Law Commons^™

Book Review: Negotiating The Labyrinth: Disability And The Queensland Justice System By Dan Toombs, Jodie O'Leary

Jodie O'Leary

No abstract provided.

The Federal Common Law Of Crime, Robert C. Palmer

Robert T. Palmer, PhD

No abstract provided.

Police Can Stop You For Having A License Plate Bracket On Your Car, Beau James Brock, Rikki Weger

Beau James Brock

The Fourth Amendment must be protected from police excesses. Now, law enforcement is relying upon the most hyper-technical of violations to stop a vehicle. Both attorneys and judges must guard against the temptation that the ends will justify the means, only to find out later we sold out our freedom to the golden calf of drug interdiction.

Systemic Racial Bias And Rico's Application To Criminal Street And Prison Gangs, Jordan Woods

Jordan Blair Woods

Sexual Abuse Of Male Juveniles In Detention Centers By Female Correction Officers And Their Peers – An Empirical Study, Paul Cook

Paul Cook

This Comment both reveals the nature and dynamic of sexual abuse in the male juvenile detention centers and dispels common misconceptions we had of it. By comparing and contrasting the BJS male and juvenile incarceration data with previously projected statistics, This Comment subjected these sets of data through statistical formulas. From that, it has made several findings.1) Male juveniles appear to be more frequently abused when detained. 2) Staff are the primary perpetrators. 3) There are both overt and non-overt traits that correlate to higher rates of sexual abuse. 4) White male juveniles have a higher correlation to sexual abuse …

Fact Therapy: Review Of William J. Stunz's The Collapse Of American Justice, Paulo Barrozo

Paulo Barrozo

Book review of "The Collapse of American Criminal Justice" by William J. Stuntz.

Bargained Justice: Plea Bargaining's Innocence Problem And The Brady Safety-Valve, Lucian Dervan

Lucian E Dervan

If any number of attorneys were asked in 2004 whether Lea Fastow’s plea bargain in the Enron case was constitutional, the majority would respond with a simple word – Brady. Yet while the 1970 Supreme Court decision Brady v. United States authorized plea bargaining as a form of American justice, the case also contained a vital caveat that has been largely overlooked by scholars, practitioners, and courts for almost forty years. Brady contains a safety-valve that caps the amount of pressure that may be asserted against defendants by prohibiting prosecutors from offering incentives in return for guilty pleas that are …

Robinson V. California: From Revolutionary Constitutional Doctrine To Model Ban On Status Crimes, Erik Luna

Erik Luna

No abstract provided.

The Prosecutor In Transnational Perspective, Erik Luna, Marianne Wade

Erik Luna

No abstract provided.

Understanding Capital Punishment Law, Third Edition, Scott Howe, Linda Carter, Ellen Kreitzberg

Scott W. Howe

No abstract provided.

Book Review: International Human Rights And Mental Disability Law: When The Silenced Are Heard, Robert M. Sanger

Robert M. Sanger

Close Test Scores And Epigenetics In Atkins Cases, Robert M. Sanger

Robert M. Sanger

In the Atkins case, the United States Supreme Court held that it was unconstitutional to execute a person who was intellectually disabled (mentally retarded). An IQ score is evidence that can be considered in making the determination of whether a particular individual is intellectually disabled. Certain prosecution experts seek to add points to the scores of African Americans as a form of "ethnic adjustment" making those individuals more susceptible to being put to death. This article examines the molecular biology issues that may have an effect on whether such points should properly be added.

Can California Save Its Death Sentences? Will Californians Save The Expense?, Scott W. Howe

Scott W. Howe

Imposing a death sentence in California has become symbolism with a staggering price. From 1973 through 2009, California sentenced 927 persons to death but executed only thirteen. No executions have occurred since 2006. There are presently 714 persons on death row. Average delays between death sentences and executions are among the worst in the nation and in some cases will reach 30 years. One recent study estimated that taxpayers have spent more than $4,000,000,000 on the California death penalty since 1978 and more than $184,000,000 in 2009 alone.

This Article addresses two major questions about the future of California’s death …

Massachusetts Firearms Prosecutions In The Wake Of Melendez-Diaz, Kevin P. Chapman

Kevin P. Chapman

The Supreme Court ruling in Melendez-Diaz fundamentally changed the way that firearms offenses are prosecuted in Massachusetts. This paper presents the history of firearms prosecutions and the current state of the law, and it raises several unanswered questions that could further change the nature of future firearms prosecutions.

Corrupt Intentions: Bribery, Unlawful Gratuity, And Honest-Services Fraud, Alex Stein

Alex Stein

This Article develops an economic understanding of bribery, unlawful gratuity, and honest-services fraud offenses. Given the inherently transactional and private nature of these offenses, courts should elicit the parties’ intent from the economics of their exchange. When the exchange yields the parties a benefit not available on the open market, then - depending on the exchange’s particulars - it constitutes bribery, unlawful gratuity, or honest-services fraud. Based on this simple insight, I criticize the Supreme Court’s jurisprudence of criminal corruption.

The Relational Contingency Of Rights, Alex Stein, Gideon Parchomovsky

Alex Stein

In this Article, we demonstrate, contrary to conventional wisdom, that all rights are relationally contingent. Our main thesis is that rights afford their holders meaningful protection only against challengers who face higher litigation costs than the rightholder. Contrariwise, challengers who can litigate more cheaply than a rightholder can force the rightholder to forfeit the right and thereby render the right ineffective. Consequently, in the real world, rights avail only against certain challengers but not others. This result is robust and pervasive. Furthermore, it obtains irrespectively of how rights and other legal entitlements are defined by the legislator or construed by …

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

Ira P. Robbins

The Practice Of Criminal Defence: Why We Fight And Defend Those Most Imperilled, Every Day, Beau James Brock

Beau James Brock

Being a criminal defense attorney is a special calling. Aside from dealing with the human element, they also fight daily to see the government acts within the bounds established by the Bill of Rights.

The Empire Strikes Back: How To Prepare & Respond To Environmental Criminal Investigations, Beau James Brock, Andre Belanger

Beau James Brock

Powerpoint presentation on defending corporations, individuals, and governmental entities who are under criminal investigation by EPA.