(2005). Law and Ethics. Death Studies, v29 n8 p787-789 Oct. Should ethicists decide whether someone lives or dies? Is deciding whether someone lives or dies a decision like deciding whether one car is better at cornering than another? Put another way, is the term \?ethicist\? misleading? Does it assume (without argument) that there is a discipline, ethics, that is like the discipline, physics? So that, just as there is a physicist, who knows physics better than non-physicists, there is a discipline, ethics, such that there are ethicists who know ethics better than non-ethicists? These are old questions (made clear to the author in conversation and correspondence by Bernard Gert of Dartmouth). As is made clear in this article that Nancy Dubler of Montefiore Hospital makes every effort to avoid the misleading implications of \ethicist.\… [Direct]
(2005). The Niagara Movement's Powerful Fruit-100 Years of Protest. Black Issues in Higher Education, v21 n26 p37 Feb. The Association for the Study of African American Life and History (ASAALH) was founded 90 years ago on Sept. 9, 1915. It's founder, Dr. Carter G. Woodson, author of the scathing masterpiece, The Miseducation of the Negro (1933), was also the thunder of Negro History Week (1926), the forerunner to contemporary Black History Month celebrations. Each year, the association develops a theme for Black History Month. This year it has highlighted The Niagara Movement: Black Protest Reborn, 1905-2005. This brief article evaluates the pros and cons of celebrating the Protest….
(2004). Justice and Disability. European Journal of Special Needs Education, v19 n1 p1-6 Mar. Conceptual problems about justice and disability relate directly to practice. Current thinking tends (1) to consider only distributive justice (the allocation of resources); (2) to assume that educators have the right to impose their own values on the disabled; and (3) to classify people as disabled, and treat those people, in accordance with a specific ideology that emphasizes equality, achievement and control. These presuppositions are exposed and briefly criticized, and the need for a less partisan and more sophisticated approach emphasized…. [Direct]
(2005). What Higher Education Law Says about Spirituality. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, n104 p15-22 Win. An increasingly litigious environment, combined with a renewed interest in spirituality, makes it imperative for higher education officials to be cognizant of the legal implication of two competing fundamental rights…. [Direct]
(2005). Intersection of Social Institutions with Civic Development. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, n109 p73-81 Fall. We propose that institutions can serve as a resource to promote civic identity in youth from low-wealth and other settings. We show how recent studies support this proposition and can constructively reorient developmental research and theory…. [Direct]
(2005). On the Psychology of Confessions: Does Innocence Put Innocents at Risk?. American Psychologist, v60 n3 p215-228 Apr. The Central Park jogger case and other recent exonerations highlight the problem of wrongful convictions, 15% to 25% of which have contained confessions in evidence. Recent research suggests that actual innocence does not protect people across a sequence of pivotal decisions: (a) In preinterrogation interviews, investigators commit false-positive errors, presuming innocent suspects guilty; (b) naively believing in the transparency of their innocence, innocent suspects waive their rights; (c) despite or because of their denials, innocent suspects elicit highly confrontational interrogations; (d) certain commonly used techniques lead suspects to confess to crimes they did not commit; and (e) police and others cannot distinguish between uncorroborated true and false confessions. It appears that innocence puts innocents at risk, that consideration should be given to reforming current practices, and that a policy of videotaping interrogations is a necessary means of protection…. [Direct]
(2004). "The Most Important Tool You Can Have in Your Work Is Wanting to Understand". Adults Learning, v16 n2 p9-11 Oct. The policy of dispersing refugees and asylum seekers around the country found many agencies unprepared for the difficulties of supporting those who have been subjected to torture. A London-based foundation is setting up branches around the UK to help people whose lives have been torn apart by torture find a way to live with their experiences. This article features the Medical Foundation for the Care of Victims of Torture, which was established in 1985 as a human rights organisation working to enable survivors of torture "to engage in a healing process to assert their own human dignity and worth." The Medical Foundation has developed what it terms a "human rights model of counselling" which aims to address advocacy and protection issues within the therapeutic relationship. Growing from small beginnings in two rooms in the former National Temperance Hospital in north west London, the organisation now employs 400 paid and volunteer staff, providing a wide range of… [Direct]
(2002). On Self-Evident Truths. Academic Questions, v16 n1 p11-15 Dec. Social scientists have suggested that all societies adhere to certain universal values. One form or another of the Golden Rule, for example, appears in all cultures. It may follow that, if we want to rise above cultural relativism, we might adopt values that humans seem to share and agree on already. The author of this article dismisses various arguments of relativism, laying the claim that there is a limited but crucial set of self-evident truths that speak to us in an unmistakable voice, and that provide a foundation for universal moral claims. Constitutions, universal declarations, and moral dialogues may take us part of the way, but something is still missing. The author contends that the missing factor consists of what the Founding Fathers resoundingly called self-evident truths. The founders did not speak of self-evident truths for Americans, as some would have it, but of concepts self-evident to anyone who will open his mind and heart. He states that there are a limited number… [Direct]
(2005). Adversaries and Allies: Rival National Suffrage Groups and the 1882 Nebraska Woman Suffrage Campaign. Great Plains Quarterly, v25 n2 p87-103 Spr. In September 1882, Nebraska was the setting for a significant moment in the history of the United States women's rights movement: the two rival suffrage organizations, the American Woman Suffrage Association (AWSA) and the National Woman Suffrage Association (NWSA), both held their annual conventions in Omaha. The alliance of the AWSA and the NWSA was a notable point in the gradual reunification of the two suffrage organizations…. [Direct]
(2005). "Her Heritage Is Helpful": Race, Ethnicity, and Gender in the Politicization of LaDonna Harrris. Great Plains Quarterly, v25 n4 p211-227 Fall. This article chronicles LaDonna Harris's experiences with the media, the public, and government leaders as she rose from humble origins in the Great Plains to national prominence as a leading advocate of Native American rights in the latter half of the twentieth century. Harris helped to integrate Lawton, Oklahoma, in the early 1960s, founded Oklahomans for Indian Opportunity (OIO) in 1965, and established Americans for Indian Opportunity (AIO) in 1970…. [Direct]
(1987). Anchor of Liberty. This book provides a road map for renewing knowledge and understanding of the Articles of the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Chapter 1, "Blueprint for Freedom," describes the historical background of the Constitutional Convention and the Bill of Rights. Chapter 2 gives a brief description of the four parts of the Constitution–Preamble, Articles, Bill of Rights, and Amendments. Chapter 3, "The Bill of Rights: Landmark of Liberty," outlines the rights contained in the Bill of Rights. Chapter 4, "A Nation Born of an Idea," discusses the way in which the rights of the Bill of Rights affects U.S. citizens in their everyday life. Chapter 5, "The Signers," gives a short biography of each of the signers of the Constitution, and chapter 6 is a reproduction of the Constitution and the 26 amendments. The book concludes with a listing of important dates. (SM)…
(1974). The Individual, His Culture and His Rights. Journal of Intergroup Relations, 3, 4, 3-12, F 74. Briefly explores some of the ideas of Edward Sapir in relation to the problem of human rights in our society; Sapir was perhaps the greatest American anthropologist of the twentieth century and certainly one of the greatest social scientists of the last several decades. (Author/JM)…
(1978). The Rights of Parents and the Rights of Children: A Review of the Legislative and Judicial Issues Surrounding Mainstreaming. The paper reviews judicial rulings regarding labeling, due process in placement, and right to education for handicapped students with emphasis on the hearing impaired. Statutes and regulations guaranteeing rights to the handicapped are discussed. The issues surrounding the individualized education program and the least restrictive environment principle are noted. Unanswered questions produced by P.L. 94-142, the Education for All Handicapped Children Act, and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 are pointed out, including questions of hearing officers and the concept of reasonable accommodation. (CL)…
(1974). Mental Retardation and the Law: A Report on Status of Current Court Cases. Presented by the President's Committee on Mental Retardation are an analysis of architectural barriers and a summary of new state cases, updated information on previously reported cases, and a listing of cases all concerned with the legal rights of the retarded. Architectural barriers are considered in terms of statutory actions and constitutional theories that have been used to challenge such barriers. New cases are reviewed for the following issues: architectural barriers, right to treatment, right to just compensation for labor, right to education, exclusionary zoning, sterilization, and right to control money. Updated information is provided on previously reported cases concerned with right to treatment, right to just compensation for labor, right to education, right to fair classification, exclusionary zoning, sterilization, and commitment laws. The final section lists closed cases in the following areas: right to treatment, right to just compensation for labor, right to public… [PDF]
(1973). The Impact of the Protection of Human Subjects on Research. Working Paper No. 70. The author discusses the experimenter's responsibility for the protection of human subjects (such as the handicapped) in research and the impact of this responsibility on methods of doing research. Considered are the types of human rights that are most frequently in need of protection within a research setting (such as the right to privacy); the most common threats to these rights that are posed by research (such as when deception is used for experimental purposes); and the criteria for determining when a subject is 'at risk'. Seven actions the experimenter can take to minimize risks to the subject are proposed (such as maintaining the confidentiality of data), and conditions and procedures for the acceptance of risk by both a subject and an experimenter are outlined (including the mechanism of voluntary informed consent). (LS)… [PDF]