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Full-Text Articles in Jurisprudence
Rules, Standards, Sentencing, And The Nature Of Law, Russell D. Covey
Rules, Standards, Sentencing, And The Nature Of Law, Russell D. Covey
Faculty Publications By Year
Sentencing law and practice in the United States can be characterized as an argument about rules and standards. Whereas in the decades prior to the 1980s when sentencing was largely a discretionary activity governed only by broad sentencing standards, a sentencing reform movement in the 1980s transformed sentencing practice through the advent of sentencing guidelines and mandatory minimum provisions. As a result, sentencing became far less standard-like and far more rule-like. Although reform proponents believed that this "rulification" of sentencing would reduce unwarranted sentencing disparities and enhance justice, it is far from clear that these goals were achieved. Indeed, the …
Temporary Insanity: The Strange Life And Times Of The Perfect Defense, Russell D. Covey
Temporary Insanity: The Strange Life And Times Of The Perfect Defense, Russell D. Covey
Faculty Publications By Year
The temporary insanity defense has a prominent place in the mythology of criminal law. Because it seems to permit factually guilty defendants to escape both punishment and institutionalization, some imagine it as the “perfect defense.” In fact, the defense has been invoked in a dizzying variety of contexts and, at times, has proven highly successful. Successful or not, the temporary insanity defense has always been accompanied by a storm of controversy, in part because it is often most successful in cases where the defendant’s basic claim is that honor, revenge, or tragic circumstance – not mental illness in its more …
Signaling And Plea Bargaining's Innocence Problem, Russell D. Covey
Signaling And Plea Bargaining's Innocence Problem, Russell D. Covey
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The dominant theoretical model of plea bargaining predicts that, under conditions of full information and rational choice, criminal cases should uniformly be settled through plea bargaining. That prediction holds for innocent and guilty defendants alike. Because it is perfectly rational for innocent defendants to plead guilty, plea bargaining might be said to have an "innocence problem." Plea bargaining's innocence problem is, at bottom, the result of a signaling defect. Innocent defendants lacking verifiable innocence claims are pooled together with guilty defendants who falsely proclaim innocence. As a result, both groups of defendants are treated similarly at trial and in plea …
"Sufficient" Capacity: The Contrasting Capacity Requirements For Different Documents, Mary F. Radford, Lawrence A. Frolik
"Sufficient" Capacity: The Contrasting Capacity Requirements For Different Documents, Mary F. Radford, Lawrence A. Frolik
Faculty Publications By Year
In Anglo-American law, the concept of mental "capacity" is used to measure the degree to which an individual has the "mental ability to understand the nature and effects of one's acts" as determined by a medical or cognitive assessment of an individual's mental ability. Based on an individual's mental capacity, the law decides whether the individual had sufficient capacity to engage in the action in question. The legal concept of mental capacity, therefore, is the basis for "when a state legitimately may take action to limit an individual's rights to make decisions about his or her own person or property." …
Using Common Sense: A Linguistic Perspective On Judicial Interpretations Of "Use A Firearm", Clark D. Cunningham, Charles J. Filmore
Using Common Sense: A Linguistic Perspective On Judicial Interpretations Of "Use A Firearm", Clark D. Cunningham, Charles J. Filmore
Faculty Publications By Year
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