Across the country, police departments are using aggressive, military-style tactics and weapons to enforce the law. More recently, the state of police militarization displayed in cities like Ferguson and Baltimore raises deep questions about the ethics of paramilitary policing and its consequences for minority citizenship and inclusion. This Note examines police militarization as the result […]
When Loving Is Not Enough
Loving v. Virginia is a landmark case that banned antimiscegenation laws over forty years ago. Today, we credit Loving with dismantling legal barriers to interracial relationships. Despite this legacy, the incidence of interracial coupling and multiracial families is still low. Scholars have acknowledged this disconnect and have attributed the low rates of interracial relationships to […]
Stars, Dragons, and the Letter “M”: Consequential Symbols in California Prison Gang Policy
California prison policy relies on symbols to identify prison gang affiliated inmates. This policy leads to many false positives and results in long-term solitary confinement of individuals who, in fact, are not affiliated with any gang at all. This Note examines the evolution of California’s symbol-driven policy, including regulations before 2012, after 2012, and the […]
Access to Justice: Reducing the Implicit Pushback Burden on Working-Class Pro Se Plaintiffs in Employment Law Cases
This Note applies social identity threat literature to the legal context in order to improve access to justice. Social identity threat literature indicates that stereotypes, associations, and similar methods center environments on particular identities. Social identity threat occurs when an individual who does not have the centered identity enters the environment, implicitly perceives marginalization, and […]
Statelessness and Child Marriage as Intersectional Phenomena: Instability, Inequality, and the Role of the International Community
In 2013, the United Nations General Assembly adopted a stand-alone resolution tackling the international problem of child marriage for the first time. Such a historic gesture by the international community was a welcome step, but not necessarily a surprise. Efforts to promote women’s empowerment have rapidly gained traction on the international stage in recent years, […]
When “Disruption” Collides with Accountability: Holding Ridesharing Companies Liable for Acts of Their Drivers
When Uber launched in San Francisco in 2010, it took the city by storm. Here was a high-tech transportation service that seemingly did everything better than taxicabs: it was more convenient, more accessible, more comfortable, and even cheaper in many instances. Uber’s initial success inspired a number of lower-cost, non-professional “ridesharing” options, which have flourished. […]
The Other War at Home: Chronic Nuisance Laws and the Revictimization of Survivors of Domestic Violence
This Note discusses the unlikely intersection of local chronic nuisance ordinances and domestic violence. It posits that chronic nuisance law grants law enforcement, or third parties acting in a police capacity, the ability to revictimize survivors of domestic violence, disproportionately impacting women of color and poor women. Using the example of Lakisha Briggs, a Black […]
When Neurogenetics Hurts: Examining the Use of Neuroscience and Genetic Evidence in Sentencing Decisions Through Implicit Bias
Courts increasingly use neuroscience and genetic evidence (“neurogenetic evidence”) to shed light on various aspects of a defendant’s mental state and behavior. The evidence is particularly prevalent in cases involving defendants with mental illnesses and is used to determine issues of mental capacity, personal responsibility, and treatability. However, using neurogenetic evidence risks framing mental illness […]
Circumventing Concepcion: Conceptualizing Innovative Strategies to Ensure the Enforcement of Consumer Protection Laws in the Age of the Inviolable Class Action Waiver
In the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in AT&T Mobility v. Concepcion, class action waivers have become seemingly invulnerable to attack. Class action attorneys have become dispirited that consumer rights seem impossible to enforce. While the Federal Arbitration Act has been written about at length, this Note adds to that scholarship by proposing several […]
People v. Robinson: Developments and Problems in the Use of John Doe DNA Arrest Warrants
Last year, the California Supreme Court decided People v. Robinson, a case in which the defendant was convicted of rape for an incident that occurred in 1994. DNA evidence gathered at the scene provided extraordinarily persuasive evidence that he was the perpetrator. Despite this evidence, the case was unusual for an important reason: authorities did […]