I am the Program Chair for the 2009 Law and Humanities Section panel entitled "Legal Outsiders in American Film." The panel, which will be held during the AALS Annual Meeting in San Diego, California focuses on the
"theme of one who stands outside the legal system, yet struggles for acknowledgment, justice, power, recognition, or truth. This theme is a perpetual one for film-makers. In virtually every genre of film, legal outsiders crop up over and over. Characters on the fringes of society and the margins of the legal system populate the narratives of both independent films and Hollywood blockbusters. These characters help define lawlessness and transgression. They also say a lot about American conceptions of law, social acceptance, and transformation."
The panel includes presentations from noted scholars on this issue, including Taunya Lovell Banks (University of Maryland School of Law), I. Bennett Capers (Hofstra University School of Law), Rebecca Johnson (University of Victoria School of Law), Orit Kamir (Hebrew University), and Cheyney Ryan (University of Oregon). Papers from the panel will be published in the Suffolk University Law Review.
