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.

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.

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) …

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

Supreme Court Preview

No abstract provided.

Beyond Guidelines: The Commission As Sentencing Clearinghouse, David Yellen

Articles

No abstract provided.

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.

Is Conviction Irrelevant?, Elizabeth T. Lear

UF Law Faculty Publications

Since 1986, the country has been witness to a revolution in federal sentencing practice: indeterminate sentencing, dominated by discretion and focused on the rehabilitative prospects of the offender, has been replaced by guidelines infused with offense-based considerations. As sweeping as the change in sentencing procedure has been, the system retains troubling aspects of the former regime. The most controversial among these is the Guidelines' reliance on unadjudicated conduct to determine proper punishment levels.

This approach is a variation on “real offense” sentencing, which severs the punishment inquiry from the offense of conviction, focusing instead on an offender's "actual" conduct. Under …

Defending The Poor, Bennett L. Gershman

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

Given the harsh reality that the quality of justice that people get in this country often depends on how much money they have , is our society's aspiration toward "equal justice" attainable? Probably not. A criminal defendant's poverty is not necessarily inconsistent with zealous advocacy. But whether lawyers for the poor adequately protect their clients' rights in criminal cases is the subject of ongoing debate.

Guideline Developments In The First Circuit: The Two Faces Of Appellate Review, Aaron J. Rappaport

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Reviewing Departures: The First Circuit's New Rivera Rule, Aaron J. Rappaport

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Symposium On Securities Law Enforcement Priorities, Roberta S. Karmel

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Criminal Justice Reforms In The United States, Paul Marcus

Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Harmless Error In The Penalty Phase Of A Capital Case: A Doctrine Misunderstood And Misapplied, Linda Carter

McGeorge School of Law Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Testing The Limits Of Investigating And Prosecuting White Collar Crime: How Far Will The Courts Allow Prosecutors To Go?, Peter J. Henning

Law Faculty Research Publications

No abstract provided.

Racial Imagery In Criminal Cases, Sheri Lynn Johnson

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

No abstract provided.

Themes Of Injustice: Wrongful Convictions, Racial Prejudice, And Lawyer Incompetence, Bennett L. Gershman

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The U. S. criminal justice system has undergone radical changes in the past generation. Crime is more complex; prosecutors are more powerful; and courts, corrections agencies, and defense services are burdened with larger case loads and tighter budgets. It is not the best of times to talk about justice. Yet, it is a subject that needs to be constantly addressed, particularly in times of crisis. The following essay focuses on some of the problems that present themselves in the criminal justice system today, including the conviction of innocent defendants, especially in capital cases; racial prejudice; and lawyer incompetence.

Telling The Victim's Story, Mary I. Coombs

Articles

No abstract provided.

Uncharged Misconduct Evidence In Sex Crime Cases: Reassessing The Rule Of Exclusion, Roger C. Park, David P. Bryden

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Peremptory Challenges: Free Strikes No More, H. Patrick Furman

Publications

No abstract provided.

Some Worries About Sentencing Guidelines, William T. Pizzi

Publications

No abstract provided.

Search, Seizure And The Positive Law: Expectations Of Privacy Outside The Fourth Amendment, Daniel B. Yeager

Faculty Scholarship

This Article is about the misunderstood relationship between the Fourth Amendment and the positive law. It shows how state property law and other expressions of the positive law are more resilient and useful to Fourth Amendment analysis than the Court's decisions of the past three decades recognize.

Getting To Know: Honoring Women In Law And In Fact, Lynne Henderson

Scholarly Works

No abstract provided.

The Role Of The Legislature In Guidelines Sentencing In The "Other Washington", David Boerner

Faculty Articles

Washington's legislature crafted a sentencing system which structures but does not eliminate discretionary decisions affecting sentences. Washington has a Sentencing Guidelines Commission which functions as an agent of the legislature and not as an independent actor. Data collected by the Sentencing Guidelines Commission since 1985 demonstrate the effectiveness of Washington's sentencing guidelines in translating the legislature's sentencing policy judgments into reality. The legislature's role in formulating and refining sentencing policies is examined in detail, as well as Washington's Sentencing Reform Act of 1981 and its effect on sentencing.

Understanding Prosecutorial Discretion In The United States: The Limits Of Comparative Criminal Procedure As An Instrument Of Reform, William T. Pizzi

Publications

No abstract provided.