As University of Virginia Professor of Law and Medicine Richard Bonnie writes, the insanity defense hinges on “whether the defendant experienced a legally relevant functional impairment at the time of the offense.” Was the defendant able to “appreciate the wrongfulness of her conduct” or “conform her conduct to the requirements of the law.” These criteria constitute the “‘cognitive’ and ‘volitional’ prongs of the defense,” respectively. The former implicates one’s rationality, the latter one’s willful control. Personality disorders usually don’t conduce to a not-guilty-by-reason-of-insanity ve...
The financial combat between Russia and the U.S.-led coalition is a throwback to past government debt wrangles, according to Mitu Gulati, a sovereign debt specialist at the University of Virginia law school. In the 1800s, major governments often sold bonds to finance wars — and then balked at paying investors from enemy lands. “This is a familiar situation, even if in the modern world it’s unusual,” Gulati said. “This is what used to happen all the time.”
Reuters reviewed 25 cases in which Jackson issued substantive rulings as a U.S. district court judge in Washington from 2013 to 2021 involving plaintiffs who made claims of racial discrimination, most involving the workplace. She ruled in favor of plaintiffs in only three of the cases. Of the 25 cases, 22 were pursued by Black plaintiffs. Jackson ruled against 19 of the Black plaintiffs. "Plaintiffs in employment discrimination cases lose a lot, so this strikes me as consistent with the pattern I would expect because they are notoriously hard to win," said employment law expert Kim Forde-Mazru...
(Commentary by Ben Wildavsky, visiting scholar at the School of Education and Human Development) When Mark Granovetter was a Ph.D. student in the late 1960s, studying how white-collar men find new jobs, he zeroed in on social networks. When he asked interview subjects whether the person who told them about their current job was a friend, he repeatedly ran into the same answer. “Over and over again, they would correct me and say ‘No, no, he’s only an acquaintance,’” says Dr. Granovetter, now a professor of sociology at Stanford.
(Commentary by Kyle Kondik, political analyst at the Center for Politics and the managing editor of Sabato's Crystal Ball) With inflation at a roughly 40-year high, the electorate appears to be focusing on high prices. A Wall Street Journal poll released late last week showed that about half of voters named inflation and the economy as the top issue they want the federal government to address, far more than any other issue. More than 6 in 10 respondents (63%) disapproved of President Biden’s handling of rising costs, and respondents gave Republicans a 17-point edge when asked which party was b...
(Commentary by Barbara A. Perry, director of presidential studies and Gerald L. Baliles Professor at the Miller Center) From the moment first lady Jill Biden welcomed Ukraine’s Ambassador Oksana Markarova to the 2022 State of the Union address, President Biden’s spouse has been following in the footsteps of her predecessors’ wartime contributions to our nation. Standing firm with her husband against the Russian invasion, another first lady, Ukraine’s Olena Volodymyrivna Zelenska, has earned admiration around the world for her heart-wrenching descriptions of the terror inflicted on her country,...
(Commentary by Guian McKee, associate professor at the Miller Center for Public Affairs) Analysis of the Russian attack on Ukraine has rightly focused on the strategic, military and humanitarian considerations of the conflict itself. Soon, however, domestic implications will begin to impinge on the geo-political. Maintaining public support will be critical as President Biden and other democratic leaders around the world ask their citizens to sacrifice for the cause of countering Russia’s war.
This is Longwood’s first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament, and the university is pulling for UVA fans to help cheer them on.
After a thorough whipping by North Carolina in the ACC tournament quarterfinals, one that killed off any lingering hopes for an at-large NCAA bid, Tony Bennett challenged his Virginia basketball to respond, to use its spot in the NIT to show resolve. “This, to me, is a statement game for us,” said Bennett after the Cavaliers’ held off Mississippi State, 60-57, in a first-round game Wednesday night at John Paul Jones Arena. “Not for anyone else. What are we made of? What kind of fight will we have?”
When the swimmers arrived in Atlanta for the NCAA Women’s Championships, the University of Virginia was undoubtedly the team to beat. On night one in Atlanta, as Virginia and Stanford each finished first in a relay (neither one a surprising result), nothing changed in the status quo of the race for the national title. Virginia still holds the advantage.
Research conducted by the University of Virginia found that more than 50% of early educators in child care report being unable to pay for medical expenses, 40% are food insecure, and 30% report difficulty paying rent.
As for what the future might hold, Dr. Williams brought attention to a model by the University of Virginia that’s specifically for the Three Rivers Health District. The prediction was that the area would continue on its current course of cases declining, perhaps to a point below last summer’s numbers.
Anita S. McGinty, who until July 2021 served as the director of PALS, the early literacy assessment in Virginia, said D.C. is not unique in its declining literacy scores. A University of Virginia study examining PAL scores found that nearly 35 percent of kindergarten through second-graders failed to meet benchmarks in reading in fall 2021, compared with 21 percent in fall 2019. McGinty, who also was an associate professor at the University of Virginia, said that school districts should ensure that struggling readers receive ample individualized attention to help them catch up on reading.
Although sticker prices on tuition have steadily increased at public two- and four-year colleges and universities over the past several decades, the changes in net tuition paid (tuition minus grant aid) vary substantially by family income and institution type, say Emily E. Cook of Tulane and Sarah Turner of the University of Virginia. In fact, for students with family incomes below $30,000, tuition at four-year universities increased by 32.6% between 2008-09 and 2018-19, but net tuition increased by only 4.5%.
(Commentary) Congratulations to University of Virginia School of Law Appellate Litigation Clinic students Jacob Larson and Benjamin Lerman, who argued the case for plaintiff and were on the briefs; to Gregory Eng, who was also on the briefs; and to Prof. Scott Ballenger, who was counsel of record.
It wasn’t exactly a well-kept secret that the Ravens entered this offseason determined to upgrade their offensive tackle depth. The addition of veteran [and UVa alumnus] Morgan Moses certainly accomplishes that. The Ravens reached an agreement Tuesday night with Moses on a three-year, $15 million deal. The longtime Washington starter and 2021 New York Jet fills a major need for the Ravens, who have uncertainty at both tackle spots.
A University of Virginia alumnus is helping to save Ukraine's cultural heritage because thousands of items are at risk of being destroyed in the war. These include historical items like artifacts, statues, and paintings that define Ukraine's towns and cities.
Todd Gilbert knows he makes a certain impression on people. He’s a big guy — 6-4 or 6-5, “depending on how full of myself I am that day,” he says. For years, the UVA alumnus’ bald head, scowl and goatee, combined with a cutting wit, were powerful weapons of intimidation in Gilbert’s role as a top Republican debater in Virginia’s House of Delegates. But this year, Gilbert, 51, took on a far more nuanced job as speaker of the House — keeping the parliamentary gears turning for others to engage in the kind of debates he used to dominate.
(Commentary) In his report, national correspondent Miguel Almaguer asked Taison Bell, a doctor at the University of Virginia Department of Critical Care and Infectious Disease if Americans are “willing to get a second booster or a fourth shot?” Bell whined that “we've seen problems with people getting their first booster. I mean we only have 50% of eligible people boosted right now, that's already a big problem.”
Danielle Citron, law professor and director of University of Virginia’s LawTech Center, similarly said that legislation require firms to take “reasonable steps” to stop dangerous illegal activity. What counts as “reasonable” would need to be defined and should depend on the size and focus of the platforms, with small startups and global platforms held to different expectations.