Law Commons^™

Beyond A Reasonable Doubt: Juries Don’T Get It, Hon. James A. Shapiro, Karl T. Muth

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

Proof beyond a reasonable doubt has been de rigueur in criminal cases almost since the dawn of the republic. It is based on the premise that it is better to let several guilty people go free in order to save one innocent person from wrongful conviction. The jury in a criminal case is not merely an audience. It is the central mechanism without which the wheels of American criminal justice cannot turn-- and operates as the final safeguard against a grave error. However, while the Constitution describes the importance, composition, and role of the jury, it does not explicitly …

Buried Alive: Gay V. Baldwin And Unconstitutional Solitary Confinement For Prisoners With Mental Illness, Hannah May

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

Few inmates placed in solitary confinement escape the detrimental consequences of the punitive, oppressive conditions. Anthony Gay is no exception. As a teenager, Gay pled guilty to robbery for stealing a hat and a $1 bill and violated his probation by driving a vehicle without a license when he was twenty years old. Gay was supposed to be released in three and a half years with good behavior, but he suffers from borderline personality disorder. The symptoms of his mental illness, such as self-mutilation and throwing bodily fluids, manifested in prison. The manifestations of his mental illness landed him in …

An Empirical Assessment Of Homicide And Suicide Outcomes With Red Flag Laws, Rachel Delafave

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

This Article empirically illustrates that red flag laws—laws which permit removal of firearms from a person who presents a risk to themselves or others—contribute to a statistically significant decrease in suicide rates, but do not influence homicide rates. I exploit state-level variation across time in the existence of red flag laws between 1990 and 2018 and find that the existence of a risk-based law reduces firearm-related suicides by 6.4% and overall suicides by 3.7%, with no substitution to non-firearm suicides. Red flag laws are not associated with a statistically significant change in homicides rates. Policymakers should consider red flag laws …

Restitution For Child Pornography: Reframing A System For Victims Harmed By Too Many, Mackenzie Durkin

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

Courts have commented that victims of child pornography suffer harm that is like “a thousand cuts.” This characterization is fitting because once images of a victim’s childhood sexual abuse are on the internet, the images are there forever. As a result, these victims are constantly revictimized by the knowledge that their images are being trafficked and consumed across the world.

This Comment analyzes the current framework for compensating victims through criminal restitution. Victims of all federal crimes, including child pornography offenses, are entitled to restitution for the full amount of their losses. However, this standard became complicated with child pornography …