Digital Commons Network^™

Should The District Of Columbia Have Responsibility For The Prosecution Of Criminal Offenses Arising Under The District Of Columbia Code?, John Payton

University of the District of Columbia Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Larger War On Terror?, David Cole

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

No abstract provided.

Candor, Zeal, And The Substitution Of Judgment: Ethics And The Mentally Ill Criminal Defendant , John D. King

American University Law Review

This Article explores the tension between autonomy and paternalism that characterizes the attorney-client relationship when a criminal defense attorney represents a mentally impaired client. Specifically, the Article analyzes the ethical frameworks that constrain the discretion of the attorney in this situation and proposes a new paradigm for ethical decisionmaking when an attorney represents a marginally competent client.

The criminal defense attorney is both a zealous advocate for her client and an officer of the legal system. In representing a marginally competent client, the initial ethical dilemma facing the attorney is whether she has an obligation to alert the court to …

Making The Circle Stronger: An Effort To Buttress Aboriginal Use Of Restorative Justice In Canada Against Recent Criticisms, David Milward

Dr. David Milward

The reliance of the Canadian criminal justice system on adversarial procedures and incarceration is not very effective or productive when dealing with Aboriginal crime. Restorative justice is often presented as a more constructive way of dealing with Aboriginal crime, and as a solution to Aboriginal over-incarceration. There have however been recent criticisms made against restorative justice that call into question its effectiveness as a medium of social control. These criticisms have the potential to enter policy discourses on justice and frustrate Aboriginal aspirations regarding the use of restorative justice. Restorative justice, notwithstanding the criticisms, still has the potential to provide …

I'Ll Make You A Deal: How Repeat Informants Are Corrupting The Criminal Justice System And What To Do About It, Emily Jane Dodds

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Toward Ethical Plea Bargaining, Erica J. Hashimoto

Scholarly Works

Defendants in criminal cases are overwhelmingly more likely to plead guilty than to go to trial. Presumably, at least a part of the reason that most of them do so is that it is in their interest to plead guilty, i.e., they will receive a more favorable outcome if they plead guilty than if they go to trial. The extent to which pleas reflect fair or rational compromises in practice, however, depends upon a variety of factors, including the amount of information each of the parties has about the case. Some level of informational symmetry therefore is critical to the …

Judicial Fact-Finding At Sentencing, Stephanos Bibas

All Faculty Scholarship

This encyclopedia entry summarizes the pendulum-swings that led the Supreme Court in Apprendi v. New Jersey, Blakely v. Washington, and United States v. Booker to limit judges' ability to find facts at sentencing. Paradoxically, the much-criticized Federal Sentencing Guidelines have survived; a line of cases that began as an effort to restore juries' role has turned into a guarantor of judicial discretion; and the doctrine has quickly moved far from its Sixth Amendment roots to a policy balancing test. The Court could instead have pursued a different, more fruitful path. The Court did not have to force sentencing factors into …

Deregulating Guilt: The Information Culture Of The Criminal System, Alexandra Natapoff

Alexandra Natapoff

The Right Thing For Juveniles, Tamar R. Birckhead

Tamar R Birckhead

This op-ed argues that the upper age of juvenile court jurisdiction in North Carolina should be raised from 16 to 18.

United States Of America V. Robert Jared Smith, A/K/A J-Dog, Appeal From The United States District Court For The Southern District Of West Virginia, Margaret M. Lawton

Margaret M. Lawton

No abstract provided.

Applying The Rule Of Law To All Heads Of State, C. Peter Erlinder

C. Peter Erlinder

No abstract provided.

Murderous Madonna: Femininity, Violence, And The Myth Of Postpartum Mental Disorder In Cases Of Maternal Infanticide And Filicide, Heather Leigh Stangle

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Teaching Tips: Personal Criminal History Analysis Paper, Gordon Crews, Angela Crews

Criminal Justice Faculty Research

Students often have difficulty visualizing the practical application of criminological theory. The following activity assists instructors to develop students‘ abilities in evaluating behaviors and determining the theoretical perspectives that potentially could be used to explain those behaviors. It also is designed to assist students in comprehending how their own experiences impact their views on law-violating behavior and its etiology. This exercise facilitates students‘ awareness of how their beliefs about the causes of law-violating behavior inevitably impact their beliefs about potential solutions or responses to this type of behavior. Eventually, students unfailingly begin to realize the artificial dichotomy between us, as …

The Chesterfield/Colonial Heights Drug Court: A Partnership Between The Criminal Justice System And The Treatment Community, Hon. Frederick G. Rockwell Iii

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Criminal Law And Procedure, Marla G. Decker, Stephen R. Mccullough

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Effect Of Blakely V. Washington On Upward Departures In A Sentencing Guideline State, Brian Iannacchione, Jeremy Ball

Criminal Justice Faculty Publications and Presentations

One of the problems facing the criminal justice system is unwarranted disparity as a result of unbridled discretion. Although disparity, by itself, does not necessarily indicate a problem in the criminal justice system, disparity unwarranted does present a problem. Disparity becomes unwarranted when, controlling for legal factors, extralegal factors such as race/ethnicity, gender, and age influence court processing decisions. The greater the discretion one possesses, the higher the likelihood of unwarranted disparity in one’s decisions (Albonetti, 1991; Meeker, Jesilow, & Aranda, 1992; Bushway & Piehl, 2001). Within the criminal court system, judicial discretion in sentencing has received the most scrutiny.

Rockwell International, Pondcrete, And An A La Carte Three-Step Test For Determining An "Original Source" In Qui Tam Lawsuits, Matthew Lund

BYU Law Review

No abstract provided.

Exacerbating Injustice, Stephanos Bibas

All Faculty Scholarship

This brief essay responds to Josh Bowers' argument that criminal procedure should openly allow innocent defendants to plead guilty as a legal fiction. Though most scholars emphasize the few but salient serious felony cases, Bowers is right to refocus attention on misdemeanors and violations, which are far more numerous. And though the phrase wrongful convictions conjures up images of punishing upstanding citizens, Bowers is also right to emphasize that recidivists are far more likely to suffer wrongful suspicion and conviction. Bowers' mistake is to treat the criminal justice system as simply a means of satisfying defendants' preferences and choices. This …

Procrastination, Deadlines, And Statutes Of Limitation, Andrew J. Wistrich

William & Mary Law Review

Statutes of limitation are deadlines. Although psychologists have discovered a great deal about how people respond to deadlines during the past thirty years, the basic structure of statutes of limitation has not changed since at least 1623. This Article explores the question of whether the received model of statutes of limitation remains optimal in light of what we now know about procrastination, the planning fallacy, loss aversion, intertemporal discounting, the student syndrome, and other features of human cognition. It concludes by suggesting a more modern approach to statutes of limitation that is based on a better understanding of how people …

Legitimating Criminal Justice Through Community Engagement: Lessons From The Jury Experience, Mark Findlay

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Fundamentally justifying the jury is the opportunity it provides for community participation in criminal justice and the legitimation function that offers. Indeed, a strong political motivation for the recent introduction of jury trial in several transitional jurisdictions is the public confidence it transfers to the system at large. Recent research on juror comprehension and satisfaction suggests the possibility of interrogating the participation/confidence nexus more intricately. This note argues that it is the quality of the participation and the participant satisfaction which eventuates that predicts juror confidence. Where the legitimacy of criminal justice through juror participation is to be maximised then …

Summary Of State V. Harte, 124 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 82, Ian Houston

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Appeal from a district court order partially granting a post-conviction petition for a writ of habeas corpus in a death penalty case.

Summary Of Hernandez V. State, 124 Nev. Adv. Op. 83, Julian R. Gregory

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

Appeal from a district court order denying Defendant’s post-conviction petition for a writ of habeas corpus in a capital case.

Everyone Deserves Defense, Peter Keane

Publications

In his decades as a public defender, Peter Keane represented murderers and other criminals as skillfully as he could – even when he knew they were guilty . Keane believes every one, no matter what they’ve done, deserves to have somebody on their side.

Linkage And The Deterrence Of Corporate Fraud, Miriam Baer

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Spare The Rod, Save The Child: Reviewing Corporal Punishment Through The Lens Of Domestic Violence, Sarah Brady Brundage

W&M Law Student Publications

No abstract provided.

Criminal Justice Federalism And National Sex Offender Policy, Wayne A. Logan

Scholarly Publications

This paper, part of a symposium, examines the federal government's sustained effort to recast state policies regarding sex offender registration and community notification laws. While commentators have typically focused on federal Commerce Clause-based incursions on state criminal justice authority, with registration and notification the U.S. has invoked the Spending Clause, a less controversial yet more invasive strategy, driving outcomes nationwide, not merely within the federal system alone. As a result, borrowing from Justice Harlan, the U.S. has "fasten[ed] on the States federal notions of criminal justice" in a major way.

After providing an overview of the historic reluctance of the …

Patent Infringers, Come Out With Your Hands Up!: Should The United States Criminalize Patent Infringement?, Noel Mendez

Buffalo Intellectual Property Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Renaissance Redux? Chastity And Punishment In Italian Rape Law, Rachel A. Van Cleave

Publications

This essay examines an Italian sexual assault case that received significant media attention. The Corte d'appello of Cagliari concluded that the defendant was not entitled to a reduced sentence when he was convicted of sexually assaulting his fourteen-year-old stepdaughter. On review, the Third Section of Italy's Corte diCassazione held that the lower court's refusal was erroneous. Cassazione faulted the appellate court for failing to consider that the victim had already engaged in sexual activity with others. This case illustrates how changing rape laws on the books does not always bring about immediate change in attitudes. Indeed, notions of chastity and …

Fantasy Crime: The Role Of Criminal Law In Virtual Worlds, Susan W. Brenner

School of Law Faculty Publications

This article analyzes activity in virtual worlds that would constitute crime if they were committed in the real world. It reviews the evolution of virtual worlds like Second Life and notes research which indicates that more and more of our lives will move into this realm. The article then analyzes the criminalization of virtual conduct that inflicts “harm” in the real world and virtual conduct that only inflicts “harm” in the virtual world. It explains that the first category qualifies as cybercrime and can be prosecuted under existing law. Finally, it analyzes the necessity and propriety of criminalizing the second …

Danforth, Retroactivity, And Federalism, J. Thomas Sullivan

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.