Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Law Commons

Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®

Articles 61 - 83 of 83

Full-Text Articles in Law

Grand Jury Discretion And Constitutional Design, Roger Fairfax Jan 2008

Grand Jury Discretion And Constitutional Design, Roger Fairfax

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

The grand jury possesses an unqualified power to decline to indict - despite probable cause that alleged criminal conduct has occurred. A grand jury might exercise this power, for example, to disagree with the wisdom of a criminal law or its application to a particular defendant. A grand jury might also use its discretionary power to send a message of disapproval regarding biased or unwise prosecutorial decisions or inefficient allocation of law enforcement resources in the community. This ability to exercise discretion on bases beyond the sufficiency of the evidence has been characterized pejoratively as grand jury nullification. The dominant …


The Jurisdictional Heritage Of The Grand Jury Clause, Roger A. Fairfax Dec 2006

The Jurisdictional Heritage Of The Grand Jury Clause, Roger A. Fairfax

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.


A Tribute To Professor Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., Roger Fairfax Jan 2006

A Tribute To Professor Charles J. Ogletree, Jr., Roger Fairfax

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

I recall vividly how, as a junior at Harvard College, I landed a coveted position on Professor Ogletree's office hours list. My ostensible purpose for taking an office hours slot away from a deserving law school student was to discuss the college seminar paper I was writing on the District of Columbia statehood movement. Although I did leave that meeting with several fruitful research leads, I was much more satisfied with achieving my true aim-to meet in person this man about whom I had heard so many wonderful things. The professor did not disappoint. As I sat in his office-the …


Multicultural Feminism: Assessing Systemic Fault In A Provocative Context, Camille Nelson Jan 2006

Multicultural Feminism: Assessing Systemic Fault In A Provocative Context, Camille Nelson

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

INTRODUCTION Strictly speaking, the cultural defense is really no defense at all. Instead, it is the moniker attached by defense attorneys to their advocacy which seeks to personalize the accused in one of two ways: First by injecting a reasonable doubt into the mens rea intent requirement - this would result in acquittal, or second, by contextualizing an affirmative defense, like provocation, by the provision of cultural information about the accused - this would result in mitigated sentencing. Central to defense attorneys' uses of the cultural defense is the criminal defendant's perceived "foreignness." This much has been recognized by scholars …


Without Charge: Assessing The Due Process Rights Of Unindicted Co-Conspirators, Ira Robbins Jan 2004

Without Charge: Assessing The Due Process Rights Of Unindicted Co-Conspirators, Ira Robbins

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

The grand jury practice of naming individuals as unindicted co-conspirators routinely results in injury to reputations,lost employment opportunities, and a practical inability to run for public office. Yet, because these individuals are not parties to a criminal trial, they have neither the right to present evidence northe opportunity to clear their names. Thus, Professor Robbins argues that the practice violates the Fifth Amendment guarantee that “[n]o person shall . . . be deprived of life, liberty, or property,without due process of law[.]” While prosecutors may offer many justifications to support the practice of namingunindicted co-conspirators, these reasons do not withstand …


Too Little, Too Late: Ineffective Assistance Of Counsel, The Duty To Investigate, And Pretrial Discovery In Criminal Cases, Jenny M. Roberts Jan 2004

Too Little, Too Late: Ineffective Assistance Of Counsel, The Duty To Investigate, And Pretrial Discovery In Criminal Cases, Jenny M. Roberts

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.


Mental Health And Incarceration: What A Bad Combination, Olinda Moyd Jan 2003

Mental Health And Incarceration: What A Bad Combination, Olinda Moyd

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

The District of Columbia has one of the highest per capita incarceration and criminal justice supervision rates in the United States1 and among the highest in the world. The local prison population has risen dramatically over the past decade for a variety of reasons including increased rates of re-incarceration for parole violations and the imposition of longer sentences for drug offenses. Recent acts of Congress have seriously impacted the sentencing laws in the District including determination of where persons sentenced for violating local D.C. laws will serve such sentences. On August 5, 1997, President Clinton signed into law The National …


Justice By The Numbers: The Supreme Court And The Rule Of Four-Or Is It Five?, Ira Robbins Jan 2002

Justice By The Numbers: The Supreme Court And The Rule Of Four-Or Is It Five?, Ira Robbins

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

INTRODUCTION:In the early hours of April 14, 2000, Robert Lee Tarver died in Alabama's electric chair, even though four Justices of the United States Supreme Court had voted to review the merits of his case. This situation is not unique. Each year, practitioners and pro se litigants alike petition the Supreme Court without fully knowing the rules pursuant to which the Court will decide their client's, or their own, fate. The reason is that the Supreme Court operates under two sets of rules-those that are published and those that are not. The former specify This Article is based on a …


I Want A Black Lawyer To Represent Me: Addressing A Black Defendant's Concerns With Being Assigned A White Court-Appointed Lawyer, Kenneth P. Troccoli Jan 2002

I Want A Black Lawyer To Represent Me: Addressing A Black Defendant's Concerns With Being Assigned A White Court-Appointed Lawyer, Kenneth P. Troccoli

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

"I want a Black lawyer to represent me." These are the first words you hear after you introduce yourself to your new client. You have been appointed to represent this man on a criminal charge. You are white. He is Black. You answer that you are an experienced criminal lawyer and will represent him to the best of your ability, regardless of his or your race. He responds that he too is experienced with the criminal justice system-a system that targets Black men, like himself, for prosecution far more than whites, that sentences Black men to prison more frequently and …


Managed Health Care In Prisons As Cruel And Unusual Punishment, Ira Robbins Jan 1999

Managed Health Care In Prisons As Cruel And Unusual Punishment, Ira Robbins

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

INTRODUCTION:Billy Roberts, a prisoner in an Alabama state prison, had a history of severe psychiatric disorders. He was often put on suicide watch, and received large doses of psychotropic drugs. A managed health care company, Correctional Medical Services (CMS), was responsible for the health care at the prison. After Roberts had a suicidal episode, CMS's statewide mental health care director reportedly put Roberts in an isolation cell rather than a psychiatric care unit. The mental health care director also ordered that Roberts' medication be discontinued pursuant to an alleged policy of CMS to get as many prisoners off psycho- tropic …


News Media Coverage Of The United States Supreme Court, Stephen Wermiel Jan 1998

News Media Coverage Of The United States Supreme Court, Stephen Wermiel

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.


Wielding The Double-Edge Sword: Charles Hamilton Houston And Judicial Activism In The Age Of Legal Realism, Roger Fairfax Jan 1998

Wielding The Double-Edge Sword: Charles Hamilton Houston And Judicial Activism In The Age Of Legal Realism, Roger Fairfax

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

A new progressive movement in the law profoundly affected the American judicial climate of the 1930s and 1940s. The jurisprudence of American Legal Realism, which sprang from the progressive American sociological jurisprudence, boasted the adherence of some of America's most influential legal minds. Legal Realism, which complemented the New Deal reform legislation emerging in the 1930s, advocated judicial deference to legislative and administrative channels on matters of social and economic policy. Judicial activism, which had been used as a tool for the protection of economic rights since the late nineteenth century, was seen as inimical to progressive social reform and, …


The Revitalization Of The Common-Law Civil Writ Of Audita Querela As A Post-Conviction Remedy In Criminal Cases: The Immigration Context And Beyond, Ira Robbins Jan 1992

The Revitalization Of The Common-Law Civil Writ Of Audita Querela As A Post-Conviction Remedy In Criminal Cases: The Immigration Context And Beyond, Ira Robbins

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

Introduction: An alien lawfully enters the United States in 1972. He gets a job, gets married, and becomes a productive worker in the community. He is subsequently convicted of a felony, such as making false statements on a loan application. As a result, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) brings deportation proceedings against him. The individual will seek any means possible to vacate the conviction, in order to stay in this country.' This Article explores whether the writ of audita querela. primarily used to provide post-judgment relief in civil cases at common law, can be used to challenge criminal convictions …


Attempting The Impossible: The Emerging Consensus, Ira Robbins Jan 1986

Attempting The Impossible: The Emerging Consensus, Ira Robbins

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

Impossible attempts are situations in which an actor fails to consummate a substantive crime because he is mistaken about attendant circumstances. Professor Robbins divides mistakes regarding circumstances into three categories: mistakes of fact, mistakes of law, and mistakes of mixed fact and law. Courts and commentators disagree primarily over the identification and treatment of mixed fact law cases. Professor Robbins surveys each category of mistake. He then examines the objective, subjective, and hybrid approaches to dealing with the mixed fact/law category. The objective approach requires an objective manifestation of the actor's intent before conviction is allowed. The subjective approach permits …


The Habeas Corpus Certificate Of Probable Cause, Ira P. Robbins Jan 1983

The Habeas Corpus Certificate Of Probable Cause, Ira P. Robbins

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.


Legal Aspects Of Prison Riots, Ira Robbins Jan 1982

Legal Aspects Of Prison Riots, Ira Robbins

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

Introduction: Riots are a recurrent phenomenon in American prisons. In the 1950s and the early 1970s, major riots erupted in prisons across the country, and many have occurred in the past several years.' Riots will continue to occur as long as the dominant function of prisons is the custodial confinement of inmates. As one commentator explains, "The way to make a strong bomb is to build a strong perimeter and generate pressure inside. Similarly, riots occur where ... pressures and demands are generated in the presence of strong custodial confinement."When such a bomb detonates and a prison riot erupts, a …


The Cry Of Wolfish In The Federal Courts: The Future Of Federal Judicial Intervention In Prison Administration, Ira Robbins Jan 1980

The Cry Of Wolfish In The Federal Courts: The Future Of Federal Judicial Intervention In Prison Administration, Ira Robbins

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

Introduction: In Bell v. Wolfish, the United States Supreme Court held that, with respect to conditions or restrictions having no specific constitutional source for protection, a pretrial detainee in a federal correctional center has a right under the due process clause of the fifth amendment to be free from any punitive conditions or restrictions during detention. The Court further held that all of the challenged practices and conditions were valid because they were rationally related to the legitimate non-punitive purposes of the detention center. Thus, the correctional facility could place two detainees in a cell built for one, prohibit receipt …


Improving Police Discretion: Rationality In Handling Public Inebriates Part Ii, David Aaronson , C. Dienes, Michael Musheno Jan 1978

Improving Police Discretion: Rationality In Handling Public Inebriates Part Ii, David Aaronson , C. Dienes, Michael Musheno

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

In 1913 Eugene Ehrlich spoke of the living law when he stated that "[a]t the present as well as at any other time, the center of gravity of legal development lies not in legislation, nor in juristic science, nor in judicial decision, but in society itself.' This article is premised on the belief that Ehrlich's perception is as valid today as it was then. If you want to know the law relating to public intoxication you cannot be content with the statutes and ordinances, in the court decisions nor even the administrative rules and regulations of those charged with enforcing …


Changing The Public Drunkenness Laws: The Impact Of Decriminalization, David Aaronson Jan 1978

Changing The Public Drunkenness Laws: The Impact Of Decriminalization, David Aaronson

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

Laws that decriminalize public drunkenness continue to use the police as the major intake agent for public inebriates under the "new" public health model of detoxification and treatment. Assuming that decriminalization introduces many disincentives to police intervention using legally sanctioned procedures, we hypothesize that it will be fol- lowed by a statistically significant decline in the number of public inebriates formally handled by the police in the manner designated by the "law in the books." Using an "interrupted time-series quasi- experiment" based on a "stratified multiple-group single-I design," we confirm this hypothesis for Washington, D.C., and Minneapolis, Minnesota. However, through …


Improving Police Discretion Rationality In Handling Public Inebriates Part Ii, David Aaronson Jan 1978

Improving Police Discretion Rationality In Handling Public Inebriates Part Ii, David Aaronson

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.


Improving Police Discretion: Rationality In Handling Public Inebriates, David Aaronson , C. Dienes, Michael Musheno Jan 1977

Improving Police Discretion: Rationality In Handling Public Inebriates, David Aaronson , C. Dienes, Michael Musheno

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

This two-part article reports on the findings of the "prescriptive" phase of the American University Law School's Project on Public Inebriation.' First, we provide a framework or model designed to contribute to efforts to improve the rationality of police discretion and the quality of discretionary justice. Second, we seek to increase understanding of, and provide the basis for improving, the intake process whereby public inebriates are delivered to designated facilities-jails, detoxification centers, etc.-in criminal and decriminalized jurisdictions. While the article focuses on the discretionary power of police officers to remove street inebriates, it should increase awareness of problems of decriminalizing …


Improving Police Discretion: Rationality In Handling Public Inebriates, David Aaronson Jan 1977

Improving Police Discretion: Rationality In Handling Public Inebriates, David Aaronson

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

No abstract provided.


A Reconsideration Of The Fourth Amendment's Doctrine Of Search Incident To Arrest.Pdf, David Aaronson Jan 1975

A Reconsideration Of The Fourth Amendment's Doctrine Of Search Incident To Arrest.Pdf, David Aaronson

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

INTRODUCTION: The doctrine of search incident to arrest provides that, as an incident to every lawful full custody arrest, law enforcement officers have an automatic right to conduct a thorough search of the arrestee and the area within his immediate control.' Although the Supreme Court has stated that the search incident to arrest exception to the fourth amendment's general requirement of a search warrant has been "settled from its first enunciation," the doctrine should be reexamined in terms of constitutional jurisprudence.