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The Racist Roots of the Death Penalty
No full textPublished in Inquest, a publication of the Institute to End Mass Incarceration.
Adapted from The Slow Death of the Death Penalty: Toward a Postmortem, edited by Todd C. Peppers, Jamie Almallen and Mary Welek Atwell, reprinted with permission from NYU Press
Secure 2.0\u27s Automatic Enrollment Provisions and Their Potentially Detrimental Effect on Undocumented Immigrants
No full textThe SECURE 2.0 Act of 2022 significantly expands retirement plan participation through automatic enrollment mandates, a policy aimed at improving financial security for American workers. However, these provisions may create unintended hardships for undocumented immigrant workers, who constitute between 4.4% to 5.4% of the U.S. labor force. This Note examines how automatic enrollment, default contribution rates, and current distribution requirements may create financial and legal hardships for undocumented workers lacking valid Social Security Numbers (SSNs) or Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers (ITINs). The analysis explores the uncertain legal status of undocumented workers under the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA), as well as administrative challenges associated with accessing retirement funds upon job loss, retirement, detention, or deportation. Additionally, this Note considers the potential for increased abandoned or lost retirement accounts among undocumented participants and evaluates potential legislative and administrative reforms to mitigate these issues. Proposals include clarifying ERISA protections for undocumented workers, strengthening retirement plan notice requirements, ensuring retirement savings access, waiving penalties for Required Minimum Distribution (RMD) failures due to immigration-related barriers, and establishing confidentiality safeguards within the Department of Labor’s new Retirement Savings Lost and Found Database that mirror Internal Revenue Code § 6103. By addressing these concerns, policymakers can uphold retirement security for all workers contributing to the American economy while safeguarding vulnerable immigrant communities from unintended financial consequences
Remarks on the 20th Anniversary of the Founding of the District of Columbia Access to Justice Commission
No full textI\u27m very excited to be here and honored that you invited me to be one of the speakers for this very timely and amazing symposium. I\u27m especially excited because you\u27re also recognizing the 20th anniversary of the District of Columbia\u27s Access to Justice Commission. The topic of the symposium is the evolution of the legal profession, A Different World. Looking at the phoenix on the UDC Law school logo, the flames are really appropriate now when we talk about the evolution of the legal world with all the technological developments and other interesting issues that we confront.
First, I want to start by saying how good it feels to be back here at the UDC David A. Clarke School of Law. As some of you know, I had the privilege of teaching here for a number of years during the summers. My husband and I both taught professional responsibility. The students here are dynamic and your faculty and Dean are amazing. I also see one of your many illustrious professors here in the front, Professor John Brittain
Why Top Law Schools Have Fewer Women Law Professors
No full textCountless individuals have made remarkable strides in advancing equality, but the work is far from over, especially for women in the legal field. Iowa set an early precedent by admitting Arabella Mansfield to the bar in 1869, and pioneers like Ellen Spencer Mussey and Emma Gillett became the first American women law instructors in 1896. Yet, despite these breakthroughs, systemic barristers persisted. Dr. Eleanor T. Glueck, despite attending law school in 1928 to research criminology and holding a doctorate in education, was never able to hold a teaching position. Between 1900 and 1945, only three women secured tenure or held tenure-track positions at an AALS law school. It wasn’t until 1967 that sex discrimination in law school hiring was explicitly prohibited under federal law by Lyndon B. Johnson’ s Executive Order 11375. Even then, informal hiring practices in the 1970s continued to exclude women from faculty positions. As late as 2003, only 17% of the tenured faculty at Harvard was female
Standard of Proof in Child Welfare Cases
No full textThe lack of federal standards at the most crucial decision points of child welfare cases allows agencies across the country charged with ensuring the safety of children to abuse their authority by overregulating and policing Black and Brown families while interfering with their constitutional right to family integrity. Throughout this paper, I will share my experiences working in child welfare. Since 2001, I have worked with children and families in various roles involving the child welfare system. Over the course of my career, I have worked with children in foster care, providing therapeutic services as a case manager working with families toward reunification, and in child protective services as an investigator, supervisor, and program manager. I have spent the last 21 years have been spent working in Kansas and the District of Columbia (D.C.). Section II of this paper will discuss the history of family rights in the context of child welfare as identified by the courts. Section III focuses on the disproportionate impact the child welfare system continues to have on families of color. Section IV discusses the challenges that families face as a result of being substantiated as a maltreater of abuse or neglect. Section V reviews the differences between court adjudication and child welfare agencies\u27 substantiation. Section VI brings attention to the dissolution of the family unit by permanently terminating parental rights. Further, Section VI examines how the current standards of proof at various stages of a child welfare case allow agencies to interfere with the right to family integrity. Lastly, Section VII will identify solutions to restructure the child welfare system while aligning the state’s interest in protecting the child and the family\u27s constitutional rights to make decisions regarding the care of their children