Law Commons^™

The Not So Great Writ: Constitution Lite For State Prisoners, Ursula Bentele

Ursula Bentele

Examination of the universe of cases in which the Supreme Court has recently reversed grants of federal habeas relief by circuit courts by issuing summary, per curiam opinions reveals some disturbing patterns. Substantively, the opinions continue the Court’s narrow interpretation of what law has been so clearly established that state courts must abide by its constitutional principles. Moreover, any rejection of a constitutional claim must be upheld unless there is no possibility that fairminded jurists could disagree with that determination. In terms of process, the summary reversals are issued in response to petitions for review by wardens, when the petitioners …

Jones, Lackey, And Teague, Richard Broughton

Richard Broughton

In a recent, high-profile ruling, a federal court finally recognized that a substantial delay in executing a death row inmate violated the Eighth Amendment’s ban on cruel and unusual punishments. Courts have repeatedly rejected these so-called “Lackey claims,” making the federal court’s decision in Jones v. Chappell all the more important. And yet it was deeply flawed. This paper focuses on one of the major flaws in the Jones decision that largely escaped attention: the application of the non-retroactivity rule from Teague v. Lane. By comprehensively addressing the merits of the Teague bar as applied to Lackey claims, and making …

Phases And Faces Of The Duke Lacrosse Controversy: A Conversation, James E. Coleman Jr., Angela Davis, Michael Gerhardt, K. C. Johnson, Lyrissa Barnett Lidsky, Howard M. Wasserman

Howard M Wasserman

This panel took place at the 2008 Annual Meeting of the Southeastern Association of Law Schools (SEALS) in July 2008 in West Palm Beach, Florida. The transcript has been edited for grammar, punctuation and writing style, as well as for limited content changes.

Shadow Dwellers: The Underregulated World Of State And Local Dna Databases, Stephen Mercer, Jessica D. Gabel

Jessica Gabel Cino

No abstract provided.

Statute Of The International Criminal Court Is Complementary To National Criminal Laws, Mamoun Mohammad Abuzeitoun Dr.

Mamoun Mohammad Abuzeitoun Dr.

Abstract The Charter of the International Criminal Court supplements national laws in respect of serious criminal crimes. This is underlined by articles 1 and 17 of the Charter. Yet, the practice of the ICC shows that international crimes may be prosecuted in certain cases while other cases are excluded on the ground that the conditions for legal prosecution under the Charter are not satisfied. Hence, a question arises as to whether the Charter constitutes an objective and actual supplement to national laws or a possible supplement depending on international economic and political relations.

Drag Racing, Assumption Of Risk, And Homicide, Roni M. Rosenberg

Roni M Rosenberg

U.S. courts are divided with regard to the question of whether it is appropriate to convict a participant in a drag race of homicide for the death of another participant. The context is not one in which decedent is killed as a result of colliding with the defendant; rather the death is cause by a collision with a third party or a guard rail. The controversy revolves around on central question: whether there is a causal connection between defendant's participation in the race and the death of decedent. Courts that convict of manslaughter hold that such a causal connection exists, …

One Small Problem With Administrative Driver’S License Suspension Laws: They Don’T Reduce Drunken Driving, Steve R. Darnell

Steve R Darnell

Only eight states continue to rely on the judicial system to suspend a drunken driver’s license instead of an administrative process. Federal agencies and special interest groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety press for Administrative License Suspension (ALS) laws arguing these laws reduce drunken driving. While some research supports this view, there is an equally and more compelling literature indicating ALS laws are not effective in reducing drunken driving. This study analyzed data from eight states that have adopted ALS laws to determine if the ALS laws reduced drunken driving. A …

Theorizing Mental Health Courts, E. Lea Johnston

E. Lea Johnston

To date, no scholarly article has analyzed the theoretical basis of mental health courts, which currently exist in forty-three states. This Article examines the two utilitarian justifications proposed by mental health court advocates—therapeutic jurisprudence and therapeutic rehabilitation—and finds both insufficient. Therapeutic jurisprudence is inadequate to justify mental health courts because of its inability, by definition, to resolve significant normative conflict. In essence, mental health courts express values fundamentally at odds with those underlying the traditional criminal justice system. Furthermore, the sufficiency of rehabilitation, as this concept appears to be defined by mental health court advocates, depends on the validity of …

Sentencing Pregnant Drug Addicts: Why The Child Endangerment Enhancement Is Not Appropriate, Monica Carusello

Monica B Carusello

No abstract provided.

El Derecho Penal Y La Afectación Al Debido Proceso, Ramiro De Valdivia Cano

Ramiro De Valdivia Cano

El Debido Proceso es una garantía de la correcta administración de justicia y una herramienta fundamental del Estado Constitucional de Derecho. El Derecho Penal debe guardar armonía plena con el Debido Proceso, como lo propone en su obra el Dr. Pedro Puente.

Forensic Evidence - Toward A Legacy Of Truth-Telling And Fair Trial For International Criminal Tribunals, Beth S. Lyons

Beth S. Lyons

No abstract provided.

Taking Another Look At Second-Look Sentencing, Meghan J. Ryan

Meghan J. Ryan

An unprecedented number of Americans are currently behind bars. Our high rate of incarceration, and the high bills that it generates for American taxpayers, has led to a number of proposals for sentencing reform. For example, a bill recently introduced in Congress would roll back federal mandatory minimum sentences for certain drug offenders, and the Obama Administration has announced a plan to grant clemency to hundreds of non-violent drug offenders. Perhaps the most revolutionary proposal, though, is one advanced by the drafters of the Model Penal Code, namely that judges be given the power to resentence offenders who have been …

Gideon's Servants And The Criminalization Of Poverty, Alexandra Natapoff

Alexandra Natapoff

Crime And Punishment, A Global Concern: Who Does It Best And Does Isolation Really Work?, Melanie M. Reid

Melanie M. Reid

Thinking Globally, Policy Locally: A Plan For Decentralized Law Enforcement In Côte D’Ivoire, __ J. Of Int’L Bus. & L. __ (Forthcoming 2015), Hugh Mundy

Hugh Mundy

During a 2009 speech in Ghana, President Barack Obama said, “Africa doesn’t need strongmen. It needs strong institutions.” Obama credited Ghana’s “impressive rates of growth” to the country’s “repeated peaceful transfers of power even in the wake of closely contested elections.” Free elections and non-violent power transfers, he said, “may lack the drama of the twentieth century’s liberation struggles” but “will ultimately be more significant.” Last July, the president expressed similar sentiments during a highly anticipated trip to Kenya. Côte d’Ivoire offers a stark example of the instability wrought when an unseated leader refuses to cede power. Once hailed as …

Curriculum Vitae, Miller W. Shealy Jr.

Miller W. Shealy Jr.

No abstract provided.

Government Secrets: The Public's Misconceptions Of The Snowden Disclosures, Melanie M. Reid

Melanie M. Reid

No abstract provided.

Nsa And Dea Intelligence Sharing: Why It's Legal And Why Reuters And The Good Wife Got It Wrong, Melanie M. Reid

Melanie M. Reid

The recent disclosures of secret U.S. government surveillance programs have brought to the forefront how intelligence agencies should manage the gathering and analysis of intelligence collected and when and how best to pass that information on to law enforcement. What is first collected for national security purposes can now potentially be used in a criminal trial. Law enforcement agents are said to utilize “parallel construction” to hide the original source which initiated the criminal investigation and develop their own evidence independent from this original source. Since the “wall” between intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies fell down post-9/11 and intelligence …

"But I Still Haven't Found What I'M Looking For:" The Supreme Court's Struggle Understanding Factual Investigations In Federal Habeas Corpus, Tiffany R. Murphy

Tiffany R Murphy

The First 48: Ending The Use Of Categorically Unconstitutional Investigative Holds In Violation Of County Of Riverside V. Mclaughlin, Daniel A. Horwitz

Daniel A. Horwitz

Tennessee Supreme Court Brief Of Amicus Curiae Tennessee Association Of Criminal Defense Lawyers: State V. Herron, No. W2012–01195–Sc–R11–Cd, 2015 Wl 1361262 (Tenn. Mar. 26, 2015), Daniel A. Horwitz

Daniel A. Horwitz

The Right To A Fair Trial In The Age Of Facebook, Lori Andrews

Lori B. Andrews

No abstract provided.

Regulating Drones Under The First And Fourth Amendments, Stephen E. Henderson, Joseph Thai, Marc Jonathan Blitz, James Grimsley

Stephen E Henderson

The FAA Modernization and Reform Act of 2012 requires the Federal Aviation Administration to integrate unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, into the national airspace system by September of this year. Yet perhaps because of their chilling accuracy in targeted killings abroad, perhaps because of an increasing consciousness of diminishing privacy more generally, and perhaps simply because of a fear of the unknown, divergent UAV-restrictive legislation has been proposed in Congress and enacted in a number of states. Ultimately, given UAV utility and cost effectiveness over a vast range of tasks, widespread commercial use seems certain. So it is imperative …

Cruelty In Criminal Law: Four Conceptions, Paulo Barrozo

Paulo Barrozo

This Article defines four distinct conceptions of cruelty found in underdeveloped form in domestic and international criminal law sources. The definition is analytical, focusing on the types of agency, victimization, causality, and values in each conception of cruelty. But no definition of cruelty will do justice to its object until complemented by the kind of understanding practical reason provides of the implications of the phenomenon of cruelty. No one should be neutral in relation to cruelty. Eminently, cruelty in criminal law, a human-created phenomenon, vigorously calls for responses in the form of preventive and corrective action on the part of …

La Transformación Del Papel Del Abogado Defensor En El Nuevo Sistema De Justicia Penal Mexicano, In Dilemas Contemporáneos Sobre Ejercicio De La Abogacía En México: Colección De Ensayos (Book Chapter), Gerald Lebovits

Hon. Gerald Lebovits

No abstract provided.

Rules Of Evidence For Your First Federal Or New York Trial, Gerald Lebovits

Hon. Gerald Lebovits