Criminal Law

This course will give students further opportunities to develop their legal writing and analysis skills in the context of analyzing seemingly race neutral issues using Critical Race Theory (CRT) techniques. Such techniques include not only considering the race of those involved in the litigation, but also racial stereotyping, the case’s historical context, implicit bias, and other relevant factors that might implicate racial issues. The goal is to help students understand how the tenets of CRT can be useful as an analytical tool in crafting a legal analysis or argument.

Students will study the ways in which racism is embedded in the practice both of law and journalism and to see how the two fields can be used to challenge it. Students will begin the course by reflecting on their own biases before investigating and writing about an actual case.

This course reviews the stages of juvenile court proceedings that apply when the state investigates and files petitions based on potential criminal behavior by minors. The primary reading materials are North Carolina state statutes and North Carolina appellate opinions. Class activities include simulated hearings.

This seminar examines the responsibilities and conduct of both prosecutors and law enforcement officers in the United States. We will cover topics including the role and responsibilities of prosecutors and police officers, various models of policing, forms of prosecutorial and police misconduct, legal claims that victims of such misconduct might bring against prosecutors and police officers, as well as defenses to those claims. We will discuss the merits and disadvantages of discretion in the criminal justice system and the value of mechanisms to constrain that discretion. We will think critically about various models used to hold prosecutors and police officers accountable for their conduct.

This course will provide students with foundational knowledge concerning the nature, functions, laws, and issues relating to the rapidly evolving landscape of cybersecurity. By the end of the course, students will be able to evaluate current trends in cybersecurity and cyber warfare; analyze American privacy and security laws applicable to private businesses and government; assess cybersecurity risks, and develop a risk mitigation strategy based on an assessment of current cyber risks.

As defined in this course, White Collar Crime means intentional wrongful acts contrary to law or public policy, generally based on deceit or breach of trust, and involving abuse of power, status, or office. The objective of the wrongful acts is usually a financial benefit to the perpetrator and financial harm to the victim. Though physical harm is not necessarily intended, it may result from the wrongful acts. Central themes of the course are the societal detriment caused by white-collar criminal activities and the pervasive disparity in punishment accorded to white-collar criminals as compared to ordinary street criminals. The course will provide an overview of the core federal statutory regime and major federal cases in the field.

A detailed study of one or more selected aspects of criminal procedure. The topics covered in recent years have included sentencing law, police accountability, and the jurisprudence of the death penalty.

This course will cover a broad range of topics as we survey the landscape of immigration law: Who is a citizen of the United States? Who else can enter and reside lawfully as a permanent resident or on a short-term visa? When can noncitizens be forced to leave? Who has the authority to answer the preceding three questions? Immigration law is a statutory course, focusing on provisions of the Immigration & Nationality Act. We will also cover important cases of constitutional law.

This course introduces the student to the rapidly evolving field of national security and counterterrorism/homeland security law, including law enforcement/intelligence operations to prevent acts of terrorism; and measures to apprehend, detain, and prosecute such perpetrators in civilian and military tribunals. If time permits, the course will also discuss the legal and policy approaches to terrorism/terrorist organizations in other countries such as the UK and Israel among others.

Intimate relationships are deeply personal, yet they are also subject to extensive state regulation. Laws attempt to balance the desires of individuals and the needs of society. But that can often be challenging. How should the state safeguard people’s ability to pursue personal happiness, while at the same time ensure that individuals behave responsibly towards others?  Can the government stay out of private spaces and simultaneously protect individuals from oppression and abuse? Is it possible for the law to recognize a variety of intimate relationships without privileging some over others?

This course will take up these and other questions, asking how, when, and why the state regulates intimate relationships. Students will discuss the tradeoffs that these regulations require between the rights to privacy, autonomy, and equality. The course will consequently both provide an overview of current regulatory frameworks as well as challenge students to think about what the law should be as a normative matter.

In your legal practice, you will be exposed to race-related issues—in the facts of your cases; in your interactions with clients, opposing counsel, witnesses, judges, and jurors; and in the law itself. You will also face race-related issues in your professional life—in the policies and practices of the bar and your firm; in your interactions with colleagues; and in your attempts to gain and manage clients. This course explores the ways in which race is relevant to the law and legal practice, with an eye on what social science research can tell us. The course will also explore how you might be a leader on race issues in your professional life.

The course will survey a range of American literature with a focus on works by African-American writers from ante-Bellum to the present. Students will juxtapose legal developments in the history of race relations in the U.S. from slavery, through the civil rights amendments to the Constitution, the black codes, Jim Crow, Harlem Renaissance, civil rights era, to the present. The course marries skills developed in law school with critical readings of literature and film to better understand the context of legal issues that might be encounter.