Law Commons^™

Rights Without Remedies: How The Illinois Post-Conviction Hearing Act’S Standing Requirement Has Failed Defendants, Nate Nieman

Northern Illinois University Law Review

The Illinois Post-Conviction Act is a procedural mechanism that allows a criminal defendant to assert that his federal or state constitutional rights were substantially violated during trial or at sentencing. The passage of the Act expanded a defendant’s ability to challenge his conviction and sentences collaterally, where before the Act, he had only been able to raise these challenges on direct appeal. However, the Act’s strict standing requirement precludes defendants from relief once they have completed their sentence, ignoring the fact that many important, life-altering civil consequences resulting from criminal convictions occur after a sentence has concluded.

This Article argues …

Comment: Instilling Ordered Procedure In Assessing Motions For Reduced Sentences Under Section 404 Of The First Step Act, Michael C. Vega

Northern Illinois University Law Review

This Comment discusses the lack of ordered procedure in assessing motions brought pursuant to § 404 of the First Step Act of 2018. For nearly a quarter century, federal cocaine sentencing subjected crack-cocaine offenses dealing in one-hundredth the quantity of drug to the same statutory penalty as powder-cocaine offenses. This disparate treatment of drug offenses impacted primarily African Americans. The Fair Sentencing Act of 2010 reduced the disparity but applied only prospectively. Section 404 of the First Step Act made certain provisions of the Fair Sentencing Act retroactive. In the ensuing years, the federal courts have disagreed on the precise …

Stepping Towards Justice: The Case For The Illinois Constitution Requiring More Protection Than Not Falling Below “Cruel And Unusual” Punishment, Andrea D. Lyon, Hannah J. Brooks

Northern Illinois University Law Review

In these tumultuous times, when our nation is trying to not only navigate a global pandemic, but also actually reckon with its long history of institutional racism, mass incarceration, and devastation of poor communities and communities of color, the cry for criminal justice reform is loud and getting louder, particularly regarding sentencing, and it is time for Illinois to require its courts to commit to doing more in accordance with our constitution. In this article, the authors examine the legislative and constitutional history of Illinois, the effects of a series of recent decisions made in the context of the sentencing …

Nothing Concentrates The Mind Like The Prospect Of A Hanging: The Criminalization Of The Sarbanes-Oxley Act, Ann Marie Tracey, Paul Fiorelli

Northern Illinois University Law Review

This article discusses: (1) the post-Enron environment and the events that led up to the whirlwind passage of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, (2) the legislative history for criminalizing a bill that originated in the House Financial Services Committee, and (3) a comparison between the increased criminal provisions and penalties under the Act with already existing legislation. It also analyzes how Congress closed loop-holes, flexed its muscles with respect to corporate practices, and the necessity of the new criminal laws.