Law Commons^™

Criminal Justice Interventions For Individuals With Mental Health Disabilities: A Systematic Literature Review, Fidelis Azeke, Nassrine Noureddine

Pacific Journal of Health

In the criminal law, with few exceptions, for a finding of guilt, the physical act and the state of mind to commit the offense must be present at the time of the commission of the offense. People with mental disabilities often lack the state of mind required to commit the offense for which they are eventually charged for and or convicted. This paper examines the effectiveness of some past and present criminal justice system interventions that addresses the mental health disabilities of criminal offenders pre-adjudicative proceedings. A systematic review of the literature was used to examine past and present criminal …

Reclaiming The Right To Consent: Judicial Bypass Mechanism As A Way For Persons With Disabilities To Lawfully Consent To Sexual Activity In Ohio, Melissa S. Obodzinski

Cleveland State Law Review

In Ohio, it is a criminal offense to engage in sexual conduct with another when his or her ability to consent is “substantially impaired” because of a mental or physical condition. There is no mechanism for persons with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities to receive judicial notice of whether their ability to consent is “substantially impaired” prior to criminal adjudication, nor is there a way for them to affirmatively prove that they have the capacity to consent to sexual activity. Thus, under Ohio law, intellectually and/or developmentally disabled individuals may be functionally and irrevocably barred from engaging in sexual intimacy for …

Modern Sentencing Mitigation, John B. Meixner Jr.

Northwestern University Law Review

Sentencing has become the most important part of a criminal case. Over the past century, criminal trials have given way almost entirely to pleas. Once a case is charged, it almost always ends up at sentencing. And notably, judges learn little sentencing-relevant information about the case or the defendant prior to sentencing and have significant discretion in sentencing decisions. Thus, sentencing is the primary opportunity for the defense to affect the outcome of the case by presenting mitigation: reasons why the nature of the offense or characteristics of the defendant warrant a lower sentence. It is surprising, then, that relatively …

The United States Supreme Court’S Enduring Misunderstanding Of Insanity, David Dematteo, Daniel A. Krauss, Sarah Fishel, Kellie Wiltsie

New Mexico Law Review

Within mental health law, the legal defense of insanity has received a disproportionate amount of attention. Classified as a legal excuse, the insanity defense generally negates legal blameworthiness for criminal defendants who successfully prove that at the time of the offense, they did not know right from wrong or were unable to conform their conduct to the requirements of the law, due to an underlying mental health condition. The insanity defense has a lengthy history in the United States, with several different formulations and numerous court decisions addressing various aspects of the defense. Despite its firm entrenchment in U.S. criminal …

When Mental Health Meets “The One-Armed Man” Defense: How Courts Should Deal With Mccoy Defendants, Farid Seyyedi

St. Mary's Journal on Legal Malpractice & Ethics

The Supreme Court’s opinion in McCoy v. Louisiana held that a defendant has a constitutional right to insist their attorney not concede guilt as to any element of an offense, even if doing so is the only reasonable trial strategy to give the defendant a chance at life imprisonment instead of the death penalty. Under McCoy’s holding, a defendant can insist on maintaining their innocence—even in the face of overwhelming evidence—and force their attorney to pursue a defense that will land them on death row. The Supreme Court’s holding makes clear that a strategic concession of guilt at trial—over …

The Science Of Solitary: Expanding The Harmfulness Narrative, Craig Haney

Northwestern University Law Review

The harmful effects of solitary confinement have been established in a variety of direct observations and empirical studies that date back to the nineteenth century, conducted in many different countries by researchers with diverse disciplinary backgrounds. This Essay argues that these effects should be situated and understood in the context of a much larger scientific literature that documents the adverse and sometimes life- threatening psychological and physical consequences of social isolation, social exclusion, loneliness, and the deprivation of caring human touch as they occur in free society. These dangerous conditions are the hallmarks of solitary confinement. Yet they are imposed …

Recognizing The Need For Mental Health Reform In The Texas Department Of Criminal Justice, Kara Mchorse

St. Mary's Law Journal

The ways in which mental health care and the criminal justice system interact are in desperate need of reform in Texas. The rate of mental illness in Texas is higher than the current state of mental health care can provide for. While state hospitals were once the primary care facilities of those with mental illness, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ) has taken on that role in the last few decades; and when the criminal justice system becomes entangled with mental health care, it often leads to “unmitigated disaster.” If Texas continues to allow the TDCJ to act as …

Are There No Prisons: Mental Health And The Criminal Justice System In The United States, Robert Rigg

University of Denver Criminal Law Review

No abstract provided.

Confronting The Backdoor Admission Of Testimonial Statements Against An Accused: The Danger Of Expert Reliance On Inadmissible Information, Sarah E. Stout

University of Denver Criminal Law Review

No abstract provided.

Due Process Supreme Court Appellate Division

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

Mentally Ill, Or Mentally Ill And Dangerous?: Rethinking Civil Commitments In Minnesota, Eliot T. Tracz

Mitchell Hamline Law Journal of Public Policy and Practice

No abstract provided.

Expert Workshop Session: The Global Child, Haley Chafin, Jena Emory, Meredith Head, Elizabeth Verner

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Adjudicating Cases Involving Adolescents In Suffolk County Criminal Courts, Honorable Fernando Camacho

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Mentally Ill Who May Kill Go Unreported Still: Exploration Of Potential Nevada Nics Reporting Reform, Craig D. Friedel

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Taking Pedophilia Seriously, Margo Kaplan

Washington and Lee Law Review

This Article pushes lawmakers, courts, and scholars to reexamine the concept of pedophilia in favor of a more thoughtful and coherent approach. Legal scholarship lacks a thorough and reasoned analysis of pedophilia. Its failure to carefully consider how the law should conceptualize sexual attraction to children undermines efforts to address the myriad of criminal, public health, and other legal concerns pedophilia raises. The result is an inconsistent mix of laws and policies based on dubious presumptions. These laws also increase risk of sexual abuse by isolating people living with pedophilia from treatment.

The Article makes two central arguments: (1) although …

Adjudicating Sex Crimes As Mental Disease, Melissa Hamilton

Pace Law Review

The psychiatric diseases of the paraphilias are now entrenched in the law in decisions concerning culpability, desert, and risk. Though, as the foregoing cases suggest, it is a tough balancing act, considering the existence of psychiatric illness suggests less responsibility, while at the same time implying a greater risk of future dangerousness. To better navigate this conundrum, the law has drawn on the psychiatric sciences. Part II of this Article outlines a basic need for law and science to serve each other even though they may not share objectives. With respect to the advent of new laws to control sex …

Improving The Odds: Changing The Perception Of Problem Gambling And Supporting The Growth Of Problem Gambling Courts, Amaia Guenaga

UNLV Gaming Law Journal

This Note will examine what problem gambling is and demonstrate the parallels between problem gambling and substance abuse. The Note will then explore the development and expansion of problem-solving courts for substance abuse and mental health and explore the pros and cons of problem gambling courts, in the end offering support for the further creation and development of problem gambling courts.

Incarcerated Motherhood, Duchess Harris Phd, Jd

Journal of Race, Gender, and Ethnicity

No abstract provided.

Involuntary Outpatient Commitment: Some Th Oughts On Promoting A Meaningful Dialogue Between Mental Health Advocates And Lawmakers, Henry A. Dlugacz

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Breaking The Camel's Back: A Consideration Of Mitigatory Criminal Defenses And Racism-Related Mental Illness, Camille A. Nelson

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

This article will examine the concept of racist words, symbols, and actions that are used as weapons to "ambush, terrorize, wound, humiliate, and degrade,” as psychological and physiological violence. The implications of such violence are relevant to several affirmative defenses and, indeed, to the initial formulation of mens rea. The historical and contextual legacy that is intentionally invoked by the utilization of racialized violence is what separates the racial epithet or racially violent symbolism from other distressing insults and slurs. While First Amendment protection extends to offensive or insulting speech, the mental and physical sequelae of such speech, even absent …

Abusing State Power Or Controlling Risk?: Sex Offender Commitment And Sicherungverwahrung, Nora V. Demleitner

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This article addresses civil commitment of sexually predatory offenders. It first outlines the most common American approaches to controlling sexual offenders, then details the German concept of Sicherungsverwahrung and greater state control, and finally proposes adopting a modified German approach that assures proportionality and public safety without sacrificing individual liberties. The article concludes by arguing that criminal penalties and safety-based detention should both be seen as elements of social control, which requires that safety measures with clearly punitive components be recognized as part of the punishment process.

Arrested Adults Awaiting Arraignment: Mental Health, Substance Abuse, And Criminal Justice Characteristics And Needs, Nahama Broner, Stacy S. Lamon, Damon W. Mayrl, Martin G. Karopkin

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Study is one of the first to look at the mentally ill during the pre-arraignment process. The pre-arraignment process is an excellent place to identify individuals with mental health and substance abuse problems, to examine those problems, to consider legal interventions, such as diversion or routing to specialized courts, for instance, drug and mental health courts, and to plan for community mental health, substance abuse, health, and social service interventions. Following a brief review of the literature on rates of substance abuse and mental health problems for ciminal justice populations, the process from arrest to arraignment in Kings County …

Animal Cruelty And Violence Against Humans: Making The Connection, Randall Lockwood

Animal Law Review

The idea that there is a connection between the way individuals treat animals and human beings has a long history in Western popular culture, but a shorter history as the subject of scientific research. Recently, a growing body of evidence has confirmed an association between repeated, intentional abuse of animals and a variety of violent antisocial behaviors including child abuse, domestic violence, and violent criminal activities. The public made this connection before most law-enforcement or menial health officials. Public sentiment for tougher and better-enforced animal cruelty laws is strong, and there has been a dramatic response to recent high-profile animal …

A Comparison Of A Mentally Ill Individual's Right To Refuse Medication Under The United States And The New York State Constitutions, William M. Brooks

Touro Law Review

No abstract provided.

A New Twist In The War On Drugs: The Constitutional Right Of A Mentally Ill Criminal Defendant To Refuse Antipsychotic Medication That Would Make Him Competent To Stand Trial, Brian Domb

Journal of Law and Health

The purpose of this Note is to analyze what right, if any exists for a mentally ill criminal defendant to refuse the administration of antipsychotic drugs to gain competence to stand trial. Focusing mainly on the trial context of the right to refuse is not to suggest that there is not overlap between the right of a criminal defendant to refuse and the right of a civilly committed patient to refuse. Indeed, it is often unclear why an individual is brought to the emergency room of a general hospital and eventually committed, rather than being arrested and booked and later …

Equality, "Anisonomy," And Justice: A Review Of Madness And The Criminal Law, Andrew Von Hirsch

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Madness and the Criminal Law by Norval Morris

The Insanity Plea: The Uses And Abuses Of The Insanity Defense, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of The Insanity Plea: The Uses and Abuses of the Insanity Defense by William J. Winslade and Judith Wilson Ross

Evaluating Michigan's Guilty But Mentally Ill Verdict: An Empirical Study, Gare A. Smith, James A. Hall

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Because Michigan's GBMI statute has been in effect for several years, enough data exists to assess the statute's use and practical effect. The purpose of this Project is to evaluate the statute and thus provide guidance for those legislatures considering similar proposals. This Project concludes that the new verdict has completely failed in its intended purpose. Part I describes the statute's history, legislative purpose, and procedural mechanics. Part II analyzes the displacing effect of the GBMI verdict on other verdicts, and sets forth empirical data on the disparate characteristics of defendants who raise the insanity defense and are subsequently found …

Cults, Deprogrammers, And The Necessity Defense, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note considers the applicability of the necessity defense in criminal prosecutions of parents and deprogrammers. Part I explores the conflicting policies that underlie the traditional necessity defense, and suggests that courts replace their unitary approach to necessity with a "choice of evils" defense - for actors reasonably attempting to avoid a greater evil - and a "compulsion" defense - for actors reacting understandably to the pressure of circumstances. Part II applies these defenses to deprogramming cases, and concludes that rarely may they be advanced successfully.

Mental Disabilities And Criminal Responsibility, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

A Review of Mental Disabilities and Criminal Responsibility by Herbert Fingarette and Ann Fingarette Hasse