Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 9 of 9
Full-Text Articles in Law
Forward: Symposium On Broke And Broken: Can We Fix Our State Indigent Defense System?, Rodney J. Uphoff
Forward: Symposium On Broke And Broken: Can We Fix Our State Indigent Defense System?, Rodney J. Uphoff
Faculty Publications
The Symposium presenters and commentators, most of whom had worked at some point in their career as a public defender, brought a wealth of experience to the discussion. While the presentations and comments made that day, together with the articles that follow in this Symposium issue, do not provide any quick fix or easy solution, they do offer some important lessons for lawmakers to consider as states struggle to improve the plight of indigent defenders and their clients.
The Sounds Of Silence: American Criminal Justice Policy In Election Year 2008, Frank O. Bowman Iii
The Sounds Of Silence: American Criminal Justice Policy In Election Year 2008, Frank O. Bowman Iii
Faculty Publications
One of the striking features of the 2008 election cycle has been the absence of crime as a national political issue. Nobody has declared metaphorical war on any type of crime, run an ad about the depredations of a parolee, or even promised 100,000 cops. It may simply be that for a country embroiled in two nonmetaphorical foreign wars and deeply nervous about the state of the economy, crime is a second-order concern. It could be that the big drop in crime of all types throughout the 1990s has made the issue seem less pressing. Whatever the explanation, things are …
Sentencing High-Loss Corporate Insider Frauds After Booker, Frank O. Bowman Iii
Sentencing High-Loss Corporate Insider Frauds After Booker, Frank O. Bowman Iii
Faculty Publications
The Federal Sentencing Guidelines have for some years prescribed substantial sentences for high-level corporate officials convicted of large frauds. Guidelines sentences for offenders of this type moved higher in 2001 with the passage of the Economic Crime Package amendments to the Guidelines, and higher still in the wake of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. Today, any corporate insider convicted of even a moderately high-loss fraud is facing a guideline range measured in decades, or perhaps even mandatory life imprisonment. Successful sentencing advocacy on behalf of such defendants requires convincing the court to impose a sentence outside (in many cases, far …
On Misjudging And Its Implications For Criminal Defendants, Their Lawyers And The Criminal Justice System, Rodney J. Uphoff
On Misjudging And Its Implications For Criminal Defendants, Their Lawyers And The Criminal Justice System, Rodney J. Uphoff
Faculty Publications
Unquestionably, judges misjudge. Even the most arrogant of judges ultimately will concede that all judges err and, at some point, fail to apply governing law to the facts of the case accurately. Although all might agree that judges err, not all judges, lawyers, and scholars agree on how judges should behave or on what constitutes good judging. Not surprisingly, they also disagree about misjudging and the frequency with which it occurs.In his provocative article Misjudging, Chris Guthrie contends that “misjudging is more common, more systematic, and more harmful than the legal system has fully realized.” Based on my observations and …
Who Should Control The Decision To Call A Witness: Respecting A Criminal Defendant's Tactical Choices, Rodney J. Uphoff
Who Should Control The Decision To Call A Witness: Respecting A Criminal Defendant's Tactical Choices, Rodney J. Uphoff
Faculty Publications
A law student approached me not long ago to discuss a problem he had encountered while helping to prepare a criminal case for retrial. The defendant's first trial ended with a hung jury. The defendant, Steven Brown, now faced a second trial on the same misdemeanor charge of assaulting a police officer. Although the defendant still wanted to go to trial, Brown told defense counsel that he did not want his elderly father to have to testify again. From defense counsel's standpoint, the father's testimony was critical because he was the only witness corroborating the defendant's version of the event. …
Allocation Of Decisionmaking Between Defense Counsel And Criminal Defendant: An Empirical Study Of Attorney-Client Decisionmaking, Rodney J. Uphoff
Allocation Of Decisionmaking Between Defense Counsel And Criminal Defendant: An Empirical Study Of Attorney-Client Decisionmaking, Rodney J. Uphoff
Faculty Publications
In Commonwealth v. Woodward, the highly publicized murder trial of an au pair accused of killing an infant in her care, the defense team faced a strategic decision commonly encountered at trial: whether to request or to object to lesser included jury instructions. Put simply, the Woodward defense team had to decide whether to ask for an instruction that would permit the jury to return a manslaughter verdict, or to object to such an instruction, leaving the jury only the choice either to acquit the defendant or to convict her of second degree murder as charged in the indictment. Undoubtedly …
Romer V. Evans And The Permissibility Of Morality Legislation, S. I. Strong
Romer V. Evans And The Permissibility Of Morality Legislation, S. I. Strong
Faculty Publications
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, two of England's most respected jurists engaged in an on-going debate that would take the legal world by storm. The debate concerned whether and to what extent morality should be reflected in the law and was instigated by the publication of the Wolfenden Report, a study presented to Parliament as it considered whether to repeal certain antisodomy laws in Great Britain. On the one hand was Lord Patrick Devlin, a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary later elevated to the House of Lords, Britain's highest court. Devlin opposed the conclusions contained in the Wolfenden …
Justice Scalia As A Modern Lord Devlin: Animus And Civil Burdens In Romer V. Evans, S. I. Strong
Justice Scalia As A Modern Lord Devlin: Animus And Civil Burdens In Romer V. Evans, S. I. Strong
Faculty Publications
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, the legal world was captivated by an ongoing debate between two of England's most respected jurists regarding whether and to what extent morality should be reflected in the law. The debate was instigated by the publication of the Wolfenden Report, a study presented to Parliament as it considered whether to repeal certain antisodomy laws in Great Britain. Lord Patrick Devlin, then a Lord of Appeal in Ordinary and later elevated to the House of Lords, Britain's highest court, opposed the conclusions contained in the Wolfenden Report and supported the continuation of the antisodomy …
The Criminal Defense Lawyer As Effective Negotiator: A Systemic Approach, Rodney J. Uphoff
The Criminal Defense Lawyer As Effective Negotiator: A Systemic Approach, Rodney J. Uphoff
Faculty Publications
In the first issue of the Clinical Law Review, Peter Hoffman challenged clinical legal educators to produce clinical scholarship that is “practical in its orientation and design” and written so as to enhance the ability of lawyers to represent their clients and to help law students prepare for law practice. This article takes up Hoffman's challenge in the context of examining the skill of negotiating or plea bargaining from the perspective of the criminal defense lawyer. Before discussing the methods, approach or techniques that lawyers can use to enhance their ability to bargain effectively, it is critical to understand what …