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"What Prevents the Application of the Thirteenth Amendment in Prison?"

By Douglas A. Berman

The question of this post is from the title of this new article by Raja Raghunath appearing on SSRN. The full title is "A Promise the Nation Cannot Keep: What Prevents the Application of the Thirteenth Amendment in Prison?" and here is the abstract: The walls of the prison are not solely physical.  The doctrine of judicial deference to prison officials, which compels courts to defer to the discretion of those officials in almost all instances, obstructs the effective scrutiny of modern practices of punishment.  Since its ratification, the Thirteenth Amendment ? which prohibits slavery or involuntary servitude anywhere within the United States or its jurisdiction, except where imposed 'as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted' ? has been seen by courts as one brick in this wall...continue to full post

Full post as published by Sentencing Law and Policy on August 16, 2009 (boomark / email).