Law Commons^™

New Data And New Questions: Trac's Contribution To Federal Sentencing, Steven Chanenson, Douglas Berman

Steven L. Chanenson

No abstract provided.

Beyond Practical Skills: Nine Steps For Improving Legal Education Now, R. Michael Cassidy

R. Michael Cassidy

It has been five years since the Carnegie Report “Educating Lawyers” called upon law schools to adopt an integrated approach to professional education that teaches practical skills and professionalism across the curriculum. Yet so far, very few schools have responded to this clarion call for wholesale curricular reform. Considering the inertial effect of traditional law school pedagogy and the institutional impediments to change, this delay is not surprising. A fully integrated approach to teaching professional skills (such as the medical school model) would require major resource reallocations, realignment of teaching responsibilities, redesign of courses, and a change to graduation requirements. …

When The Cheering (For Gideon ) Stops: The Defense Bar And Representation At Initial Bail Hearings, Douglas Colbert

Douglas L. Colbert

This article suggests that the absence of representation at the beginning of a State criminal prosecution must come to a screeching halt. The criminal defense bar should take a leadership role and dedicate Gideon's anniversary to making certain that an accused's right to the effective assistance of counsel begins at the initial bail hearing. Indeed, guaranteeing vigorous representation should be the defense bar's number one priority.

The Model Penal Code’S Wrong Turn: Renunciation As A Defense To Criminal Conspiracy, R. Michael Cassidy

R. Michael Cassidy

While the Model Penal Code was certainly one the most influential developments in criminal law in the past century, the American Law Institute (ALI) took a seriously wrong turn by recognizing a defense of “renunciation” to the crime of conspiracy. Under the Model Penal Code formulation, a member of a conspiracy who later disavows the agreement and thwarts its objective (for example, by notifying authorities of the planned crime in order to prevent its completion) is afforded a complete defense to conspiracy liability. This defense has enormous implications for crimes involving national security and terrorism, which are typically planned covertly …

Bargained Justice: Plea Bargaining's Innocence Problem And The Brady Safety-Valve, Lucian Dervan

Lucian E Dervan

If any number of attorneys were asked in 2004 whether Lea Fastow’s plea bargain in the Enron case was constitutional, the majority would respond with a simple word – Brady. Yet while the 1970 Supreme Court decision Brady v. United States authorized plea bargaining as a form of American justice, the case also contained a vital caveat that has been largely overlooked by scholars, practitioners, and courts for almost forty years. Brady contains a safety-valve that caps the amount of pressure that may be asserted against defendants by prohibiting prosecutors from offering incentives in return for guilty pleas that are …

Robinson V. California: From Revolutionary Constitutional Doctrine To Model Ban On Status Crimes, Erik Luna

Erik Luna

No abstract provided.

The Prosecutor In Transnational Perspective, Erik Luna, Marianne Wade

Erik Luna

No abstract provided.

No Walk In The Dog Park: Drafting Animal Cruelty Statutes To Resolve Double Jeopardy Concerns And Eliminate Unfettered Prosecutorial Discretion, Laurie Serafino

Laurie B. Serafino

This article evaluates animal abuse and cruelty laws throughout the United States. It demonstrates that, although an emerging trend treats animals more like humans and less like property in some criminal cases and statutes, the laws of many states still adhere to the traditional view of animals as property, causing unique charging and sentencing issues that must be clarified in order to bring predictability and consistency to the law.

In the article, Professor Serafino explores the option of creating a new paradigm in this area, in which animals are treated as a hybrid category of "living property," "legal personhood," or …

Life Cycles Of American Legal History Through Bob Dylan's Eyes, Laurie Serafino

Laurie B. Serafino

This article discusses how America's passage through cycles of change that correlate to patterns of discrimination and revolution, as illustrated in the lyrics of Bob Dylan, is represented in American law. It examines, from a legal perspective, Bob Dylan's ideas on social policy and change, and identifies periods in American history during which the nation was "put on the cross, died, and was resurrected."

This examination emphasizes certain key players in U.S. history, who were admired by Dylan for being honorable and fair, standing up for the underdog, and fighting hard against their enemies. These key players include Thaddeus Stevens, …