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The High Price Of Poverty: A Study Of How The Majority Of Current Court System Procedures For Collecting Court Costs And Fees, As Well As Fines, Have Failed To Adhere To Established Precedent And The Constitutional Guarantees They Advocate., Trevor J. Calligan Jul 2015

The High Price Of Poverty: A Study Of How The Majority Of Current Court System Procedures For Collecting Court Costs And Fees, As Well As Fines, Have Failed To Adhere To Established Precedent And The Constitutional Guarantees They Advocate., Trevor J. Calligan

Trevor J Calligan

No abstract provided.


Do We Know How To Punish?, Benjamin L. Apt Jul 2015

Do We Know How To Punish?, Benjamin L. Apt

Benjamin L. Apt

A number of current theories attempt to explain the purpose and need for criminal punishment. All of them depend on some sort of normative basis in justifying why the state may penalize people found guilty of crimes. Yet each of these theories lacks an epistemological foundation; none of them explains how we can know what form punishments should take. The article analyses the epistemological gaps in the predominant theories of punishment: retributivism, including limited-retributivism; and consequentialism in its various versions, ranging from deterrence to the reparative theories such as restorative justice and rehabilitation. It demonstrates that the common putative epistemological …


Federal Programs And The Real Costs Of Policing, Rachel A. Harmon Jun 2015

Federal Programs And The Real Costs Of Policing, Rachel A. Harmon

Rachel A. Harmon

Dozens of federal statutes authorize federal agencies to give money and power to local police departments and municipalities in order to improve public safety. While these federal programs encourage better coordination of police efforts and make pursuing public safety less financially costly for local communities, they also encourage harmful policing. Of course, policing often interferes with our interests in autonomy, privacy, and property, and those harms are often worthwhile in exchange for security and order. Federal public safety programs, however, are designed, implemented, and evaluated without reference to the nonbudgetary costs of policing. When those costs are high, federal programs …


Stop Blaming The Prosecutors: The Real Causes Of Wrongful Convictions And Rightful Exonerations, And What Should Be Done To Fix Them, Adam Lamparello, Charles E. Maclean, James J. Berles Apr 2015

Stop Blaming The Prosecutors: The Real Causes Of Wrongful Convictions And Rightful Exonerations, And What Should Be Done To Fix Them, Adam Lamparello, Charles E. Maclean, James J. Berles

Adam Lamparello

Wrongfully convicted and rightfully exonerated criminal defendants spent, on average, ten years in prison before exoneration, and the ramifications to the defendants, the criminal justice system, and society are immeasurable.Prosecutorial misconduct, however, is not the primary cause of wrongful convictions. To begin with, although more than twenty million new adult criminal cases are opened in state and federal courts each year throughout the United States, there have been only 1,281 total exonerations over the last twenty-five years. In only six percent of those cases was prosecutorial misconduct the predominant factor resulting in those wrongful convictions. Of course, although prosecutorial misconduct …


Jones, Lackey, And Teague, Richard Broughton Feb 2015

Jones, Lackey, And Teague, Richard Broughton

Richard Broughton

In a recent, high-profile ruling, a federal court finally recognized that a substantial delay in executing a death row inmate violated the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishments. Courts have repeatedly rejected these so-called “Lackey claims,” making the federal court’s decision in Jones v. Chappell all the more important. And yet it was deeply flawed. This paper focuses on one of the major flaws in the Jones decision that largely escaped attention: the application of the non-retroactivity rule from Teague v. Lane. By comprehensively addressing the merits of the Teague bar as applied to Lackey claims, and making …


Reflections On An Extraordinary Career: Thoughts About Jerry Caplan's Retirement, Michael Vitiello Mar 2014

Reflections On An Extraordinary Career: Thoughts About Jerry Caplan's Retirement, Michael Vitiello

Michael Vitiello

Reflections on an Extraordinary Career: Thoughts about Gerald Caplan’s Retirement Abstract: The occasion for this essay is the retirement of my colleague Gerald Caplan. But this is not a sentimental account of a friend’s career. Instead, I take the opportunity of Jerry’s retirement to reflect on the role of a thoughtful principled conservative as a Washington insider and as an academic. The essay explores three areas of Jerry’s distinguished career: the first is a discussion of his role in saving the Legal Services Corporation when it was under attack from the right wing, within and without the Reagan Administration. The …


Extrajudicial Executions And Assaults In American Prisons And The Looming Human Rights Crisis, Robert M. Hardaway Jan 2014

Extrajudicial Executions And Assaults In American Prisons And The Looming Human Rights Crisis, Robert M. Hardaway

Robert Hardaway

This article examines the current due process crisis in American prisons and proposes reforms that would comply with human rights principles and international law. The number of prisoners killed in American prisons exceeds the number who are executed pursuant to judicial process. The bulk of these extrajudicial killings, and sexual assaults are the proximate consequence of close contact between prisoners. The predominate practice in American prisons is at the extreme ends of the spectrum—that is either placing prisoners in solitary confinement, a practice that has been challenged on Eighth Amendment grounds, or placing them in such close contact with each …


Beyond Finality: How Making Criminal Judgments Less Final Can Further The Interests Of Finality, Andrew Chongseh Kim Oct 2013

Beyond Finality: How Making Criminal Judgments Less Final Can Further The Interests Of Finality, Andrew Chongseh Kim

Andrew Chongseh Kim

Courts and scholars commonly assume that granting convicted defendants more liberal rights to challenge their judgments would harm society’s interests in “finality.” According to conventional wisdom, finality in criminal judgments is necessary to conserve resources, encourage efficient behavior by defense counsel, and deter crime. Thus, under the common analysis, the extent to which convicted defendants should be allowed to challenge their judgments depends on how much society is willing to sacrifice to validate defendants’ rights. This Article argues that expanding defendants’ rights on post-conviction review does not always harm these interests. Rather, more liberal review can often conserve state resources, …


Learning From Our Mistakes: Practical Solutions For Reducing The Rate Of Incarceration In Louisiana, Kara Larson Jul 2013

Learning From Our Mistakes: Practical Solutions For Reducing The Rate Of Incarceration In Louisiana, Kara Larson

Kara Larson

This article examines the causes of the high rate of incarceration in Louisiana and focuses on the societal and economic effects of such a rate. It then analyzes recent steps taken by the Louisiana legislature to address the rate of incarceration. Finally, the article concludes by offering suggestions to reduce the rate further while combating recidivism.


Punishment And Rights, Benjamin L. Apt Feb 2013

Punishment And Rights, Benjamin L. Apt

Benjamin L. Apt

Prevalent theories of criminal punishment lack a rationale for the precise duration and nature of state-ordered criminal punishment. In practice, too, criminal penalization suffers from inadequate evidence of punitive efficacy. These deficiencies, in theory and in fact, would not be so grave were the state to enjoy unfettered power over the disposition of criminal penalties. However, in societies that recognize legal rights, criminal punishments must be consistent with rights. Efficacy, even where demonstrable, does not suffice as a legal justification for punishment. This article analyzes the source of rights and how they function as primary rules in a legal system. …


Interpersonal Crimes: A Critical Study Of Systematic Bias Against Men, Sukdeo Ingale Jan 2013

Interpersonal Crimes: A Critical Study Of Systematic Bias Against Men, Sukdeo Ingale

Sukdeo Ingale

No abstract provided.


Foreword: A Global Perspective On Sentencing Reforms, Oren Gazal-Ayal Jan 2013

Foreword: A Global Perspective On Sentencing Reforms, Oren Gazal-Ayal

Oren Gazal-Ayal

The articles published in this issue of Law and Contemporary Problems examine the effects of different sentencing reforms across the world. While the effects of sentencing reforms in the United States have been studied extensively, this is the first symposium that examines the effects of sentencing guidelines and alternative policies in a number of western legal systems from a comparative perspective. This issue focuses on how different sentencing policies affect prison population rates, sentence disparity, and the balance of power between the judiciary and prosecutors, while also assessing how sentencing policies respond to temporary punitive surges and moral panics. The …


Do Sentencing Guidelines Increase Prosecutorial Power? An Empirical Study, Oren Gazal-Ayal, Hagit Turjeman, Gideon Fishman Jan 2013

Do Sentencing Guidelines Increase Prosecutorial Power? An Empirical Study, Oren Gazal-Ayal, Hagit Turjeman, Gideon Fishman

Oren Gazal-Ayal

Traditionally, judges have had tremendous flexibility in sentencing. Offering judges maximum discretion in the sentencing process allows them to consider not only an offender’s criminal history and the severity of the crime committed, but also the complex web of mitigating and aggravating factors present in each case and additional qualitative factors, such as a defendant’s testimony or selfpresentation in a courtroom. When judges are empowered with more discretion, however, there is heightened potential for inter-judge variability in sentencing. In order to reduce sentencing disparities caused by individual sentencers, several countries and jurisdictions, most notably in the United States, have enacted …


Breaking The Theft-Chain-Cycle: Property Marking As A Defensive Tool, William J. Bailey, David J. Brooks Jan 2013

Breaking The Theft-Chain-Cycle: Property Marking As A Defensive Tool, William J. Bailey, David J. Brooks

Bill Bailey

The theft of property and its associated impact effects many parts of society. For example, a considerable amount of resources are expended in trying to reduce property theft, as such crime engenders both a financial and emotional impact (Grabosky, 1995, p. 1) on those involved. Factors such as fear of crime, increased insurance premiums and victimization are all outcomes of property crime. Much of the past research has focused on the mitigation of such crimes, collectively termed as ‘crime prevention’. Crime prevention are “any actions designed to reduce the actual level of crime and/or the perceived crime” (S.P. Lab, 2010, …


The Problem Of Policing, Rachel A. Harmon Feb 2012

The Problem Of Policing, Rachel A. Harmon

Rachel A. Harmon

The legal problem of policing is how to regulate police authority to permit officers to enforce law while also protecting individual liberty and minimizing the social costs the police impose. Courts and commentators have largely treated the problem of policing as limited to preventing violations of constitutional rights and its solution as the judicial definition and enforcement of those rights. But constitutional law and courts alone are necessarily inadequate to regulate the police. Constitutional law does not protect important interests below the constitutional threshold or effectively address the distributional impacts of law enforcement activities. Nor can the judiciary adequately assess …


Clemency, Parole, Good-Time Credits, And Crowded Prisons: Reconsidering Early Release, Paul J. Larkin Jr. Jan 2012

Clemency, Parole, Good-Time Credits, And Crowded Prisons: Reconsidering Early Release, Paul J. Larkin Jr.

Paul J Larkin Jr.

Traditionally, the criminal justice system used executive clemency, parole statutes, and good-time credit laws to grant prisoners an early relief for various reasons, such as to encourage and reward efforts toward rehabilitation and to ease prison overcrowding. The replacement of rehabilitation with incapacitation as the principal justification for criminal punishment over the last 30 years, however, has resulted in an enormous expansion in the prison population. We need to ask whether we have arrived at a point where an overly punitive approach to corrections is hurting as many innocent parties as helping and whether we are generating more criminals than …


Why Do We (Still) Lack Data On Policing?, Rachel A. Harmon Jan 2012

Why Do We (Still) Lack Data On Policing?, Rachel A. Harmon

Rachel A. Harmon

The Wickersham Commission report on The Third Degree, found in the Commission’s famous Report on Lawlessness in Law Enforcement ended with the argument that the “real remedy” for police misconduct “lies in the will of the community,” which in turn depends on evidence about the nature and extent of police abuse. In this brief essay, I argue that the report’s call for information about policing has gone largely unanswered. Eighty years later, we still lack enough data about what the police do to shape their conduct effectively. Public policy and legal decisions about policing depend heavily on empirical judgments, but …


Unanswered Questions Of A Minority People In International Law: A Comparative Study Between Southern Cameroons & South Sudan, Bernard Sama Mr Oct 2011

Unanswered Questions Of A Minority People In International Law: A Comparative Study Between Southern Cameroons & South Sudan, Bernard Sama Mr

Bernard Sama

The month July of 2011 marked the birth of another nation in the World. The distressful journey of a minority people under the watchful eyes of the international community finally paid off with a new nation called the South Sudan . As I watched the South Sudanese celebrate independence on 9 July 2011, I was filled with joy as though they have finally landed. On a promising note, I read the UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon saying “[t]ogether, we welcome the Republic of South Sudan to the community of nations. Together, we affirm our commitment to helping it meet its …


The Eleventh Circuit's Selective Assault On Sentencing Discretion, Adam Shajnfeld Jan 2011

The Eleventh Circuit's Selective Assault On Sentencing Discretion, Adam Shajnfeld

Adam Shajnfeld

Ever since the Supreme Court declared that the sentences which district courts impose on criminal defendants are to be reviewed on appeal for “unreasonableness,” the standard’s contours have remained elusive and mired in controversy, despite the Court’s repeated attempts at elucidation. In few instances is this confounding state of affairs more apparent and acute than in the Eleventh Circuit’s recent lengthy and factious en banc decision in United States v. Irey. This article explores Irey’s merits, mistakes, and lessons, trying to locate each within the broader context of the Eleventh Circuit’s sentencing jurisprudence. In doing so, the article advances three …


Reforming Adult Felony Probation To Ease Prison Overcrowding: An Overview Of California S.B. 678, Jessica K. Feinstein Jan 2011

Reforming Adult Felony Probation To Ease Prison Overcrowding: An Overview Of California S.B. 678, Jessica K. Feinstein

Jessica Feinstein

This article provides a holistic examination of California’s groundbreaking Community Corrections Performance Incentives Act, S.B. 678, passed in 2009 in response to California’s prison crisis. S.B. 678 seeks to create stable funding for county probation departments to implement evidence-based practices by shifting resources from the state prison budget to county probation. Probation is the most frequently imposed form of criminal sentence in California—nor is it limited to the least serious offenders. Estimates of the state’s adult probation population range from roughly 325,000 to 350,000. The article illuminates the goals and mechanisms of S.B. 678 and the challenges facing its implementation. …


Fairness And The Willingness To Accept Plea Bargain Offers, Oren Gazal-Ayal, Avishalom Tor, Stephen M. Garcia Jun 2010

Fairness And The Willingness To Accept Plea Bargain Offers, Oren Gazal-Ayal, Avishalom Tor, Stephen M. Garcia

Oren Gazal-Ayal

In contrast with the typical assumption in plea bargaining law and economics, we show defendants may reject plea offers based on fairness considerations. Specifically, offers where the sanction clearly appears excessive for the crime ("substantively unfair") and offers that appear inferior to those received by others in similar cases ("comparatively unfair") diminish defendants' wiliingness to accept plea offers (WTAP). Part 1 analyzes real-world data in Study 1 and reviews early experiments, all of which sugget substantive fairness impacts WTAP but do not control for important confounds. Part 2 therefore presents Studies 2-4 that confirm the independent impact of substantive fairness. …


Development Of A Dna Database In Ireland — Assessing The Proposed Legislation, Liz Campbell Apr 2010

Development Of A Dna Database In Ireland — Assessing The Proposed Legislation, Liz Campbell

Liz Campbell

The collection and retention of DNA samples are seen universally as crucial for purposes of criminal investigation and prosecution, as a means of excluding innocent suspects, and of exonerating the wrongfully convicted. However, there is less consistency across jurisdictions regarding whose DNA should be obtained by the state and for how long it should be stored. The need for a measured approach in this context is underlined by the “exceptionalism” of genetic material, given the depth and sensitivity of the information contained within, and the potential for “function creep”, whereby state powers insidiously increase and data gathered for one purpose …


The Expansion Of The Criminal Law Of The Enemy In The Us Legal System., Héctor Zayas Gutiérrez Jan 2010

The Expansion Of The Criminal Law Of The Enemy In The Us Legal System., Héctor Zayas Gutiérrez

Héctor Zayas Gutiérrez

The purposes of this presentation are to (1) elucidate main principles of the Criminal Law of the Enemy Theory, (2) explain how the criminal law of the enemy has been adopted and expanded in the US legal system, and (3) give a quick glimpse to some comparative law examples on the Criminal Law of the Enemy Theory applications. Criminal Law of the Enemy, Enemy Criminal Law, Derecho Penal del Enemigo.


Let My People Go: Ethnic In-Group Bias In Judicial Decisions – Evidence From A Randomized Natural Experiment, Oren Gazal-Ayal, Raanan Sulitzeanu-Kenan Jan 2010

Let My People Go: Ethnic In-Group Bias In Judicial Decisions – Evidence From A Randomized Natural Experiment, Oren Gazal-Ayal, Raanan Sulitzeanu-Kenan

Oren Gazal-Ayal

Does ethnic identity affect judicial decisions? We provide new evidence on ethnic biases in judicial behavior, by examining the decisions of Arab and Jewish judges in first bail hearings of Arab and Jewish suspects in Israeli courts. Our setting avoids the potential bias from unobservable case characteristics by exploiting the random assignment of judges to cases during weekends, and by focusing on the difference in ethnic disparity between Arab and Jewish judges. The study concentrates on the early-stage decisions in the judicial criminal process, controlling for the state's position, and excluding agreements, thereby allowing us to distinguish judicial bias from …


Proportionality In The Criminal Law: The Differing American Versus Canadian Approaches To Punishment, Roozbeh (Rudy) B. Baker Jan 2008

Proportionality In The Criminal Law: The Differing American Versus Canadian Approaches To Punishment, Roozbeh (Rudy) B. Baker

Roozbeh (Rudy) B. Baker

The focus of this Article shall be upon the Eighth Amendment of the United States Constitution and s. 12 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms, both of which prohibit “cruel and unusual punishment”; and their effect on mandatory criminal sentencing (via penal statute) in the two countries. The Article shall begin by briefly explain the differences between the jurisdictional application of criminal justice in the United States and Canada. The Article will next present and explain the American Eighth Amendment approach to the constitutionality of mandatory criminal sentencing and contrast this to the Canadian s. 12 approach to …


California Youth And Criminal Law: 2007 Juvenile Justice Reform And Gang Prevention Initiatives, Sandhya Ramadas Jan 2008

California Youth And Criminal Law: 2007 Juvenile Justice Reform And Gang Prevention Initiatives, Sandhya Ramadas

Sandhya Ramadas

Debate shaping criminal law and policy inevitably involves the intersection, and sometimes conflict, of “tough on crime” policies, victims’ rights, rehabilitation, incarceration, and of course, the securing of funding. Nowhere was this more apparent than in 2007 reforms surrounding the treatment of California’s youth. While legislators and policy groups pushed through Senate Bill 81 – the State Senate bill which ushered in a host of juvenile justice realignment provisions and shifted the focus of juvenile programs from the state to localities – they also provided increased funding for gang-related investigations, convictions, and for tracking programs through several bills and the …


From Due Process To Crime Control: The Decline Of Liberalism In The Irish Criminal Justice System, Liz Campbell Jan 2007

From Due Process To Crime Control: The Decline Of Liberalism In The Irish Criminal Justice System, Liz Campbell

Liz Campbell

At all stages of the Irish criminal process, from pretrial detention and investigation, through the courthearing and at sentencing, a shift in focus from the due process rights of the accused towards the crime control aims of the State is apparent. Due process values, which seek to establish a degree of parity between the State and the accused, are increasingly seen in popular and political discourse as inconveniences to be overcome, rather than vital safeguards.


Taxing Illegal Assets: The Revenue Work Of The Criminal Assets Bureau, Liz Campbell Jan 2006

Taxing Illegal Assets: The Revenue Work Of The Criminal Assets Bureau, Liz Campbell

Liz Campbell

This article considers the powers of the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB) in the context of revenue law, as this lesser-known aspect of the Bureau’s work is often overshadowed by its ability to seize and confiscate the proceeds of crime. Although the taxing of illegal profits was traditionally precluded in Ireland, this situation was altered in the early-1980s, thereby facilitating CAB’s revenue work. Despite CAB’s significant powers in this regard, the courts have overturned its tax assessments in a number of cases, on the basis that certain criteria pertaining to its tax powers have been breached. Nevertheless, CAB’s ability to pursue …


The Evidence Of Intimidated Witnesses In Criminal Trials, Liz Campbell Jan 2006

The Evidence Of Intimidated Witnesses In Criminal Trials, Liz Campbell

Liz Campbell

The issue of witness intimidation has gained currency in the Irish criminal justice system in recent years with the increase in so-called “gangland” crime. The brutal treatment used by organised criminals to resolve gangland feuds is echoed in the threats received by individuals who seek to testify against suspected organised criminals. This article examines various approaches have been adopted by the State to ensure that the evidence of threatened witnesses may be used in court. While some witnesses may participate in the Witness Protection Programme (WPP), others may give evidence by means of video-camera. In addition, even if an intimidated …


Decline Of Due Process In The Irish Justice System: Beyond The Culture Of Control?, Liz Campbell Jan 2006

Decline Of Due Process In The Irish Justice System: Beyond The Culture Of Control?, Liz Campbell

Liz Campbell

Legislation in Ireland that pertains to serious and organised crime is characterised by a favouring of public protection over the rights of the accused; by an increased concern for security with a concomitant diminution of the significance of liberty. Throughout the pre-trial stage of the criminal process, the court-hearing and sentencing, a shift in focus from the due process rights of the accused towards the result-oriented aims of the State is apparent. Furthermore, the fight against organised crime has extended into the civil domain with the creation of the Criminal Assets Bureau (CAB), with its low burden of proof and …