Law Commons^™

Crime Analysis And Its Applications Throughout Different Countries And Systems, Derek Blanc

Williams Honors College, Honors Research Projects

Crime analysis plays a vital role in policing and maintaining law and order throughout many countries around the globe. The application and uses of crime analysis can vary greatly not only worldwide, but also between local police agencies as well. Many factors, including resources that are available, as well as funding and the legal frameworks in place can all affect how crime analysis is used and operated. This paper will provide a deeper understanding of how the criminal justice system has evolved into the way it is today, as well as how crime analysis was developed. In addition, the paper …

Sentencing By Ambush: An Insider's Perspective On Plea Bargaining Reform, Justice Michael P. Donnelly

Akron Law Review

The vast majority of cases in our state criminal justice system are resolved not by proceeding to trial but through negotiated plea agreements. These are contracts between the government and the accused in which both sides are negotiating for some form of benefit in the ultimate resolution. In this article, Justice Donnelly exposes what he sees as a flaw in the system in the manner in which trial court judges oversee this process of negotiation. In a significant number of cases, the state induces defendants to enter into a guilty plea with no certain sentence, amounting to an illusory agreement …

Book Review: James Duane, You Have The Right To Remain Innocent: What Police Officers Tell Their Children About The Fifth Amendment, Cecily J. Mullins

ConLawNOW

In this essay, the student author reviews the book You Have the Right to Remain Innocent by James Duane, which emphasizes the inherent risks of speaking to the police, regardless of whether or not you have something to hide.

Finding Justice, Laurie L. Levenson

ConLawNOW

In this essay memoralizing remarks presented on Constitution Day, Professor Laurie Levenson reflects on her transition from federal prosecutor to defense attorney as founder of Loyola Law School’s Project for the Innocent. She recounts the stories of two clients freed by the work of the Project. She then discusses how this work revealed blind faith in the Constitution is not enough to ensure that only the guilty are convicted. We need to do better. Levenson argues that we need to realize that constitutional rights only protect individuals if both prosecutors and defense lawyers want those rights to work. A prosecutor …

Fighting Collateral Sanctions One Statute At A Time: Addressing The Inadequacy Of Child Endangerment Statutes And How They Affect The Employment Aspirations Of Criminal Offenders, Sarah Wetzel

Akron Law Review

In an age where one in four adult Americans has a criminal record, post-conviction relief measures and review of criminal statutes is on the rise. This Comment addresses the inadequacy of current child endangerment statutes around the country by providing examples of those which are too broad and result in convictions of well-meaning parents and those which are too narrow and allow other parents to harm their children without repercussion. It then places these statutes in the context of collateral sanctions that are imposed on individuals with child endangerment convictions, particularly those related to employment and professional licensing.

Plea Bargaining As Dialogue, Rinat Kitai-Sangero

Akron Law Review

This Article proposes turning plea bargaining into a dialogical process, which would result in lessening a defendant’s sense of alienation during the progress of the criminal justice procedure. This Article argues that plea bargaining constitutes an opportunity to circumvent restrictions existing during a trial or outside a trial, such as the inadmissibility of character evidence and the need for the victim's consent in restorative justice proceedings. This Article proposes to navigate the plea bargaining process in a way that creates a real dialogue with defendants. Such a dialogue can reduce the sense of alienation that defendants feel from their position …

Justice Blackmun And Criminal Justice: A Modest Overview, Stephen L. Wasby

Akron Law Review

Justice Harry A. Blackmun was nominated for a position on the Supreme Court in 1970 by President Richard M. Nixon after the Senate rejected Nixon's nominations of Judges Clement Haynsworth and G. Harrold Carswell. Blackmun, as a judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit for eleven years, had written opinions that reflected "judicial restraint, an appreciation for the limits of judicial authority and deference to state and legislative prerogatives" as well as conservatism on defendants' rights and civil liberties issues. These strains of thought made him attractive to a president looking for someone supporting the "war …

Reforming Eyewitness Identification Law And Practices To Protect The Innocent, Margery Koosed

Akron Law Faculty Publications

This article discusses varying eyewitness identification reform proposals that may help to finally achieve a greater level of reliability in this critical phase of the criminal justice process. The author concludes a comprehensive reform that includes tightening exclusionary rules, along with (minimally) corroboration requirements for death-sentencing, and more appropriately, for convictions in capital and non-capital cases, with a concomitant loosening of standards for relief on appeal, hold the most promise.

The article addresses adopting best practices; assuring compliance by means of exclusion; admitting expert testimony and educating juries; instructing on the vagaries of eyewitness identification; requiring corroboration with independent and …

Reforming Eyewitness Identification Law And Practices To Protect The Innocent, Margery Koosed

Margery Koosed

This article discusses varying eyewitness identification reform proposals that may help to finally achieve a greater level of reliability in this critical phase of the criminal justice process. The author concludes a comprehensive reform that includes tightening exclusionary rules, along with (minimally) corroboration requirements for death-sentencing, and more appropriately, for convictions in capital and non-capital cases, with a concomitant loosening of standards for relief on appeal, hold the most promise.

The article addresses adopting best practices; assuring compliance by means of exclusion; admitting expert testimony and educating juries; instructing on the vagaries of eyewitness identification; requiring corroboration with independent and …