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Full-Text Articles in Law
Death, Desuetude, And Original Meaning, John F. Stinneford
Death, Desuetude, And Original Meaning, John F. Stinneford
UF Law Faculty Publications
One of the most common objections to originalism is that it cannot cope with cultural change. One of the most commonly invoked examples of this claimed weakness is the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause, whose original meaning would (it is argued) authorize barbaric punishment practices like flogging and branding, and disproportionate punishments like the death penalty for relatively minor offenses. This Article shows that this objection to originalism is inapt, at least with respect to the Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause. As I have shown in prior articles, the original meaning of “cruel and unusual” is “cruel and contrary to …
Ryan V. Gonzalez And The Potential Elimination Of The Ineffective Assistance Of Counsel Post Conviction Failsafe, Kathleen Carlson
Ryan V. Gonzalez And The Potential Elimination Of The Ineffective Assistance Of Counsel Post Conviction Failsafe, Kathleen Carlson
Florida Law Review
Recently, the United States Supreme Court addressed in Ryan v. Gonzales “whether the incompetence of a state prisoner requires suspension of the prisoner’s federal habeas corpus proceedings.” In a unanimous decision, the Court held that “the Courts of Appeals for the Ninth and Sixth Circuits both erred in holding that district courts must stay federal habeas proceedings when petitioners are adjudged incompetent.” The decision leaves unanswered questions with regard to a petitioner’s ability to protect himself from ineffective or incompetent counsel both before and during the habeas proceeding.
Brown V. Plata: Renewing The Call To End Mandatory Minimum Sentencing, Steven Nauman
Brown V. Plata: Renewing The Call To End Mandatory Minimum Sentencing, Steven Nauman
Florida Law Review
After more than twenty years of litigation, the United States Supreme Court finally determined whether California’s overcrowded prison system created a constitutional violation in Brown v. Plata. With prisons and jails across the country operating at well over 100% capacity, the Court concluded what advocates had been screaming for over a decade: prison overcrowding cannot be tolerated, and the only remedy is to reduce prison populations. What the Court failed to resolve, however, was what the primary cause of prison overcrowding is and how states and the federal government are supposed to comply with capacity expectations amid concerns for …
Vicarious Aggravators, Sam Kamin, Justin Marceau
Vicarious Aggravators, Sam Kamin, Justin Marceau
Florida Law Review
In Gregg v. Georgia, the Supreme Court held that the death penalty was constitutional so long as it provided a non-arbitrary statutory mechanism for determining who are the worst of the worst, and therefore, deserving of the death penalty. As a general matter, this process of narrowing the class of death eligible offenders is done through the codification of aggravating factors. If the jury finds beyond a reasonable doubt that one or more aggravating factors exists, then a defendant convicted of murder is eligible for the ultimate sentence. There is, however, a critical, unanswered, and under-theorized issue raised by …