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Taxation and Reducing Recidivism: A Legal Comparative Analysis of Reducing Recidivism in States and a Federal Solution for the Future
No full textoai:digitalcommons.law.udc.edu:udclr-1004In this article, we will focus on employer-based tax incentives for hiring ex-offenders. Central to the discussion will be the Work Opportunity Tax Credit ( WOTC ), which provides a tax credit to employers who hire qualified employees/ex-offenders under the program. Additionally, we will explore various state programs modeled on a tax-based incentive and conduct a comparative assessment of where federal and state programs are effective and where there is potential for reform. Without targeted policy solutions to address employment obstacles, ex-offenders are left facing persistent employment barriers as they attempt to return to their communities and start a new life after incarceration
The Eviction Geography of New Orleans: An Empirical Study to Further Housing Justice
No full textLow-income tenants in the U.S. have weak bargaining power as well as limited housing and mobility options in the housing market. With no enforceable right to housing, tenants are stuck-quite literally in the case of uninhabitable property - in unsafe and unhealthy living conditions. Poverty and economic instability make it challenging for tenants either to leave or to force repairs to substandard rental units. The author completed an empirical study of eviction cases in New Orleans in order to quantify the problem of evictions, learn more about where evictions occur throughout the municipality, and better understand who is evicted. The author\u27s study was anchored by her experience representing tenants through her law clinic teaching practice. The author embarked on the empirical study as a participatory research endeavor in collaboration with a local community group whose organizational mission centers on affordable housing. Using the court\u27s responses to the author\u27s public records requests and incollaboration with two social scientists the author mapped the eviction geography of New Orleans through quantitative analysis of eviction cases in the Parish of Orleans ( Orleans )². The Court data did not itself contain demographic information linked to evictions. Rather, geography, understood from U.S. Census Bureau block group information on race, gender, and poverty, serve as a proxy for that data. The data set of cases that resulted in Judgments of Eviction covers the bulk of Orleans from March 2015 through January 2017
An Overview of Industrial Hemp Law in the United States
No full textSince the writing of this note, the Agricultural Improvement Act of 2018 (the Farm Bill ) was signed into law by President Trump on December 20, 2018. Thus, the note below does not account for the passage of the Farm Bill and resulting change in federal law. What follows is a brief summary of sections of the Farm Bill and its relation to hemp: The Farm Bill legalizes hemp by defining it as an agricultural commodity under federal law. Removed from this new definition of hemp, are the parts of the cannabis plant that make it illegal under the Controlled Substances Act of 1970. As a result, hemp is effectively treated like any other agricultural product under federal law. Once the Farm Bill is in effect, hemp farmers can legally import and export hemp throughout the United States and participate in U.S. Department of Agriculture programs such as low-cost crop insurance. This will empower the U.S. Department of Agriculture to create restrictions on hemp cultivation. States could enact hemp regulations so long as these newly enacted regulations comply with federal law and do not prohibit the transportation or shipment of hemp within the United States. However, States are not limited in the level of punishment that can be imposed on hemp producers, even in the case of negligent violations
Reframing Radical Religion
No full textLike a thief in the night,1 politicians have stolen religion for their deceptive vices, using the term “radicalization” or “terrorism” to meet their needs.2 See Sahar F. Aziz, Caught in a Preventive Dragnet: Selective Counterterrorism in a Post-9/11 America, 47 GONZ. L. REV. 429, 481 (2012) (discussing how a police report equates “Muslim religiosity with radicalization toward terrorism”); David A. Bosworth, American Crusade: The Religious Roots of the War on Terror, 7 BARRY L. REV. 65, 65 (2006) (noting that American news and popular culture often portray religious people as “narrow-minded bigots out to destroy everything good and decent”); Ned Ryun, After NYC Terror Attack, Let’s Use Common Sense to Protect Ourselves from Radical Islamic Terrorists, FOX NEWS (Nov. 3, 2017), https://www.foxnews.com/opinion/afternyc-terror-attack-lets-use-common-sense-to-protect-ourselves-from-radical-islamic-terrorists [https://perma. cc/Q7XK-5LZH] (describing Muslim people as radical and terrorists to advance a conservative agenda). They have snatched the power of the church, synagogue, and mosque by framing religion as an attack on American ideals.3 See Amara S. Chaudhry-Kravitz, The New Facially Neutral “Anti-Shariah” Bills: A Constitutional Analysis, 20 WASH. & LEE J. CIV. RTS. & SOC. JUST. 25, 33 (2013) (describing the American Public Policy Alliance’s efforts to portray Islamic Shariah Law); Richard M. Esenberg, You Cannot Lose if You Choose Not to Play: Toward a More Modest Establishment Clause, 12 ROGER WILLIAMS L. REV. 1, 2 (2006) (noting modern liberals tend to see religion as something to be placed on the “sidelines of public life”) (citation omitted); https://advance.lexis.com/api/ document/collection/analytical-materials/id/4N6N-DY80-00CV-X053-00000-00?cite=12%20Roger%20Williams %20U.%20L.%20Rev.%201&context=1000516; Ryun, supra note 2 (claiming “accurate language” requires stating the United States has “suffered violent assaults in the name of Islam”). Words matter. The social constructs associated with “radicalization” and “terrorism” matter even more because the terms have been used to justify discriminatory policies and surveillance practices using the pretext of national security.4 See Cyra Akila Choudhury, Shari’ah Law as National Security Threat?, 46 AKRON L. REV. 49, 92 (2013); Hilal Elver, Racializing Islam Before and After 9/11: From Melting Pot to Islamophobia, 21 TRANSNAT’L L. & CONTEMP. PROBS. 119, 144 (2012); Hugh Handeyside, Leaked DHS Report Uses Junk Science to Argue for Surveillance of Muslims, ACLU (Feb. 7, 2018, 3:15 PM), https://www.aclu.org/blog/ national-security/discriminatory-profiling/leaked-dhs-report-uses-junk-science-argue [https://perma.cc/ Y2BA-X4HT]. Masking government discrimination with security concerns is nothing new. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) responded to the Black Panthers with the Counter-Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO),5 an initiative designed to infiltrate Black organizations and subvert leadership.6 By framing Black leaders as threats to national security, the FBI gained support to arrest, prosecute, and, in some instances, kill Black Panther, Nation of Islam, and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) members.
Through a framing theory lens, this Article explores the legal ramifications of fabricated frames. I argue that framing Muslims as a national security threat and then asking the “good” Muslims to fight the War on Terrorism relegates religion to hidden spaces and places White nationalism in the forefront. Stigmatizing Muslims as terrorists also emboldens xenophobia, racism, and hate crimes.24 Equally significant, by justifying statutes and policies as tools in the War on Terrorism, the executive and legislative branches garner widespread public support and judicial protections for policies that continue to adversely and disproportionately affect Muslims.25 I pursue this theory in six parts. Part II examines the various ways Islam is framed within the national security dialogue. This analysis includes analogizing the terrorism frame to how African Americans are portrayed in social narratives about crime and public safety. Part III provides background on social science’s framing theory and the way framing influences behavior, including how fabricated frames are used to justify self-interests. In Part IV, I assess the effects of weaponized language. Specifically, Part IV analyzes the nexus between animus frames and the enactment of the Muslim Ban,26 the USA PATRIOT Act,27 and the NSEERS.28 This section also considers the correlation between animus frames and hate crimes against African Americans, Muslims, and those perceived to be Muslim. Part V offers strategies to reclaim religion and counter the anti-Islam terrorist narrative
The Intersection of Race, Bond, and Crimmigration in the United States Immigration Detention System
No full textThe United States ( U.S. ) Supreme Court\u27s recent decision in Jennings v. Rodriguez\u27 has potentially opened another avenue for people of color to become entangled in the U.S.\u27 predatory immigration system, through the denial of bail hearings. Denial of periodic bond hearings ensures that many detainees in immigration facilities will be held indefinitely until these detainees\u27 cases are adjudicated. In Jennings, the Court held that detained aliens do not have a right to periodic bond hearings even if they are detained for prolonged periods of time, due to the language of the mandatory and discretionary detention statutes at §§ 1225(b)(1)-(2) and §§ 1226(a),(c) of the Immigration and Nationality Act.2 This holding perpetuates the U.S.\u27 tradition of immigration laws having an overwhelmingly negative effect of mass incarceration and criminalization on people ofcolor.
