Law and Society Commons^™

The Plasticity Of The Body, The Injury, And The Claim: Personal Injury Claims In The Era Of Plastic Surgeries, Adi Youcht

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

The accelerated rise in the number of plastic surgeries has created an inflation of personal injury claims in connection with this cultural practice. This Article, on the one hand, aims to understand how the culture of plastic surgeries affects the tortious area of personal injury law (terms, concepts, goals, procedures, remedies, etc.), and on the other to understand how the significance of plastic surgery popular culture is designated by law. The Article suggests a new paradigm for defining personal injuries in order to face the legal challenges raised by plastic surgery culture and, in light of the culture’s re-designation by …

Law School News: Celebrating The First Women Lawyers In Rhode Island April 9, 2019, Michael M. Bowden

Life of the Law School (1993- )

No abstract provided.

Russian Politics Of Masculinity And The Decay Of Feminism: The Role Of Dissent In Creating New "Local Norms", Alexandra V. Orlova

William & Mary Journal of Race, Gender, and Social Justice

Over the past decade, the Russian state has been deliberately pursuing politics of masculinity that aim to actively undermine feminist dissenting voices by presenting feminism as something that is foreign and inappropriate for the Russian context. This Article examines why Russian domestic feminism has failed to generate a re-examination of entrenched gender stereotypes and barriers in Russia. The Article concludes that in order to effectively combat gender stereotyping and reduce structural barriers that continuously relegate women to the private sphere, new "local norms" based on gender equality need to develop. In order for these new local norms to gain public …

The 16th Annual Diversity Symposium Dinner, April 4, 2019, Roger Williams University School Of Law

School of Law Conferences, Lectures & Events

No abstract provided.

Exploring The Perceptions Of Citizens Of The Impact Of Community Policing In Two Ethnically Diverse, Low-Income Communities That Have National Safety Ratings Between 0% And 25% In San Diego County: A Phenomenological Study, Eric O'Neal

Dissertations

Purpose: The purpose of this qualitative phenomenological study was to describe citizen perceptions of the impact of community policing in 2 selected, ethnically diverse, low-income communities that have national safety ratings between 0% and 25%. The study explored the 8 pillars of community policing: partnerships, problem solving, procedural fairness, proscribed scope, protection, professionalism, purpose, and principles and their impact on citizens’ perception of their local law enforcement agencies.

Methodology: The study was qualitative with a phenomenological approach to research.

Findings: Findings from this study revealed that examination of study participant interviews, observations, and artifacts resulted in 22 themes and 689 …

The Martin Institute Prints, Spring 2019, Stonehill College Martin Institute

The Martin Institute: Prints

No abstract provided.

Criminalizing The Other: Exploring The Impact Of The Netherlands' Adaptation Of Prosecutorial Guidelines On Sentencing Disparities, Alia Nahra

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

This research explores the impact of the 2015 institution of prosecution guidelines in the Netherlands. Prior to this switch, the Openbaar Ministerie operated using a punishment point system, which provided a mathematical formula with which to decide sanctions. Though the motivation of this change was to make the overall system more efficient and enable individual prosecutors to consider each case in a customizable and more equitable form, this research demonstrates that the change has served instead as a perpetuator (and in some cases, facilitator) of the persistent ethnic and gender biases already at work in the Netherlands. The social and …

Divorce Experiences: What The 2004 Moudawana Does And Does Not Do For Women In Morocco, Beatrice March

Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection

In 2004, the parliament amended the original Moudawana, or Family Code, from 1958. Among the changes, they altered the laws regarding divorce. The 2004 Moudawana included new provisions for women to obtain divorces in an attempt to create more progressive and equitable laws. The process of divorce, however, is still unequal for men and women. Despite women’s social conditions improving under the 2004 Moudawana, discrimination against women within the Moroccan legal system continues to prevent women from accessing their rights. A complex legal system and general lack of knowledge about the law create an overwhelming experience for women who do …

The Armed Society And Its Friends: A Reckoning, Charles W. Collier

UF Law Faculty Publications

This Article provides a selective introduction to some of the main social, cultural, historical, and intellectual issues surrounding gun violence and the desultory policy “debates” over gun control in America.

Unregulated gun violence, unrestricted gun violence, unlimited gun violence: these are the grave “new normal” (a term coined in financial economics) on the otherwise pastoral landscape of America. Sociologically speaking, this level of gun violence is no longer considered deviant, such that “special sanctions” would be imposed to prevent it.

Gun violence and the lack of gun control have also been described as “tragic”—a cultural tragedy—and so they are, though …

Creative Lawyering For Social Change, Raymond H. Brescia

Georgia State University Law Review

Lawyers have long played an integral part in efforts to bring about social change. With an increasing desire to see change in the world, regardless of one’s political perspective, there is a growing interest in understanding the role that lawyers can play in bringing about such change. This type of lawyering is complex, however, and faces far more challenges than those the traditional lawyer faces in his or her work. Although all lawyers solve problems on behalf of their clients, the role of the social-change lawyer is more complex because the problems she seeks to address are more complex, mostly …

Respect The Hustle: Necessity Entrepreneurship, Returning Citizens, And Social Enterprise Strategies, Priya Baskaran

Maryland Law Review

This Article will address a pervasive and growing problem for returning citizens—high rates of economic insecurity—and, as a novel solution, propose the creation of Economic Justice Incubators (“EJIs”) as a new, municipally-led social enterprise strategy. Mass incarceration is a national problem and requires comprehensive criminal justice reform. In contrast, the reentry process is locally focused due to a complex web of collateral consequences arising from state and local laws. An estimated 641,000 people return home from prison each year, many to economically distressed communities. Once released, the terms of their parole and the collateral consequences associated with their conviction restrict …

The Policing Of Prosecutors: More Lessons From Administrative Law?, Aaron L. Nielson

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

On a daily basis, prosecutors decide whether and how to charge individuals for alleged criminal conduct. Although many prosecutors avoid abusing this authority, prosecutors’ discretionary decisions might result in biased enforcement, inappropriate leveraging of authority, and a lack of transparency. These problems also arise when agency enforcement officials decide whether to act on conduct that violates a legal prohibition.

An inherent tension between the desire to avoid overburdening the system and the need to prevent inconsistent decision-making exists in the exercises of both prosecutorial discretion and regulatory enforcement discretion. It is clear from the similarities between the two that administrative …

Prosecutorial Misconduct: Mass Gang Indictments And Inflammatory Statements, K. Babe Howell

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

This Article examines inflammatory statements by prosecutors in the context of mass gang indictments. I contend that inflammatory remarks not only harm the justice system and defendants, particularly minorities, but also that, when prosecutors craft and repeat hyperbolic narratives about vicious gang wars, prosecutors may come to believe the narratives and become effectively blinded to the fact that these narratives are improper, unfair, and untrue. First, I review the professional rules, standards, and case law that prohibit. Then, drawing on press releases and trial transcripts from two mass gang indictments in New York City, I demonstrate how prosecution statements exaggerate …

O’Neill, Oh O’Neill, Wherefore Art Thou O’Neill: Defining And Cementing The Requirements For Asserting Deliberative Process Privilege, Andrew Scott

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

The government may invoke the deliberative process privilege to protect the communications of government officials involving policy-driven decision-making. The privilege protects communications made before policy makers act upon the policy decision to allow government officials to speak candidly when deciding a course of action without fear of their words being used against them.

This privilege is not absolute and courts recognize the legitimate countervailing interest the public has in transparency. The Supreme Court in United States v. Reynolds held that someone with control over the protected information should personally consider the privilege before asserting it but did not provide definitive …

Remarks On Prosecutorial Discretion And Immigration, Shoba S. Wadhia

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

No abstract provided.

Standing For Standing Rock?: Vindicating Native American Religious And Land Rights By Adapting New Zealand's Te Awa Tupua Act To American Soil, Malcolm Mcdermond

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

On February 23, 2017, the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe (“Tribe”) was forced to disband its nearly year-long protest against the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline, which threatened the integrity of its ancestral lands. The Tribe sought declaratory and injunctive relief in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia, but the court ruled against the Tribe and failed to protect its interests. While the United States was forcibly removing Indigenous protesters, other countries were taking steps to protect Indigenous populations. In unprecedented legislative action, New Zealand took radical steps to protect the land and cultural rights of …

The Fire Rises: Refining The Pennsylvania Fireworks Law So That Fewer People Get Burned, Sean P. Kraus

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

On October 30, 2017, the General Assembly of Pennsylvania passed an act that repealed the state’s fireworks law, which had prohibited the sale of most fireworks to Pennsylvanian consumers for nearly 80 years. The law’s replacement generally permits Pennsylvanians over 18 years old to purchase, possess, and use “Consumer Fireworks.” Bottle rockets, firecrackers, Roman candles, and aerial shells are now available to amateur celebrants for holidays like Independence Day and New Year’s Eve. The law also regulates a category of larger “Display Fireworks,” sets standards for fireworks vendors, and introduces a 12-percent excise tax on fireworks sales that serves to …

Prosecutorial Discretion: The Difficulty And Necessity Of Public Inquiry, Bruce A. Green

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Prosecutors’ discretionary decisions have enormous impact on individuals and communities. Often, prosecutors exercise their vast power and discretion in questionable ways. This Article argues that, to encourage prosecutors to use their power wisely and not abusively, there is a need for more informed public discussion of prosecutorial discretion, particularly with regard to prosecutors’ discretionary decisions about whether to bring criminal charges and which charges to bring. But the Article also highlights two reasons why informed public discussion is difficult—first, because public and professional expectations about how prosecutors should use their power are vague; and, second, because, particularly in individual cases, …

The Impact Of Prosecutorial Misconduct, Overreach, And Misuse Of Discretion On Gender Violence Victims, Leigh Goodmark

Dickinson Law Review (2017-Present)

Prosecutors are failing victims of gender violence as witnesses and when they become defendants in cases related to their own victimization. But it is questionable whether that behavior should be labeled misconduct. The vast majority of these behaviors range from misuses of discretion to things that some might consider best practices in handling gender violence cases. Nonetheless, prosecutors not only fail to use their discretion appropriately in gender violence cases, but they take affirmative action that does tremendous harm in the name of saving victims and protecting the public. The destructive interactions prosecutors have with victims of gender violence are …

Disrupting The Androcentric Prison System, Amber Hanke

Audre Lorde Prize

No abstract provided.