It has become almost universal practice for countries to adopt formal constitutions. Little is known empirically, however, about the evolution of this practice on a global scale. Are constitutions unique and defining statements of national aspiration and identity? Or are they standardized documents that vary only at the margins, in predictable and patterned ways? Are constitutions becoming increasingly similar or dissimilar over time, or is there no discernible overall pattern to their development? Until very recently, scholars have lacked even basic empirical data on the content of the world's constitutions, much less an understanding of whether there are global patterns to that content.

As a society, we have been largely indifferent to the prevalence of male rape victimization. In the prison context, we dismiss it as par for the course, as "just deserts," or worse yet, as a rarely stated but widely known component of deterrence. We treat prisons as invisible zones, as zones without law, as zones that need not concern us. Outside the prison context, our response is no better. We tell ourselves male rape victimization is a rarity, or perhaps something that only happens to gay men. In short, we render male victim rape invisible, or at least un-articulable. This Article renders male victim rape visible.

The Los Angeles County Men's Jail segregates gay and transgender inmates and says that it does so to protect them from sexual assault. But not all gay and transgender inmates qualify for admission to the K6G unit. Transgender inmates must appear transgender to staff that inspect them. Gay men must identify as gay in a public space and then satisfactorily answer a series of cultural questions designed to determine whether they really are gay. This policy creates harms for those who are excluded, including vulnerable heterosexual and bisexual men, men who have sex with men but do not embrace gay identity, and gay-identified men who do not mimic white, affluent gay culture. Further, the policy harms those who are included in that it stereotypes them as inherent victims, exposes them to a heightened risk of HIV transmission, and disrupts relationships that cut across gender identity and sexual orientation. Thus, this Article casts doubt on the claim that the policy is intended to and actually protects gay and transgender inmates. Moreover, it interrogates the Jail's failure to protect many other categories of inmates who have been shown to be vulnerable to sexual assault in jails, including those who are young, first-time offenders and those with disabilities. The Jail's policy ultimately reflects and reinforces problematic social assumptions about masculinity, including the notion that gay men are not "real men."

Read Professor Emens response in the Circuit here and Professor Boucai's response in the Circuit here.

On many Indian reservations throughout the country, the federal government is the only sovereign empowered to prosecute serious felonies. Consequently Native Americans are disproportionately exposed to lengthy federal sentences. Because the federal government controls these cases, tribal sovereigns lack the local control over criminal law and policy that states enjoy.

Under the federal sentencing guidelines, each federal crime has an offense level that can go up or down depending on the crime's circumstances. Combined with a defendant's criminal history, the final level determines the range of sentences recommended under the guidelines. I propose that tribes alone decide offense levels for crimes committed in Indian country. This proposal aims to (1) enhance tribal sovereignty over on-reservation violence and thereby provide tribes with experience regulating felonies; (2) increase respect among tribal governments and their members for federal criminal prosecutions; and (3) decrease the racial sentencing disparity between Indians and non-Indians.