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Full-Text Articles in Law
Benevolent Exclusion, Anna Offit
Benevolent Exclusion, Anna Offit
Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters
The American jury system holds the promise of bringing commonsense ideas about justice to the enforcement of the law. But its democratizing effect cannot be realized if a segment of the population faces systematic exclusion based on income or wealth. The problem of unequal access to jury service based on socio-economic disparities is a longstanding yet under-studied problem—and one which the uneven fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic only exacerbated. Like race- and sex-based jury discrimination during the peremptory challenge phase of jury selection, the routine dismissal of citizens who face economic hardship excludes not only people but also the diversity …
Transparency In Plea Bargaining, Jenia I. Turner
Transparency In Plea Bargaining, Jenia I. Turner
Faculty Journal Articles and Book Chapters
lea bargaining is the dominant method by which our criminal justice system resolves cases. More than 95% of state and federal convictions today are the product of guilty pleas. Yet the practice continues to draw widespread criticism. Critics charge that it is too coercive and leads innocent defendants to plead guilty, that it obscures the true facts in criminal cases and produces overly lenient sentences, and that it enables disparate treatment of similarly situated defendants.
Another feature of plea bargaining — its lack of transparency — has received less attention, but is also concerning. In contrast to the trials it …