Articles by Rachel Sereix

International Law

Repercussions for Destruction of Cultural Property: Intensified for the Individual or the Aggregate?

October 25, 2018 Rachel Sereix 0

     Nearly twenty-five years after the founding of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, there remains a lack of analysis regarding the impact of severe war crimes on cultural property. The Yugoslav Wars precipitated the growth of numerous paramilitary groups that sought havoc and unrest amongst villages and towns that did not share their ethnic makeup or cultural affiliation. Do International Criminal Tribunal cases in which cultural property was destroyed result in relatively consistent outcomes; if not, is there greater penalization for individual violators or coalition violators in the former Yugoslavia? If an explanation can be provided for possible inconsistencies amongst sentence length between coalition and individual violators, the results can be applied to the United Nations enforcement of Article III of The Hague Convention deter future violators from committing crimes directed at cultural property, and provide insight as to whether inconsistencies in sentence length exist beyond the […]

US Law

Redefining Contemporary Community Standards in an Evolving Sociopolitical Climate

September 20, 2017 Rachel Sereix 0

In an evolving sociopolitical climate, the law should further define “contemporary community standards” first prescribed in Roth v. United States. This article will employ the United States v. Pacifica Foundation decision for the purposes of scrutinizing the current Federal Communications Commission regulatory practices while still upholding First Amendment protections. Addressing the broadcasting of George Carlin’s “Filthy Words” monologue, Justice John Paul Stevens found that broadcasting speech which is “patently offensive” yet not necessarily obscene may be subject to restrictions and does not fall under First Amendment protections. Unlike obscenity, speech does not have to appeal to a prurient interest in order to be characterized as indecent. However, it is essential to recognize that the media market has evolved considerably since the Pacifica decision in 1978. One could now argue that what constituted indecent moral standards in 1978 are not considered indecent in 2017. In this advisement report, I recommend that […]

International Law

Gender Equity in India: The “Religion Gap” in Divorce Law

April 21, 2017 Rachel Sereix 0

Indian family law is characterized by the granting of different rights to different religious groups. Although changes have been made to lessen the disparity in gender representation within the law for women, these changes have been primarily directed at Muslim rather than Hindu women. Group-specific family law disproportionately affords Hindu women with fewer rights and limits the policy progress that can be made. Laws concerning Muslim alimonies and divorces have been amended to allow women more rights and cultural accommodations. In 1986, the Muslim Women Protection of Rights on Divorce Act secured the ability of divorced Muslim women to collect money from former husbands. The Act invalidated the Supreme Court ruling in Ahmed Khan v Shah Bano Begum, which held that only Muslim women who have not remarried can claim financial compensation. Under the Act, former husbands are required to pay divorced women enough to financially maintain her current lifestyle […]