Volume 74, Issue 4
Fall 2025
ARTICLES
Personhood After Dobbs
(Craddock) Abstract. Following the Supreme Court’s decision to overturn Roe v. Wade in 2022, unsettled questions remain about the constitutional status of unborn children. With good reason, Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization did not address whether unborn children are persons within the original meaning of the Due Process and Equal Protection Clauses. The historical evidence, however, is now well-established that when the Fourteenth Amendment was ratified in 1868, the word “person” had a settled public meaning that included every human being—children in the womb among them. . .
The Human Dimension of “Home
(Destro) Abstract. All societies provide a legal framework that protects the pivotal functions of home and family. None provide a clear legal definition of “home.” Nor, this article argues, can they. “Home” is a concept rooted in the lived experience of human persons. In this article, the second in a series, the author employs the “human dimension” (HDIM) concept, initially developed by the U.S. military and later adopted by the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, as the lens through which one can examine the “human element” of human rights. . .
The Real Impact of General Deterrence: Empirical Insights from the Robbery Data of Three American Cities
(Eichner) Abstract. General deterrence theory relies on the critical assumption that prospective offenders will be deterred from committing crimes when they are aware of the apprehension and punishment of others. This idea has been reiterated across thousands of years of Western political thought and has significant implications in modern American criminal sentencing, though it has not been historically subjected to rigorous testing. . .
Children and Chairs, Artifacts and Reality
(MacLeod) Abstract. Where do children come from? The source of childhood—either nature or political will—is a matter not merely of chronology but of authority. Whoever makes children gets to define childhood. Legal childhood is one type of legal personhood. Legal personhood matters because legal persons bear legal rights and duties. Rights and duties direct how we act toward each other. . .