Digital Commons Network^™

Give Us Your Huddled Masses Yearning To Breathe Free: A Criminal Defender Resource Guide To Advising The Non-Citizen Criminally Accused, Rita M. Montoya

Criminal Law Practitioner

No abstract provided.

Kent Make-Up Their Minds: Juveniles, Mental Illness, And The Need For Continued Implementation Of Therapeutic Justice Within The Juvenile Justice And Criminal Justice Systems, Carmen M. Cusack

American University Journal of Gender, Social Policy & the Law

No abstract provided.

Asian American Masculinity Eclipsed: A Legal And Historical Perspective Of Emasculation Through U.S. Immigration Practices, Michael Park

The Modern American

No abstract provided.

(Un) Justifiable?: A Comparison Of Electoral Discrimination Jurisprudence At The European Court Of Human Rights And The Constitutional Court Of Bosnia And Herzegovina, Elizabeth Raulston

American University International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Interview With Laritza Diversent, Director Of The Cubalex Legal Information Center, Human Rights Brief

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Coverage Of The 147th Period Of Sessions Of The Inter-American Commission On Human Rights, Claudia Abasto

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Center News And Faculty Updates, Human Rights Brief

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Alumni Profiles, Drew Mitnick, Anna Naimark

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

Panel Iv: Challenges To Proving Cases Of Torture Before The Committee Against Torture, Gabriela Echeverria, Mario López-Garelli, Hari Phuyal, Juan E. Méndez

Human Rights Brief

No abstract provided.

The Geography Of The Battlefield: A Framework For Detention And Targeting Outside The 'Hot' Conflict Zone, Jennifer Daskal

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

The U.S. conflict with al Qaeda raises a number of complicated and contested questions regarding the geographic scope of the battlefield and the related limits on the state’s authority to use lethal force and to detain without charge. To date, the legal and policy discussions on this issue have resulted in a heated and intractable debate. On the one hand, the United States and its supporters argue that the conflict — and broad detention and targeting authorities — extend to wherever the alleged enemy is found, subject to a series of malleable policy constraints. On the other hand, European allies, …

Hamdan V. United States: A Death Knell For Military Commissions?, Jennifer Daskal

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

In October 2012, a panel of the D.C. Circuit dealt a blow to the United States’ post- September 11, 2001 decade-long experiment with military commissions as a forum for trying Guantanamo Bay detainees. Specifically, the court concluded that prior to the 2006 statutory reforms, military commission jurisdiction was limited to violations of internationally-recognized war crimes; that providing material support to terrorism was not an internationally-recognized war crime; and that the military commission conviction of Salim Hamdan for material support charges based on pre-2006 conduct was therefore invalid. Three months later, a panel of the D.C. Circuit reached the same conclusion …

"Give Us Free": Addressing Racial Disparities In Bail Determinations, Cynthia E. Jones

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

This article considers racial disparities that occur nationally in the bail determination process, due in large part to the lack of uniformity, resources, and information provided to officials in bail proceedings. It argues that the almost unbridled decision making power afforded to bail officials is often influenced by improper considerations such as the defendant's financial resources or the race of the defendant. As a result of these failures, the bail determination process has resulted not only in racial inequalities in bail and pretrial detention decisions, but also in the over-incarceration of pretrial defendants and the overcrowding of jails nationwide. The …

"I Am Ronald Cotton": Teaching Wrongful Convictions In A Criminal Law Class, Cynthia E. Jones

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.

Jury Instructions As Constitutional Education, Andrew Ferguson

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Juries are central to the constitutional structure of America. This article articulates a theory of the jury as a “constitutional teaching moment,” establishing a historical and theoretical basis for reclaiming the educative value of jury service. Its proposal is straightforward and easy to implement – use jury instructions to educate jurors about the Constitution.This article addresses the fundamental question of why, despite an unquestioned acceptance of a constitutional role of the jury, our criminal justice system does not explain this role to jurors on jury duty. The article seeks to answer the question of how we can educate jurors about …

The Jury As Constitutional Identity, Andrew Ferguson

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

This article seeks to reframe how citizens see jury service in America. Juries once existed at the core of American constitutional identity. At the founding of the country, jury service and voting were twin political rights, equal in stature and importance. Some founders even considered the jury more important than the right to vote as a means to ensure a robust democratic system. During the battles for racial equality (before and after the Reconstruction Amendments) and gender equality (before and after the Nineteenth Amendment), advocates explicitly linked demands for voting and jury service as symbols of political equality. Americans fought, …

What Makes A Crime Against Humanity A Crime Against Humanity, Charles Chernor Jalloh

American University International Law Review

No abstract provided.

The New Eu Legal History: What's New, What's Missing?, Mark A. Pollack

American University International Law Review

No abstract provided.

A Few Good Angry Men: Application Of The Jury Trial Clause Of The Sixth Amendment To Non-Citizens Detained At Guantanamo Bay, Thomas Mcdonald

American University Law Review

No abstract provided.

Toward A Conceptual Framework For Trauma-Responsive Practice In Courts, Shawn C. Marsh, Joan Byer

Criminal Law Practitioner

No abstract provided.

Effective Plea Bargaining Counsel, Jenny M. Roberts

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Fifty years ago, Clarence Earl Gideon needed an effective trial attorney. The Supreme Court agreed with Gideon that the Sixth Amendment guaranteed him the right to counsel at trial. Recently, Galin Frye and Anthony Cooper also needed effective representation. These two men, unlike Gideon, wanted to plead guilty and thus needed effective plea bargaining counsel. However, their attorneys failed to represent them effectively, and the Supreme Court - recognizing the reality that ninety-five percent of all convictions follow guilty pleas and not trials - ruled in favor of Frye and Cooper.

If negotiation is a critical stage in a system …

Addressing Sexual Violence Against Youth In Custody: Youth Workers’ Handbook On Identifying And Addressing Sexual Violence In Juvenile Justice Settings, Brenda V. Smith, Jaime M. Yarussi

Research Reports & White Papers

From 1999 to 2012, The Project on Addressing Prison Rape (the Project) at American University’s Washington College of Law had a cooperative agreement with the National Institute of Corrections (NIC) to provide training to high-level correctional decisionmakers on key issues in addressing and investigating staff sexual misconduct. In 2003, with the enactment of the Prison Rape Elimination Act (PREA), the Project’s focus shifted to addressing prison rape—both staff sexual misconduct and offender-on-offender sexual abuse. In 2006, Smith Consulting began a collaborative effort with the Project and NIC to focus efforts on addressing sexual abuse of youth in custody. This handbook …

The State Of Lawyer Knowledge Under The Model Rules Of Professional Conduct, George M. Cohen

American University Business Law Review

No abstract provided.

Fifty State Survey Of Criminal Laws Prohibiting Sexual Abuse Of Individuals In Custody, Brenda V. Smith

The Project on Addressing Prison Rape - Surveys

This document provides information regarding enacting state, statute number, statute title, coverage, definition and notes, penalties, and defenses (if given) for criminal laws prohibiting sexual abuse of inmates by staff.

American Terrorists As Perpetrators Of Communitarian Assaults, Amitai Etzioni

American University International Law Review

No abstract provided.

Owning Justice And Reckoning With Its Complexity, Diane Orentlicher

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

A series of developments, both doctrinal and political, seem to signify a retreat from earlier innovations in the law and practice of international justice. On closer examination, however, recent developments in international justice cannot be reduced to a single trend line. Even as various actors and processes continue to work out the ground rules for exercising jurisdiction in respect of human rights violations that international law condemns as criminal, and as international and national courts work through the inherently challenging project of redressing mass atrocities, states have increasingly internalized, owned and acted on the principle that they should ensure accountability …

The Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project: American Legal Education's Ambitious Experiment In Democratic Constitutionalism, Jamin B. Raskin

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

The Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project is the leading effort in American legal education to mobilize law students to teach high school students about the Constitution and Bill of Rights. This Article traces the development of the project from its beginnings in the 1990s at American University Washington College of Law to its unexpected but dramatic expansion across the country to eighteen law schools today. The Article explains the Marshall-Brennan curriculum, which focuses on Supreme Court decisions addressing the rights of America's student population in school and in the criminal justice process, and canvasses the essential operational ingredients of Marshall-Brennan chapters …

Promoting Language Access In The Legal Academy, Jayesh Rathod, Gillian Dutton, Beth Lyon, Deborah M. Weissman

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

Since the 1960s, the United States government has paid increasing attention to the rights of language minorities and to the need for greater civic and political integration of these groups. With the passage of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the issuance of Executive Orders, and intervention by the federal judiciary, progress has been made in the realm of language access. State and local courts have likewise taken steps (albeit imperfectly) to provide interpretation and translation assistance to Limited English Proficient persons. Most recently, responding to both lack of services and inconsistent practices, the American Bar Association has set out …

Crashing The Misdemeanor System, Jenny M. Roberts

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

With “minor crimes” making up more than 75% of state criminal caseloads, the United States faces a misdemeanor crisis. Although mass incarceration continues to plague the nation, the current criminal justice system is faltering under the weight of misdemeanor processing.

Operating under the “broken windows theory,” which claims that public order law enforcement prevents more serious crime, the police send many petty offenses to criminal court. This is so even though the original authors of the theory noted that “[o]rdinarily, no judge or jury ever sees the persons caught up in a dispute over the appropriate level of neighborhood order” …

The Transformative Potential Of Attorney Bilingualism, Jayesh Rathod

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

In contemporary U.S. law practice, attorney bilingualism is increasingly valued, primarily because it allows lawyers to work more efficiently and to pursue a broader range of professional opportunities. This purely functionalist conceptualization of attorney bilingualism, however, ignores the surprising ways in which multilingualism can enhance a lawyer’s professional work and can strengthen and reshape relationships among actors in the U.S. legal milieu. Drawing upon research from psychology, linguistics, and other disciplines, this Article advances a theory of the transformative potential of attorney bilingualism. Looking first to the development of lawyers themselves, the Article posits that attorneys who operate bilingually may, …

Panel Iv: Challenges To Proving Cases Of Torture Before The Committee Against Torture, Juan E. Mendez

Scholarly Articles in Law Reviews & Journals

No abstract provided.