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Gendered Shades of Property: A Status Check on Gender, Race & Property
Get PDFThis article explores the relationship between gender, race and property.Women in the United States continue to be economically disadvantaged, and women of color are even more disadvantaged. This article will open with a review of laws, past and present, which have shaped women\u27s rights to own, manage and transfer property. It will then provide a status check of where women, including women of color, stand in the United States relative to the rest of the population vis-a-vis income and other indicators of economic well-being. The article will then discuss why economic inequality persists, trotting out the usual reasons of discrimination and women\u27s individual choice, and a number of less frequently discussed reasons. It will also question the validity of some typical justifications for the economic gap. The article closes by suggesting possibilities for decreasing the economic gap between men and women in the future
The Ethics of Moral Character Determination: An Indeterminate Ethical Reflection upon Bar Admissions
Get PDFESSAY: Training a New Breed of Lawyer: California Western\u27s Advanced Mediation Program in Juvenile Hall
Get PDFDon\u27t Believe Everything You Read: A Review of Modern Post-Conviction DNA Testing Statutes
Get PDFAn Ounce of Prevention is a Poor Substitute for a Pound of Cure: Confronting the Developing Jurisprudence of Education and Prevention in Employment Discrimination Law
Get PDFThis article challenges a widely shared conviction that has had a tremendous impact on employer practices and, most recently, on employment discrimination jurisprudence. More specifically, the piece interrogates the belief that employee education can prevent, or at least greatly curb, invidious employment discrimination prohibited by Title VII of the Civil Rights Act and other civil rights statutes. This premise, broadly held and rarely questioned, has spawned a multi-billion dollar sexual harassment and diversity training industry staffed by consultants, attorneys, and human resource professionals, who offer programs aimed at litigation prevention. Yet, there is absolutely no empirical support for the premise behind the instruction - that it fosters employee tolerance and greatly alters workplace culture.
Even more troubling is the Supreme Court\u27s recent embrace of anti-discrimination training as a doctrinal and jurisprudential component of Title VII\u27s substantive law. Landmark opinions in 1998 and 1999 make clear the Court\u27s vision of Title VII as expressly encouraging personnel policy creation and employee educational efforts. In short, the Court has elevated anti-discrimination training to the level of an affirmative defense in sexual harassment cases and a mechanism for limiting damages in discrimination cases where punitive damages are sought.
Focusing on what little is known of the effects on employees of sexual harassment and diversity training, the article questions the wisdom of a reflexive and undiscerning view of these employer efforts by the Court and the legal profession as a whole. Unlike the legal profession, social scientists are disturbed by the glaring lack of empirical research on the effects of anti-discrimination training and urge caution in the endorsement of such programs. The dearth of program outcome research is dangerous for two reasons. First, preventative programs, even when adopted with the best of intentions, can have negative effects. Second, providing training gives the impression that something is being done, lulling managers and others into a false sense of security. An ineffective educational program, however, may not reduce the incidence of workplace bias in the least.
Beyond these important concerns, however, is the larger question of the significance of the developing jurisprudence of education and prevention in employment discrimination law. There is a disturbing trend in civil rights law toward acceptance of legal compliance in form rather than substance. An uncritical embrace of anti-discrimination training runs the risk of further facilitating that trend. At stake is the ultimate shape and composition of the post-affirmative action workplace. If equality is to be more than cosmetic - indeed, if employment discrimination law\u27s preventative purpose is to be fulfilled - courts must look beyond symbols to determine whether the environment in which a plaintiff worked was actually discriminatory. The symbolic gestures of employers in providing anti-discrimination training, no matter how well intentioned, are poor substitutes for searching inquiry into the particulars of a given workplace
But You\u27re Not a Dirty Mexican : Internalized Oppression, Latinos & Law
Get PDFThis article will describe internalized oppression and racism and expose the harms they cause. It will also dissect the reasons we engage in internalized oppression and racism and explain that once the reasons are exposed, it will be easier to engage in a conscious effort to reduce and ultimately eradicate internalized oppression and racism. Part II of this article defines internalized oppression and internalized racism and elaborates on ways that they are generally expressed in the Latino community. Part III explains how Latinos\u27 internalized racism is reflected in some areas of the law by detailing both Latinos\u27 support for a number of harmful legislative measures and the actions taken by a Latino school board against other Latinos. Part IV re-imagines Latino identity without internalized oppression and racism and suggests ways to overcome internalized oppression and racism at both the group and individual levels. The article concludes that simultaneous efforts to reduce subordination, while exposing internalized oppression and racism, are the first steps required to alleviate the harm resulting from internalized oppression and racism. The next step is to engage proactively in the self-defining process. Finally, we must collaborate with other antisubordination activists, scholars, and lawmakers and capitalize on our newly self-defined positive identity
