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One Decade Later: Florida\u27s Stand Your Ground Law Alive and Well
No full textThis article focuses on certain key findings and recommendations of the ABA Task Force outlined above in relation to Florida\u27s Stand Your Ground law. It also examines Florida Stand Your Ground law and its evolution since its inception in 2005. Is Florida safer in 2016 compared to 2005? Has Stand Your Ground delivered positive results ten years later? There have been unsuccessful calls to repeal Stand Your Ground laws in their entirety. Furthermore, this article re-establishes the gravity of this problem and suggests that one critical step forward is to work around the legislatures in implementing reforms. Part II of the Article articulates the meaning of Stand Your Ground. Part III examines the history of Stand Your Ground laws in the United States, and the intricate relationship with the National Rifle Association (NRA). Part IV of the Article focuses on Florida\u27s Stand Your Ground Law and how the law has changed over the past decade to date. Part V addresses the nexus between Stand Your Ground laws, violent crimes and gun violence. Part VI proposes a model for progress to the Stand Your Ground laws without action by states\u27 legislatures
Breaking Bad Contracts: Bargaining for Masculinity in Popular Culture
No full textThis Article examines the award-winning television show, Breaking Bad, to illustrate how the idea of a contract in popular culture can become inflected with a style of retrograde masculinity. Deals in Breaking Bad take place in the classic contract imaginary, which resembles the classic Western shootout: two antagonists face each other down in a duel. The show interrogates the frontier thesis, with its links to the American Dream and dangerous masculinities, through the ruthless contracts of Walter White
Classified Websites, Sex Trafficking, and The Law: Problem and Proposal
No full textSince the beginning of the 1600s, slavery was a known issue in the United States (U.S.). Although slavery was abolished in 1863 as a result of the Civil War, slavery persists in the present day. Modem day slavery is human trafficking. Although there is a misconception that human trafficking is only an international issue, victims need not cross international borders to be trafficked. Even though trafficking suggests movement or travel, there is no requirement that victims must be transported in order for trafficking to take place. Annually, approximately 700,000 victims are trafficked within U.S. borders. In the U.S. alone, there is an estimated 100,000 American children trafficked for sex each year. In 2016 in the U.S., 5,748 human trafficking cases were reported. Out of those reported cases, 1,828 were children. The Department of State stated that there are more than twenty million adults and children that qualify as victims of modem slavery worldwide. Human trafficking is deemed to be the third largest criminal activity in the world aside from drugs and the illegal arms industry
Front Matter
No full textFront Matter includes Masthead, advisors, and Table of Contents for St. Thomas Law Review Volume 29, Issue 2, Spring 2017
Integrating Human Rights with Local Norms: Ebola, Burial Practices, and The Right to Health in West Africa
No full textWhile international rights are intended to apply universally, their interpretation is culturally dependent and implementation contextually defined. Scholars have therefore advocated culturally sensitive approaches to human rights that include local norms in programs for effective implementation. This paper examines such approaches by scholars including Celestine Nyamu-Musembi (2000), Erika George (2008), and Tom Zwart (2012), and explores their application in a case study on the right to health, Ebola, and burial practices in West Africa. As these approaches aim to integrate local norms with universal human rights, their application in a case study enables a critical assessment of whether the coexistence and interaction of different normative orders may help to more effectively implement human rights standards in a given context
Editor-In-Chief Address
No full textWelcome to the St. Thomas Law Review\u27s Volume 30 Anniversary Issue. It is with great pride that the St. Thomas Law Review declares this historic issue as the Voice of the Voiceless. Charged with a great task, the Articles Selection Committee\u27 prudently and meticulously selected articles that highlight controversial topics that have been the subject of debate within the media and legal community. But it was not just controversial topics that the Committee sought. More importantly, the Committee\u27s focus was on articles that provided a voice to unrepresented and underrepresented groups: the voiceless. Accordingly, the articles included in this issue symbolize unity and empathy in a time when division and hatred seem to prevail. It is our sincere hope that this issue will not only educate others but also inspire others to be the voice for the poor, children, minorities, prisoners, and all other groups that have been marginalized so that they, and others like them, will no longer be silenced. Rather, their voices will resound loudly, knocking down every barrier that ever stood in their way. It is only then we can finally hear them
A Right Without a Remedy: Time Runs Out Before the Right to File Accrues for Successive Habeas Corpus Petitioners
No full textAn inscription on the walls of the Department of Justice states the proposition candidly for the federal domain: \u27The United States wins its point whenever justice is done its citizens in the courts. The importance that finality of convictions has on our society comes only second to ensuring that those who were convicted and sentenced were treated fairly. The availability of post-conviction relief to prisoners is a vital function of our criminal justice system, not as a means of loopholes criminals can use to be set free, but to ensure that all of our citizens are treated justly and within the bounds of our Constitution. [W]hen is it fair to give defendants whose cases were settled long ago the benefit of a new Supreme Court decision, versus when is it fair ... to leave old cases \u27final\u27 even when the law changes later on constitutional grounds? This Comment discusses the conflicting policies that surround the availability of habeas corpus relief to federal prisoners. First, this Comment will provide a brief background of habeas corpus, its governing statute of limitations, and the retroactivity requirement as interpreted by the Supreme Court. Second, this Comment will explain that this interpretation of the retroactivity requirement created a right without a remedy to successive habeas corpus petitioners. Next, this Comment will briefly outline and then dismiss the main policy arguments that favor finality of convictions over their fairness. And lastly, this Comment will propose a solution to the retroactivity problem by calling upon Congress to amend the statute in a way that will provide the relief it intended, or, in the alternative, by asking the Supreme Court to allow successive habeas corpus petitions to be equitably tolled until the Supreme Court expressly decides whether each new rule of law is applicable retroactively to cases on collateral review
The Shell Game: An Easy Hide-and-Go-Seek Game for Criminals around the World
No full textThis Comment explores how the laws of the United States facilitate the formation of anonymous shell corporations, how criminals take advantage of these laws, and how the United States is in dire need of a change. Part I of this Comment discussed the legitimate and illicit uses of shell corporations by weighing the interests of corporate owners and their need for shell corporations and the potential risks that shell corporations pose to the United States. Part II of this Comment outlines the legislative efforts to regulate anonymity and discusses why the current laws and proposed legislation are ineffective. Part III of this Comment identifies the problems caused by the ineffectiveness of the current incorporation laws by giving key examples of criminality linked to shell corporations and discussing how these laws have facilitated the purported crimes. Part III of this Comment also identifies the loopholes in the proposed legislation. Part IV of this Comment presents a solution to these problems by proposing an amendment to the proposed legislation to include a high-security database for storing beneficial ownership information at the time of incorporation (available only to law enforcement agencies and financial institutions), which would eliminate the current loopholes. Finally, Part V of this Comment concludes with a summary of the main points discussed herein
Black and Poor: The Grave Consequences of Utah v. Strieff
No full textThis Comment brings reconciliation between the majority and minority opinions in Strieff by proposing a solution that will uphold Fourth Amendment rights and public safety. Part II explores the Fourth Amendment by tracing the origins of the exclusionary rule, and then discusses the Court\u27s first step in undermining constitutional rights in Terry v. Ohio. Part III discusses the Court\u27s trend of weakening Fourth Amendment rights and provides an in-depth analysis of the impact its most recent Fourth Amendment ruling, Strieff will have on Blacks and lower socioeconomic citizens. Part IV provides a comprehensive solution, suggesting a warrant hierarchy system that will alleviate the disparate impact that Strieff will cause. Part V concludes by explaining that the Court has weakened the exclusionary rule and should adopt the warrant hierarchy system in order to curb the grave effects of Strieff