Law Commons^™

Prosecutorial Peremptory Challenge Practices In Capital Cases: An Empirical Study And A Constitutional Analysis, Bruce J. Winick

Michigan Law Review

As presently construed, the Constitution does not prohibit the death penalty. The states and the federal government may punish the commission of certain crimes with death, so long as the extreme penalty is not imposed on a mandatory basis and so long as the procedures used in imposing a death sentence meet constitutional scrutiny.

A demonstration that the prosecutor used the peremptory challenge in the manner described in a single case probably would be insufficient to support a constitutional challenge in the federal courts and in the vast majority of state courts. In these courts a prosecutor's use of the …

Evaluating Michigan's Guilty But Mentally Ill Verdict: An Empirical Study, Gare A. Smith, James A. Hall

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

Because Michigan's GBMI statute has been in effect for several years, enough data exists to assess the statute's use and practical effect. The purpose of this Project is to evaluate the statute and thus provide guidance for those legislatures considering similar proposals. This Project concludes that the new verdict has completely failed in its intended purpose. Part I describes the statute's history, legislative purpose, and procedural mechanics. Part II analyzes the displacing effect of the GBMI verdict on other verdicts, and sets forth empirical data on the disparate characteristics of defendants who raise the insanity defense and are subsequently found …

Legitimacy In Social Reform Litigation: An Empirical Study, Timothy Wilton

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform

This Article undertakes a detailed examination of a single lawsuit, Martin Luther King Junior Elementary School Children v. Ann Arbor School District Board. This study first explores the diversity of interests present among both the plaintiff and defendant groups in King, and analyzes the performance of the attorneys in representing these interests. The Article then turns to the problems of resistance that arise at the decree stage in social reform litigation, and presents an empirical evaluation of the factors influencing the response to judicially mandated relief.