v. Kimbrough and United States v.Gall. 1 The Commission further claims that interjudge disparity has increased in two-thirds of the federal districts, and that interdistrict variation has also increased.2 If its findings were accurate, and if these changes could be causally attributed to Booker and …

Mandatory Sentencing And Racial Disparity, Assessing The Role Of Prosecutors And The Effects Of Booker, Sonja B. Starr, M. Marit Rehavi

Articles

This Article presents new empirical evidence concerning the effects of United States v. Booker, which loosened the formerly mandatory U.S. Sentencing Guidelines, on racial disparities in federal criminal cases. Two serious limitations pervade existing empirical literature on sentencing disparities. First, studies focus on sentencing in isolation, controlling for the “presumptive sentence” or similar measures that themselves result from discretionary charging, plea-bargaining, and fact-finding processes. Any disparities in these earlier processes are excluded from the resulting sentence-disparity estimates. Our research has shown that this exclusion matters: pre-sentencing decision-making can have substantial sentence-disparity consequences. Second, existing studies have used loose causal inference …

Landscape Fairness: Removing Discrimination From The Built Environment, Stephen Clowney

Utah Law Review

At its core, this Article argues that the everyday landscape is one of the most overlooked instruments of modern race-making. Drawing on evidence from geography and sociology, the paper begins by demonstrating that the built environment inscribes selective and misleading versions of the past in solid, material forms. These narratives — told through street renamings, parks, monuments, and buildings — ultimately marginalize African-American communities and transmit ideas about racial power across generations.

After demonstrating that the landscape remains the agar upon which racial hierarchies replicate themselves, the Article then pivots and examines current efforts to rid the built environment of …

South Carolina's 'Evolutionary Process', Ellen D. Katz

Articles

When Congress first enacted the Voting Rights Act (VRA) in 1965, public officials in South Carolina led the charge to scrap the new statute. Their brief to the Supreme Court of the United States described the VRA as an “unjustified” and “arbitrary” affront to the “Equality of Statehood” principle, and a “usurp[ation]” of the State’s legislative and executive functions. Not surprisingly, the Warren Court was unpersuaded and opted instead to endorse broad congressional power to craft “inventive” remedies to address systematic racial discrimination and to “shift the advantage of time and inertia from the perpetrators of evil to its victims.” …

Shelby County V. Holder: Why Section 2 Matters, Ellen D. Katz

Articles

Editor’s Note: Professor Ellen D. Katz writes and teaches about election law, civil rights and remedies, and equal protection. She and the Voting Rights Initiative at Michigan Law filed a brief as amicus curiae in Shelby County v. Holder, on which the U.S. Supreme Court heard oral arguments February 27. Here, she examines why Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act bears consideration in the case, which involves a challenge to Section 5 of the act.

Latina And Latino Judges: Changing The Complexion Of The Bench, Mary Dolores Guerra

Florida A & M University Law Review

Although having a diverse bench is instrumental to a fair judicial system, the first Mexican American was not appointed to the federal bench until 1961. In that year, President John F. Kennedy appointed Reynaldo G. Garza, to the U.S. federal bench as a district court judge. Judge Garza hoped that by becoming an "effective jurist" he would quell any scrutiny over his appointment and, moreover, "encourage [the] appointment of other qualified Mexican Americans to the federal bench." Judge Garza was the only Latino appointed to the federal bench until 1979 when President Jimmy Carter appointed several Latinos to the bench, …

A Latina Law Professor's Personal Perspective After The Zimmerman Trial Verdict, Maritza I. Reyes

Journal Publications

No abstract provided.

Black Women's Post-Slavery Silence Syndrome: A Twenty-First Century Remnant Of Slavery, Jim Crow, And Systemic Racism--Who Will Tell Her Stories?, Patricia A. Broussard

Journal Publications

One hot summer's day in the late 1950s, a young mother put her three young children down for a nap. She also bathed and prepared four of her sister's children for naptime. This young woman had volunteered to care for her nephew and nieces while their mother, her younger sister, was in the hospital delivering her fifth child. A short while after putting all of the children in their beds, the children's father, her brother-in-law, knocked on the door. The young woman assumed that he had come over to see his children and to bring them news of their mother …

Reimagining Democratic Inclusion: Asian Americans And The Voting Rights Act, Ming Hsu Chen, Taeku Lee

Publications

The current legal framework for protecting voting rights in the United States has been dramatically destabilized by Supreme Court decisions re-interpreting the protections against minority vote dilution and requires rethinking to survive modern challenges. At the same time, the nation has itself undergone dramatic changes in the racial composition of its polity and in the complexity and salience of race as a factor in political life. In this paper, we focus on a relatively unexamined constituent of this complex reality of modern racial diversity that illustrates some of the core features that all minority groups face in continuing VRA challenges: …

Leniency As A Miscarriage Of Race And Gender Justice, Aya Gruber

Publications

No abstract provided.

Untoward Consequences: The Ironic Legacy Of Keyes V. School District No. 1, Rachel F. Moran

Faculty Scholarship

The Keyes case began with high hopes that desegregation would lead to educational equity for black and Latino students in the Denver Public Schools. The lawsuit made history by successfully using circumstantial evidence to establish intentional discrimination and bring court-ordered busing to a school system outside the South. In the intervening years, that initial success became laden with irony. Because Denver was a tri-ethnic community of whites, blacks, and Latinos, the litigation revealed the complexities of pursuing reform in a school district not defined by a history of black-white relations.

The courts had to decide whether Latinos would count as …

The Court's Denial Of Racial Societal Debt, Kimberlé W. Crenshaw

Faculty Scholarship

In this year of civil rights anniversaries, the narrative of racial progress has been tempered by the Supreme Court’s game-changing decisions this past summer. The notion that “we’ve come a long way and we have much more work to do” sounds ever more like wishful thinking in the face of a Supreme Court that is no longer an active contributor to the cause. Having abandoned its unprecedented insistence that white supremacy be upended root and branch, the current Court’s boldness is measured by its audacious efforts to reverse engineer the transformative mechanisms these anniversaries celebrate.

Shattered Dreams: An Analysis Of The Georgia Board Of Regents' Admissions Ban From A Constitutional And International Human Rights Perspective, Azadeh Shahshahani, Chaka Washington

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

Access to higher education for undocumented immigrants is a highly debated issue across the country. While some states have been more inclusive of undocumented students, other states have implemented laws which make higher education unattainable for this group. In 2008, South Carolina enacted House Bill 4400 which bars undocumented immigrants from attending public colleges and universities. The University System of Georgia is, so far, the only other public university system to enact a policy which outright bans undocumented students from certain colleges.

This article begins by discussing the Georgia Board of Regents' ban from a constitutional perspective, applying an equal …

A Local Official's Guide To Language Access Laws, David Jung, Noemi Gallardo, Ryan Harris

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

Sharp growth in immigration has introduced California to a large number of persons who do not speak and understand English well enough to make use of basic social services. These individuals may not know what public services are available, may not be able to communicate with local officials, and may not receive information that local agencies release to the public. Local agencies throughout California should ensure that all their services are accessible to persons for whom English is a barrier to understanding.

This article first explains why the California and federal constitutions forbid laws requiring that services be provided in …

Are California's Homeless Children Being Left Behind - Analyzing The Implementation Of Mckinney-Vento Education Rights In California, Taylor Pospichel

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

The term "homeless" evokes the image of an individual adult begging for change on a city sidewalk. The growing problem of homeless families, and of homeless children in particular, has not achieved the same level of social consciousness. Perhaps for that reason, the services in place for homeless individuals are not equipped to address the needs of displaced children. Title VII of the federal McKinney-Vento Act addresses the problems homeless children face in attending and succeeding in school. California has similar measures in place. However, the needs of California's homeless children are not adequately met at present.

This note exan-mines …

Physician Assisted Suicide: Debunking The Myths Surrounding The Elderly, Poor And Disabled, Anne Marie Su

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

In most states, patients with terminal, painful, and debilitating conditions have no means of ending their suffering except by waiting to die. As interest in physician assisted suicide began to grow in this country, the Supreme Court in a series of decisions expressed fear that recognition of a right to die would lead to abuses. For example, disability rights activists in particular argue that it would encourage burdened family members to pressure disabled persons to end their lives. Evidence from the two states that have legalized physician assisted suicide, however, should lay these fears to rest.

This note opens with …

Crimes Without Punishment: An Update On Violence Against Women And Impunity In Guatemala, Karen Musalo, Blaine Bookey

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

In response to rates of violence against women that rank among the highest in the world, Guatemala enacted the Law Against Femicide and Other Forms of Violence Against Women in 2008. Unfortunately, the law does not seem to be rectifying the deeply rooted problem of gender-based violence that plagues Guatemala. A 2010 report by the Center for Gender & Refugee Studies and later investigation in collaboration with the Refugee and Human Rights Clinic at UC Hastings revealed the degree to which Guatemala is failing to protect women from gender-motivated attack.

This article first surveys the scope of the problem of …

Planting People, Growing Justice: The Three Pillars Of New Social Justice Lawyering, Artika R. Tyner

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

To accomplish meaningful social change, lawyers must move beyond their traditional role as mediaries between clients and the justice system and work collaboratively with marginalized communities. Lawyers should stand as leaders to help underprivileged people obtain the basic necessities of life and dignity. To that end, Dr. Tyner introduces three pillars of new social justice lawyering: social justice lawyering, leadership, and public policy advocacy.

This essay opens with a survey of several theoretical approaches to social justice lawyering. It moves on to examine how lawyers can serve as leaders. Finally, the article explores ways in which lawyers can serve as …

Rape By The System: The Existence And Effects Of Sexual Abuse Of Women In United States Prisons, Samiera Saliba

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

For thousands of women incarcerated in U.S. prisons, punishment has come to include sexual abuse by male prison guards. Twenty-five percent of women inside prison report such abuse, and that number likely falls short of the true figure. Nonetheless, the majority of guards in women's prisons continue to be male.

This note first explores the reasons for the prevalence of sexual abuse in women's prisons. It moves on to the effect of this abuse on women inside and on their communities. The note also surveys the legal barriers that prevent abused women inside from seeking redress. Finally, the note proposes …

The Affordable Care Act And Beyond: Opportunities For Advancing Health Equity And Social Justice, Rene Bowser

UC Law Journal of Race and Economic Justice

In 2010, the most monumental health care legislation in forty-five years was enacted. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act ("ACA") makes changes great and small in virtually every important component of the American health care system. The new law's implications will not be known fully for many years because state governments and federal agencies are in the process of interpreting key provisions, drafting rules and devising general implementation strategies. And, uncertainty exists about the scope of the ACA because of the recent Supreme Court ruling in National Federal of Independent Business v. Sebelius. The court upheld nearly all of …