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The Repressed Issues Of Sentencing: Accountability, Predictability, And Equality In The Era Of The Sentencing Commission, John C. Coffee Jr.

Faculty Scholarship

The existence of disparities in the sentences imposed on equally culpable offenders has long been a subject of jurisprudential concern. The author provides a critique of recent efforts to objectify the sentencing process that rely on a matrix table prescribing guideline sentence lengths on the basis of offense severity and predictions of recidivism. With particular emphasis on the Sentencing Commission authorized by pending federal legislation, he urges the need for political accountability in the body that inevitably makes value judgments in the preparation and administration of such a guideline system. Finally, the author discusses the normative issues that surround the …

Changing The Public Drunkenness Laws: The Impact Of Decriminalization, David Aaronson

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Laws that decriminalize public drunkenness continue to use the police as the major intake agent for public inebriates under the "new" public health model of detoxification and treatment. Assuming that decriminalization introduces many disincentives to police intervention using legally sanctioned procedures, we hypothesize that it will be fol- lowed by a statistically significant decline in the number of public inebriates formally handled by the police in the manner designated by the "law in the books." Using an "interrupted time-series quasi- experiment" based on a "stratified multiple-group single-I design," we confirm this hypothesis for Washington, D.C., and Minneapolis, Minnesota. However, through …

Guiding Capital Sentencing Discretion Beyond The "Boiler Plate": Mental Disorder As A Mitigating Factor, James S. Liebman, Michael J. Shepard

Faculty Scholarship

In five decisions handed down on July 2, 1976, the United States Supreme Court held that the death penalty may be imposed for the crime of murder, so long as there are clear standards to guide the sentencing authority and the sanction is not imposed mandatorily. The authors examine the eighth amendment doctrinal framework used by the Court in the July 2 Cases, with particular reference to the requirement that individualized mitigating information be considered in the sentencing decision. Illustrating that requirement, they contend that mental disorder should be considered as a possibly mitigating factor and then suggest a standard …

Federal Habeas Corpus And Ineffective Representation Of Counsel: The Supreme Court Has Work To Do, Peter W. Tague

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The availability of federal habeas corpus relief for state criminal defendants has always borne a complex relationship to state rules barring defendants from litigating constitutional claims in state court because of procedural defaults in raising those claims. The Warren Court's landmark attempt to resolve this relationship was the 1963 decision in Fay v. Noia, which asserted that a state procedural forfeiture rule could not bar federal habeas review of a constitutional claim unless the defendant had "deliberately bypassed" the procedural opportunity to raise the claim; the Court defined "deliberate bypass" in terms of a defendant's intentional and voluntary relinquishment of …

Improving Police Discretion Rationality In Handling Public Inebriates Part Ii, David Aaronson

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Improving Police Discretion: Rationality In Handling Public Inebriates Part Ii, David Aaronson, C. Dienes, Michael Musheno

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

In 1913 Eugene Ehrlich spoke of the living law when he stated that "[a]t the present as well as at any other time, the center of gravity of legal development lies not in legislation, nor in juristic science, nor in judicial decision, but in society itself.' This article is premised on the belief that Ehrlich's perception is as valid today as it was then. If you want to know the law relating to public intoxication you cannot be content with the statutes and ordinances, in the court decisions nor even the administrative rules and regulations of those charged with enforcing …

The Florida Grand Jury: Abolition Or Reform?, Robert Q. Williams

Florida State University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Factors Affecting The Plea-Bargaining Process In Erie County: Some Tentative Findings, Karen Gorbach Rebrovich

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Evidence—Admissibility Of The Victim's Past Sexual Behavior Under Washington's Rape Evidence Law—Wash. Rev. Code § 9.79.150 (1976), Evelyn Sroufe

Washington Law Review

Although R.C.W. § 9.79.150 deals with many sex crimes, this note is limited to its application in forcible rape cases. Part I examines various exclusionary rules of evidence in order to develop a framework for analysis of Washington's new law. Part II discusses the relevance of the victim's sexual history to her credibility as a witness; it concludes that the complete exclusion of past sexual history to attack credibility may be unconstitutional under the United States Supreme Court holding in Davis v. Alaska. On the other hand, Part III suggests that R.C.W. § 9.79.150 should be redrafted to limit further …

Sentencing Antitrust Felons

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Standards' Recommendations On Dispositions: A Panel Discussion, Stanley Z. Fisher, Howard A. Levine, Fred Cohen

Faculty Scholarship

ROFESSOR STANLEY FISHER, MODERATOR: Good evening. I'd like to welcome you all here. Of all of the volumes of the Juvenile Justice Standards Project, I suppose the most controversial are those dealing with the disposition stage. They have elicited a good deal of critical comment, even though they haven't yet been published, and many of the comments and criticisms have apparently been on the basis of speculation and rumor as to what the Standards actually say. We have with us tonight to discuss these Standards two persons who have a great deal of expertise in this field. The first, on …

The Prosecutor's Duty To Present Exculpatory Evidence To An Indicting Grand Jury, Michigan Law Review

Michigan Law Review

This Note explores the implications of the stark procedural disparities between prosecution by information and prosecution by indictment in those states where both methods are used. It first examines the consequences to a defendant of a prosecutor's decision to seek an indictment rather than proceed by information, the reasons underlying the discretion given the prosecutor to choose between the two methods, and the potential for abuse of this discretionary power. It then considers several alternative approaches for minimizing this potential for abuse. After rejecting possible constitutional objections to the disparity between indictment and information procedures and application of the common-law …

Criminal Procedure, The Burger Court, And The Legacy Of The Warren Court, Jerold H. Israel

Articles

I start in Section I of this Article with an examination of the first major theme of the criminal procedure decisions of the Warren Court, the selective incorporation of Bill of Rights' guarantees into the due process clause of the fourteenth amendment. My conclusion is that the selective incorporation principle, which provided the doctrinal basis for many of the "liberal" decisions of the Warren Court, remains firmly established today under the Burger Court. Section II of the Article then analyzes the theme of equality and the role it played in Warren Court decisions in the criminal procedure area. It is …

Criminal Procedure As Defined By The Tennessee Supreme Court, Julian L. Bibb, Walter S. Weems

Vanderbilt Law Review

The Tennessee Supreme Court, elected simultaneously for the first time since the early 1900's, assumed office in September 1974 amid speculation concerning future judicial policy. The court, com-posed of Chief Justice William H. D. Fones and Justices Ray L.Brock, Jr., Robert E. Cooper, William J. Harbison, and Joe W.Henry, immediately indicated the importance of a uniform judicial policy governing criminal procedure by creating a special commission to revise the state rules of criminal procedure. Additionally,during its present term the court has decided numerous cases directed toward the formation of well-defined rules under which criminal allegations can be adjudged. This Special …

Comparative Criminal Procedure: A Plea For Utilizing Foreign Experience, Rudolf B. Schlesinger

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Iv. Criminal Procedure

Washington and Lee Law Review

No abstract provided.

Stone V. Powell: Scope Of Habeas Corpus Restricted, 10 J. Marshall J. Of Prac. & Proc. 401 (1977), Thomas M. Kilbane Jr.

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Criminal Procedure--Right Of Cross-Examination--Sexual Assault Statute, Priscilla L. Swalm

West Virginia Law Review

No abstract provided.

Survey Of Criminal Procedure — Alternative Dispositions Of Defendants, Charles Shafer

All Faculty Scholarship

The criminal justice system provides various alternatives for the disposition of criminal defendants. Three of these alternatives, pretrial intervention, drug treatment, and probation, were dealt with in recent New Jersey Supreme Court decisions. The court examined the substantive criteria and procedures used in assigning each disposition and focused primarily on the desire to provide rehabilitative opportunities for each defendant. This note will examine those decisions and the implications of the court's concentration on the goal of rehabilitation.

Towards Principled Sentencing, Norval Morris

Maryland Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Opportunity Test Of Stone V. Powell: Toward A Redefinition Of Federal Habeas Corpus, Charles D. Ossola

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Evidence -Doyle V. Ohio: Use Of Defendant's Silence For Impeachment At Trial, Bruce M. Lane

Loyola University Chicago Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Competency To Stand Trial In Federal Courts: Conceptual And Constitutional Problems, William T. Pizzi

Publications

No abstract provided.

Sentencing Alternatives For Virginia General District Courts, Jose R. Davila Jr., Robert L. Mordhorst

University of Richmond Law Review

The endless parade of humanity that passes before the benches of Virginia's general district courts accused of minor offenses presents to those charged with deciding these cases one of the most challenging judicial tasks of our day. The challenge in addition to deciding guilt or innocence is also determining what to do with those judged guilty. Those decisions influence to one degree or another the direction of peoples lives for their own and society's good or ill. Most of the offenders appearing before these courts are young people, often first offenders. The behavior patterns of their lives are not yet …

Conspiracy And Federal Jurisdiction: From Crimmins To Feola, Mark Berger

Faculty Works

No abstract provided.

The Criminal Justice Standards And Goals Process In Virginia, Ronald J. Bacigal

University of Richmond Law Review

Throughout its history, the criminal law has developed primarily through judicial interpretation of case law and legislative enactment of statutes. It is only in the recent past that an effort has been made to apply the planning process of standards and goals to the criminal justice system. At the national level, the impetus has come primarily from the American Bar Association (ABA) Project on Standards for Criminal Justice, which has been in existence for over ten years and has been widely publicized, and from the National Advisory Commission (NAC) on Criminal Justice Standards and Goals. In 1971, the NAC stated …

Mondale On Mapp, Yale Kamisar

Articles

Any judicial reversal of the Mapp rule threatens to have just the opposite effect. Law enforcement officials are likely to treat a decision that illegally obtained evidence may be admitted into state criminal trials as though that were a practical suspension of the constitutional rules as to lawful arrest, search, and seizure. They are likely to feel that once again "the judiciary is okaying it." With the smell of revelations of FBI "black-bag jobs" and intelligence agency abuses still in the air, is this how we want the Court to contribute to the atmosphere of police practices as we enter …

Fred E. Inbau: 'The Importance Of Being Guilty', Yale Kamisar

Articles

As fate would have it, Fred Inbau graduated from law school in 1932, the very year that, "for practical purposes the modern law of constitutional criminal procedure [began], with the decision in the great case of Powell v. Alabama."1 In "the 'stone age' of American criminal procedure,"2 Inbau began his long fight to shape or to retain rules that "make sense in the light of a policeman's task,"3 more aware than most that so long as the rules do so, "we will be in a stronger position to insist that [the officer] obey them."4

The Attempt To Improve Criminal Defense Representation, Peter W. Tague

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

Improvement of criminal defense representation is one of the most critical problems that faces the criminal justice system. The problem is extensive; some attorneys are frequently ineffective and probably all attorneys are occasionally inadequate because of error, overwork, personal problems or ethical conflicts.

The defendant's only remedy against his attorney's ineffectiveness is through direct appeal or collateral post-conviction attack. This article discusses the reasons why courts cannot improve defense representation through these avenues of review. Deep disagreement among judges about the purpose of post-conviction review has crippled any attempt at improvement. The key unresolved question is whether the standard for …

The Second Circuit Review--1975-76 Term: Courts-- Evidence & Procedure: Commentary: The Second Circuit And The Federal Rules Of Evidence, Paul F. Rothstein

Georgetown Law Faculty Publications and Other Works

The most significant development in federal trial procedure in recent years has been the enactment of the Federal Rules of Evidence, effective July 1, 1975. In the intervening two years since the Rules became effective, the courts of the Second Circuit have bad occasion to make several illuminating applications of and references to them.

An examination of some of these decisions provides insight into the kinds of questions that are coming up not only in the Second Circuit, but around the country, and the kinds of answers that are being given. It is not the bizarre or unusual case that …