David S Caudill

Alcohol-Induced Blackout as a Criminal Defense or Mitigating Factor: An Evidence-Based Review and Admissibility as Scientific Evidence

Alcohol‐related amnesia—alcohol blackout—is a common claim of criminal defendants. The generally held belief is that during an alcohol blackout, other cognitive functioning is severely impaired or absent. The presentation of alcohol blackout as scientific evidence in court requires that the science meets legal reliability standards (Frye, FRE702/Daubert). To determine whether “alcohol blackout” meets these standards, an evidence‐based analysis of published scientific studies was conducted. A total of 26 empirical studies were identified including nine in which an alcohol blackout was induced and directly observed. No objective or scientific method to verify the presence of an alcoholic blackout while it is occurring or to confirm its presence retrospectively was identified. Only short‐term memory is impaired and other cognitive functions—planning, attention, and social skills—are not impaired. Alcoholic blackouts would not appear to meet standards for scientific evidence and should not be admissible.

Synthetic Science: A Response to Rabinow

Abstract Rabinow’s description of the unique collaborative goal of synthetic biology at Berkeley, to foster a coproduction among multiple disciplines and perspectives from the outset (as opposed to downstream reflection upon ethical, legal, and social implications), is somewhat misleading. While that particular assemblage is represented as coproductive, the inevitability of science as a coproduction is eclipsed. That shortcoming may well be a strategic compromise to ensure effective collaboration, but it could backfire. Idealized images of science, which might be termed synthetic or artificial, have had adverse consequences in legal and administrative assessments of reliable science.

Legal Responses to Body Burdens: Discourses on Low-dose Toxicity

New pollution narratives concerning toxic chemicals represent a shift in terms of risk awareness from outside (environmental pollution) to inside (in bodily fluids), and new biomonitoring technologies offer the capacity to visualise a boundary between the body and ‘invading’ chemicals. The personal and popular, as opposed to scholarly and scientific, discourse of body ‘burdens’ — chemicals ‘in our veins’, ‘carrying’ chemicals around and ‘under your skin’ — inevitably turns to legal constructions: chemical ‘trespass’, the regulation of ‘walking toxic dumps’ and bodies as identifiable ‘toxic waste sites’. Responding to low-dose toxic hazards requires new legal conceptions — the body as a geographical site, the hazards inside the home, the risk of the internal, a duty to test chemicals based on the public nuisance doctrine, and trespass without the knowledge of either party — as well as a new political environment.

An assessment of the existence and influence of psychoanalytic jurisprudence in the United States

In light of the ongoing controversy over the value of psychoanalysis generally, this article summarizes the standards for scientific expertise in law and concludes that the future of psychoanalytic jurisprudence does not lie in the courtroom. After a brief survey of the history of psychoanalytic jurisprudence in legal contexts and institutions, I identify a revival of psychoanalytic jurisprudence, including (i) its association, primarily as a social theory, with Critical Legal Studies (in the US context), and (ii) the influence of Jacques Lacan in the legal academy. The unifying themes in this critical methodology include the construction of the subject through the language and rituals of the law, the failure of mainstream jurisprudence to be sufficiently critical of the legal status quo, and the repression or denial of injustices in legal history. Paralleling that revival, I note that a field of scholarship employing traditional Freudian conceptions is also currently engaging interdisciplinary legal studies, intervening in law reform efforts (particularly in criminal law), and criticizing the background assumptions and conventions in contemporary judicial opinions. I conclude that psychoanalysis is both threatening to mainstream legal culture and a rich source of insights for contemporary studies of legal processes and institutions.

Take It to the Limit

Choreographers: Ken & Sue Davis, 11345 E. Monte Ave, Mesa, AZ 85209 Phone: 480-699-4713 email: davisfam2@cox.net Website: www.davisfam.info/~dance/ Release Date: August, 2008 Rhythm: Waltz Phase: 6 Footwork: Opposite except where W’s noted by ( ); Timing 123 except as noted Music: “Take It To the Limit” Artist: The Eagles (from Album “One of These Nights”) (music available online at AmazonMP3, iTunes Music Store, Walmart Music, etc.) (music cut at 3:20, begin fade-out at 3:17 times noted are before slowing; contact choreographers for music questions) Sequence: A-B-Amod-B-END Speed: 43 rpm (28 mpm)