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Trump, Lawyer Regulation, And The Institutional Double Bind, Benjamin H. Barton

Scholarly Works

Scandals, news stories, and court setbacks that would have devastated other, more traditional Presidents have seemingly only made Donald Trump’s bond with his supporters stronger. This creates a challenge when institutions try to punish anyone in Trump’s orbit. Taking action against Trump only encourages his supporters, while inaction may lessen the left’s faith in institutions and leave opponents of President Trump wondering why nothing is being done to curtail what they see as flagrant criminal contempt. This is a problem the author calls the “institutional double bind.” This Essay discusses whether there is any solution for these institutions stuck in …

Breaking The Cultural Cycle Of Sexual Harassment In The Professional Sports Industry: Time To Step Up Prevention & Punishment, Lauren Sullivan

Saint Louis University Law Journal

The National Football League’s Washington Football Team, now known as the Washington Commanders, faces an abundant amount of franchise issues, but its toxic workplace environment full of sexual harassment towers above the rest. This is just the most recent example of a professional sports team mistreating its women employees. Year after year, sexual harassment allegations resurface, revealing a contemplation of whether the current “solutions” for curbing sexual harassment in the professional sports industry are effective.

Current remedies, both in a legal and societal context, have inhibited efforts by women for equal treatment from the teams who employ them. When allegations …

Breaking Free: Detectives Let The Guilty Walk, Cassandra Holcombe

All Master's Theses

In a genre like detective fiction, known for affirming social order, the refusal to enforce rule of law seems like an anomaly. The number of famous detectives who have let a perpetrator go suggests that release of suspects is not a break in genre conventions, but is a wider pattern that needs to be acknowledged. This study investigates that pattern by measuring the complexity of thirteen detectives: eleven of whom release perpetrators and two of whom do not, to serve as a control group. The higher the complexity of the character, the more human the character seems to be. The …

Crooked Politicians: Elusive Criminal Punishments And Paths To Accountability, Pedro Gerson

Loyola of Los Angeles Law Review

No abstract provided.

Proportionality, Constraint, And Culpability, Mitchell N. Berman

All Faculty Scholarship

Philosophers of criminal punishment widely agree that criminal punishment should be “proportional” to the “seriousness” of the offense. But this apparent consensus is only superficial, masking significant dissensus below the surface. Proposed proportionality principles differ on several distinct dimensions, including: (1) regarding which offense or offender properties determine offense “seriousness” and thus constitute a proportionality relatum; (2) regarding whether punishment is objectionably disproportionate only when excessively severe, or also when excessively lenient; and (3) regarding whether the principle can deliver absolute (“cardinal”) judgments, or only comparative (“ordinal”) ones. This essay proposes that these differences cannot be successfully adjudicated, and one …

Reincarnation And Rehabilitation: The Theodicy Of Plato's Timaeus, John Garrett

Philosophy Theses

Plato wonders why a good God might allow the existence of evil. This problem is especially pertinent to his dialogue Timaeus, in which Plato describes the creation of the cosmos by a benevolent divine craftsman called the Demiurge. A justification for why God allows evil to exist is called a theodicy. Readers of the Timaeus have interpreted the theodicy of this dialogue in many ways. After showing the shortcomings of some common interpretations, I offer a largely original interpretation of the theodicy of the Timaeus. I claim that in the Timaeus evil is caused by conflict between souls, and this …

Analysis Of The Normative Law Enforcement Of Thecrime Of Insulting The State Symbol:Case Study Of The Insult To The State Coat Of Arms Byzaskia Gotik And Habib Rizieq, Budi Hermanto

International Review of Humanities Studies

Cases of insulting the national emblem are increasing and attracting attention. A number of cases of allegations of insulting the national emblem have brought up a number of names, from celebrities, religious and community leaders, teenagers and students, to organizations. Two cases that were busy were allegations of insulting the national emblem by Zaskia Gotik and Habib Rizieq, which appeared at a similar period. Various studies regarding the alleged humiliation of the state symbol by Zaskia Gotik and Habib Rizieq have been widely studied. However, most of the studies focused on linguistic and communication perspectives. Unlike previous studies, this paper …

Informed Consent: Disclosure Of The Presentence Investigation Report Before A Guilty Plea, George D. Bell

University of Miami Law Review

The Constitution bestows upon all accused persons the right to a trial by jury, the right to confront accusers, the right to remain silent, and the right to be presumed innocent. The law requires waiver of these rights to be done voluntarily, with the fullest possible knowledge of material consequences. Punishment is possibly the most material consequence of a guilty plea, yet criminal defendants who pleaded guilty are forced to relinquish their rights before punishment is determined. Our jurisprudence of due process prohibits this kind of practice, but it is routine in Federal court. For a guilty plea to comport …

Making Executioners Out Of Pharmacists: Why South Carolina Should Not Adopt A Lethal Injection Secrecy Statute, Elizabeth T. French

South Carolina Law Review

No abstract provided.

Asymmetry And Symmetry Of Acts And Omissions In Punishment, Norms, And Judged Causality, Toby Handfield, John Thrasher, Andrew Corcoran, Shaun Nichols

Philosophy Faculty Articles and Research

Harmful acts are punished more often and more harshly than harmful omissions. This asymmetry has variously been ascribed to differences in how individuals perceive the causal responsibility of acts versus omissions and to social norms that tend to proscribe acts more frequently than omissions. This paper examines both of these hypotheses, in conjunction with a new hypothesis: that acts are punished more than omissions because it is usually more efficient to do so. In typical settings, harms occur as a result of relatively few harmful actions, but many individuals may have had the opportunity to prevent or rectify the harm. …

American Punishment And Pandemic, Danielle C. Jefferis

Faculty Scholarship

Many of the sites of the worst outbreaks of the disease caused by the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) are America’s prisons and jails. As of March 2021, the virus has infected hundreds of thousands of incarcerated people and well over two thousand have died as a result contracting the disease caused by the virus. Prisons and jails have been on perpetual lockdowns since the onset of the pandemic, with family visits suspended and some facilities resorting to solitary confinement to mitigate the virus’s spread, thereby exacerbating the punitiveness and harmfulness of incarceration. With the majority of the 2.3 million people incarcerated …

After The Crime: Rewarding Offenders’ Positive Post-Offense Conduct, Paul H. Robinson, Muhammad Sarahne

All Faculty Scholarship

While an offender’s conduct before and during the crime is the traditional focus of criminal law and sentencing rules, an examination of post-offense conduct can also be important in promoting criminal justice goals. After the crime, different offenders make different choices and have different experiences, and those differences can suggest appropriately different treatment by judges, correctional officials, probation and parole supervisors, and other decision-makers in the criminal justice system.

Positive post-offense conduct ought to be acknowledged and rewarded, not only to encourage it but also as a matter of fair and just treatment. This essay describes four kinds of positive …

Restorative Retributivism, Brian M. Murray

University of Miami Law Review

The current criminal justice moment is ripe for discussion of first principles. What the criminal law is, what it should do, and why society punishes is as relevant as ever as communities reconsider the reach of the criminal law and forms of punishment like incarceration. One theory recently put forth—reconstructivism—purports to offer a descriptive and normative theory of the criminal law and punishment while critiquing the ills of the American system. It comprehends the criminal law and punishment as functional endeavors, with the particular goal of restitching or “reconstructing” the social fabric that crime disrupts. In particular, reconstructivism is a …

Alexandra Harrington, Covid And Prisons: Grappling With The Effects Of The Pandemic On Incarceration, Alexandra Harrington

Baldy Center Blog

In the last year, roughly 10% of the U.S. population has tested positive for COVID-19. In that same period, about 28% of people incarcerated in U.S. prisons tested positive for the virus. More than 2,500 incarcerated people have died of COVID-related causes. Trapped in congregate settings with little to no ability to socially distance or protect themselves from COVID, people in prisons are particularly vulnerable in the midst of a global pandemic.

Towards A Moral Education Theory Of Childhood Punishment, Hamilton S. Garber

Haslam Scholars Projects

This paper serves as a defense of the application of moral education theory to childhood punishments and includes a recommendation for proper punishment based on a Razian conception of autonomy. Punishment on this account can and should infringe upon autonomy, but it must do so according to certain restraints. Accordingly, this paper includes a test to determine whether a punishment is permissible. The moral education theory can be justified through its aptitude at producing moral adults who follow moral rules by their own volition, however, morally educative punishments will likely produce other side benefits such as deterrence as well.

The Student Experience In A Covid-19 World: An Ethnographic Inquiry Into The Experience Of Butler University Students During A Pandemic, Ben Christopher Martella

Undergraduate Honors Thesis Collection

With the abrupt closing of colleges across the United States in the spring of 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and subsequent reopening in the fall of 2020, students in higher education were among some of the most affected group of individuals. In this ethnographic study, data was collected and analyzed based on student experience with COVID-19 at Butler University. The study aims to answer the research questions: How are students at a small midwestern university experiencing COVID-19? What impact are the university’s mitigation efforts having on students? How do students understand and describe University public health measures? Participant observation, …

The Doctrinal Punishment Of Lapidation : Suspicions And Rebuttals-Dr. Mahmoud Abu Lail, Professor Mahmoud Ahmed Abu Leil

UAEU Law Journal

This paper deals with the proof of legitimacy of stonning as a punishment for adultery. (The paper describes the different punishments for adultery in Islam) ranging from imprisonment and harm to lashing and alienation of the non-married, and stonning of the married. The Paper traces proofs of the legitimacy of stonning in the sayings and actions of Prophet Mohammad (Peace be upon Him). This kind of punishment has been convayed by more than thirty of the Prophet’s companions. So it is considered to be an abstract sequence, and thus a conclusive eviden. Moreover, unanimous acceptance of _ the legitimacy of …

Nietzsche On Criminality, Laura N. Mcallister

USF Tampa Graduate Theses and Dissertations

In Nietzsche scholarship, little has been done regarding Nietzsche’s reflections on penology and criminology. This dissertation aims to critically examine Friedrich Nietzsche’s thoughts on justice, punishment, and the criminal and to show that his interest in these topics runs throughout his writings. Nietzsche attacked the tradition of Western justice theory and the idea that justice consists in giving each their due. I argue that in place of this notion of justice, he puts forth a non-metaphysical, naturalistic account of justice that refuses to judge and hold man accountable. In addition, I explicate Nietzsche’s passionate critique of punishment, which stops short …

Precise Punishment: Why Precise Punitive Damage Requests Result In Higher Awards Than Round Requests, Michael Conklin

Michigan Business & Entrepreneurial Law Review

Imagine a setting where someone asks two people what the temperature is outside. The first person says it is 80 °F, while the second person says it is 78.7 °F. Research regarding precise versus round cognitive anchoring suggests that the second person is more likely to be believed. This is because it is human nature to assume that if someone gives a precise answer, he must have good reason for doing so. This principle remains constant in a variety of settings, including used car negotiations, eBay transactions, and estimating the field goal percentage of a basketball player.

This Article reports …

The Effects Of Virtual Panopticism, Emma E. East

Selected Honors Theses

As technology further integrates into everyday life, the effects of technological advancement surface. The research contained in this thesis places philosopher Michel Foucault’s ideas of the panoptic, discipline, punishment and a carceral society in a virtual reality thus creating a virtual panopticon. Adapting Foucault’s theories to the present-day technological climate allows researchers to begin understanding the why behind humans’ interactions with various forms of technology (e.g. iPhone usage, Smart TVs, online banking, Alexa/Echo, etc.). Additionally, virtual panopticism sheds light on the corruption of those who manipulate information online to wield power, maintain control and make money. I discuss surveillance capitalism …

Lengthy Minimum Parole Requirements: A Denial Of Hope, Heather Walker

Brigham Young University Prelaw Review

Using the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits cruel and unusual punishment, the Supreme Court has made sweeping changes to juvenile sentencing in the last fifteen years. The Court has stated that mandatory life sentences without the possibility of parole and life sentences without the possibility of parole for non-homicide offenders are unconstitutional. Nevertheless, there are still unanswered questions in juvenile sentencing. One under-researched aspect of this is the role that lengthy minimum parole requirements play in the constitutionality of juvenile sentencing. This type of sentencing lacks express legislative support, it does not have a legitimate penological justification, and it denies juveniles …

Darryl Robinson's Model For International Criminal Law: Deontic Principles Developed Through A Coherentist Approach, Milena Sterio

Law Faculty Articles and Essays

Darryl Robinson’s new book, Justice in Extreme Cases: Criminal Law Theory Meets International Criminal Law, presents a compelling argument: that international criminal law would benefit from deontic reasoning. According to Robinson, this type of deontic reasoning “requires us to consider the limits of personal fault and punishability,” and is a “normative reasoning that focuses on our duties and obligations to others.” Moreover, Robinson argues in this book that coherentism is the best method for identifying and defining deontic principles. Robinson explains that coherentism is an approach where “[w]e use all of our critical reasoning tools to test past understandings …

Can Prosecutors End Mass Incarceration?, Rachel E. Barkow

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Charged: The New Movement to Transform American Prosecution and End Mass Incarceration. by Emily Bazelon.

The European Convention For The Prevention Of Torture And Inhuman Or Degrading Treatment Or Punishment: Genesis Of An Exemplary Model Of International Control On Human Rights, Giovanni Distefano

UAEU Law Journal

The 26 June 1987, the Committee of Ministers of the Council of Europe adopted the “European Convention for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment”, which entered eventually into force two years later. Being closely intertwined with the European Convention of Human Rights (1950), the Torture Convention establishes a parallel monitoring system ensuring the respect of the subjective rights contained therein. In addition to the 1950 Convention, it introduces an absolutely novel mechanism aimed to address in a preventive and effective way the needs related to the protection of human dignity and other core human rights …

The Criminal Complicity An Analytical Study According To The Roman Law, Elsayed Ahmed Badawy

UAEU Law Journal

The focus of this study is on the criminal complicity in the Roman law. The study is divided into three chapters. In Chapter One, we discuss the moral criminal complicity, while Chapter Two covers the material criminal complicity. Chapter Three explains the provisions provided in this law, concerning the accomplice liability and the punishment consequences that the accessory accomplice is subject to because of his association with the principal accomplice in committing the crime. The main conclusion of this paper is as follows:

1. The Roman penal legislations had confronted the criminal complicity because of its criminal seriousness, although this was …

Rationalization Of Punishment In Contemporary Criminal Policy, ٍSafaa Otani

UAEU Law Journal

The aim of this study is to highlight the problem of divergence between the principles established in the legal conscience related to minimizing state intervention in enforcing punishment, and the current expansion of the Criminal Law. This problem caused contemporary jurisprudence to sound the alarm that the consequences will be serious, and there is an urgent need to draw new boundaries for the criminal policy under which the Criminal Law operates. Rationalization of punishment is one of the guiding principles which advocate non-excessive use of punitive means to achieve social control, and the pursuit of alternative ways of fighting crimes …

The Legal System Addressing Public Administrative Infringements Under The Yemeni Law, Mohamed Ahmed Ghober

UAEU Law Journal

The research aims to clarify the concept of public administrative sanctions through a study of its scope which consists of the public administrative infringements in the Yemeni legislation. The research concludes to express an inherent jurisdiction of the legislative authority in general, and its competence in the criminalization and punishment, in particular, as well as the role played by the executive authority in the legislation and punishment and the extent of its authority to do so. Moreover, the study explained the legal nature of the public administrative infringements which is reflected in the nature of criminal offenses, both in terms …

Procedural Legitimacy Between The Rights Of The Victim And The Accused, Khalid Mustafa Hamid

UAEU Law Journal

This research deals with the subject of procedural legitimacy between the rights of the victim and the accused.

» The convergence of criminal procedures with the concept of rights of the victim is not that surprising, since the ultimate goal of criminal proceedings is to protect the rights recognized by international conventions and national laws to the victim as a human being. Since individuals are not allowed to resort to a private judiciary and the victims are denied the right to retaliation, the State undertook the commitment to enforce justice in society and to ensure its fair distribution to citizens. …

Rethinking The Reasonable Response: Safeguarding The Promise Of Kingsley For Conditions Of Confinement, Hanna Rutkowski

Michigan Law Review

Nearly five million individuals are admitted to America’s jails each year, and at any given time, two-thirds of those held in jail have not been convicted of a crime. Under current Supreme Court doctrine, these pretrial detainees are functionally protected by the same standard as convicted prisoners, despite the fact that they are formally protected by different constitutional amendments. A 2015 decision, Kingsley v. Hendrickson, declared that a different standard would apply to pretrial detainees and convicted prisoners in the context of use of force: consistent with the Constitution’s mandate that they not be punished at all, pretrial detainees …

Objective Punishment, Anthony M. Dillof

Law Faculty Research Publications

Should the punishment fit the criminal as well as the crime? The article argues that idiosyncratic features of the criminal that might affect subjective punishment experience should not be considered when assessing the severity of the punishment for proportionality purposes.