Article Post
Transition Rather Than Revolution: the Gradual Road Towards Animal Legal Personhood through the Legislature
This article was originally found at SSRN and can be found at this link: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/Papers.cfm?abstract_id=4391336 It is sometimes assumed that, in order for animals to be adequately protected by the legal system, their status first needs to change from property to person in one fell swoop. Legal personhood is perceived as the necessary requirement for animals to possess legal rights and become visible in law, distinguished from legal things. In this article I propose an alternative approach to animal legal personhood, which construes the road towards it as a gradual transition rather than a revolution. According to this alternative approach, animals become increasingly visible in law when their existing simple rights are shaped to function more like the rights of humans. Instead of a condition for the possession of rights, legal personhood should then be regarded as a (potential) consequence of growing animal rights.
Suffering at the Margins: Applying Disability Critical Race Studies to Trafficking in the United States
This article was originally published at the Columbia Journal of Gender and Law and can be found at this link: https://journals.library.columbia.edu/index.php/cjgl/article/view/9065 Abstract Human trafficking is a scourge in which perpetrators victimize the most vulnerable and marginalized members of a population to sell their bodies or sell their labor for profit. This Note explores human trafficking in the United States through Disability Critical Race Studies (DisCrit). First, the Note offers background on trafficking and applicable federal law. Not only does trafficking disable people, but people with preexisting disabilities are especially at risk for trafficking. Next, the Note shows that trafficking law follows a law-and-order framework: a framework that prioritizes prosecuting traffickers and doles out penal remedies. This framework and its intimate ties with the criminal justice system is a dual-edged sword. It helps countless survivors yet retraumatizes some marginalized survivors. Finally, the Note introduces DisCrit, justifies its use for anti-trafficking advocacy, and applies the DisCrit framework. By looking at trafficking law through DisCrit, one sees that trafficking law must work with—not against—survivors to end human suffering.
Evaluating the Effect of Face Recognition Technology on Citizens’ Happiness
Link: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=4330242