Is Retribution Worth the Cost?

SHERRY F. COLB

Cornell law professor Sherry F. Colb discusses the four purported goals of the criminal justice system—deterrence, incapacitation, retribution, and rehabilitation—and argues that retribution may preclude rehabilitation. Colb considers whether restorative justice—wherein a victim has a conversation with the offender and talks about what he did to her and why it was wrong—might better serve the rehabilitative purpose than long prison sentences do.

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The Other Epidemic

KATHRYN ROBB

Kathryn Robb, executive director of CHILD USAdvocacy, comments on a public-health crisis that is getting relatively less attention right now: the scourge of child sex abuse. To address this crisis, Robb calls for greater public awareness, stronger laws protecting children, and legislative action

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Plavin v. Group Health Inc.

Citation: 2020 NY Slip Op 02025

Opinion Date: March 24, 2020

Judge: Stein

Areas of Law: Insurance Law

The Court of Appeals accepted questions certified to it by the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit and answered that, in this case, Plaintiff sufficiently alleged consumer-oriented conduct to assert claims under N.Y. Gen. Bus. Law 349 and 350 for damages incurred due to an insurance company's alleged materially misleading representations. Plaintiff brought this action based on Defendant-insurance company's allegedly misleading representations made directly to the City of New York's employees and retirees about the terms of its insurance plan to induce them to select its plan from among the eleven health insurance plans made available to over 600,000 current and former City employees. The district court dismissed the complaint for failure to state a claim, concluding that the claims failed to plead consumer-oriented conduct. On appeal, the federal court of appeals certified questions to the Court of Appeals regarding whether Defendant had engaged in consumer-oriented conduct. The Court of Appeals answered the questions in the affirmative, holding that, under the circumstances, the complaint adequately alleged consumer-oriented conduct.