Katharine Bement Davis (1860-1935)

Abstract

Katharine Bement Davis is a significant figure in American criminology, homosexuality studies, penology, and several social movements, including women's suffrage, African Americans' civil rights, and the social settlement. Although Davis was a widely recognized criminologist for almost three decades, her life and career are acknowledged rarely in the annals of the profession. To address this serious omission in the history of criminology, I introduce her biography, analyze her theory and practice, and locate her in a historical context of powerful women who changed American life and politics.     

Mismeasuring “unfair advantage”: A response to Michael Davis

One prominent contemporary retributivist theory is built on the notion that crime yields an “unfair advantage” over law-abiding citizens which punishment removes or nullifies. Michael Davis has defended this theory by constructing a market model of “unfair advantage” that he contends answers critics' objections to the retributivist enterprise. I seek to demonstrate the inadequacy of Davis's approach, arguing in particular that the market model rests on an incoherent notion of “demand” and would not, even if coherent, link “unfair advantage” to the seriousness of crimes in any acceptable fashion. The salience of traditional objections to retributivism is thus unaffected by Davis's theory.     

The Davis dilemma: how to prevent battles over frozen preembryos

Cryopreservation of preembryos, or the freezing of fertilized human eggs, is a procedure increasingly used by infertile couples to improve the odds of success of advanced reproductive technologies. As a consequence, divorcing couples are finding themselves in dispute over the disposition of frozen preembryos that have not been implanted. Courts have been called on to decide to whom the frozen preembryos should be awarded, but the law is unclear whether frozen preembryos should be treated as marital property, as children, or as something else. The author analyzes various arguments concerning the appropriate legal status of frozen preembryos, and suggests a new rule to settle such disputes.     

From Angela Davis to the Long Island Lolita: An Analysis of Contemporary Women's Prison Narratives

No abstract available for this article.     

从Davis案透视美国死刑程序

2010年8月,<参考消息>以<美高院仍坚持黑人死囚"不清白">为题引用法新社一则消息,批评美国联邦最高法院于2010年8月24日在没有凶器、DNA或指纹等证据能够证明黑人Troy Anthony Davis有罪的情况下仍然裁定Davis未能证明自己的清白.