Digital Commons Network^™

Optimal Bail And The Value Of Freedom: Evidence From The Philadelphia Bail Experiment, David Abrams, Chris Rohlfs

Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper Series

This paper performs a cost-benefit analysis to determine socially optimal bail levels that balance the costs to defendants against the costs to other members of society. We consider jailing costs, the cost of lost freedom to incarcerated defendants, and the social costs of flight and new crimes committed by released defendants. We estimate the effects of bail amounts on the fraction of defendants posting bail, fleeing, and committing crimes during pre-trial release, using data from a randomized experiment. We also use defendants' bail posting decisions to measure their subjective values of freedom. We find that the typical defendant in our …

Privacy And Law Enforcement In The European Union: The Data Retention Directive, Francesca Bignami

Chicago Journal of International Law

This Article examines a recent twist in European Union ("EU") data protection law. In the 1990s, the European Union was a market-creating organization and the law of data protection was designed to prevent rights abuses by market actors. Since the terrorist attacks in New York, Madrid, and London, however, cooperation in law enforcement has accelerated. Now the challenge for the European Union is to protect privacy in its emerging system of criminal justice. This Article analyzes the first EU law to address data privacy in law enforcement-the Data Retention Directive (or "Directive"). Based on a detailed examination of the Directive's …

Evolving Approaches To Jihad: From Self-Defense To Revolutionary And Regime-Change Polticial Violence, M. Cherif Bassiouni

Chicago Journal of International Law

There is a debate among Western academics as to whether violence is endemic to Islam or whether Islam is a peaceful religion. Proponents of these views are largely influenced by their own political persuasions, but mostly by their perceptions as outside observers of the Muslim world. The most plausible conclusions are advanced by those who simply see Muslim societies as any other society wrestling with social, economic, cultural, and political issues, and where at different times ideology is resorted to as a way of justifying political transformation. In some cases, Islamic doctrine is used as a legitimizing basis for political …

Grassroots Plea Bargaining, Josh Bowers

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

In the 1990s, New York City implemented a particularly vigorous brand of localized order-maintenance policing. Such targeted enforcement of “borderline” offenses led to a skyrocketing rate of non-felony arrests in affected (predominantly poor and minority) communities and, consequently, created a crisis of systemic legitimacy within these communities. Notably, however, enforcement was increasingly heavy-handed only on the policing end. By contrast, when it came to plea bargaining, prosecutors were providing more and more lenient no-time or short-time pleas to reduced (often non-criminal) charges. In this essay, I offer a novel (and at least partial) explanation for this leniency trend. My explanation …

Punishing The Innocent, Josh Bowers

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

Scholars highlight an “innocence problem” as one of plea bargaining’s chief failures. Their concerns, however, are misguided. In fact, many innocent defendants are far better off in a world with plea bargaining than without. Plea bargaining is not the cause of wrongful punishment. Rather, inaccurate guilty pleas are merely symptomatic of errors at the points of arrest, charge, and/or trial. Much of the worry over an innocence problem proceeds from misperceptions over (i) the characteristics of typical innocent defendants, (ii) the types of cases they generally face, and (iii) the level of due process they ordinarily desire. In reality, most …

Apprendi’S Domain, Jonathan F. Mitchell

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

No abstract provided.

From The Asylum To The Prison: Rethinking The Incarceration Revolution. Part Ii: State Level Analysis, Bernard E. Harcourt

Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper Series

No abstract provided.

From The Asylum To The Prison: Rethinking The Incarceration Revolution. Part Ii: State Level Analysis, Bernard E. Harcourt

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

No abstract provided.

Enforcing Law Online (Reviewing Who Controls The Internet?: Illusions Of A Borderless World By Jack Goldsmith, Tim Wu), Orin S. Kerr

University of Chicago Law Review

No abstract provided.

Judging The Voting Rights Act, Thomas J. Miles, Adam B. Cox

Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper Series

The Voting Rights Act has radically altered the political status of minority voters and dramatically transformed the partisan structure of American politics. Given the political and racial salience of cases brought under the Act, it is surprising that the growing literature on the effects of a judge's ideology and race on judicial decisionmaking has overlooked these cases. This Article provides the first systematic evidence that judicial ideology and race are closely related to findings of liability in voting rights cases. Democratic appointees are significantly more likely than Republican appointees to vote for liability under Section 2 of the Voting Rights …

Memo To The President (And His Opponents): Ideology Still Counts, David A. Strauss

Articles

No abstract provided.

Zoning: Deliberative Democracy At Zero Prices, Richard A. Epstein

Articles

No abstract provided.

Judge Richard Posner On Civil Liberties: Pragmatic Authoritarian Libertarian, Bernard E. Harcourt

Articles

No abstract provided.

Jurisprudential Schizophrenia: On Form And Function In Islamic Finance, Haider Ala Hamoudi

Chicago Journal of International Law

This Article is divided into three parts, excluding this Introduction. In part II, I briefly discuss the contemporary practice of Islamic finance and the interpretive principles that gave rise to it. Part III explains precisely why, from the standpoint of potential investors such as my father, this practice is deeply, ontologically flawed. Part IV sets forth another model of an Islamic financial institution, based on functional approaches to the jurisprudence, and explains the benefits provided by such an institution.

Beyond Judicial Minimalism, Cass R. Sunstein

Articles

No abstract provided.

Contraindicated Drug Courts, Josh Bowers

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

Over the past two decades, drug treatment courts have gained traction as popular alternatives to the conventional war on drugs (and to its onedimensional focus on incarceration). Specifically, the courts are meant to divert addicts from jails and prisons and into coerced treatment. Under the typical model, a drug offender enters a plea of guilty and is enrolled in a longterm outpatient treatment program that is closely supervised by the drug court. If the offender completes treatment, his plea is withdrawn and the underlying charges are dismissed. But, if he fails, he receives an alternative termination sentence. My premise is …

Incompletely Theorized Agreements In Constitutional Law, Cass R. Sunstein

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

How is constitutionalism possible, when people disagree on so many questions about what is good and what is right? This essay, written for a special issue of Social Research on Difficult Decisions, explores the role of two kinds of incompletely theorized agreements amidst sharp disagreements about the largest issues in social life. The first consist of agreements on abstract formulations (freedom of speech, equality under the law); these agreements are crucial to constitution-making as a social practice. The second consist of agreements on particular doctrines and practices; these agreements are crucial to life and law under existing constitutions. Incompletely theorized …

After Howard And Monetta: Is Ignorance Of The Law A Defense To Administrative Liability For Aiding And Abetting Violations Of The Federal Securities Laws?, Alexander P. Robbins

University of Chicago Law Review

No abstract provided.

Intimidation Of Defense Witnesses At The International Criminal Tribunals: Commentary And Suggested Legal Remedies, Jared Paul Marx

Chicago Journal of International Law

This Comment begins with a short discussion of the legal status and the goals of the tribunals in section I. Section II examines the question of whether intimidation of defense witnesses is a due process violation under international criminal law. The tribunals' statutes and case law do not explicitly state whether witness intimidation is a violation of due process rights, but a plain-meaning reading of the statute, supported by evidence of customary international law, suggests that it is. Section III compares the remedies the tribunals grant for due process violations caused by tribunal actors with the remedies granted for due …

The Economics Of Presidential Pardons And Commutations, Richard A. Posner, William M. Landes

Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Completely Theorized Agreements In Constitutional Law, Cass R. Sunstein

Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper Series

How is constitutionalism possible, when people disagree on so many questions about what is good and what is right? This essay, written for a special issue of Social Research on Difficult Decisions, explores the role of two kinds of incompletely theorized agreements amidst sharp disagreements about the largest issues in social life. The first consist of agreements on abstract formulations (freedom of speech, equality under the law); these agreements are crucial to constitution-making as a social practice. The second consist of agreements on particular doctrines and practices; these agreements are crucial to life and law under existing constitutions. Incompletely theorized …

Reefer Madness: Broken Windows Policing And Misdemeanor Marijuana Arrests In New York, Bernard E. Harcourt, Jens Ludwig

Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Embracing Chance: Post-Modern Meditations On Punishment, Bernard E. Harcourt

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

No abstract provided.

Reefer Madness: Broken Windows Policing And Misdemeanor Marijuana Arrests In New York, Bernard E. Harcourt, Jens Ludwig

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

No abstract provided.

Embracing Chance: Post-Modern Meditations On Punishment, Bernard E. Harcourt

Coase-Sandor Institute for Law & Economics Research Paper Series

No abstract provided.

Law School Announcements 2006-2007, Law School Announcements Editors

Announcements

• Officers and Faculty
• The Law School - History
• Programs of Instruction
• Curriculum
• Student Activities and Organizations
• Funds and Endowments

Clear Statement Principles And National Security: Hamdan And Beyond, Cass R. Sunstein

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

In resolving conflicts between individual rights and national security, the Supreme Court has often said that Congress must unambiguously authorize presidential action; the Court has also attempted to ensure that defendants are not deprived of their liberty except pursuant to fair trials. These decisions, a form of liberty-promoting minimalism, reject claims of unilateral or exclusive presidential authority. The Court’s decision in Hamdan v. Rumsfeld reflects a distinctive clear statement principle, one that bans the President from convening a military commission, or otherwise departing from the standard adjudicative forms, unless Congress explicitly authorizes him to do so. The Court’s conclusion diverges …

The International Labour Organization's Role In Nationalizing The International Movement To Abolish Child Labor, Junlin Ho

Chicago Journal of International Law

This Development introduces the concept of a decentralized trade-labor link based on ILO standards and reporting as an effective means for ending child labor. Part II of the Development defines the concept of child labor and provides current statistics on the number of children involved in it, including the worst forms of child labor. Part III discusses the history and structure of the ILO, the organization's commitment to abolishing child labor, and how these factors make the ILO uniquely positioned to monitor child labor violations. Part IV lays out the principle of trade-labor linkage, the inability of the international community …

Muslim Profiles Post 911: Is Racial Profiling An Effective Counterterrorist Measure And Does It Violate The Right To Be Free From Discrimination?, Bernard E. Harcourt

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

Racial profiling as a defensive counterterrorism measure necessarily implicates a rights trade-off: if effective, racial profiling limits the right of young Muslim men to be free from discrimination in order to promote the security and well-being of others. Proponents of racial profiling argue that it is based on simple statistical fact and represents “just smart law enforcement.” Opponents of racial profiling, like New York City police commissioner Raymond Kelly, say that it is dangerous and “just nuts.” As a theoretical matter, both sides are partly right. Racial profiling in the context of counterterrorism measures may increase the detection of terrorist …

Self-Defeating Proposals: Ackerman On Emergency Powers, Adrian Vermeule

Public Law and Legal Theory Working Papers

No abstract provided.