Digital Commons Network^™

Lawfare And International Tribunals: A Question Of Definition: A Reflection On The Creation Of The "Khmer Rouge Tribunal", Robert Petit

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

The Take Down: Case Studies Regarding "Lawfare" In International Criminal Justice: The West African Experience, David M. Crane

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Whose Lawfare Is It, Anyway?, David Scheffer

Case Western Reserve Journal of International Law

No abstract provided.

Evidence Theory And The Nas Report On Forensic Science, Michael S. Pardo

Utah Law Review

The NAS Report recommends a wholesale overhaul of the field of forensic science in the United States. Most of the proposed recommendations for reform focus on activities that take place outside of the courtroom, reforms aimed at improving the quality of the evidence that is used for law enforcement and criminal litigation. In many ways, however, the report invites courts to respond to, and to perhaps improve upon, the ways in which such evidence is admitted and presented currently and in the future. It also invites evidence scholars to develop solid theoretical foundations for possible avenues of response and reform. …

C.S.I. Bulls#!T: The National Academy Of Sciences, Melendez-Diaz V. Massachusetts, And Future Challenges To Forensic Science And Forensic Experts, Joelle Anne Moreno

Utah Law Review

On February 18, 2009, the NAS Report revealed systemic problems across the range of forensic fields and proposed specific recommendations for the forensic communities and the courts. According to the NAS Report, the Federal Rules of Evidence and Daubert have failed to prevent our criminal courts from "continu[ing] to rely on forensic evidence without fully understanding and addressing the limitations of different forensic science disciplines. "Four months later, the Supreme Court expanded the criminal defendant’s right to confrontation, citing the “[s]erious deficiencies [that] have been found in the forensic evidence used in criminal trials.”Together, the NAS Report and Melendez-Diaz raise …

The Nas/Nrc Report On Forensic Science: A Path Forward Fraught With Pitfalls, D. Michael Risinger

Utah Law Review

American forensic science as an organized field is less than a hundred years old. On balance, this relatively young field has almost certainly had a positive impact on the accurate determination of factual guilt and factual innocence in the criminal justice system. However, in the flush of youth, it is not uncommon for claims to outrun capabilities. For several decades now, many from the academy and some from forensic science itself have pointed to weaknesses both in various forensic fields and in the structure of forensic science practice itself—weaknesses that raised the specter of a forensic science that sometimes made …

Will History Be Servitude?: The Nas Report On Forensic Science And The Role Of The Judiciary, Jane Campbell Moriarty

Utah Law Review

With other scholars, I have previously argued that because judges apparently were unwilling to exclude prosecutorial forensic evidence, perhaps judges could follow the “middle way” by limiting, if not excluding, the testimony. My suggestion (and that of others) is primarily to let the expert testify about points of comparison, without giving a conclusion to the jury. This approach does not resolve the problems identified in the report; but it possibly cures the worst problems with individualization evidence.

Independent Crime Laboratories: The Problem Of Motivational And Cognitive Bias, Paul C. Giannelli

Utah Law Review

Law enforcement influence over laboratory decisions is a serious problem. In an ideal world, independent crime laboratories would be the solution. Crime laboratories, however, have historically developed within police agencies, and decades of entrenchment make it difficult to remove laboratories completely from law enforcement control. This does not mean, of course, that the status quo should be preserved. If located within law enforcement agencies, forensic laboratories should be as autonomous as possible and should be run in accordance with scientific norms, including procedures to protect against all types of bias. The NAS Report was not the last messenger. Within months …

Stable Isotopes And Courts, James R. Ehleringer, Scott M. Matheson, Jr.

Utah Law Review

Stable isotope analysis has undergone a long gestation in university and other well-respected commercial laboratories. It is based on precise measurements using sophisticated instrumentation. Its reliability and validity for use in many fields and applications are well documented. Like DNA identification analysis, the scientific foundation for stable isotope evidence provides a strong starting point for its use in the courtroom.

Preventive Detention, Character Evidence, And The New Criminal, Ted Sampsell-Jones

Utah Law Review

The criminal law is changing in a profound way. Anglo-American criminal law has traditionally focused on deterring and punishing discrete acts of misconduct. In the last few decades, however, American criminal law has shifted its focus from deviant acts to dangerous individuals. Incapacitation, which once played only a peripheral role in the criminal law, has moved to center stage. To a substantial extent, it has supplanted the two formerly dominant theories of punishment—deterrence and retribution. This dramatic change has been noted, often with some dread, by both legal scholars and sociologists.

Aberrations No More, Owen Fiss

Utah Law Review

September 11, 2001 marked the beginning of a new era in American law. Combating terrorism became a matter of great public urgency and as part of that endeavor policies have been pursued that compromise once sacred principles of the Constitution. These policies were initiated by President George W. Bush, but with some exceptions, other branches of government soon endorsed them, and remarkably, they are now being continued by President Barack Obama.

Utah’S Open Courts: Will Hikes In Civil Filing Fees Restrict Access To Justice?, Erin K. Burke

Utah Law Review

During the 2009 General Legislative Session, the Utah Legislature approved measures to increase the civil filing fees of the Utah State Courts. Because of the judiciary’s budget strains and expanding workload, the state’s leadership deemed the fee increase necessary to ensure that the courts continued to function adequately for the adjudication of disputes. The increased revenue generated from the higher fees may ensure broader access to justice in one sense. However, raising filing fees may also place access to justice beyond the reach of some of the less fortunate in society. These higher fees could have the greatest impact on …

Brain Injury In Maine: A Needs Assessment, Eileen Griffin Jd

Disability & Aging

This document reviews existing Maine policy and programs to evaluate how well they meet the needs of persons with brain injury.

A Meta-Analysis Of The Efficacy Of Sex Offender Residential Restrictions To Recidivism, Cheryl Kack

All Graduate Theses, Dissertations, and Other Capstone Projects

The purpose of this meta-analysis was to review the empirical research studies pertaining to the enactment of sex offender residency restrictions and its impact on recidivism. The intended purpose for residency restrictions is to limit the distance an offender can reside in proximity to schools, parks, playgrounds and daycare facilities. These residency restrictions were implemented as a safe guard to prevent sex offenders from residing in close proximity to where children typically gather (Chajewski & Mercado, 2009; During, 2006; Melroy, Miller & Curtis, 2008; Mercado, Alvarez & Levenson, 2008; Zgoba, Levenson & McKee, 2009). There has been a limited number …

Skilling’S Martyrdom: The Case For Criminalization Without Incarceration, Dr. Sandeep Gopalan

University of San Francisco Law Review

This Article discusses white-collar crimes involving corporate fiduciaries who make bad decisions at the expense of shareholders (corporate governance offenses).

Replacement Justice On The United States Supreme Court: The Use Of Temporary Justices To Resolve The Recusal Conundrum, Noah M. Schubert

University of San Francisco Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Breakdown Of The Rule Of Law In Sri Lanka: An Overview, James Yap, Craig Scott

All Papers

This brief report, prepared for the Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice and dated September 22, 2010, analyzes the state and the underlying causes of the current breakdown of the rule of law in Sri Lanka. The information herein is drawn primarily, while not exclusively, from three sources: Basil Fernando, Sri Lanka: Impunity, Criminal Justice & Human Rights (Asian Human Rights Commission: Hong Kong, 2010); Justice in retreat: A report on the independence of the legal profession and the rule of law in Sri Lanka (International Bar Association Human Rights Institute [IBAHRI]: London May 2009); Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena, The Rule …

Incommon- Winter/Spring 2010, Alumni Association Staff

InCommon

No abstract provided.

2010-2011 Bgsu Catalog, Bowling Green State University

Course Catalogs

No abstract provided.

Beyond The Polemics: Realistic Options To Help Divorcing Families Manage Domestic Violence, Elayne E. Greenberg

Faculty Publications

Children, adult survivors, and their batterers who remain engaged in violence, even after they live apart, are living legacies of the historical perniciousness of domestic violence, a legacy that must change. True, over the past thirty years the politicization of domestic violence has raised public awareness, spurred legislative reforms, and propelled court innovations. However, the children, survivors, and batterers who still live domestic violence after divorce know all too well that all of our political advancements, legal victories, court innovations, and social awareness have not stopped the violence they live within their day-to-day lives. For many of these families, an …

The Excitement Of Interdictory Ideas: A Response To Professor Anders Walker, Marc O. Degirolami

Faculty Publications

The very first time that I taught criminal law, I would occasionally tell my six-year-old son, Thomas, about selected cases and situations that I had come across. Thomas enjoyed these discussions—more than I would have guessed: he was captivated by the horror of Dudley & Stephens, he was uncomfortably intrigued by shaming punishments, he was appropriately outraged at all manner of outcomes that seemed to him too harsh or too lenient. But most of all, he wanted to test his own burgeoning intuitions about right and wrong, good and evil, the permitted and the forbidden, against my "criminal law stories." …

That Guy's A Batterer!: A Scarlet Letter Approach To Domestic Violence In The Information Age, Elaine M. Chiu

Faculty Publications

Despite the remarkable reliance on the Internet as a source of information, we have yet to fully take advantage of it in our movement against domestic violence. Information is used as a weapon in the battle against domestic violence in several limited ways. Yet there is still more we can do with information and, specifically, the Internet, in combating domestic violence. The Scarlet Letter proposal seeks to empower potential victims of domestic violence with information so that they themselves can make choices that will avoid years of suffering and abuse. The idea is to allow public access to the data …

Dispute Resolution Lessons Gleaned From The Arrest Of Professor Gates And "The Beer Summit", Elayne E. Greenberg

Faculty Publications

America's fantasy of a post-racial society was shattered on July 16,2009, when a white police officer arrested Harvard Professor Henry Louis Gates, a well-respected African-American academic, in his own home. Our historical racial fissure was widened. Once again, our thoughts were plagued with tortured images of our system of racialized law enforcement: the torture of Abner Louima, the beating of Rodney King, the killing of Amadou Diallo. Predictably, Americans became further polarized, as they simultaneously blamed and defended responses to racism.

In what was perceived by some as a dramatic and unanticipated turn of events, and perceived by others as …

New York's Post-Verdict Scheme For The Treatment Of Insanity Acquittees: Balancing Public Safety With Rights Of The Mentally Ill, Larry Cunningham

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

In this Article, I will explore both the statutory workings of the insanity review system in New York and examine ways in which CPL § 330.20 can be improved. In Part I, I will provide a detailed account of how a typical insanity review moves through the system. In Part II, I will explore the ways in which CPL § 330.20, as currently written, protects both the public and individual rights. In Part III, I will propose modest reforms to improve the law.

Sense And Sentencing: Our Imprisonment Epidemic, Michael A. Simons

Journal of Civil Rights and Economic Development

(Excerpt)

Over the past thirty years, the most important sentencing development has not been the legislative adoption of mandatory guidelines, or the judicial creation of advisory guidelines, or the adoption of a wide variety of guidelines systems in the states, or the widespread elimination of parole, or the abandonment of rehabilitation as a sentencing goal. No, the most important sentencing development has been our rejection of the principal of parsimony: the notion that a sentence should be as long as - but no longer than - necessary to accomplish the goals of punishment. Instead, we have replaced parsimony with severity, …

Groundwork For Assessing The Legal Risks Of Cyberjustice, François Senécal, Karim Benyekhlef

Canadian Journal of Law and Technology

It is clear that the use of information technology is quickly becoming a necessity for the justice system. In civil cases, delays and costs are causing individuals to abandon the courts, and cases that make it to trial are of ever-increasing complexity. Moreover, public security is weakened by the inefficient and cumbersome conditions by which criminal justice information circulates among the various stakeholders, such as the police, prosecutors, the courts, penitentiaries and parole boards, to name only a few. It becomes apparent that information technology has much to offer individuals involved in court cases and the justice system as a …

Do Traditional Sociological Variables Apply The Same In American Indian Communities? A Comparison Of The Effects Of Social Disorganization, Social Bond, And Social Learning Variables On Delinquency And Substance Use Among Merican Indian, White, And Other Race Youth, Wendy Linn Running Crane

Graduate Student Theses, Dissertations, & Professional Papers

The history and current situations of American Indians are unique and important arenas to forward the study of crime and delinquency. There may be no better group available to study the combined effects of concentrated disadvantage, social disorganization, and abrupt societal change than the modern day American Indian community. But do traditional variables constructed to test sociological theories fit the study of this population? Findings from hypotheses testing the differences in overall effects of social control, social disorganization, social bonding, and social learning variables on delinquency and substance use suggest that there are differences in their ability to account for …

Lumping As Default In Tort Cases: The Cultural Interpretation Of Injury And Causation, David M. Engel

Journal Articles

Empirical studies of the tort law system suggest that "lumping, " or decisions by victims to do without adequate remedies, should be regarded as the predominant response to injury in American society and elsewhere. Yet research on lumping remains conceptually impoverished and gives insufficient attention to the culturalftameworks victims use to interpret their experiences and determine their responses. This Article presents the stories of injury victims in Thailand and compares their common-sense understandings of torts and tort law to those of injured Americans. It argues that analyses of lumping in America as well as Asia should take into account the …

Deontology, Political Morality, And The State Symposium: Political Theory And Criminal Punishment, Youngjae Lee

Faculty Scholarship

Sometimes the government makes a policy choice, and, as a result, innocent persons die. How should we morally assess such deaths? For instance, is the government’s choice of the reasonable doubt standard or its decision to restrict the death penalty to certain narrow categories responsible for deaths of innocents? If so, does the deontological norm against harming people dictate that the government loosen the evidentiary standard for conviction or widen the availability of capital punishment? This Article argues that the traditional distinctions between intending and foreseeing harm and between causing harm and allowing harm to occur are insufficient to absolve …

Criminal Justice Law Reform: Stealing A Page From The American Playbook, James Stribopoulos

Articles & Book Chapters

Criminal justice law reform is a major component of the Federal Government's current legislative agenda. Unfortunately, instead of basing reforms on criminological research or the advice of experts, our current Government, by its own admission, is far more interested in what ordinary Canadians think about the criminal justice system.