Law Commons^™

Crimes, Widgets, And Plea Bargaining: An Analysis Of Charge Content, Pleas And Trials, Kyle F. Graham

Kyle F Graham

This article considers how the composition and gravamen of a charged crime can affect the willingness and ability of the parties in a criminal case to engage in plea bargaining. Most of the prevailing descriptions of plea bargaining ignore or discount the importance of charge content in plea negotiations; in fact, one leading commentator has likened crimes to widgets insofar as plea bargaining is concerned. In developing its counter-thesis, this article reviews seven years (FY2003-FY2009) of federal conviction data, focusing on those crimes that produce the most, and fewest, trials, relative to how often they are alleged; the most, and …

Accepting Sosa's Invitation: Did Congress Expand The Subject Matter Jurisdiction Of The Ats In The Military Commissions Act?, Samuel T. Morison

Samuel T Morison

The Alien Tort Statute (ATS) provides a federal forum for aliens to seek tort damages for certain violations of customary international law, including war crimes. In Sosa, the Supreme Court admonished the lower courts to exercise caution when creating new causes of action under the ATS, but this is entirely a matter of respecting the separation of powers. If Congress enacts a statute that “occupies the field,” the Court observed, then a judge’s task is to faithfully enforce the norms delineated in the statute. To date, the Military Commissions Act (MCA) has been almost completely ignored in human rights litigation …

I'M Driving; G2g. I'Ll Ttyl: The Inefficiencies Of Pennsylvania's Text-Based Communications Ban, Caitlin E. Glenn

Caitlin E Glenn

No abstract provided.

Comparing The “Interests Of Justice”: What The International Criminal Court Can Learn From New York Law., Linda M. Keller

Linda M. Keller

This article addresses the debate over whether the International Criminal Court’s Prosecutor should adopt ex ante guidelines for prosecutorial discretion in order to increase transparency and legitimacy. It focuses on one of the most ambiguous provisions of the Rome Statute, allowing the Prosecutor to decline to prosecute in the “interests of justice.” It examines the experience of New York in operationalizing a domestic statutory analogue: dismissal in the furtherance of justice. An analysis of New York law yields three core lessons, which carry over to the international sphere despite differences in the systems. First, a requirement of a written rationale …

Cruel And Unusual Punishment: Adult Prison For Florida's Children, Mary E. Day

Mary E. Day

The manuscript addresses whether Florida law comports with the recent Supreme Court of the United States holding in Graham v. Florida that sentencing a nonhomicide juvenile offender to life without parole constitutes cruel and unusual punishment since such a punishment lacks opportunities for the youth to rehabilitate and reform. The manuscript asserts that consequently, Florida laws allowing for the direct filing of juvenile offenders such that they are subject to incarceration in adult prisons will not likely withstand a constitutional challenge as long as Florida's juveniles are denied opportunities for reform.

Gps Tracking Devices And Facial Recognition Technology: A Comparative Analysis Of Jones’S Effect On Law Enforcement’S Future Use Of Surveillance-Enhancing Technology, James Mariani

James Mariani

New technology benefits everyone—cops and robbers are no exception. However, technology and privacy, unfortunately so, tend to have an inverse relationship, and when it comes to law enforcement, the Fourth Amendment is the curve. The Supreme Court, throughout its jurisprudence dealing with the warrantless use of technology-enhanced surveillance, has pushed the balance of this line in both directions. In the upcoming decision of United States v. Jones, the Court will redraw the line once more by deciding whether the government’s use of a GPS tracking device is a search under the Fourth Amendment. This note will predict the outcome of …

Uk Amendment To The Law On Universal Jurisdiction: Prolonging The Road To Justice, Saoirse Townshend

Saoirse Townshend

The Police Reform and Social Responsibility Act 2011 (PRSR Act 2011) was given Royal Assent and became enforceable law in the UK on 15 September 2011. Most significantly for international law and in particular the law on universal jurisdiction, the Act introduces a new requirement for private prosecutors to obtain the consent of the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) prior to the issue of an arrest warrant for offences such as war crimes or torture. Practically, this extra hurdle will mean a lengthening of the prosecution process, and has led many to believe that the reform leaves the UK weakened …

2 Standards 1 Cup: How Geotargeting Will End The Battle Between National And Local Obscenity Standards, Joseph Mason Kjar

J. Mason Kjar

The First Amendment guarantees the right to free speech—but that protection is not absolute. Some speech is banned outright, such as child pornography. Other speech is nearly fully protected, such as erotic speech. Caught in the middle of the two is obscene speech, which can be owned in the privacy of one’s home, but cannot be disseminated publicly.

The line between obscenity and eroticism is hard to pinpoint, and varies from community to community. In general, the process of analyzing whether a work is obscene includes asking whether the content violates the community standards of the local geographic area where …