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Keeping More than One Fish in the Sea: Why the Magnuson-Stevens Act Should Be Reauthorized
Full text linkThe American fishing industry has long been an important part of the economy. In time, overfishing led to restrictions on the industry through the Magnuson-Stevens Act. However, the Act has led to severe curtailments on fishing that have severely hampered the industry. This caused particular harm to the Northeast, resulting in a federally declared fishing disaster. This Note argues that the recently proposed revisions to the Magnuson-Stevens Act allow for a balance between protecting our oceans and allowing the fishing industry to thrive again. This would help the Northeast fishing industry properly recover while preventing any further tragedies of the common in the region
State as Abuser
Full text linkThis article proposes that the concept and language of coercive control provides helpful ways to describe, frame, and mediate the tactics used by the Family Regulation System to control and regulate families. This work enters current conversations about the Family Regulation System and makes two important interventions. First, much of the way scholars and activists define the harm they see and preface their calls for reform or abolition is based on an analysis of the social and political injustices perpetuated by a system designed to privilege class, ableism, whiteness, and heteronormative living arrangements. The analysis, then, is one that considers how the Family Regulation System imposes itself on a class or community of people—most notably communities of Black and brown families—and is part of the web of systemic subordinating forces. This project aims to enter the conversation at an additional tack, engaging critiques of institutions and systems but also moving to the individual and the interpersonal to define the ways in which the Family Regulation System harms the families it serves.
Secondly, this project posits that the Family Regulation System, as designed and as operationalized, is an abuser. The Family Regulation System shares elements of the patriarchal scaffolding that invites violence in relationships; more specifically, the particularized regime of dominance and subordination known as coercive control in the domestic violence field is evident in the relationships created by the Family Regulation System. The concept of coercive control is one that arises from the study of, and advocacy against, domestic violence, and much of the concept is situated in feminist scholarship about the sociology of abuse generally. When social scientists and advocates first identified and fully articulated the concept of coercive control in the domestic violence arena, it led to important responses that helped the targets of coercively controlled relationships. Further, the language and naming in and of itself proved to be empowering to targets of coercive control who felt seen and understood. The hope herein is that clarifying the normative claim that the Family Regulation System is coercive, with precision about the means and mechanisms of that abuse, will be similarly liberating for families ensnared in the Family Regulation System while also supporting calls for reform that serve to dismantle, or at least diminish, the brutal power hierarchy between families and agents of the Family Regulation System.
Recommended Citation: Claire P. Donohue, State as Abuser, 20 U. MASS. L. REV. 44 (2025)
Behind Bars, Beyond Justice: A Case for Expanding Occupational Safety and Health and Workers’ Compensation to the United States’ Vulnerable Workers
Full text linkIncarcerated workers in the United States endure hazardous working conditions with the fundamental protections afforded to civilian workers. Despite contributing extensively to the national economy, incarcerated individuals are largely excluded from occupational safety and health regulations as well as workers’ compensation benefits. This Note examines the historical and legal landscape of prison labor, highlighting the structural disadvantages that deprive incarcerated workers from receiving proper protection. It argues for extending occupational safety standards and worker’s compensation to incarcerated workers, emphasizing the economic and rehabilitative benefits of such reforms. Additionally, it explores the barriers incarcerated workers face in seeking redress for workplace injuries and underscores the ethical and legal imperatives for reform. Ultimately, this Note advocates for legislative and judicial changes to ensure that incarcerated laborers receive basic workplace protections in accordance with broader principles of justice and human rights.
Recommended citation: Tyler Grant, Behind Bars, Beyond Justice: A Case for Expanding Occupational Safety and Health and Workers’ Compensation to the United States’ Vulnerable Workers, 20 U. MASS. L. REV. 191 (2025)
Ritual Encounters in Sixteenth-Century Brazil: The Spiritual Politics of Baptism, Plant Use, and Healing in Jesuit Missionary Writings
Full text linkABSTRACT: Jesuit missionary encounters with Indigenous healers and spiritual leaders, known as the pajé or caraíba in Tupi, resulted in a cross-cultural exchange that often centered on the spiritual politics of baptism, ritual plant use, and the religious authority to heal in sixteenth-century coastal Brazil. Writings of prominent missionaries operating in the region, including Fernão Cardim and José de Anchieta, show that the power to heal, or to cause death via ritual contact, became central to Jesuit conversion efforts. This correlation did not go unnoticed, becoming a cause for alarm among native populations. Through an analysis of the cross-cultural ritual exchange at the nexus of baptism and death, this essay highlights the way in which Tupi peoples integrated Christian ritual practices into their own socio-spiritual frameworks, evident in the incorporation of baptism into native rituals practiced by santidades, precontact religious formations that morphed into native-led resistance movements.
KEYWORDS: sorcery; santidade; Tupi; Jesuits
RESUMO: Os encontros, na costa do Brasil no século XVI, entre missionários jesuítas e curandeiros e líderes espirituais indígenas, conhecidos como pajé ou caraíba em Tupi, resultaram num intercâmbio cultural que frequentemente se centrou na política espiritual do batismo, no uso ritual de plantas e na autoridade religiosa para curar. Escritos de missionários proeminentes que operavam na região, incluindo Fernão Cardim e José de Anchieta, mostram como o poder de curar, ou de causar a morte através do ritual, se tornou central nos esforços de conversão dos jesuítas. Algo que não passou despercebido, sendo uma causa de alarme entre as populações nativas. Através de uma análise do nexo entre batismo e morte no intercâmbio ritual intercultural, este ensaio destaca a maneira como os povos Tupi incorporaram práticas cristãs em seus próprios contextos socio-espirituais, em particular na adoção do batismo em rituais nativos praticados por santidades, formações religiosas pré-contacto que acabaram por se transformar em movimentos de resistência nativos.
PALAVRAS-CHAVES: Feitiçaria, Santidade, Tupi, Jesuíta
What About the Victims? Domestic Violence, Hearsay, and the Confrontation Clause in the Aftermath of Davis v. Washington
Full text linkThis article analyzes the Sixth Amendment right to confrontation, admission of hearsay statements, and the effect of the Davis decision on the prosecution of domestic violence cases. Part II discusses the history of the Confrontation Clause. Part III discusses hearsay prior to Crawford. Parts IV, V, and VI discuss the landmark cases Crawford v. Washington, Commonwealth v. Gonsalves, and Davis v. Washington, respectively, with regard to whether statements made to police are admissible when the declarant is not available to testify at trial. The reasons why the Supreme Court’s extension of the Confrontation Clause is unwarranted are contained in Part VII. The comparison of effective law enforcement and individual liberty is discussed in Part VIII with emphasis on constitutional rights and the functions of the police. Part IX discusses the use of expert testimony in domestic violence cases. Part X addresses the Forfeiture by Wrongdoing Doctrine in response to the Court’s suggested use of this hearsay exception. The article concludes in Part XI with a hypothetical case that could cause the Davis decision to change
The Efficacy of Indefinite Detention: Assessment of Immigration Case Law in Kiyemba v. Obama
Full text linkThis note discusses the potential indefinite detention, also called preventative detention, of the Uighur detainees. Until early 2010, the U.S. Government had been unable to resettle seventeen Uighurs for over 5 years. In 2009, the Supreme Court, granted certiorari on the issue of whether federal courts have the authority to ―order the release of prisoners held at Guantanamo Bay \u27where the Executive detention is indefinite and without authorization in law, and release into the continental United States is the only possible effective remedy.‘ However, on March 1, 2010, the Supreme Court vacated and remanded the case to the United States Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit (hereinafter “Circuit Court II”) after each detainee had “received at least one offer of resettlement in another country.
The Science Behind Breath Testing for Ethanol
Full text linkNationwide, law enforcement officers utilize breath-test machines to identify suspected drunk drivers. When defense attorneys represent a client who has been charged with alcohol related driving crimes, it is important to understand the science and methodology behind alcohol breath-testing, and specifically the functionality of the device used to test their client. This article explains the various methods of testing and types of devices used, as well as their effectiveness, by examining the scientific principles associated with common testin measures. This article serves as an aid to the practicing attorney who, by understanding the science and methodology of breath-testing, will be better situated to assist defendants facing breath-test evidence
Social Networking and Student Safety: Balancing Student First Amendment Rights and Disciplining Threatening Speech
No full textAs the use of social media increases and becomes an integral part of nearly every student\u27s life, problems arise when student expression on these sites turns into threats against the school or other students, implicating both student safety and the speaker\u27s right to free speech. Facing a lack of Supreme Court precedent, school officials need guidance on whether and how to take action when a student makes threats on social network - how to prevent any danger at school while respecting the student\u27s right to free speech. This note develops an approach that combines the Supreme Court\u27s Watts "true threat" test and its Tinker "substancial disruption" test. It provides guidance by arguing that schools should be free to take liberal action on student speech to prevent danger at school, and lays out the model procedure. Schools that follow this procedure can respond to threatening student speech without infringing a student\u27s First Amendment rights