Thought Crime and the Treason Act 1351

Liverpool Law Review - Has there ever been a law criminalizing mental states in themselves? We show that there has been, and still is: the Treason Act 1351. We argue for what we call ‘the...     

Investigating the Causal Effects of Arts Education

There is a paucity of research on the causal relationship between arts learning and educational outcomes. Investigating these relationships has become imperative as policymakers increasingly prioritize empirical evidence of educational impacts, which often leads to curriculum narrowing that favors traditionally-tested subjects. Employing a randomized controlled trial with 42 elementary and middle schools in Houston, Texas, we find that randomly assigning arts educational opportunities reduces disciplinary infractions, improves writing achievement, and increases students’ emotional empathy. Students in elementary schools, which were the primary focus of the program, also experience increases in school engagement, college aspirations, and cognitive empathy. As the first large-scale randomized control trial of arts learning in an authentic school setting, these findings provide strong evidence that the arts can produce meaningful impacts on students’ academic outcomes and social-emotional development. Education policymakers should consider these benefits when assessing the role of the arts in schools.     

The working of electoral corruption: the Ekiti model of vote buying

Crime, Law and Social Change - In Nigeria, politicians and parties have developed a sophisticated vote-buying scheme, which we label, according to the state, where it happens, the Ekiti model of...     

Accountability Standards for Nonprofit Organizations: Do Organizations Benefit from Certification Programs?

Stakeholders are demanding nonprofit organizations (NPOs) continually improve and work effectively in an ever-changing environment. While there are many ways to approach this operational challenge, this paper examines the impact of acquiring an accountability certification, specifically the Standards for Excellence® Certification. Using a sample of 102 NPOs that have received the Standards for Excellence certification, we find that the certification is associated with increases in public support relative to a control group that did not receive the certification. These results suggest that some stakeholders favorably respond to the certification process, and NPOs can realize tangible benefits from becoming certified.     

Exile,Choice, and Loyalism: Taking and Restoring Dignity in the American Revolution

Taking a cue from Bernadette Atuahene's concept of “dignity takings” and her insight that government expropriation inflicts more than economic injury, this essay analyzes how American revolutionaries defined political membership, penalized and expropriated British loyalists, and then allowed some to join the American polity in the decade after the Revolution. Many recovered their property, professions, and legal privileges. However, because most loyalists could choose to remain loyal or join the Revolution, they did not lose human dignity as Atuahene defines it. Case studies of two reintegrating lawyers, Richard Harison and William Rawle, explore loyalism, the loss of dignities that loyalists suffered, and some paths toward reintegration. Their appointment as federal attorneys helped make the government conversant in the common law, British statutes, and the law of nations, which in turn supported the Federalist goal of reintegrating the United States into the Atlantic World: achieving, in other words, national dignity.