Law Commons^™

Blatant Bribery Or Locally Lawful?: Is The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act’S “Local Laws” Defense Extinct?, Erik J. King

Erik J King

Under the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (FCPA), it is an affirmative defense if the payments in question were lawful under the written laws of a foreign country. This defense has been largely overlooked by commentators and used sparingly in the court system. This Note examines the utility of this defense, and finds that although the concept underlying the defense remains somewhat alive in certain types of foreign laws that could conceivably excuse a foreign investor, the defense has lost all practical value. U.S. judicial interpretations, multilateral efforts against similar exceptions in other anti-bribery laws, and the subsuming effect of other …

Anatomy Of A Constitutional Challenge To State Laws, Chuck Klein

Chuck Klein

The issue that began in 1972 with a chance meeting at a cocktail party between myself, as a LEO, and my state senator. I did him a favor by advising him on a personal matter involving law enforcement. Twenty-five or so years later, he returned the favor, as Ohio Senate President, by forcing a concealed firearms vote. The actual case involved finding a person who was under arrest for CCW and would agree to fight the charge as a constitutional challenge (I he lost he knew he would not only go to prison, but would lose his right to own …

Where Did My Privilege Go? Congress And Its Discretion To Ignore The Attorney-Client Privilege, Don Berthiaume, Jeffrey Ansley

Don R Berthiaume

“The right to counsel is too important to be passed over for prosecutorial convenience or executive branch whimsy. It has been engrained in American jurisprudence since the 18th century when the Bill of Rights was adopted... However, the right to counsel is largely ineffective unless the confidential communications made by a client to his or her lawyer are protected by law.”[1] So said Senator Arlen Specter on February 13, 2009, just seven months before Congress chose to ignore the very privilege he lauded. Why then, if the right to counsel is as important as Senator Specter articulated, does Congress maintain …

Dea: Science And Law Unto Itself, John F. Kelly

John F. Kelly

No abstract provided.

30 = 20: ‘Understanding’ Maximum Sentence Enhancements, Frank R. Herrmann S.J.

Frank R. Herrmann, S.J.

In this article, Professor Herrmann argues that the due process protections of a criminal trial should apply to aggravating factors that under current “maximum-enhancing statutes” allow judges to impose lengthier punishments in the sentencing phase. Part I considers the Supreme Court's rationale for refusing to apply full due process safeguards to all types of sentencing schemes. This background will reveal the unique quality of maximum-enhancing statutes and establish why the due process protections of a criminal trial should apply to sentencing under maximum-enhancing statutes. Part I, therefore, undertakes to explain courts' rationales to deny criminal defendants full criminal due process …

Collateral Consequences Of Criminal Convictions: Confronting Issues Of Race And Dignity, Michael Pinard

Michael Pinard

This article explores the racial dimensions of the various collateral consequences that attach to criminal convictions in the United States. The consequences include ineligibility for public and government-assisted housing, public benefits and various forms of employment, as well as civic exclusions such as ineligibility for jury service and felon disenfranchisement. To test its hypothesis that these penalties, both historically and contemporarily, are rooted in race, the article looks to England and Wales, Canada and South Africa. These countries have criminal justice systems similar to the United States’, have been influenced significantly by United States’ criminal justice practices in recent years, …

An Integrated Perspective On The Collateral Consequences Of Criminal Convictions And Reentry Issues Faced By Formerly Incarcerated Individuals, Michael Pinard

Michael Pinard

This article examines the emergent focus on the collateral consequences of criminal convictions and the reentry of formerly incarcerated individuals. Specifically, the article details the ways in which legal scholars, policy analysts, elected officials, legal services organizations and community based organizations have begun to address these components of the criminal justice system. The article argues that these various groups have compartmentalized collateral consequences and reentry by focusing almost exclusively on one component to the exclusion of the other. In doing so, they have narrowed the lens through which to view these components, and have therefore missed opportunities to develop integrated …

The Logistical And Ethical Difficulties Of Informing Juveniles About The Consequences Of Adjudications, Michael Pinard

Michael Pinard

In this article, Professor Michael Pinard observes that the recent attention devoted to the collateral consequences of criminal convictions has overlooked the ways in which these consequences impact juvenile offenders. The article recognizes the emergent arguments for informing adult defendants of these consequences as part of the guilty plea or sentencing process, and argues that juvenile defendants should also be informed of the collateral consequences that attach to their adjudications. However, the article asserts that there are ethical and logistical questions unique to the juvenile justice process that would pose difficulties in conveying this information to juveniles. These issues (or …

Broadening The Holistic Mindset: Incorporating Collateral Consequences And Reentry Into Criminal Defense Lawyering, Michael Pinard

Michael Pinard

In this article, Professor Michael Pinard highlights the holistic model of criminal defense representation, which seeks to address the myriad issues that often lead to the client’s involvement with the criminal justice system with the overarching goal of providing a comprehensive solution to those underlying factors. While lauding these developments, however, Professor Pinard argues that the holistic model has largely overlooked two facets of the criminal justice system that impact greatly the client’s life once the formal representation has concluded: the collateral consequences of criminal convictions and reentry. Professor Pinard explores the emerging attention devoted to these two components, but …

A Reentry-Centered Vision Of Criminal Justice, Michael Pinard

Michael Pinard

In recent years, record numbers of individuals have been released from U.S. correctional facilities and have reentered their communities. At present, approximately 650,000 individuals are released annually from U.S. federal and state prisons, while an estimated additional 7 million are released from its jails. In addition, the number of individuals with criminal records – whether or not they were incarcerated – continues to climb. At present, approximately 20 percent of adults in the United States have criminal records. Part I [of this article] details the shortcomings of current reentry practice. Part II sets forth a reentry-centered vision of criminal justice …

When The Emperor Has No Clothes Ii: A Proposal For A More Serious Look At “The Weight Of The Evidence”, Carrie Leonetti

Carrie Leonetti

While the Bail Reform Act and state statutes modeled after it command courts to consider the weight of the evidence in making pretrial release/detention decisions, as a practical matter, courts do not do so – at least not when the weight-of-the-evidence factor cuts in favor of release – and they should. In particular, courts should accord substantially more weight to the “weight of the evidence” factor in making or reviewing pretrial-detention determinations when one or more jury has already refused unanimously to convict the defendant of the crime(s) charged. Unless the prosecution has obtained significant, material new evidence between the …

When The Emperor Has No Clothes Ii: A Proposal For A More Serious Look At “The Weight Of The Evidence”, Carrie Leonetti

Carrie Leonetti

While the Bail Reform Act and state statutes modeled after it command courts to consider the weight of the evidence in making pretrial release/detention decisions, as a practical matter, courts do not do so – at least not when the weight-of-the-evidence factor cuts in favor of release – and they should. In particular, courts should accord substantially more weight to the “weight of the evidence” factor in making or reviewing pretrial-detention determinations when one or more jury has already refused unanimously to convict the defendant of the crime(s) charged. Unless the prosecution has obtained significant, material new evidence between the …

The Decision Zone: The New Stage Of Interrogation Created By Berghuis V. Thompkins, Meghan M. Morris

Meghan M Morris

This essay addresses a new stage of interrogation, approved of for the first time in the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision, Berghuis v. Thompkins. This stage – the “decision zone” – is the period, however brief or prolonged, after officers have read a suspect his rights but before the suspect has decided whether to waive or to invoke his rights. In Thompkins, the Supreme Court allowed interrogation during this stage, which lasted almost 3 hours in that case. Through this decision, the Supreme Court implicitly assented to prolonged interrogation before a suspect decides whether to invoke or to waive his rights, …

The Decision Zone: The New Stage Of Interrogation Created By Berghuis V. Thompkins, Meghan M. Morris

Meghan M Morris

This essay addresses a new stage of interrogation, approved of for the first time in the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision, Berghuis v. Thompkins. This stage – the “decision zone” – is the period, however brief or prolonged, after officers have read a suspect his rights but before the suspect has decided whether to waive or to invoke his rights. In Thompkins, the Supreme Court allowed interrogation during this stage, which lasted almost 3 hours in that case. Through this decision, the Supreme Court implicitly assented to prolonged interrogation before a suspect decides whether to invoke or to waive his rights, …

Arizona V. Gant: Decoding The Meaning Of Reasonable Belief, Geoffrey S. Corn

Geoffrey S. Corn

This article addresses the uncertainty created by the Supreme Court’s decision in Arizona v. Gant as to when police may search an automobile after the recent arrestee is secured and no longer able to access the vehicle. In Gant, the Court authorized such a search whenever the police have ‘reasonable belief’ evidence related to the crime of arrest may be in the automobile. However, the Court did not define the meaning of reasonable belief. This has led to various lower court interpretations, ranging from reasonable suspicion to probable cuase.

This article first explains why treating reasonable belief as synonymous with …

Counting Heads: Does The Existence Of A National Consensus Give Rise To A Substantive-Due-Process Right To A Particular Criminal Procedure?, Carrie Leonetti

Carrie Leonetti

Anomalousness in a state’s criminal procedure(s), standing alone, is sufficient (to constitute a violation of substantive due process and that the substantive process due to a criminal defendant in a state with an anomalous criminal procedure is the process that would be provided to a similarly situated defendant in a mainstream jurisdiction. This does not mean that the fact that a majority of jurisdictions fails to afford a particular beneficial procedure to a criminal defendant means that such procedure is not guaranteed by due process. Nor is the recognition of a right by a majority of jurisdictions dispositive of whether …

What's Terrorism Got To Do With It? The Perils Of Prosecutorial Misuse Of Terrorism Offenses, Michal Buchhandler-Raphael

michal buchhandler-raphael

State and federal statutes contain many criminal prohibitions that are commonly perceived as terrorism-related crimes. These statutes, however, do not make the definition of terrorism -- a term whose components legislatures do not agree upon – an element of the crime. Instead, the terrorism classification is merely inferred based on features that typically characterize crimes of terrorism. These include the scope of the harm intended or inflicted, the nature of the technical measures used to carry out the attack, or the aid provided to terrorist organizations. These statutes, however, are too broad, covering a wide variety of crimes above and …

Information Sharing In A Common Law Of Sentencing: A Skeptic's Guide, Ryan W. Scott

Ryan W. Scott

For decades, prominent scholars and judges have called for the development of a “common law of sentencing” in the United States. One strand of scholarship stresses the information sharing function of the common law: sentencing judges need access to a body of written opinions that reveals how other courts have handled similar cases. The idea is that, fueled by better information, case-by-case common law reasoning will promote inter-judge consistency and rationality in sentencing law. This Article takes a skeptical view, identifying three sets of challenges for an information-sharing approach. First, there are daunting information-collection challenges. A healthy common law depends …

The Evolution Of Unconstitutionality In Sex Offender Registration Laws, Catherine L. Carpenter

Catherine L Carpenter

ABSTRACT More is not always better. Consider sex offender registration laws. Initially anchored by rational basis, registration schemes have spiraled out of control because legislators, eager to please a fearful public, have been given unfettered freedom by a deferential judiciary. This particular article does not challenge the state’s legislative power to enact sex offender registration laws. Instead, this piece posits that, even if sex offender registration schemes were initially constitutional, serially amended sex offender registration schemes – what this piece dubs super-registration schemes – are not. Their emergence over the last several years demands re-examination of traditionally held assumptions that …

Why Congress Cannot Require Major League Baseball To Implement Suspicionless Blood Testing For Performance-Enhancing Drugs, Matthew W. Kerner

Matthew W Kerner

In the United States, professional baseball is not only ingrained in the fabric of popular culture, it is big business. As of 2010, Major League Baseball (MLB) players earn annual salaries ranging from the league minimum of $400,000, to the astronomical $33 million paycheck of New York Yankees megastar, Alex Rodriguez. The average salary of an MLB player in 2010 was $3,297,828, which is more than a 65 percent increase from the average 2000 salary of $1,998,034. Meanwhile, the inflation rate in the United States has risen just 28.37 percent in the same time span. These figures do not even …

A Safety Doctrine To The Criminal Justice System, Boaz Sangero, Mordechai Halpert

Prof. Boaz Sangero

Criminal law, unlike other risk-creating fields, currently lacks any modern safety doctrine. In light of the proven phenomenon of wrongful convictions and the severe harm it causes to both those wrongly convicted and society, this Essay focuses on the necessary preliminary stages in developing a safety doctrine for the criminal justice system. Under our conception, criminal law is a "safety-critical system": it deals with matters of life and death. We view false conviction to be a type of accident, similarly to a crash of a fighter airplane. This comparison is not only metaphorical, but quite literal when the damage is …

Obstruction Of Justice: Unwarranted Expansion Of 18 U.S.C. 1512(C)(1), Sarah O. Schrup

Sarah O. Schrup

This Article suggests that prosecutors are misusing and courts are misinterpreting the Sarbanes-Oxley obstruction-of-justice statute, 18 U.S.C. § 1512(c)(1). As a result the statute is being applied far beyond the corporate-fraud or even general-fraud context to conduct that Congress never intended when enacting the statute. Such an expansive interpretation lays bare the ambiguity inherent in the statutory language. A proper statutory construction that explores the statute itself, related provisions, the canons of construction, the legislative history, and the investigatory process at the Securities and Exchange Commission shows that Congress could not have intended the limitless sweep of the statute that …

Criminal Affirmance: Going Beyond The Deterrence Paradigm To Examine The Social Meaning Of Declining Prosecution Of Elite Crime, Mary Kreiner Ramirez

mary k ramirez

Recent financial scandals and the relative paucity of criminal prosecutions in response suggest a new reality in the criminal law system: some wrongful actors appear above the law and immune from criminal prosecution. As such, the criminal prosecutorial system affirms much of the wrongdoing giving rise to the crisis. This leaves the same elites undisturbed at the apex of the financial sector, and creates perverse incentives for any successors. Their position of power results in massive deadweight losses for the entire economy as a result of their crimes. Further, this undermines the legitimacy of the rule of law and encourages …

What's Terrorism Got To Do With It? The Perils Of Prosecutorial Misuse Of Terrorism Offenses, Michal Buchhandler-Raphael

michal buchhandler-raphael

State and federal statutes contain many criminal prohibitions that are commonly perceived as terrorism-related crimes. These statutes, however, do not make the definition of terrorism -- a term whose components legislatures do not agree upon – an element of the crime. Instead, the terrorism classification is merely inferred based on features that typically characterize crimes of terrorism. These include the scope of the harm intended or inflicted, the nature of the technical measures used to carry out the attack, or the aid provided to terrorist organizations. These statutes, however, are too broad, covering a wide variety of crimes above and …

“Bull” Coming From The States: Why The U.S. Supreme Court Should Use Williams V. Illinois To Close One Of Bullcoming’S Confrontation Clause Loopholes, Tara Klimek Price

Tara Price

Imagine that you are selected as a juror in a trial where the defendant is accused of driving while under the influence of alcohol. You listen to the police officer who testifies that he observed the defendant and believed him to be intoxicated. You hear about how after obtaining a warrant, the officer took the defendant to the emergency room for a blood-alcohol test. The police officer finishes his testimony, and the next witness will testify about the results of the defendant’s blood-alcohol test.

But before the witness can testify, defense counsel objects. Apparently, this is not the laboratory analyst …

What's Terrorism Got To Do With It? The Perils Of Prosecutorial Misuse Of Terrorism Offenses, Michal Buchhandler-Raphael

michal buchhandler-raphael

State and federal statutes contain many criminal prohibitions that are commonly perceived as terrorism-related crimes. These statutes, however, do not make the definition of terrorism -- a term whose components legislatures do not agree upon – an element of the crime. Instead, the terrorism classification is merely inferred based on features that typically characterize crimes of terrorism. These include the scope of the harm intended or inflicted, the nature of the technical measures used to carry out the attack, or the aid provided to terrorist organizations. These statutes, however, are too broad, covering a wide variety of crimes above and …

The Greatest Measure Of Deterrence: A Conviction For Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, Houston Goodell

Houston Goodell

The landscape of modern warfare has changed dramatically over the past 100 years since World War I. While the weapons systems have all changed dramatically, many of the crimes perpetrated in warfare have remained the same. Although almost all of these crimes have been punished by various national and international courts, one crime – rape – has escaped prosecution until very recently. The International Criminal Court (ICC) is currently hearing the case of former Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) Vice-President Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo. What makes Bemba Gombo’s case so unique is that, unlike the Serbians who were tried and …

Information Overload, Multi-Tasking, And The Socially Networked Jury: Why Prosecutors Should Approach The Media Gingerly, Andrew Taslitz

Andrew E. Taslitz

The rise of computer technology, the internet, rapid news dissemination, multi-tasking, and social networking have wrought changes in human psychology that alter how we process news media. More specifically, news coverage of high-profile trials necessarily focuses on emotionally-overwrought, attention-grabbing information disseminated to a public having little ability to process that information critically. The public’s capacity for empathy is likewise reduced, making it harder for trial processes to overcome the unfair prejudice created by the high-profile trial. Market forces magnify these changes. Free speech concerns limit the ability of the law to alter media coverage directly, and the tools available to …

Cruel And Unusual Federal Punishments, Michael J.Z. Mannheimer

Michael J.Z. Mannheimer

In recent years, federal prison sentences have often far outstripped state sentences for the same criminal conduct. This is the result of the confluence of two trends. First, crime has become increasingly federalized, so that the very same criminal conduct typically punished by state law, such as drug trafficking, gun possession, and child pornography offenses, is increasingly being punished in federal court. Second, the federal sentencing guidelines and statutory mandatory minimum sentences for many of these offenses have grown so as to far exceed the sentences available in state court.

Virtually all federal defendants who have challenged their sentences as …

Schneckloth V. Bustamonte: History’S Unspoken Fourth Amendment Anomaly, Brian Gallini

Brian Gallini