The #MeToo Movement: An Invitation for Feminist Critique of Rape Crisis Framing

Jamie R. Abrams* 

This article invites feminists to leverage the #MeToo Movement as a critical analytical tool to explore the longevity of the enduring rape crisis framing of victim services. Long before the #MeToo Movement, victim services in communities nationwide were framed around a crisis model. For nearly half a century, victims have visited rape crisis centers, called rape crisis hotlines, and mobilized rape crisis response teams to provide services and support. This enduring political and social framing around rape as a crisis is opaque, has prompted a political backlash, and risks distorting hard-fought feminist legal, social, and political battles. It has yielded underreporting, underutilization, and recurring risks of budgetary cuts. Yet, this model and terminology have gone virtually unchanged for nearly half a century.

Continue Reading


* Associate Professor of Law at the University of Louisville, Louis D. Brandeis School of Law. LL.M., 2011, Columbia University School of Law; J.D., 2002, American University, Washington College of Law; B.A., Indiana University–Bloomington. Thanks to Aleisha Cowles, Lindsey Dennis, Mikaela Feng, Abigail Lewis, and Jennifer Reynolds for their research support. Thanks to the University of Louisville Brandeis School of Law for a Faculty Development Grant supporting this project. Thanks for the thoughtful feedback and input provided at the Law, Culture, and Humanities Conference (Georgetown University Law Center, Spring 2018) and the Georgetown Legal Practice Scholarship Workshop (Fall 2017).

Rethinking Bail Reform

Wendy R. Calaway* & Jennifer M. Kinsley**

The issue of pretrial detention is part of a larger, national conversation on criminal justice reform. However, no single issue permeates the landscape of criminal justice like the treatment of pretrial defendants. The policies and practices around pretrial detention have contributed to the country’s mass incarceration numbers; created a crisis for local jail management; generated unsustainable budgets; and raised important questions about race, class, and the constitutional implications of incarcerating people because they are too poor to pay a money bond. Legal scholars have written about the issue, highlighting the inequities and constitutional difficulties with such a system. Much of the discussion has surrounded solutions involving the implementation of and reliance on evidence-based practices to determine pretrial detention, rather than solutions involving reliance on money. These evidence-based practices usually take the form of pretrial assessment tools and pretrial supervision systems. Because the politics involved in criminal justice reform often paralyze reform attempts, the method by which these practices are implemented is often litigation. However, due to procedural impediments in federal court and the polit- ical realities of state courts, litigation often results in incomplete remedies that do not fully address, rectify, or prevent the range of harms inflicted by the money bail system.

Continue Reading


* Assistant Professor of Criminal Justice, University of Cincinnati Blue Ash College. J.D., University of Cincinnati College of Law.
** Professor of Law, Northern Kentucky University Salmon P. Chase College of Law. J.D., Duke University Law School.

Reconsidering Selective Conscientious Objection

Andrew J. Haile*

In 1971, in the midst of the Vietnam War, the United States Su-preme Court decided that to qualify as a conscientious objector (“CO”) one must oppose all war, and not just a particular war. The Court’s decision in Gillette v. United States turned on its interpretation of section 6(j) of the Military Selective Service Act.2 Section 6(j) provided, in relevant part, that no person shall “be subject to combatant training and service in the armed forces of the United States who, by reason of religious training and belief, is conscientiously opposed to participation in war in any form.” According to the Court, “an objection involving a particular war rather than all war would plainly not be covered by § 6(j).” Consequently, the Court construed the exemption from combatant military service in section 6(j) not to extend to so-called “selective conscientious objectors” (“SCOs”).

Continue Reading 


* Associate Professor, Elon University School of Law. The author would like to thank Sue Liemer and William A. Eagles for their feedback on drafts of this article. The author also thanks Timaura Barfield for her outstanding work as a research assistant.

Free Exercise and Comer: Robust Entrenchment or Simply More of a Muddle?

Mark Strasser* 

Several states are barred by their own constitutions from spending public monies in support of sectarian institutions. The United States Supreme Court has manifested great ambivalence about the constitutionality of such limitations. Sometimes, the Court has impliedly endorsed them as a reasonable measure to assure that Establishment Clause guarantees are respected. At other times, the Court has suggested that such limitations are constitutionally disfavored, although the Court has not yet held that such amend-ments are per se unconstitutional. The Court’s most recent decision addressing state constitutional spending limitations, Trinity Lutheran Church of Columbia, Inc. v. Comer, adds another layer of complexity and confusion to an already muddled jurisprudence. That decision, unless modified, could have surprising implications that the Court is avowedly unwilling to endorse.

Continue Reading 


* Trustees Professor of Law, Capital University Law School, Columbus, Ohio.

Race, Speech, and Sports

Matthew J. Parlow*

Race, sports, and free speech rights intersected in a very controversial and public way during the 2016 and 2017 National Football League (“NFL”) seasons. On August 26, 2016, Colin Kaepernick spurred a national debate when he refused to stand during the playing of the national anthem before the NFL preseason game between the Green Bay Packers and the San Francisco 49ers, Kaepernick’s team at the time.

Continue Reading


* Dean and Donald P. Kennedy Chair in Law, Chapman University, Dale E. Fowler School of Law.

Rapid DNA Testing and Virginia’s Rape Kit Backlog: A Double-Edged Sword Masquerading as a Miracle, or the Future of Forensic Analysis?

Emma C. Greger*

When authorities in Richland County, South Carolina, arrived on the scene after receiving a report of shots fired on July 29, 2014, they found a wounded man but no suspect. The victim seemed to have been on the receiving end of an armed robbery gone wrong and had been shot during a “physical altercation” with the would be thief. Because of this “physical altercation,” officers from the sheriff’s department were able to recover deoxyribonucleic acid (“DNA”) samples from the victim’s clothing. A short time later, suspect Brandon Berry was taken into custody after being apprehended at a traffic stop; Berry would go on to be convicted of, among other charges, attempted murder and attempted armed robbery.

Continue Reading 


* J.D. Candidate, 2019, University of Richmond School of Law. B.A., 2014, University of Maryland, Baltimore County. I want to express my gratitude to Professor Mary Kelly Tate, who both inspired me to write on the intersection of human genetics and the law, and offered invaluable feedback throughout the drafting process. A huge thank you to the staff of the University of Richmond Law Review for helping prepare this article for publication. Finally, special thanks to my family and to my best friend, Lilias Gordon, for their support, ideas, and willingness to listen.