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Articles 1 - 11 of 11
Full-Text Articles in Law
Proportionality And Punishment: Imposing Life Without Parole On Juveniles, Wayne A. Logan
Proportionality And Punishment: Imposing Life Without Parole On Juveniles, Wayne A. Logan
Scholarly Publications
The Eighth Amendment provides that “no cruel and unusual punishment shall be inflicted.” The Supreme Court has interpreted to this to mean a punishment cannot be “grossly disproportionate” to the crime. In this article, the author addresses whether an offender's age should play a role in assessing whether a sentence is “grossly disproportionate.” Specifically, the author addresses the increasingly common practice of imposing life without parole on offenders who are under sixteen years of age at the time they committed their offense, and whether such offenders’ youthful status should play a role in proportionality analysis. The article first provides an …
Coping With "Loss": A Re-Examination Of Sentencing Federal Economic Crimes Under The Guidelines, Frank O. Bowman Iii
Coping With "Loss": A Re-Examination Of Sentencing Federal Economic Crimes Under The Guidelines, Frank O. Bowman Iii
Faculty Publications
This Article has three objectives. First, it attempts to rethink the sentencing of federal economic criminals in light of the basic purposes of sentencing and of the Guidelines' particular structure and objectives. Second, it examines the deficiencies in the current sentencing guidelines regarding theft, fraud, and other economic crimes, and the problem areas in the case law construing those guidelines. Third, it proposes and analyzes a consolidated guideline, together with accompanying application notes, for sentencing virtually all theft and fraud cases (a draft of which follows the text of this Article as Appendix A).
Coping With "Loss": A Re-Examination Of Sentencing Federal Economic Crimes Under The Guidelines, Frank O. Bowman, Iii
Coping With "Loss": A Re-Examination Of Sentencing Federal Economic Crimes Under The Guidelines, Frank O. Bowman, Iii
Vanderbilt Law Review
The primary determinant of sentence length for federal economic criminals is the amount of "loss" resulting from an offender's conduct.' The idea of basing sentences for economic crimes primarily on "loss" has become the source of ongoing, complex, and proliferating disputes about what the term "loss" really means and how it should be interpreted in particular cases. The "loss" calculation is one of the most frequently litigated issues in federal sentencing law. There are at present splits of opinion between the federal circuits on at least eleven analytically distinct issues concerning the meaning and application of the "loss" concept. Even …
Hard Cases, Carl E. Schneider
Hard Cases, Carl E. Schneider
Articles
Robert Latimer was born in 1953 on a farm on the prairies of Saskatchewan and grew up to own a 1,280-acre farm. In 1980 he married, and that year Tracy, the first of four children, was born. During her birth, Tracy's brain was terribly damaged by lack of oxygen, and severe cerebral palsy ensued. By 1993 Tracy could laugh, smile, and cry, and she could recognize her parents and her siblings. But she could not understand her own name or even simple words like "yes" and "no." She could not swallow well and would so often vomit her parents kept …
Is Hiv "Extraordinary"?, Jordan B. Hansell
Is Hiv "Extraordinary"?, Jordan B. Hansell
Michigan Law Review
The Sentencing Reform Act of 1984 (the "Act") attempts to reduce inconsistencies in the sentences of defendants convicted of comparable crimes. The Act created a Sentencing Commission (the "Commission") and authorized it to promulgate a set of sentencing guidelines to steer judicial decisionmaking. To fulfill this mandate, the Commission drafted the Federal Sentencing Guidelines (the "Guidelines"), which Congress enacted in 1987. Although Congress wanted to eliminate sentencing disparities, it also wanted to allow some degree of individualized sentencing. To achieve the correct balance, the Commission created three categories of characteristics: those a court must consider in sentencing each defendant; those …
Sentenced For A Crime The Government Did Not Prove: Jones V. United States And The Constitutional Limitations On Factfinding By Sentencing Factors Rather Than Elements Of The Offense, Benjamin Priester
Journal Publications
The tension between the two principles set out above is an unresolved dilemma for the United States Supreme Court. On the one hand, not every fact relevant to sentencing a criminal defendant warrants the Constitution's full criminal procedure protections. On the other hand, if those protections apply only to the facts selected by the legislature to determine guilt or innocence, the sentencing proceeding may overwhelm the trial in importance because the sentencing facts will determine the defendant's fate to a far greater extent. Justice Scalia described this tension bluntly: Suppose that a State repealed all of the violent crimes in …
Criminal Law: Diagram Of A Drug Sentence--Defining Mixture Or Substance On The Basis Of Utility In United States V. Richards, Matthew Thomas Geiger
Criminal Law: Diagram Of A Drug Sentence--Defining Mixture Or Substance On The Basis Of Utility In United States V. Richards, Matthew Thomas Geiger
Oklahoma Law Review
No abstract provided.
Standards And Procedures For Determining Whether A Defendant Is Competent To Make The Ultimate Choice - Death; Ohio's New Precedent For Death Row Volunteers, Matthew T. Norman
Standards And Procedures For Determining Whether A Defendant Is Competent To Make The Ultimate Choice - Death; Ohio's New Precedent For Death Row Volunteers, Matthew T. Norman
Journal of Law and Health
Despite the fact that many states will allow a death row defendant to waive his legal appeals in order to hasten his execution date, there are inadequate standards and procedures for determining whether the "volunteer" is first competent to make this ultimate decision of life versus death. To provide background for this issue, this Note will discuss the events initially leading up to the nation's first death row "volunteer", then it will introduce subsequent volunteers of the present day. This Note then will look at what the United States Supreme Court has said about the standards and procedures that are …
A Rational Discussion Of Current Drug Laws, Nicholas Deb. Katzenbach
A Rational Discussion Of Current Drug Laws, Nicholas Deb. Katzenbach
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This article that declaring a "war" on drugs was bad policy. It argues that the bad effects of the laws against drugs outweigh its benefits and argues for a new approach to legislation on drug use.
Harnessing Payne: Controlling The Admission Of Victim Impact Statements To Safeguard Capital Sentencing Hearings From Passion And Prejudice, Beth E. Sullivan
Harnessing Payne: Controlling The Admission Of Victim Impact Statements To Safeguard Capital Sentencing Hearings From Passion And Prejudice, Beth E. Sullivan
Fordham Urban Law Journal
This article begins by tracing the historical development of victim impact evidence through Supreme Court jurisprudence and state legislation and analyzes their use in the sentencing of phase capital punishment trials. It argues that the Supreme Court's decision in Payne V Tennessee allowing a jury to consider victim impact evidence in capital punishment sentencing is troublesome in light of a capital punishment defendant's constitutional rights, the history of the death penalty and traditional sentencing procedures. It concludes with a proposal for guidelines to regulates the use of such evidence in capital punishment sentencing,
On Seeking Controlling Law And Re-Seeking Death Under Section 2929.06 Of The Ohio Revised Code , Margery B. Koosed
On Seeking Controlling Law And Re-Seeking Death Under Section 2929.06 Of The Ohio Revised Code , Margery B. Koosed
Cleveland State Law Review
This article explores and analyzes the two-pronged legal dilemma that confronted the court in State v. Marshall: in Ohio, finding the correct sentencing law is often difficult; and a recent amendment to the resentencing portion of that law, S.B. 258, destroys the efficiency that was characteristic of Ohio's previous resentencing framework. Consequently, Part II of this article examines the facts and holding of State v. Marshall and suggests that finding the applicable law must be simplified. Practitioner handbooks are often confusing and incomplete, in part as the Ohio legislature generates an ever-changing body of law. Justice and the lives of …