Law Commons^™

The Pathological Politics Of Criminal Law, William J. Stuntz

Michigan Law Review

Substantive criminal law defines the conduct that the state punishes. Or does it? If the answer is yes, it should be possible, by reading criminal codes (perhaps with a few case annotations thrown in), to tell what conduct will land you in prison. Most discussions of criminal law, whether in law reviews, law school classrooms, or the popular press, proceed on the premise that the answer is yes. Law reform movements regularly seek to broaden or narrow the scope of some set of criminal liability rules, always on the assumption that by doing so they will broaden or narrow the …

Compelled Statements From Police Officers And Garrity Immunity, Steven D. Clymer

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

In this Article, Professor Steven Clymer describes the problem created when police departments require officers suspected of misconduct to answer internal affairs investigators' questions or face job termination. Relying on the Supreme Court's decision in Garrity v. New Jersey, courts treat such compelled statements as immunized testimony. That treatment not only renders such a statement inadmissible in a criminal prosecution of the suspect police officer, it also may require the prosecution to shoulder the daunting and sometimes insurmountable burden of demonstrating that its physical evidence, witness testimony, and strategic decisionmaking are untainted by the statement. Because police internal affairs …

The Limits Of Localism, Richard C. Schragger

Michigan Law Review

In Chicago v. Morales, the Supreme Court struck down Chicago's Gang Congregation Ordinance, which barred "criminal street gang members from loitering with one another or with other persons in any public place." The stated purpose of the ordinance was to wrest control of public areas from gang members who, simply by their presence, intimidated the public and established control over identifiable areas of the city, namely certain inner-city streets, sidewalks, and corners. The ordinance required that police officers determine whether at least one of two or more persons present in a public place were members of a criminal street gang …

A Hybrid Approach To The Use Of Deliberate Ignorance In Conspiracy Cases, Jessica A. Kozlov-Davis

Michigan Law Review

When hunted, the ostrich is said to run a certain distance and then thrust its head into the sand, thinking, because it cannot see, that it cannot be seen by the hunters. Legal parlance therefore refers to the "ostrich instruction," used when a defendant acts with the awareness of a high probability of the existence of an incriminating fact, but remains deliberately ignorant as to whether the fact actually exists, hoping his ignorance will maintain his innocence. The defendant is like the ostrich - he thinks that if he does not actually see the facts, even though he knows they …

Unreasonable Probability Of Error, Jed Handelsman Shugerman

Faculty Scholarship

In Strickland v. Washington, the Supreme Court sought to create a uniform standard to guarantee effective assistance of counsel to criminal defendants, to "ensure a fair trial," and to assure the reliability of "a just result."' Justice O'Connor's majority opinion created a two-pronged test for overturning a trial verdict: deficient performance and resulting prejudice. The Court explicitly established a difficult burden for proving deficient performance,² but set a moderate standard for prejudice as the "reasonable probability that, but for counsel's unprofessional errors, the result of the proceeding would have been different. A reasonable probability is a probability sufficient …

The Gender Gap: Revealing Inequities In Admission Of Social Science Evidence In Criminal Cases, Janet C. Hoeffel

University of Arkansas at Little Rock Law Review

No abstract provided.

Constitutional Theory For Criminal Procedure: Dickerson, Miranda, And The Continuing Quest For Broad-But-Shallow, Donald A. Dripps

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

"Be Careful What You Ask For": The 2000 Presidential Election, The U.S. Supreme Court, And The Law Of Criminal Procedure, Craig M. Bradley, Joseph L. Hoffmann

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

The Diffusion Of Responsibilty In Capital Clemency, Adam M. Gershowitz

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

When Constitutional Worlds Colide: Resurrecting The Framers' Bill Of Rights And Criminal Procedure, George C. Thomas Iii

Michigan Law Review

For two hundred years, the Supreme Court has been interpreting the Bill of Rights. Imagine Chief Justice John Marshall sitting in the dim, narrow Supreme Court chambers, pondering the interpretation of the Sixth Amendment right to compulsory process in United States v. Burr. Aaron Burr was charged with treason for planning to invade the Louisiana Territory and create a separate government there. To help prepare his defense, Burr wanted to see a letter written by General James Wilkinson to President Jefferson. In ruling on Burr's motion to compel disclosure, Marshall departed from the literal language of the Sixth Amendment - …

Section 5: Criminal Law And Procedure, Institute Of Bill Of Rights Law, William & Mary Law School

Supreme Court Preview

No abstract provided.

The Fourth Frontier: With No Clear Path Prepared, Court Takes On Two More Police Powers Cases, Kathryn R. Urbonya

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

When The Heck Does This Claim Accrue? Heck V. Humphrey's Footnote Seven And § 1983 Damages Suits For Illegal Search And Seizure, John Stanfield Buford

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Lawyer's Role When The Defendant Seeks Death, Ross E. Eisenberg

Capital Defense Journal

No abstract provided.

Va. Code Ann. S 19.2-270.4:1 (Michie Supp. 2001) Va. Code Ann. Ss 19.2-237.1 To 19.2-237.6 (Michie Supp. 2001)

Capital Defense Journal

No abstract provided.

Virginia Capital Case Clearinghouse Verdict Forms, Second Edition

Capital Defense Journal

No abstract provided.

Using Dna Profiles To Obtain "John Doe" Arrest Warrants And Indictments, Frank B. Ulmer

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Probing "Life Qualification" Through Expanded Voir Dire, John H. Blume, Sheri Lynn Johnson, A. Brian Threlkeld

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The conventional wisdom is that most trials are won or lost in jury selection. If this is true, then in many capital cases, jury selection is literally a matter of life or death. Given these high stakes and Supreme Court case law setting out standards for voir dire in capital cases, one might expect a sophisticated and thoughtful process in which each side carefully considers which jurors would be best in the particular case. Instead, it turns out that voir dire in capital cases is woefully ineffective at the most elementary task--weeding out unqualified jurors.

Empirical evidence reveals that many …

Knockin' On Heaven's Door: Rethinking The Role Of Religion In Death Penalty Cases, Gary J. Simson, Stephen P. Garvey

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Religion has played a prominent role at various points of capital trials. In jury selection, peremptory challenges have been exercised against prospective jurors on the basis of their religion. At the sentencing phase, defendants have offered as mitigating evidence proof of their religiosity, and the prosecution has introduced evidence of the victim's religiosity. In closing argument, quotations from the Bible and other appeals to religion have long been common. During deliberations, jurors have engaged in group prayer and tried to sway one another with quotes from scripture.

Such practices have not gone unquestioned. Rather remarkably, however, the questions have almost …

Reconceptualizing The Expert Witness: Social Costs, Current Controls And Proposed Responses, Jeffrey L. Harrison

UF Law Faculty Publications

Unlike virtually any other business, expert witnesses are not typically held accountable in either tort or contract law for their commercial activities. This means that many are inclined to deliver what the market demands - partisan, biased, or plainly dishonest testimony - without concern for the costs this testimony may impose on others. This immunity from the internalization of the social cost of their testimony is hard to reconcile with any moral or economic standard. Harsh judicial reactions to some experts and a slight increase in expert witness liability may signal that a change in the privileged status of experts …

Constitutional Criminal Procedure, James P. Fleissner, Sarah B. Mabery, Jeanne L. Wiggins

Mercer Law Review

This Article surveys noteworthy 2000 decisions of the United States Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit in the field commonly known as Constitutional Criminal Procedure. As in past years, the survey focuses on significant decisions concerning the Fourth Amendment's protection against unreasonable searches and seizures; the Fifth Amendment's privilege against self-incrimination, prohibition against double jeopardy, and guarantees of due process and grand jury screening; and the Sixth Amendment's procedural protections, including the right to counsel and the right of confrontation. Of course, most of these rights, with few exceptions, such as the right to have charges approved by a …

Apprendi V. New Jersey: Should Any Factual Determination Authorizing An Increase In A Criminal Defendant's Sentence Be Proven To A Jury Beyond A Reasonable Doubt, Jason Ferguson

Mercer Law Review

In Apprendi v. New Jersey, the United States Supreme Court held, with the exception of the fact of prior criminal convictions, that any factual determination that authorizes an increased sentence beyond the statutory maximum must be proven to a jury beyond a reasonable doubt.

Federal Sentencing Guidelines, Rosemary T. Cakmis, James T. Skuthan

Mercer Law Review

Compared to the previous two years, the Eleventh Circuit issued relatively few published opinions relating to the United States Sentencing Guidelines ("U.S.S.G.") during 2000. This decline could be the result of fewer guidelines cases being presented to the Eleventh Circuit or more guideline cases being disposed of in unpublished opinions. An equally likely explanation, however, may be that the court has been inundated with cases involving the application of the landmark United States Supreme Court decision in Apprendi v. New Jersey. Courts across the nation have been grappling with the ripple effects of the potentially far reaching applications of …

The Inherent Constitutionality Of The Police Use Of Deadly Force To Stop Dangerous Pursuits, Michael Douglas Owens

Mercer Law Review

Every day in our country, police agencies pursue criminal suspects who are unlawfully attempling to elude them. Reality-based television shows, such as Cops and the Police Videos series on the Fox Network, bring home to the public some measure of the adrenaline-producing excitement that automobile pursuits engender. Rarely, however, does one see the tragedy that often results from these pursuits. While reliable nationwide statistics on police pursuits are not available, various studies depict the rate of accidents as ranging from twenty-nine percent to seventy percent, with a rate of injury ranging from eleven percent to twenty-seven percent. Injuries and deaths …

Curbside Justice: Court Gives Police The Green Light To Arrest For Minor Infractions, Kathryn R. Urbonya

Popular Media

No abstract provided.

Forecasting Life And Death: Juror Race, Religion, And Attitude Toward The Death Penalty, Theodore Eisenberg, Stephen P. Garvey, Martin T. Wells

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Determining whether race, sex, or other juror characteristics influence how capital case jurors vote is difficult. Jurors tend to vote for death in more egregious cases and for life in less egregious cases no matter what their own characteristics. And a juror's personal characteristics may get lost in the process of deliberation because the final verdict reflects the jury's will, not the individual juror's. Controlling for the facts likely to influence a juror's verdict helps to isolate the influence of a juror's personal characteristics. Examining each juror's first sentencing vote reveals her own judgment before the majority works its will. …

Case Note: The Office Of The Independent Counsel And Grand Jury Secrecy, Melissa N. Henke

Law Faculty Scholarly Articles

In In re Sealed Case No. 99-3091, the D.C. Circuit ruled on a motion for summary reversal of an order entered by the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia ("District Court"), where such order required the Office of Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr ("OIC") to provide evidence as to why the OIC should not be held in contempt for violating the grand jury secrecy rule, Rule 6(e). The alleged violation of grand jury secrecy concerned a New York Times article that contained information about the grand jury investigation of President William J. Clinton, and which named the OIC as …

Quiet Rebellion? Explaining Nearly A Decade Of Declining Federal Drug Sentences, Frank O. Bowman Iii, Michael Heise

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

This is the first of two articles, the second of which will appear in January 2002 edition of the Iowa Law Review, in which we seek an explanation for the little-noticed and hitherto unexamined fact that the average length of prison sentences imposed in federal court for narcotics violations has been declining steadily since 1991-92.

According to figures maintained by the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, in the eight years between 1991 and 1999, the average federal drug sentence decreased from 95.7 months to 75.2 months, a drop of 22%, or nearly two years, per defendant. United States …

"Whodunit" Versus "What Was Done": When To Admit Character Evidence In Criminal Cases, Sherry F. Colb

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

In virtually every jurisdiction in the United States, the law of evidence prohibits parties from offering proof of an individual's general character traits to suggest that, on a specific occasion, the individual behaved in a manner consistent with those traits. In a criminal trial in particular, the law prohibits a prosecutor's introduction of evidence about the defendant's character as proof of his guilt. In this Article, Professor Colb proposes that the exclusion of defendant character evidence is appropriate in one category of cases but inappropriate in another. In the first category, which Professor Colb calls "whodunit" cases, the parties agree …

Mandatory Minimum Sentences And Women With Disabilities, Fiona Sampson

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

This article examines the issue of mandatory minimum sentencing from the unique perspective of women with disabilities. Concerns about the discriminatory application of mandatory minimum sentences are outlined and analyzed from a gendered disability perspective, as are concerns about the devaluation of the lives of persons with disabilities through the support of reduced sentences for those convicted of murdering persons with disabilities. This examination makes it clear that the different concerns of women with disabilities are difficult to reconcile, as they mandate contradictory positions with respect to the possible abolition of the sentencing practice. The challenges inherent in the development …