Tag Archives: Inequality/equality

“Witchcraft: A Human Rights Conflict Between Customary/Traditional Laws and the Legal Protection of Women in Contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa” by Maakor Quarmyne, 2011

July 19, 2019 10:50 pm /

Submitted by: Catherine Kemp, Associate Professor, Dept. of Philosophy, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Click to read online: Witchcraft: A Human Rights Conflict Between Customary/Traditional Laws and the Legal Protection of Women in Contemporary Sub-Saharan Africa

This article addresses the legal implications for women, particularly older women, in contemporary sub-Saharan Africa. Part I explores the foundation for the belief in witchcraft and witchcraft’s place in and effect on the social ordering within communities in sub-Saharan Africa. Part II examines the clash of customary/traditional laws against state legal systems, mostly common and civil law traditions. Witchcraft historically fell under the jurisdiction of customary/traditional legal systems,’and, today, accused witches in sub-Saharan Africa have no specific legal or human rights protections under most state constitutions.’ State action is enough to protect these women, or whether specific rights are being violated under state laws. Part III follows with an analysis of various international treaties, principles, and norms and explores international law and human rights standards that could or should arguably protect this victimized class of women in contemporary sub-Saharan Africa

This is a library resource and can be accessed using the John Jay login credentials. This article is from the William & Mary Journal of Women & the Law.; Winter 2011, Vol. 17 Issue 2, p475-507,

Posted in: 2011 - Present, Africa, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL) / Tagged: , , , , , , , ,

“Let’s Get Free” by Paul Butler, 2010

July 18, 2019 9:48 pm /

Submitted by: Catherine Kemp, Associate Professor, Dept. of Philosophy, John Jay College of Criminal Justice

To read online: “Let’s Get Free“

“Drawing on his personal fascinating story as a prosecutor, a defendant, and an observer of the legal process, Paul Butler offers a sharp and engaging critique of our criminal justice system. He argues against discriminatory drug laws and excessive police power and shows how our policy of mass incarceration erodes communities and perpetuates crime. Controversially, he supports jury nullification—or voting “not guilty” out of principle—as a way for everyday people to take a stand against unfair laws, and he joins with the “Stop Snitching” movement, arguing that the reliance on informants leads to shoddy police work and distrust within communities. Butler offers instead a “hip hop theory of justice,” parsing the messages about crime and punishment found in urban music and culture. Butler’s argument is powerful, edgy, and incisive.” (From book description)

This is a library resource available with a John Jay login.

Posted in: 2000 - 2010, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL), US / Tagged: , , , ,

“The Central Park Five”, Video by Ken Burns, 2012

April 15, 2019 5:38 pm /

Submitted by: Justice eReader Editorial Board

To view online, click here: The Central Park Five, Video by Ken Burns

In 1989, five black and Latino teenagers from Harlem were arrested and later convicted of raping a white woman in New York City’s Central Park. They spent between 6 and 13 years in prison before a serial rapist confessed that he alone had committed the crime, leading to their convictions being overturned. Set against a backdrop of a decaying city beset by violence and racial tension, Ken Burns tells the story of that horrific crime, the rush to judgment by the police, a media clamoring for sensational stories and an outraged public, and the five lives upended by this miscarriage of justice.

This is a library resource available, using a John Jay login.

Posted in: 2011 - Present, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL), US / Tagged: , , , , , , , , ,

“Justice” by Michael Sandel: An Online Course Presented by Harvard University, 2019

March 29, 2019 6:17 pm /
Submitted by:  Jamie Longazel, Associate Professor, Department of Political Science, John Jay College of Criminal Justice
To take course, click here: “Justice Course”: Harvard University (2019)
“Sandel explains theories of justice…with clarity and immediacy; the ideas of Aristotle, Jeremy Bentham, Immanuel Kant, John Stuart Mill, Robert Nozick and John Rawls have rarely, if ever, been set out as accessibly…. In terms we can all understand, ‘Justice’ confronts us with the concepts that lurk, so often unacknowledged, beneath our conflicts.”  (Jonathan Rauch, New York Times). This is an introduction to moral and political philosophy, offering an opportunity to discuss contemporary dilemmas and controversies. The course includes the following:
This course is available online as open access.
Posted in: 2011 - Present, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL), US / Tagged: , , ,

“La Migra” Poem by Pat Mora, 2003

March 29, 2019 3:54 pm /

Submitted by:  Suzanne Oboler, Professor, Latin American and Latinx Studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice

To view online, click here:  “La Migra” Poem by Pat Mora

This is a poem about the Border Patrol hunting down immigrants on the border.

This is open source per the website “About LiveJournal.”

Posted in: 2000 - 2010, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL), US / Tagged: , , , ,

“I Hate to Bother You” Poem by Eduardo Galeano, 2009

March 29, 2019 3:39 pm /

Submitted by:  Suzanne Oboler, Professor, Latin American and Latinx Studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice

To read online, click here: “I Hate to Bother You” Poem by Eduardo Galeano

One of Latin America’s most cherished and admired literary figures, Eduardo Galeano was an Uruguayan author, who raised his voice incessantly for human rights and social justice. He was a severe critic of globalization and highlighted the dehumanizing facets of globalization in the contemporary world. One of South America’s most renowned writers, he was an ambassador of Latin American history and provided the world an insight into their culture, heritage and struggles, through his passionate and honest writing.

Poem available at the website, Dissident Voice, which is an Internet newsletter “dedicated to challenging the distortions and lies of the corporate press and the privileged classes it serves.” Website is copyrighted, but content is available to the public. Use for educational purposes under the Fair Use provision. Give credit to author..

Posted in: 2000 - 2010, Latin America & the Caribbean, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL) / Tagged: , , , ,

Pa’lante! Documentary Film by Iris Morales, 2011

March 15, 2019 4:25 pm /

Submitted by:  Suzanne Oboler, Professor, Latin American and Latinx Studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice

To view clip, click here: Pa’lante! Documentary Film by Iris Morales, 2011

This is just a short clip. The entire video has to be purchased. This documentary is still the best documentary on the Young Lords by one of its participants. In the midst of the African American liberation struggle, protests to end the Vietnam War and the women’s movement for equality, Puerto Rican and Latinx communities fought for economic, racial and social justice.

The entire documentary is copyrighted and has to be purchased. However, the library has a VHS copy in the Media Collection Reserve (VHS-1637).

Posted in: 2011 - Present, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL), US / Tagged: , , , , ,

“Struggles for Justice in Latin America” by Susan Eva Eckstein and Timothy P. Wickham-Crowley, 2003

March 14, 2019 7:04 pm /

Submitted by:  Suzanne Oboler, Professor, Latin American and Latinx Studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice

To read online, click here: “Struggles for Justice in Latin America”

From the book by Eckstein S. & Wickham-Crowley T. (Eds.), What Justice? Whose Justice?: Fighting for Fairness in Latin America (pp. 1-32). Berkeley; Los Angeles; London: University of California Press, 2003.  The book discusses “for whom is life just, how so, and why? And what is being done to correct persisting injustices?” Blending macro-level global and national analysis with in-depth grassroots detail, the contributors highlight roots of injustices, how they are perceived, and efforts to alleviate them.

This is a chapter in a copyrighted book.  However, it is a library resource available as an ebook, but for only one reader at a time.

Posted in: 2000 - 2010, Latin America & the Caribbean, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL) / Tagged: , , , ,

“Macaria’s Daughter” by Américo Paredes, 2017

March 14, 2019 5:32 pm /

Submitted by:  Suzanne Oboler, Professor, Latin American and Latinx Studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Taken from Google Books, click here: “Macaria’s Daughter”

“Macaria’s Daughter” is from the book, The Hammon and the Beans and Other Stories by Americo Paredes, Arte Público Press, 2017.  Click here for a book review.

Copyrighted. In his stories, Paredes explores the friction that frequently occurs within and between cultures at such points of difference as ethnicity, language, gender, class, and family role. Macaria’s Daughter is a murderous tale of male dominance and female virtue where there is a sacrifice between an altar of the Virgin of Guadalupe and the marriage bed of two distinct cultures. This story is set in south Texas and surprises the reader with the murder of a beautiful young woman named Marcela. She is found in the bedroom, lying on the floor in a pool of blood, 30 to 40 knife stabs decorate her breasts, while the local men gaze indifferently on her lifeless body. 

This is from Google Books found on the Internet. Use for educational purposes under the Fair Use provision.

Posted in: 2011 - Present, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL), US / Tagged: , , , , , ,

“Checkpoint in Montebello: Inciting Riots, Up against the Wall and Earning the Right to be on the Street with Signs that Say Retén” by Mecedes Castillo, 2008

March 12, 2019 6:08 pm /

Submitted by:  Suzanne Oboler, Professor, Latin American and Latinx Studies at John Jay College of Criminal Justice

Click here to read online: “Checkpoint in Montebello: Inciting Riots, Up against the Wall and Earning the Right to be on the Street with Signs that Say Retén”

Author says, “In the last year, our communities have seen an increase in raids and driver’s license checkpoints as another approach by the repressive police and ICE, aka Migra, to create fear, to scapegoat our Raza as the reason for all of the problems of the United States, and to continue the everlasting relationship of conquerors and conquered.”

Article in journal (Latino Studies, 2008, Vol.6, p.212). Copyrighted but can be obtained from library database via permalink and John Jay login.

Posted in: 2000 - 2010, Part 2: Subjects and Topics in Justice (ALL), US / Tagged: , , , ,
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