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Selected Works

Ira P. Robbins

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Full-Text Articles in Law

Prisoners And The Law, Ira P. Robbins Dec 2015

Prisoners And The Law, Ira P. Robbins

Ira P. Robbins

Prisoners and the Law focuses on legal issues commonly affecting the prison population, including AIDS, drugs, overcrowding, security, appeals, weapons, correspondence, visitation issues, and prisoner safety. In-depth articles, written by leading authorities, cover topics such as:
  • The future of prison reform
  • Restitution
  • Proposals for a new correctional system
  • Inmate welfare funds
  • Prisoner, prison, probation, and parole statistics
  • Incisive articles, written by some of the nation's leading authorities, on the development and present status of this evolving area of law
  • The most recent changes and developments in the field
Use this title as a resource for issues relating to private incarceration, …

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Vilifying The Vigilante: A Narrowed Scope Of Citizen's Arrest, Ira P. Robbins Dec 2015

Vilifying The Vigilante: A Narrowed Scope Of Citizen's Arrest, Ira P. Robbins

Ira P. Robbins

The doctrine of citizen’s arrest in the United States has been ignored for far too long. In every jurisdiction in the United States, a private person may lawfully detain another and often may even use physical force to do so. Placing such power in the hands of ordinary, untrained individuals creates the possibility that citizens will misuse or abuse the privilege, sometimes with serious consequences for both the arrestor and the arrestee. This risk is compounded by the disparate treatment of the citizen’s arrest doctrine in different jurisdictions and the ambiguities inherent in many of the doctrine’s key features—such as …

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Our Taz, Ira P. Robbins Dec 2014

Our Taz, Ira P. Robbins

Ira P. Robbins

In memory of Professor Andrew Taslitz

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Kidnapping Incorporated: The Unregulated Youth-Transportation Industry And The Potential For Abuse, Ira P. Robbins Dec 2013

Kidnapping Incorporated: The Unregulated Youth-Transportation Industry And The Potential For Abuse, Ira P. Robbins

Ira P. Robbins

Strangers come into a child's room in the middle of the night, drag her kicking and screaming into a van, apply handcuffs, and drive her to a behavior modification facility at a distant location. What sounds like a clear-cut case of kidnapping is complicated by the fact that the child's parents not only authorized this intervention, but also paid for it. This scarcely publicized practice-known as the youth-transportation industry-operates on the fringes of existing law. The law generally presumes that parents have almost unlimited authority over their children, but the youth-transportation industry has never been closely examined regarding exactly what …

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Last Words: A Survey And Analysis Of Federal Judges' Views On Allocution In Sentencing, Ira P. Robbins Dec 2013

Last Words: A Survey And Analysis Of Federal Judges' Views On Allocution In Sentencing, Ira P. Robbins

Ira P. Robbins

Allocution-the penultimate stage of a criminal proceeding at which the judge affords defendants an opportunity to speak their last words before sentencing-is a centuries-old right in criminal cases, and academics have theorized about the various purposes it serves. But what do sitting federal judges think about allocution? Do they actually use it to raise or lower sentences? Do they think it serves purposes above and beyond sentencing? Are there certain factors that judges like or dislike in allocutions? These questions-and many others-are answered directly in this first-ever study of judges' views and practices regarding allocution. The authors surveyed all federal …

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The Price Is Wrong: Reimbursement Of Expenses For Acquitted Criminal Defendants, Ira P. Robbins Dec 2013

The Price Is Wrong: Reimbursement Of Expenses For Acquitted Criminal Defendants, Ira P. Robbins

Ira P. Robbins

"Not guilty" these two simple words elicit intense relieffrom any defendant at the conclusion qf a criminal trial. As one harrowing ordeal ends, however, a new one inevitably takes shape: picking up the pieces of a life shattered physically, emotionally, and, for non- indigent defendants, financially. Where do defendants who have successfully defended themselves against criminal prosecution turn for assistance in paying the debts incurred in securing their freedom? 

Some states, as well as the federal government, have implemented laws that allow acquitted defendants to seek public reimbursement of certain legal expenses they incurred in their defense. These reimbursement methods …

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What Is The Meaning Of Like: The First Amendment Implications Of Social-Media Expression, Ira P. Robbins Dec 2012

What Is The Meaning Of Like: The First Amendment Implications Of Social-Media Expression, Ira P. Robbins

Ira P. Robbins

Everywhere the Internet goes, new legal problems are sure to follow. As social media expands and infiltrates our daily lives, society must grapple with how to extend the law to modern situations. This problem becomes increasingly pressing as more and more of our social interactions take place online. For example, Facebook has become a colossal gathering place for friends, families, co-workers, frenemies, and others to disseminate their ideas and share information. Sometimes Facebook replaces old institutions; other times it augments them. Where once a neighbor would show allegiance to a political candidate by staking a sign on the front lawn, …

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Privatization Of Corrections: A Violation Of U.S. Domestic Law, International Human Rights, And Good Sense, Ira P. Robbins Aug 2012

Privatization Of Corrections: A Violation Of U.S. Domestic Law, International Human Rights, And Good Sense, Ira P. Robbins

Ira P. Robbins

No abstract provided.

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The Death Penalty In The Twenty-First Century , Stephen B. Bright, Edward Chikofsky, Laurie Ekstrand, Harriet C. Ganson, Paul D. Kamenar, Robert E. Morin, William G. Otis, Jasmin Raskin, Ira P. Robbins, Diann Rust-Tierney, Charles F. Shilling, Andrew L. Sooner, Ronald J. Rabak, David V. Drehle, James Wootton Aug 2012

The Death Penalty In The Twenty-First Century , Stephen B. Bright, Edward Chikofsky, Laurie Ekstrand, Harriet C. Ganson, Paul D. Kamenar, Robert E. Morin, William G. Otis, Jasmin Raskin, Ira P. Robbins, Diann Rust-Tierney, Charles F. Shilling, Andrew L. Sooner, Ronald J. Rabak, David V. Drehle, James Wootton

Ira P. Robbins

No abstract provided.

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Transcript For The Future Of The Federal Courts, William H. Rehnquist, Sarah Evans Barker, Edward R. Becker, Claudio Grossman, Stephen Reinhardt, Ira P. Robbins Aug 2012

Transcript For The Future Of The Federal Courts, William H. Rehnquist, Sarah Evans Barker, Edward R. Becker, Claudio Grossman, Stephen Reinhardt, Ira P. Robbins

Ira P. Robbins

No abstract provided.

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Hiding Behind The Cloak Of Invisibility: The Supreme Court And Per Curiam Opinions, Ira P. Robbins May 2012

Hiding Behind The Cloak Of Invisibility: The Supreme Court And Per Curiam Opinions, Ira P. Robbins

Ira P. Robbins

Per curiam--literally translated from Latin to "by the court"-is defined by Black's Law Dictionary as "[a]n opinion handed down by an appellate court without identifying the individual judge who wrote the opinion." Accordingly the author of a per curiam opinion is meant to be institutional rather than individual, attributable to the court as an entity rather than to a single judge The United States Supreme Court issues a significant number of per curiam dispositions each Term. In the first six years of Chief Justice John Roberts’ tenure, almost nine percent of the Court full opinions were per curiams. The prevalence …

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"Bad Juror" Lists And The Prosecutor's Duty To Disclose, Ira P. Robbins Dec 2011

"Bad Juror" Lists And The Prosecutor's Duty To Disclose, Ira P. Robbins

Ira P. Robbins

Prosecutors sometimes use what are known as "bad juror" lists to exclude particular citizens from jury service. Not only does this practice interfere with an open and fair jury-selection process, thus implicating a defendant's right to be tried by a jury of his or her peers, but it also violates potential jurors' rights to serve in this important capacity. But who is on these lists? And is a prosecutor required to disclose the lists to defense counsel? These questions have largely gone unnoticed by legal analysts.
 
This Article addresses the prosecutor's duty to disclose bad-juror lists. It reviews the …

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Writings On The Wall: The Need For An Authorship-Centric Approach To The Authentication Of Social-Networking Evidence, Ira P. Robbins Dec 2010

Writings On The Wall: The Need For An Authorship-Centric Approach To The Authentication Of Social-Networking Evidence, Ira P. Robbins

Ira P. Robbins

People are stupid when it comes to their online postings. The recent spate of
social-networking websites has shown that people place shocking amounts of
personal information online. Unlike more traditional modes of communication, the
unique nature of these websites allows users to hide behind a veil of anonymity.
But while social-networking sites may carry significant social benefits, they also
leave users—and their personal information—vulnerable to hacking and other
forms of abuse. This vulnerability is playing out in courtrooms across the country
and will only increase as social-networking use continues to proliferate.
This Article addresses the evidentiary hurdle of authenticating socialnetworking …

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‘Best Practices’: What’S The Point?, Ira P. Robbins Oct 2010

‘Best Practices’: What’S The Point?, Ira P. Robbins

Ira P. Robbins

In a separate article - Best Practices on “Best Practices”: Legal Education and Beyond - Professor Robbins formulated a paradigm for “best practices” and applied it to the book, Best Practices for Legal Education. Professor Robbins concluded that the book did not meet any of the criteria necessary to constitute best practices and, further, that using the concept of best practices when thinking and writing about legal education is misleading and inappropriate. The primary author of the book, Roy Stuckey, responded, claiming that “best” can mean something other than best, that the difference really doesn’t matter, and that the debate …

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Ghostwriting: Filling In The Gaps Of Pro Se Prisoners’ Access To The Courts, Ira P. Robbins Oct 2010

Ghostwriting: Filling In The Gaps Of Pro Se Prisoners’ Access To The Courts, Ira P. Robbins

Ira P. Robbins

Compared with other litigants, pro se prisoners are at an inherent disadvantage when they try to vindicate their rights. They lack many of the resources enjoyed by non-prisoner litigants. They have limited finances and limited access to legal-research materials. Even if they had such access, their illiteracy would lessen its effectiveness. Moreover, many attorneys are unwilling or unable to undertake full representation of prisoner litigants. As a result, pro se prisoners struggle to navigate the complex legal system, often losing their cases on procedural grounds before ever reaching a decision on the merits. This Article argues that, in order to …

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Best Practices On ‘Best Practices’: Legal Education And Beyond, Ira P. Robbins Oct 2010

Best Practices On ‘Best Practices’: Legal Education And Beyond, Ira P. Robbins

Ira P. Robbins

“Best practices” has become one of the most common research and development techniques in the United States and throughout the international community. Originally employed in industry, the concept sought to identify superior means to achieve a goal through “benchmarking,” thereby allowing companies to obtain a competitive advantage in the marketplace. In recent decades, the use of best practices has become widely popularized, and is frequently utilized in the areas of administrative regulation, corporate governance, and academia. As the term has grown in popularity, however, so too has room for its abuse. In many instances, the term has been invoked to …

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‘Best Practices’: What’S The Point?, Ira P. Robbins Oct 2010

‘Best Practices’: What’S The Point?, Ira P. Robbins

Ira P. Robbins

In a separate article - Best Practices on “Best Practices”: Legal Education and Beyond - Professor Robbins formulated a paradigm for “best practices” and applied it to the book, Best Practices for Legal Education. Professor Robbins concluded that the book did not meet any of the criteria necessary to constitute best practices and, further, that using the concept of best practices when thinking and writing about legal education is misleading and inappropriate. The primary author of the book, Roy Stuckey, responded, claiming that “best” can mean something other than best, that the difference really doesn’t matter, and that the debate …

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Lessons From Hurricane Katrina: Prison Emergency Preparedness As A Constitutional Imperative, Ira P. Robbins Oct 2010

Lessons From Hurricane Katrina: Prison Emergency Preparedness As A Constitutional Imperative, Ira P. Robbins

Ira P. Robbins

Hurricane Katrina was one of the worst natural disasters ever to strike the United States, in terms of casualties, suffering, and financial cost. Often overlooked among Katrina's victims are the 8,000 inmates who were incarcerated at Orleans Parish Prison (OPP) when Katrina struck. Despite a mandatory evacuation of New Orleans, these men and women, some of whom had been held on charges as insignificant as public intoxication, remained in the jail as the hurricane hit, and endured days of rising, toxic waters, a lack of food and drinking water, and a complete breakdown of order within OPP. When the inmates …

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Digitus Impudicus: The Middle Finger And The Law, Ira P. Robbins Mar 2008

Digitus Impudicus: The Middle Finger And The Law, Ira P. Robbins

Ira P. Robbins

The middle finger is one of the most commonly used insulting gestures in the United States. The finger, which is used to convey a wide range of emotions, is visible on streets and highways, in schools, shopping malls, and sporting events, in courts and execution chambers, in advertisements and on magazine covers, and even on the hallowed floor of the United States Senate. Despite its ubiquity, however, as a number of recent cases demonstrate, those who use the middle finger in public run the risk of being stopped, arrested, prosecuted, fined, and even incarcerated under disorderly conduct or breach of …

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"No Writer Nor Scholar Need Be Dull": Recollections Of Paul J. Korshin, Ira P. Robbins Nov 2007

"No Writer Nor Scholar Need Be Dull": Recollections Of Paul J. Korshin, Ira P. Robbins

Ira P. Robbins

Personal reminiscences and tributes about Paul J. Korshin

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Settlement Sentiments, Ira P. Robbins Apr 2007

Settlement Sentiments, Ira P. Robbins

Ira P. Robbins

Letter to the editor of the ABA Journal about an article from the March 2007 edition that addressed Tobacco Litigation.

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The Importance Of The Secret Ballot In Law Faculty Personnel Decisions: Promoting Candor And Collegiality In The Academy, Ira P. Robbins Dec 2006

The Importance Of The Secret Ballot In Law Faculty Personnel Decisions: Promoting Candor And Collegiality In The Academy, Ira P. Robbins

Ira P. Robbins

This article began as an exercise in self-education. At a recent faculty meeting, my colleagues were preparing to vote on a slate of candidates. Because discussion had become heated, a tenured faculty member moved for a
secret ballot on the appointments committee's recommendation. The main argument in favor of the secret ballot was that, for the protection of untenured professors (who have equal votes with tenured professors on questions
of hiring new faculty), neither their senior colleagues nor the Dean should be permitted to know how they voted. The ensuing discussion on whether to hold a secret ballot was no …

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Anthrax Hoaxes, Ira P. Robbins Sep 2004

Anthrax Hoaxes, Ira P. Robbins

Ira P. Robbins

INTRODUCTION: "[Y]ou are a disgusting piece of dirt."' Judge Steven Shutter, a county judge in South Florida, used these words to describe a twenty- four-year-old woman whom he labeled a terrorist2 and who was condemned by the media.3 Aside from name-calling, Judge Shutter raised the woman's bail from $3,500 to $25,000 when he learned the nature of the offense, 'just in case" the woman might be able to afford the lower bond.4 Given the strength of Judge Shutter's animosity toward her, one might assume that Yasmin Kassima Sealey- Doe had provided assistance to the terrorists who attacked the World Trade …

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Without Charge: Assessing The Due Process Rights Of Unindicted Co-Conspirators, Ira P. Robbins Dec 2003

Without Charge: Assessing The Due Process Rights Of Unindicted Co-Conspirators, Ira P. Robbins

Ira P. Robbins

The grand jury practice of naming individuals as unindicted co-conspirators routinely results in injury to reputations,lost employment opportunities, and a practical inability to run for public office. Yet, because these individuals are not parties to a criminal trial, they have neither the right to present evidence nor
the opportunity to clear their names. Thus, Professor Robbins argues that the practice violates the Fifth Amendment guarantee that “[n]o person shall . . . be deprived of life, liberty, or property,
without due process of law[.]” While prosecutors may offer many justifications to support the practice of naming
unindicted co-conspirators, these reasons …

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Magistrate Judges, Article Iii, And The Power To Preside Over Federal Prisoner Section 2255 Proceedings, Ira P. Robbins Dec 2001

Magistrate Judges, Article Iii, And The Power To Preside Over Federal Prisoner Section 2255 Proceedings, Ira P. Robbins

Ira P. Robbins

In 1968, Congress enacted the Federal Magistrates Act to enhance judicial efficiency in the federal courts. Since then, some judicial functions delegated to magistrate judges have been challenged on constitutional grounds: while federal district judges, appointed pursuant to Article III of the United States Constitution, are protected with life tenure and undiminishable salary, thereby enhancing judicial independence, federal magistrate judges, appointed pursuant to Article I, have no such protection. The most recent major challenge to magistrate judge authority came in 2001, when the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, in United States v. Johnston, decided that referral …

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Justice By The Numbers: The Supreme Court And The Rule Of Four-Or Is It Five?, Ira P. Robbins Dec 2001

Justice By The Numbers: The Supreme Court And The Rule Of Four-Or Is It Five?, Ira P. Robbins

Ira P. Robbins

INTRODUCTION:

In the early hours of April 14, 2000, Robert Lee Tarver died in Alabama's electric chair, even though four Justices of the United States Supreme Court had voted to review the merits of his case. This situation is not unique. Each year, practitioners and pro se litigants alike petition the Supreme Court without fully knowing the rules pursuant to which the Court will decide their client's, or their own, fate. The reason is that the Supreme Court operates under two sets of rules-those that are published and those that are not. The former specify This Article is based on …

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Concurring In Result Without Written Opinion: A Condemnable Practice, Ira P. Robbins Nov 2000

Concurring In Result Without Written Opinion: A Condemnable Practice, Ira P. Robbins

Ira P. Robbins

No abstract provided.

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Managed Health Care In Prisons As Cruel And Unusual Punishment, Ira P. Robbins Dec 1998

Managed Health Care In Prisons As Cruel And Unusual Punishment, Ira P. Robbins

Ira P. Robbins

INTRODUCTION:

Billy Roberts, a prisoner in an Alabama state prison, had a history of severe psychiatric disorders. He was often put on suicide watch, and received large doses of psychotropic drugs. A managed health care company, Correctional Medical Services (CMS), was responsible for the health care at the prison. After Roberts had a suicidal episode, CMS's statewide mental health care director reportedly put Roberts in an isolation cell rather than a psychiatric care unit. The mental health care director also ordered that Roberts' medication be discontinued pursuant to an alleged policy of CMS to get as many prisoners off psycho- …

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Judge Wright And Her Husband's Advice Mar 1998

Judge Wright And Her Husband's Advice

Ira P. Robbins

No abstract provided.

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Exploring The Concept Of Post-Tenure Review In Law Schools, Ira P. Robbins Dec 1997

Exploring The Concept Of Post-Tenure Review In Law Schools, Ira P. Robbins

Ira P. Robbins

Introduction: Faculty in American law schools and universities often view the award of tenure as an inviolate guarantee of job security.' From this perspective, any attempt to monitor the level and quality of a tenured professor's work infringes on academic freedom. Recently, however, academics have argued that shielding the performance of tenured faculty from serious review potentially may be a disservice to the academic institution. Critics complain that schools sacrifice professional accountability when deficient performance goes undetected and uncorrected.

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