Volume X, Fall 2018 Law Journal for Social Justice

Editor Introduction:

Continuing with last year’s goal, the Law Journal for Social Justice will publish twice a year. Very special thanks to our staff and editors who are integral to accomplishing our mission of bringing social justice scholarship to the public.

Our tenth volume begins with Blazing a New Trail: How First-Generation Law Students Perform in and Experience Law School. This article examines how first-generation law students experience law school and dispels myths about their performance. First-generation students help diversify the legal profession, which in turn helps bring social justice issues to the forefront of the legal profession. Next, two articles discuss pressing issues in our criminal justice system. Daniel Rosenfeld examines the decision of charging juveniles as adult criminal defendants versus resolving the cases in juvenile court in A Child Until the End: Moving the Decision to Waive Juvenile Court Jurisdiction Until After Trial. Further, Megan Reed examines When Injustice Becomes Law: Legal Philosophy Principles Applies to Actual-Innocence Claims in Federal Habeas Petitions.

Next, the intersection of environmental rights and the First Amendment is examined by Kacee Benson in Pipelines, Protects, and Possible Punishment: Environmental Rights and the First Amendment in the United States. Finally, this volume concludes with an examination of the Violence Against Women Act and Special Domestic Violence Criminal Jurisdiction, which allows Native American tribes to exercise jurisdiction over select non-Indians.

Katherine A. Nelson

2018-2019 Editor-in-Chief

Law Journal for Social Justice