Digital Commons Network^™

The Ethics Of Cause Lawyering: An Examination Of Criminal Defense Lawyers As Cause Lawyers, Margareth Etienne

ExpressO

Criminal defense attorneys are often motivated by an intricate set of moral and ideological principles that belie their reputations as amoral (if not immoral) “hired guns” who would do anything to get their guilty clients off. Using empirical data from interviews with forty criminal defense attorneys I explore the motivations that inform their decisions to enter the field of criminal defense and the values that influence the manner in which they do their jobs. I conclude that many criminal defense attorneys are in fact cause lawyers who are committed to individual clients but also the “cause” of legal reform in …

A Brief Look At Broward County Lawyers’ And Judges’ Attitudes Toward Plea Bargaining As A Tool Of Courtroom Efficiency, Mohammad A. Faruqui

ExpressO

Even the most rigidly ideological prosecutors acknowledge that they need to plea out most of the less serious criminal charges to ensure justice without incurring an unmanageable backlog of cases. But what do most criminal lawyers and judges think about the plea arrangment system? Is it fair to defendants? Do lawyers use plea bargains to better serve their clients by finding the best deal, or do they use plea bargains to cut their case load for what some call "garbage cases?" This paper surveys a small sample to see how 21st century Broward County criminal lawyers feel about the plea …

Jury Trials In Japan, Robert M. Bloom

ExpressO

The Japanese are seeking to involve their citizens in the judicial system. They are also establishing a check on the power of the judiciary. Towards these goals, they have enacted legislation to create jury trials. These remarkable ambitions envision adopting a mixed-jury system, slated to take effect in 2009. In this mixed-jury system, judges and citizens participate together in the jury deliberation.

This article first explores the differences between mixed-juries and the American jury system. It then suggests why the Japanese opted for a mixed-jury system. The article explores psychological theories surrounding collective judgment and how dominant individuals influence group …

Trial Distortion And The End Of Innocence In Federal Criminal Justice, Ronald F. Wright

ExpressO

This article starts with a troubling and unnoticed development in federal criminal justice: acquittals have virtually disappeared from the system in the last 15 years, and for all the wrong reasons. It seems likely that prosecutors have increased the “trial penalty” so much that defendants with meaningful defenses feel compelled to plead guilty, undermining the truth-finding function of the criminal process.

The article examines these federal developments in light of a proposed “trial distortion theory.” The theory I develop here evaluates the quality of plea negotiation practices in a jurisdiction by asking whether the system produces outcomes (convictions, acquittals and …

The Deep Structure Of Law And Morality, Robin B. Kar

ExpressO

This Article argues that morality and law share a deep and pervasive structure, an analogue of what Noam Chomsky calls the “deep structure” of language. This structure arises not to resolve linguistic problems of generativity, but rather from the fact that morality and law engage psychological adaptations with the same natural function: to allow us to resolve social contract problems flexibly. Drawing on and extending a number of contemporary insights from evolutionary psychology and evolutionary game theory, this Article argues that we resolve these problems by employing a particular class of psychological attitudes, which are neither simply belief-like states nor …

What Do Juvenile Offenders Know About Being Tried As Adults? Implications For Deterrence , Richard E. Redding

Working Paper Series

An underlying assumption in the nationwide policy shift toward transferring more juveniles to criminal court has been the belief that stricter, adult sentences will act as either a specific or general deterrent to juvenile crime. With respect to general deterrence - whether transfer laws deter would-be offenders from committing crimes - it is important to examine whether juveniles know about transfer laws, whether this knowledge deters criminal behavior, and whether juveniles believe the laws will be enforced against them. The current study is one of the first to examine juveniles' knowledge and perceptions of transfer laws and criminal sanctions. We …

Toward An Ethic Of Teaching: Class, Race And The Promise Of Community Engagement, Roberto L. Corrada

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Access To Justice For A New Century: The Way Forward, Julia H. Bass, W. A. Bogart, Frederick H. Zemans

Books

This book is a timely addition to the literature on access to justice. The book's essays address all aspects of the topic, including differing views on the meaning of access to justice; ways to improve access to legal services; litigation and its role in achieving social justice; and the roles of lawyers, citizens, and legal insitutions.

Access to Justice for a New Century is based on papers given at an international symposium presented by the Law Society of Upper Canada, sponsored by the Law Foundation of Ontario.

Volume 1, Issue 1, The Modern American

The Modern American

No abstract provided.

American Courts Are Drowning In The "Gene Pool": Excavating The Slippery Slope Mechanisms Behind Judicial Endorsement Of Dna Databases, 39 J. Marshall L. Rev. 115 (2005), Meghan Riley

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Screening The Law: Ideology And Law In American Popular Culture, Mark Niles, Naomi Mezey

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Going On-Line With Justice Pedagogy: Four Ways Of Looking At A Website, Fran Ansley, Cathy Cochran

Villanova Law Review (1956 - )

No abstract provided.

Criminal Prosecution And Civil Remedies For Victims Of Sexual Offenses: Amendment Of The Rape Shield Law, Carol E. Jordan, Elizabeth S. Hughes, Mary Jo Gleason

Office for Policy Studies on Violence Against Women Publications

In 2003, the Kentucky Supreme Court adopted the amended KRS 412, effectively making the language of KRE 412 consistent with the analogous Federal Rule of Evidence 412. Now, as in federal court, the provisions of the Rape Shield Law apply in both criminal and civil cases to govern when and how evidence of a victim's alleged sexual behavior or sexual predisposition may be introduced. The article describes the intent of the original Rape Shield Law and the implications of its amended version in both civil and criminal cases.

A Direct Approach To Reparations: Municipal Efforts To Ensure Social Justice , Samuel Emiliano Brown

The Modern American

No abstract provided.

The Sacred Way Of Tibetan Crt Kung Fu: Can Race Crits Teach The Shadow's Mystical Insight And Help Law Students "Know" White Structural Oppression In The Heart Of The First-Year Curriculum? A Critical Rejoinder To Dorothy A. Brown, Reginald Leamon Robinson

Michigan Journal of Race and Law

Part I of this Article uses a quasi-parable, in which Dorothy Brown is a Tibetan Master who teaches law students CRT Kung Fu, the monastic fighting skills by which they will acquire the Shadow's mystical insight to "know" the heart of the first-year curriculum. Part II challenges the organizing principles and content on which Brown's Critical Race Theory purports to critically interrogate traditional legal doctrine, applying a New Age Philosophical critique as well as agency theory to crack dealing in Spanish Harlem. I use this case study to argue that crack dealers deliberately and purposefully choose extra-legal economic opportunities, even …

Raich, Health Care, And The Commerce Clause, Alex Kreit, Aaron Marcus

William Mitchell Law Review

This article considers to what extent health care may be viewed as a traditional area of state concern in the context of the Supreme Court’s revival of federalism principles, in particular limits on Congress’ Commerce Clause power, and what effect Raich v. Ashcroft, heard by the Court in the fall 2004 term, might have on these issues. Addressing these questions will necessarily involve exploration of medical marijuana policy as well as the role of the “traditional state interest” principle within the Commerce Clause. However, the central focus of this article is not what impact Raich may have on the Commerce …

Gideon In White/Gideon In Black: Race And Identity In Lawyering, Anthony V. Alfieri

Articles

No abstract provided.

Love And Architecture: Race, Nation, And Gender Performances Inside And Outside The State, Angela P. Harris

Cleveland State Law Review

In this essay, I will use the metaphor of "performance" to describe the complicated interplay of power and identity. Each of the essays in this Cluster, I suggest, is concerned with some facet of identity performance within the power fields of gender, race, and nation. Perry calls our attention to how skin color, though typically subsumed by "race" in legal discourse, is a resource for performing identity that in fact complicates our understanding of racial subordination. Nancy Ehrenreich and Nicholas Espiritu are concerned with how states mobilize individual and collective race and gender performances as a way of inciting and …

Crawford V. Washington: The End Of Victimless Prosecution?, Andrew King-Ries

Seattle University Law Review

The article explores the Crawford decision in the context of victimless prosecutions. Part II discusses current trends in victimless domestic violence prosecution and the power and control dynamics of domestic violence relationships, including how these dynamics relate to, and create the need for, victimless prosecutions. Part III discusses the Crawford decision. Part IV explores possible interpretations of Crawford within the context of victimless domestic violence prosecutions. Part V explains why courts should interpret Crawford in a way that allows prosecutors to continue to prosecute batterers without a participating victim.

Note: Capping Noneconomic Damages In Medical Malpractice Suits Is Not The Panacea Of The “Medical Liability Crisis”, Melissa C. Gregory

William Mitchell Law Review

This note explores the history behind the rising costs of medical malpractice insurance rates and the responsive state legislative proposals to limit noneconomic damages. The current state of health care liability and the recent federal proposals that include caps on noneconomic damages are then discussed. This note analyzes the reasons why the federal government should not cap noneconomic damages, primarily because: (1) states are better able to regulate health care, (2) noneconomic damages are not the determinate cause of rising medical malpractice insurance rates, and (3) caps infringe on equal protection guarantees by limiting compensation of medical malpractice victims. This …

Note: The Legislature Should Clean Up Its Act—The Minnesota Citizens’ Personal Protection Act, A Dnr Technical Bill, And The Single-Subject And Title Clause Of The Minnesota Constitution, Melissa M. Milbert

William Mitchell Law Review

This note explores the Ramsey County District Court’s decision in Unity Church v. Minnesota recently affirmed by the Minnesota Court of Appeals. This note does not, however, debate the merits of Minnesota’s conceal-and-carry law. Part II traces the legislative path taken by both the natural resource and conceal-and-carry bills. Part II surveys the history of the single-subject and title clause of the Minnesota Constitution and the evolution of the Minnesota Supreme Court’s interpretation of the clause since its enactment. Part III summarizes the factual and procedural posture of the Unity Church decision. Part IV then contends that the legislature’s enactment …

Student Freedom Of Expression: Violent Content And The Safe School Balance, A. Wayne Mackay, Janet Burt-Gerrans

Articles, Book Chapters, & Popular Press

The authors begin with a discussion of of the duality in how children are viewed in both international and domestic law. Children are viewed as both under the protection and authority of adults, at the same time as being rights bearing individuals. Following recognition of the difficult tension created by this duality, these authors focus on its application in the balancing of the safe school environment with student freedom of expression. In particular these authors examine cases and scenarios that highlight the complex relationships that result when student expression contains violent content. This timely examination gives consideration to the contemporary …

Death Sentence Rates And County Demographics: An Empirical Study, Theodore Eisenberg

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

The number of murders in a state largely determines the size of a state's death row. The more murders, the larger the death row. This fundamental relation yields surprising results, including the newsworthy finding that Texas's death sentencing rate is not unusually high. Recent state-level research also underscores the importance of race in the demography of death row. Death penalty research has long emphasized race's role, and with good reason--a racial hierarchy exists in death sentence rates. Black defendants who murder white victims receive death sentences at the highest rate; white defendants who murder white victims receive death sentences at …

Report Card: Grading The Country's Response To Columbine, Scott R. Simpson

Buffalo Law Review

No abstract provided.

Utter Excitement About Nothing: Why Domestic Violence Evidence-Based Prosecution Will Survive Crawford V. Washington., Donna D. Bloom

St. Mary's Law Journal

In response to domestic violence involving victims who do not wish to cooperate in the prosecution of their abuser, prosecutors endeavor to frame cases around other evidence establishing a defendant’s guilt regardless of the victim’s testimony. Domestic violence cases set for trial are being thrown out of Texas courts because of the recent U.S. Supreme Court ruling that reasserts a defendant’s right to confront his accuser in court. Prosecutors believe that strong legal arguments exist to continue successfully prosecuting abusers without the cooperation of the victim at trial. This is through the continued admission of certain hearsay statements, despite Crawford …

From Lavender To Purple: Privacy, Black Women, And Feminist Legal Theory, Jennifer C. Nash

Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights & Social Justice

The article critiques traditional feminist legal theory for its narrow view of privacy as inherently oppressive, particularly for women of color. It argues that privacy can be a source of empowerment and safety for Black women, challenging the one-size-fits-all approach of mainstream feminist theory. The author advocates for a more nuanced, intersectional perspective that considers how privacy affects different groups differently.

(E)Racing Youth: The Racialized Construction Of California's Proposition 21 And The Development Of Alternate Contestations, Nicholas Espiritu

Cleveland State Law Review

Illustrating the way in which conceptions of race and crime shape and are shaped by law is California's Proposition 21. Enacted in 2000, Proposition 21, also known as the Gang Violence and Juvenile Crime Prevention Act," was the product of California's direct democratic process through which voters are able to change the California Constitution through a simple majority vote. Part II address the ideological foundations of direct democracy and examines critically its ability to serve a democratic function. I examine the founders' rationale behind the decision not to employ a representative form of government, and look at direct democracy in …

Reflections On The Essential Role Of Legal Scholarship In Advancing Causes Of Citizen Groups, Nadine Strossen

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Education And Interrogation: Comparing Brown And Miranda, John H. Blume, Sheri Lynn Johnson, Ross Feldmann

Cornell Law Faculty Publications

Although the Warren Court had its share of grand decisions, perhaps it should be known instead for its grand goals--particularly the goals of ending America's shameful history of segregation and of providing a broad array of constitutional rights to persons accused of committing crimes. Brown v. Board of Education and Miranda v. Arizona, the two most well-known decisions of the Warren Court (and possibly the two most well-known decisions in the history of the Supreme Court), best capture the Court's labor in the rocky fields of our nation's legal, political, and cultural life. In this Article, we explore certain parallels …

Social Citizen As Guest Worker: A Comment On The Changing Identities Of Immigrants And The Working Poor, Frank W. Munger

Articles & Chapters

No abstract provided.