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Stuck In Ohio's Legal Limbo, How Many Mistrials Are Too Many Mistrials?: Exploring New Factors That Help A Trial Judge In Ohio Know Whether To Exercise Her Authority To Dismiss An Indictment With Prejudice, Especially Following Repeated Hung Juries, Samantha M. Cira

Cleveland State Law Review

Multiple mistrials following validly-prosecuted trials are becoming an increasingly harsh reality in today’s criminal justice system. Currently, the Ohio Supreme Court has not provided any guidelines to help its trial judges know when to make the crucial decision to dismiss an indictment with prejudice following a string of properly-declared mistrials, especially due to repeated hung juries. Despite multiple mistrials that continue to result in no conviction, criminal defendants often languish behind bars, suffering detrimental psychological harm and a loss of personal freedom as they remain in “legal limbo” waiting to retry their case. Furthermore, continuously retrying defendants cuts against fundamental …

Victim Participation In Japan, Erik Herber

Washington International Law Journal

In 2008, a victim participation system was introduced in Japan, which enabled crime victims to participate in criminal proceedings. One of the goals of the system was to correct the wrong done to victims due to their lack of previous involvement, thus giving crime victims what they “naturally desire.” Employing Malcolm Feeley’s analytical framework to make sense of planned legal change, this Article shows that the new system emerged against the background of a combination of international trends: victim activism and public perceptions of crime getting out of hand. It finds that for reasons that are not well understood, only …

Court Reform With Chinese Characteristics, Margaret Y.K. Woo

Washington International Law Journal

In Court Reform on Trial: Why Simple Solutions Fail, Malcolm Feeley identified a number of obstacles that undermine reforms of the United States court system. Feeley’s proposed solution was to adopt a problem-oriented “rights strategy”—letting the courts themselves solve their problems through litigation. This is because litigation is a forum in which courts are well placed to identify specific problems and devise pragmatic solutions. This Article takes a look at this proposition in the context of court reforms in China and concludes that courts (and law) are also a reflection of national goals and identity. Any reforms to a …

East Asian Court Reform On Trial: Comments On The Contributions, Malcolm M. Feeley

Washington International Law Journal

I am honored to have my book, Court Reform on Trial: Why Simple Solutions Fail, serve as the organizing framework for this symposium. The enterprise has proven valuable as it provided a reason to assemble a set of articles that focus on important changes in Asian courts in recent decades. Further, it appears that the reforms in three of the countries are loosely related to each other. While Japan had a head start on judicial reforms, both Korea and Taiwan embarked on the same path as soon as they had shed authoritarian rule. China has pursued a more ambitious …

Assessing The Direct And Indirect Impact Of Citizen Participation In Serious Criminal Trials In Japan, Matthew J. Wilson

Washington International Law Journal

In Japan, the idea of citizen involvement in the judicial process has gained greater acceptance over the past decade. On May 21, 2009, Japan implemented its saiban’in seido or “lay judge system” as part of monumental legal reforms designed to encourage civic engagement, enhance transparency, and provide greater access to the justice system. About eight years before this historic day, a special governmental committee known as the Justice System Reform Council (“JSRC”) set forth wide-sweeping recommendations for revamping Japan’s judicial system. The underlying goals targeted three pillars of fundamental reform, namely: (i) a justice system that is “easier to use, …

Advance Toward "People's Court" In South Korea, Yong Chul Park

Washington International Law Journal

Since 2008, criminal jury trials have been implemented in South Korea with the Citizen Participation in Criminal Trials Act. Under the Act, defendants have the option to choose a jury trial over a bench trial, although jury verdicts, as well as sentencing opinions rendered by a jury, are not binding on the court pursuant to Article 46(2) of the Act. While Korea’s adoption of a criminal jury trial was an ambitious move toward judicial reform, it has faced serious obstacles and has had limited influence over the Korean judicial system. In this Article, I use the five stages of planned …

East Asian Court Reform On Trial: Introduction To The Symposium, Setsuo Miyazawa

Washington International Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Criminal Court Reform In Taiwan: A Case Of Fragmented Reform In A Not-Fragmented Court System, Kai-Ping Su

Washington International Law Journal

This Article examines the character of Taiwan’s criminal court system and proposed court reforms. Taiwan’s criminal court is a not-fragmented system, distinct from the fragmented American criminal court. In fact, with hierarchical control in prosecutorial rulings and central administration of judicial decision-making, Taiwan’s criminal court system can be deemed a relatively centralized and bureaucratic organization. Given this context, when Taiwan’s criminal justice system disappoints the people, judges take the blame for the failures of the system. To resolve the serious problem of public distrust in judges and the court system, Taiwan’s government and the judicial authority make “responding to expectations …

Who's Afraid Of Judicial Activism? Reconceptualizing A Traditional Paradigm In The Context Of Specialized Domestic Violence Court Programs, Jennifer L. Thompson

Maine Law Review

The Specialized Domestic Violence Pilot Project (Pilot Project), implemented in York and Portland in July and August 2002, is the result of the collaborative efforts of the District Court system, law enforcement, prosecutors, members of the defense bar, and various community agencies offering services to victims and perpetrators. District court judges are largely responsible for overseeing the changes in court procedures and implementing the new protocols in domestic violence cases. The Pilot Project, and the changes it is making to the role that courts play in domestic violence cases, represents a significant departure from the procedures followed by traditional court …

Distinguished Jurist-In-Residence Lecture: Sentencing Reform: When Everyone Behaves Badly, Nancy Gertner

Maine Law Review

Sentencing is different from almost all functions of the government and surely different from the other functions of the judiciary. It is the moment when state power meets an individual directly. It necessarily involves issues that are distinct from those in other areas of the law. It requires a court to focus on the defendant, to craft a punishment proportionate to the offense and to the offender. It should come as no surprise that in countries across the world, common law and civil code, totalitarian and free, judges have been given great discretion in sentencing. To be sure, that power …

Reflections On The Challenging Proliferation Of Mental Health Issues In The District Court And The Need For Judicial Education, Jessie B. Gunther

Maine Law Review

Maine's courts constantly deal with litigants with mental health issues. Historically, our decisions have relied on expert testimony addressing specific issues of responsibility, risk, and treatment. In recent years, by my observation, court involvement in the treatment process has increased, but the availability of expert evidence has decreased. Thus, we as judges have become the ultimate decision-makers regarding litigants' mental health treatment in both criminal and civil contexts, without supporting expert testimony. In the face of this development, three interconnected issues arise. The first issue is whether judges should even attempt to fill the void caused by lack of expert …

Judges, Racism, And The Problem Of Actual Innocence, Stephen J. Fortunato Jr.

Maine Law Review

The facts and data are in and the conclusion they compel is bleak: the American criminal justice system and its showpiece, the criminal trial, harbor at their core a systemic racism. For decades, criminologists, law professors, sociologists, government statisticians, and others have been collecting and collating data on crime, punishment, and incarceration in the United States. These intrepid scholars have looked at crime, criminals, and the justice system from all angles—the race of defendants and victims; the relationship of poverty to criminality; severity of crime; severity of punishment; incarceration rates for different racial groups; sentencing and sentence disparities; and so …

Witness For The Client: A Judge's Role In Increasing Awareness In The Defendant, Joyce Wheeler

Maine Law Review

My participation in a new drug treatment court over the last few years signifies a transformation of this judge's application of herself in the courtroom. I have moved from the traditional role of judge to a more fluid role in which I begin from the stance as witness for the client and, when necessary, move to the more traditional decision-making responsibility of a judge. Awareness of the change occurred over time, but became most apparent in the context of an adult drug treatment court that integrates drug and alcohol treatment into the criminal justice system. A number of factors support …

When The Court Speaks: Effective Communication As A Part Of Judging, Daniel E. Wathen

Maine Law Review

One of my early judicial role models, Justice James L. Reid of the Maine Superior Court, was sentencing a defendant for a murder committed within the confines of the Maine State Prison. The defendant was already serving a life sentence for another murder at the time the offense was committed. Because Maine has no parole or capital punishment, the sentencing options were limited and ultimately meaningless. As Jim imposed a life sentence consecutive to the existing life sentence, the defendant rose in his manacles and uttered an early Anglo-Saxon version of “screw you.” Jim, rising from the bench and moving …

An Examination Of The State And Federal Courts' Treatment Of The Parent-Child Privilege, Maureen P. O'Sullivan

The Catholic Lawyer

No abstract provided.

Improving Access To Justice In State Courts With Platform Technology, J.J. Prescott

Vanderbilt Law Review

Access to justice often equates to access to state courts, and for millions of Americans, using state courts to resolve their disputes-often with the government-is a real challenge. Reforms are regularly proposed in the hopes of improving the situation (e.g., better legal aid), but until recently a significant part of the problem has been structural. Using state courts today for all but the simplest of legal transactions entails at the very least traveling to a courthouse and meeting with a decision maker in person and in a one-on-one setting. Even minimally effective access, therefore, requires time, transportation, and very often …

Defense Counsel And Public Defence, Eve Brensike Primus

Book Chapters

Public-defense delivery systems nationwide are grossly inadequate. Public defenders are forced to handle caseloads that no one could effectively manage. They often have no funding for investigation or expert assistance. They aren’t adequately trained, and there is little to no oversight of their work. In many jurisdictions, the public-defense function is not sufficiently independent of the judiciary or the elected branches to allow for zealous representation. The result is an assembly line into prison, mostly for poor people of color, with little check on the reliability or fairness of the process. Innocent people are convicted, precious resources are wasted, and …

Improving Access To Justice In State Courts With Platform Technology, J. J. Prescott

Articles

Access to justice often equates to access to state courts, and for millions of Americans, using state courts to resolve their disputes—often with the government—is a real challenge. Reforms are regularly proposed in the hopes of improving the situation (e.g., better legal aid), but until recently a significant part of the problem has been structural. Using state courts today for all but the simplest of legal transactions entails at the very least traveling to a courthouse and meeting with a decision maker in person and in a one-on-one setting. Even minimally effective access, therefore, requires time, transportation, and very often …

Establishing Guidelines For Attorney Representation Of Criminal Defendants At The Sentencing Phase Of Capital Trials, Adam Lamparello

Maine Law Review

In Strickland v. Washington, the United States Supreme Court issued a seminal holding that single-handedly rendered it nearly impossible for a capital defendant to demonstrate that he was the victim of ineffective assistance of counsel at the underlying trial or at sentencing. Indeed, due in substantial part to the fact that "Strickland was not intended to impose rigorous standards on criminal defense attorneys," the Court found ineffective assistance of counsel in only one case over the next sixteen years. Critically, however, during this time, both state and federal courts bore witness to some of the most horrific examples of death …

Funding Justice: The Budget Of The Maine Judicial Branch-We Did Get There From Here, Leigh I. Saufley

Maine Law Review

The budget for the administration of justice in the State of Maine is a study in contrasts. During the last two decades, the lack of sufficient dollars appropriated to Maine Judicial Branch and the impact that this underfunding has had on people seeking access to justice have created consistent concerns for leaders in the Judicial Branch as well as for those in the Executive and Legislative Branches. Despite these challenges, however, the administrative structure of the Maine Judicial Branch stands as a model for states across the country. Understanding the genesis of this contrast will be critical to planning for …

An Exposition Of The Effectiveness Of And The Challenges Plaguing Maine's Juvenile Drug Treatment Court Program, Jason E. Rayne

Maine Law Review

Since 1989, trial courts across the United States have been developing and implementing the drug court model. Drug courts are treatment-based programs that are considered less adversarial than traditional methods of adjudication. By early in the new millennium, drug courts had “achieved considerable local support and [had] provided intensive, long-term treatment services to offenders with long histories of drug use and criminal justice contacts, previous treatment failures, and high rates of health and social problems.” Drug courts were developed in part to quell the trend of prison overcrowding associated with America’s increased “war on drugs” during the 1980s. Courts were …

Maine's Overdue Judicial Reforms, Peter L. Murray

Maine Law Review

The recent mandate to all organs of Maine state government to make major budget cuts in a time of international economic distress has focused attention on the fiscal and operational condition of Maine’s Judicial Branch. A symposium on March 30, 2009 at the University of Southern Maine presented various perspectives on the role of Maine’s judiciary as the twenty-first century unfolds, and the need for adequate resources to maintain the Judicial Branch as a vital and functioning branch of our tripartite system of government. It is clear that much of the challenge faced by our Judicial Branch is that of …

The World Is Round: Why We Must Assure Equal Access To Civil Justice, Jon D. Levy

Maine Law Review

In 1972, the astronauts of Apollo 17, NASA’s final manned-mission to the Moon, took a photograph of the entire hemisphere of Earth. The photograph shows the continents of Africa and Antarctica in hues of red and brown, surrounded by the vibrant blue oceans and topped by swirling white clouds. It has become an iconic image. Studying the Earth from afar, Eugene Cernan, Apollo 17’s commander, reported to the Houston command center with just a touch of irony: “We’re not the first to discover this, but we’d like to confirm, from the crew of Apollo 17, that the world is round.” …

A Foundation Upon Which Justice Is Built: The Chicago Bar Foundation's Innovations To Improve Access To Justice During Tough Economic Times, Danielle Elyce Hirsch

Maine Law Review

“Equal justice for all” is one of the United States’ most proudly proclaimed principles, embellished on courthouse entrances and regularly cited in constitutional decisions. The Illinois Constitution also contains a strong commitment to equal and unimpeded access to our legal system for all of our citizens: “Every person shall find a certain remedy in the laws for all injuries and wrongs which he receives to his person, privacy, property or reputation. He shall obtain justice by law, freely, completely and promptly.” Notwithstanding these constitutional principles, a large number of people with urgent and important issues at stake—such as the custody …

Justice For Sale: Contemplations On The "Impartial" Judge In A Citizens United World, Aviva Abramovsky

Aviva Abramovsky

Although it has long been in vogue to discredit the judiciary, it remains the most trusted of the three branches of government. However, empirical evidence supports the idea that judicial campaign donations affect judicial decision making. The reality of political campaigns under Citizens United has the potential to further undermine the public perception of judges and to enhance the potential for corruption of the judiciary.

“What Are My Chances On Appeal?” Comparing Full Appellate Decisions To Per Curiam Affirmances, Steven N. Gosney

The Journal of Appellate Practice and Process

No abstract provided.

Adjudication In The Age Of Disagreement, John Fabian Witt

Fordham Law Review

In the time I have here with you today I would like to offer the beginnings of an answer. It does not lie in the distance between the court’s traditions and Manton’s conduct. That would be too easy. At base, I think the answer lies in something far more subtle and interesting: the relationship between acentral tradition of the Second Circuit and one of the great questions we face as a society today. That question is how to deal with disagreement.

Confronting Crawford: Justice Scalia, The Judicial Method, And The Limits(?) Of Originalism, Gary S. Lawson

Faculty Scholarship

Crawford v. Washington, which revamped (and even revolutionized) interpretation and application of the Sixth Amendment’s Confrontation Clause, just might be Justice Scalia’s most important majority opinion, for three reasons. First, its impact on the criminal justice system has been immense, and even if the case is overruled in the near future, as seems quite possible, that effect will still likely exceed the concrete impact of any other opinion that he wrote. Second, and more importantly, Crawford emphasizes the trite but crucial point that methodology matters. Crawford has generally been a boon to criminal defendants and a bane to prosecutors. When …

Videoconferencing: Not A Foreign Language To International Courts, Riley A. Williams

Oklahoma Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.

Why A Disability Rights Tribunal Must Be Premised On Therapeutic Jurisprudence Principles, Michael L. Perlin, Mehgan Gallagher

Articles & Chapters

The authors have previously written about the need for a disability rights tribunal in Asia (DRTAP) along with an information center (DRICAP) as part of that tribunal so that litigants can easily access the controlling domestic case law, statutes and regulations of the participating nations.

We believe a successful DRTAP must be premised on therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ) principles, and that its creation would be hollow without dedicated and knowledgeable lawyers representing the population in question. In accordance with TJ principles, it must incorporate “voice, validation and voluntary participation” to insure that litigants have a sense of voice or a chance …