Since 1993, Supreme Court precedent has asked judges to serve as gatekeepers to their expert witnesses, admitting only reliable scientific testimony. Lacking a strong background in science, however, some judges admit dubious scientific testimony packages by articulate practitioners, while others reject reliable evidence that is unreasonably portrayed as full of holes. Seeking a balance between undue deference and undeserved skepticism, Caudill and LaRue draw on the philosophy of science to help judges, juries, and advocates better understand its goals and limitations. Published in cooperation with The Center for Public Justice.

Since 1993, Supreme Court precedent has asked judges to serve as gatekeepers to their expert witnesses, admitting only reliable scientific testimony. Lacking a strong background in science, however, some judges admit dubious scientific testimony packages by articulate practitioners, while others reject reliable evidence that is unreasonably portrayed as full of holes. Seeking a balance between undue deference and undeserved skepticism, Caudill and LaRue draw on the philosophy of science to help judges, juries, and advocates better understand its goals and limitations. Published in cooperation with The Center for Public Justice.

This book is concerned to explore the idea of imaginary penalities and to understand why the management of criminal justice and criminal justice systems has so often reached crisis point. Its underlying theme is that when political strategies of punitive populism are combined with managerialist techniques of social auditing, a new all-encompassing form of governance has emerged - powerless to deliver what it promises but with a momentum of its own and increasingly removed from proper democratic accountability.
A highly distinguished international group of contributors explores this set of themes in a variety of different contexts taken from the UK, N. America, Europe and Australia. It will be essential reading for anybody seeking to understand some of the root causes of increasing prison populations, social harms such as recidivism and domestic violence and the increasingly important role of criminal justice within systems of governance.

"Henderson has written a most readable book about the development of US federal criminal law between 1801 and 1829. He raises several challenging questions: How well did the [criminal justice] system protect society? Did the system evolve in relation to social and economic change? What was the role of politics in this evolution? Did oppression occur?'" Choice

Around one in five prisoners report the previous or current incarceration of a parent. Many such prisoners attest to the long-term negative effects of parental incarceration on one's own sense of self and on the range and quality of opportunities for building a conventional life. And yet, the problem of intergenerational incarceration has received only passing attention from academics, and virtually little if any consideration from policy makers and correctional officials. This book - the first of its kind - offers an in-depth examination of the causes, experiences and consequences of intergenerational incarceration. It draws extensively from surveys and interviews with second-, third-, fourth- and fifth-generation prisoners to explicate the personal, familial and socio-economic contexts typically associated with incarceration across generations. The book examines 1) the emergence of the prison as a dominant if not life-defining institution for some families, 2) the link between intergenerational trauma, crime and intergenerational incarceration, 3) the role of police, courts, and corrections in amplifying or ameliorating such problems, and 4) the possible means for preventing intergenerational incarceration. This is undeniably a book that bears witness to many tragic and traumatic stories. But it is also a work premised on the idea that knowing these stories - knowing that they often resist alignment with pre-conceived ideas about who prisoners are or who they might become - is part and parcel of advancing critical debate and, more importantly, of creating real change. Written in a clear and direct style, this book will appeal to students and scholars in criminology, sociology, cultural studies, social theory and those interested in learning about more about families in prison.

Many critics attack federal judges as anti-democratic elitists, activists out of step with the mainstream of American thought. But others argue that judges should stand alone as the ultimate guardians of American values, placing principle before the views of the people. In The Most Democratic Branch, Jeffrey Rosen disagrees with both assertions. Contrary to what interest groups may claim, he contends that, from the days of John Marshall right up to the present, the federal courts by and large have reflected the opinions of the mainstream. More important, he argues that the Supreme Court is most successful when it defers to the constitutional views of the American people, as represented most notably by Congress and the Presidency. And on the rare occasion when they departed from the consensus, the result has often been a disaster. To illustrate, Rosen provides a penetrating look at some of the most important Supreme Court cases in American history-cases involving racial equality, affirmative action, abortion, gay rights and gay marriage, the right to die, electoral disputes, and civil liberties in wartime. Rosen shows that the most notorious constitutional decisions in American history-the ones that have been most strenuously criticized, such as Dred Scott or Roe v. Wade-have gone against mainstream opinion. By contrast, the most successful decisions-from Marbury v. Madison to Brown v. Board of Education-have avoided imposing constitutional principles over the wishes of the people. Rosen concludes that the judiciary works best when it identifies the constitutional principles accepted by a majority of Americans, and enforces them unequivocally as fundamental law. Jeffrey Rosen is one of the most respected legal experts writing today, a regular contributor to The New York Times Magazine and the Legal Affairs Editor of The New Republic. The provocative arguments that he puts forth here are bound to fuel heated debate at a time when the federal judiciary is already the focus of fierce criticism.

Genetic Testing and the Criminal Law is a unique international treatment of the dynamic and established criminal investigation technique of DNA testing. Gathering together expert practitioners, judges and researchers from twelve countries, each chapter deals with the specific criminal law of the jurisdiction in its interaction with the expanding use of DNA testing in criminal investigations and trials. The chapters cover the criminal law of the United Kingdom, Japan, Australia, Germany, New Zealand, Spain, South Africa, Canada, Italy, Finland, Argentina and Denmark, providing valuable accounts not only of the use of genetic testing in the criminal law, but also of the development of the law in these jurisdictions. No previous work has included such an extensive comparative study in this important area. Collectively, this book emphasizes the need for the law to respond to scientific developments thoughtfully and with a sensitive, well-reasoned approach to current concerns relating to the reliability of DNA evidence in criminal trials and the privacy and civil liberties issues surrounding the collection of DNA samples from individuals and their storage. This book is an invaluable reference for scholars, practitioners of criminal law and private international law, and students interested in this increasingly significant field of law.

In the history of the U.S. Supreme Court, Associate Justice Charles Evans Whittaker (1957?1962) merited several distinctions. He was the only Missourian and the first native Kansan appointed to the Court. He was one of only two justices to have served at both the federal district and appeals court levels before ascending to the Supreme Court. And Court historians have routinely rated him a failure as a justice. This book is a reconsideration of Justice Whittaker, with the twin goals of giving him his due and correcting past misrepresentations of the man and his career. Based on primary sources and information from the Whittaker family, it demonstrates that Whittaker's life record is definitely not one of inadequacy or failure, but rather one of illness and difficulty overcome with great determination. Nine appendices document all aspects of Whittaker's career. Copious notes, a selected bibliography, and two indexes complete a work that challenges the historical assessment of this public servant from Missouri.

In a world awash in "fake news," where public figures make unfounded assertions as a matter of course, a preeminent legal theorist ranges across the courtroom, the scientific laboratory, and the insights of philosophers to explore the nature of evidence and show how it is credibly established. In the age of fake news, trust and truth are hard to come by. Blatantly and shamelessly, public figures deceive us by abusing what sounds like evidence. Preeminent legal theorist Frederick Schauer proposes correctives, drawing on centuries of inquiry into the nature of evidence. Evidence is the basis of how we know what we think we know, but evidence is no simple thing. Evidence that counts in, say, the policymaking context is different from evidence that stands up in court. Law, science, historical scholarship, public and private decisionmaking-all rely on different standards of evidence. Exploring diverse terrain including vaccine and food safety, election-fraud claims, the January 2021 events at the US Capitol, the reliability of experts and eyewitnesses, climate science, art authentication, and even astrology, The Proof develops fresh insights into the challenge of reaching the truth. Schauer combines perspectives from law, statistics, psychology, and the philosophy of science to evaluate how evidence should function in and out of court. He argues that evidence comes in degrees. Weak evidence is still some evidence. The absence of evidence is not evidence of absence, but prolonged, fruitless efforts to substantiate a claim can go some distance in proving a negative. And evidence insufficient to lock someone up for a crime may be good enough to keep them out of jail. This book explains how to reason more effectively in everyday life, shows why people often reason poorly, and takes evidence as a pervasive problem, not just a matter of legal rules.

How are poverty and social inequality entrenched through a failing justice system? In this important book, Jon Robins and Daniel Newman examine how the lives of people already struggling with problems with their welfare benefits, jobs, housing and immigration are made much harder by cuts to legal aid and the failings of our creaking justice system. Over the course of 12 months, interviews were carried out on the ground in a range of settings with people as they were caught up in the justice system, in a range of settings such as foodbanks in a church hall in a wealthy part of London; a community centre in a former mining town; a homeless shelter for rough sleepers in Birmingham; and a destitution service for asylum seekers in a city on the South coast, as well as in courts and advice agencies up and down the country. The authors argue that a failure to access justice all too often represents a catastrophic step in the life of the person concerned and their family. This powerful, yet moving, account humanises the hostile political debates that surround legal aid and reveals what access to justice really means in Austerity Britain.

Is there something distinctive about penology in Europe? Do Europeans think about punishment and penal policy in a different way to people in other parts of the globe? If so, why is this the case and how does it work in practice? This book addresses some major and pressing issues that have been emerging in recent years in the interdisciplinary field of 'European penology', that is, a space where legal scholarship, criminology, sociology and political science meet - or should meet - in order to make sense of punishment in Europe. The chapters in European Penology? have been written by leading scholars in the field and focus in particular on the interaction of European academic penology and national practice with European policies as developed by the Council of Europe and, increasingly, by the European Union.

Gaming the System takes an active approach to learning about American government, using novel, exciting, and highly instructive games to help students learn politics by living it. These timeless games are the perfect complement to a core textbook in American government-covering key topics like the Constitution, the Supreme Court, Congress, political participation, campaigns and elections, the federal bureaucracy, the social contract, social movements, and public opinion-and can be applied to specific courses at other levels, as well. For Instructors: These nine games are designed to be easily inserted into courses, with all but one fitting into one class session and all flexible enough to adapt or scale as needed. Games are designed so that students will be ready to play after minimal preparation and with little prior knowledge; instructors do not need to design or prepare any additional materials. An extensive instructor-only online resource provides everything needed to accompany each game: summary and discussion of the pedagogical foundations on active learning and games; instructions and advice for managing the game and staging under various logistical circumstances; student handouts and scoresheets, and more. For Students: These games immerse participants in crucial narratives, build content knowledge, and improve critical thinking skills-at the same time providing an entertaining way to learn key lessons about American government. Each chapter contains complete instructions, materials, and discussion questions in a concise and ready-to-use form, in addition to time-saving tools like scorecards and 'cheat sheets.' The games contribute to course understanding, lifelong learning, and meaningful citizenship.

A comprehensive collection of the essential writings on race and crime, this important Reader spans more than a century and clearly demonstrates the long-standing difficulties minorities have faced with the justice system. The editors skillfully draw on the classic work of such thinkers as W.E.B. DuBois and Gunnar Myrdal as well as the contemporary work of scholars such as Angela Davis, Joan Petersilia, John Hagen and Robert Sampson. This anthology also covers all of the major topics and issues from policing, courts, drugs and urban violence to inequality, racial profiling and capital punishment. This is required reading for courses in criminology and criminal justice, legal studies, sociology, social work and race.

Public Policy and the CJEU's Power offers an overarching analytical framework for thinking about the impact of policy contexts on the CJEU's influence on European public policy and the course of European integration. Thereby, it lays out a research agenda that is best described as public policy approach to studying judicial power in the European Union. The policy contexts within which actors operate do not only structure the incentives to use litigation, they also affect how strongly the implementation of court rulings relies on these policy stakeholders. Therefore, the CJEU's power is strongly dependent on policy contexts and policy stakeholders. This argument is illustrated by a wide variety of empirical analyses covering the three major types of legal actions before the CJEU (infringement proceedings, preliminary rulings and annulments), a wide variety of policy fields (e.g. competition law, internal market regulation, common agriculture policy, social policies, foreign policy), and different types of policy stakeholders (e.g. public, private, subnational, national and European stakeholders). Using this rich empirical material, the book provides an analytic framework for thinking about how policy contexts influence the CJEU's impact. Bringing together expert contributions, Public Policy and the CJEU's Power will be of great interest and use to scholars working on the European Union, law and politics and public policy. The chapters were originally published as a special issue in the Journal of European Integration.

In Patching Up the Cracks Michael D. Grimes evaluates the American juvenile court system, specifically looking at its ability to address child abuse and neglect cases. This project is both a specific case study focusing on the Orleans Parish Juvenile Court in New Orleans, Louisiana, and a discussion of the need to examine the juvenile court system within its larger social and institutional context. Grimes persuasively argues that in order to better evaluate the potential for juvenile court reform, it is crucial to understand the health of the larger community environment within which the court system operates. The book begins with a chronological overview of the evolution of children's rights and a brief history of juvenile justice in America, culminating in a thoroughgoing assessment of its current status. Grimes concludes with a discussion of the need for more adequate studies-researchers and students will appreciate the discussion of his own research design and methodology-of the ways that juvenile courts treat dependency cases and the processes through which these courts can improve their performance.

Using a new conceptual framework, the author examines the processes of legal reform in post-socialist countries such as China. Drawing on Bourdieu's concept of the 'field', the increasingly complex and contested processes of legal reform are analysed in relation to police powers. The impact of China's post-1978 legal reforms on police powers is examined through a detailed analysis of three administrative detention powers: detention for education of prostitutes; coercive drug rehabilitation; and re-education through labour. The debate surrounding the abolition in 1996 of detention for investigation (also known as shelter and investigation) is also considered. Despite over 20 years of legal reform, police powers remain poorly defined by law and subject to minimal legal constraint. They continue to be seriously and systematically abused. However, there has been both systematic and occasionally dramatic reform of these powers. This book considers the processes which have made these legal changes possible.

The Supreme Court Justices: Illustrated Biographies, 1789-2012, Third Edition, provides a single-volume reference profiling every Supreme Court justice from John Jay through Elena Kagan. An original essay on each justice paints a vivid picture of his or her individuality as shaped by family, education, pre-Court career, and the times in which he or she lived. Each biographical essay also presents an overview of the justice's jurisprudence, the major cases during his or her tenure, and the justice's relationships with the other members of the Court. Essays are arranged in the order of the justices' appointments. Lively anecdotes along with portraits, photographs, and political cartoons enrich the text and deepen readers' understanding of the justices and the Court. The volume includes an extensive bibliography and is indexed for easy research access. New to this edition Foreword by Chief Justice John G. Roberts, Jr. Updated essays on sitting or recently retired members of the court New biographies for Chief Justice John G. Roberts and Associate Justices Samuel A. Alito, Sonia Sotomayor, and Elena Kagan A revised listing of members of the Supreme Court with appointment and confirmation dates -as new documents have come to light, the editor has reassessed the dates of service of several of the justices An updated bibliography with key sources on the Supreme Court and the justices All-new images replace nearly one fourth of the illustrations in this edition There is no better reference than this updated new volume for insightful background and dynamic commentary on the individuals who have served on the Supreme Court of the United States. This is a vital reference work for researchers, students, and others interested in the Supreme Court's past, present, and future. Editor Clare Cushman is director of publications for the Supreme Court Historical Society, a private nonprofit organization dedicated to the collection and preservation of the history of the Supreme Court of the United States. The society accomplishes its mission by conducting educational programs of interest to legal practitioners, scholars, and the general public by supporting historical research, publishing books, journals, and electronic materials and by collecting antiques and artifacts related to the Court's history.

Introduction to Critical Legal Theory provides an accessible introduction to the study of law and legal theory. It covers all the seminal movements in classical, modern and postmodern legal thought, engaging the reader with the ideas of jurists as diverse as Aristotle, Hobbes and Kant, Marx, Foucault and Dworkin. At the same time, it impresses the interdisciplinary nature of critical legal thought, introducing the reader to the philosophy, the economics and the politics of law.

This new edition focuses even more intently upon the narrative aspect of critical legal thinking and the re-emergence of a distinctive legal humanism, as well as the various related challenges posed by our 'new' world order.

Introduction to Critical Theory is a comprehensive text for both students and teachers of legal theory, jurisprudence and related subjects.

This book explores the recent development of the Supreme People's Court of China, the world's largest highest court. Recognizing that its approach to exercising power in an authoritarian context has presented a challenge to the understanding of judicial power in both democratic and non-democratic legal settings, it captures the essence of the Court through its institutional design as well as functional practice. It argues that regardless of the deep-seated political and institutional constraints, the Court has demonstrated a highly pragmatic interest in fulfilling its primary functions and prudently expanding judicial power in the context of reform-era China. This notwithstanding, it also discusses how the Court's incompetence and reluctance to challenge the bureaucratism and politicization suggests that the call for an impartial and authoritative judicial power will continue to be jeopardized while the Court operates in the shadow of Party authority and lacks meaningful checks and balances. Drawing on the experience of the Court, this book reflects on some deep-rooted misunderstandings of legal development in China, providing a source of inspiration for reconceptualizing the internal logic of a distinct category of judicial power.

The essays in this volume attempt to explore and elucidate some of the legal and constitutional complexities of the relationship between the EU and the WTO,focusing particularly on the impact of the latter and its relevance for the former. The effect of WTO norms is evident across a broad range of European economic and social policy fields, affecting regulatory and distributive policies alike. A number of significant areas have been selected in this book to exemplify the scope and intensity of impact, including EC single market law, external trade, structural and cohesion funding, cultural policy, social policy, and aspects of public health and environmental policy. Certain chapters seek to examine the legal and political points of intersection between the two legal orders, and many of the essays explore in different ways the normative dimension of the relationship between the EU and the WTO and the legitimacy claims of the latter.

The presumption of innocence is universally recognized as a fundamental human right and a core principle in the administration of criminal justice. Nonetheless, statutes creating criminal offences regularly depart from the presumption of innocence by requiring defendants to prove specific matters in order to avoid conviction. Legislatures and courts seek to justify this departure by asserting that the reversal of the burden of proof is necessary to meet the community interest in prosecuting serious crime and maintaining workable criminal sanctions. This book investigates the supposed justifications for limitation of the presumption of innocence. It does so through a comprehensive analysis of the history, rationale and scope of the presumption of innocence. It is argued that the values underlying the presumption of innocence are of such fundamental importance to individual liberty that they cannot be sacrificed on the altar of community interest. In particular, it is argued that a test of 'proportionality', which seeks to weigh individual rights against the community interest, is inappropriate in the context of the presumption of innocence and that courts ought instead to focus on whether an impugned measure threatens the values which the presumption is designed to protect. The book undertakes a complete and systematic review of the United Kingdom and Strasbourg authority on the presumption of innocence. It also draws upon extensive references to comparative material, both judicial and academic, from the United States, Canada and South Africa.

It is often asserted that 'A family that prays together, stays together'. But what if a child no longer wishes to pray? This book analyses the law in relation to situations where parents force their children to manifest the parental religion. From thorough examination of international law it argues that, unlike what is generally believed, the human rights regime does not grant parents a right to impose manifestations of their religion on their children. Instead, the author proposes to regard coerced manifestations as a limitation on children's right to freedom of manifestation, based on national laws that give parents rights at the domestic level under principles such as parental responsibility. The book focuses on two aspects of States' positive obligations in this regard. First, the obligation to provide a regulatory framework that can protect children's right to freedom of manifestation, and restricts limitations to those that are proportionate or 'necessary in a democratic society'. Second, to provide access to remedies, which it is argued should consist of access to a family-friendly infrastructure for dispute resolution available to parents and children in conflict over religious manifestation. Both depend heavily on the way States balance power between parents and children at the national level. The book includes three case studies and social research of jurisdictions that offer different perspectives under the principles of parental authority (France), parental responsibility (England) and parental rights (Hong Kong).

The study and teaching of international human rights law is dominated by the doctrinal method. A wealth of alternative approaches exists, but they tend to be discussed in isolation from one another. This collection focuses on cross-theoretical discussion that brings together an array of different analytical methods and theoretical lenses that can be used for conducting research within the field. As such, it provides a coherent, accessible and diverse account of key theories and methods. A distinctive feature of this collection is that it adopts a grounded approach to international human rights law, through demonstrating the application of specific research methods to individual case studies. By applying the approach under discussion to a concrete case it is possible to better appreciate the multiple understandings of international human rights law that are missed when the field is only comprehended though the doctrinal method. Furthermore, since every contribution follows the same uniform structure, this allows for fruitful comparison between different approaches to the study of our discipline.

Legal skills are an important and increasing part of undergraduate law degrees as well as postgraduate vocational law courses. This fully updated fourth edition continues to bring together the theory and practice of these skills in an accessible and practical context. The authors draw on their experience of teaching and of law in practice to develop the core skills taught on both undergraduate and postgraduate courses. Skills covered include: * written communication; * mediation; * opinion writing; * drafting; * advocacy; * interviewing; * negotiation; * legal research. The text also considers the professional and ethical context of legal practice, provides an insight into the legal services landscape as well as offering valuable careers advice. Diagrams and flow charts help to explain and develop each skill and each chapter ends with suggestions for further reading. A Practical Guide to Lawyering Skills is essential reading for all undergraduate and vocational law students seeking to develop the necessary skills to work successfully with law in the twenty-first century.

This volume presents a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of major developments in the study of how phraseology is used in a wide range of different legal and institutional contexts. This recent interest has been mainly sparked by the development of corpus linguistics research, which has both demonstrated the centrality of phraseological patterns in language and provided researchers with new and powerful analytical tools. However, there have been relatively few empirical studies of word combinations in the domain of law and in the many different contexts where legal discourse is used. This book seeks to address this gap by presenting some of the latest developments in the study of this linguistic phenomenon from corpus-based and interdisciplinary perspectives. The volume draws on current research in legal phraseology from a variety of perspectives: translation, comparative/contrastive studies, terminology, lexicography, discourse analysis and forensic linguistics. It contains contributions from leading experts in the field, focusing on a wide range of issues amply illustrated through in-depth corpus-informed analyses and case studies. Most contributions to this book are multilingual, featuring different legal systems and legal languages. The volume will be a valuable resource for linguists interested in phraseology as well as lawyers and legal scholars, translators, lexicographers, terminologists and students who wish to pursue research in the area.