CU Boulder Hosts First Philosophy and Legal Theory Workshop Featuring Local Professor's Research on Constitutional Rights and State Violence

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Professor Danielle Jefferis will present her paper, 'The Nomos of Force,' at the first Philosophy and Legal Theory Workshop at the University of Colorado Boulder. This workshop will cover a wide range of topics in philosophy and legal theory, including political philosophy, moral psychology, and decision theory, especially in relation to law and social issues.

Her paper examines how the U.S. Constitution limits state violence against individuals, especially prisoners. Jefferis discusses how different constitutional amendments offer varying levels of protection against state force. She highlights the limited protections for sentenced prisoners under the Eighth Amendment, which only protects against force intended to cause harm.

Jefferis builds on her earlier research, which introduced 'the prison penalty.' This concept refers to the reduced rights of prisoners to be protected from physical violence by the state. Her current work uses theories from legal scholars like Robert M. Cover and Ronald Dworkin to analyze these issues within the U.S. constitutional context.

The paper critiques the way the American legal system regulates prisons through a rights-based approach, arguing that it often allows excessive violence by state officials. This critique has broader implications for how constitutional law manages state violence both in the U.S. and globally.