Benjamin Levin

ICYMI: Faculty Notable Mentions

Anonymous — Tue, 14 Feb 2023 16:35:08 +0000

ICYMI: Faculty Notable Mentions Anonymous (not verified) Tue, 02/14/2023 - 09:35

Widely recognized for its intellectual diversity and originality, the faculty at Colorado Law encompasses an array of prominent legal scholars who are widely cited, both in academia and throughout the national media landscape. We invite you to catch up on the latest faculty publications and media mentions with this weekly round up, provided by the extraordinary Wise Law Library.

Notable Mentions:

Brad Bernthal, Kristelia Garcia, Dean Lolita Buckner Inniss, Blake Reid, & SFC Distinguished Advisor JP de Vries, The Internet’s Midlife Crisis (Silicon Flatirons Conference, Feb. 5-6, 2023).

Violeta Chapin, Debbie Kelley, Path to U.S. citizenship elusive for longtime immigrant owners of popular Colorado Springs German restaurant, The Gazette, Feb. 5, 2023.

[Casey Fiesler, SFC affiliate faculty], Clarissa-Jan Lim, Someone Else Made You Go Viral On TikTok. Now What?, Buzzfeed News, Feb. 8, 2023.

[Markus Funk, Colorado Law adjunct], A Texas Taco Shop Diner Killed an Intruder. Now He Faces Legal Scrutiny, Washington Post, Jan. 10, 2023

Markus Funk, Bill Hutchinson, Fatal Taqueria Robber Shooting Casts Scrutiny on Armed Civilians, ABC News, Jan. 18, 2023.

Markus Funk, Grand Jury Weighing Actions of Patron in Fatal Texas Taqueria Robbery, Dan Abrams Live (NewsNation), January 11, 2023 (appearance begins around 3:19).

Pratheepan Gulasekaram, Blake Reid, & Kyle Velte, Three New Faculty to Join Colorado Law, Feb. 10 2023.

Benjamin Levin, A New Proposal Sure Sounds Like an Effort to Harvest Prisoners’ Organs, Slate, Feb. 7, 2023.

Mark Loewenstein, Top 10% of authors by all-time downloads, SSRN.com, Feb. 6, 2023 (SSRN login required).

Doug Spencer, Voting Rights: Then and Now with Doug Spencer, Mini Law School, Feb. 8, 2023.

Doug Spencer, Kate Riga, We Haven’t Dodged the Independent State Legislature Theory, Talking Points Memo, Feb. 9, 2023.

Ahmed White, Tattered Cover Book Event: Under the Iron Heel (Feb. 7, 2023).

Ahmed White, ��«��Ƶ Bookstore Event: Under The Iron Heel (upcoming, March 1, 2023).

Silicon Flatirons conference Cristiano Lima, Senate Democrat renews fight for Silicon Valley watchdog, Washington Post, Feb. 5, 2023.

Silicon Flatirons conference, Sen. Bennet Urges Creation of Digital Platform Commission, TR Daily, Feb. 6, 2023 (Lexis login required).

Silicon Flatirons conference, Andrea Grajeda, Sen. Michael Bennet addresses internet’s midlife crisis at CU ��«��Ƶ conference, Daily Camera, Feb. 5, 2023.

[Colorado Law], 2023 Princeton Review Law School Rankings: Professors (Teaching), TaxProf Blog, Feb. 9, 2023.

[Colorado Law], 2023 Princeton Review Law School Rankings: Academic Experience, TaxProf Blog, Feb. 9, 2023.

[Colorado Law], 2023 Princeton Review Law School Rankings: Admissions Selectivity, TaxProf Blog, Feb. 9, 2023.

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ICYMI: Faculty Publications and Notable Mentions

Anonymous — Mon, 29 Aug 2022 21:59:49 +0000

ICYMI: Faculty Publications and Notable Mentions Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 08/29/2022 - 15:59

Faculty Publications:

Aamir Abdullah, Westlaw’s Key Number System, 51 Colo. Law. 8 (2022).

Margot Kaminski, Regulating the Risks of AI, SSRN.com, Aug. 23, 2022 (forthcoming, 103 Boston U. L. Rev. (2023)) (recently listed on SSRN's Top Ten download list for: Artificial Intelligence - Law, Policy, & Ethics eJournal, Consumer Law eJournal, Data Science & Analytics eJournal, InfoSciRN: Artificial Intelligence (Topic), InfoSciRN: Data Protection (Topic), InfoSciRN: Information Control (Topic), InfoSciRN: Information Privacy (Topic), InfoSciRN: Other Artificial Intelligence (Sub-Topic), Information Policy & Ethics eJournal, Information Privacy Law eJournal, Information Use eJournal, LSN: Consumer Privacy (Sub-Topic), LSN: Online Privacy (Sub-Topic), LSN: Regulation of Information & Privacy Issues Involving Consumers (Topic) and Libraries & Information Technology eJournal).

Notable Mentions:

Aya Gruber, Crucial hearing held on Friday that could determine outcome of deadly Denver arson case, Denver 9 News, Aug. 19, 2022.

Aya Gruber, Kevin Cole, Top Ten Recent SSRN Downloads in Criminal Law eJournal, CrimProf Blog, Aug. 21, 2022 (Sex Exceptionalism in Criminal Law #2).

Dale Hatfield, Silicon Flatirons Center, John Eggerton, Padden: FCC Needs to Set Receiver Standards, NextTv.com, Aug. 24, 2022.

Margot Kaminski, Lawrence Solum, Kaminski on Regulating AI, Legal Theory Blog, Aug. 26, 2022.

Ben Levin, Faculty Workshop: Benjamin Levin of University of Colorado, University of Virginia, Aug. 26, 2022.

Douglas Spencer, Harry Stevens, Artur Galocha & Adrian Blanco, Can Computer Simulations Help Fix Democracy?, The Washington Post, Aug. 22, 2022.

Mark Squillace, US crude output likely to see little change from rollercoaster court rulings on leasing pause, S&P Global Commodity Insights, Aug. 19, 2022.

Mark Squillace, Conrad Swanson, ‘We needed a deal yesterday’: Deadline passes without deal to save Colorado River, Denver Post, Aug. 20, 2022.

Mark Squillace, Sam Metz & Felicia Fonseca, Deadline looms for western states to cut Colorado River use, Associated Press, Aug. 15, 2022 (reprints include the Washington Post).

Mark Squillace, Heather Richards, Is NEPA a winning strategy to fight oil and gas?, E&E News Energywire, Aug. 24, 2022 (VPN logon required).

Mark Squillace, Bobby Magill, Biden ‘Abused’ Authority in Declaring Utah Monuments, State Says, Bloomberg Law News, Aug. 24, 2022 (VPN logon or Bloomberg logon required).

If you have any problems accessing any of these articles, contact: lawfacultyservices@colorado.edu

Catch up on the latest faculty publications and media mentions with this weekly round up, provided by the extraordinary Wise Law Library.

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Benjamin Levin: Can Police Unions Be a Force for Reform? | The Crime Report

Anonymous — Wed, 29 Sep 2021 06:00:00 +0000

Benjamin Levin: Can Police Unions Be a Force for Reform? | The Crime Report Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 09/29/2021 - 00:00

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Benjamin Levin: Protests Planned After Polis’ Tweak to Elijah McClain Edict; Activists Worry of ‘Watered Down Charges’ | The Sentinel

Anonymous — Fri, 20 Nov 2020 07:00:00 +0000

Benjamin Levin: Protests Planned After Polis’ Tweak to Elijah McClain Edict; Activists Worry of ‘Watered Down Charges’ | The Sentinel Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 11/20/2020 - 00:00

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Benjamin Levin: Arlington’s Top Prosecutor, Defender Clash With Judge | The Washington Post

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Nov 2020 07:00:00 +0000

Benjamin Levin: Arlington’s Top Prosecutor, Defender Clash With Judge | The Washington Post Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 11/13/2020 - 00:00

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Talking Criminal Justice With Benjamin Levin

Anonymous — Mon, 26 Oct 2020 21:27:36 +0000

Talking Criminal Justice With Benjamin Levin Anonymous (not verified) Mon, 10/26/2020 - 15:27

Associate Professor Benjamin Levin studies criminal law and policy. Here he discusses the relationship between the coronavirus pandemic and criminal justice reform, police unions and their role in policymaking, and mass incarceration in the United States. His latest articles, “What’s Wrong with Police Unions?" and "Imagining the Progressive Prosecutor," are forthcoming in the Columbia Law Review and Minnesota Law Review, respectively.

Why is it necessary to consider criminal justice reform in the context of other movements for social and economic change?

The criminal system doesn’t operate in a vacuum. Too often, discussions of criminal law focus on individual cases or questions of morality as though they aren’t tied to institutional design decisions relating to housing, employment, mental health, and a host of social services. One reason we have so many criminal laws on the books and so many people incarcerated is a failure to think outside of the box of punishment and explore nonpunitive responses to social problems. So, a fuller picture of criminal justice reform would consider the way that criminal law interacts with other regulatory schemes and the way that criminal punishment implicates noncriminal institutions.

What sparked your interest in police unions and their role in policymaking?

After law school, I worked at a firm representing victims of police misconduct. In our cases, police unions operated as stand-ins for "bad policing," serving as obstacles to reform and accountability. That view of police unions has predominated in the academic literature and in policy conversations I’ve been a part of. At the same time, I come from a pro-labor background, and I have written about historical hostility toward unions. So, I arrive at my study of police unions from a place of ambivalence: I worry about the role they have played in upholding the injustices of our criminal system. But I also worry about the ways in which criticism of them can cut more broadly and support attacks on organized labor.

What has the death of George Floyd and others at the hands of the police revealed about the state of police unions, and what reform is necessary?

I see them as revealing more about policing than police unions. The video of Officer Derek Chauvin killing George Floyd drives home the violence inherent in policing and the ways that violence implicates inequality along lines of race, class, and social marginalization. Unions become an easy target for outrage because they have taken a hard line in support of officers accused of misconduct. It’s important to recognize the role of unions in setting policy. (I’m actually a part of a nationwide working group on state labor law and policing.) But the focus on unions risks letting others off the hook. Elected officials have failed to rein in police and have signed off on contracts that stymie oversight. Lawmakers, judges, and voters have continued to expand the criminal system and empower police. Putting the blame on unions obscures that complicity and, I worry, plays into a broader narrative about public-sector unions (rather than policing) as the real problem.

How has the coronavirus pandemic exposed structural flaws of the U.S. criminal system during "normal" times?

Over 2 million people are locked up, and millions more are under some form of state supervision. For those who are directly affected by the system, the brutality of its "normal" operations is unavoidable. The pandemic has shone a light on and exacerbated many aspects of the system that often escape the broader public’s attention. For example, people charged with crimes are often held in jail awaiting trial because they can’t afford bail. Despite being presumptively innocent, they can be locked up for days, weeks, or months. That dynamic has led to constitutional challenges and legislative efforts in Colorado and elsewhere to enact "bail reform." During the pandemic, the injustices of incarcerating people because they are too poor to pay has become even clearer: Jails are petri dishes for disease, so leaving someone locked up could mean death or serious illness.

What opportunities and challenges does the coronavirus present for criminal justice reform?

The pandemic has thrown many societal flaws into stark relief. Economic inequality appears even more glaring as some of us are able to work from home, while others lose jobs and housing. Similarly, the criminal system’s harshness has become clearer to many people who otherwise wouldn’t be aware. The pandemic helps bring urgency to discussions about reform: Jails and prisons are the sources of many of the nation’s largest clusters of cases, so addressing mass incarceration has become a pressing public health concern. The worry, though, is that folks might view the problems identified this summer as "exceptional" and see emergency fixes as long-term solutions, rather than stopgap measures to address longstanding injustice.

What advice do you have for law students interested in a career in criminal justice reform?

Don’t get discouraged! I am thrilled by how many CU grads go into criminal practice, and it’s an exciting moment to be working in the field because there is so much interest in reform. But that doesn’t mean there are easy answers. The policy questions are hard, and the politics are complicated. Mass incarceration didn’t happen overnight, and neither will a transformation of the system.

Associate Professor Benjamin Levin discusses the relationship between the coronavirus pandemic and criminal justice reform, police unions and their role in policymaking, and mass incarceration in the United States.

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Benjamin Levin: Despite Juror Alleging Pressure to Convict, Court Declines to Order Review of Verdict | Colorado Politics

Anonymous — Fri, 14 Aug 2020 06:00:00 +0000

Benjamin Levin: Despite Juror Alleging Pressure to Convict, Court Declines to Order Review of Verdict | Colorado Politics Anonymous (not verified) Fri, 08/14/2020 - 00:00

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Benjamin Levin: Protesters Brought Violins To A Vigil For Elijah McClain. Police Brought Pepper Spray And Riot Gear | KUNC Radio

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Jul 2020 06:00:00 +0000

Benjamin Levin: Protesters Brought Violins To A Vigil For Elijah McClain. Police Brought Pepper Spray And Riot Gear | KUNC Radio Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 07/01/2020 - 00:00

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Suzette Malveaux and Benjamin Levin: Rio Grande Sheriff’s Employees Can Be Sued for Inmate Self-Mutilation, 10th Circuit Rules | Colorado Politics

Anonymous — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 06:00:00 +0000

Suzette Malveaux and Benjamin Levin: Rio Grande Sheriff’s Employees Can Be Sued for Inmate Self-Mutilation, 10th Circuit Rules | Colorado Politics Anonymous (not verified) Wed, 06/24/2020 - 00:00

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Benjamin Levin: There’s No Playbook for the Battle Between Mayors and Police Right Now | CNN

Anonymous — Sat, 20 Jun 2020 06:00:00 +0000

Benjamin Levin: There’s No Playbook for the Battle Between Mayors and Police Right Now | CNN Anonymous (not verified) Sat, 06/20/2020 - 00:00

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