Mea Culpa: Lessons on Law and Regret from U.S. History

In Mea Culpa , Steven W. Bender examines how the United States' collective shame about its past has shaped the evolution of law and behavior. We regret slavery and segregationist Jim Crow laws. We eventually apologize, while ignoring other oppressions, and our legal response to regret often fails to be transformative for the affected groups. By examining policies and practices that have affected the lives ofgroups that have been historically marginalized and oppressed, Bender is able to draw persuasive connections between shame and its eventual legalmanifestations. Analyzing the United States' historical response to its own atrocities, Bender identifies and develops a definitive moral compass thatguides us away from the policies and practices that lead to societal regret.

Mea Culpa challenges its readers. In a different era, might we have been slave owners or proprietors of a racially segregated establishment? It's easy to judge immorality in the hindsight of history, but what current practices and policies will later generations regret?

More than a historical survey, this volume offers a framework for resolving some of the most contentious socialproblems of our time. Drawing on his background as a legal scholar, Bender tackles immigration, the death penalty, the war on terror, reproductive rights,welfare, wage inequity, homelessness, mass incarceration, and same-sex marriage. Ultimately, he argues, it is the dehumanization of human beings thatallows for practices to occur that will later be marked as regrettable. And all of us have a stake in standing on the side of history that resists dehumanization.

Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction 1
Part I . Running for the Border to Escape Justice
1 El Fugitivo 11
Part I I . Economic Motivations for Southbound Border Runs
2 Gringos in Paradise 31
3 A Giant Sucking Sound 40
Part I I I . Illicit Motivations for Southbound Border Runs
4 Margaritaville: The Lure of Alcohol 57
5 Losin' It: Prostitution and the Child Sex Trade 70
6 Going Southbound: Mexican Divorces and Medical 79
Border Runs
Part IV. Economic Motivations for Northbound Border Runs
7 Rum-Running for the Border 91
8 Acapulco Gold 95
9 Coming to America 114
Part V. A Framework for Comprehensive Border Reform
10 Lessons from 150 Years of Border Crossings 141
11 Good Neighbor Immigration Policy 158
viii | Contents
12 Reefer Madness 163
13 A Framework for Southbound Crossings 172
14 Laws the Border Leaves Behind 177
Conclusion 183
Notes 185
Index 221
About the Author 224