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Articles 1 - 14 of 14

Full-Text Articles in Law

The Punishment Need Not Fit The Crime: Harmelin V. Michigan And The Eigth Amendment, Scott K. Petersen Nov 2012

The Punishment Need Not Fit The Crime: Harmelin V. Michigan And The Eigth Amendment, Scott K. Petersen

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.


Criminal Law And Procedure, Aaron J. Campbell, Kathleen B. Martin Nov 2012

Criminal Law And Procedure, Aaron J. Campbell, Kathleen B. Martin

University of Richmond Law Review

This article aims to give the criminal law practitioner a succinct review of significant cases regarding criminal law and procedure decided by the Supreme Court of Virginia and the Court ofAppeals of Virginia during the past year. The authors have focused their discussion of the cases on cogent points found in the holdings. The article also briefly summarizes recent legislative enactments pertaining to criminal law.


Fast-Track Sentencing: A Potential Solution To The Divisive Discretion, Elizabeth Weber Nov 2012

Fast-Track Sentencing: A Potential Solution To The Divisive Discretion, Elizabeth Weber

Missouri Law Review

This Summary examines the current federal sentencing regime, the establishment of fast-track programs, and the resulting circuit split regarding whether a judge can grant a defendant a more lenient sentence based on the lack of availability of a fast-track option in that jurisdiction. Further, it discusses more recent developments regarding the circuit split and how the new DOJ policy purports to resolve the issue. Finally, this Summary argues that while this change does solve the sentencing disparity problem, it conflicts with the congressional policy underlying the official sanction of fast-track programs.


What Goes Around Comes Around-Nichols V. United States: Validating The Collateral Use Of Uncounseled Misdemeanor Convictions For The Purpose Of Sentence Enhancement, Andrea E. Joseph Oct 2012

What Goes Around Comes Around-Nichols V. United States: Validating The Collateral Use Of Uncounseled Misdemeanor Convictions For The Purpose Of Sentence Enhancement, Andrea E. Joseph

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.


Law Enforcement And Criminal Law Decisions, Erwin Chemerinsky Oct 2012

Law Enforcement And Criminal Law Decisions, Erwin Chemerinsky

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.


What One Hand Giveth, The Other Taketh Away: How Future Dangerousness Corrupts Guilt Verdicts And Produces Premature Punishment Decisions In Capital Cases, Elizabeth S. Vartkessian Oct 2012

What One Hand Giveth, The Other Taketh Away: How Future Dangerousness Corrupts Guilt Verdicts And Produces Premature Punishment Decisions In Capital Cases, Elizabeth S. Vartkessian

Pace Law Review

No abstract provided.


The Debate On Whether Life Sentences Should Be Considered: Will Missouri's Proportionality Review Remain Meaningful, Alexandra E. Wilson-Schoone Jun 2012

The Debate On Whether Life Sentences Should Be Considered: Will Missouri's Proportionality Review Remain Meaningful, Alexandra E. Wilson-Schoone

Missouri Law Review

This Law Summary will address the Supreme Court of Missouri's proportionality review jurisprudence, the rationales of two opinions in Deck," and the relationship of the Deck opinions to precedent and public policy. Additionally, this Summary will address the court's subsequent application of and debate about proportionality review as well as the legislative response. Finally, this Summary will conclude that for proportionality review to serve a meaningful function, the court must consider all affirmed, factually similar capital cases that resulted in either life imprisonment or a death sentence because only considering factually similar cases which resulted in the death penalty essentially …


Apprendi V. New Jersey, The Scaling Back Of The Sentencing Factor Revolution And The Resurrection Of Criminal Defendant Rights, How Far Is Too Far?, Analisa Swan May 2012

Apprendi V. New Jersey, The Scaling Back Of The Sentencing Factor Revolution And The Resurrection Of Criminal Defendant Rights, How Far Is Too Far?, Analisa Swan

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.


Cost As A Sentencing Factor: A Response, Jeff Milyo Apr 2012

Cost As A Sentencing Factor: A Response, Jeff Milyo

Missouri Law Review

Professor Chad Flanders offers a normative theoretical critique of including costs of punishment in Sentence Advisory Reports (SARs) that the Missouri Sentencing Advisory Commission (MOSAC) produces. This approach provides a useful lens for understanding divergent opinions on the practice of including cost information in SARs and provides a consistent logical framework for understanding whether this practice squares with more fundamental principles of criminal punishment. In this Response, I complement the normative analysis in the main Article with several observations from a different analytical perspective. As an empirical social scientist, my analytical approach is based on positive analysis. I am less …


Cost As A Sentencing Factor: Missouri's Experiment, Chad Flanders Apr 2012

Cost As A Sentencing Factor: Missouri's Experiment, Chad Flanders

Missouri Law Review

This argument is avowedly theoretical and normative. That is, this Article tries to determine what judges ought to do, not what they in fact do. Judges and attorneys may argue cost at sentencing hearings, and many of them do. That does not mean that they should be debating cost or basing sentencing decisions on it. I also am not concerned about whether, pragmatically, letting judges figure cost into their decisions might be a good thing overall, because it might lead to lower sentences. I put these concerns to one side, important as they may be as a practical matter. Instead, …


Criminal Sanctions In The Defense Of The Innocent, Ehud Guttel, Doron Teichman Feb 2012

Criminal Sanctions In The Defense Of The Innocent, Ehud Guttel, Doron Teichman

Michigan Law Review

Under the formal rules of criminal procedure, fact finders are required to apply a uniform standard of proof in all criminal cases. Experimental studies as well as real world examples indicate, however, that fact finders often adjust the evidentiary threshold for conviction in accordance with the severity of the applicable sanction. All things being equal, the higher the sanction, the higher the standard of proof that fact finders will apply in order to convict. Building on this insight, this Article introduces a new paradigm for criminal punishments-a paradigm that focuses on designing penalties that will reduce the risk of unsubstantiated …


Every High Has A Low: A Pragmatic Approach To The War On Drugs, Mark Garibyan Jan 2012

Every High Has A Low: A Pragmatic Approach To The War On Drugs, Mark Garibyan

University of Michigan Journal of Law Reform Caveat

One of the lasting vestiges of Richard Nixon’s presidency is the infamous “War on Drugs,” a forty-year-old effort aimed at curtailing “illicit drug consumption and transactions in America.” Although the goal behind the policy—a reduction in the rate of substance abuse—may be altruistic, the War on Drugs has dismally failed to achieve its goals and has exacerbated existing problems. Specifically, laws dealing with crack cocaine result in a “heavily disproportionate impact on black defendants;” in 2008 “blacks comprised 79.8 percent of those convicted for crack cocaine-related offenses,” whereas “whites comprised only 10.4 percent.” More generally, these laws illustrate a fundamental …


Pain, Love, And Voice: The Role Of Domestic Violence Victims In Sentencing, Hadar Dancig-Rosenberg, Dana Pugach Jan 2012

Pain, Love, And Voice: The Role Of Domestic Violence Victims In Sentencing, Hadar Dancig-Rosenberg, Dana Pugach

Michigan Journal of Gender & Law

Criminal law systems throughout the world have evolved to a stage where they no longer ask, "What is the appropriate role of the victim in a criminal trial?" The questions now relate to the scope of the victim's rights, in which procedures she has independent standing, and at what stage she should be heard. The process of the "prosecution stepping into the victim's shoes," whereby the state controls the entire criminal process, seemingly on behalf of the victim, has been replaced by the recognition that the interests of the prosecution (the State) are not always consistent with those of the …


An Eighth Amendment Analysis Of Juvenile Life Without Parole: Extending Graham To All Juvenile Offenders, Robert Johnson, Chris Miller Jan 2012

An Eighth Amendment Analysis Of Juvenile Life Without Parole: Extending Graham To All Juvenile Offenders, Robert Johnson, Chris Miller

University of Maryland Law Journal of Race, Religion, Gender and Class

No abstract provided.