Digital Commons Network^™

Balancing Liberty, Dignity And Safety: The Impact Of Domestic Violence Lethality Screening, Margaret E. Johnson

All Faculty Scholarship

This Article undertakes the first ever analysis of the consequences of the justice and legal system’s extensive use of lethality assessment tools for women subjected to abuse. An increasing number of states are now requiring their police, prosecutors, civil attorneys, advocates, service providers, and court personnel to assess women in order to obtain a score that indicates the woman’s lethality risk because of domestic violence. The mandated danger assessment screen of all women subjected to violence focuses only on the risk of homicide and thereby limits the definition of what is domestic violence. In addition, the accompanying protocol for the …

Science, Public Bioethics, And The Problem Of Integration, O. Carter Snead

Journal Articles

Public bioethics — the governance of science, medicine, and biotechnology in the name of ethical goods — is an emerging area of American law. The field uniquely combines scientific knowledge, moral reasoning, and prudential judgments about democratic decision making. It has captured the attention of officials in every branch of government, as well as the American public itself. Public questions (such as those relating to the law of abortion, the federal funding of embryonic stem cell research, and the regulation of end-of-life decision making) continue to roil the public square.

This Article examines the question of how scientific methods and …

The Principle Of Complementarity And The International Criminal Court: The Role Of Ne Bis In Idem, Linda Carter

McGeorge School of Law Scholarly Articles

No abstract provided.

Taking The High Road: Why Prosecutors Should Voluntarily Waive Peremptory Challenges, Maureen A. Howard

Articles

In this Article, I review the efficacy of peremptory challenges and conclude that both empirical and anecdotal evidence confirm such challenges are of little utility. I contend that the marginal benefit of peremptory challenges to a criminal prosecutor is outweighed by the damage done to both the actual and perceived fairness of the system, and that imbalance should persuade prosecutors to consider a wholesale voluntary waiver of peremptory challenges.

Federal Prosecution Of State And Local Officials Using Honest Services Mail Fraud: Where's The Line?, George E.B. Holding, Dennis M. Duffy, John Stuart Bruce

Campbell Law Review

Although there is little dispute that the mail fraud statute has become a valuable part of a federal prosecutor's arsenal, for years legal scholars have debated the extent to which the mail fraud statute should be used to prosecute corrupt state and local officials. In recent years, largely in response to the large number of high profile honest services fraud prosecutions, even members of the mainstream news media are beginning to seek guidance regarding the definition of honest services mail fraud. As noted by Professor George Brown, though the controversy over whether the national government should be responsible for prosecuting …

The Quest For Victims' Justice In India, Subhradipta Sarkar

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

The Process Is The Problem: Lessons Learned From United States Drug Sentencing Reform, Erik S. Siebert

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Geography Of Criminal Law, Adam Benforado

Cardozo Law Review

When Westerners explain the causes of actions or outcomes in the criminal law context, they demonstrate a strong tendency to overestimate the importance of dispositional factors, like thinking, preferring, and willing, and underestimate the impact of interior and exterior situational factors, including environmental, historical, and social forces, as well as affective states, knowledge structures, motives, and other unseen aspects of our cognitive frameworks and processes. One of the situational factors that we are particularly likely to overlook is physical space - that is, landscapes, places, natures, boundaries, and spatialities. Our shortsightedness comes at a great cost. Spatial concerns shape legal …

Protecting Crime Victims In Federal Appellate Courts: The Need To Broadly Construe The Crime Victims' Rights Act's Mandamus Provisions, Paul Cassell

Utah Law Faculty Scholarship

In 2004, Congress passed the Crime Victims’ Rights Act to dramatically reshape the federal criminal justice system and ensure that crime victims are treated fairly in the criminal process. An important feature of the CVRA is its provisions allowing victims to enforce their rights not only in trial courts, but also in appellate courts. Among the enforcement provisions is one guaranteeing a crime victim expedited access to appellate review. The CVRA provides that if the district court denies any relief sought by a crime victim, the victim “may petition the court of appeals for a writ of mandamus. . . …

Head Of State Immunity And Immunity Claims Against Witness Subpoena Requests. Specifically Addressing The Scope Of Head Of State And State Official Immunity, And Whether Claims Of Immunity May Successfully Prevent Witness Subpoena Requests At International And Hybrid Tribunals., Iskra Miralem

War Crimes Memoranda

No abstract provided.

Proceeding In The Physical Absence Of The Accused, And The Use Of Technology, Jon-Paul Mcconnell

War Crimes Memoranda

No abstract provided.

What Is The Practice/Policy At The International Tribunals With Regard To Providing Witnesses Copies Of Their Statements? Do International Tribunals Have Blanket Policies, Or Is It On A Case-By-Case Basis (E.G., If The Witness Asks For It)? What Is The Practice In National Jurisdictions?, Yedga Sikod

War Crimes Memoranda

No abstract provided.

Potential Procedural Problems With Applying International Standards In Domestic Kenyan Courts, Kimberly M. Brown

War Crimes Memoranda

No abstract provided.

Racializing Disability, Disabling Race: Policing Race And Mental Status, Camille Nelson

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Dealing With Excessive Caseloads With Litigation - Panel Two (National Public Defense Symposium: Achieving The Promise Of The Sixth Amendment: Non-Capital And Capital Defense Services), Adele Bernhard

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.

Unasked (And Unanswered) Questions About The Role Of Neuroimaging In The Criminal Trial Process, Michael L. Perlin, Valerie Mcclain

Articles & Chapters

The robust neuroimaging debate has dealt mostly with philosophical questions about free will, responsibility, and the relationship between brain abnormalities, violence and crime. This debate, however, obscures several important issues of criminal procedure to which little attention has as of yet been paid: 1) an indigent defendant's right of access to expert testimony in cases where neuroimaging tests might be critical, 2) a defendant's competency to consent to the imposition of a neuroimaging test; and 3) the impact of antipsychotic medications on a defendant's brain at the time that such a test is performed. This article will consider these questions …

Too Stubborn To Ever Be Governed By Enforced Insanity: Some Therapeutic Jurisprudence Dilemmas In The Representation Of Criminal Defendants In Incompetency And Insanity Cases, Michael L. Perlin

Articles & Chapters

Little attention has been paid to the importance between therapeutic jurisprudence (TJ) and the role ofcriminal defense lawyers in insanity and incompetency-to-stand-trial (IST) cases. That inattention is especially noteworthy in light of the dismal track record of counsel providing services to defendants who are part of this cohort of incompetency-status-raisers and insanity-defense-pleaders. On one hand, this lack of attention is a surprise as TJ scholars have, in recent years, turned their attention to virtually every other aspect of the legal system. On the other hand, it is not a surprise, given the omnipresence of sanism, an irrational prejudice ofthe same …

Inter-Judge Sentencing Disparity After Booker: A First Look, Ryan W. Scott

Articles by Maurer Faculty

A central purpose of the Sentencing Reform Act was to reduce inter-judge sentencing disparity, driven not by legitimate differences between offenders and offense conduct, but by the philosophy, politics, or biases of the sentencing judge. The federal Sentencing Guidelines, despite their well-recognized deficiencies, succeeded in reducing that form of unwarranted disparity. But in a series of decisions from 2005 to 2007, the Supreme Court rendered the Guidelines advisory (Booker), set a highly deferential standard for appellate review (Gall), and explicitly authorized judges to reject the policy judgments of the Sentencing Commission (Kimbrough). Since then, the Commission has received extensive anecdotal …

Reconceiving The Fourth Amendment And The Exclusionary Rule, Craig M. Bradley

Articles by Maurer Faculty

No abstract provided.

Mapp V. Ohio's Unsung Hero: The Suppression Hearing As Morality Play, Scott E. Sundby

Articles

No abstract provided.

War And Peace In The Jury Room: How Capital Juries Reach Unanimity, Scott E. Sundby

Articles

No abstract provided.

The Majestic And The Mundane: The Two Creation Stories Of The Exclusionary Rule, Scott E. Sundby, Lucy B. Ricca

Articles

No abstract provided.

Exporting U.S. Criminal Justice, Allegra M. Mcleod

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

This article explores how and why, in the Cold War’s wake, the U.S. government began to export U.S.-style criminal law and procedure models to developing and politically transitioning states. U.S. criminal law and development consultants now work in countries across the globe. This article reveals how U.S. initiatives have shaped state and non-state actors’ responses to a range of global challenges, even as this approach suffers from a deep democratic deficit. Further, this article argues that U.S. programs perpetuate U.S.-style legal institutional idolatry (which is often tied to systemic dysfunction both in the United States and abroad), and in so …

In Praise Of The Guilty Project: A Criminal Defense Lawyer's Growing Anxiety About Innocence Projects, Abbe Smith

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

There is nothing more compelling than a story about an innocent person wrongly convicted and ultimately vindicated. An ordinary citizen is caught up in the criminal justice system through circumstances beyond his or her control, spends many years in prison, and then one day, with the assistance of a dedicated lawyer, is freed.

Often, when DNA is behind a vindication, not only is the innocent person exonerated but the true perpetrator is identified. This is a significant achievement even though it can also lead apologists for the system—even police and prosecutors implicated in the wrongful conviction—to proudly declare that the …

The Child Declarant, The Confrontation Clause, And The Forfeiture Doctrine, Clifford S. Fishman

Scholarly Articles

The Confrontation Clause of the Sixth Amendment normally precludes the state from offering a child's "testimonial" hearsay statements into evidence if the child does not testify. An exception to that rule arises, however, if the defendant has engaged in misconduct that results in the forfeiture of the right to confront the child in court. In Giles v California, the United States Supreme Court attempted to clarify what a prosecutor must show in order to invoke the forfeiture doctrine. This Article examines the effect of Giles on the "testimonial" statement of a child declarant who does not testify at the defendant's …

Moving Targets: Placing The Good Faith Doctrine In The Context Of Fragmented Policing, Hadar Aviram, Jeremy Seymour, Richard Leo

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Retribution And The Experience Of Punishment, John Bronsteen, Christopher Buccafusco, Jonathan S. Masur

Faculty Scholarship

No abstract provided.

Prosecuting Political Defendants, Anthony S. Barkow, Beth George

Georgia Law Review

Prosecutors are obligated to enforce the law without bias or prejudice. Prosecutors will face cases, however, where a prosecution has political overtones due to the substance of the underlying crime or the identity of the defendant. Maintaining public confidence in the impartiality of such prosecutions is vital to protecting the public's trust in the criminal justice system. This Article explores three recent federal cases where the defendant's identity added a political element to the prosecution. It then examines how the Department of Justice regulates prosecutors' release of information to the public, including its charging policy and its interactions with the …

Waiving Good-Bye To Inconsistency: Factual Basis Challenges To Guilty Pleas In Federal Courts, William T. Stone Jr

Georgia Law Review

Rule 11(b)(3) of the Federal Rules of CriminalProcedure
requires courts to determine that criminal defendants'
guilty pleas have a factual basis. Once a district court
accepts a guilty plea, appellate courts diverge in their
willingness to review challenges to the sufficiency of the
plea's factual basis. Some federal circuits hold that a
factual basis challenge is waived by the guilty plea. Other
jurisdictions will review a defendant's factual basis
challenge on appeal. Despite the lack of clarity on this
point, the Supreme Court has not yet provided guidance
and the federal circuit courts have not offered a great deal
of …

Deontology, Political Morality, And The State Symposium: Political Theory And Criminal Punishment, Youngjae Lee

Faculty Scholarship

Sometimes the government makes a policy choice, and, as a result, innocent persons die. How should we morally assess such deaths? For instance, is the government’s choice of the reasonable doubt standard or its decision to restrict the death penalty to certain narrow categories responsible for deaths of innocents? If so, does the deontological norm against harming people dictate that the government loosen the evidentiary standard for conviction or widen the availability of capital punishment? This Article argues that the traditional distinctions between intending and foreseeing harm and between causing harm and allowing harm to occur are insufficient to absolve …