Sex Crimes Issue of Federal Sentencing Reporter

I’ve worked for almost a year on the new issue of the Federal Sentencing Reporter, which covers recent developments in the punishment and management of sex offenders.  My copies arrived in the mail yesterday.  (I have a few extras, which I would be happy to distribute free of charge; just send me an email if interested.)  My introductory essay is available on SSRN.  Here is a summary of the other articles:

Sex Offender Treatment: Reconciling Criminal Justice Priorities and Therapeutic Goals

Professors Mary Ann Farkas and Gale Miller of the Marquette University Department of Social and Cultural Sciences identify important tensions in the therapist’s role when sex offenders are required to undergo treatment by the criminal justice system.  “Divided loyalties may arise,” they argue, “when treatment professionals feel a conflict between their professional responsibility to facilitate client change and their legal/criminal justice responsibilities.”  For instance, if an offender tells his therapist about a previously undisclosed offense, the therapist may be obliged to report the offense for possible prosecution.  Likewise, the therapist’s ability to sanction clients for noncompliance with the treatment program also puts therapists into a more punitive and less therapeutic role.  In light of such concerns, the authors call for treatment providers to modify their programs in various ways when they serve “involuntary” clients.

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Celebrating a Scholar’s Life

Walter Weyrauch, Stephen C. O’Connell Chair and Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Florida, passed away last fall after more than a half century of faculty service at UF Law School.  A memorial service — quite a warm and joyous reminiscence and celebration of Walter’s life and work — was held last month in Gainesville. My admission ticket was courtesy of my wife, Professor Alison Barnes, for whom Walter was a mentor and co-author, as well as a dear friend.

What prompts me to write about the memorial service was one particular theme that almost every speaker emphasized. Walter was scholar to his core, an indefatigable reader, and a highly original thinker. Quite importantly in terms of his scholarship, Walter had a key insight.

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New Issue of Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review Is Here

Thanks to the outstanding work of its editors and staff members, the Winter 2009 issue of the Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review has just been released to the public! The issue opens with an article from Professor Jerome H. Reichman, the Bunyan S. Womble Professor of Law at Duke Law School, on “Rethinking the Role of Clinical Trial Data in International Intellectual Property: The Case for a Public Goods Approach.”  An early version of this article was presented by Professor Reichman as the 11th Honorable Helen Wilson Nies Momorial lecture at Marquette Law School in March of 2008.  The publication also features two additional articles, one from St. Mary’s University School of Law Professor Robert H. Hu on “International Legal Protection of Trademarks in China,” and one from  Dr. Thomas M. Mackey on “Nanobiotechnology, Synthetic Biology, and RNAI: Patent Portfolios for Maximal Near-Term Commercialization and Commons for Maximal Long-Term Medical Gain.”  Last, but not least, two excellent comments from our own students conclude the issue: Tiffany N. Beaty on “Navigating the Safe Harbor Rule: The Need for a DMCA Compass,” and Jeremiah A. Bryaron on “What Goes Around, Comes Around: How Indian Tribes Can Profit in the Aftermath of Seminole Tribe and Florida Prepaid.”

To all students and authors who put so much work into making this endeavor a success, congratulations again on an excellent Issue of the Marquette Intellectual Property Law Review! And to all others . . . enjoy the readings; they are truly interesting and greatly contribute to the academic and professional dialogue well beyond the intellectual property community!

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