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Full-Text Articles in Law
Execution In Virginia, 1859: The Trials Of Green And Copeland, Steven Lubet
Execution In Virginia, 1859: The Trials Of Green And Copeland, Steven Lubet
Faculty Working Papers
This essay tells the story of Shields Green and John Copeland, two black men who joined John Brown's raid on Harper's Ferry. Along with Brown and several others, Green and Copeland were taken prisoner in the aftermath of the failed insurrection, and they were brought to trial in nearby Charlestown on charges of murder and treason. Unlike Brown, who was treated respectfully by his captors, Green and Copeland were handled roughly. Copeland in particular was subjected to a harsh interrogation that was criticized even by pro-slavery Democrats in the North. The black prisoners did, however, have the benefit of a …
The Language Of Consent In Police Encounters, Janice Nadler, J.D. Trout
The Language Of Consent In Police Encounters, Janice Nadler, J.D. Trout
Faculty Working Papers
In this chapter, we examine the nature of conversations in citizen-police encounters in which police seek to conduct a search based on the citizen's consent. We argue that when police officers ask a person if they can search, citizens often feel enormous pressure to say yes. But judges routinely ignore these pressures, choosing instead to spotlight the politeness and restraint of the officers' language and demeanor. Courts often analyze the language of police encounters as if the conversation has an obvious, context-free meaning. The pragmatic features of language influence behavior, but courts routinely ignore or deny this fact. Instead, current …