Snippets about: Law
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Ethics Must Guide Professions Like Law, Medicine, and Business
For tyranny to take hold, professionals must ignore or abandon their ethical codes and simply follow the orders of the regime. This was crucial in Nazi Germany, where lawyers provided cover for illegal orders, doctors participated in grotesque experiments, businessmen exploited slave labor, and civil servants enabled genocidal policies. If key professions had simply adhered to basic ethics around human rights and human dignity, the Nazi machine would have had a much harder time implementing its agenda. Professionals must consult their conscience and be guided by ethics even, and especially, when a regime claims the situation is an exception.
Section: 1, Chapter: 5
Book: On Tyranny
Author: Timothy Snyder
Punishment And Rehabilitation In A World Without Free Will
If our choices are shaped by factors beyond our control, can we justify punishing wrongdoers? A deterministic view requires rethinking, but need not abolish, criminal justice:
- Retributive rationales for punishment are undermined, as offenders are seen as unfortunate, not inherently evil.
- Consequentialist rationales - deterrence, incapacitation, rehabilitation - still hold, as they don't require metaphysical free will.
- Punishment of some sort remains necessary to shape behavior and protect society, even if offenders aren't ultimately "blameworthy."
- The priority shifts from making offenders "pay" to changing the conditions that drive crime in the first place.
Just as we separate dangerous but "innocent" people like violent Alzheimer's patients without moral condemnation, a deterministic criminal justice system would aim at preventing harm and maximizing flourishing, not meting out just deserts.
Section: 1, Chapter: 12
Book: Fluke
Author: Brian Klaas
The Dysfunctional Dance Of Doctors And Lawmakers
In states with strict abortion bans post-Roe, medical professionals are struggling to navigate vague legal language and provide appropriate care without risking their licenses or freedom. Common dilemmas include:
- When a pregnancy complication becomes "life-threatening" enough to allow termination
- Whether mental health crises like suicidality qualify for health exceptions
- How imminent the risk of death or disability must be to avoid prosecution
- Lack of clear definitions around terms like "abortion" vs "miscarriage management"
Doctors report delaying care, avoiding certain procedures, or sending patients out of state rather than risk a felony charge. Hospital lawyers have become de facto consultants on routine OB-GYN decisions. Politicians without medical expertise are setting unworkable standards that put pregnant people in danger.
Section: 3, Chapter: 10
Book: I'm Sorry for My Loss
Author: Rebecca Little, Colleen Long
"Concealing A Death" - When Privacy Is A Crime
In 2018, a young Arizona woman was convicted of "concealing a dead body" and sentenced to over 2 years in prison after she delivered a stillborn baby at roughly 20 weeks into her pregnancy. Alone and bleeding heavily, she panicked and placed the 1 pound remains in a grocery bag before going to the hospital.
Arizona has no law specifically addressing self-managed abortion or miscarriage, but prosecutors are testing novel legal theories to punish women for pregnancy outcomes. Concealment and abuse of a corpse statutes, intended for other situations, are increasingly being applied to pregnancy loss - making a common medical event and intensely private grief potentially criminal. With Roe gone, advocates fear more women will be imprisoned as fetuses gain legal status while the complexities of miscarriage remain poorly understood.
Section: 3, Chapter: 11
Book: I'm Sorry for My Loss
Author: Rebecca Little, Colleen Long
The Principle of Legitimacy
For the law to be effective, it must be seen as legitimate by the population. Legitimacy has three components:
- People must feel they have a voice, and that if they speak up, they will be heard.
- The law must be predictable. There has to be a reasonable expectation that the rules tomorrow are going to be roughly the same as the rules today.
- The authority has to be fair. It can't treat one group differently from another.
When the British were seen as violating these principles in Northern Ireland, it created an opening for the IRA to position themselves as the legitimate authority in Catholic areas. Authority isn't just about power - it's about getting people to want to submit to your power. Establishing legitimacy is a precondition for authority to function.
Section: 3, Chapter: 7
Book: David and Goliath
Author: Malcolm Gladwell
Pregnant And Prosecuted - The Legal Jeopardy Of Carrying To Term
A patchwork of state laws, emboldened since the fall of Roe, increasingly criminalize adverse pregnancy outcomes and police the behavior of pregnant people. These include:
- Homicide and abuse charges for drug use, accidents, or suspected self-harm during pregnancy
- Civil lawsuits enabling state control of medical decisions (forced C-sections, surgery, etc.)
- Removal of "life of the mother" exception for ending ectopic or dangerous pregnancies
Low-income women and women of color are disproportionately targeted, reflecting America's long history of reproductive control of marginalized groups. With embryonic/fetal personhood on the rise, all pregnant people are increasingly treated as potentially criminal or suspect - guilty until proven innocent.
Section: 3, Chapter: 9
Book: I'm Sorry for My Loss
Author: Rebecca Little, Colleen Long
The Limits of Power
Both the British Army in Ireland and California's Three Strikes law failed for the same fundamental reason: they were too confident in the utility of their own power. Both the British and California failed to ask themselves, "At what cost? And for how long?" They missed the inverted U-curve. Past a certain point, more force produces less compliance.
More punishment produces less deterrence. The marginal returns diminish, and the unintended consequences mount. Power is like medicine - it has an optimal dose range. Too little, and it's ineffective. Too much, and it becomes toxic. The trick is finding the sweet spot.
Section: 3, Chapter: 8
Book: David and Goliath
Author: Malcolm Gladwell
The Mysterious Fall Of Crime In The 1990s
In the 1990s, crime fell precipitously across the United States. Violent crime plummeted 18% in the span of just three years from 1993-1996. This caught many experts by surprise, as the prevailing forecast at the time had been for a coming crime wave fueled by the crack epidemic and a rise of "superpredator" juvenile offenders.
So what explains the unexpected crime drop? The authors argue it was not the commonly cited reasons like innovative policing, stricter gun control, a stronger economy, or more use of capital punishment. While those may have played a role, the data suggests the real answer is a surprising one - the legalization of abortion 20 years prior, following Roe v. Wade. According to the authors, this was the hidden factor that quietly removed a large cohort of would-be violent criminals from the population.
Section: 1, Chapter: 4
Book: Freakonomics
Author: Steven D. Levitt, Stephen J. Dubner
"Heartbeat Bills" Break Doctor-Patient Trust
"The issue, I think, and why confusion is the norm is that the procedures and medications that we use to treat pregnancy loss or miscarriage or fetal loss that someone did not choose are the same as treatments and medications that we use to treat and provide abortion care—which in this case means a pregnancy that ends because someone makes a decision to end it." - Dr. Lisa Harris, ob-gyn and miscarriage specialist
Many patients are shocked to learn the same pills and procedures are used for voluntary abortion and miscarriage. Heartbeat bills, which ban abortion after electrical cardiac activity is detected (around 6 weeks), make no exception for pregnancies that are already miscarrying with a doomed "heartbeat." This forces patients to carry dead or dying tissue, risks sepsis, and shatters trust that doctors are making decisions based on medical best practices rather than shifting political winds.
Section: 3, Chapter: 10
Book: I'm Sorry for My Loss
Author: Rebecca Little, Colleen Long
Introducing Behavioral Economics To The Legal Academy
Thaler and colleagues sought to bring insights from behavioral economics to the analysis of legal rules and regulations.
This behavioral law and economics approach contrasts with traditional law and economics, which relies heavily on rational choice theory. For instance, behavioral research shows the Coase theorem may fail due to endowment effects and fairness concerns, even with low transaction costs.
Likewise, behavioral findings on limited self-control, overconfidence, and impatience suggest regulations like mandatory retirement savings or consumer protection may sometimes be justified, challenging libertarian anti-paternalism dogma.
Behavioral law and economics aims to make legal analysis more realistic and empirically-grounded. But it remains controversial, especially the paternalism debate. Nonetheless, it has grown rapidly and influenced numerous legal domains, from contracts to criminal justice to corporate governance.
Section: 6, Chapter: 27
Book: Misbehaving
Author: Richard Thaler
How Three Strikes Laws Overshot the Inverted U-Curve
California's 1994 "Three Strikes" law was intended to reduce crime by imposing harsh sentences on repeat offenders. It was championed by Mike Reynolds, whose daughter had been murdered by two career criminals.
The law did initially lead to a drop in crime, as offenders were taken off the streets. However, the costs - both economic and social - soon started to outweigh the benefits. California's prison population exploded, as even minor crimes led to life sentences if they were a "third strike." This proved enormously expensive, and the state soon had to start cutting other vital services, like education, to pay for prisons.
So while a certain degree of harsher sentencing can deter crime, Three Strikes took it too far. It overshot the inverted U-curve, maximizing punishment to the point of diminishing returns.
Section: 3, Chapter: 8
Book: David and Goliath
Author: Malcolm Gladwell
A Loss Unacknowledged Is No Loss At All - Pregnancy Loss In The Workplace
Miscarriage and stillbirth are rarely eligible for bereavement leave, forcing employees to take sick or vacation days - if they have any. The lack of standard policies means loss parents are at the mercy of individual supervisors. Common issues include:
- No time off to physically recover or grieve
- Having to share private medical details to "prove" the loss
- Fear of professional consequences for taking "too much" time
- Insensitive comments from coworkers who don't understand the impact
- Policies that only apply after 20 weeks or for funerals/cremations
- Needing to revise projects or reduce workload while emotionally fragile
A handful of states and companies are expanding leave to cover pregnancy loss and fertility treatment, recognizing the physical and psychological toll. But millions still suffer in silence while corporate platitudes of "family friendly" policies ring hollow.
Section: 3, Chapter: 12
Book: I'm Sorry for My Loss
Author: Rebecca Little, Colleen Long
The Abortion Surveillance State - When Medical Records Become Evidence
In 2021, a Nebraska mother and daughter were charged with illegal abortion and improper disposal of human remains based on their private Facebook messages. The daughter, 17 at the time, obtained abortion pills and allegedly buried the fetal remains. Their unencrypted conversations about the situation were turned over to law enforcement by Facebook's parent company Meta in response to a warrant.
As more states pass laws enabling citizens to sue anyone suspected of aiding an illegal abortion, digital surveillance of pregnant people is likely to increase. Period tracking apps, search histories, location data, and social media are all potential fodder for investigations. Medical privacy and freedom of speech are collateral damage in the war on reproductive rights.
Section: 3, Chapter: 9
Book: I'm Sorry for My Loss
Author: Rebecca Little, Colleen Long
A Miscarriage Scare In A Post-Roe World
Jessica started bleeding heavily and cramping at six weeks pregnant. Her doctor suspected a miscarriage, but couldn't prescribe the standard medication (misoprostol) for two weeks. Why? To make sure Jessica wasn't inducing an abortion herself, now illegal in Texas after six weeks with no exceptions. Waiting risked hemorrhage or infection for Jessica.
Section: 3, Chapter: 9
Book: I'm Sorry for My Loss
Author: Rebecca Little, Colleen Long
