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Archive for May, 2008

Annual International Conference of the Israeli Law and Society (ILSA), Jerusalem December 24-26, 2008, call for papers

Posted by lawpol on May 30, 2008

Annual ILSA Meeting: Global, Regional, and Local: Law, Politics, and Society in Comparative Perspectives

The Hebrew University of Jerusalem

The Program Committee of the Annual Conference of the Israeli Law and Society (ILSA) invites scholars conducting research on any aspect of Law and Society to submit proposals for individual papers and organized panels. Panels and papers devoted to the main theme of the conference – “Global, Regional, and Local: Law, Politics, and Society in Comparative Perspectives” – are especially invited. Other topics relating Read the rest of this entry »

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Texas Children in State Custody: Clashes of Law, Culture and Religion

Posted by lawpol on May 27, 2008

Prof. Lynn Mather writes:

Faculty at the University at Buffalo Law School analyzed the Texas case from multiple perspectives at a lively and provocative Baldy Center presentation held on May 16, 2008. Events have moved quickly since then with the court-ordered release of children, but the basic issues remain. Each perspective framed the “problem” differently, generating a fascinating discussion. Professor Sue Mangold described current federal and state child welfare laws that allowed the state of Texas to remove over 460 children from their Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS) families because suspected abuse. Although some states have sought to keep children in families while investigations of abuse are ongoing, Texas has been one of a few states in recent years that have increased their rates of removal of children from their homes. After describing domestic violence laws, Professor Sue Tomkins shared a YouTube video, “Polygamist Mothers Speak Out!” in which she saw signs of possible emotional abuse and control similar to victims in domestic violence cases. Others saw in the video an aggressive and patronizing reporter being challenged Read the rest of this entry »

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Regional Socio-Legal Conference report from Mary Condon, Law & Policy Editorial Board Member

Posted by lawpol on May 23, 2008

13th Annual Regional Socio-Legal Conference, Centre of Criminology, University of Toronto

Prof. Condon writes:

The 13th annual Ontario/New York Regional Sociolegal Studies conference was held at University of Toronto Centre of Criminology’s wonderful new premises in the Canadiana Building at Queen’s Park on May 8, 2008. There were approximately 30 participants from University of Toronto, York, Carleton, University at Buffalo and the Baldy Center for Law and Social Policy. Apart from opportunities for informal exchanges among participants, there were two main thematic roundtables. One concerned social movements and anti-discrimination and the other dealt with the interaction between risk knowledges and legal policy and decisionmaking. A remarkable feature of the presentations throughout the day was the wide range of casestudies canvassed: European anti-racism, LGBT social movements, history of civil rights activism, mental illness advocacy, citizenship and discourses of terrorism, energy and biotechnology policy, aboriginal justice processes, foster care funding, pension plan governance.

A central theme of the morning discussion was the idea of “framing” an issue and the factors that contributed to certain kinds of frames. For example, who is an “acceptable” citizen, what is a legitimate definition of “racism”, how do some kinds of activism get validated and others do not? Read the rest of this entry »

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