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Life Without Parole Sentencing In North Carolina, Brandon L. Garrett, Travis M. Seale-Carlisle, Karima Modjadidi, Kristen M. Renberg Jan 2021

Life Without Parole Sentencing In North Carolina, Brandon L. Garrett, Travis M. Seale-Carlisle, Karima Modjadidi, Kristen M. Renberg

Faculty Scholarship

What explains the puzzle of life without parole (LWOP) sentencing in the United States? In the past two decades, LWOP sentences have reached record highs, with over 50,000 prisoners serving LWOP. Yet during this same period, homicide rates have steadily declined. The U.S. Supreme Court has limited the use of juvenile LWOP in Eighth Amendment rulings. Further, death sentences have steeply declined, reaching record lows. Although research has examined drivers of incarceration patterns for certain sentences, there has been little research on LWOP imposition. To shed light on what might explain the sudden rise of LWOP, we examine characteristics of …


The Decline Of The Virginia (And American) Death Penalty, Brandon L. Garrett Jan 2017

The Decline Of The Virginia (And American) Death Penalty, Brandon L. Garrett

Faculty Scholarship

The American death penalty is disappearing. Death sentences and executions have reached the lowest levels seen in three decades. Even the states formerly most aggressive in pursuit of death sentences have seen death sentences steadily decline. Take Virginia, which has the highest rate of executions of any death penalty state, and which has executed the third highest number of prisoners since the 1970s. How times have changed. There has not been a new death sentence in Virginia since 2011. Only seven counties have imposed death sentences in the past decade in Virginia. There are now two or fewer trials a …


The Development And Evolution Of The U.S. Law Of Corporate Criminal Liability And The Yates Memo, Sara Sun Beale Jan 2016

The Development And Evolution Of The U.S. Law Of Corporate Criminal Liability And The Yates Memo, Sara Sun Beale

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


The Development And Evolution Of The U.S. Law Of Corporate Criminal Liability, Sara Sun Beale Jan 2014

The Development And Evolution Of The U.S. Law Of Corporate Criminal Liability, Sara Sun Beale

Faculty Scholarship

In the United States, corporate criminal liability developed in response to the industrial revolution and the rise in the scope and importance of corporate activities. This article focuses principally on federal law, which bases corporate criminal liability on the respondeat superior doctrine developed in tort law. In the federal system, the formative period for the doctrine of corporate criminal liability was the early Twentieth Century, when Congress dramatically expanded the reach of federal law, responding to the unprecedented concentration of economic power in corporations and combinations of business concerns as well as new hazards to public health and safety. Both …


The Story Of Ewing: Three Strikes Laws And The Limits Of The Eighth Amendment Proportionality Review, Sara Sun Beale Jan 2013

The Story Of Ewing: Three Strikes Laws And The Limits Of The Eighth Amendment Proportionality Review, Sara Sun Beale

Faculty Scholarship

In 1994 California enacted the nation's harshest "three strikes" law. Under this law, any felony can serve as a third strike, and conviction of a third strike requires a mandatory prison sentence of 25 years to life. In Ewing v. California, 538 U.S. 11 (2003), the Supreme Court held that sending a drug addict who shoplifted three golf clubs to prison for 25 years to life under the three strikes law did not violate the cruel and unusual punishment clause of the Eighth Amendment. The chapter for the forthcoming Criminal Law Stories tells the story of the Ewing case, describing …


Is Now The Time For Major Federal Sentencing Reform?, Sara Sun Beale Jan 2012

Is Now The Time For Major Federal Sentencing Reform?, Sara Sun Beale

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


The North Carolina Racial Justice Act: An Essay On Substantive And Procedural Fairness In Death Penalty Litigation, Neil Vidmar Jan 2012

The North Carolina Racial Justice Act: An Essay On Substantive And Procedural Fairness In Death Penalty Litigation, Neil Vidmar

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.


The Upside Of Overbreadth, Samuel W. Buell Jan 2008

The Upside Of Overbreadth, Samuel W. Buell

Faculty Scholarship

Overbreadth in criminal liability rules, especially in federal law, is abundant and much lamented. Overbreadth is avoidable if it results from normative mistakes about how much conduct to criminalize or from insufficient care to limit open texture in statutes. Social planners cannot so easily avoid overbreadth if they cannot reach behaviors for which criminalization is well justified without also reaching behaviors for which it is not. This mismatch problem is acute if persons engaging in properly criminalized behaviors deliberately alter their conduct to avoid punishment and have resources to devote to avoidance efforts. In response to such efforts, legal actors …


Reforming Punishment Of Financial Reporting Fraud, Samuel W. Buell Jan 2007

Reforming Punishment Of Financial Reporting Fraud, Samuel W. Buell

Faculty Scholarship

Present sentencing law in criminal cases of financial reporting fraud is embarrassingly flawed. The problem is urgent given that courts are now regularly sentencing corporate offenders, sometimes (but sometimes not) to extremely punitive terms of imprisonment. Policing of fraud by multiple jurisdictions in a federal system means that principled sentencing law is necessary not only for first-order policy reasons but also for coordination of sanctioning efforts. Proportionality and rationality demand that sentencing law have an agreed scale for measuring cases of financial reporting fraud in relation to each other, a sound methodology for fixing a given case on that scale, …


Appeal Waivers And The Future Of Sentencing Policy, Nancy J. King, Michael E. O'Neill Nov 2005

Appeal Waivers And The Future Of Sentencing Policy, Nancy J. King, Michael E. O'Neill

Duke Law Journal

This paper is the first empirical analysis of appeal waiversclauses in plea agreements by which defendants waive their rights to appellate and postconviction review. Based on interviews and an analysis of data coded from 971 randomly selected cases sentenced under the United States Sentencing Guidelines, the study's findings include (1) in nearly two-thirds of the cases settled by plea agreement, the defendants waived their rights to review; (2) the frequency of waiver varies substantially among the circuits, and among districts within circuits; (3) the government appears to provide some sentencing concessions more frequently to defendants who sign waivers than to …


Proportionality As A Principle Of Limited Government, Alice Ristroph Nov 2005

Proportionality As A Principle Of Limited Government, Alice Ristroph

Duke Law Journal

This Article examines proportionality as a constitutional limitation on the power to punish. In the criminal context, proportionality is often mischaracterized as a specifically penological theory-an ideal linked to specific accounts of the purpose of punishment. In fact, a constitutional proportionality requirement is better understood as an external limitation on the state's penal power that is independent of the goals of punishment. Proportionality limitations on the penal power arise not from the purposes of punishment, but from the fact that punishing is not the only purpose that the state must pursue. Other considerations, especially the protection of individual interests in …


From The Ne’Er-Do-Well To The Criminal History Category: The Refinement Of The Actuarial Model In Criminal Law, Bernard E. Harcourt Jul 2003

From The Ne’Er-Do-Well To The Criminal History Category: The Refinement Of The Actuarial Model In Criminal Law, Bernard E. Harcourt

Law and Contemporary Problems

Harcourt discusses three developments in 20th century criminal law: the evolution of parole board decision-making in the early 20th century, the development of fixed sentencing guidelines in the late 20th century, and the growth of criminal profiling as a formal law enforcement tool since the 1960s. In each of these case studies, he focuses on the criminal law decision-making.


The Case For Jury Sentencing, Morris B. Hoffman Mar 2003

The Case For Jury Sentencing, Morris B. Hoffman

Duke Law Journal

There are powerful historical, constitutional, empirical, and policy justifications for a return to the practice of having juries, not judges, impose sentences in criminal cases. The fact that Americans inherited from the English a mild preference for judge sentencing was more a historical accident than a case of thoughtful policy. Jury sentencing became quite widespread in the colonial and postcolonial eras as a reflection of deep-seated mistrust of the judiciary. The gradual drift away from jury sentencing was driven not by a new-found faith in the judiciary, but rather by the now discredited paradigm of rehabilitationism. Now that that paradigm …


Sentencing By International Tribunals: A Human Rights Approach, William A. Schabas Apr 1997

Sentencing By International Tribunals: A Human Rights Approach, William A. Schabas

Duke Journal of Comparative & International Law

No abstract provided.


The Treatment Of Foreign Country Convictions As Predicates For Sentence Enhancement Under Recidivist Statutes, Alex Glashausser Oct 1994

The Treatment Of Foreign Country Convictions As Predicates For Sentence Enhancement Under Recidivist Statutes, Alex Glashausser

Duke Law Journal

No abstract provided.


The Federal Sentencing Guidelines And Confrontation Rights, David A. Hoffman Nov 1992

The Federal Sentencing Guidelines And Confrontation Rights, David A. Hoffman

Duke Law Journal

No abstract provided.


Ignorance Is Not Bliss: Responsible Corporate Officers Convicted Of Environmental Crimes And The Federal Sentencing Guidelines, Lisa Ann Harig Oct 1992

Ignorance Is Not Bliss: Responsible Corporate Officers Convicted Of Environmental Crimes And The Federal Sentencing Guidelines, Lisa Ann Harig

Duke Law Journal

No abstract provided.


The Development Of Appellate Sentencing Law In Alaska, Susanne D. Dipietro Dec 1990

The Development Of Appellate Sentencing Law In Alaska, Susanne D. Dipietro

Alaska Law Review

No abstract provided.


The Modern Day Scarlet Letter: A Critical Analysis Of Modern Probation Conditions, Jon A. Brilliant Nov 1989

The Modern Day Scarlet Letter: A Critical Analysis Of Modern Probation Conditions, Jon A. Brilliant

Duke Law Journal

No abstract provided.


The Use And Abuse Of Sentence Enhancement For Firearms Offenses In California, Alan Lizotte, Marjorie S. Zatz Jan 1986

The Use And Abuse Of Sentence Enhancement For Firearms Offenses In California, Alan Lizotte, Marjorie S. Zatz

Law and Contemporary Problems

No abstract provided.


Presumptive Sentencing In Alaska, Barry Jeffrey Stern Dec 1985

Presumptive Sentencing In Alaska, Barry Jeffrey Stern

Alaska Law Review

No abstract provided.