Law Commons^™

Proving The Defendant's Bad Character, Bennett L. Gershman

Elisabeth Haub School of Law Faculty Publications

The classic study of the American jury shows that when a defendant's criminal record is known and the prosecution's case has weaknesses, the defendant's chances of acquittal are thirty-eight percent, compared to sixty-five percent otherwise. Because of the danger that jurors will assume that the defendant is guilty based on proof that his bad character predisposes him to an act of crime, the courts and legislatures have attempted to circumscribe the use of such evidence. Some prosecutors, however, although well aware of the insidious effect such prejudicial evidence can have on jurors, violate the rules of evidence, as well as …

Federalism And Supreme Court Review Of Expansive State Court Decisions: A Response To Unfortunate Impressions, David A. Schlueter

Faculty Articles

This article addresses the Burger Supreme Court’s approach to federalism and concludes that the Court seems to be reordering federal-state judicial relations. This reordering appears to be occurring at the expense of both state autonomy and individual liberties, especially the rights of state criminal defendants.

Although there certainly have been cases which suggest the Burger Court has a lopsided federalism, upon thorough analysis of these cases, this determination is shown to be incorrect. In fact, the present Court greatly respects state autonomy and the independence of state courts. Further, the Supremacy Clause requires the Court to serve as final arbiter …

The Legal/Extra-Legal Controversy: Judicial Decisions In Pretrial Release, Ilene H. Nagel

Articles by Maurer Faculty

This study analyzes data for state criminal defendants prosecuted in New York to determine the bases upon which judges make pretrial release decisions for these defendants. Treating statutory law as defining the category of legal variables, it finds legal factors substantially affect decisions about whether to release a defendant on recognizance, the amount of bail required, and whether to offer a defendant a cash alternative to a surety bond. The impact of these factors varies, however, depending upon the particular decision being made. Factors not prescribed in the statute-extra-legal factors—are also found to affect these pretrial release decisions. Their impact, …

Gender And Crime: Offense Patterns And Criminal Court Sanctions, Ilene H. Nagel, John Hagan

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The relation between gender and criminality is strong, and is likely to remain so. Women have traditionally been much less likely than men to commit violent crimes, and that pattern persists today. Rates of female involvement in some forms of property crime-notably petty theft and fraud-appear to be increasing. However, while the relative increase in women's property crime involvement is significant, female participation even in these crimes remains far less than that of men.

The relation of gender to case processing decisions in the criminal justice system varies from stage to stage. Although the pertinent literature is plagued by methodological …

The Effective Assistance Of Counsel: Chance Or Guarantee?, Joanne Legano

Fordham Urban Law Journal

This Comment reviews the historical development of the right to effective assistance of counsel for criminal defendants as defined by the Supreme Court, and discusses the various standards applied by lower federal courts. This Comment next examines United States v. Decoster, which provides the most comprehensive judicial analysis of the right to effective assistance of counsel at this juncture in time. The standards applied by the New York State courts are also analyzed. Finally, the author recommends uniform guidelines for evaluating claims of ineffective assistance of counsel.

Griffin V. California: Still Viable After All These Years, Craig M. Bradley

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Havens, Jenkins, And Salvucci, And The Defendant's "Right" To Testify, Craig M. Bradley

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Three recent Supreme Court opinions that enlarge the scope of permissible impeachment may substantially influence the criminal defendant's decision whether to take the stand. In this article, Professor Bradley evaluates the current status of the defendant's "right" to testify, assesses the impact of these cases on that right, and offers cogent advice on effective strategies for practitioners.

Judicial Sentence Bargaining In The Federal Courts, Patricia A. Perrotta

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Judicial Sentence Bargaining In The Federal Courts, Patricia A. Perrotta

Fordham Law Review

No abstract provided.

Book Review. Right To Counsel In Criminal Cases By Sheldon Krantz, Et. Al., Patrick L. Baude

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Survey Of Criminal Procedure — Alternative Dispositions Of Defendants, Charles Shafer

All Faculty Scholarship

The criminal justice system provides various alternatives for the disposition of criminal defendants. Three of these alternatives, pretrial intervention, drug treatment, and probation, were dealt with in recent New Jersey Supreme Court decisions. The court examined the substantive criteria and procedures used in assigning each disposition and focused primarily on the desire to provide rehabilitative opportunities for each defendant. This note will examine those decisions and the implications of the court's concentration on the goal of rehabilitation.

Charge Reduction: An Intermediary Stage In The Process Of Labelling Criminal Defendants, Ilene Nagel Bernstein, Edward Kick, Jan T. Leung, Barbara Schulz

Articles by Maurer Faculty

The interactionist perspective emphasizes the imperfect correspondence between alleged deviance and societal reactions. Moreover, it is asserted that values of reactors, statuses of the alleged deviant, and bureaucratic constraints of deviance processing organizations help explain some of that imperfection. Focusing on one intermediary deviance processing stage, i.e., plea bargaining, we explore the degree to which our data are consonant with interactionist assumptions. For a sample of 1,435 male and female criminal defendants, we find the favorability of the charge reduction outcome is partly explained by values of reactors, statuses of the defendant, and bureaucratic constraints of the court. Thus, our …

Societal Reaction To Deviants: The Case Of Criminal Defendants, Ilene Nagel Bernstein, William R. Kelly, Patricia A. Doyle

Articles by Maurer Faculty

Recent reformulations of the societal reaction theory argue that the thesis is a perspective rather than a theory, and that the perspective is meant to provide a set of sensitizing concepts to those researching deviance. This research examines the degree of congruence between hypotheses deduced from those assertions and a set of real world occurrences. Data for a sample of male defendants charged with felony offenses are examined to estimate the effects of (1) deviants' social attributes, (2) the specific societal reactors, (3) the values placed on certain offenses and (4) the organizational imperatives of the deviance-controlling organization, controlling for …

The Second Circuit Review: Ix. Evidence: Introduction, Paul F. Rothstein

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The past year's developments in the law of evidence have been characterized by a hardening attitude toward criminal defendants. The United States Supreme Court's evidentiary rulings during the term covered by the Second Circuit Review (1971-72) manifested this trend (although not uniformly). For example, police stop-and-frisk authority was broadened (and with it the use of evidence obtained therefrom); the scope of the immunity from criminal prosecution required to be granted by a governmental body before self-incriminatory statements can be compelled from a witness was narrowed; the right to have counsel at line-ups was limited to postindictment or post-charge line-ups (with …

Credibility Impeachment By Prior Conviction, Timothy V. Barnhar

Missouri Law Review

The adversary system of adjudication is one of the major cornerstones of the Anglo-American system of justice. One of the most striking characteristics of this adversary system is the right of counsel to impeach the credibility of the opponent's witnesses. The purpose of this is to suggest to the trier of fact that the witness's testimony is not worthy of belief. Exposing a witness's prior convictions of offenses against society is one of the most commonly used methods of impeachment. Such a practice is specifically authorized in Missouri by a statute which provides: Any person who has been convicted of …

Criminal Defendant's Vested Right In A Void Judgment

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.