Criminal Law Commons^™

Mend It Or End It? What To Do With The Independent Counsel Statute, Julian A. Cook

Scholarly Works

The tenure of Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr has generated much debate among scholars, politicians, and the media in recent years regarding the efficacy of the independent counsel statute, which is scheduled to expire in June 1999. Enacted in response to the Watergate saga, and particularly the infamous “Saturday Night Massacre,” the independent counsel statute was designed to remove politics from the prosecution of executive branch officials and to foster public confidence in the prosecutorial process. Advocates claim that the statute, though flawed, is the best system available to address alleged criminal wrongdoing by high-ranking executive branch officials, as well as …

Prosecution And Race: The Power And Privilege Of Discretion, Angela J. Davis

Articles in Law Reviews & Other Academic Journals

This article examines prosecutorial discretion and argues it is a major cause of racial inequality in the criminal justice system. It asserts that prosecutorial discretion may instead be used to construct effective solutions to racial injustice. The article maintains that since prosecutors have more power than any other criminal justice officials, with practically no corresponding accountability to the public they serve, they have the responsibility to use their discretion to help eradicate the discriminatory treatment of African Americans in the criminal justice system.

Part I of the Article explains the importance and impact of the prosecution function. Part II discusses …

Our Administrative System Of Criminal Justice, Gerard E. Lynch

Faculty Scholarship

Bill Tendy was already a legend among federal prosecutors when I first served as an Assistant United States Attorney for the Southern District of New York in the early 1980s. To us youngsters, Bill even then seemed a survivor from another era, when prosecutors really did resemble the tough-talking Hollywood DAs played by actors like Brian Donleavy – while we felt more like insecure young lawyers who should be played by Michael J. Fox or Calista Flockhart.

Partly, of course, this was just a function of age and experience; hard as it was to imagine, there must have been a …