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Judith A.M. Scully, Eugenics, in Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court of the United States (David Spinoza Tanenhaus ed., Macmillan Reference Books, 2008)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
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Judith A.M. Scully, Rotten Apple or Rotten Barrel?: The Role of Civil Rights Lawyers in Ending the Culture of Police Violence, 21 Nat'l Black L.J. 137 (2008)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
This article addresses the problem of police violence that is persistent in American society and argues, despite the prevalence of police misconduct in general and police violence in particular, the predominant belief is that police violence is a rare occurrence and that “good” policing is the rule and police violence and corruption is the exception. From this perspective police officers who engage in illegal and/or violent activities represent a “few bad apples” and therefore their violent and corrupt actions are viewed as an anomaly for which the police force cannot be held accountable. This article contends, contrary to the view that violence in policing is a matter of a “few bad apples,” that violence is part of the institutional culture of policing and is therefore a function of a “rotten barrel.”
Part I of the article argues that violence is not a phenomena engaged in by a “few bad apples” but rather it is a phenomena that is embraced as a valuable part of police culture. No longer do police officers primarily view themselves as those who “serve and protect,” but rather view themselves as warriors in a battle against crime. This mentality results in violent actions on the part of the police.
Part II of the article examines the major legal recourse for addressing police violence; specifically Section 1983 civil rights litigation. Section 1983 civil rights litigation provides a means of legal redress for victims of police violence, but the author argues this remedy is ineffective because lawyers file cases against individual officers and fail to recognize patterns of violence among groups of officers. Further, it is maintained that offending officers who violate individuals’ civil rights generally return to their jobs only to continue similar acts of violence and to train inexperienced officers that the behavior is accepted and condoned by the police administration. It is contended that this pattern of aggressive policing fosters a cycle of condoned violence, which further supports the “rotten barrel” of police culture.
Part III of the article explores this phenomena by using the case of Jon Burge, the author discusses one of the most infamous examples of police violence and torture and delineates the violent and inhumane actions of Commander Jon Burger and the Area 2 police detectives in the city of Chicago, which resulted in over 150 African American men having been tortured within twenty years. The Jon Burge case is used to urge civil rights attorneys to work with community organizers, elected officials, criminal defense attorney, prosecutors, cooperating, police officials, the media, and members of the international community to effectuate meaningful change to eliminate police violence.
In Part IV of the article the author contends that community and human rights activists and attorneys must pursue alternative means to address and alleviate police misconduct and violence, asserts that it is imperative that civil rights attorneys embrace and involve the community to fight police violence and misconduct, states that lawyers must generate constant dialogue within the community and community groups to educate them about the issues of police misconduct and violence and to empower the community to think of these issues in terms of human decency and human rights, and maintains that lawyers can also demand police accountability through international agencies such as the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the United Nations Committee Against Torture, and the United Nations Human Rights Committee.
The article concludes with the argument that it is difficult to fight police violence through litigation alone. The author asserts that instead of litigation, lawyers and activists committed to social justice must fight their battles not only in the courtroom but in the community; and they must use their legal skills to empower members of the community to act on their own behalf. The author also contends that a consciousness of the limitations of U.S. law and a willingness to use legal skills outside the courtroom is necessary to effectuate permanent change in the policing culture and towards social justice.
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Judith A.M. Scully, Slavery by Another Name: The Laws Governing Black People in the State of Illinois (2008)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
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Elizabeth Ippolito Boals et al., Reflections: The Honorable Irma S. Raker — Judge, Teacher and Role Model, 57 Am. U. L. Rev. 1563 (2008)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
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Paul Boudreaux, Covert Opinion: Revealing a New Interpretation of Environmental Laws, 9 Vermont Journal of Envtl. L. 239 (2008)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
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Rebecca C. Morgan, Future of Elder Law & Conclusion, in Theories on Law & Aging (Springer Publications, 2008)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
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Brooke J. Bowman, Research Across the Curriculum: The Road Must Continue Beyond the First Year, 61 Oklahoma Law Review 503 (2008)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
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D. Benjamin Barros, Natural Selection as a Mechanism, 75 Philosophy of Science 306 (2008)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
Skipper and Millstein (2005) argued that existing conceptions of mechanisms failed to "get at" natural selection, but left open the possibility that a refined conception of mechanisms could resolve the problems that they identified. I respond to Skipper and Millstein, and argue that while many of their points have merit, their objections can be overcome and that natural selection can be characterized as a mechanism. In making this argument, I discuss the role of regularity in mechanisms, and develop an account of stochastic (i.e., probabilistic) mechanisms. Explaining the phenomenon of adaptation through the mechanism of natural selection illustrates the power and flexibility of using mechanistic strategies to explain natural phenomena.
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Luz Estella Nagle, Colombia’s Incursion into Ecuadorian Territory: Justified Hot Pursuit or Pugnacious Error?, 17 J. Transnat'l L. & Pol'y 359 (2008)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.
On March 1, 2008, Colombian military forces launched a cross-border airstrike and ground operation into Ecuador to attack a jungle encampment occupied by high ranking members of the Colombian guerrilla army known as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). The specific target of the air attack was Luis Edgar Devia Silva, aka Raul Reyes, the FARC’s number two in command and one of Latin America’s longest enduring guerrilla leaders. Reyes and several cohorts were killed. The Colombian forces retrieved Reyes’ body and forensic evidence, including his laptop computer, and retreated back across the frontier, leaving the Ecuadorian military to deal with the aftermath and attend to a lone survivor.
The raid sparked a regional crisis that resulted in Ecuadorian and Venezuelan military mobilizations along their borders with Colombia. Colombia’s President, Alvaro Uribe, justified the incursion into Ecuadorian territory as an operation of "hot pursuit," an international legal doctrine that allows a nation to give chase across an international frontier in order to capture a rebel force attempting to escape to safe haven in a neighboring country. The justification quickly unraveled, however, when evidence of the actual attack indicated that those in the FARC camp were in bed sleeping at the time of the airstrike on the site, and that the force that went into Colombia on the ground was a clean-up operation rather than an offensive operation.
Although the crisis was resolved two weeks later at a Latin American summit, issues remain over international law doctrines such as hot pursuit, preemptive and anticipatory self defense, and use of the Bush Doctrine by other nations for purposes of crossing into another country’s territory to pursue combatants involved in an internal armed conflict. This article examines the international law issues surrounding Colombia’s actions and its justifications in the face of harsh international reactions.
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Kelly Feeley, Hear a Song-Write a Wrong: Poor Grammar in Song Lyrics: An Old and New Enemy to Clear and Succinct Legal Writing, Scrivener 4 (2008)Clicking on the button will copy the full recommended citation.