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Habeas Corpus And State Sentencing Reform: A Story Of Unintended Consequences, Nancy J. King, Suzanna Sherry
Habeas Corpus And State Sentencing Reform: A Story Of Unintended Consequences, Nancy J. King, Suzanna Sherry
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
This Article tells the story of how fundamental shifts in state sentencing policy collided with fundamental shifts in federal habeas policy to produce a tangled and costly doctrinal wreck. The conventional assumption is that state prisoners seeking habeas relief allege constitutional errors in their state court convictions and sentences. But almost 20 percent of federal habeas petitions filed by noncapital state prisoners do not challenge state court judgments. They instead attack administrative actions by state prison officials or parole boards, actions taken long after the petitioner's conviction and sentencing. Challenges to these administrative decisions create serious problems for federal habeas …
How Different Is Death? Jury Sentencing In Capital And Non-Capital Cases Compared, Nancy J. King
How Different Is Death? Jury Sentencing In Capital And Non-Capital Cases Compared, Nancy J. King
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
Drawing upon a recent study of felony jury sentencing in Kentucky, Virginia, and Arkansas, this essay highlights some of the similarities and differences between jury sentencing in capital cases and jury sentencing in non-capital cases. Unlike jury sentencing in capital cases, jury sentencing in non-capital cases includes functional differentials in judge and jury options for sentencing, and fewer controls on arbitrary decision-making. Jury sentencing in both contexts shares the potential for reluctance on the part of elected judges to reduce jury sentences, information gaps on the part of jurors in setting sentences, and, above all, service as a tool in …
The Origins Of Felony Jury Sentencing In The United States, Nancy J. King
The Origins Of Felony Jury Sentencing In The United States, Nancy J. King
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
All of the states admitted to the Union by 1800 eventually abandoned capital punishment for most felonies in favor of discretionary terms of imprisonment. But of these states, only Virginia, Kentucky, and Georgia adopted jury sentencing. In 1786, Pennsylvania became the first state to adopt discretionary terms of hard labor and imprisonment as the primary punishment for felony offenses-delegating to judges the authority to select those terms. In 1796, Virginia opted for jury sentencing, while New York followed Pennsylvania's lead. After 1796, with both Pennsylvania's judge sentencing and Virginia's jury sentencing models to choose from, New Jersey and all of …
The American Criminal Jury, Nancy J. King
The American Criminal Jury, Nancy J. King
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
As juries become both less common and more expensive, some have questioned the wisdom of preserving the criminal jury in its present form. The benefits of the jury are difficult to quantify, but jury verdicts continue to earn widespread acceptance by the public and trial by jury remains a cherished right of most Americans. In any event, many basic features of the criminal jury in the United States cannot be modified without either constitutional amendment or radical reinterpretations of the Bill of Rights. Judges and legislators continue to tinker within constitutional confines, some hoping to improve the jury trial by …
Nameless Justice: The Case For The Routine Use Of Anonymous Juries In Criminal Trials, Nancy J. King
Nameless Justice: The Case For The Routine Use Of Anonymous Juries In Criminal Trials, Nancy J. King
Vanderbilt Law School Faculty Publications
We ask a lot of our jurors. The financial and emotional burdens of jury duty can be significant even in mundane cases. Deciding another's fate is often a trying ordeal, aggravated by unintelligible instructions, hostile attorneys or court personnel, miserable working conditions, and interminable delays.1 The voir dire process may require jurors to reveal intimate, embarrassing, or damning information about themselves and their families that they would not voluntarily choose to reveal.2 Confronted with allegations of violence, injury, or abuse, some jurors become traumatized or ill.3 On top of all of this jury service exposes jurors, their families, and their …
Variable Verbalistics -- The Measure Of Persuasion In Tennessee, Kenneth L. Roberts, William M. Sinrich
Variable Verbalistics -- The Measure Of Persuasion In Tennessee, Kenneth L. Roberts, William M. Sinrich
Vanderbilt Law Review
In a trial one party always has the affirmative burden of persuading the finder of fact to adopt his allegations as true. This burden is met by inducing a particular degree of belief in the mind of the fact finder.'Manifestly, absolute truth is not attainable in a lawsuit. Rather certain facts are found to exist from all the evidence presented and these findings labeled true for the purposes of the case. Since different factual situations require different measures of persuasion, it is necessary that the fact finder, whether judge or jury, know and understand the particular measure applicable in order …