Professors I. Bennett Capers and Akilah N. Folami each contributed chapters to African American Culture and Legal Discourse, a collection of legal essays edited by Lovalerie King and Richard Schur, and published by Palgrave MacMillan. The chapter by Professor Capers is titled “Reading Back, Reading Black, and Buck v. Bell.” The chapter by Professor Folami is titled “The Telecommunications Act of 1996 and the Overdevelopment of Gangsta Rap.”

Professor I. Bennett Capers has posted on SSRN his article “The Unintentional Rapist,” forthcoming in the Washington University Law Review.

ABSTRACT:

Rape law is replete with troubling cases. Using as a case in point McQuirter v. State, in which a black man was convicted of attempt to commit assault with intent to rape one Mrs. Ted Allen, a white woman, this Article argues that much of this trouble is traceable not to the black letter law of rape, but to what this Article terms the white letter law of rape. Though rarely made explicit, this white letter law of rape is decidedly color-coded, and promulgates the sexualization of race and the racialization of rape. Even more problematic, the reforms advocated by feminist scholars to eliminate sexism in rape law have in fact entrenched racism in rape law. This Article then asks what it means to be an unintentional rapist, i.e., to be wrongly perceived as a rapist, especially when that perception is informed by race. Is it possible to recast the unintentional rapists not as a suspect or defendant, but as a crime victim? Put differently, can we reframe McQuirter v. State into a hypothetical State v. Allen? Should we? The answers to these questions have profound implications for reforming the law of rape. They also have profound implications for the law of not rape.

Professor Robin Charlow was quoted in the following Newsday article.

Record exec pleads not guilty in mall fiasco
By Sophia Chang and Keith Herbert
November 21, 2009

EXCERPT:

A legal expert said more knowledge of Roppo's involvement with the crowd would explain why he was charged if he was not personally involved in an assault. "If you don't do something, you normally can't be charged for not acting. But if you have some kind of legal duty to act, that's when you could be charged," said Robin Charlow, criminal and constitutional law professor at Hofstra University.

Professor Barbara S. Barron was quoted in the following Newsday article.

Experts: Lacey evidence ruling may hamper prosecution
By Kathleen Kerr
November 24, 2009

EXCERPT:

Barbara Barron, a former Manhattan prosecutor who is co-director of the trial techniques program at the Hofstra University School of Law, said the loss of the confession and the detective's testimony does not necessarily spell disaster for the prosecution's case.

Barron said in the absence of the confession, prosecutors can use circumstantial evidence to help jurors connect the dots.

"You have his car, you have the gas," Barron said. "If you connect everything, you have a credible case. A lot of times, circumstantial evidence is far stronger than an eyewitness account."

Professor James Sample was cited in multiple articles for his work on judicial elections in the Harvard Law Review. Three references are to a 2006 report Professor Sample co-authored on campaign fundraising in judicial elections entitled, "The New Politics of Judicial Elections 2006: How 2006 Was the Most Threatening Year Yet to the Fairness and Impartiality of Our Courts - and How Americans Are Fighting Back." Professor Sample is presently working on a subsequent edition of the New Politics of Judicial Elections report, which will come out in late December of this year or early January 2010.

The case comment introducing the three commentaries cites a report on campaign fundraising by state supreme court candidates that Professor Sample co-authored entitled, "Caperton v. A.T. Massey Coal Co.: Due Process Limitations on the Appearance of Judicial Bias."

Professor Penny White’s article Relinquished Responsibilities cites the “New Politics of Judicial Elections: 2006” twice, and also cites an article Professor Sample co-authored in the Washburn Law Journal.