Law and Justice (Audio)

Language and the law is a field growing in size and importance. While some forensic linguistics applications -- e.g. authorship attribution -- have a wider tradition, this growth is particularly acute in the domain of legal interpretation, which is increasingly using corpus data and methods. Stefan Gries, Professor of Linguistics at UC Santa Barbara, discusses two recent applications. One is from...

Legal scholar Annabel Brett explores the idea of “moral possibility”—the boundary between what laws demand and what people can realistically or ethically be expected to do. Drawing from early modern thinkers like Aquinas, Suarez, and Hobbes, Brett shows how moral impossibility has long shaped debates about legal obligation, resistance, and political agency. Commentators Melissa Lane and David Dyze...

Political theorist Annabel Brett of Cambridge University explores how the concept of “moral possibility” shapes law, politics, and public obligation. She explains that laws must be realistic for people to follow—what is morally possible varies by individual, culture, time, and circumstance. Drawing on early modern Catholic legal theory, Brett discusses how extreme demands (like enduring war or pla...

There's a powerful idea in the history of European legal and political thought: that laws must be possible for people to follow. Annabel Brett, professor of Political Thought and History at Cambridge University, describes how from ancient times through the Renaissance, thinkers believed that demanding the impossible—whether physically or psychologically—was a hallmark of tyranny. A classic example...

The 2021-2022 term of the U.S. Supreme Court is widely considered to be the most consequential in living memory. Bruen, West Virginia v. EPA, Dobbs—the Court’s rulings in these controversial cases weakened gun restrictions, hobbled the Environmental Protection Agency’s ability to fight climate change, and overturned the constitutional protection for abortion rights nearly 50 years after Roe v. Wad...

What can be done to prioritize diversion options for youth instead of filing criminal charges? Steven P. Dinkin (National Conflict Resolution Center) s joined by, Lisa Weinreb Delgadillo (San Diego District Attorney’s Office), Breea Buskey (National Conflict Resolution Center), Monica Felix (Rady Children's Hospital San Diego), and Sunny Chang (Outdoor Outreach) for an in-depth conversation on eff...

Focused on training native youth in tribal law and restorative justice practices, the Intertribal Court of Southern California Tribal Youth Court (TYC) aims to create positive change in communities. Learn how the court came to be, how it functions, and how is is transforming the lives of all involved. Series: "Education Channel" [Public Affairs] [Show ID: 38892]

How can we better serve native youth that find themselves in trouble? The Intertribal Court of Southern California founded the Tribal Youth Court (TYC) to answer that question. TYC empowers youth to engage in tribal restorative justice practices. Tribal leadership, judges, and students share why this model, rooted in culture and community, has been effective. Series: "Education Channel" [Public Af...

When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in June, the controversial decision ended the right to abortion that was upheld for nearly 50 years. So what does a post-Roe world look like? In this program, UC Irvine law professor Michele Bratcher Goodwin and UC Santa Barbara feminist studies professor Laury Oaks discuss the wide-ranging impact of the decision on legal, medical, and political m...