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“A Tale Of National Disgrace”: Applying The Doctrine Of Unconscionability To Establish The Impermissibility Of Secret Non-Prosecution Agreements, Denna Fraley
Journal of Law and Policy
Crime victims are directly harmed by crime and therefore have a stake in, and should be treated as individual participants in the criminal justice process. In recognition of this, Congress passed the Crime Victims’ Rights Act (“CVRA”) in 2004 to enumerate specific rights afforded to crime victims, including the rights to confer with the prosecutor in the case, to be heard at public court proceedings involving a plea or sentencing, to be informed in a timely manner of a plea bargain or deferred prosecution agreement, and to be treated with fairness and respect. Whether the CVRA extends these rights to …
Defendants In The Dark: How The Jencks Act Is Incompatible With The Adversarial Legal System, Eli J. Esakoff
Defendants In The Dark: How The Jencks Act Is Incompatible With The Adversarial Legal System, Eli J. Esakoff
Journal of Law and Policy
The Jencks Act is a McCarthy Era law that prohibits compelling the disclosure of any statement made by a government witness in a federal criminal prosecution until after the witness has testified at trial. Passed in 1957 in response to the Supreme Court’s decision in Jencks v. United States, the Act’s life in Congress was “nasty, brutish, and short.” In prosecuting its anti-communist “witch hunts” of the era, the government strove to keep hidden as much of its case against those accused as possible. Against this backdrop of the desire for secrecy, the Supreme Court held that a criminal defendant …
Policing The Police: Establishing The Right To Record And Civilian Oversight Boards To Oversee America’S Police, Michael G. Brewster
Policing The Police: Establishing The Right To Record And Civilian Oversight Boards To Oversee America’S Police, Michael G. Brewster
Brooklyn Law Review
Police misconduct is a persistent issue in the United States that undermines public trust in law enforcement and the criminal justice system as a whole. The video of George Floyd’s arrest and murder played an irreplaceable role in bringing attention to the case and sparking nationwide discussions about the state of policing in America. The video, showing former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin kneeling on Mr. Floyd’s neck for several minutes, also helped convict Mr. Chauvin of murder at trial. Recording police activity is an important means of holding officers accountable for their actions and protecting citizens from abuse of …
Recommended Amendments To The Truth And Reconciliation Act As The Government Of Nepal Considers Prosecuting 65,411 Human Rights Cases From The Armed Conflict (1996- 2006), Sophia Ottoni-Wilhelm
Recommended Amendments To The Truth And Reconciliation Act As The Government Of Nepal Considers Prosecuting 65,411 Human Rights Cases From The Armed Conflict (1996- 2006), Sophia Ottoni-Wilhelm
Brooklyn Journal of International Law
The bloody Armed Conflict in Nepal (1996-2006) left an estimated 16,729 dead, 78,689 displaced, and 2,506 victims of enforced disappearance. In the seventeen years since the resolution of the Conflict, none of the 65,411 complaints brought by Conflict victims and their families have been resolved. This article argues that the Truth and Reconciliation Act (the Act) can be blamed for the stalled justice process. The Act, which created two commissions charged with the investigation and prosecution of Conflict crimes—Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) and the Commission on the Investigation of Enforced Disappeared Persons (CIEDP)—must be amended so that victims and …
Slaying The Serpents: Why Alternative Intervention Is Necessary To Protect Those In Mental Health Crisis From The State-Created Danger “Snake Pit”, Kathleen Giunta
Slaying The Serpents: Why Alternative Intervention Is Necessary To Protect Those In Mental Health Crisis From The State-Created Danger “Snake Pit”, Kathleen Giunta
Journal of Law and Policy
The Black Lives Matter protests in 2020 and ongoing reports of police brutality around the United States sparked extensive debate over qualified immunity and the legal protections that prevent police accountability. Individuals experiencing mental health crises are especially vulnerable to police violence, since police officers lack the requisite skills and knowledge to provide effective crisis support during mental health emergencies. Although the state-created danger doctrine was created by the courts as an exception to qualified immunity, it is so rarely applied that individuals harmed or even killed by police are left without legal remedy. This Note explores qualified immunity and …
Should Victims’ Views Influence Prosecutors’ Decisions?, Bruce A. Green, Brandon P. Ruben
Should Victims’ Views Influence Prosecutors’ Decisions?, Bruce A. Green, Brandon P. Ruben
Brooklyn Law Review
This article seeks to promote a conversation about how prosecutors, particularly in misdemeanor cases with identifiable victims, should take account of what victims want, including what they regard as the just result. The criminal law assumes that victims want retribution, which means incarcerating offenders, and prosecutors’ offices largely accept that premise. We argue that in a process that generally is weighted toward punishment and excessive use of state power, prosecutors should ascertain victims’ actual views and take them into account as a counterweight. That is, when prosecutors would otherwise pursue a misdemeanor prosecution, they should generally defer to victims’ informed …
Blame The Victim: How Mistreatment By The State Is Used To Legitimize Police Violence, Tamara Rice Lave
Blame The Victim: How Mistreatment By The State Is Used To Legitimize Police Violence, Tamara Rice Lave
Brooklyn Law Review
The surprising thing about George Floyd is not that he was killed by the police. What is remarkable is that the officer who killed him was charged, convicted, and sentenced to more than twenty-two years in prison. This article examines the institutional mechanisms that support police violence against Black people. In the process, it illuminates the insidious ways in which state actors exploit structural social, economic, and health mistreatment to legitimize police violence. After exploring these issues, this article provides suggestions to reform our institutions in a manner that will bring about meaningful and lasting change.
Parole, Victim Impact Evidence, And Race, Alexis Karteron
Parole, Victim Impact Evidence, And Race, Alexis Karteron
Brooklyn Law Review
Parole offers the possibility of release for a substantial number of incarcerated people in the United States, the world’s largest jailer, but is seriously understudied. In particular, the role of victims and race in the parole decision-making process deserves attention. Decades of research has shown that the “race-of-victim effect” leads to more punitive sentences when white victimhood is at issue. In the parole context, the ubiquity of victim impact statements and the emotional responses they trigger raise the likelihood that the “race-of-victim effect” plagues parole decision-making as well. This essay calls for greater data collection and scrutiny into the role …
Rotten Social Background And Mass Incarceration: Who Is A Victim?, Steven Zeidman
Rotten Social Background And Mass Incarceration: Who Is A Victim?, Steven Zeidman
Brooklyn Law Review
Despite the theoretical right to be heard at different junctures in the criminal legal system, in practice, the right is unsecured for many accused and convicted of various offenses. Criminal defendants are rarely heard at trial, upon sentencing, or at parole board interviews to determine eligibility for release. Consequently, these individuals are not able to offer explanations for their behavior. This is particularly harmful given the role that “severe environmental deprivation” or, sometimes controversially referred to as “rotten social background,” plays in criminal behavior. Research now indicates that societal shortcomings, including a lack of healthcare, education, and employment opportunities, combined …
The Victim/Offender Overlap And Criminal System Reform, Cynthia Godsoe
The Victim/Offender Overlap And Criminal System Reform, Cynthia Godsoe
Brooklyn Law Review
Victimization makes people more likely to harm others, and vice versa. In short, “hurt people hurt people.” This victim/offender overlap is especially pronounced in sexual and violent offenses. Unfortunately, the criminal law continues to imagine victims and offenders in two different and mutually exclusive categories, each rigidly defined and morally laden. I first encountered this phenomenon while representing teenagers termed “crossover youth” due to their being both in the foster care system and the juvenile criminal system, and was surprised to find so little on this topic in the criminal law literature. Beginning to fill this gap is an important …
Giving Meaning To The Apostrophe In Victim[’]S Rights, Margaret Garvin
Giving Meaning To The Apostrophe In Victim[’]S Rights, Margaret Garvin
Brooklyn Law Review
There is a lack of consistency in how courts interpret the use or placement of an apostrophe on “victim.” While this may seem like a minor grammatical or typological error, it has a tremendous effect on victim’s rights, as it virtually erases the victim due to the confusion over the ownership of said rights. This essay analyzes how the placement of the apostrophe, in cases dealing with subpoenas duces tecum, have led courts to interpret victim rights in multiple ways, but all with the same outcome—excluding the actual victim from consideration. This causes the actual victims, even when the court …
Defense Counsel’S Cross Purposes: Prior Conviction Impeachment Of Prosecution Witnesses, Anna Roberts
Defense Counsel’S Cross Purposes: Prior Conviction Impeachment Of Prosecution Witnesses, Anna Roberts
Brooklyn Law Review
A broad scholarly coalition supports the prohibition or diminution of the impeachment of criminal defendants with their convictions. Yet scholars should pay more attention to the flipside arrangement: impeachment of prosecution witnesses by defense counsel. First, because those engaged in reform efforts need to resolve the competing interests: constitutional arguments on behalf of the defense, but, on the other hand, concerns about a tool that (regardless of the nature of the witness) risks reinforcing biases and stereotypes. Second, because the impossibility of adequate resolution is itself important to note. Whether one considers the conflicting values of rule-makers deciding whether to …
Foreword: The Role Of The “Victim” In The Criminal Legal System, Kate Mogulescu
Foreword: The Role Of The “Victim” In The Criminal Legal System, Kate Mogulescu
Brooklyn Law Review
On September 24, 2021, the Brooklyn Law Review brought together scholars looking at the role of the “victim” in the criminal legal system. Of consideration were the following questions: Who is labeled a victim and how does that impact outcomes and process? Where does the issue of victimization emerge, how is it received and what should the system’s response be? Who gets a voice? And when? Does the existing victim-offender binary further exacerbate a criminal legal system build on misogyny, xenophobia, and white supremacy? The series of articles and essays that make up this issue reflect the symposium’s multidimensional discussion …
Protecting The Constitution While Protecting Victims: Challenges To Pro Se Cross-Examination, Katharine L. Manning
Protecting The Constitution While Protecting Victims: Challenges To Pro Se Cross-Examination, Katharine L. Manning
Brooklyn Law Review
Defendants have constitutional rights to cross-examine witnesses and to represent themselves. But when these rights are combined, they can have devastating effects on crime victims. All too often, defendants use the rights in a last-ditch effort to harass, bully, and intimidate the crime’s victims, sometimes leading to a dismissal of charges altogether, as victims withdraw their testimony to avoid personal cross-examination by the defendant. It does not have to be this way. Numerous courts have allowed standby counsel to conduct cross-examination of the victim within constitutional constraints. This article explores the limitations courts have imposed on pro se cross-examination to …
What Are Victim Impact Statements For?, Susan A. Bandes
What Are Victim Impact Statements For?, Susan A. Bandes
Brooklyn Law Review
In Payne v. Tennessee, the US Supreme Court upheld the admission of victim impact statements (VIS) on the ground that they provide valuable information to the sentencer. In the three decades since, two additional rationales for VIS have become ascendant: most prominently, a therapeutic rationale, and more recently, a public education rationale. In this article, I expand upon my critiques of the informational and therapeutic rationales in light of a growing body of empirical evidence about how VIS affect both sentencers and crime victims. Focusing on the powerful and viral VIS delivered at the Larry Nassar guilty plea hearings and …
Mental Illness In The Criminal Justice System: Erasing The Stigma On A Global Scale, Jennifer Rabbino
Mental Illness In The Criminal Justice System: Erasing The Stigma On A Global Scale, Jennifer Rabbino
Brooklyn Journal of International Law
Mental illness has long been misunderstood and severely stigmatized worldwide. For several hundred years, rather than offering prompt and proper treatment, most countries treated mental illness by isolating patients from society. Moreover, that ill treatment remains to this day, with over 90% of the developing world's population living with a mental illness completely untreated and legal systems the world over struggling with how best to treat mentally ill defendants fairly. This Note will scrutinize and compare the treatment of the mentally ill defendants in Western and African nations. It will then focus on the legal systems in Uganda and Ghana …
Civil Asset Forfeitures: How Prosecutors Can Facilitate Community-Based Criminal Justice Reform, Lane Waples
Civil Asset Forfeitures: How Prosecutors Can Facilitate Community-Based Criminal Justice Reform, Lane Waples
Journal of Law and Policy
Criminal justice reform is elusive in the United States. Despite evidence that the system is broken, change remains ephemeral at best. This is partially attributable to the fact that most attempts to reform the criminal legal system have occurred through the political process. However, another method of criminal justice reform is to assist communities as they address the root causes of crime. Undergirding this approach is the belief that building stronger communities contributes to less crime and reduces recidivism. After seizing $250 million via prosecutions of financial crimes in 2016, the New York County District Attorney’s Office created a “first-of-its-kind” …
“More Than Tangential”: When Does The Public Have A Right To Access Judicial Records?, Jordan Elias
“More Than Tangential”: When Does The Public Have A Right To Access Judicial Records?, Jordan Elias
Journal of Law and Policy
Public accountability requires open proceedings and access to documents filed with the courts. The strong policy favoring access to judicial records creates a presumption against sealing documents without a compelling reason. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals recently held that this presumption of access arises when a proceeding relates “more than tangentially” to the merits. This is a low standard under which many types of motions qualify for the compelling reasons test. With too much litigation occurring in secret, courts can use the “more than tangential” standard proactively to keep electronic case dockets available to citizens.
Not All Violence In Relationships Is "Domestic Violence", Tamara Kuennen
Not All Violence In Relationships Is "Domestic Violence", Tamara Kuennen
Brooklyn Law Review
This article argues that not all violence in intimate relationships is “domestic violence.” Domestic violence is a pattern of acts perpetrated with a motive: power and control over another. National anti-domestic violence organizations, activists and advocates, and a number of academics agree on this construct of domestic violence. Law, on the other hand, requires neither a pattern nor a motive; it defines domestic violence to include any single act of violence in a relationship, regardless of the perpetrator’s intent. Because legal intervention is the primary intervention for domestic violence today, feminist legal scholars have sought to reform the law to …
Going Gunless, Dru Stevenson
Going Gunless, Dru Stevenson
Brooklyn Law Review
Firearm policy in the United States is subject to longstanding political gridlock. Up to now, most of the legal academic literature has focused on the constitutionality of various—or any—regulations regarding firearm possession, sales, or usage. This article inverts the problem and proposes a system for voluntary registration and certification of nonowners, those who want to waive or renounce their Second Amendment rights as a matter of personal conviction. The proposed system is analogous to both the registration of conscientious objectors during wartime conscriptions, and the newer suicide prevention laws whereby individuals can add their names to a do-not-sell list for …
Decriminalizing Prostitution: Embracing The Swedish Model By Removing The Mistake-Of-Age Defense From New York’S Stop Violence In The Sex Trade Act, Carley Cooke
Journal of Law and Policy
In recent years, New York has re-focused on the widely debated topic of how to best manage and regulate prostitution in the United States. As a state-level issue, the debate presents an invaluable opportunity to re-examine how New York as a society views sex work. The answer in New York focuses on the idea that sex work is real work, where workers should be able to carry out their profession without stigma or fear of arrest. As it stands, the proposed reform largely focuses on decriminalizing both the purchase and sale of sex. This approach contrasts with the legal structure …
Prosecuting Misconduct: New York’S Creation Of A Watchdog Commission, Danielle Robinson
Prosecuting Misconduct: New York’S Creation Of A Watchdog Commission, Danielle Robinson
Brooklyn Law Review
Prosecutors play an integral role in America’s inherently adversarial criminal justice system and thus have a significant impact on the individual liberties of accused citizens. Therefore, they have long since been subject to continuous scrutiny by the public, which in turn leads to criticism of state legislatures for not addressing the issue. The state of New York attempted to meet this challenge of prosecutorial misconduct head-on as part of a multi-pronged criminal justice reform agenda with the creation of a first-in-the-nation commission on prosecutorial conduct (CPC). At this point in time, the CPC has been held unconstitutional. This note will …
23andeveryone: Privacy Concerns With Law Enforcement’S Use Of Genealogy Databases To Implicate Relatives In Criminal Investigations, Shanni Davidowitz
23andeveryone: Privacy Concerns With Law Enforcement’S Use Of Genealogy Databases To Implicate Relatives In Criminal Investigations, Shanni Davidowitz
Brooklyn Law Review
The discovery of DNA typing in the 1980s transformed law enforcement’s ability to exonerate innocent suspects, while implicating those who are guilty, with “the power of a silent biological witness at the crime scene.” This transformation, coupled with the new trend of law enforcement’s use of genealogy databases, has created legal issues that police officers, prosecutors, genealogy companies, and policy makers are all currently trying to navigate. The technological advancement comes with serious ethical and privacy concerns, including fear of the establishment of a “genetic panopticon.” General concern exists that if a “genetic panopticon” comes to fruition, the government can …
Reducing The Governance Gap For Corporate Complicity In International Crimes, Seunghyun Nam
Reducing The Governance Gap For Corporate Complicity In International Crimes, Seunghyun Nam
Brooklyn Journal of International Law
With increasing reports of corporations involved in serious human rights abuses that amount to international crimes, there are greater calls for states to hold these corporations accountable. Still, many obstacles and challenges remain when it comes to holding corporations accountable. Complex corporate structures, the extraterritorial dimension of the abuses, competition among states and businesses, lack of institutional capacity on the part of states, and lack of legal coordination among states collectively create an impunity gap. The case studies of the situation in Burma and the Democratic Republic of Congo involving foreign companies aim to illustrate this governance gap. With growing …
Where Are You, Congress?: Silence Rings In Congress As Juvenile Offenders Remain In Prison For Life, Megan R. Pollastro
Where Are You, Congress?: Silence Rings In Congress As Juvenile Offenders Remain In Prison For Life, Megan R. Pollastro
Brooklyn Law Review
Over the last decade, Supreme Court precedent has changed the way courts have sentenced juveniles in the United States. It has failed, however, to clearly establish the proper handling of cases in which juveniles are sentenced to extended periods of time in prison that equate to a de facto sentence of life in prison without parole. Congress has also remained noticeably silent on the issue. Children are not considered mature enough to vote, to drink alcohol, to serve on a jury, and yet, courts treat juvenile offenders as mature enough to pay for their crimes for the remainder of their …
Coming To Terms With Wartime Collaboration: Post-Conflict Processes & Legal Challenges, Shane Darcy
Coming To Terms With Wartime Collaboration: Post-Conflict Processes & Legal Challenges, Shane Darcy
Brooklyn Journal of International Law
The phenomenon of collaboration during wartime is as old as war itself. During situations of armed conflict, civilians or combatants belonging to one party to the conflict frequently provide assistance to the opposing side in various ways, such as by disclosing valuable information, defecting and fighting for the enemy, engaging in propaganda, or providing administrative support to an occupying power. Such acts of collaboration have been punished harshly, with violent retribution often directed at alleged collaborators during armed conflict, while states and at times non-state actors have prosecuted and punished collaboration as treason or related offenses in times of war. …
“Disturbing Schools” Laws: Disturbing Due Process With Unconstitutionally Vague Limits On Student Behavior, Rachel Smith
“Disturbing Schools” Laws: Disturbing Due Process With Unconstitutionally Vague Limits On Student Behavior, Rachel Smith
Journal of Law and Policy
For over a century, the United States Supreme Court has held, in sum and substance, that students do not “shed their constitutional rights . . . at the schoolhouse gate.” In practice, however, while not shed entirely, many of those rights have been increasingly limited. “Disturbing Schools” Laws subject students to criminal charges for behaving in a distracting or obnoxious manner on campus—behavior which can easily be conceptualized as typical adolescent behavior. Challenges to Disturbing Schools Laws have resulted in opposing outcomes across Circuit Courts. This Note discusses how students may use the Fourth Circuit case Kenny v. Wilson to …
High Stakes: Throwing A Hail Mary To Congress For A Federal Ban On Sports Betting In College Athletics, Kaitlyn Kallert
High Stakes: Throwing A Hail Mary To Congress For A Federal Ban On Sports Betting In College Athletics, Kaitlyn Kallert
Journal of Law and Policy
The Supreme Court’s 2018 decision overruling the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act’s (“PASPA”) federal prohibition on sports betting as unconstitutional under the Tenth Amendment has cleared the way for states to legalize sports gambling, which, in turn, has proven a controversial subject. Supporters of state legalization of sports gambling “argue that legalization will generate revenue for states and critically weaken illegal sports betting operations, which are often commissioned by organized crime.” However, as the Supreme Court notes, opponents contend that the legalization of sports betting will expose America’s youth to accessible gambling, “encourage people of modest means to squander …
Forging Taiwan’S Legal Identity, Margaret K. Lewis
Forging Taiwan’S Legal Identity, Margaret K. Lewis
Brooklyn Journal of International Law
The legal system in Taiwan is undergoing a transformation. Over a hundred years since the founding of the Republic of China and over thirty years since the end of martial law on Taiwan, a new legal identity is being forged. Public criticism of “dinosaur” judges and esoteric debates among law-trained elites have galvanized efforts to create a more inclusive discussion surrounding legal reforms. Taiwan is facing the challenge of moving from dinosaurs to dynamism. This Article argues that transparency, clarity, and participation both are animating principles of the current reform debate and are beginning to emerge as characteristics of Taiwan’s …
Introducing Disruptive Technology To Criminal Sanctions: Punishment By Computer Monitoring To Enhance Sentencing Fairness And Efficiency, Mirko Bagaric, Dan Hunter
Introducing Disruptive Technology To Criminal Sanctions: Punishment By Computer Monitoring To Enhance Sentencing Fairness And Efficiency, Mirko Bagaric, Dan Hunter
Brooklyn Law Review
The United States criminal justice system is the most punitive on earth. The total correctional population is nearly seven million, equating to a staggering one in thirty-eight adults. Most of the correctional population comprises offenders who are on parole or probation, and a high portion of these defendants who are on parole or probation reoffend during the sanction period. There has been a growing consensus among lawmakers and the wider community that reforms need to be implemented to reduce the cost of criminal sanctions and to improve their effectiveness. For example, the United States Sentencing Commission has recently proposed an …