Criminal Law Commons^™

The Long Road Back, Brooke Williams

Capstones

This project is a documentary film about the criminal case of Lorenzo Johnson. Johnson was convicted of a murder in the mid-90s and sentenced to life imprisonment in the state of Pennsylvania. Johnson has always maintained his innocence. In 2012, a federal appeals court sided with Johnson and released him. He returned to his home state of New York to speak out against wrongful convictions. However, less than 6 months later, the Supreme Court decided Johnson's original conviction should be upheld and he was forced to return to prison to serve the remainder of his life without the possibility of …

The Defend Trade Secrets Act Of 2015, S. 1890, H.R. 3326, 114th Congress (2015), Joseph K.C. Doukmetzian

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.

Alternative Restrictions Of Sex Offenders' Social Media Use & The Freedom Of Speech, Norah M. Sloss

Catholic University Journal of Law and Technology

No abstract provided.

Explaining Crimmigration In Indonesia: A Discourse Of The Fight Against People Smuggling, Irregular Migration Control, And Symbolic Criminalization, Anugerah Rizki Akbari

Indonesia Law Review

Controlling migration in the world's largest archipelago brings various challenges to Indonesian authorities that differ from other countries. The difficulties become even more complicated since Indonesia has been known as the most favorite transit country for people who want to migrate to Australia due to its strategic geographical location, which is situated between the continents of Asia and Australia and between the Pacific and Indian oceans. Following this, the decision of choosing the mechanism of criminal law to deal with irregular migration from the start leads Indonesia to its acknowledgment as a country who is vulnerable to the trend of …

Gonzalez V. State, 131 Nev. Adv. Op. 99 (Dec. 31, 2015), Chelsea Stacey

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court, sitting en banc, determined that by failing to answer questions from the jury that suggested confusion on a significant element of the law, failing to give an accomplice-distrust instruction, and by not bifurcating the guilt phase from the gang enhancement phase the district court violated the defendant’s right to a fair trial.

State V. Boston, 131 Nev. Adv. Op. 98 (Dec. 31, 2015), Nancy Snow

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court considers an appeal from a district court order granting a post-conviction petition for a writ of habeas corpus. Specifically, the Court considered whether the holding in Graham applies when an aggregate sentence imposed against a juvenile defender convicted of more than one nonhomicide offense is the equivalent of a life-without-parole sentence. The Court held that it does.

Barber V. State, 131 Nev. Adv, Op. 103 (December 31, 2015), Ronni N. Boscovich

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court considered an appeal from a district court conviction. The Court reversed the Eighth Judicial District Court’s judgment of conviction, pursuant to a jury verdict of burglary and grand larceny. The juvenile court retains jurisdiction over Barber because the legislation did not include language regarding jurisdiction stripping or dismissal requirements. However, the Court reversed the judgment because the prosecution presented insufficient evidence to support Barber’s conviction.

What Does Recent Neuroscience Tell Us About Criminal Responsibility?, Uri Maoz, Gideon Yaffe

Psychology Faculty Articles and Research

A defendant is criminally responsible for his action only if he is shown to have engaged in a guilty act—actus reus (eg for larceny, voluntarily taking someone else’s property without permission)—while possessing a guilty mind—mens rea (eg knowing that he had taken someone else’s property without permission, intending not to return it)—and lacking affirmative defenses (eg the insanity defense or self-defense). We therefore first review neuroscientific studies that bear on the nature of voluntary action, and so could, potentially, tell us something of importance about the actus reus of crimes.Then we look at studies of intention, perception of …

Newsroom: Logan On 2015'S Record Settlements, Roger Williams University School Of Law

Life of the Law School (1993- )

Also available @ http://law.rwu.edu/story/logan-2015s-record-settlements

Justice In America: Diverting The Mentally Ill, Matthew J. D'Emic

City University of New York Law Review

No abstract provided.

Berry V. State, 131 Nev. Adv. Op. No. 96 (Dec. 24, 2015), Brittany L. Shipp

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The issue before the Court was an appeal from a district court order dismissing a post-conviction petition for writ of habeas corpus. The Court reversed and remanded holding that the district court improperly discounted the declarations in support of the appellant’s petition, which included a confession of another suspect, whom the petitioner implicated as the real perpetrator at trial. The Court held that these declarations were sufficient to merit discovery, and an evidentiary hearing on Petitioner Berry’s gateway actual innocence claim.

Newell V. State Of Nevada, 131 Nev. Adv. Op. 97 (December 24, 2015), Douglas H. Smith

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The holding of State v. Weddell is extended. Responding with deadly force to the commission of a felony per NRS § 200.160 is justified only when the person poses a threat of serious bodily injury. Short of such a threat, the amount of force used must be reasonable and necessary under the circumstances.

Moultrie V. State, 131 Nev. Adv. Op. 93 (Dec. 24, 2015), Cassandra Ramey

Nevada Supreme Court Summaries

The Court of Appeals determined that the district court did not abuse its discretion by allowing the State to file an information by affidavit more than 15 days after the preliminary examination concluded, when the justice court committed an “egregious error,” and “the defendant was discharged but not prejudiced by the delay.” Further, the Court defines “egregious error” as when “a charge was erroneously dismissed or a defendant was erroneously discharged based on a magistrate’s error.” Due to the justice court’s egregious errors in the preliminary examination that resulted in appellant’s discharge, the Court found that the district court was …

Flaws In The Justice System: Examining The Angel Cordero Case, Rose C. Itzcovitz

Capstones

This article examines a case in criminal law that started 17 years ago and has yet to be resolved. Despite a plethora of mounting evidence, including a confession, more than a dozen witnesses, a proven false alibi, impeaching evidence against police and DNA evidence, Bronx-born Angel Cordero's conviction has yet to be overturned. The article breaks down what went wrong in the initial trial, discusses Cordero's multiple appeals and takes a broader look at what needs to change in today's judicial system.

Protecting Victims Of Domestic Assault: Upholding The Use Of Uncounseled Tribal Court Domestic Assault Convictions To Establish Federal Habitual Domestic Assault Charges, Joanna Adu

American Indian Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Trending @ Rwu Law: Carl Bogus's Post: 'Should We Be Afraid? Absolutely. But Not Only Of Crazed Jihadists...', Carl Bogus

Law School Blogs

No abstract provided.

Ensuring Insurance: Adequate And Appropriate Coverage For Brady Claims In Illinois, Joe Delich

Northwestern University Law Review

The increase in wrongful conviction litigation has engendered a number of new doctrinal problems. This Note examines the existing rules governing insurance coverage for wrongful-conviction-related torts, in particular, due process claims for Brady violations. It then explores the rationale for the continuous trigger doctrine in the asbestos context, and argues that wrongful conviction claims call for a similar approach due to comparable latency concerns. There is a particular focus on Illinois law due to the state’s prevalence of wrongful conviction litigation and recent shifts in the law governing insurance triggers for malicious prosecution.

Under School Colors: Private University Police As State Actors Under § 1983, Leigh J. Jahnig

Northwestern University Law Review

Under 42 U.S.C. § 1983, individuals may sue those who violate their constitutional rights while acting under color of state law. The Supreme Court has held that private actors may act under color of state law, and may be sued under § 1983 in some circumstances. However, courts have not been consistent in determining whether private university police forces act under color of state law. Private universities often maintain police forces that are given extensive police powers by state statutes but are controlled by private entities. Some courts have looked directly to the state statutes that delegate police power, but …

Starr, Singleton, And The Prosecutor's Role, David Sklansky

David A Sklansky

This article discusses the lessons contained in States v. Singleton and the system that has been adopted for investigating and prosecuting high executive officers. After describing Singleton and the tumult it triggered in Part I of this Article, Part II returns to the Starr Referral and poses a question that may at first seem idle: what distinguishes Starr's promises to Lewinsky in exchange for her testimony from the efforts he charges the President made to help find her a job? Part III of the Article broadens the focus. It argues there has been a general failure to think rigorously about …

48. Valence, Implicated Actor, And Children's Acquiescence To False Suggestions, Kyndra C. Cleveland, Jodi A. Quas, Thomas D. Lyon

Thomas D. Lyon

Are You Now Or Have You Ever Been A Sociologist, Barry Krisberg

Barry A Krisberg

No abstract provided.

Not Your Father's Police Department: Making Sense Of The New Demographics Of Law Enforcement, David Sklansky

David A Sklansky

No abstract provided.

The Criminal Law And The Luck Of The Draw, Sanford Kadish

Sanford Kadish

No abstract provided.

Reckless Complicity, Sanford Kadish

Sanford Kadish

No abstract provided.

Decision-Making In Criminal Defense: An Empirical Study Of Insanity Pleas And The Impact Of Doubted Client Competence, Richard Bonnie, Norman Poythress, Steven Hoge, John Monahan

Norman Poythress

No abstract provided.

Telling Tales In School: Youth Culture And Conflict Narratives, Calvin Morrill, Madelaine Adelman, Michael Musheno, Cindy Bejarano

Michael Musheno

This study departs from mainstream criminology to approach youth conflict and violence from a youth-centered perspective drawn from cultural studies of young people and sociolegal research. To access youth orientations, we analyze experiential stories of peer conflict written by students at a multiethnic, low-income high school situated in an urban core of the western United States. We argue that youth narratives of conflict offer glimpses into how young people make sense of conflict in their everyday lives, as well as insights as to how the images and decisional bases embedded in their storytelling connect to adult-centered discourses found in popular …

‘Emaciated’ Defense Or A Trend To Independence And Equality Of Arms In Internationalized Criminal Tribunals?, Richard J. Wilson

Richard J. Wilson

No abstract provided.

Overcoming Overcriminalization, Stephen Smith

Stephen F. Smith

The literature treats overcriminalization (and, at the federal level, the federalization of crime) as a quantitative problem. Legislatures, on this view, have simply enacted too many crimes, and those crimes are far too broad in scope. This Article uses federal criminal law as a basis for challenging this way of conceptualizing the overcriminalization problem. The real problem with overcriminalization is qualitative, not quantitative: federal crimes are poorly defined, and courts all too often expansively construe poorly defined crimes. Courts thus are not passive victims in the vicious cycle of overcriminalization. Rather, by repeatedly interpreting criminal statutes broadly, courts have taken …

Overcoming Overcriminalization, Stephen Smith

Stephen F. Smith

The literature treats overcriminalization (and, at the federal level, the federalization of crime) as a quantitative problem. Legislatures, on this view, have simply enacted too many crimes, and those crimes are far too broad in scope. This Article uses federal criminal law as a basis for challenging this way of conceptualizing the overcriminalization problem. The real problem with overcriminalization is qualitative, not quantitative: federal crimes are poorly defined, and courts all too often expansively construe poorly defined crimes. Courts thus are not passive victims in the vicious cycle of overcriminalization. Rather, by repeatedly interpreting criminal statutes broadly, courts have taken …

Consent To Harm, Vera Bergelson

Vera Bergelson

This article continues conversation about consent to physical harm started in Vera Bergelson, The Right to Be Hurt: Testing the Boundaries of Consent, 75 Geo. Wash. L. Rev. 165 (2007).

Intentionally injuring or killing another person is presumptively wrong. To overcome this presumption, the perpetrator must establish a defense of justification. Consent of the victim may serve as one of the grounds for such a defense. This article puts forward criteria for the defense of consent.

One element of the proposed defense is essential to both its complete and partial forms ¨C that consent of the victim be rational and …