Eva S. Nilsen

• Boston University

This article presents a critique of marijuana prohibition and suggests some alternative regulatory approaches that would be more productive and consonant with justice. Part I relies on a forty-year empirical record to demonstrate that (1) reliance on a law enforcement approach has aggravated rather than mitigated the risks involved with marijuana u...

Marijuana policy analyses typically focus on the relative costs and benefits of present policy and its feasible alternatives. This essay addresses a prior, threshold issue: whether marijuana criminal laws abridge fundamental individual rights, and if so, whether there are grounds that justify doing so. Over 700,000 people are arrested annually for...

American punishment today is degrading, indecent, and harsher than deserved despite a Constitution designed to protect people from cruel and unusual punishment. Unfortunately, the U.S. Supreme Court's response to the increasing inhumanity of contemporary punishment has been to reduce its Eighth Amendment jurisprudence to tidy categories, legal fict...

Following a spate of school shootings in the 90s and academic concerns about increasing juvenile violence, school districts throughout the country have adopted what is commonly known as a "zero-tolerance" policy. Reversing long-standing campaigns aimed at keeping children at risk in school, the new policy seeks to identify troublesome students and...

Abstract: Although Americans are arguably more committed than ever to the ideal of universal education, the drug war has effectively withdrawn this commitment from many teenagers and young adults who are most at risk. It has done so in several related ways that we explore in this article. First, the drug war has combined with public school zero-tol...

Abstract: In passing the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act of 2000, Congress instituted some badly needed reforms to a system that had spawned a good deal of governmental abuse, media investigation, and popular outrage. Unfortunately, however, CAFRA does not address the aspect of asset forfeiture law that is perhaps most responsible for fueling ove...

During the 25 years of its existence, the "War on Drugs" has transformed the criminal justice system, to the point where the imperatives of drug law enforcement now drive many of the broader legislative, law enforcement, and corrections policies in counterproductive ways. One significant impetus for this transformation has been the enactment of for...

This article examines federal forfeiture laws, which enable local and state law enforcement agencies to retain 80% of the drug related assets they seize. It notes the perverse policy incentives created by these laws, and inventories constitutional and statutory objections to its provisions.

Abstract: Although Americans are arguably more committed than ever to the ideal of universal education, the drug war has effectively withdrawn this commitment from many teenagers and young adults who are most at risk. It has done so in several related ways that we explore in this article. First, the drug war has combined with public school zero-tol...