Criminal Law Commons^™

Hard Times, Hard Time: Retributive Justice For Unjustly Disadvantaged Offenders, Stuart Green

Stuart Green

Criminological studies consistently indicate that a disproportionate percentage of crimes in our society, both violent and non-violent, are committed by those who are impoverished. If we assume that at least some of the poor who commit crimes are poor because they fail to get from society what they “deserve” in terms of economic or political or social rights, the question arises whether this fact should affect the determination of what such people “deserve” from society in terms of punishment. The question is all the more pressing given recent Census Bureau figures indicating that the economic recession that began in 2008 …

Commentary: Overcoming Judicial Preferences For Person- Versus Situation-Based Analyses Of Interrogation-Induced Confessions, Deborah Davis, Richard Leo

Richard A. Leo

This article identifies some fundamentally mistaken assumptions underlying admissibility decisions favoring disposition-related expert testimony regarding individual vulnerability to false confession over situation-based testimony describing how the context or nature of interrogation can promote false confessions. The authors argue that it is important to understand both the forces of influence within police interrogations and the individual differences that enhance vulnerability to these forces. Most false confessions occur in the context of interrogation and in response to the sources of distress and persuasive tactics of the interrogation. For this reason, this article suggests that experts asked to evaluate an interrogation-induced confession should …

Police-Induced Confessions, Risk Factors, And Recommendations: Looking Ahead, Saul M. Kassin, Steven A. Drizin, Thomas Grisso, Gisli H. Gudjonsson, Richard A. Leo, Allison D. Redlich

Richard A. Leo

Reviewing the literature on police-induced confessions, we identified suspect characteristics and interrogation tactics that influence confessions and their effects on juries. We concluded with a call for the mandatory electronic recording of interrogations and a consideration of other possible reforms. The preceding commentaries make important substantive points that can lead us forward—on the effects of videotaping of interrogations on case dispositions; on the study of non-custodial methods, such as the controversial Mr. Big technique; and on an analysis of why confessions, once withdrawn, elicit such intractable responses compared to statements given by child and adult victims. Toward these ends, we …

Interrogation Through Pragmatic Implication: Sticking To The Letter Of The Law While Violating Its Intent, Deborah Davis, Richard A. Leo

Richard A. Leo

In response to increasing evidence that police interrogation procedures can and do elicit false confessions from innocent suspects, American Courts have offered guidelines intended to protect suspects from coercive interrogations and to ensure the voluntariness and reliability of any confessions obtained. However, faced with legal prohibitions against police promotion of suspect confessions through use of physical coercion or explicit incentives for confession, American police interrogation tactics have evolved to rely on the use of pragmatic implication to nevertheless convey strong incentives for suspects to confess guilt—practices that have essentially diluted or circumvented the intended protections and that have continued to …

United States Supreme Court Amicus Curiae Brief Filed By Richard A. Leo In Florida V. Powell, 130 S. Ct. 1195, Richard Leo

Richard A. Leo

This amicus brief, filed in Florida v. Powell, 130 S. Ct. 1195 (2010), addresses the question of whether a suspect is adequately informed of his right to the presence of counsel during custodial interrogation when advised only of his "right to talk to a lawyer before answering any of our questions."

One Hundred Years Later: Wrongful Convictions After A Century Of Research, Richard Leo

Richard A. Leo

In this article the authors analyze a century of research on the causes and consequences of wrongful convictions in the American criminal justice system while explaining the many lessons of this body of work. This article chronicles the range of research that has been conducted on wrongful convictions; examines the common sources of error in the criminal justice system and their effects; suggests where additional research and attention are needed; and discusses methodological strategies for improving the quality of research on wrongful convictions. The authors argue that traditional sources of error (eyewitness misidentification, false confessions, perjured testimony, forensic error, tunnel …

Organizations And Economics, Richard Adelstein

Richard Adelstein

A contribution to a symposium on a paper by Richard Posner.

Heller's Self-Defense, Boaz Sangero

Prof. Boaz Sangero

This article reflects on District of Columbia v. Heller and proposes a new footing and limit to the right to bear arms: a person’s inalienable right to selfdefense. Self-defense is a natural right embedded in personhood and is antecedent to the social contract that sets up a state. This right consequently remains with the person following the establishment of the state and allows her to use proportional force necessary for resisting aggression. The right to bear arms derives from the constitutional right to self-defense, which merits protection under both the Ninth and Fourteenth Amendments. This instrumental nexus calls for a …

The Gatehouses & Mansions: Fifty Years Later, Alexa Koenig, Richard Leo

Alexa Koenig

In 1965, Yale Kamisar authored “Equal Justice in the Gatehouses and Mansions of American Criminal Procedure,” an article that would come to have an enormous impact on the development of criminal procedure and American norms of criminal justice. Today, that article is a seminal work of scholarship, hailed for “playing a significant part in producing some of the [Warren] Court’s most important criminal- procedure decisions” (White 2003-04), including Miranda v. Arizona. The most influential concept Kamisar promoted may have been his recognition of a gap that loomed between the Constitutional rights actualized in mansions (courts) versus gatehouses (police stations). Kamisar …

Police Interrogation And Coercion In Domestic American History: Lessons For The War On Terror, Richard Leo, K. Alexa Koenig

Richard A. Leo

The use of torture during interrogations conducted by U.S. special forces, military police, CIA agents, the FBI, and private contractors during the War on Terror has been widely documented. While many chroniclers of the use of torture have characterized its use as a dramatic break from the past, the use of torture by American interrogators and the tacit sanctioning by U.S. officials are not new. The routine use of torture by American domestic police during the early part of the twentieth century has been largely ignored by scholars who study contemporary uses of torture in the international context. This chapter …

The U.N. Security Council Ad Hoc Rwanda Tribunal: International Justice, Or Judicially-Constructed “Victor’S Impunity”?, C. Peter Erlinder

C. Peter Erlinder

ABSTRACT The U.N. Security Council Ad Hoc Rwanda Tribunal: International Justice, or Juridically-Constructed “Victor’s Impunity”? Prof. Peter Erlinder [1] ________________________ “…if the Japanese had won the war, those of us who planned the fire-bombing of Tokyo would have been the war criminals….” [2] Robert S. McNamara, U.S. Secretary of State “…and so it goes…” [3] Billy Pilgrim (alter ego of an American prisoner of war, held in the cellar of a Dresden abattoir, who survived firebombing by his own troops, author Kurt Vonnegut Jr.) Introduction Unlike the postWW- II Tribunals, the U.N. Security Council tribunals for the former Yugoslavia [10] …

Military Commissions And The Lieber Code: Toward A New Understanding Of The Jurisdictional Foundations Of Military Commissions, Gideon M. Hart

Gideon M. Hart

Over the past eight years, the use of military commissions at Guantanamo Bay has thrust this rarely used military venue into the forefront of public attention. Legal scholars have increasingly looked to the history of the commissions when addressing the debates over the proper and appropriate manner for their use. Despite this heightened interest in the history of these tribunals, scholars and commentators have assumed the underlying jurisdiction of commissions to try violations of the laws of war, devoting little attention to this topic. Contrary to various assumptions, military commissions have not always had jurisdiction over violations of the laws …

Lessons Of Disloyalty In The World Of Criminal Informants, Michael L. Rich

Michael L Rich

Without informants, policing would grind to a halt. The majority of drug and organized crime prosecutions hinge on the assistance of confidential informants, and white collar prosecutions and anti-terrorism investigations increasingly depend on them. Yet society by and large hates informants. The epithets used to describe them – “snitch,” “rat,” and “weasel,” among others – suggest the reason: the informant, by assisting the police, is guilty of betrayal. And betrayal is, in the words of George Fletcher, “one of the basic sins of our civilization.” But identifying disloyalty as the reason for society’s disdain raises more questions than it answers. …

Three Prongs Of The Confession Problem: Issues And Proposed Solutions, Deborah Davis, Richard Leo

Richard A. Leo

Many cases could not be successfully prosecuted without a confession, and, in the absence of a confession, many would be much more costly to investigate and to develop other evidence sufficient to convict. Responding to this pressure to reliably elicit confessions from their suspects, the police have developed sophisticated psychological techniques to accomplish two goals: to induce suspects to submit to questioning without an attorney, and to induce them to confess. Unfortunately, these methods are sufficiently powerful to induce false as well as true confessions and to render them involuntary. Further, because they are based upon often subtle, yet sophisticated …

Leviathan Menacing The Gulf Coast: Catastrophic Consequences May Imperil The Rule Of Law, Beau James Brock

Beau James Brock

The criminal negligence standard under the Clean Water Act should be one of gross negligence and not merely ordinary negligence and the United States Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals should not be tested on this point of law as it will disagree with the previous findings of the Ninth and Tenth Circuits.

Protecting Our Most Vulnerable Communities: Louisiana Wastewater Infrastructure Recovery, Beau James Brock, Peggy Hatch, Vladimir Alexander Appeaning Ph.D.

Beau James Brock

This article discusses how the Louisiana DEQ accepted the moral test of government, and after laying a foundation for success, was able to implement its own pragmatic populist policy for infrastructure recovery by establishing its own model for community sustainability and enabling the state to answer the call for social justice through direct action for citizens.

How To Plan & Execute Your Own Charity Tennis Event: The Aquinas League Model, Beau James Brock, H. Barry Searles

Beau James Brock

Aquinas League is a volunteer community organization whose goal has been to plan and execute community tennis fund-raisers over the past eight years in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. During this period, Aquinas League has organized over twenty events and our community has risen over $1 million dollars in net donations for area charities Hopefully through this guide, you and your committee can pick some helpful points to enhance your event. The revenue and quality of each part of your tournament should be viewed as a showcase for the marketing of the next year’s event. The best sales tool we can offer …

The Bayou Defense: Ten Steps To Club Doubles Dominance, Beau James Brock

Beau James Brock

This article is intended to help club players from 2.5 all the way to 4.5. The ideas expressed focus on court positioning and mental tennis tips which will lead to countless victories regardless of the partner you are playing with and regardless of the opponents you face.

Apuntes Generales Sobre La Libertad De Expresión En Internet, Germán M. Teruel Lozano

Germán M. Teruel Lozano

GENERAL NOTES ABOUT THE FREEDOM OF SPEECH IN INTERNET: This paper presents an overview of how Internet has revolutionized the setting of freedom of speech. In particular, it is focused in to main aspects: On one hand, the delimitation of freedom of expression in the new media, differentiating in particular between web pages dedicated to the dissemination of information, protected by the freedom of speech; and those that are intended to provide other telematics services, which should not have this protection. Secondly, it is also studied the legal status of this freedom when it is exercised through Internet.

Introductory Note For The International Criminal Court.Pdf, Susana L. Sacouto

Susana L. SáCouto