Keeping It Brief!

News and information from the Dickinson Law Library

You are here: Home / Archives for genocide

New Fall Acquisitions

by

The Law of Artificial Intelligence and Smart Machines : Understanding A.I. and the Legal Impact by Theodore F. Claypoole
Call Number: KF1263.C65L28 2019
This new guide provides an in-depth examination of how artificial intelligence has evolved, how it will affect the legal profession, and how the law will be reformed to meet the new realities created by AI. Written by high-level industry experts, this guide discusses a wide-range of AI topics including a history and introduction, healthcare regulation, entertainment, labor laws, aviation, military applications, cybernetics and biorobotics, copyright law, cybersecurity issues, product liability, AI and the transactional law practice, the future of AI, and more.

Unstable Ground : Climate Change, Conflict, and Genocide by Alex Alvarez
Call Number: GF71.A48 2017
Unstable Ground looks at the human impact of climate change and its potential to provoke some of the most troubling crimes against humanity–ethnic conflict, war, and genocide. Alex Alvarez provides an essential overview of what science has shown to be true about climate change and examines how our warming world will challenge and stress societies and heighten the risk of mass violence. Drawing on a number of recent and historic examples, including Darfur, Syria, and the current migration crisis, this book illustrates the thorny intersections of climate change and violence. The author doesn’t claim causation but makes a compelling case that changing environmental circumstances can be a critical factor in facilitating violent conflict. As research suggests climate change will continue and accelerate, understanding how it might contribute to violence is essential in understanding how to prevent it.

The Archaeology of the Holocaust : Vilna, Rhodes, and Escape Tunnels by Richard A. Freund
Call Number: D804.3.F74 2019
In the summer of 2016 acclaimed archaeologist Richard Freund and his team made news worldwide when they discovered an escape tunnel from the Ponar burial pits in Lithunia. This Holocaust site where more than 100,000 people perished is usually remembered for the terrible devastation that happened there. In the midst of this devastation, the discovery of an escape tunnel reminds us of the determination and tenacity of the people in the camp and the hope they continued to carry. The Archaeology of the Holocaust takes readers out to the field with Freund and his multi-disciplinary research group as they uncover the evidence of the Holocaust, focusing on sites in Lithuania, Poland, and Greece in the past decade. Using forensic detective work, Freund tells the micro- and macro-histories of sites from the Holocaust as his team covers excavations and geophysical surveys done at four sites in Poland, four sites in Rhodes, and 15 different sites in Lithuania with comparisons of some of the work done at other sites in Eastern Europe. The book contains testimonies of survivors, photographs, information about a variety of complementary geoscience techniques, and information gleaned from pinpoint excavations. It serves as an introduction to the Holocaust and explains aspects of the culture lost in the Holocaust through the lens of archaeology and geoscience.

Space Law : A Treatise, 2d ed. by Francis Lyall; Paul B. Larsen
Call Number: KZD1145.L93 2018
Francis Lyall and Paul B. Larsen have been involved in teaching and researching space law for over 50 years. The second edition gathers together their knowledge and experience in readable form, and covers developments in all space applications, including space tourism, telecommunications, the ITU and finance.

Natural Resource Damages : A Guide to Litigating and Resolving NRD Cases by Brian D. Israel; Brett Marston; Lauren Daniel
Call Number: KF1298.I87 2019
Exploring the jurisprudence, litigation strategy, and paths toward cost effective resolution of natural resource damage cases, this book is built on the authors’ combined 30 years of experience handling some of the country’s largest and most complex NRD cases. It also provides an annotated compilation of caselaw, consent decrees, cooperative assessment agreements, administrative record submissions, and other materials, as well as a quantitative analysis of all key NRD settlements to allow companies and trustees to properly assess their own cases in the context of prior results.

Criminal Law and Procedure : A Courtroom Approach by Stephanie A. Jirard
Call Number: KF9219.J575 2020
Written by a former federal prosecutor and public defender, Criminal Law and Procedure: A Courtroom Approach introduces students to the essentials of criminal law and procedure by illuminating the legal issues justice professionals face before, during, and after a criminal trial. Through the examination of statutes, edited case excerpts, and recent constitutional interpretation of black letter law, the text bridges the gap between learning criminal procedure and applying criminal law. Drawing from author Stephanie A. Jirard’s vast experience in both the courtroom and the classroom, the book gets students to think critically about real-world issues and practice applying the law in a just and meaningful way. Accessible and engaging, this text presents criminal law and procedure as an exciting opportunity to have a direct, positive impact on our communities and the criminal justice system. Stephanie Jirard is currently an adjunct professor at Dickinson Law.

Imagine a World Without Genocide

by

Sometimes research goes in an unexpected direction…researching an account of a Holocaust survivor led to shocking accounts of the brutality of the Nazis during World War II as they attempted to systematically eliminate Jewish people in a way we now understand as genocide. Seventy-three years after the end of World War II, the horrors of the genocide committed by the Nazis are fading as the generation who survived the atrocities passes away and our schools fail to educate students about the Holocaust. We cannot forget what happened then, or the continuing instances of genocide around the world. The staggering numbers of people killed are appalling but don’t convey the horror experienced by individuals who survived genocide. It’s through those personal stories that we learn both the depravity of individuals and the strength one can summon to endure evil.

The Jewish Virtual Library provides a wealth of information about the Holocaust including the basic history of the Holocaust, the persecution, biographies, and the aftermath. From here we can learn about the arc of events in World War II as seen through the lens of time, but other resources provide more detailed stories from individuals who experienced the Nazi concentration camps. These stories tell us what it really meant to endure and survive.

Sadly, the Holocaust is but one of many genocides in recent world history. Others include the Genocide in Darfur, the Rwandan Genocide, Genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Killing Fields: The Cambodian Genocide, Mao Tse-tung’s Cultural Revolution, the Rape of Nanking, the Ukrainian Genocide, the Armenian Genocide, the Herero Genocide, the Genocide of Native Americans, and the Transatlantic Slave Trade. The Genocide Education Project assists educators to teach about human rights and genocide, particularly the Armenian Genocide. Many other resources are also available to assist educators in teaching about genocide.

“The mission of the Foundation for Genocide Education is to work with governments to ensure that genocide and the steps leading to it are taught in high schools in Canada and in the United States.” The Foundation has created a video to explain the importance of genocide education in schools. Unfortunately, genocide is not a relic of our past; it continues today in many locations such as Myanmar, Syria, Iraq, and South Sudan. The Foundation for Genocide Education teaches the 8 stages of genocide which one can witness on the news worldwide. Education is one vital step in preventing future genocides.

The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum supports and engages in work to prevent genocide. The Early Warning Project is a “tool to alert policy makers and the public to places where the risk for mass atrocities is greatest.” The Responsibility to Protect is a joint project which adopted the principle “Responsibility to Protect (R2P)” as a mandate to protect civilians and prevent mass atrocities. The Genocide Prevention Task Force provided “practical policy recommendations to enhance the capacity of the US government to respond to emerging threats of genocide and mass atrocities.” These project are undertaken in cooperation with groups and countries willing to prevent genocide.

As noted in our prior blog post, December 9, 2018 marks the 70th anniversary of the signing of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. With this anniversary, the United Nations is undertaking a campaign to appeal for Universal Ratification by the 45 United Nations Member States who have not yet ratified the Genocide Convention. You read that correctly, even after 70 years, 45 of the 193 member states of United Nations have not ratified the Genocide Convention.

Imagine a world fully committed to the elimination of genocide.

Skip to toolbar