Law Commons^™

Illusion, Illogic, And Injustice: Real-Offense Sentencing And The Federal Sentencing Guidelines, David Yellen

Articles

No abstract provided.

Deadly Confusion: Juror Instructions In Capital Cases, Theodore Eisenberg, Martin T. Wells

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

A fatal mistake. A defendant is sentenced to die because the jury was misinformed about the law. The justice system should be designed to prevent such a tragic error. Yet our interviews with jurors who served in South Carolina capital cases indicate that this nightmare is a reality.

Although our data are limited to South Carolina, the question whether jurors are adequately instructed in capital cases is of national concern. For example, the issue whether jurors should be more fully informed about the alternative to a death sentence has arisen in other states. And the question whether jurors understand the …

Experts, Stories, And Information, Richard O. Lempert

Articles

In the infancy of the jury trial, there were no witnesses. The jury was self-informing. Members of the jury were drawn from the community. It was expected that they would know, either firsthand or on the basis of what they had heard, the true facts of any disputed incident, and they were gathered together to say what those facts were. Ronald Allen and Joseph Miller, in their insightful paper, see the ideal of the self-informing jury as very much alive today. Allen and Miller tell us that jurors ideally should experience firsthand the factual information needed to arrive at rational …

Prosecutorial Discretion And The Conditional Waiver: Lessons From The Japanese Experience, Mark Findlay

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

A unique characteristic of prosecutorial discretion in Japan is the formal practice of suspension. From the later part of last century, public prosecutors were presented with the discretionary option of waiving or suspending prosecution dependent on certain conditions.

New Directions In The Right To Refuse Mental Health Treatment: The Implications Of Riggins V. Nevada, Bruce J. Winick

William & Mary Bill of Rights Journal

No abstract provided.

Precedents In A Vacuum: The Supreme Court Continues To Tinker With Double Jeopardy, Peter J. Henning

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

Harmless Error In Federal Habeas Corpus After Brecht V. Abrahamson, John H. Blume, Stephen P. Garvey

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The law of habeas corpus has changed again. This time it was the law of harmless error. Before Brecht v. Abrahamson, the courts applied the same harmless error rule on direct appeal and in federal habeas corpus. Under that rule, embraced for constitutional errors in Chapman v. California, a conviction tainted by a constitutional error susceptible to harmless error analysis could be upheld only if the state demonstrated that the error was harmless beyond a reasonable doubt. After Brecht, the venerable Chapman rule still applies to constitutional errors identified and reviewed on direct appeal, but an ostensibly "less …

The Langugage And Culture (Not To Say Race) Of Peremptory Challenges, Sheri Lynn Johnson

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Therapeutic Jurisprudence And The Criminal Courts, David B. Wexler

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Just The Facts, Ma'am: Lying And The Omission Of Exculpatory Evidence In Police Reports,, Stanley Z. Fisher

Faculty Scholarship

George Jones's ordeal was the product of, and in turn sheds light upon, police practices of investigating crimes and writing reports. Written police reports of criminal incidents and arrests give details such as the time, place, and nature of criminal conduct; the names and addresses of victims and witnesses; physical characteristics of the perpetrator(s) or arrestee(s); weapons used; property taken, recovered, or seized from the arrestee; and injuries to persons and property. Through their reports, the police "have fundamental control over the construction of [the] 'facts' for a case, and all other actors (the prosecutor, the judge, the defense lawyer) …

Procedural Issues Raised By Guidelines Sentencing: The Constitutional Significance Of The "Elements Of The Sentence", Sara Sun Beale

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Introduction: Taking The Stand, Barbara A. Babcock

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Language And Culture (Not To Say Race) Of Peremptory Challenges, Sheri Lynn Johnson

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Harmless Error In Federal Habeas Corpus After Brecht V. Abrahamson, John H. Blume, Stephen P. Garvey

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

To Serve And Yet To Be Protected: The Unconstitutional Use Of Coerced Statements In Subsequent Criminal Proceedings Against Law Enforcement Officers, Andrew M. Herzig

William & Mary Law Review

No abstract provided.

Section 8: Criminal Law And Procedure, Institute Of Bill Of Rights Law, William & Mary Law School

Supreme Court Preview

No abstract provided.

Pruett V. Thompson 996 F.2d 1560 (4th Cir. 1993)

Capital Defense Journal

No abstract provided.

Chabrol V. Commonwealth 245 Va. 327, 427 S.E.2d 374 (1993)

Capital Defense Journal

No abstract provided.

What Every Virginia Capital Defense Attorney Should Know About The Federal Drug Kingpin Statute, Paul M. O'Grady

Capital Defense Journal

No abstract provided.

Smith V. Dixon 996 F.2d 667 (4th Cir. 1993)

Capital Defense Journal

No abstract provided.

Beavers V. Commonwealth 245 Va. 268, 427 S.E.2d 411 (1993)

Capital Defense Journal

No abstract provided.

Murphy V. Commonwealth 246 Va. 136, 431 S.E.2d 48 (1993)

Capital Defense Journal

No abstract provided.

Presenting Mitigation Against The Client's Wishes: A Moral Or Professional Imperative?, Susan F. Henderson

Capital Defense Journal

No abstract provided.

Reforming The Criminal Trial, Craig M. Bradley

Indiana Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Beyond Guidelines: The Commission As Sentencing Clearinghouse, David Yellen

Articles

No abstract provided.

Proportionality And Punishment: Double Counting Under The Federal Sentencing Guidelines, Gary Swearingen

Washington Law Review

The Federal Sentencing Guidelines enhance sentences when the commission of a crime includes certain kinds of egregious conduct. The guidelines define such egregious conduct in a way that allows the sentencing judge to enhance the defendant's sentence twice for the same conduct—once as a "characteristic" of the specific offense for which the defendant is convicted and again under a general "adjustments" section. The federal circuit courts are divided concerning whether the guidelines permit double counting. This Comment examines the courts' differing interpretations of the governing statutes and concludes that the guidelines do not permit double counting unless explicitly stated in …

Death Wish: What Washington Court Should Do When A Capital Defendant Wants To Die, Laura A. Rosenwald

Washington Law Review

The Washington Supreme Court held in State v. Dodd that a capital defendant may waive general review of conviction and sentence, and failed to determine whether a defendant may also withhold all mitigating evidence from the sentencing proceeding. The holding limits appellate oversight of death sentences to a degree that fails to ensure Washington's interest in reliable capital punishment. The court should have required general review of both conviction and sentencing in all capital cases. It also should have established a procedure for third-party presentation of mitigating evidence on behalf of capital defendants who insist on withholding such evidence.

Davis V. State: Too Young To Consent?, Judson Robert Jahn

Mercer Law Review

In Davis v. State, the Supreme Court of Georgia held that a ten-year-old child could not give valid consent to a search of his parents' home. In determining the validity of a minor's consent, the supreme court considered those factors that the court of appeals deemed relevant in Atkins v. State. Applying the Atkins factors, the supreme court held that ten-year- old Darrin Davis ("Darrin") "lacked that degree of mental discretion necessary for a minor to give valid consent to the search of his, and his parents', home." According to Justice Sears-Collins, "[m]ost ten-year-old children are incapable of …

A Practical Guide To Recent Developments In Federal Habeas Corpus For Practicing Attorneys, J. Thomas Sullivan

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Police Authority, Respect And Shaming, Mark Findlay

Research Collection Yong Pung How School Of Law

This paper explores structures of police authority which seek legitimacy though consensus and respect within the ideology of community policing. Respect may be presented as one of the principal, voluntary bonding relationships within any community, and is proposed as a key to analysing the prevention and control potential of policing strategies. Shaming comes into the picture as an indicator of the impact of police authority within different community/cultural settings. While reintegration makes sense in terms of community symbolism, the significance of policing as part of the reintegrative process depends on its status and interaction with community interests.