The Rape Kit Backlog: Having the Answers Without the Resources to Decipher Them

Emily Schreiber*

            Across the country, states are confronted with a daunting dilemma: they may have the DNA to prosecute those who have committed sexual assault, but are lacking either the policies or financial support necessary to make the link.  See, e.g., Christopher Connelly, Donations from Drivers Might Help End Rape Kit Backlog in Texas, NPR (Apr. 12, 2017, 4:32 PM), http://www.npr.org/2017/04/12/523588098/donations-from-drivers-might-help-end-rape-kit-backlog-in-texas; Why the Backlog Exists, End Backlog, http://endthebacklog.org/backlog/why-backlog-exists (last visited Feb. 15, 2018).  Continue reading ” The Rape Kit Backlog: Having the Answers Without the Resources to Decipher Them”

Environmental Groups Vow to Continue Suing Even If EPA Will Not Settle

Caitlin Rayhart*

Is the practice of administrative agencies settling lawsuits brought by advocacy groups, dubbed “sue-and-settle,” an affront to democracy, or a good way to hold administrative agencies accountable when they fail to enforce their own laws and meet their own deadlines?  This divisive practice has come under a lot of scrutiny in recent years, and on October 16, 2017, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Scott Pruitt “issued a directive to end ‘sue and settle’ practices within the EPA.”  Sue and Settle: Regulating Behind Closed Doors, U.S. Chamber Com. (Feb. 1, 2018, 3:30 PM), Continue reading “Environmental Groups Vow to Continue Suing Even If EPA Will Not Settle”

Self-Defense Goes Cyber: Congress Considers a Bill Permitting Victims of Cyberattacks to “Hack Back”

Meghan Noone*

Criminal law doctrine has embraced the concept that a person may use deadly force in self-defense, if reasonable, when there is an intruder in his or her home.  See Mark Randall & Hendrik DeBoer, The Castle Doctrine and Stand-Your-Ground Law, Conn. Gen. Assembly Off. Legis. Res. (Apr. 24, 2012), https://www.cga.ct.gov/2012/rpt/2012-R-0172.htm.  But what happens if there is an intruder to his or her computer network?  United States House Representatives Tom Graves of Georgia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona have sought to answer that question with the proposed Active Cyber Defense Certainty Act, which would allow victims of cyber hacking to “hack back” in retaliation under certain circumstances.  See Iain Thomson, US Congress Mulls First ‘Hack Back’ Revenge Law. And Yup, You Can Guess What It’ll Let People Do, Reg. (Oct. 13, 2017, 10:36 PM), https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/10/13/us_hack_back_law/.  Continue reading “Self-Defense Goes Cyber: Congress Considers a Bill Permitting Victims of Cyberattacks to “Hack Back””

Title IX Revamped: Further Victimizing Survivors

                       Lauren Fleming*

“But if everything is harassment, nothing is.”  Betsy DeVos.[1]

Title IX of the Education Amendments of 1972 “is a federal civil rights law that prohibits discrimination on the basis of sex in federally funded education programs and activities.”  Office for Civil Rights, U.S. Dep’t of Educ., Questions and Answers on Title IX and Sexual Violence i (2014), https://www2.ed.gov/about/offices/list/ocr/docs/qa-201404-title-ix.pdf [hereinafter Title IX Answers].  All educational institutions, including elementary schools and institutions of higher education, that receive federal funding are subject to the Title IX provisions.  Id.Continue reading “Title IX Revamped: Further Victimizing Survivors”

Fighting for a Second Chance: Maryland to Hear Cases Claiming Unconstitutionality of State Parole System in Resentencing Juvenile “Lifers”

Dominic DiMattia*

On October 19, 2017, the Maryland Court of Appeals granted three petitions for writs of certiorari in cases seeking to overturn life without parole sentences dealt to individuals for crimes they committed as juveniles.  Petitions for Writ of Certiorari: September Term, 2017, Md. Cts., http://www.courts.state.md.us/coappeals/petitions/201710petitions.html (last visited Jan. 18, 2018).  A recent line of United States Supreme Court cases decided within the last decade has forced states to retroactively provide new sentences to juvenile “lifers.” Continue reading “Fighting for a Second Chance: Maryland to Hear Cases Claiming Unconstitutionality of State Parole System in Resentencing Juvenile “Lifers””