Criminal Procedure Commons^™

"Immigrants Are Not Criminals": Respectability, Immigration Reform, And Hyperincarceration, Rebecca Sharpless

Rebecca Sharpless

In Loco Aequitatis: The Dangers Of "Safe Harbor" Laws For Youth In The Sex Trades, Brendan M. Conner

Brendan M. Conner

Is Capital Punishment Immoral Even If It Does Deter Murder?

Thomas Kleven

After years of inconclusive debate, recent studies purport to demonstrate that capital punishment does indeed deter murder, perhaps to the tune of multiple saved lives for each person executed. In response to these studies, Professors Sunstein and Vermeule have argued that since capital punishment leads to a net savings of innocent lives, it may be morally required on consequentialist grounds. I argue, even assuming the validity of the studies, that capital punishment cannot be justified in the United States in the current historical context for reasons of justice that trump consequentialist considerations. Mine is not an argument that capital punishment …

Clear And Simple Deportation Rules For Crimes: Why We Need Them And Why It's Hard To Get Them, Rebecca Sharpless

Rebecca Sharpless

Light In The Darkness: How Leatpr Standards Guide Legislators In Regulating Law Enforcement Access To Cell Site Location Records, Susan Freiwald

Susan Freiwald

This article measures the new ABA Standards for Criminal Justice: Law Enforcement Access to Third Party Records (LEATPR Standards) success by assessing the guidance they provide legislators interested in updating pertinent law regarding one specific type of data. Scholars should not expect the Standards to yield the same conclusions they would have furnished had they been able to draft a set of standards by themselves. The Standards emerged after years of painstaking consensus building and compromise no individual committee member got entirely what he wanted. Nonetheless, not every product of a committee turns out to have been worth the effort, …

Predicting The Complex Future Of Retroactivity In Massachusetts: Commonwealth V. Sylvain, Daniel Kanstroom

Daniel Kanstroom

From the introduction: In Commonwealth v. Sylvain,466 Mass. 422 (2013), the SJC held that the requirements placed on criminal defense lawyers to properly advise defendants about certain immigration consequences enunciated in Padilla v. Kentucky, 559 U.S. 356 (2010) are retroactive to 1997. The SJC, relying both on the Sixth Amendment and on art. 12 of the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, diverged from the U.S. Supreme Court on the retroactivity question. This very important—but rather esoteric—immigration law case may have profound implications regarding the retroactivity of recent holdings in such areas as public trial rights during jury selection and juvenile sentencing.

Public Wrongs And The ‘Criminal Law’S Business’: When Victims Won’T Share, Michelle Dempsey

Michelle Madden Dempsey

Amongst the many valuable contributions that Professor Antony Duff has made to criminal law theory is his account of what it means for a wrong to be public in character. In this chapter, I sketch an alternative way of thinking about criminalization, one which attempts to remain true to the important insights that illuminate Duff’s account, while providing (it is hoped) a more satisfying explanation of cases involving victims who reject the criminal law’s intervention.

The Davis Good Faith Rule And Getting Answers To The Questions Jones Left Open, Susan Freiwald

Susan Freiwald

The Supreme Court’s decision in United States v. Jones clearly established that use of GPS tracking surveillance constitutes a search under the Fourth Amendment. But the Court left many other questions unanswered about the nature and scope of the constitutional privacy right in location data. A review of lower court decisions in the wake of Jones reveals that, rather than begin to answer the questions that Jones left open, courts are largely avoiding substantive Fourth Amendment analysis of location data privacy. Instead, they are finding that officers who engaged in GPS tracking and related surveillance operated in good faith, based …

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

Steven L. Chanenson

No abstract provided.

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 …

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 …

Follow The Evidence: Integrate Risk Assessment Into Sentencing, Steven Chanenson, Jordan Hyatt, Maerk Bergstrom

Steven L. Chanenson

No abstract provided.

Plea Bargaining, Discovery, And The Intractable Problem Of Impeachment Disclosures, R. Michael Cassidy

R. Michael Cassidy

In a criminal justice system where guilty pleas are the norm and trials the rare exception, the issue of how much discovery a defendant is entitled to before allocution has immense significance. This article examines the scope of a prosecutor’s obligation to disclose impeachment information before a guilty plea. This question has polarized the criminal bar and bedeviled the academic community since the Supreme Court’s controversial decision in United States v. Ruiz (2002). A critical feature of the debate has been the enduring schism between a prosecutor’s legal and ethical obligations – a gulf that the American Bar Association recently …

The Adventure Continues, Steven Chanenson

Steven L. Chanenson

No abstract provided.

Sentencing Beyond Our Borders, Steven Chanenson

Steven L. Chanenson

No abstract provided.

Shaping Modern Sentencing: Three Giants, Steven Chanenson, Mark Miller

Steven L. Chanenson

No abstract provided.

The Next Era Of Sentencing Reform ... Revisited, Steven Chanenson, Mark Bergstrom, Frank Dermody, Jordan Hyatt

Steven L. Chanenson

No abstract provided.

Federal Criminal Discovery: Handbook Regarding Exculpatory & Impeachment Material, R. Michael Cassidy, Douglas Woodlock, Leo Sorokin

R. Michael Cassidy

No abstract provided.

Statement Of Steven L. Chanenson Before The United States Sentencing Commission Regarding Retroactivity Of Crack Guidelines Amendments, Steven Chanenson

Steven L. Chanenson

No abstract provided.

Federal Cocaine Sentencing In Transition, Steven Chanenson, Douglas Berman

Steven L. Chanenson

No abstract provided.

Can And Will Information Spur Post-Modern Setencing Reforms?, Steven Chanenson, Douglas Berman

Steven L. Chanenson

No abstract provided.

Time Travel, Hovercrafts, And The Framers: James Madison Sees The Future And Rewrites The Fourth Amendment, George Thomas

George C Thomas III

The Framers could not have contemplated the interpretational problems that cloud the Fourth Amendment because police, in the modern sense, were unknown to the Framers. Also unknown to the Framers, of course, were wiretaps, drug interdiction searches, thermal imagining, helicopters, and blood tests. We can infer from the history surrounding the Fourth Amendment what the Framers hoped it would accomplish in their time. What if the Framers could have seen the future and known the kind of police techniques that are being used today? What kind of Fourth Amendment would they have written with that knowledge? This article seeks to …

Perjury Or Subornation Of Perjury; Bribery Of Witness: Model Sentencing Guidelines § 2j1, Steven Chanenson

Steven L. Chanenson

No abstract provided.

Obstruction Of Justice: Model Sentencing Guidelines §2j2, Steven Chanenson

Steven L. Chanenson

No abstract provided.

Sentencing And Data: The Not-So-Odd-Couple, Steven Chanenson

Steven L. Chanenson

No abstract provided.

Massachusetts Grand Jury Practice, R. Michael Cassidy

R. Michael Cassidy

No abstract provided.