What do students really know about criminal justice?

This survey of three hundred and twenty undergraduate students attempted to determine their knowledge of crime and punishment in North Carolina. Respondents answered a series of open- and closed-ended questions regarding various legal topics, such as statutory rape and the legal ages for tobacco and alcohol use. The participants were also asked to list punishments for various offenses, such as possession of marijuana, driving while intoxicated, and rape. They were then asked to define certain legal terms such as larceny. The results indicated that most students were unable to provide correct corresponding punishments for many offenses. They were also unable to accurately define various legal terms, such as robbery or rape. The implications for stronger education in the area of criminal justice are discussed.     

Reviews

Vexing questions: Women and philosophy

Moira Gatens, Feminism and Philosophy: Perspectives on Difference and Equality (Polity Press) Cambridge, 1991; Rosi Braidotti, Patterns of Dissonance (Polity Press) Cambridge, 1991.

Rethinking democracy, reaffirming equality

Ann Ferguson, Sexual Democracy: Women, Oppression, and Revolution (Allen & Unwin) Sydney, 1991; Anne Phillips, Engendering Democracy (Polity Press) Cambridge, 1991.

Women's health

Claudia Bepko (ed.), Feminism and Addiction (Haworth Press) Binghamton, 1991; Helen Roberts (ed.), Women's Health Matters (Routledge) London, 1992.

Distinguishing the Intertwined: Multiplicity as Methodology and Recent Studies of Gender, Class, Ethnicity and Culture

Gill Bottomley, Marie de Lepervanche and Jeannie Martin (eds), Intersexions: Gender/Class/Culture/Ethnicity (Allen & Unwin) Sydney, 1991; Kalpana Ram, Mukkuvar Women: Gender, Hegemony and Capitalist Transformation in a South Indian Fishing Community (Asian Studies Association of Australia Women in Asia Publication Series) (Allen & Unwin) Sydney, 1991; Shanti Rozario, Purity and Communal Boundaries: Women and Change in a Bangladeshi Village (Asian Studies Association of Australia Women in Asia Publication Series) (Allen & Unwin) Sydney, 1992; Ann Game, Undoing the Social: Towards a Deconstructive Sociology (Open University Press) Buckhingham, 1991

Writing through the body?

Judith A. Allen, Sex and Secrets: Crimes Involving Australian Women since 1880 (Oxford University Press) Melbourne, 1990.

Re‐mapping terrains

Carol Pateman, The Disorder of Women (Polity Press) Cambridge, 1989; Lorraine Code, What Can She Know? Feminist Theory and the Construction of Knowledge (Cornell University Press) Ithaca & London, 1991; Elisabeth J. Porter, Women and Moral Identity (Allen & Unwin) Sydney, 1991.

Inversions

Betsy Warland (ed), Inversions: Writing by Dykes, Queers and Lesbians (Press Gang) Vancouver, 1991.

Living laboratories

Robyn Rowland, Living Laboratories, (Sun) Melbourne, 1992.

Sharing household work

Janeen Baxter, Diane Gibson with Mark Lynch‐Blosse, Double Take: The Links Between Paid and Unpaid Work (Australian Government Publishing Service) Canberra, 1990; Michael Bittman, Juggling Time: How Australian Families Use Time (Office of the Status of Women, Department of Premier and Cabinet) 1991.

Feminist knowledge

Sneja Gunew (ed.), Feminist Knowledge: Critique and Construct and A Reader in Feminist Knowledge (Routledge) London, 1990.

Emotion and Gender

June Crawford, Susan Kippax, Jenny Onyx, Una Gault and Pam Benton, Emotion and Gender: Constructing Meaning from Memory (Sage) London, 1992.

As good as a yarn with you

Carole Ferner (ed.), As Good As A Yarn With You: Letters between Miles Franklin, Katharine Susannah Prichard, Jean Devanny, Marjorie Barnard, Flora Elder show and Eleanor Dark (Cambridge University Press) Oakleigh, 1992.

Women's rights

Elizabeth Kingdom, What's Wrong With Rights?: Problems for Feminist Politics of Law (Edinburgh University Press) Edinburgh, 1991; A‐J. Arnaud and E. Kingdom (eds), Women's Rights and the Rights of Man (Aberdeen University Press) Aberdeen, 1990.     

Learning to be A Peacemaking Lawyer: Law Student Perspectives on Building Peacemaking into Law School Curricula,Building Paths to Practice for New Lawyers,and Interdisciplinary Training

From our perspectives as students, we reflect on the teachings of Lawyer as Peacemaker, a Winter 2015 course taught at UCLA School of Law — the school's course devoted to peacemaking lawyering. Utilizing our newfound peacemaking worldview, we share our collective reactions to the Lawyer as Peacemaker course and the ten articles in the Family Court Review Special Issue on Peacemaking for Divorcing Families. We then advocate for integrating peacemaking into law school curricula and experiential learning offerings and make recommendations on how law schools today can prepare students to practice peace.

Key Points for the Family Court Community:
• This article is a collaborative work product of three students who come from an array of work experience, backgrounds and interests and from their newly founded peacemaking worldview, the three students collaboratively analyzed ideas presented in the Lawyer as Peacemaker course and the articles from this issue.
• The peacemaking mediation allows the parties more control over their legal disputes and allows the control of the costs that come with litigation.
• Peacemaking involves a holistic and collaborative method, involving mental health professionals to financial advisors as well as legal professionals.
• However, peacemaking skill courses are not readily available to many law students while studying in law school.
• This valuable asset should be made available more extensively to law students interested in family law.

     

What Happened in Hazelwood: Statistics, Employment Discrimination, and the 80% Rule

Tests of statistical significance have increasingly been used in employment discrimination cases since the Supreme Court's decision in Hazelwood. In that case, the United States Supreme Court ruled that "in a proper case" statistical evidence can suffice for a prima facie showing of employment discrimination. The Court also discussed the use of a binomial significance test to assess whether the difference between the proportion of black teachers employed by the Hazelwood School District and the proportion of black teachers in the relevant labor market was substantial enough to indicate discrimination. The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission has proposed a somewhat stricter standard for evaluating how substantial a difference must be to constitute evidence of discrimination. Under the so-called 80% rule promulgated by the EEOC, the difference must not only be statistically significant, but the hire rate for the allegedly discriminated group must also be less than 80% of the rate for the favored group. This article argues that a binomial statistical significance test standing alone is unsatisfactory for evaluating allegations of discrimination because many of the assumptions on which such tests are based are inapplicable to employment settings; the 80% rule is a more appropriate standard for evaluating whether a difference in hire rates should be treated as a prima facie showing of discrimination.