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Articles 1 - 9 of 9
Full-Text Articles in Law
Inside The Black Box Of Prosecutor Discretion, Megan S. Wright, Shima Baughman, Christopher Robertson
Inside The Black Box Of Prosecutor Discretion, Megan S. Wright, Shima Baughman, Christopher Robertson
Utah Law Faculty Scholarship
In their charging and bargaining decisions, prosecutors have unparalleled and nearly-unchecked discretion that leads to incarceration or freedom for millions of Americans each year. More than courts, legislators, or any other justice system player, in the aggregate prosecutors’ choices are the key drivers of outcomes, whether the rates of mass incarceration or the degree of racial disparities in justice. To date, there is precious little empirical research on how prosecutors exercise their breathtaking discretion. We do not know whether they consistently charge like cases alike or whether crime is in the eye of the beholder. We do not know what …
Criminal Advisory Juries: A Sensible Compromise For Jury Sentencing Advocates, Kurt A. Holtzman
Criminal Advisory Juries: A Sensible Compromise For Jury Sentencing Advocates, Kurt A. Holtzman
Northwestern Journal of Law & Social Policy
Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch recently noted that “juries in our constitutional order exercise supervisory authority over the judicial function by limiting the judge’s power to punish.” Yet in the majority of jurisdictions, contemporary judge-only sentencing practices neuter juries of their supervisory authority by divorcing punishment from guilt decisions. Moreover, without a chance to voice public disapproval at sentencing, juries are muted in their ability to express tailored, moral condemnation for distinct criminal acts. Although the modern aversion to jury sentencing is neither historically nor empirically justified, jury sentencing opponents are rightly cautious of abdicating sentencing power to laypeople. Nevertheless, …
Revoking Supervised Release In The Age Of Legal Cannabis, Zachary J. Weiner
Revoking Supervised Release In The Age Of Legal Cannabis, Zachary J. Weiner
St. John's Law Review
(Excerpt)
Supervised release—part of the original sentence following a guilty verdict—is a system by which federal probation officers monitor prisoners released from federal prison. In imposing supervised release, sentencing judges set conditions that each supervisee must comply with, or risk reincarceration at the discretion of the sentencing judge. Certain conditions of supervised release are prescribed by statute and others are crafted by judges.
If a defendant violates the terms of supervised release by possessing cannabis products, the statutory regime provides the sentencing judge with two options: revoke the defendant’s supervised release and reincarcerate her or, alternatively, release the defendant from …
Revocation And Retribution, Jacob Schuman
Revocation And Retribution, Jacob Schuman
Journal Articles
Revocation of community supervision is a defining feature of American criminal law. Nearly 4.5 million people in the United States are on parole, probation, or supervised release, and 1/3 eventually have their supervision revoked, sending 350,000 to prison each year. Academics, activists, and attorneys warn that “mass supervision” has become a powerful engine of mass incarceration.
This is the first Article to study theories of punishment in revocation of community supervision, focusing on the federal system of supervised release. Federal courts apply a primarily retributive theory of revocation, aiming to sanction defendants for their “breach of trust.” However, the structure, …
The Problem Of Problem-Solving Courts, Erin Collins
The Problem Of Problem-Solving Courts, Erin Collins
Law Faculty Publications
The creation of a specialized, “problem-solving” court is a ubiquitous response to the issues that plague our criminal legal system. The courts promise to address the factors believed to lead to repeated interactions with the system, such as addiction or mental illness, thereby reducing recidivism and saving money. And they do so effectively — at least according to their many proponents, who celebrate them as an example of a successful “evidence-based,” data-driven reform. But the actual data on their efficacy is underwhelming, inconclusive, or altogether lacking. So why do they persist?
This Article seeks to answer that question by scrutinizing …
The Just Prosecutor, Brandon Hasbrouck
The Just Prosecutor, Brandon Hasbrouck
Scholarly Articles
As the most powerful actors in our criminal legal system, prosecutors have been and remain one of the principal drivers of mass incarceration. This was and is by design. Prosecutorial power derives from our constitutional structure--prosecutors are given almost unfettered discretion to determine who to charge, what to charge, and, often, what the sentence will be. Within that structure, the prosecutor's duty is to ensure that justice is done. Yet, in exercising their outsized power, some prosecutors have fully embraced a secondary, adversarial role as a partisan advocate at the significant cost of seeking justice.
The necessary reforms of our …
Racial Bias Still Exists In Criminal Justice System? A Review Of Recent Empirical Research, Yu Du
Racial Bias Still Exists In Criminal Justice System? A Review Of Recent Empirical Research, Yu Du
Touro Law Review
The debate on whether racial bias is still embedded in the criminal justice (CJ) system today has reached its plateau. One recent article in the Washington Post has claimed an overwhelming evidence of racial bias in the CJ system. Whereas some scholars argue that racial disparity is an epitome of real crime rates, others indicate that implicit and/or explicit racial bias against Blacks held by law enforcement agents persists in the system. This review considers both supporting arguments and relevant counterarguments. After evaluating empirical and rigorous research during the past five years, the review maintains that racial bias still exists …
Did Voir Dire And Discovery Restrictions Justify The Grant Of A New Sentencing Hearing To The Man Convicted Of The Boston Marathon Bombing?, Alan Raphael, Lindsay Hill
Did Voir Dire And Discovery Restrictions Justify The Grant Of A New Sentencing Hearing To The Man Convicted Of The Boston Marathon Bombing?, Alan Raphael, Lindsay Hill
Faculty Publications & Other Works
No abstract provided.
Standing Between The Past And The Future, How Defense Attorneys Use Stigma Management Techniques In Presenting Their Closing Arguments In Capital Sentencing Procedures: A Content Analysis, Abdulrahmane Abdul-Aziz
Standing Between The Past And The Future, How Defense Attorneys Use Stigma Management Techniques In Presenting Their Closing Arguments In Capital Sentencing Procedures: A Content Analysis, Abdulrahmane Abdul-Aziz
All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects
In the penalty-phase of a capital case, defense attorneys face a difficult task in managing the identity of their now convicted client. They must present a coherent narrative that combats the prosecution’s case and engenders leniency from the jury. The closing argument given by the defense attorney(s) provides a unique opportunity to analyze and understand the general use of stigma management techniques and their applicability to capital cases. Using content analysis, 18 Transcripts from Texas capital cases from 2005 to 2015 were analyzed against the relevant techniques of neutralization (Sykes & Matza, 1957): appeal to a higher loyalty, appeal to …