Law Commons^™

Sentencing Roulette: How Virginia’S Criminal Sentencing System Is Imposing An Unconstitutional Trial Penalty That Suppresses The Rights Of Criminal Defendants To A Jury Trial, Caleb R. Stone

Caleb R. Stone

No abstract provided.

Empirical Research Report: The Use Of Technology In The Jury Room To Enhance Deliberations, Fredric I. Lederer

Fredric I. Lederer

Modern courtroom technology permits the use of technology in the jury deliberation room to enhance deliberations in both traditional trials and technology-augmented cases. SJI-funded research conducted by the Courtroom 21 Project surveyed the law of the United States with respect to statutory and case law governing the use of exhibits during deliberations; surveyed the state courts and, with the assistance of the Federal Judicial Center, the United States district courts concerning their deliberation practices and courtroom technology use; and conducted two controlled studies of the use of deliberation room technology in both traditional and technology-augmented trials. The Courtroom 21 protocol …

The Supreme Court And Public Schools, Erwin Chemerinsky

Erwin Chemerinsky

Review of Justin Driver's The Schoolhouse Gate: Public Education, the Supreme Court, and the Battle for the American Mind.

"Declinations With Disgorgement" In Fcpa Enforcement, Karen Woody

Karen Woody

This Article addresses the recent pretrial diversion scheme undertaken by the Department of Justice in conjunction with its Foreign Corrupt Practices Act Pilot Program—specifically, “declinations with disgorgement.” Pursuant to the Pilot Program, the Department of Justice declined to prosecute or even continue an investigation, provided the company disgorge its alleged ill-gotten gains. This Article dissects both the purpose of, and terminology used in, declinations with disgorgement and argues that this novel and creative pretrial diversion is a dangerous conflation of legal remedial theories and terms. A criminal disposition cannot be a declination with attendant penalties because either illegal activity occurred …

The Play(Fulness) Of Law, Nicole Rogers

Dr Nicole Rogers

In this thesis, I undertake an investigation into the relationship between play, playfulness and law. Law relies on a certain form of play, rule-bound orderly play; this is demonstrated, for example, in the ceremony of the trial. Furthermore, underpinning every legal system, we find a different form of play: the spontaneous and disruptive performances of revolutionary violence which found every state.

Play can be, in fact, an unpredictable force. Play can disrupt or derail the structured performances of law; play can deflect the violence of the state. I am interested in the dramatic possibilities of using subversive play, or playfulness, …

Discussion Of Antony Duff's 'Or 'Emet Lecture: Legal Philosophy Between State And Transnationalism, Antony Duff, François Tanguay-Renaud, Michael Giudice

François Tanguay-Renaud

Follow-up seminar on Antony Duff’s ‘Or ‘Emet Lecture, delivered on Thursday, March 14, 2013. Part of the Legal Philosophy Between State and Transnationalism Seminar Series. Respondents: Michael Giudice, York Philosophy and François Tanguay-Renaud, Osgoode Hall Law School.

Remedies: A Guide For The Perplexed, Doug Rendleman

Doug Rendleman

Remedies is one of a law student’s most practical courses. Remedies students and their professors learn to work with their eyes on the question at the end of litigation: what can the court do for the successful plaintiff? Remedies develops students’ professional identities and broadens their professional horizons by reorganizing their analysis of procedure, torts, contracts, and property around choosing and measuring relief - compensatory damages, punitive damages, an injunction, specific performance, disgorgement, and restitution. This article discusses the law-school course in Remedies - the content of the Remedies course, the Remedies classroom experience, and Remedies outside the classroom through …

State V. Stone: Problems And Case File, James Seckinger

James H. Seckinger

No abstract provided.

United States V. Peters Case File, James Seckinger, Kenneth Broun.

James H. Seckinger

No abstract provided.

A Comparative View Of Standards Of Proof, Kevin M. Clermont, Emily Sherwin

Emily L Sherwin

In common-law systems, the standard of proof for ordinary civil cases requires the party who bears the burden of proof to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the facts alleged are true. In contrast, the prevailing standard of proof for civil cases in civil-law systems is indistinguishable from the standard for criminal cases: the judge must be firmly convinced that the facts alleged are true. This striking difference in common-law and civil-law procedures has received very little attention from either civilian or comparative scholars. The preponderance standard applied in common-law systems is openly probabilistic and produces, on average, …

A Comparative View Of Standards Of Proof, Kevin M. Clermont, Emily Sherwin

Kevin M. Clermont

In common-law systems, the standard of proof for ordinary civil cases requires the party who bears the burden of proof to establish by a preponderance of the evidence that the facts alleged are true. In contrast, the prevailing standard of proof for civil cases in civil-law systems is indistinguishable from the standard for criminal cases: the judge must be firmly convinced that the facts alleged are true. This striking difference in common-law and civil-law procedures has received very little attention from either civilian or comparative scholars. The preponderance standard applied in common-law systems is openly probabilistic and produces, on average, …

She Makes Me Ashamed To Be A Woman: The Genocide Conviction Of Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, 2011, Mark A. Drumbl

Mark A. Drumbl

In the nearly twenty years since 1994, the international community and the Rwandan government have pushed to hold individual perpetrators accountable for the genocide. Judicialization has occurred at multiple levels. Over ninety persons-those deemed most responsible-have been indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), an ad hoc institution established by the U.N. Security Council in November 1994. Approximately ten thousand individuals have been prosecuted in specialized chambers of national courts in Rwanda. According to the Rwandan government, nearly two million people have faced neo-traditional gacaca proceedings conducted by elected lay judges throughout the country. Gacaca proceedings concluded in …

Setting The Record Straight: A Proposal For Handling Prosecutorial Appeals To Racial, Ethnic Or Gender Prejudice During Trial, Andrea Lyon

Andrea D. Lyon

No abstract provided.

You Can't Handle The Truth! Trial Juries And Credibility, Renée Hutchins

Renée M. Hutchins

Every now and again, we get a look, usually no more than a glimpse, at how the justice system really works. What we see—before the sanitizing curtain is drawn abruptly down—is a process full of human fallibility and error, sometimes noble, more often unfair, rarely evil but frequently unequal. The central question, vital to our adjudicative model, is: How well can we expect a jury to determine credibility through the ordinary adversary processes of live testimony and vigorous impeachment? The answer, from all I have been able to see is: not very well.

The Relation Between Punitive And Compensatory Awards: Combining Extreme Data With The Mass Of Awards, Theodore Eisenberg, Valerie P. Hans, Martin T. Wells

Valerie P. Hans

This article assesses the relation between punitive and compensatory damages by combining two data sets of extreme awards with state court data from the National Center for State Courts (NCSC) for 1992, 1996, and 2001. One data set of extreme awards consists of punitive damages awards in excess of $100 million from 1985 through 2003, gathered by Hersch and Viscusi (H-V); the other includes the National Law Journal's (NLJ) annual reports of the 100 largest trial verdicts from 2001 to 2004. The integration of these data sets provides the most comprehensive picture of punitive damages in American civil trials to …

The Twenty-First Century Jury: Worst Of Times Or Best Of Times?, Valerie P. Hans

Valerie P. Hans

In thinking about legal developments, new research findings, and the continuing swirl of controversy over this venerable American institution, I observe the same paradoxical condition that Charles Dickens found in 18th Century London: "It was the best of times; it was the worst of times." There is evidence of both the expansion of jury trial rights, yet contraction of jury trials. Research evidence indicates that juries perform well, yet the 21st Century jury confronts more complex decision making tasks and continuing doubts about its fairness and competence.

The More Things Change, The More They Stay The Same: A Comparison Of Medical Mal;Practice Trials In Virginia And North Carolina, Ralph Peeples

Ralph Peeples

This paper examines ten years (2000-2010) of medical malpractice trials conducted in Virginia and North Carolina. The primary source of our data are closed insurance records made available by an insurance company that provides malpractice coverage for physicians in both states. We are thus able to report on these trials in detail. We identify a number of the attributes of these trials, including demographic data, injury severity, outcomes at trial, physician specialty, medical allegations and insurer assessment of the cases. Plaintiffs were consistently more successful at trial in Virginia than in North Carolina. We discuss possible explanations for this difference, …

The Doctors’ Trial At Nuremberg, Louise Harmon

Louise Harmon

No abstract provided.

Death Penalty Cases Impose Singular Burden, Judith L. Ritter, Ross Kleinstuber

Judith L Ritter

No abstract provided.

The Introduction Of Jury Trials And Adversarial Elements Into The Former Soviet Union And Other Inquisitorial Countries, James W. Diehm

James W. Diehm

Criminal Trials Of Co-Defendants: The United States Supreme Court Clarifies The Rules, Judith Ritter

Judith L Ritter

No abstract provided.

The X Files: Joint Trials, Redacted Confessions And Thirty Years Of Sidestepping Bruton, Judith L. Ritter

Judith L Ritter

No abstract provided.

Reappraising The Jury's Role As Finder Of Fact, Martin Kotler

Martin A. Kotler

This Article addresses the question of whether and under what circumstances a trial judge should give a jury a so-called “ultimate outcome instruction,” informing the jurors of the legal consequences which will flow from their factual determinations. Thus, for example, in a state where a finding that the plaintiff’s negligence was equal to the defendant’s will result in no recovery, should the jury be so instructed. Similarly, should jurors be told whether awards are taxable in a civil case or instructed on sentencing practices in a criminal case.

It concludes that unless such an instruction is legislatively mandated, it is …