Criminal Procedure Commons^™

The Ethics Of Interrogation: How Unethical Interrogations Lead To False Confessions And What It Means For The Criminal, Janelle Havens

Criminology Student Work

Forensic interrogation is a vital step in the process of criminal investigations in order to extract information about suspects and the crime at hand. However, tunnel vision, artificial time constraints, lack of thorough training, and noble-cause corruption can influence how an investigator decides to interrogate a suspect or witness. When these influences are exerted on an investigator, the need to secure an arrest and conviction overpowers the need for justice - this results in false confessions and wrongful convictions. This is otherwise known as “the end doesn't justify the means” mindset. This causes investigators to engage in unethical interrogations, whether ...

Feigned Consensus: Usurping The Law In Shaken Baby Syndrome/Abusive Head Trauma Prosecutions, Keith A. Findley, D. Michael Risinger, Patrick D. Barnes, Julie A. Mack, David A. Moran, Barry C. Scheck, Thomas L. Bohan

Articles

Few medico-legal matters have generated as much controversy--both in the medical literature and in the courtroom--as Shaken Baby Syndrome (SBS), now known more broadly as Abusive Head Trauma (AHT). The controversies are of enormous significance in the law because child abuse pediatricians claim, on the basis of a few non-specific medical findings supported by a weak and methodologically flawed research base, to be able to “diagnose” child abuse, and thereby to provide all of the evidence necessary to satisfy all of the legal elements for criminal prosecution (or removal of children from their parents). It is a matter, therefore, in ...

Flipping The Script On Brady, Ion Meyn

Indiana Law Journal

Brady v. Maryland imposes a disclosure obligation on the prosecutor and, for this

reason, is understood to burden the prosecutor. This Article asks whether Brady also

benefits the prosecutor, and if so, how and to what extent does it accomplish this?

This Article first considers Brady’s structural impact—how the case influenced

broader dynamics of litigation. Before Brady, legislative reform transformed civil

and criminal litigation by providing pretrial information to civil defendants but not

to criminal defendants. Did this disparate treatment comport with due process?

Brady arguably answered this question by brokering a compromise: in exchange for

imposing minor ...

Re-Charting The Remedial Course For Section 11(B) Violations Post-Jordan, Andrew Pilla, Levi Vandersteen

Osgoode Hall Law Journal

In R v Jordan, the Supreme Court of Canada adopted a new framework for establishing violations of the right to be tried within a reasonable time under section 11(b) of the Charter. It did not, however, adopt a new approach to the remedy applicable thereafter. Since the 1987 decision R v Rahey, the only remedy for unreasonable delay has been a stay of proceedings. This article contends that this “automatic stay rule” must be revisited post-Jordan. It does so by conceptualizing Jordan as a shift from an “interest balancing” framework—where individual and societal interests are weighed against one ...

The Right To A Public Trial In The Time Of Covid-19, Stephen E. Smith

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

Maintaining social distance in the time of COVID-19 is a public health priority. A crowded courtroom is an environment at odds with public health needs. Accordingly, until science determines otherwise, it will be necessary for judges to manage courtroom attendance and exclude the public from trials, wholly or in part. Courtrooms may be closed to the public, despite the Sixth Amendment’s right to a public trial, when the closure is justified by a strong government interest and is narrowly tailored to further that interest. Typically, this heightened scrutiny is applied on a case-by-case basis and turns on a case ...

Speak Up, Or Not: Lack Of Freedom Of Speech Protection In Vietnam, Its Global Impact, And Proposed Solutions For Adequate Remedies, H. Grant Doan

Georgia Journal of International & Comparative Law

No abstract provided.

Breaking The Cycle: How Nevada Can Effectuate Meaningful Criminal Justice Reform, Scott Cooper, Scott Whitworth

Nevada Law Journal Forum

Why does society punish criminals? This paper examines what Nevada is attempting to accomplish through enacting and enforcing its criminal laws. We examine the current state of, as well as the challenges facing, Nevada’s criminal justice system. Additionally, we identify and propose certain solutions to reduce both recidivism and the financial burden that incarceration imposes on the state by looking to best practices in other states, as well as certain mechanisms and provisions that were, for one reason or another, removed from Nevada Assembly Bill 236.

State Prosecutors At The Center Of Mass Imprisonment And Criminal Justice Reform, Nora V. Demleitner

Scholarly Articles

State prosecutors around the country have played a crucial role in mass imprisonment. Little supervision and virtually unsurpassed decision making power have provided them with unrivaled influence over the size, growth, and composition of our criminal justice system. They decide which cases to prosecute, whether to divert a case, whether to offer a plea, and what sentence to recommend. Their impact does not stop at sentencing. They weigh in on alternative dockets, supervision violations, parole release, and even clemency requests. But they are also part of a larger system that constrains them. Funding, judicial limits on their power, and legislative ...

Young Children's Ability To Describe Intermediate Clothing Placement, Breanne E. Wylie, Stacia N. Stolzenberg, Kelly Mcwilliams, Angela Evans, Thomas D. Lyon

University of Southern California Legal Studies Working Paper Series

Children’s ability to adequately describe clothing placement is essential to evaluating their allegations of sexual abuse. Intermediate clothing placement (partially removed clothing) may be difficult for young children to describe, requiring more detailed explanations to indicate the location of clothing (e.g., the clothes were pulled down to the knees). The current study investigated 172 3- to 6-year-olds’ descriptions of clothing placement when responding to commonly used questions (yes/no, forced-choice, open-choice, where), as well as children’s on-off response tendencies when describing intermediate placement (i.e.., labeling the clothing as fully on or off). Results revealed that "where ...

The Unqualified Mess Of Qualified Immunity; A Doctrine Worth Overruling, Allison Weiss

Washington and Lee Law Review Online

This comment is a response to Ryan E. Johnson, Note, Supervisors Without Supervision: Colon, McKenna, and the Confusing State of Supervisory Liability in the Second Circuit, 77 Wash. & Lee L. Rev. 457 (2020), which received the 2019 Washington and Lee Law Council Law Review Award.

In his note, Ryan Johnson drills down on the various ways that courts within the Second Circuit are approaching the viability of § 1983 lawsuits by incarcerated individuals against supervisors within correctional facilities. But how important is supervisory liability in the first place? Qualified immunity allows courts, as Mr. Johnson puts it, to “cop-out” from engaging ...

For Love Or For Profit? – Crafting A Suitable Securities Framework For Initial Coin Offerings, Elliot H. Brake

Maine Law Review

The spectacle of Bitcoin has largely overshadowed the development of the cryptocurrency’s underlying structure – the blockchain. The blockchain is a type of digital ledger that performs a number of traditional record-keeping functions in a more efficient and reliable manner. Organizations around the globe continue to invest heavily in blockchain technology for a myriad of purposes. To fund these innovative projects, many organizations hold an Initial Coin Offering (“ICO”) in which “tokens” -- a blockchain’s primary means of exchanging value, proving ownership, and/or paying for network services -- are sold to purchasers in exchange for U.S. dollars. In many ...

Digital Court Records Access: Social Justice And Judicial Balancing, Peter J. Guffin

Maine Law Review

With its transition from paper to electronic records, the state court system in Maine is entering new, uncharted territory. In drafting rules regarding public access to electronic court records, a critical issue facing the court system is how to go about balancing the privacy interests of the individual and the state’s interest in providing transparency about the court’s operations. Both interests are important in our democracy, and it is critical that we take measures to preserve both. The purpose of writing this essay is to show that Judge Coffin’s judicial philosophy and rights-sensitive balancing process, although the ...

Defining Insanity: How An Individual's View Can Impact A Trial, Jayme L. Ayres

Pursuit - The Journal of Undergraduate Research at the University of Tennessee

The insanity plea has always been a controversial topic among anyone. No one sees eye to eye on the matter. This can present a problem within professional fields. When insanity cases are brought into courtrooms, legal and psychology professionals need to be able to agree to some extent. However, these professionals have no true control on how jurors define insanity. Jurors tend to determine guilty or not guilty in insanity cases, based on their own personal views. The current study is a replication of Doctor John Geiger’s 2003 and 2008 study of how legal professionals and undergraduate psychology students ...

What Is Remembered, Alice Ristroph

Michigan Law Review

Review of Sarah A. Seo's Policing the Open Road: How Cars Transformed American Freedom.

Lessons Learned, Lessons Offered: Creating A Domestic Violence Drug Court, Judge Rosie Speedlin Gonzalez, Dr. Stacy Speedlin Gonzalez

The Scholar: St. Mary's Law Review on Race and Social Justice

Abstract forthcoming.

State V. Edstrom: No Warrant Needed For Minnesota Police To Conduct A Dog Sniff Outside Your Apartment, Stephen Grego

University of St. Thomas Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Justice By Lot: The Taboo Of Chance Verdicts In America, Michael Tackeff

University of St. Thomas Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Why Justice Kavanaugh Should Continue Justice Kennedy’S Death Penalty Legacy—Next Step: Expanding Juvenile Death Penalty Ban, Alli Katzen

University of Miami Law Review

As science and society both progress, Supreme Court rulings should reflect those changes. The national consensus has been gradually moving away from the use of the death penalty, particularly as applied to offenders between the ages of eighteen and twenty-five. Research clarifies that the brain is not fully developed in the areas most directly linked to culpability until after this age range. The combination of these factors should compel the Court to raise the minimum age for death sentences, but the shifting bench presents unpredictability

Limited Privacy In “Pings:” Why Law Enforcement’S Use Of Cell-Site Simulators Does Not Categorically Violate The Fourth Amendment, Lara M. Mcmahon

Washington and Lee Law Review

This Note proposes four factors courts should consider when asked to determine whether law enforcement’s use of a cell-site simulator constituted a Fourth Amendment search. The first asks courts to consider whether the cell-site simulator surveillance infringed on a constitutionally protected area, such as the home. The second asks courts to consider the duration of the cell-site simulator surveillance. The third asks courts to consider whether the cell-site simulator surveillance was conducted actively or passively. The fourth asks courts to focus on the nature and depth of the information obtained as a result of the cell-site simulator surveillance. If ...

Kids, Not Commodities: Proposing A More Protective Interpretation Of The Child Sex Trafficking Statute For Victims And Defendants, Kimberly Blasey

Washington and Lee Law Review

This Note addresses how courts should interpret the “reasonable opportunity to observe” standard when assessing evidence. In other words, what quantum of evidence is, and should be, sufficient to prove a defendant had a “reasonable opportunity to observe” a sex trafficking victim? Would a singular brief encounter with an older-appearing prostitute satisfy the standard? If so, would the mere fact that the “prostitute” was actually a minor be the only evidence needed to obtain a conviction? Or would the defendant’s intention and attempt to order services from an adult prostitute shed light on the reasonableness of his observation opportunity ...