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Digital Habit Evidence
Get PDFThis Article explores how “habit evidence” will become a catalyst for a new form of digital proof based on the explosive growth of smart homes, smart cars, smart devices, and the Internet of Things. Habit evidence is the rule that certain sorts of semiautomatic, regularized responses to particular stimuli are trustworthy and thus admissible under the Federal Rules of Evidence (“FRE”) 406 “Habit; Routine Practice” and state equivalents.
While well established since the common law, “habit” has made only an inconsistent appearance in reported cases and has been underutilized in trial practice. But intriguingly, once applied to the world of digital trails and the Internet of Things, this long dormant rule could transform our “quantified lives” into a significant new evidentiary power. In fact, habit evidence as quantified fact may become weaponized to reimagine trial practice in the digital age
Law Schools Should Take on Students\u27 Mental Health and Substance Use from Day One
No full textThe legal profession has a drinking problem. Whether we like to admit it or not, students are often socialized into a drinking culture in law school, if not before. From where I sit as a law school dean, law students and members of the legal profession continue to struggle with mental health issues for which substance use can be a contributing factor
Striking Out: How the MLB’s Baseball Academies Interfere with Children’s Human Rights in the Dominican Republic
Get PDFMajor League Baseball (MLB) has recently included a large number of foreign-born players in the league. Specifically, many of these players are from the Dominican Republic, with Dominican players making up more than ten percent of active players on MLB Team rosters across the league. This large number of Dominican baseball players in the MLB comes from a culture of scouting talent at a young age and the creation of baseball academies in Latin America as a whole. Currently, all thirty MLB teams have a baseball academy in the Dominican Republic where each team develops young teenagers talented at baseball
James Oakes\u27s Treatment of the First Confiscation Act in Freedom National: The Destruction of Slavery in the United States, 1861-1865
Get PDFIn his work, Freedom National: The Destruction of Slavery in the United States, 1861-1865, James Oakes provides an overview of several Civil War era legal instruments regarding enslavement in the United States. One of the statutes he examines is An Act to Confiscate Property Used for Insurrectionary Purposes, passed by the Thirty Seventh Congress in August, 1861. This law, popularly known as the First Confiscation Act (FCA), is one of the several Confiscation Acts that contributed to the weakening of legal enslavement during the War. Fortunately, scholars have contextualized and deemphasized President Lincoln\u27s role as the Great Emancipator by examining the works of Congress during the War and by shifting focus to the actions of the enslaved, as they emancipated themselves by fleeing Confederate states. However, many scholars tend to mirror their treatment of Lincoln in the Confiscation Acts by either spreading historical false- hood or twisting the congressional narrative with hyperbole. Some historians overstate the intent and legal effect of the Confiscation Acts, and in Freedom National, Oakes is one of those historians.
The purpose of this Essay is to examine Oakes\u27s treatment of the First Confiscation Act through a review of congressional sources. After looking at the congressional debates and other evidence from the War, scholars must hold Lincoln and Civil War historians accountable for their statements; statements that can be misleading and damaging to desired historical accuracy. We are all attempting to uncover the truth about this oft-mentioned era of American history. In our highly racialized society, where the history of enslavement in the United States remains deeply significant, close scrutiny of the historical narrative is necessary. It is for these reasons, that I respectfully offer this critique of Oakes\u27s narrative surrounding the FCA
Beyond Duress: Supporting the Admissibility Of Evidence Of Battered Woman Syndrome to Aid the Defenses of Battered Mothers Charged with Failing to Protect Their Children Against Their Common Abuser
No full textSamantha Delcamp’s abusive boyfriend killed her three-year-old daughter Arabella. Even though Samantha never laid a hand on her daughter, she was charged with involuntary manslaughter for failing to protect her from her abusive boyfriend. During her trial, Samantha’s lawyer was barred from introducing evidence of Battered Woman Syndrome to help explain to the jury why Samantha didn’t stop her boyfriend from hurting Arabella. Unfortunately, this is not an isolated incident. Numerous women have been charged with failing to protect their child from harm at the hands of their common abuser and have not been able to introduce evidence on Battered Woman Syndrome to aid the jury in understanding what happened.
This Comment argues that there must be a widespread standard within our court system where judges always allow abused mothers charged with failing to protect their children to provide evidence of Battered Woman Syndrome to aid their defense. Currently, there is a growing number of appellate courts that allow evidence of Battered Woman Syndrome to be introduced in cases involving duress. In these decisions, courts have explained that evidence of Battered Woman Syndrome can help the jury understand the reasonableness of the defendant’s actions under the circumstances. This reasoning and analysis can be applied to a failure to protect context because reasonableness is a necessary element of both defenses. Furthermore, this Comment examines how battered women who fail to come to the aid of their child when the child is being abused are often acting reasonably under the circumstances when considering the effects of Battered Woman Syndrome. Allowing the admission of evidence of Battered Woman Syndrome in cases involving child neglect or endangerment promotes justice in the American legal system by enabling juries to more fully assess a woman’s reasonableness
Limitations and Exceptions in International Copyright and Related Rights Treaties
Get PDFCopyright limitations and exceptions have been an integral part of international copyright and related rights treaties since the original text of the Berne Convention in 1886, which protected the ability to adopt exceptions for uses for “educational” and “scientific” uses. Since that instrument, there has been great -- if uneven -- development of norms on limitations and exceptions. Currently, the World Intellectual Property Organization’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights is considering limitations and exceptions in the draft text for a treaty on broadcast organizations as well as a proposal from the African Group for a work programme on limitations and exceptions for libraries, archives, museums, education and research. To the consideration of those proposals, this document presents the text of limitations and exceptions provisions in international copyright and related rights treaties from 1886 to the present in chronological order
Foreword Introduction to Symposium: Enhancing Anti-Discrimination Laws in Education and Employment
Get PDFWhen this Symposium was first conceived in the Summer of 2021, the nation was just emerging from the first phases of the COVID-19 pandemic. This was the beginning of trying to go back to life as normal. Given this reawakening, the Symposium’s planning committee felt the urgency of a need to regroup, rethink, and reassess the state of employment antidiscrimination law. We were not sure where others would be on this possible project, given the newness of the hopeful end to lockdowns and social isolation and return to “normal” concerns. But we quickly found that those who joined the Symposium planning group, and then those who responded to our calls to contribute to the Symposium, were more than ready to join in a reassessment and relinking of the many unresolved issues confronting employment anti-discrimination law. We saw such reassessment as all the more pressing in light of the multiple pressures of the COVID-19 pandemic, the #MeToo Movement, and the racial reckoning that followed the state sponsored murders of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, and 184 other persons of color in the spring of 2020,1 on top of the countless state-sponsored murders of persons of color stretching far back into the past and the rise of Sinophobic violence
Ohio House Bills 168 and 110: Just Another Drop in the Bucket for Brownfield Redevelopment?
Get PDFThis article examines Ohio House Bills 168 and 110. These House Bills provide liability protection to purchasers of brownfield sites, allocate 350 million allotted for investigation, cleanup, and revitalization of brownfield sites and $150 million for demolition of vacant/abandoned buildings—and create a new Building Demolition and Site Revitalization Program, for the revitalization of properties surrounding brownfield sites. In the first three Sections of this article, the concept of brownfield redevelopment is introduced, the associated challenges with brownfield projects are discussed, and attempts by federal and state governments to address brownfield remediation challenges in the past is explained. In Section IV, this article analyzes the legislative framework set forth in House Bills 168 and 110 and discusses how Ohio is attempting to address the associated brownfield challenges. Finally, recommendations are made for future Ohio brownfield redevelopment legislation. This article argues that Ohio should continue to regulate brownfield redevelopment through emulating other state’s low interest loan programs or create brownfield-specific tax credits to developers. While incentivizing development will always be a step in the right direction, not every brownfield site is in an area where developers want to build. Thus, Ohio should further allocate funds for the purposes of revitalizing low-to-no market value brownfield sites in historically underserved communities. This can be done through partnering with land banks, creating community land trusts, or partnering with environmental advocacy organizations. Redevelopment of brownfield sites in such areas would work to create green spaces in historically underserved communities, countering environmental justice concerns and providing further access to clean environment, as well as bolstering community engagement and health
About SDLP
Get PDFThe Sustainable Development Law & Policy Brief (ISSN 1552-3721) is a student-run initiative at American University Washington College of Law that is published twice each academic year. The Brief embraces an interdisciplinary focus to provide a broad view of current legal, political, and social developments. It was founded to provide a forum for those interested in promoting sustainable economic development, conservation, environmental justice, and biodiversity throughout the world