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Articles 1 - 11 of 11
Full-Text Articles in Law
Policing & The Problem Of Physical Restraint, Steven Arrigg Koh
Policing & The Problem Of Physical Restraint, Steven Arrigg Koh
Faculty Scholarship
The Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution prohibits unreasonable “seizures” and thus renders unlawful police use of excessive force. On one hand, this definition is expansive. In the U.S. Supreme Court’s 2021 Term, in Torres v. Madrid, the Court clarified that a “seizure” includes any police application of physical force to the body with intent to restrain. Crucially, Chief Justice Roberts’ majority opinion emphasized that police may seize even when merely laying “the end of a finger” on a layperson’s body. And yet, the Supreme Court’s Fourth Amendment totality-of-the-circumstances reasonableness balancing test is notoriously imprecise—a “factbound morass,” in the famous …
Divided Court Issues Bright-Line Ruling On Fourth Amendment Seizures, Jeffrey Bellin
Divided Court Issues Bright-Line Ruling On Fourth Amendment Seizures, Jeffrey Bellin
Popular Media
No abstract provided.
Case Preview: When Is A Fleeing Suspect “Seized”?, Jeffrey Bellin
Case Preview: When Is A Fleeing Suspect “Seized”?, Jeffrey Bellin
Popular Media
The Fourth Amendment prohibits unreasonable “searches” and “seizures.” On Wednesday, the Supreme Court is scheduled to hear oral argument in Torres v. Madrid, a case that will provide important guidance on what constitutes a Fourth Amendment seizure. Here’s a rundown of the case starting with the relevant facts and procedural history, followed by a discussion of the legal issues and finally a couple of things to watch for at the argument.
Justice On The Line: Prosecutorial Screening Before Arrest, Adam M. Gershowitz
Justice On The Line: Prosecutorial Screening Before Arrest, Adam M. Gershowitz
Faculty Publications
Police make more than eleven million arrests every year. Yet prosecutors dismiss about 25% of criminal charges with no conviction being entered. Needless arrests are therefore clogging the criminal justice system and harming criminal defendants. For instance, Freddie Gray was fatally injured in police custody after being arrested for possession of a switchblade knife. Prosecutors later announced, however, that they did not believe the knife was actually illegal. If prosecutors had to approve warrantless arrests before police could take suspects into custody, Freddie Gray would still be alive. Yet prosecutors’ offices almost never dictate who the police should or should …
The Exclusionary Rule In The Age Of Blue Data, Andrew Ferguson
The Exclusionary Rule In The Age Of Blue Data, Andrew Ferguson
Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals
In Herring v. United States, Chief Justice John Roberts reframed the Supreme Court’s understanding of the exclusionary rule: “As laid out in our cases, the exclusionary rule serves to deter deliberate, reckless, or grossly negligent conduct, or in some circumstances recurring or systemic negligence.” The open question remains: how can defendants demonstrate sufficient recurring or systemic negligence to warrant exclusion? The Supreme Court has never answered the question, although the absence of systemic or recurring problems has figured prominently in two recent exclusionary rule decisions. Without the ability to document recurring failures, or patterns of police misconduct, courts can dismiss …
The Miranda App: Metaphor And Machine, Andrew Ferguson, Richard Leo
The Miranda App: Metaphor And Machine, Andrew Ferguson, Richard Leo
Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals
For fifty years, the core problem that gave rise to Miranda – namely, the coercive pressure of custodial interrogation – has remained largely unchanged. This article proposes bringing Miranda into the twenty-first century by developing a “Miranda App” to replace the existing, human Miranda warnings and waiver process with a digital, scripted computer program of videos, text, and comprehension assessments. The Miranda App would provide constitutionally adequate warnings, clarifying answers, contextual information, and age-appropriate instruction to suspects before interrogation. Designed by legal scholars, validated by social science experts, and tested by police, the Miranda App would address several decades of …
What We Should Learn From Garner And Ferguson Cases, Jeffrey Bellin
What We Should Learn From Garner And Ferguson Cases, Jeffrey Bellin
Popular Media
No abstract provided.
Crime Mapping And The Fourth Amendment: Redrawing 'High Crime Areas', Andrew Ferguson
Crime Mapping And The Fourth Amendment: Redrawing 'High Crime Areas', Andrew Ferguson
Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals
This article addresses how “crime mapping” technology has the potential to reshape Fourth Amendment protections in designated “high crime areas.” In the past few years, the ability of police administrators to identify and officially label “high crime areas” has rapidly expanded. Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and crime mapping technology has simplified the collection and analysis of crime statistics. These GIS crime mapping technologies can produce almost perfect information about the level, rate, and geographic location of crimes in any given area.While effective policing tools, these technologies have constitutional consequences that are only now being considered. Under existing Supreme Court precedent, …
Transparency And Participation In Criminal Procedure, Stephanos Bibas
Transparency And Participation In Criminal Procedure, Stephanos Bibas
All Faculty Scholarship
The insiders who run the criminal justice system–judges, police, and especially prosecutors–have information, power, and self-interests that greatly influence the criminal justice process and outcomes. Outsiders–crime victims, bystanders, and most of the general public–find the system frustratingly opaque, insular, and unconcerned with proper retribution. As a result, a spiral ensues: insiders twist rules as they see fit, outsiders try to constrain them, and insiders find new ways to evade or manipulate the new rules. The gulf between insiders and outsiders undercuts the instrumental, moral, and expressive efficacy of criminal procedure in serving the criminal law’s substantive goals. The gulf clouds …
An Historical Perspective On The Attorney-Client Privilege, Geoffrey C. Hazard Jr.
An Historical Perspective On The Attorney-Client Privilege, Geoffrey C. Hazard Jr.
All Faculty Scholarship
No abstract provided.
Insanity As A Defense: The Bifurcated Trial, David W. Louisell, Geoffrey Hazard
Insanity As A Defense: The Bifurcated Trial, David W. Louisell, Geoffrey Hazard
All Faculty Scholarship
No abstract provided.