Law Commons^™

Bending The Rules Of Evidence, Edward K. Cheng, G. Alexander Nunn, Julia Simon-Kerr

Faculty Scholarship

The evidence rules have well-established, standard textual meanings—meanings that evidence professors teach their law students every year. Yet, despite the rules’ clarity, courts misapply them across a wide array of cases: Judges allow past acts to bypass the propensity prohibition, squeeze hearsay into facially inapplicable exceptions, and poke holes in supposedly ironclad privileges. And that’s just the beginning.

The evidence literature sees these misapplications as mistakes by inept trial judges. This Article takes a very different view. These “mistakes” are often not mistakes at all, but rather instances in which courts are intentionally bending the rules of evidence. Codified evidentiary …

Twenty Years After Krieger V Law Society Of Alberta: Law Society Discipline Of Crown Prosecutors And Government Lawyers, Andrew Flavelle Martin

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

Krieger v. Law Society of Alberta held that provincial and territorial law societies have disciplinary jurisdiction over Crown prosecutors for conduct outside of prosecutorial discretion. The reasoning in Krieger would also apply to government lawyers. The apparent consensus is that law societies rarely exercise that jurisdiction. But in those rare instances, what conduct do Canadian law societies discipline Crown prosecutors and government lawyers for? In this article, I canvass reported disciplinary decisions to demonstrate that, while law societies sometimes discipline Crown prosecutors for violations unique to those lawyers, they often do so for violations applicable to all lawyers — particularly …

Public Defenders As Gatekeepers Of Freedom, Alma Magaña

Articles

Nearly half a million people are currently held in pretrial detention across the United States. Legal scholarship has explored many of the actors and factors contributing to the deprivation of freedom of those presumed innocent. And while the scholarship in these areas is rich, it has primarily focused on certain system actors—including judges, prosecutors, and profit-seeking sheriffs—structural concerns, such as the role race plays in who is being held in pretrial detention, or critiques of the failed promise of algorithms to deliver on bias-free bail determinations. But relatively little scholarship exists about the contributions of public defenders to this deprivation. …

Innocent Until Proven Mentally Incompetent., Jade Smith

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract Forthcoming.

The Death Penalty Seals Racial Minorities’ Fate: The Unfortunate Realities Of Being A Racial Minority In America., Sarah Garcia

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract Forthcoming.

Introduction To Criminal Justice, Sindee Kerker

Lynn University Digital Press Books

This iBook, replete with innovative learning tools, explores the three components of the American criminal justice system: police, courts, and corrections. Divided into ten chapters, the highly interactive text discusses a wide range of topics. Subjects like what constitutes a crime, constitutional rights, contemporary lawn enforcement issue, administration of justice, the court system, and various forms of corrections: jails, prisons, intermediate sanctions, and the juvenile justice system are explored. Recurring components of the iBook include: introductory high-profile media cases which, YouTube videos detailing various criminal justice career options (over 20), a Fact vs. Fiction section highlighting common myths and misperceptions …

Face Recognition Under Adverse Viewing Conditions: Implications For Eyewitness Testimony, Charles C. F. Or, Denise Y. Lim, Siyuan Chen, Alan L. F. Lee

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

Eyewitness testimony forms an important component in deciding whether a case can be prosecuted. Yet, many criminal perpetrators deliberately conceal their faces with disguises or under dim lighting, undermining eyewitness accuracy. This article reviews recent studies to characterize the factors that impair face recognition performance, specifically, various forms of face disguise (e.g., face masks, sunglasses) and different lighting conditions. Research shows that identification accuracy, alongside eyewitness confidence and decision bias, all affect the reliability of eyewitness accounts. A consistent finding across studies is that face-identification accuracy can be improved by matching the viewing conditions during the police lineup with those …

Standardization Of A Technique For Obtaining Dna From Footprints, Gibrán Galindo-Martinez, Karla Villarreal-Sotelo, Cynthia Marisol Vargas-Orozco, Ernesto Leal-Sotelo, Ignacio Hernandez-Rodriguez, José Francisco Flores-Gómez, Esperanza Milagros Garcia-Oropesa

Research Symposium

Currently our country has high numbers of missing persons, Tamaulipas being one of the states with the highest rate of disappearances. The identification of people has become more important thanks to the development of molecular techniques. However, the limitations are very high, because it is necessary to compare the genetic pattern of the disappeared with the parents. Therefore, the objective of this research is to standardize a genomic DNA extraction technique from contact surfaces for its subsequent implementation in the identification of disappeared, allowing the comparison of the genetic pattern with the disappeared itself. For this, genomic DNA extraction was …

A Conversation With Tom Dybdahl, Author Of “When Innocence Is Not Enough: Hidden Evidence And The Failed Promise Of The Brady Rule”, Cardozo Criminal Defense Clinic

Event Invitations 2023

The Supreme Court’s Brady rule of 1963 requires prosecutors to share favorable evidence with defendants. Dybdahl’s book reveals how a series of legal decisions have made it ineffective. Hear what’s at stake when prosecutors conceal evidence, and what can be done about it.

When Innocence Is Not Enough: A Conversation With Tom Dybdahl, Author Of “When Innocence Is Not Enough: Hidden Evidence And The Failed Promise Of The Brady Rule”, Cardozo Criminal Defense Clinic

Flyers 2023-2024

No abstract provided.

What Are The Causes And Remedies Of Wrongful Convictions?, Audree Alick

The Mid-Southern Journal of Criminal Justice

Wrongful convictions, also known as miscarriages of justice, are very common in the criminal justice system today. With the first known wrongful conviction in 1872, to the most recent in 2023, researchers have similarly identified three causes of wrongful convictions: false confessions, eyewitness errors, and investigative misconduct. Wrongful convictions can cause many physical and mental effects on post-exonerees and currently incarcerated individuals, including but not limited to, clinical anxiety, depression, and PTSD. Analyses of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) have proven instrumental in cases of wrongful convictions. Each exoneree should have access to the DNA database to test against the DNA evidence …

Put The Juvenile Back In Juvenile Court, Erin Fitzgerald

Villanova Law Review

No abstract provided.

Unreliable Forensic Science, Sarah Ciuffetelli

Quest

The Effectiveness of Forensic Science

Research in progress for CRIJ 1301: Introduction to Criminal Justice

Faculty Mentor: Stefanie LeMaire

Sarah Ciuffetelli uses critical thinking to examine the effectiveness of forensic sciences during criminal investigations. The assignment requires students to find the most prominent scholarly research in forensic sciences and discuss its efficacy. Further, the research leads students to discuss the potential limitations investigators must consider when examining forensic evidence. Lastly, students find at least six scholarly sources to provide an in-depth analysis of the research.

Sarah begins by discussing the history of forensic science and the ever-increasing technology used in …

Information Leaking And The United States Supreme Court, Chad Marzen, Michael Conklin

Brigham Young University Journal of Public Law

No abstract provided.

Observers' Perceptions Of Rapport In Accusatorial Interrogations, Gabriela Rico

Dissertations, Theses, and Capstone Projects

Rapport is widely regarded as a necessary precondition for interrogations and is thought to lay the foundation for the success of later interrogation techniques. In accusatorial contexts in which suspects are often resistant to disclose potentially self-incriminating information, rapport enables interrogators to gain the suspect’s trust, respect, and cooperation. Although the specific psychological mechanisms by which rapport achieves these effects are largely understudied, rapport-building techniques resemble principles of social influence (Goodman-Delahunty & Howes, 2014), specifically persuasion. Techniques such as establishing common ground, engaging in active listening, demonstrating empathy, and disclosing personal information may serve as impression management strategies, which allow …

Abolition And Environmental Justice, Allegra M. Mcleod

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

During the coronavirus pandemic, movements for penal abolition and racial justice achieved dramatic growth and increased visibility. While much public discussion of abolition has centered on the call to divest from criminal law enforcement, contemporary abolitionists also understand public safety in terms of building new life-sustaining institutions and collective structures that improve human well-being, linking penal divestment to environmental justice. In urging a reimagination of public safety, abolitionists envision much more than decriminalization or a reallocation of police functions to social service agencies or other alternatives to imprisonment and policing. Instead, for abolitionists, meaningful public safety requires, among other things, …

Racial Discrimination In Jury Selection: The Urgent Need For Sixth Amendment Protections For Black Capital Defendants, Claire Austin

Marquette Benefits and Social Welfare Law Review

In the U.S., death row is made up of a disproportionate number of black persons. In capital trials, black defendants often face all white juries. The deep-rooted racial discrimination in the justice system impacts jury selection because prosecutors use peremptory strikes to remove black jurors from the jury panel. As the law stands today, the Sixth Amendment guarantee of an impartial jury made up of a fair representation of the jury applies only to the pool of jurors called in for jury service, not those who are actually selected to hear the case.

This comment analyzes the Supreme Court decision, …

The Implementation Of The Religion Rights For Transgender In Indonesia, Ratih Andani Setyo Budhi

Indonesia Law Review

The rights to conduct religious practice are undoubtedly essential for all human beings, including transgender people. However, in practice, they often found obstacles in implementing their fundamental rights to pray to God. The main objectives of this paper are to understand the statutory laws applicable in Indonesia regarding the rights of the religion of the Indonesians for transgenders, and how is the actual implementation by the government in fulfilling the rights, as well as examining case experienced by the transgenders who live in Pondok Pesantren Waria (Female Transgender Madrasa) Al- Fatah Yogyakarta. The Author was using a combination of library …

The Future Of Freedom Of Press In Indonesia After The Personal Data Protection Law Era, Untung Sumarwan, Arief Hidayat, Lita Tyesta Alw

Indonesia Law Review

The press is a manifestation of the sovereignty of the Indonesian people. Unfortunately, the spirit of freedom of the press seems to be still experiencing shocks from various angles, one of which is the birth of Law number 27 of 2022 concerning Personal Data Protection (PDP Law). On the one hand, the presence of the PDP Law should be appreciated as a form of government effort to protect citizens' rights to privacy. However, unfortunately, several article provisions in the PDP Law still intersect with the Press, which are not a form of restriction in positive terms but have the potential …

Morality In Law: An Analysis Towards The Legal Philosophy And Indonesia National Legal System, Ade Adhari, Tundjung Sitabuana, Indah Siti Aprilia

Indonesia Law Review

The philosophy of law schools, such as positivism and naturalism, always have opposing arguments about moral and law separation. Positivism on one side, believes that morality is a non-law element that has to be strictly separated from the law, while on the other side, naturalism says moral can not be separated from the law and that moral has to become the basis of every law. However, the positivism idea is arduous to be implemented in the current situation as the legal product is constantly managed to conform with the moral values. The objectives of this paper are to study: (1) …

Indonesian Capital Market Investor Protection In Cases Of Embezzlement, Arman Nefi, Adiwarman Adiwarman

Indonesia Law Review

Law Number 8 of 1995 on Capital Market, in Articles 90 to 98, regulates fraud, market manipulation and insider trading. There is no regulation of embezzlement in the Indonesian Capital Market. Have the legislators forgotten, or have anticipated that there will never be embezzlement in the legal realm of the Indonesian Capital Market? The paper deals with the absent of criminalization of embezzlement in capital market act and produce the recommendation to cope with the issue. This study uses a normative legal analysis method with a conceptual, an analytical, and a case study approach. Several legal cases that are strongly …

Understanding The Typology Of Health Sector Corruption In Indonesia, Ratna Juwita

Indonesia Law Review

Health sector corruption is considered as one of the most serious barriers to the realisation of the right to health due to the complexity of the health care system structure. This research aims firstly to explain the international legal obligations of Indonesia concerning the right to health and anticorruption and subsequently explain the measures taken by Indonesia to realise its international legal obligations. Secondly, legally binding judgments on health sector corruption will be collected to formulate the typology of health sector corruption in Indonesia. The construction of the typology of health sector corruption is to pinpoint the pattern of corruption …

Does Today's India Need 'Decolonisation' Speak?, Salmoli Choudhuri, Moiz Tundawala

Popular Media

This article analyses the introduction of three new Bills to replace the Indian Penal Code, 1860, the Indian Evidence Act, 1872 and the updated Criminal Procedure Code of 1973—the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, Bharatiya Sakshya Bill and Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita, respectively—in light of Indian and global discourse on decoloniality.

Excerpt:

"The proposed exercise of indigenising laws – insincere at best and dangerous at worst – would only bring about a surface-level change of the imaginary through a spectacular show of rejecting the colonial inheritance while harbouring no aspirations for freedom at the structural and systemic level of the symbolic order …

Examining Remorse In Attributions Of Focal Concerns During Sentencing: A Study Of Probation Officers, Colleen M. Berryessa

International Journal on Responsibility

This research, using interviews with probation officers in the United States (n = 151) and a constant comparative method for analysis, draws from the focal concerns framework to qualitatively model a process by which probation officers use a defendant’s remorse to attribute focal concerns in order to guide their sentencing recommendations in pre-sentencing reports. The model suggests that officers use expressions of remorse to make attributions about mitigated criminal intention (blameworthiness and notions of responsibility), reduced dangerousness and a high potential for reform (community protection), and organization-level effects for increasing caseload efficiency and using correctional resources (practical effects of …

The History Of Forensic-Science Evidence In Criminal Trials And The Role Of Early “Success” In Establishing Its Putative Reliability, Carrie Leonetti

St. Mary's Law Journal

This Article posits the history of forensic-science evidence plays a significant role in the unquestioning manner of its modern acceptance. It traces early high-profile forensic science “successes” and the public reactions to them. It argues the public perception of the “advances” of forensic science continues to play a role in the lack of scrutiny given to these disciplines in admissibility decisions today. It concludes, when it comes to forensic science, history should play a different role by serving as a critical warning rather than a congratulatory buttress.

Texas Juvenile Justice: The Need For A “Second Look” At Juvenile Prison Sentences, Kyle Jenkins

St. Mary's Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Meet Our New Faculty: Yvette Butler, James Owsley Boyd

Keep Up With the Latest News from the Law School (blog)

Associate Professor Yvette T. Butler joined the Indiana Law faculty this summer. She earned an undergraduate degree from the University of Minnesota, Morris, and her law degree from The George Washington University Law School.

Understanding The Crisis: The Evolution Of Indigent Defense In Oregon, Molly Pettit

University Honors Theses

On any given day in Oregon, hundreds of people charged with a crime do not have an attorney to represent them. Many of these people are in custody, and some face charges as serious as murder. How did our public defense system reach the point of crisis? What can be done about it? This paper provides a general overview of the right to counsel nationally before narrowing the focus to the state of Oregon. Using scholarly articles, historical documents, footnotes, meeting transcripts, and interviews, I explore the beginnings of court-appointed counsel in Oregon, and document how it has grown and …

The Trouble With Time Served, Kimberly Ferzan

All Faculty Scholarship

Every jurisdiction in the United States gives criminal defendants “credit” against their sentence for the time they spend detained pretrial. In a world of mass incarceration and overcriminalization that disproportionately impacts people of color, this practice appears to be a welcome mechanism for mercy and justice. In fact, however, crediting detainees for time served is perverse. It harms the innocent. A defendant who is found not guilty, or whose case is dismissed, gets nothing. Crediting time served also allows the state to avoid internalizing the full costs of pretrial detention, thereby making overinclusive detention standards less expensive. Finally, crediting time …

The Role Of Foresight Initiatives In Improving The Level Of The Security Performance, Muatasim Almidfa

Journal of Police and Legal Sciences

The study aimed to identify the role of foresight initiatives in improving the level of security performance and the significance of foresight and its modern tools, and to recognize the most important foresight initiatives that lead to excellence of the security work.

The study adopted the descriptive analytical approach that describes foresight, analyzes it, analyzes its tools and methodology, and then interprets the factors that lead to security excellence through proposing these initiatives.

The study concluded that there is an importance of foresight for the security work, as well as the potential of identifying some of the modern foresight tools …