Washington University Law Review Online

The Next Innocence Project: Shaken Baby Syndrome and the Criminal Courts

by Deborah Tuerkheimer

Every year in this country, hundreds of people are convicted of having shaken a baby, most often to death. In a prosecution paradigm without precedent, expert medical testimony is used to establish that a crime occurred, that the defendant caused the infant’s death by shaking, and that the shaking was sufficiently forceful to constitute depraved [...]

Hidden Taxes

by Brian Galle

The idea of hidden taxes is as old as John Stuart Mill, but convincing evidence of their existence is new. In this Article, I survey and critique recent studies that claim to show that there are some taxes that can go unnoticed by those who pay them. I also develop the array of unanswered theoretical [...]

Trust & Transparency: Promoting Efficient Corporate Disclosure Through Fiduciary-Based Discourse

by Michael R. Siebecker

Could embracing the philosophy of “encapsulated trust” as the basis for a fiduciary duty of disclosure improve the integrity and effectiveness of corporate communications? The question arises because a tragedy of transparency threatens the viability of the burgeoning corporate social responsibility (CSR) movement, where consumers and investors employ various social, environmental, or ethical screening criteria [...]

Veterans At the Gates: Exploring the New GI Bill and Its Transformative Possibilities

by Joseph B. Keillor

The Post-9/11 Veterans Educational Assistance Act of 2008 (“Act”)—popularly referred to as the “GI Bill for the 21st century”—restores veterans’ educational benefits to the generous level of the famed post-World War II GI Bill. The original bill has been widely assessed as among the most culturally transformative pieces of legislation of the twentieth century. [...]

A Challenge to Sustainable Governments?

by Keith H. Hirokawa

“Sustainability,” an environmentally-friendly term that previously incited political unrest, economic uncertainty, and even emotional outrage, has become quite commonplace. In federal, state, and local agencies, sustainable practices have dominated dialogues relating to indoor air quality, water availability, energy use and production; but also growth planning and development controls, public spaces and aesthetics. Governmental entities are [...]