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Open Markets, Competitive Democracy, And Transparent And Reliable Legal Systems: The Three Legs Of Development, James R. Jones

Chicago-Kent Law Review

In the 1990s, reform swept through Latin America. Open markets replaced closed economies. Real democracy replaced one-party rule and rigged elections. For about half of the region's population, economic and political conditions improved—yet the gap between the rich and poor widened. The poor half received little or no tangible benefits from these economic and democratic reforms. This article argues that the most difficult and probably most important reform remains to be accomplished: the reform of the legal and regulatory systems throughout Latin America. Until that happens, dreams of first-world recognition and respectability will elude Latin nations.

What Is The Point Of International Criminal Justice?, Mirjan Damaška

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The first part of the article discusses the goals international criminal courts have set for themselves. The author believes that these goals are too numerous, that they are often in conflict, and that the courts are not well suited for the achievement of some of them. This situation generates disparity between the courts' aspiration and achievement, a degree of disorientation, and difficulty in assessing the courts' performance. Disillusionment stemming from unfulfilled expectations, and inconsistencies springing from disorientation, are harmful to any system of justice, and especially to international criminal courts whose legitimacy is still fragile.

In the second part of …

Ex-Post-Booker: Retroactive Application Of Federal Sentencing Guidelines, Christine M. Zievel

Chicago-Kent Law Review

In United States v. Booker, a dramatic decision handed down in early 2005, the Supreme Court attempted to cure Sixth Amendment issues by excising the mandatory provisions of the U.S. Sentencing Guidelines and changing the binding role of the Guidelines to advisory. For close to twenty years, federal circuit courts had used the Ex Post Facto Clause to prohibit sentencing judges from retroactively applying revisions of the federal Guidelines. However, after Booker's advisory mandate and the Guidelines' supposed loss of force in sentencing decisions, some circuits have now found that the same retroactive application no longer violates the …

Table Of Contents - Issue 1, Chicago-Kent Law Review

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

Probationers, Parolees And Dna Collection: Is This "Justice For All"?, Jessica K. Fender

Seventh Circuit Review

In 1994, the DNA Identification Act permitted the government to establish a national database (CODIS) where it could collect DNA samples from those convicted of certain violent crimes. In the last few years, DNA collection statutes have been repeatedly expanded, to the point where some now require samples upon arrest. Not surprisingly, the federal DNA collection statute has been challenged repeatedly on Fourth Amendment grounds. In the Seventh Circuit, this issue was most recently addressed in United States v. Hook, a case in which a white-collar criminal on supervised release challenged the federal DNA collection statute. The court held …

Loose Change: The Seventh Circuit Misses An Opportunity To Clarify Money Laundering Law In United States V. Haddad, Daniel L. Snedigar

Seventh Circuit Review

In United States v. Haddad, a case of first impression for the Seventh Circuit, the court held that commingling of funds cannot serve to circumvent the transaction value limits imposed by 18 U.S.C. § 1957, one of the two primary federal money laundering statutes. The key component of any § 1957 violation is that the monetary transaction upon which the charge is based must be in an amount greater than $10,000 of illegally obtained funds. In cases where the accused money launderer has combined "clean" money with "dirty" money, it becomes difficult to determine whether the transaction in question …

12 Angry Men: A Revisionist View, Michael Astimow

Chicago-Kent Law Review

12 Angry Men is the definitive film about the jury and has influenced generations of viewers to regard the jury system as fundamental to American justice. This article suggests a revisionist view of the film. It argues that the film should instead generate reservations about whether the jury system is likely to produce just results. Empirical studies indicate that it is quite unlikely that one holdout juror can persuade the other eleven to switch positions, so that the racist and classist views of the majority of the jurors would normally prevail. More important, the jury in 12 Angry Men got …

Table Of Contents - Issue 2, Chicago-Kent Law Review

Chicago-Kent Law Review

No abstract provided.

Introduction To The 50th Anniversary Of 12 Angry Men, Nancy S. Marder

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The year 2007 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the movie 12 Angry Men. This movie offers a portrayal of jury deliberations that is rare in the history of American filmmaking. One interpretation of the movie is that it portrays the jury as a group of twelve ordinary men who learn in the course of their deliberations what it means to be a jury. The jurors, led by the persevering Juror #8, played by Henry Fonda, eventually learn to put aside indifference, prejudice, and personal enmity to piece together the evidence with a critical eye, and to deliver a verdict …

The Myth Of Factual Innocence, Morris B. Hoffman

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The movie 12 Angry Men is part of a larger American myth about the frequency of wrongful criminal convictions. This essay examines the broader contours of that myth, including its most recent incarnation in the form of innocence projects, suggests more realistic upper and lower bounds for the real wrongful conviction rate, and argues that exaggerations about the frequency of wrongful convictions threaten to become self-fulfilling.

Good Film, Bad Jury, Charles D. Weisselberg

Chicago-Kent Law Review

12 Angry Men is a wonderful movie. Acting in one of the most acclaimed film roles of all time, Henry Fonda, as Juror #8, turns around a jury bent on conviction. Fonda begins as the lone holdout and one by one the other jurors change their views. Over the last half century, the jury in 12 Angry Men has come to symbolize an independent and vital American institution, the petit jury. But, as the Article explains, Fonda and his fellow jurors commit clear misconduct, eventually deciding to acquit the accused using evidence that was not introduced at trial. We cannot …

A Different Story Line For 12 Angry Men: Verdicts Reached By Majority Rule—The Spanish Perspective, Mar Jimeno-Bulnes

Chicago-Kent Law Review

The film 12 Angry Men is well known in Spain, not only to picture-goers but also to researchers examining the pros and cons of trial by jury. Had its plot faithfully reflected Spanish legislation on jury proceedings, the film would undoubtedly have ended very differently. Under the Spanish Jury Law of 1995, a verdict may be reached by a simple majority of the jurors, rather than by the unanimous decision that is depicted in the film. However, it is not the need for a unanimous verdict or otherwise, but for a "reasoned" verdict that has caused considerable controversy in Spain. …

The German Response To 12 Angry Men, Stefan Machura

Chicago-Kent Law Review

12 Angry Men was well received by the German audience. It would be hard to find a German equivalent, since Germany is not a jury country. However, writer Bodo Kirchhoff and director Niki Stein created a film along the lines of 12 Angry Men. The TV film Die Konferenz (2004) depicts the deliberation of a teachers' conference on the fate of a young man accused of raping a fellow student. Like 12 Angry Men, Die Konferenz addresses key social problems of its time. The main topic is gender relations. Tellingly, Die Konferenz has no dominant hero like Henry …

The Good, The Bad, Or The Indifferent: 12 Angry Men In Russia, Stephen C. Thaman

Chicago-Kent Law Review

12 Angry Men made a great impact in Russia when first screened in 1961. Jury trials were featured in classic novels of Dostoevsky and Tolstoy in the nineteenth century and, after having been reintroduced in Russia in the 1990s are again becoming part of its culture. The article will explore this history and discuss the continued importance of 12 Angry Men today on Russia's stages and in the new remake by filmmaker Nikita Mikhalkov.

Anger At Angry Jurors, Jeffrey Abramson

Chicago-Kent Law Review

12 Angry Men portrayed the lone holdout juror as essential to the jury's protection of the individual against injustice. But recently a number of empirical and normative questions have been raised about the holdout juror. Some studies go so far as to suggest that most holdout jurors are motivated by unreasonable doubts or are engaged in unlawful acts of jury nullification. The result, according to such studies, is that hung juries are on the rise. After reviewing these studies, this article concludes that there is no reliable evidence establishing a national trend toward a rise in hung juries, although some …

The Vienna Convention On Consular Relations: After The Federal Courts’ Abdication, Will State Courts Fill In The Breach?, Asa Markel

Chicago-Kent Journal of International and Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Hate By Association: Joint Criminal Enterprise Liability For Persecution, Jacob A. Ramer

Chicago-Kent Journal of International and Comparative Law

No abstract provided.