Estoppels Against Statutes

Court responses to Tarasoff statutes.

Twenty-three states have enacted Tarasoff statutes applicable to psychiatrists. Since the first such statute was enacted in California in 1985, a significant number of courts in states with this and similar statutes have reviewed Tarasoff-type claims. This article reviews courts' analyses in 76 such cases. There were five basic categories identified, including cases that (I) did not reference t...

HIV is a virus, not a crime: ten reasons against criminal statutes and criminal prosecutions

The widespread phenomenon of enacting HIV-specific laws to criminally punish transmission of, exposure to, or non-disclosure of HIV, is counter-active to good public health conceptions and repugnant to elementary human rights principles. The authors provide ten reasons why criminal laws and criminal prosecutions are bad strategy in the epidemic.

Litigating against Government Agencies: Case Studies in Challenges to Agency Decisions under Federal Environmental Statutes

Commentary: Children's minds and adult statutes.

In “Competency to Stand Trial in Preadjudicated and Petitioned Juvenile Defendants,” Baerger et al. report the results of their investigation of competency to stand trial of juveniles charged with various offenses. The findings support the expected positive correlations between age and competency and cognitive ability and competency. The importance of the paper, however, lies in its contributio...

The Political Economy of Takeover Statutes