Law Commons^™

The Collini Case: A Novel (Book Review), Michael S. Ariens

Faculty Articles

Ferdinand von Schirach is a German criminal defense lawyer who has previously published two vivid and brilliant short story collections. His latest book, The Collini Case: A Novel, like his short stories, gives the reader telling details that offer insights into the human condition. But The Collini Case seems less interested in its characters than in teaching about the continuing stain of Germany’s past. This leads von Schirach to use stock figures who have suffered stock tragedies and who engage in stock actions. The novel is simply not realistic enough to suspend disbelief, and only barely avoids being a melodrama. …

The Mentally Disordered Criminal Defendant At The Supreme Court: A Decade In Review, Dora W. Klein

Faculty Articles

In the past decade, at least eight cases involving issues at the intersection of criminal law and clinical psychology have reached the United States Supreme Court. Of particular interest are those cases which concern three general topics: the culpability of juvenile offenders; mental states and the criminal process, including the presentation of mental disorder evidence, competency to stand trial, and competency to be executed; and the preventive detention of convicted sex offenders.

Of these eight cases, two cases cases adopted categorical exclusions from certain kinds of punishment, three involved questions about mental states (and in two of these the Court …

Rehabilitating Mental Disorder Evidence After Clark C. Arizona: Of Burdens, Presumptions, And The Rights To Raise Reasonable Doubt, Dora W. Klein

Faculty Articles

The right not to be found guilty of a crime absent proof beyond a reasonable doubt is a powerful right. It can be undermined, however, by rules that at first seem to have little to do with reasonable doubt or with burdens of proof.

In the recent case of Clark v. Arizona, the Supreme Court considered whether states may enact rules that categorically prohibit criminal defendants from offering mental disorder evidence for the purpose of raising reasonable doubt regarding the mens rea element of a charged offense. In Arizona law, mental disorder evidence is inadmissible for the purpose of disproving …

The Growing Role Of Fortuity In Texas Criminal Law, Gerald S. Reamey

Faculty Articles

Texas’ recent departure from culpability based crimes now means luck plays a bigger role in the punishment for these crimes. Texas has departed from the traditional notion of punishment based on individual fault, and has arrived at a place where these “new” ways of conceptualizing criminal responsibility adequately and satisfactorily account for the interests served by a more restrictive definition of criminal fault. Traditionally, criminal responsibility attached only when mens rea combined with volitional conduct--or the withholding of some required act--to produce a public harm.

In Texas, there seems to be a trend to punish actors for the harm they …

Trial Rights And Psychotropic Drugs: The Case Against Administering Involuntary Medications To A Defendant During Trial, Dora W. Klein

Faculty Articles

This paper explores the legal problems that arise when the government undertakes to render a criminal defendant competent to stand trial, by administering involuntary psychotropic medications. Among these problems are the infringement of the defendant's trial rights, such as the right to receive assistance of counsel and to confront witnesses, as well as interference with the defendant's ability to testify and to present evidence of a mental illness. This paper explores these problems with special reference to the case of Russell Weston, who has been charged with murder in the deaths of two Capitol police officers and who spent more …

Having It All: Pleading Guilty Without Forfeiting The Right To Appeal, Gerald S. Reamey

Faculty Articles

Pleading guilty and moving for an appeal of a pretrial suppression ruling has not been viewed as an efficient allocation of judicial resources. However, it is terribly inefficient to force the State to trial solely to preserve appeal rights on a pretrial objection. Attempts by courts and the legislature to balance these competing interests have produced a confusing and dangerous mix of contradictory rules.

Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure (TRAP) 25.2 is the latest iteration of such rules. Appeals may be taken following a negotiated guilty plea or nolo contendere plea, if “the substance of the appeal was raised by …

A Call For Comment: Restyling And Amending The Federal Rules Of Criminal Procedure, David A. Schlueter

Faculty Articles

In August 2000, the Judicial Conference’s Committee on Rules of Practice and Procedure published—for public comment—proposed amendments to the entire set of Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure. The proposals mark the culmination of a two-year project to “restyle” the rules—to modernize and reorganize and to make them internally consistent in format and style. Not since the rules were first promulgated in 1946 has there been such a significant change in the structure, format, and substance. This article first addresses the rule-making process for the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, and then examines the restyling process. Finally, it notes several of …

The Twentieth Annual Kenneth J. Hodson Lecture: Military Justice For The 1990'S - A Legal System Looking For Respect, David A. Schlueter

Faculty Articles

The Kenneth J. Hodson Chair of Criminal Law was established at The Judge Advocate General’s School on June 24, 1971. The chair was named after Major General Hodson, who served as The Judge Advocate General from 1967 to 1971. General Hodson retired in 1971, but immediately was recalled to active duty to serve as the Chief Judge of the Army Court of Military Review. He served in that position until 1974. General Hodson served over thirty years on active duty. During that time, he was active in the American and Federal Bar Associations, and he authored much of the military …

Why The Criminal Justice System Can't Control Crime, Gerald S. Reamey

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.

Suicidal Rights, Michael S. Ariens

Faculty Articles

The legal debate regarding the right to commit suicide requires a critical review of the relationship between the individual and the community in present liberal political thought. Modern liberal political thought postulates that the government or community must be neutral about what is good both for members of the community and the community itself. It also postulates that there exists a sphere of action which affects solely an individual.

The neutrality postulate and the harm of self/harm to others dichotomy are best explicated by John Stuart Mill in his essay On Liberty, in which Mill separates and categorizes the individual …

Investigative Detentions For Purposes Of Fingerprinting, David A. Schlueter

Faculty Articles

This article focuses on constitutional issues associated with fingerprinting suspects in investigative detention. Following a series of barracks larcenies, Naval Investigative Service (NIS) investigators fingerprinted approximately 100 servicemembers. All those ordered to report to the NIS office for fingerprinting had been present in the unit at the time of the offenses, and among those was the accused, who was later linked to the crime through his fingerprints. Before the accused reported to the NIS office there was no probable cause or reasonable suspicion to believe that he was in any way involved in the crimes. Were the fingerprints admissible?

United …

Criminal Law, John M. Schmolesky

Faculty Articles

No abstract provided.