Digital Commons Network^™

Uncomfortably Reminiscent: Odonnell V. Harris County In History And Memory, Kellen R. Funk

Faculty Scholarship

In ODonnell v. Harris County, a federal trial court enjoined the misdemeanor bail system of Houston, Texas, freeing approximately 20,000 indigent defendants annually. To do this, the trial court drew upon Reconstruction era precedents establishing intensive federal oversight of state criminal proceedings. The court explicitly invoked the Civil War and Reconstruction transformation of the federal judiciary, comparing the County’s defenses to slavery era arguments. Conversely, when the en banc Fifth Circuit reviewed a similar order in Dallas, Texas, six years later, it rejected this historical framework, condemning such litigation as an impermissible “ongoing federal audit of state criminal proceedings.” …

Constructive Falsity, Legal Truth, And The Public Interest In Not Reporting On Expunged Records, Itay Ravid

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

The Press, Privacy, Expungement, And Second Chances: Shifting The Paradigm, Brian M. Murray

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

The Exoneration Of Archie Williams, Dominic R. Graves

SACAD: Scholarly Activities

This poster covers the case of Archie Williams, a man incarcerated for a crime he did not commit. Multiple forensic science and criminalistic strategies were employed to exonerate Williams after years of incarcerations. Fingerprints and false identification were themes throughout the case. Much of the evidence was used in the trial but disregarded, only to be used to appeal the punishment. This poster highlights the case, the issues with repeat line-ups, and the accuracy of fingerprints. The poster also conveys alternative actions that could have prevented this unfortunate outcome. This is but one story of many others who have been …

Athletic Participation And Youth Justice System Involvement, Dominic R. Graves, April Terry

SACAD: Scholarly Activities

Research supports the role of prosocial leisure activities in reducing justice system involvement. Athletic-based programs have mixed findings regarding reducing system involvement among youth. However, when implemented correctly, sports programs can greatly benefit youth by providing them with structured adult supervision and mentorship. This poster briefly introduces the social bond theory supporting the influence of athletics and highlights potential negative associations with athletic-based programs. This poster concludes with a review of current implementation and future guidance.

Police And Ai: When Abundantly Helpful Becomes Intrinsically Harmful, Landon Brickey

Brooklyn Law Review

Artificial intelligence (AI) has rapidly crept into nearly all aspects of life, including in government, the criminal justice system, and policing. While Supreme Court Due Process jurisprudence has outlined certain boundaries for police interrogations, much police conduct is left for the states to regulate. Such regulation is sporadic and less restrictive than the public might assume, especially in the realm of police deception. Across jurisdictions, courts allow police to deceptively inform suspects that a witness identified the suspect of the perpetrator of a crime. That the suspect’s finger prints, DNA, or shoe prints were found at the scene of the …

Dangerous Or Neglected, Amanda Landaverde

Nebraska Journal on Advancing Justice

No abstract provided.

Fighting Drug Addiction In The Aftermath Of The War On Drugs: Rehabilitative Or Promoting Reoffending?, Haylee Beamer

Criminal Law Society Blog

This Article examines the evolution of drug control policy in the United States, arguing that although modern strategies target both supply and demand reduction mechanisms, they remain fragmented and insufficiently focused on rehabilitation. It traces the historical development of the War on Drugs and its lasting emphasis on punitive enforcement, highlighting the continued reliance on drug task forces and confidential informants. While contemporary reforms such as drug courts and prosecutorial diversion programs demonstrate measurable success in reducing recidivism and promoting recovery, their impact is undermined by inconsistent integration across the criminal justice system. This Article contends that a more cohesive, …

A Prosecutor’S Ethical Duty To Divert, Jordan Stevenson

Legal Writing Competition Winners

In an American courtroom, litigants are divided across an aisle, a gavel grants or divests rights, and a community takes sides. This creates a narrative of duality in the justice system, which many believe is vital to the adversarial legal system. A criminal trial is seen as perpetrator versus victim, but the legal posture is actually government versus individual. In fact, a prosecuting attorney has ethical obligations not just to victims, witnesses, and the broader community, but to defendants as well, in part due to their tremendous discretion to bring or dismiss criminal charges. A prosecutor’s power is far too …

The Multi-Hatted Court: Community Courts As Boundary Organizations, Peter Dixon, Hadar Dancig-Rosenberg

Northwestern University Law Review

As a variety of the problem-solving court model, community courts have received significant scrutiny and debate. Do they help individuals by addressing the underlying needs that contribute to criminal behavior? Do they extend an unjust criminal legal system by making help conditional upon judicial involvement? This Article moves beyond such debates to ask how community court professionals and the communities who engage with them manage these and other tensions that are inherent to the model itself. As the second in a series of articles drawing on semi-structured interviews and focus groups with diverse stakeholders at the Red Hook Community Justice …

Litigating With No Receipts: How The Denial Of Access To Trial Transcripts Denies People The Opportunity To Access Justice, Madisen Zent

University of Cincinnati Law Review

No abstract provided.

To Vacate Or Not To Vacate: Partial Remedies And Mootness In Federal Habeas Of State Convictions, Jeffrey Greenbaum

University of Cincinnati Law Review

This Article addresses two related issues in the federal habeas of state convictions. First, it analyzes a circuit split that recently emerged over whether a state’s appeal would be moot after a federal district court grants habeas and a state vacates its own judgment. One view is that the state vacatur would render the appeal moot because the prisoner is no longer in custody. A second view is that the appeal would not necessarily be moot because a partial remedy could be available. Second, this Article identifies some courts conflating the language of a state’s vacatur in habeas and evaluates …

Civil Rights Microviolations, Alissa Cooley Yonesawa, Michael Kagan

University of Cincinnati Law Review

This essay is an attempt to name and define a certain kind of civil rights problem. Namely: Rights violations that are small enough that the rational thing for the victim to do might be to just cope with them, but when allowed to fester and repeat, do significant damage. We call these problems microviolations. To define them, we borrow from the idea of a microaggression, a concept that developed to understand an analogous challenge in workplace and school discrimination. We offer a diagnosis of why microviolations are both problematic and difficult to address, and arguments that they should be a …

Hukum Kedokteran, Aspek Hukum Pidana Dan Hukum Perdata, Prof. Oemar Seno Adji, S.H.

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Abstract

Capital Punishment And Domestic Terrorism: Reconsidering Domestic Terrorism As An Aggravating Factor, Josh B. Starner

Criminal Law Society Blog

Federal law permits the death penalty when an individual commits an offense after substantial planning to cause death or commit terrorism. Yet the ambiguity surrounding the term “terrorism,” particularly in domestic contexts, complicates the application of the federal statute. This Article argues that invoking the terrorism aggravating factor in domestic cases undermines the justifications for capital punishment and risks inconsistent enforcement. Drawing on recent examples, including the prosecution of Luigi Mangione and the deaths of Renee Good and Alex Pretti by ICE officials, this Article illustrates how the “domestic terrorist” label can cause harsh prosecutorial discretion, intensify political polarization, and …

Contagious Discrimination: Why Race-Blind Justice In Courtrooms Is Not Enough, Yijia Lu, Murat C. Mungan

Faculty Scholarship

Existing theories of discrimination focus on discrimination at the individual, societal, or organizational level. We highlight the importance of the dynamic relationship between different institutional actors who jointly give rise to discriminatory outcomes. This reveals that discrimination can be contagious: discrimination that would otherwise not occur at one institutional level can arise due to discrimination at another institutional level. Therefore, discrimination by some actors can trickle down and create disparate impacts in processes that would otherwise be free of discrimination. This phenomenon, which we term “contagious discrimination,” can manifest itself in various settings such as employment and commercial trade negotiations. …

Time Out For Transfer: Youth Transfer As Punishment, Kristina Kersey

Nevada Law Journal

The confidentiality of the juvenile court, while laudable in protection of the children charged, often means that people, in general, have little understanding of the inner workings of the court. One of the opaquest practices in juvenile court is how, when, and under which circumstances youth are prosecuted as adults. The cases that do reach the headlines are the most salacious, which leads to a confirmation bias on both the need and the appropriateness of the practice of transfer.

Many scholars have discussed the undeniable impact of adolescent development research on juvenile legal jurisprudence and a general reimaging of diminished …

Marked For Prosecution: The Use Of Tattoo Recognition Technology In Criminal Trials And The Case For Evidentiary Limits, Marc Consalo

Mercer Law Review

In recent years, tattoos have taken on a new and largely overlooked role in our criminal trial system. Once viewed primarily as personal or cultural expression, tattoos are now treated by law enforcement as biometric data which can be analyzed, codified, and then searched by artificial intelligence (“AI”). Police departments and prosecutorial offices have begun using tattoo recognition software to identify suspects, assume gang membership, and establish guilt based on imagery or symbols. Yet, despite the rapid growth of this technology, its use in the courtroom has received almost no scholarly attention and even less judicial scrutiny.

This Article seeks …

Nilai Dan Fungsi Keterangan Ahli (Dokter) Terhadap Suatu Tindak Pidana Di Depan Pengadilan, B.Z. Koemolontang, S.H.

Jurnal Hukum & Pembangunan

Abstract

Collaborative Nullification: Bending Or Ignoring The Law To Free The Over-Punished, David A. Singleton

Arkansas Law Review

The United States accounts for about 25% of the world’s prisoners but only about 5% of its population. It has the fifth- highest imprisonment rate—higher than China and Russia—with people of color disproportionately impacted. This racialized mass incarceration, and the lack of political will to meaningfully address it, demands bold remedies. Certainly, sentencing reform for low-level, non-violent offenders is needed, but contrary to popular belief, these offenders are not driving mass incarceration. Instead, the problem largely results from increasingly long sentences for violent offenders.

This article proposes that the option, which I call “collaborative nullification,” can provide the over-punished needed …

The Perlmutter Center For Legal Justice And The Death Penalty And Criminal Defense Clinic Present A Screening Of The Oscar-Nominated Film: The Alabama Solution, Perlmutter Center For Legal Justice At Cardozo Law, Death Penalty And Criminal Defense Clinic

2026 Event Invitations

The Alabama Solution is a groundbreaking, critically-acclaimed HBO documentary released in 2025, documenting prison conditions in Alabama from footage recorded by people experiencing incarceration. The screening will be followed by a panel led by Perlmutter Center Deputy Director Derrick Hamilton.

Panelists

• Jose Saldana: Director, Release Aging People in Prison Campaign

• Dr. Donna Hylton: Founder and CEO, A Little Piece of Light

• Alex Duran: Co-Producer of Academy Award Nominated Film, The Alabama Solution

• David Garlock: Reentry professional and criminal justice reform advocate

• Sumeet Sharma: Director, Policy and Communications at the Correctional Association of New York

A "Simple" Second Look: The Argument For Mandatory Judicial Recusal In Pennsylvania Post Conviction Hearings, Taylor Banks

Criminal Law Society Blog

The Due Process Clause guarantees criminal defendants an impartial adjudicator, yet post-conviction proceedings often escape meaningful judicial recusal. In Pennsylvania, the same judge who presided over a criminal trial commonly adjudicates that defendant’s post-conviction review, even when prior rulings are challenged. This Article argues that such self-review creates an objectively intolerable risk of bias, undermining due process and public confidence in the judiciary. Drawing on Supreme Court precedent and psychological research on confirmation bias, the Article demonstrates that existing recusal standards fail to address structural risks in post-conviction adjudication. It proposes legislative reform mandating judicial recusal when a judge previously …

Milbank Expands Partnership With The Perlmutter Center For Legal Justice At Cardozo Law, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

Cardozo Law News Archive

Milbank LLP announced a significant expansion of its partnership with the Perlmutter Center for Legal Justice at Cardozo School of Law, increasing its charitable commitment to $2.5 million through 2029. The expanded funding will strengthen the Milbank Exoneration Review Unit, support additional staffing, and advance post-conviction advocacy for wrongfully convicted and excessively sentenced individuals.

The Laura And Isaac Perlmutter Foundation Expands Support For The Perlmutter Center For Legal Justice At Cardozo Law Of Yeshiva University, Bringing Their Total Contribution To $16 Million, With Up To An Additional $2 Million Committed, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

Cardozo Law News Archive

The Laura and Isaac Perlmutter Foundation announced an additional $500,000 gift to the Perlmutter Center for Legal Justice at Cardozo School of Law, along with a four-year matching commitment of up to $2 million. The expanded support will strengthen the Center's work on wrongful convictions, clemency, resentencing, and experiential legal education while advancing criminal justice reform initiatives.

(Re)Individualizing Criminal Law, Itay Ravid

Faculty Publications

Criminal law purports to care about the individual culpability of those committing crimes. Individual mental states or defenses based on one’s beliefs are considered foundational to moral responsibility and criminal conviction. The expansion of algorithmic risk assessment tools in the criminal legal system, however, threatens these principles, changing the criminal law subject from an autonomous individual to merely a predicted object. This Article argues that risk assessment tools—now functioning as gatekeepers at both the entry and exit stages of the criminal process, from predictive policing to compassionate release eligibility—have shifted the criminal system away from its foundation in individual culpability. …

Perlmutter Center's Derrick Hamilton, Reform Advocates Secure Passage Of New York State's Prison Justice Omnibus Package, Benjamin N. Cardozo School Of Law

Cardozo Law News Archive

Cardozo School of Law recognized Derrick Hamilton, Deputy Director of the Perlmutter Center for Legal Justice, and fellow criminal justice reform advocates for their role in advancing New York State's Prison Justice Omnibus Package. The legislation expands transparency, oversight, and accountability in state correctional facilities and reflects the advocacy of the End Prison Violence campaign.

Diet: Another Piece Of The Crime Puzzle?, Jerrod Brown, Jeremiah Schimp, Leanne Skehan, Amanda Fenrich, Janina Cich

Nutritional Neurocriminology Today

An expanding body of research suggests that diet and nutrition may play an influential yet underrecognized role in problematic and criminal behaviors. This article synthesizes research linking excessive consumption of sugar and ultra-processed foods to adverse neurobehavioral outcomes, impaired impulse control, aggression, mood dysregulation, and sleep problems. Integrating research suggests that metabolic disruption, neuroinflammation, and gut–brain axis dysfunction may influence cognitive and emotional regulation. While criminal behavior is complex and multifactorial, this article emphasizes nutrition as a modifiable factor to inform forensic mental health practice, correctional policy, and rehabilitative strategies.

The Evidence Machine: Rethinking Admissibility And Privacy In India's Ai Surveillance State, Samyukta Ramaswamy

Indian Journal of Law and Technology

The proliferation of artificial intelligence (‘AI’) surveillance technologies that utilise machine learning (‘ML’) capabilities to gather and process information to derive insights about individuals has transformed the surveillance landscape by enabling governments and private entities to engage in increasingly pervasive monitoring and data-driven profiling. In India, this transformation is compounded by the presence of executive-controlled surveillance mechanisms under the legal framework of the Telecommunications Act 2023, the Telecommunications (Procedures and Safeguards for Lawful Interception of Messages) Rules 2024, and the Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023, amongst others, which authorises wide-ranging data interception and dragnet surveillance while exempting government agencies …

Civil And Criminal Justice Remedies For Intimate Partner Violence, Demetrice M. Lopez, Anika Ramos

Hunter Center Publications

Intimate partner violence (IPV) is a persistent public health problem that impacts the physical and mental health of millions of people each year. The United States has historically relied on the legal system as the primary means of addressing IPV as a criminal or civil infraction. This chapter begins with a review of the history of IPV in the context of the legal system. It then considers the dynamics of IPV and its influence on the legal response. The chapter then looks at the broader impact of IPV and remedies for survivors in the justice system. Finally, it considers the …

Undermining Discretion: The Selective Attacks On Progressive Prosecutors, Angela J. Davis

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Prosecutors are the most powerful officials in the criminal legal system. They decide whether to bring criminal charges and what those criminal charges should be. These decisions are totally within their discretion. The U.S. Supreme Court has consistently protected the power and discretion of prosecutors in making these decisions, and legal challenges to the exercise of prosecutorial discretion have been largely unsuccessful.

In recent years, a growing number of individuals have successfully run for chief prosecutor on platforms of reducing the prison and jail populations, consistent with public safety. They pledged to use their power and discretion to implement policies …